Hans von Lehwald(t) (24 June 1685 – 16 November 1768), also known as Johann von Lehwald(t), was a

Prussian 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 e ...

Generalfeldmarschall ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (from Old High German ''marahscalc'', "marshal, stable master, groom"; en, general field marshal, field marshal general, or field marshal; ; often abbreviated to ''Feldmarschall'') was a rank in the armies of several ...

''. He joined the military in 1700 and participated in all Prussian field operations from the

War of Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phili ...

through the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...

. He served with particular distinction in

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

's war with the Austrians in the

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. S ...

and Seven Years' War.

Origins

Lehwaldt was born in Legitten near Labiau in the

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...

. His mother Marie Esther came from an old Prussian family, the ''

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empir ...

n'' von der Trenck.Bernhard von Poten
Lehwaldt, Hans von
''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,'' Band 18 (1883), S. 166–167, Digitale Volltext-Ausgabe in Wikisource, (Version vom 30 January2017, 19:35 Uhr UTC)

Military career

In 1699, Lehwaldt began his military service when he entered the battalion "Weiße Grenadier-Garde" (Nr. 18). He participated in the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

since 1702 and experienced his trial by fire in the September siege of

Venlo Venlo () is a city and municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg, about 50 km east of the city of Eindhoven, 65 km north east of the provincial capital Maastricht, a ...

. In spring 1704, his battalion fought in the

Battle of Blenheim The Battle of Blenheim (german: Zweite Schlacht bei Höchstädt, link=no; french: Bataille de Höchstädt, link=no; nl, Slag bij Blenheim, link=no) fought on , was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. The overwhelming Allied ...

, and Lehwaldt was promoted to '' Fähnrich'' on 16 September. From 29 September – 6 October he participated in the siege of Hagenau. He subsequently participated in the campaign in

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

against Sweden in 1715, during the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swe ...

Activities in War of Austrian Succession

At the beginning of Prussia's war with Austria, he was garrisoned with Prince Leopold von Anhalt's army in Brandenburg, and marched with Leopold and

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...

in 1742 to Silesia. There he participated in the

Battle of Chotusitz The Battle of Chotusitz, or Chotusice, sometimes called the Battle of Čáslav, took place on 17 May 1742, in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic; it was part of the 1740 to 1742 First Silesian War, itself a subsidiary of the wider War of the Austr ...

on 17 May. Prussian success at this battle led to the Treaty of Breslau. In the Second Silesian war he was, first, with General Marwitz in Upper Silesia, and then commanded a special corps against the Austrians on 14 February 1745 at Halberschwerdt. His actions there confirmed Frederick's faith in him. Frederick awarded Lehwaldt the

Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eag ...

in 1742 after the

First Silesian War The First Silesian War (german: Erster Schlesischer Krieg, links=no) was a war between Prussia and Austria that lasted from 1740 to 1742 and resulted in Prussia's seizing most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland) from Austria. T ...

and the

Order of the Black Eagle The Order of the Black Eagle (german: Hoher Orden vom Schwarzen Adler) was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg (who became Friedrich I, King i ...

on 4 February 1744. Lehwaldt was promoted to ''

'' on 22 January 1751. Frederick also awarded him a diamond-covered medallion portrait of himself on a blue band. Wilhelm Dietrich von Buddenbrock and Friedrich Wilhelm von Dossow were the only other recipients of the medallion.MacDonogh, p. 247

Seven Years' War

As political tensions mounted in 1756, Frederick sent Lehwaldt, who commanded of forces in East Prussia, one hundred officers' patents to fill as he saw fit, expecting him to strengthen the army there. The Russian field marshal

Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin Stepan Fyodorovich Apraksin (russian: Степан Фёдорович Апраксин; - ), a relative of Fyodor M. Apraksin, commanded the Russian armies during the Seven Years' War. He should not be confused with his son Stepan Stepanovich ...

commanded an army of approximately 55,000 men and entered East Prussia in 1756 and captured Memel, which became the army's base for an invasion of the rest of Prussia. Apraksin tried to encircle the Prussians with his larger army, which Lehwaldt was able to avoid; instead, Lehwaldt's 25,000 troops intercepted a corps of Russians commanded by Vasily Loupukhin at Gross Jägersdorf. Loupukhin was killed, and the rest of Apraksin's army came to the aid of the Russians. Lehwaldt lost 4,600 casualties and Apraxin 7,000. Apraxin marched on

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was ...

but his troops, lacking in supplies, suffered considerable attrition. Although Lehwaldt withdrew his corps from the battle, the Russians were unable to follow up on the victory. Apraxin retreated from the province after hearing a false report that Empress

Elizabeth of Russia Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian ...

had died. Lehwaldt then oversaw the

Blockade of Stralsund The Blockade of Stralsund occurred during the Seven Years' War when a Prussian force invested the Swedish garrison of Stralsund, the capital of Swedish Pomerania. Rather than lay formal siege to the port, the Prussians cut it off by land an ...

, keeping Swedish forces pinned down on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. Because of his poor health, Lehwaldt was transferred to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, where he became governor of the city in 1759. Lehwaldt and Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, both invalids by that time, were unable to resist the Allied capture and looting of the relatively defenseless Berlin and

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of ...

in October 1760 by 15,000

Austrians , pop = 8–8.5 million , regions = 7,427,759 , region1 = , pop1 = 684,184 , ref1 = , region2 = , pop2 = 345,620 , ref2 = , region3 = , pop3 = 197,990 , ref3 ...

and 23,600

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

.MacDonogh, pp. 298–9 Lehwaldt died in Königsberg in 1768 and was buried in the Juditten Church.

References

Bibliography

* * Joachim Engelmann und Günter Dorn: ''Friedrich der Große und seine Generale'', Friedberg 1988. * Bernhard von Poten: '' Lehwaldt, Hans von''. In: ''

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Ac ...

'' (ADB). Bd. 18, S. 166–67. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehwaldt, Hans von 1685 births 1768 deaths People from Kaliningrad Oblast People from the Duchy of Prussia German untitled nobility Field marshals of Prussia German military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession German military personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession Prussian military personnel of the Seven Years' War Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) People of the Silesian Wars