August von Heeringen (26 November 1855 – 29 September 1927) was a Prussian admiral of the German Empire. He headed the Imperial Navy News Office (Nachrichtenbureau des Reichsmarineamts) and served as the Chief of the German Naval General Staff ( Admiralstab) 12 March 1911 – 31 March 1913, and was present at the famous

War Council A council of war is a term in military science that describes a meeting held to decide on a course of action, usually in the midst of a battle. Under normal circumstances, decisions are made by a commanding officer, optionally communicated ...

of 8 December 1912.

Early life

Heeringen was born in Kassel in the

Electorate of Hesse The Electorate of Hesse (german: Kurfürstentum Hessen), also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen, was a landgraviate whose prince was given the right to elect the Emperor by Napoleon. When the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, its p ...

. He was the son of Josias von Heeringen (1809–1885) and his wife Ehefrau Karoline von Starkloff (1817–1871). His elder brother

Josias von Heeringen Josias von Heeringen (9 March 1850 – 9 October 1926) was a German general of the imperial era who served as Prussian Minister of War and saw service in the First World War. Early life Heeringen was born in Kassel in the Electorate of Hesse ...

was a general.

Career

He worked with leaders of the German Empire such as Kaiser

Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

, and admirals

Alfred von Tirpitz Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German grand admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussi ...

Georg Alexander von Müller Georg Alexander von Müller (24 March 1854 – 18 April 1940) was an Admiral of the Imperial German Navy and a close friend of the Kaiser in the run up to the First World War. Career Müller grew up in Sweden, where his father worked as a pro ...

Gustav von Senden-Bibran Gustav Freiherr (Baron) von Senden-Bibran (23 July 1847, Reisicht, Lower Silesia, Germany – 23 November 1909 in Berlin) was an admiral of the German Imperial Navy. Biography His father was a Silesian landowner who had served in the Austr ...

, and Friedrich von Hollmann to build a strong German navy. He saw it as a means to secure Germany's position on the world stage. Also, he saw a great national navy as a unifying force for an empire still divided into various kingdoms. At the Navy News Office he worked with and attempted to direct pressure groups such as the Pan-German League and the Colonial Society ( Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft), and the

Navy League (Germany) The Navy League or Fleet Association (german: Deutscher Flottenverein) in Imperial Germany was an interest group formed on April 30, 1898 on initiative of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz through the German Imperial Naval Office (''Reichsmarineamt'') w ...

(Flottenverein). In March 1896, at the request of Admiral

Otto von Diederichs Ernst Otto von Diederichs (7 September 1843 – 8 March 1918) was an Admiral of the Imperial German Navy (''Kaiserliche Marine''), serving in the Prussian Navy and the North German Federal Navy. Early life Diederichs was born 7 September 1843 in ...

, Chief of Staff of the Naval High Command he produced the first naval plans for a war against

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, which emphasized rapid mobilization and preemptive strikes.By order of the Kaiser: Otto von Diederichs and the rise of the Imperial German Navy, 1865-1902 by Terrell D. Gottschall; Institute Press, 2003, 337 pages, p. 125. He had become something of a follower of Tirpitz, and, when the latter took over the

German Imperial Naval Office The Imperial Naval Office (german: Reichsmarineamt) was a government agency of the German Empire. It was established in April 1889, when the German Imperial Admiralty was abolished and its duties divided among three new entities: the Imperial Na ...

(Reichsmarineamtin) in 1897, he followed to head up the Central Division (Zentralabteilung). At the Kaiser's request in January 1913, he was involved in efforts to plan a coordinated wartime use of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

fleets in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

to prevent French troop movements from

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

.Austro-Hungarian naval policy, 1904-14 by Milan N. Vego; Taylor & Francis, 1996, 213 pages. pp.117-8.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heeringen, August von 1855 births 1927 deaths Admirals of the Imperial German Navy Military personnel from Kassel