Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien (18 April 1710 – 21 March 1791) was a Prussian

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....

 who served during the wars of King Frederick the Great

Frederick II of Prussia

Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...

.

Tauentzien hailed from the von Tauentzien family and was born in the village of Tauentzien

Tawecino

Tawęcino is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowa Wieś Lęborska, within Lębork County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland...

 near Lauenburg

Lebork

Lębork is a town on the Łeba and Okalica rivers in Middle Pomerania region, north-western Poland with some 37,000 inhabitants.Lębork is also the capital of Lębork County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, formerly in Słupsk Voivodeship ....

 in Farther Pomerania

Farther Pomerania

Farther Pomerania, Further Pomerania, Transpomerania or Eastern Pomerania , which before the German-Polish border shift of 1945 comprised the eastern part of the Duchy, later Province of Pomerania, roughly stretching from the Oder River in the West to Pomerelia in the East...

. He participated throughout the Silesian Wars

Silesian Wars

The Silesian Wars were a series of wars between Prussia and Austria for control of Silesia. They formed parts of the larger War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. They eventually ended with Silesia being incorporated into Prussia, and Austrian recognition of this...

. Tauentzien fought alongside Frederick in many of the king's great battles, including Mollwitz

Battle of Mollwitz

The Battle of Mollwitz was fought by Prussia and Austria on April 10, 1741, during the early stages of the War of the Austrian Succession. It was the first battle of the new Prussian King Frederick II, in which both sides made numerous military blunders but Frederick the Great still managed to...

, the capture of Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, Hohenfriedberg

Battle of Hohenfriedberg

The Battle of Hohenfriedberg or Hohenfriedeberg, also known as the battle of Striegau, now Dobromierz, was one of the crowning achievements of Frederick the Great...

, and Kolin

Battle of Kolin

-Results:The battle was Frederick's first defeat in this war. This disaster forced him to abandon his intended march on Vienna, raise his siege of Prague, and fall back on Litoměřice...

. He distinguished himself during the defense of Breslau against Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon

Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon

Baron Ernst Gideon von Laudon Baron Ernst Gideon von Laudon Baron Ernst Gideon von Laudon (German: Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon (originally Laudohn or Loudon) (Tootzen, now Latvia, February 2, 1717 – July 14, 1790 in Nový Jičín, now Czech Republic) was an Austrian field marshal, one of the most...

 in 1760 during the Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

.

Tauentzien married Charlotte von dem Knesebeck, with whom he had two sons and four daughters. One of his sons was Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien

Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien

Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel Graf Tauentzien von Wittenberg was a Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars....

, a Prussian general during 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 died in Breslau; his funerary monument was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans

Carl Gotthard Langhans

Carl Gotthard Langhans was a Prussian builder and architect. His works are among the earliest buildings in the German classicism movement. His best-known work is the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.- Life :...

 and Johann Gottfried Schadow

Johann Gottfried Schadow

Johann Gottfried Schadow was a German sculptor.-Biography:Schadow was born in Berlin, where his father was a poor tailor....

. It was located in the middle of Breslau's Tauentzienplatz (now Plac Tadeusza Kościuszki) near the Schweidnitz

Swidnica

Świdnica is a city in south-western Poland in the region of Silesia. It has a population of 60,317 according to 2006 figures. It lies in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, being the seventh largest town in that voivodeship. From 1975–98 it was in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship...

 Gate where the general had personally defended against Austrian

Habsburg Monarchy

The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...

 troops in 1760. The plaza experienced Breslau's densest traffic until 1945. With the transfer of the city to Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the monument was leveled.