Hans Albrecht von Barfus (1635 – 27 December 1704) was a

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

in the service of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

and

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, serving briefly as prime minister under King Frederick I.

Military career

Barfus was born in 1635 to a cuirassier captain

Hans Albrecht von Barfus Hans Albrecht von Barfus (1635 – 27 December 1704) was a field marshal in the service of Brandenburg and Prussia, serving briefly as prime minister under King Frederick I. Military career Barfus was born in 1635 to a cuirassier captain Han ...

. Retrieved November 26, 2010. and his wife. He served alongside the Swedes in 1656 during the

Second Northern War The Second Northern War (1655–60), (also First or Little Northern War) was fought between Sweden and its adversaries the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1655–60), the Tsardom of Russia (Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658), 1656–58), Brande ...

(as a lieutenant), and, now serving the

Elector of Brandenburg This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the period of time that Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the primary constituent states of the Hol ...

, quickly rose through the ranks, eventually being granted a colonelcy. By the time of the

battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna; pl, odsiecz wiedeńska, lit=Relief of Vienna or ''bitwa pod Wiedniem''; ota, Beç Ḳalʿası Muḥāṣarası, lit=siege of Beç; tr, İkinci Viyana Kuşatması, lit=second siege of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mou ...

he was a major-general, and served under

King John King John may refer to: Rulers * John, King of England (1166–1216) * John I of Jerusalem (c. 1170–1237) * John Balliol, King of Scotland (c. 1249–1314) * John I of France (15–20 November 1316) * John II of France (1319–1364) * John I o ...

of Poland during that campaign. When the Elector died, Frederick III took the position. During the

Nine Years War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

, Barfus commanded Brandenburg troops serving with the Dutch against France. In 1690, Barfus violently quarreled with a fellow Electoral officer, General von Schoning. The argument resulted in both men drawing their swords, but they were, with some difficulty, separated before either was injured. The Elector ordered the arrest of both men, and Schoning was dismissed from the army. Despite the slight damage to his reputation caused by the incident, Barfus was given command of a Brandenburg contingent assigned to an Austrian army invading

Ottoman Turk The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

territory. Despite suffering heavy losses, the German forces defeated the Turks, and Barfus was promoted to field marshal.

Prime minister

Barfus held several commands during the later part of the decade, including leading a detachment sent to secure the borders with Poland in the aftermath of the death of that nation's king. In 1699, with the fall from grace of his political ally

Eberhard von Danckelmann Eberhard Christoph Balthasar Freiherr von Danckelmann (23 November 1643 – 31 March 1722) was a German official who served as Prime Minister of Brandenburg-Prussia from 1692 to 1697. Danckelmann was born in Lingen to a middle-class family wh ...

, he was first made Governor of Berlin and then de facto prime minister, with authority over military, political, and financial affairs. Barfus, considered to be incorruptible,Druckansicht – Projekt Gutenberg-DE – Kultur – SPIEGEL ONLINE – Nachrichten
Retrieved November 26, 2010. enjoyed the premiership for only a brief time, as the Graf von Wartenburg rose to power later that year. However, when the Elector was crowned

King of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

, Barfus traveled with him as the army representative. He was, also, in 1701 granted the

Black Eagle The black eagle (''Ictinaetus malaiensis'') is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae, and is the only member of the genus ''Ictinaetus''. They soar over forests in the hilly regions of tropical and subtropical South ...

, the highest Prussian military award at the time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barfus, Hans Albrecht Von 1635 births 1704 deaths Chancellors of Germany Field marshals of Prussia People from the Kingdom of Prussia Brandenburgian nobility