August Ludwig von Rochau (20 August 1810 in

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest c ...

– 15 October 1873 in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

) was a German journalist and politician. He engaged in the '' Frankfurter Wachensturm'' of 1833 and subsequently spent ten years of exile in France. He published the famous ''Grundsätze der Realpolitik, angewendet auf die staatlichen Zustände Deutschlands'' ("Practical Politics: an Application of its Principles to the Situation of the German States") in 1853.

Biography

Rochau was born out of wedlock in northern Germany in 1810. Rochau studied law, history, and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

. He was among the fifty students who stormed the Hauptwache (guard house or police headquarters) in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. After the failure of the uprising, Rochau was arrested and condemned to prison for life. However, his friends helped him escape to France, where he lived in exile for the next ten years and wrote essays for

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

German newspapers. He operated as a political journalist during the

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

. With the restoration of power by

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

and King

Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...

in Berlin, Rochau fled to Italy. From

in 1853, he wrote his most famous essay, the ''Principles of Realpolitik''. In 1869 he became a deputy to the North German Reichstag following a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

, and was elected to the first German Reichstag in 1871, as a member of the National Liberal Party.

Writings

Rochau wrote eleven books, his most celebrated of those being ''Grundsätze der Realpolitik'' (1853). An expanded version of the book was re-published in 1869.

References

External links

*
''Grundsätze der Realpolitik''
Vol. 1, first edition (Stuttgart: Göpel, 1853).
''Grundsätze der Realpolitik''
Vol. 1, enlarged edition with introduction (Stuttgart: Göpel, 1859).
''Grundsätze der Realpolitik''
Vol. 2 (Stuttgart: Göpel, 1869). 1810 births 1873 deaths People from Wolfenbüttel People from the Duchy of Brunswick German Lutherans National Liberal Party (Germany) politicians Members of the 1st Reichstag of the German Empire German political writers 19th-century German people German revolutionaries German expatriates in France German male non-fiction writers 19th-century Lutherans {{Germany-politician-stub

Biography

Writings

References

Further reading

External links