Leopold Hermann Ludwig von Boyen (20 June 1771 – 15 February 1848) 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...

 army officer who helped to reform 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 the early 19th century. He also served as minister of war of Prussia in the period 1810-1813 and later again from 1 March 1841 – 6 October 1847.

Life

Born in Kreuzburg

Slavskoye, Russia

Slavskoye is a settlement in the Bagrationovsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located south of Kaliningrad.-History:In 1240, the Teutonic Knights founded a castle in the region of Natangia at the location of an Old Prussians settlement. In 1315 Kreuzburg received its town privileges...

 (today's Slavskoye, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

) in East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...

, Boyen joined the army in 1784 in Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

. In 1788, as a newly-minted second lieutenant, he took up a post in the military academy in Königsberg, where he also attended some of the lectures of Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....

.

From 1794-96, Boyen took part in the Polish campaign

Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...

 as Adjutant to General von Günther. In 1799, he became a Captain. He served in the war of 1806 on the General Staff of the Duke of Brunswick, and was wounded at the Battle of Auerstädt (14 October 1806). After the Treaty of Tilsit (July 1807) he became a Major and a member of Gerhard von Scharnhorst

Gerhard von Scharnhorst

Gerhard Johann David Waitz von Scharnhorst was a general in Prussian service, Chief of the Prussian General Staff, noted for both his writings, his reforms of the Prussian army, and his leadership during the Napoleonic Wars....

's commission for military re-organisation.

By 1810 Boyen had become Director of the Military Cabinet

German Imperial Military Cabinet

The Prussian Military Cabinet or the German Military Cabinet was a military institution under the direct command authority of the Prussian king and German emperor for handling personnel matters of the army officer corps....

. In the re-constitution of the Prussian army he functioned as Scharnhorst's most diligent helper, but after the conclusion of the alliance between Prussia and France in 1812 he resigned his commission as a Colonel and visited Vienna and St Petersburg. The events of 1813 saw him recalled to the Prussian service: as a colonel he accompanied the Russian army from its base in Kalisz

Kalisz

Kalisz is a city in central Poland with 106,857 inhabitants , the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, the city forms a conurbation with the nearby towns of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Nowe Skalmierzyce...

 to Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

. After the Battle of Lützen

Battle of Lützen (1813)

In the Battle of Lützen , Napoleon I of France lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap, halting the advances of the Sixth Coalition after his devastating losses in Russia. The Russian commander, Prince Peter Wittgenstein, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig, attacked...

 (2 May 1813) he had charge of the border guards and ultimately the defence of Berlin. But during the truce King Frederick William III

Frederick William III of Prussia

Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...

 named him Chief of General Staff of the 3rd Army Corps. As such, Boyen participated in the battles and skirmishes of 1813 and 1814 and gained promotion to Major-General.

After the first Peace of Paris

Treaty of Paris (1814)

The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars, following an armistice signed on 23 May between Charles, Count of Artois, and the allies...

 (30 May 1814) Boyen took up his appointment as War Minister

Prussian Minister of War

The Prussian War Ministry was gradually established between 1808 and 1809 as part of a series of reforms initiated by the Military Reorganization Commission created after the disastrous Treaty of Paris. The War Ministry was to help bring the army under constitutional control, and, along with the...

. He completed the setting up of the Landwehr reserve (begun during the war) and in 1818 became a Lieutenant General. He struggled in vain against growing reactionary forces which endangered the broad popular base of the Landwehr, and resigned in 1819.
For 21 years Boyen lived in retirement, occupying himself with historical studies, until King Frederick William IV

Frederick William IV of Prussia

|align=right|Upon his accession, he toned down the reactionary policies enacted by his father, easing press censorship and promising to enact a constitution at some point, but he refused to enact a popular legislative assembly, preferring to work with the aristocracy through "united committees" of...

, immediately after ascending the throne, recalled him to active service, and promoted him to General of the Infantry. In March 1841 he once again took over the War Ministry, though without achieving a great influence in the general political situation. He resigned in November 1847, received the rank of Field Marshal

Generalfeldmarschall

Field Marshal or Generalfeldmarschall in German, was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire; in the Austrian Empire, the rank Feldmarschall was used...

, and died on 15 February 1848. The King named the fortress of Lötzen

Gizycko

Giżycko is a town in northeastern Poland with 29,796 inhabitants . It is situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship , having previously been in the Suwałki Voivodeship . It is the seat of Giżycko County.-History:...

 in East Prussia after him.

Boyen's son, also named Hermann von Boyen, was General Adjutant to the King. He retired a Governor of Berlin in 1879. Hermann von Boyen was buried at the Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery

Invalidenfriedhof Cemetery

The Invalids' Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Berlin. It was the traditional resting place of the Prussian Army, and is regarded as particularly important as a memorial to the German Wars of Liberation of 1813-15.-History:...

 in 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...

. The former football club Yorck Boyen Insterburg

Yorck Boyen Insterburg

Yorck Boyen Insterburg was a German association football club from the city of Insterburg, East Prussia .The team was founded in 1921 as Sport-Verein Yorck Insterburg and was merged in 1934 with Militär Sport-Verein von Boyen Tilsit to form the army side Militär Sport-Verein Yorck von Boyen...

 was named in honor of Boyen.

Works

Hermann von Boyen wrote (among other works):

• Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Generals v. Scharnhorst (1833)
• Erinnerungen aus dem Leben des Generalleutnants v. Günther (1834).
• Vorwärts!: ein Husaren-Tagebuch und Feldzugsbriefe von Gebhardt Leberecht von Blücher etc. (1914, diary during his period under the Hussars)
• Gesammelte Schriften und Briefe / Blücher, Yorck, Gneisenau; zusammengestellt und hrsg. von Edmund Th. Kauer (1932, letters, including those to Yorck and Gneisenau)
• Kampagne-Journal der Jahre 1793 und 1794 (1796, campaign journal)

He also wrote the song "Der Preußen Losung" (1838).

External links

• Prussian history German language