Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz

Friedrich Wilhelm, Freiherr von Seydlitz (February 3, 1721 - August 27, 1773), Prussian soldier, one of the greatest cavalry generals of history, was born at Kalkar in the duchy of Cleves, where his father, a major of Prussian cavalry, was stationed. Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1076x1401, 474 KB) subject: Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz artist: anonymous license: public domain File links The following pages link to this file: Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz ... Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1076x1401, 474 KB) subject: Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz artist: anonymous license: public domain File links The following pages link to this file: Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz ... Jump to: navigation, search February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1721 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Jump to: navigation, search August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ... 1773 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (German: Preußen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: Prūsai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad... Italian cavalry officers practice their horsemanship in 1904 outside Rome. ... Jump to: navigation, search General is a high military rank, used by nearly every country in the world. ... The Duchy of Cleves (Herzogtum Kleve) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in present Germany (part of North Rhine-Westphalia) and the Netherlands (parts of Limburg, Noord-Brabant and Gelderland). ...

After his father's death in 1728 he was brought up in straitened circumstances by his mother, but at the age of thirteen he went as a page to the court of the Margrave Schwedt, who had been his father's colonel. Here he acquired a superb mastery of horsemanship, and many stories are told of his feats, the best known of which was his riding between the sails of a wind-mill in full swing. Events Astronomical aberration discovered by the astronomer James Bradley Swedish academy of sciences founded at Uppsala Births January 9 - Thomas Warton, English poet (d. ...

In 1740 he was commissioned a cornet in the margrave's regiment of Prussian cuirassiers. Serving as a subaltern in the first Silesian War, he was taken prisoner in May 1742 after so gallant a defence that King Frederick offered to exchange an Austrian captain for him. In 1743 the king made him a captain in the 4th Hussars, and he brought his squadron to a state of conspicuous efficiency. He served through the second war, and after Hohenfriedberg was promoted major at the age of twenty-four. Jump to: navigation, search Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... The Silesian Wars were a series of wars between Prussia and Austria (and their changing allies) for control of Silesia. ... // Events January 24 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor. ... Jump to: navigation, search Frederick II of Prussia (January 24, 1712–August 17, 1786) was a king of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty, reigning from 1740 to 1786. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events February 14 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister February 21 - - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handels oratorio, Samson. ... Polish Hussar Hussar (original Hungarian spelling: huszár, plural huszárok) refers to a number of types of cavalry used throughout Europe since the 15th century. ... The Battle of Hohenfriedberg (or Hohenfriedeberg) was a battle in the War of the Austrian Succession, fought on 3 June 1745 between the Austrians and Saxons, under Charles of Lorraine, and the Prussians, under Frederick the Great. ...

At the close of the war he had an opportunity of successfully handling 15 squadrons in front of the enemy, and this, with other displays of his capacity of leading cavalry in the searching tests of Frederick's reviews, secured his promotion in 1752 to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and in 1753 to the command of the 8th cuirassiers. Under his hands this regiment soon became a pattern to the rest of the army. In 1755 he was made colonel. 1755 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Next year the Seven Years' War, that was to make his name immortal, broke out. In 1757, regardless of the custom of keeping back the heavy cavalry in reserve, he took his regiment to join the advanced guard, at Prague he nearly lost his life in attempting to ride through a marshy pool, and at Kolin, at the head of a cavalry brigade, he distinguished himself in checking the Austrian pursuit by a brilliant charge. Two days later the king made him major-general and awarded him the order Pour le Mérite, which promotion he felt to be no more than his deserts, for to Zieten's congratulations he responded: "It was high time, Excellency, if they wanted more work out of me. I am already thirty-six." Jump to: navigation, search The Seven Years War, sometimes referred to as the Pomeranian War, (1754 and 1756–1763) pitted Great Britain, Prussia, and Hanover against France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony. ... 1757 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The battle of Prague was a battle fought on May 6, 1757 during the Seven Years War. ... The Battle of Kolin was a battle fought on June 18, 1757 during the Seven Years War. ... The Order Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max, was Prussias highest military order until the end of World War I. The award was first founded in 1740, named in French, the language of the royal court, for merit. ... Hans Joachim von Zieten Hans Joachim von Zieten (May 14, 1699 – January 26, 1786). ...

Four times in the dismal weeks that followed the disaster of Kolin, Seydlitz asserted his energy and spirit in cavalry encounters, and on the morning of Rossbach, Frederick, superseding two senior generals, placed Seydlitz in command of the whole of his cavalry. The result of the battle was the complete rout and disorganization of the enemy, and in achieving that result only seven battalions of Frederick's army had fired a shot. The rest was the work of Seydlitz and his 38 squadrons. The same night the king gave him the Order of the Black Eagle, and promoted him lieutenant-general. But he had received a wound in the mêlée, and for some months he was away from the army. The Battle of Rossbach (November 5, 1757) took place during the Seven Years War (1756 - 1763) near the village of Rossbach, then in Prussian Saxony. ... The Order of the Black Eagle was the highest chivalric order in Prussia and later the German Empire. ...

He rejoined the king in 1758, and at the battle of Zorndorf Seydlitz's cavalry again saved the day and won the victory. At Hochkirch with 108 squadrons he covered the Prussian retreat, and in the great disaster of Kunersdorf he was severely wounded in a hopeless attempt to storm a hill held by the Russians. During his convalescence he married Countess Albertine Hacke. He rejoined the army in May 1760, but his health was so impaired that Frederick sent him home again. 1758 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Battle of Zorndorf was a battle fought on August 25, 1758 during the Seven Years War. ... The battle of Hochkirch was a battle fought on October 14, 1758 during the Seven Years War. ... The battle of Kunersdorf was fought on August 23, 1759 during the Seven Years War near Kunersdorf, east of Frankfurt an der Oder. ... 1760 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

It was not until 1761 that he reappeared at the front. He now commanded a wing of Prince Henry's army, composed of troops of all arms, and many doubts were expressed as to his fitness for this command, as his service had hitherto been with the cavalry exclusively. But he answered his critics by his conduct at Freyburg (October 29, 1762), in which, leading his infantry and his cavalry in turn, he decided the day. After the Treaty of Hubertusburg he was made inspector-general of the cavalry in Silesia, where eleven regiments were permanently stationed and whither Frederick sent all his most promising officers to be trained by him. 1761 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search October 29 is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 63 days remaining. ... 1762 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Treaty of Hubertusburg, signed on 15 February 1763, together with the Treaty of Paris signed on 10 February 1763, marked the end of the French and Indian War and of the Seven Years War. ... Silesia (-Latin, Polish ÅšlÄ…sk, German Schlesien, Czech Slezsko) is a historical region in central Europe. ...

In 1767 he was made a general of cavalry. But his later years were clouded by domestic unhappiness. His wife was unfaithful to him, and his two daughters, each several times married, were both divorced, the elder once and the younger twice. His formerly close friendship with the king was brought to an end by some misunderstanding, and it was only in his last illness, and a few weeks before his death, that they met again. Seydlitz died of paralysis at Ohlau on the 27th of August 1773. Jump to: navigation, search 1767 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. Jump to: navigation, search Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

Notes

• Note regarding personal names: Freiherr is a title equal to the title Baron, not a first or middle name.

Jump to: navigation, search Freiherr (German for Free Lord) is a title of lower nobility in Germany, the Baltic states and Austria-Hungary, considered equal to the title Baron. ... Jump to: navigation, search Baron is a specific title of nobility or a more generic feudal qualification. ...

Reference

• K. A. Varnhagen von Ense: Das Leben des Generals von Seydlitz. Berlin, 1834
• Otto von Bismarck: Die kgl. preussische Reiterei unter Friedrich dem Grossen. Karlsruhe, 1837
• Klaus Christian Richter: Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, ein preußischer Reitergeneral und seine Zeit. Osnabrück: Biblio-Verlag, 1996 ISBN 3-7648-2449-2

Karl August Varnhagen von Ense (February 21, 1785 - 1858), German biographer. ... Jump to: navigation, search Count Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (April 1, 1815 – July 30, 1898) was one of the most prominent European aristocrats and statesmen of the nineteenth century. ...

External links

• Webpage devoted to F W von Seydlitz