Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien
Encyclopedia
Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel Graf Tauentzien von Wittenberg (15 September 1760 – 20 February 1824) was a Prussian
general
of the Napoleonic Wars
.
Tauentzien was born in Potsdam
in the Margraviate of Brandenburg
as the son of Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien
. He married Elisabeth von Amstedt, with whom he had one son and one daughter. The branch of the von Tauentzien family with the title of count ended with the 1854 death of Tauentzien's son, Heinrich Bogislav.
Tauentzien entered the Prussian Army
in 1775 and was granted the title of Graf
(count) on 5 August 1791. He became a royal aide-de-camp in 1793; he was entrusted with many diplomatic missions until 1813. Tauentzien participated in the campaign of 1793 and was successively promoted to Oberst
in 1795 and Generalmajor in 1801. He commanded an observation corps of Friedrich Ludwig zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen until the Saalburg
in 1806. Shortly before the Battle of Saalfeld
, a French
corps under Marshal Bernadotte
defeated Tauentzien's detachment of 9,000 men at Schleiz
. Tauentzien capably organized the retreat to Mittel-Pöllnitz so his troops could rejoin the main Prussian army.
At Jena, Tauentzien led the vanguard of the Hohenlohe Corps. Scores of Prussian generals were dismissed after the defeat of Prussia in 1806-07, although Tauentzien was not. As Generalleutnant, he commanded the Brandenburg Brigade after the Treaties of Tilsit
and participated in the reorganization of the defeated Prussian army.
In 1813 Tauentzien was named Military Governor between the Oder
and the Vistula
Rivers, and he succeeded in the siege of Stettin
. As General der Infanterie, he commanded the IV. Armeekorps, which consisted mostly of Landwehr
, and participated in the battles of Großbeeren on 23 August and Dennewitz
on 6 September. In October his troops left the relative safety of Dessau
and crossed the Elbe
.
After the Battle of Leipzig
, Tauentzien accepted the capitulation of Torgau
on 26 December 1813. Generalleutnant Leopold Wilhelm von Dobschütz
led the capture of Wittenberg
on the night of 13-14 January 1814, but acclaim for the victory went to his superior, Tauentzien, who was granted the honorary title "von Wittenberg", a coat of arms
, and, on 26 January, the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
. A street in Wittenberg was named Tauentzienstraße, but is now known as Dobschützstraße. On 24 May, Tauentzien recovered Magdeburg
.
Tauentzien commanded the VI. Armeekorps during the Hundred Days
of Napoleon Bonaparte
. The Battle of Waterloo
had already occurred by the time his troops reached France. After the end of the war, he commanded the III. Armeekorps.
Tauentzien died as Commander of Berlin. Tauentzienstraße
in Berlin is named in his honor.
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...
general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.
Tauentzien was born in Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
in the Margraviate of Brandenburg
Margraviate of Brandenburg
The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg , it played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe....
as the son of Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien
Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien
Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien was a Prussian general who served during the wars of King Frederick the Great....
. He married Elisabeth von Amstedt, with whom he had one son and one daughter. The branch of the von Tauentzien family with the title of count ended with the 1854 death of Tauentzien's son, Heinrich Bogislav.
Tauentzien entered the Prussian Army
Prussian Army
The Royal Prussian Army was the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.The Prussian Army had its roots in the meager mercenary forces of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War...
in 1775 and was granted the title of Graf
Graf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
(count) on 5 August 1791. He became a royal aide-de-camp in 1793; he was entrusted with many diplomatic missions until 1813. Tauentzien participated in the campaign of 1793 and was successively promoted to Oberst
Oberst
Oberst is a military rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. The Swedish rank överste is a direct translation, as are the Finnish rank eversti...
in 1795 and Generalmajor in 1801. He commanded an observation corps of Friedrich Ludwig zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen until the Saalburg
Saalburg
The Saalburg is a Roman fort located on the Taunus ridge northwest of Bad Homburg, Hesse, Germany. It is a Cohort Fort belonging to the Limes Germanicus, the Roman linear border fortification of the German provinces. The Saalburg, located just off the main road roughly halfway between Bad Homburg...
in 1806. Shortly before the Battle of Saalfeld
Battle of Saalfeld
The Battle of Saalfeld saw Marshal Lannes and a division of his V Corps defeat 8,300 Prussians under Prince Louis Ferdinand.-Battle:Prince Louis Ferdinand was one of the principal advocates of resuming war against the French....
, a French
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
corps under Marshal Bernadotte
Charles XIV John of Sweden
Charles XIV & III John, also Carl John, Swedish and Norwegian: Karl Johan was King of Sweden and King of Norway from 1818 until his death...
defeated Tauentzien's detachment of 9,000 men at Schleiz
Battle of Schleiz
The Battle of Schleiz took place on October 9, 1806 in Schleiz, Germany between a Prussian-Saxon division under Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien and a part of Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's I Corps under the command of Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon. It was the first clash of the War of...
. Tauentzien capably organized the retreat to Mittel-Pöllnitz so his troops could rejoin the main Prussian army.
At Jena, Tauentzien led the vanguard of the Hohenlohe Corps. Scores of Prussian generals were dismissed after the defeat of Prussia in 1806-07, although Tauentzien was not. As Generalleutnant, he commanded the Brandenburg Brigade after the Treaties of Tilsit
Treaties of Tilsit
The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by Napoleon I of France in the town of Tilsit in July, 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon I of France, when they met on a raft in the middle of the Neman...
and participated in the reorganization of the defeated Prussian army.
In 1813 Tauentzien was named Military Governor between the Oder
Oder
The Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, later forming of the border between Poland and Germany, part of the Oder-Neisse line...
and the Vistula
Vistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
Rivers, and he succeeded in the siege of Stettin
Szczecin
Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....
. As General der Infanterie, he commanded the IV. Armeekorps, which consisted mostly of Landwehr
Landwehr
Landwehr, or Landeswehr, is a German language term used in referring to certain national armies, or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large scale, low strength fortifications...
, and participated in the battles of Großbeeren on 23 August and Dennewitz
Battle of Dennewitz
The Battle of Dennewitz took place on 6 September 1813 between the forces of the First French Empire and an army of Prussians and Russians of the Sixth Coalition. It occurred in Dennewitz, a village of Germany, in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, near Jüterbog, 40 km. S.W...
on 6 September. In October his troops left the relative safety of Dessau
Dessau
Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...
and crossed the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
.
After the Battle of Leipzig
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
, Tauentzien accepted the capitulation of Torgau
Torgau
Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union...
on 26 December 1813. Generalleutnant Leopold Wilhelm von Dobschütz
Leopold Wilhelm von Dobschütz
Leopold Wilhelm von Dobschütz was a Prussian "general of cavalry", the "hero of Dennewitz" and "liberator of Wittenberg", military governor of the Rhine province and of Breslau...
led the capture of Wittenberg
Wittenberg
Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....
on the night of 13-14 January 1814, but acclaim for the victory went to his superior, Tauentzien, who was granted the honorary title "von Wittenberg", a coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, and, on 26 January, the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
The Grand Cross of the Iron Cross was a decoration intended for victorious generals of the Prussian Army and its allies. It was the highest class of the Iron Cross. Along with the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, the Grand Cross was founded on March 10, 1813, during the Napoleonic Wars. It was...
. A street in Wittenberg was named Tauentzienstraße, but is now known as Dobschützstraße. On 24 May, Tauentzien recovered Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
.
Tauentzien commanded the VI. Armeekorps during the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
of Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
. The Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
had already occurred by the time his troops reached France. After the end of the war, he commanded the III. Armeekorps.
Tauentzien died as Commander of Berlin. Tauentzienstraße
Tauentzienstraße
Tauentzienstraße is a major shopping street in the western part of Berlin, Germany. It is approximately 500 metres long and lies between two important squares, Wittenbergplatz and Breitscheidplatz...
in Berlin is named in his honor.