Albert von Maybach
Encyclopedia
Life
Albert von Maybach was born on 29 November 1822 at Werne an der LippeWerne
Werne is a town in the Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in the Unna district in Germany. It is located on the southern edge of the Münsterland region near the Ruhrgebiet...
as the son of the mayor (Bürgermeister) of Werne. Maybach went to the grammar school at Recklinghausen
Recklinghausen
Recklinghausen is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and industry in the south...
and studied law and politics at Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. In 1845 he entered the Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
legal service. He became a junior barrister
Junior barrister
A junior barrister is a barrister who has not yet attained the rank of Queen's Counsel. Although the term is archaic and not commonly used, junior barristers can also be referred to as utter barristers derived from "outer barristers" or barristers of the outer bar, in distinction to Queen's...
(Gerichtsassessor) in 1850 and a district judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
in 1852 at Hagen
Hagen
Hagen is the 39th-largest city in Germany, located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne, Volme and Ennepe meet the river Ruhr...
.
In 1854 he switched careers and joined the headquarters of the Prussian state railways
Prussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
and from 1858 he was an official (a Vortragender Rat) in the Ministry of Trade. He was chairman of the board of the Upper Siliesian Railway (Oberschlesische Eisenbahn) at Breslau and, from 1863 to 1867, head of the Eastern Railway division at Bromberg. From 1 March 1867 to 9 January 1874 he ran the railway division in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
.
At the behest of Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
, in 1874 Maybach was appointed as head of the Imperial Railway Office (Reichseisenbahnamt). Bismarck's project to purchase the main railway lines for the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
failed, however, due to opposition from Germany's central states. Likewise, in 1875, the proposal by Maybach to the Bundesrat
Bundesrat
Bundesrat means federal council and may refer to:* Bundesrat of Germany* Federal Council of Austria* Swiss Federal Council...
(the Federal Council of State Deputies) was also not taken up. Maybach gave up his post as president of the toothless Reich Railway Office in 1876 and was nominated as Under Secretary of State in the Prussian Ministry of Trade.
After the resignation of Heinrich von Achenbach, he took over as head of the Ministry on 30 March 1878 and made his top priority the nationalisations of the most important railway lines in northern Germany.
In 1879 the Ministry for Public Works was broken out of the Ministry of Trade. Maybach was appointed as Minister of Public Works and the management of the Prussian state railways
Prussian state railways
The term Prussian state railways encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia...
was also transferred to him. With great skill he carried through an extensive programme of procuring private railways for the Prussian state and organised the management of its enormous railway network.
From 1882 to 1893 Maybach was a member of the Imperial Parliament, the Reichstag
Reichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
. In 1888 he was elevated to the nobility.
Impact
Maybach achieved his greatest success as a minister in reforming the German railway system. He established the pan-German railway organisation and fought against the interests of private railway companies, which would have prevented the intensive expansion of railway lines across Germany. This battle led to the nationalisation of the most important railways in Germany.Schools, roads, squares and mines have all been named after Maybach. The district of Maybach in the Saarland town of Friedrichsthal was also named after Albert von Maybach.
He died on 20 January 1904 in Charlottenburg.
Sources
- Maybach, Albert. In: Meyers Konversationslexikon. 4. Auflage. Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, Leipzig und Wien 1888-1890, Bd. 11, S. 375.
External links
External links
- There is a relevant English-language forum at Railways of Germany