Karl Ferdinand von Hagen, also called Karl Ferdinand von Geist (born 1711; died 19 February 1759 in Bautzen), was a Prussian major general and

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

of Infantry Regiment No. 8. He died from injuries received at the Battle of Hochkirch

Family

Hagen's family came from the Mansfeld branch of the Hagen noble family. His father was chamberlain for the Polish King Stanisław Leszczyński. Karl Ferdinand von Hagen was married to a woman from the Behr family; she predeceased him (breast cancer) in Potsdam in January 1756,''Neue genealogisch-historische Nachrichten''
S.667
/ref> and he left no heirs.

Military service

As a young man, he joined the life regiment of King Frederick William I. On 4 August 1740 he became

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

and joined the first battalion of the life regiment of the new king Frederick II. There he received the rank of a captain. In 18 June 1745, he became Chief of Staff of the Guard, with the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. In the First Silesian War, he led his own grenadier battalion composed of companies from Regiments No. 5

Wedel Wedel is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, approximately south of Elmshorn, and west of Hamburg. History Foundation and Middle Ages The first known mention of ...

and No. 20 (Voigt). Hagen received command of a grenadier battalion in the

Second Silesian War The Second Silesian War (german: Zweiter Schlesischer Krieg, links=no) was a war between Prussia and Austria that lasted from 1744 to 1745 and confirmed Prussia's control of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland). The war was fough ...

, this time from companies of Regiments No. 13 Truchsess and No. 37 (Moulin). Anton Balthasar König, Biographisches Lexikon aller Helden und Militairpersonen
Karl Ferdinand, Freyherr von Hagen sonst Geist
Arnold Wever, Berlin, 1789. pp. 111–112. On 27 October 1745, he took over the company of Lieutenant-Colonel von Wedel, who had fallen in the Battle of Soor. In July 1755 he was promoted to colonel and at the same time became captain of the guard. He was promoted to the major of the guard in August 1756, and became commander of the second and third battalions of the guard. On 3 January 1757 he was appointed major general. After the Battle of Prague in 1757, he commanded Infantry Regiment No. 8. He was badly injured in the debacle at

Hochkirch Hochkirch (German) or Bukecy (Upper Sorbian) is a municipality in the district of Bautzen, in Saxony, Germany. It is known for the 1758 Battle of Hochkirch, part of the Seven Years' War. The municipality (except Breitendorf) is part of the recogn ...

, when Frederick tried to retake the village. He was carried with the army to Bautzen, where he died on 19 February 1759.

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hagen, Karl Ferdinand 1759 deaths Major generals of Prussia 1711 births Prussian military personnel of the Seven Years' War Military personnel killed in action