Max von Bock und Polach (5 September 1842 – 4 March 1915) was a

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 ...

n officer and

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 ...

. He served in the military during the three wars of

German unification The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

under the leadership of Prime Minister

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 ...

Early life

Max came from the

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrecht ...

''Uradelsgeschlecht'' von Bock und Polach and was the second son of the Prussian captain Ernst von Bock und Polach (1799-1849). His older brother was the future Lord Mayor of

Mülheim an der Ruhr Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr () and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home to many compan ...

, Karl von Bock und Polach (1840-1902).

Military career

After visiting the

Cadet Corps A corps of cadets, also called cadet corps, was originally a kind of military school for boys. Initially such schools admitted only sons of the nobility or gentry, but in time many of the schools were opened also to members of other social classes. ...

, Bock und Polach joined the military, along with his brother Karl, in 1860, as a second lieutenant in Infantry Regiment No. 55 a. In 1864 he fought in the

German-Danish War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

of 1866. During the Franco-German War, he served as adjutant of the Lieutenant-General Adolf von Glümer, a Member of Staff of the 13th Division and was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

II Class. He was promoted to the rank of captain. He returned from the war and taught at the War College in Hanover. Shortly afterwards, he was transferred to Infantry Regiment No. 16. In 1872 he became à la suite of the 6th Westphalian Infantry Regiment "Graf Bülow of Dennewitz" No. 55. Von Bock und Polach became a

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in 1890. He returned a year later as a member of the Upper Military Study Commission and quartermaster in the Great General Staff. With his promotion to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

in 1893, he was appointed commander of the 20th Division in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. Von Bock und Polach was then promoted to general of infantry in 1897, the Commanding General of the Guard Corps. He led the XIV Army Corps in Karlsruhe from January 27, 1902 to September 10, 1907. In 1907 he became inspector general of the III Army inspection in Hanover. On September 18, 1908, he was appointed Colonel-General. Together with

Alfred von Schlieffen Graf Alfred von Schlieffen, generally called Count Schlieffen (; 28 February 1833 – 4 January 1913) was a German field marshal and strategist who served as chief of the Imperial German General Staff from 1891 to 1906. His name lived on in the ...

and

Colmar von der Goltz Wilhelm Leopold Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz (12 August 1843 – 19 April 1916), also known as ''Goltz Pasha'', was a Prussian Field Marshal and military writer. Military career Goltz was born in , East Prussia (later renamed Goltzhausen; now ...

, he was appointed Field marshal by the Emperor at the New Year celebration on January 1, 1911. In the fall of 1912, he submitted his resignation, which was granted with effect from September 13, 1912.

Family

Von Bock und Polach married on April 19, 1873, in Mehrum House, Mathilde Baroness von Plettenberg (1850-1924). They had three daughters.

Honours

;German orders and decorations ;Foreign orders and decorations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boch und Polach, Max von 1842 births 1915 deaths German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War Field marshals of Prussia Recipients of the Iron Cross (1870), 2nd class Grand Crosses of the Military Merit Order (Bavaria) Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau