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Alfred
Heinrich Karl Ludwig Graf von Waldersee
(08.04.1832 - 05.03.1904)
place of birth: Potsdam, Brandenburg
Königreich
Preußen: Generalstabschef,
Quartiermeister, Generalfeldmarschall
Prussian field marshal and Chief of General Staff Alfred Graf
von Waldersee headed the German contingent sent to China in 1900 in
response to the Boxer Rebellion. General von
Waldersee was married to the wealthy American widow of Prince Friedrich
August of Noer, Mary Esther Lee. Von Waldersee's budding political
career was shortened due to a well-known penchant for
intrigue.
Born the son of cavalry general Franz
Heinrich von Waldersee, Alfred's military career was thus predestined.
He graduated from artillery and engineering school at the age of 20,
then joined the Prussian General Staff as an adjutant during the
Austro-Prussian War of 1866. He later served in Paris as military
attaché and spy, and was selected in 1869 as Aide-de-Camp to Kaiser
Wilhelm I. In 1871, von Waldersee functioned as chief of staff to the
military governor of Paris. In 1873 he became the commanding general of
X. Army Corps in Hannover, and five years later became Prussian Chief
of Staff Helmuth von Moltke's deputy in the Great General Staff. Here
he attained a lion's share of military and political influence.
Developing strategies for a preventative war against Russia and France
brought him into confrontation with Bismarck, but also paved the way to
a friendship with Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, the future Kaiser Wilhelm
II who ascended the throne in June of 1888. In August of 1888,
Waldersee was appointed to succeed Moltke as Chief of General Staff, a
position he held until 1891 when he was replaced by von
Schlieffen.
Although von Waldersee's intrigues led to von
Bismarck's downfall in 1890, he never realized his ambition of
replacing Bismarck. Instead, personal differences with Wilhelm II
resulted in his demotion to commanding general of IX. Army Corps in
Altona, and then later to Inspector General of the Third Army
Inspectorate in Hannover. In 1900, Waldersee was promoted field marshal
and became the figure-head commander of the German expedition sent to
China in order to quell the Boxer Rebellion. In
1901, Waldersee returned to again head the Third Army Inspectorate,
dying in Hannover on 5 March 1904.
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