Josias von Heeringen (9 March 1850 – 9 October 1926) was a German general of the imperial era who served as

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 Treaties of Tilsit. The War Ministry was to help bring the ...

and saw service in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Early life

Heeringen was born in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

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 prin ...

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

August von Heeringen 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 ...

(* 26. November 1855 in Kassel; † 29. September 1927 in Berlin), served as a naval officer and was a Chief of the

German Imperial Admiralty Staff The German Imperial Admiralty Staff (german: Admiralstab) was one of four Command (military formation), command agencies for the administration of the Imperial German Navy from 1899 to 1918. While the German Emperor Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Wil ...

. Josias von Heeringen married in 1874 Augusta von Dewall.

Career

After having served on various posts, in 1887 he became a major in the

Prussian Ministry 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 Treaties of Tilsit. The War Ministry was to help bring the ...

. From 1892 to 1895, he was a department head on the

German General Staff The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (german: Großer Generalstab), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the German Army, responsible for the continuou ...

. In 1898 he was appointed a Major-General and chosen to head the Army Administration Department of the Ministry of War. In 1901 he was made a

Generalleutnant is the Germanic variant of lieutenant general, used in some German speaking countries. Austria Generalleutnant is the second highest general officer rank in the Austrian Armed Forces (''Bundesheer''), roughly equivalent to the NATO rank of O ...

and in 1903 became head of the 22nd Division. In 1906 he was made a

General der Infanterie General of the Infantry is a military rank of a General officer in the infantry and refers to: * General of the Infantry (Austria) * General of the Infantry (Bulgaria) * General of the Infantry (Germany) ('), a rank of a general in the German Imper ...

, and also commander of the II Army Corps, whose headquarters was in

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

. From 1909 to 1913, he was

. Just like his predecessors,

Heinrich von Gossler Heinrich Wilhelm Martin von Goßler (29 September 1841, in Weißenfels, Province of Saxony – 10 January 1927, in Berlin-Wilmersdorf) was a Prussian General of the Infantry and Minister of War. He was a Knight of Justice (''Rechtsritter'') ...

and

Karl von Einem Karl Wilhelm Georg August von Einem genannt von Rothmaler (1 January 1853 – 7 April 1934) was the commander of the German 3rd Army during the First World War and served as the Prussian Minister of War responsible for much of the German milit ...

, von Heeringen thought that the army should not be expanded too quickly as wished by the General Staff. Instead he emphasized reformist efforts, placed more on the technical perfection of the army and the quality of the training. Heeringen stopped the immediate formation of three new army corps, delaying them to be planned for 1916 to 1921. This drew the ire of Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke and other officers like department chief

Erich Ludendorff Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (9 April 1865 – 20 December 1937) was a German general, politician and military theorist. He achieved fame during World War I for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. ...

. Heeringen asked to be released from his post in 1913. Afterwards he became Inspector-General of the II Army Inspectorate, headquartered in Berlin. When World War I began in August 1914 he was made commander of the Seventh Army, the army that was being used as a decoy for the attempted German invasion of France. He successfully defended

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

against the French in the

Battle of Mulhouse The Battle of Mulhouse (german: Mülhausen), also called the Battle of Alsace (french: Bataille d'Alsace), which began on 7 August 1914, was the opening attack of the First World War by the French Army against Germany. The battle was part of a ...

, for which he was awarded the

Pour le Mérite The ' (; , ) is an order of merit (german: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by Frederick the Great, 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 Or ...

on 28 August 1915. He´d receive the oak leaves one year later. In 1914 he had also received the

Freedom of the City The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

of Kassel. He commanded the Seventh Army until 1916, when he was transferred to command the German Coastal Defence for the rest of the war. He left active service with the rank of a Colonel General.

Later life

From 1918 to 1926, he was president of the

Kyffhäuserbund The Kyffhäuserbund ( en, link=yes, Kyffhäuser League) is an umbrella organization for war veterans' and reservists' associations in Germany based in Rüdesheim am Rhein. It owes its name to the Kyffhäuser Monument (german: Kyffhäuserdenkmal ...

. He died on 9 October 1926 in

Berlin-Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

Honours and awards

References

External links

* 1850 births 1926 deaths German untitled nobility German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War German Army generals of World War I Military personnel from Kassel People from the Electorate of Hesse Colonel generals of Prussia Prussian politicians Burials at the Invalids' Cemetery 19th-century Prussian military personnel Recipients of the Iron Cross (1870), 2nd class Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Grand Crosses of the Military Merit Order (Bavaria) Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd class {{Germany-army-bio-stub