Friedrich Wilhelm Rüstow (25 May 1821 – 14 August 1878) was a

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

-born Swiss soldier and military writer. Rüstow was born in

Brandenburg an der Havel Brandenburg an der Havel (; ) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, which served as the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg until it was replaced by Berlin in 1417. With a population of 72,040 (as of 2020), it is located on the banks of the ...

in the

Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg () was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1947. Brandenburg was established in 1815 from the Kingdom of Prussia's core territory, comprised the bulk of the historic Margraviate of Brandenburg (excluding Altmark) and ...

. He entered the Prussian Army and served for some years, until the publication of ''Der deutsche Militärstaat vor und während der Revolution'' (Zürich, 1850). Rüstow participated in the

Revolution 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 revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

. He was sentenced by a

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

to 32½ years of fortress imprisonment, but succeeded in escaping to Switzerland, where he obtained a military posting. By 1857 he was a major on the engineer staff. Three years later Rüstow accompanied

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

in the famous expedition against the

Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and land are ...

as colonel and

Chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

, and to him must be ascribed the victories of

Capua Capua ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, located on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etruscan ''Capeva''. The ...

(10 September 1860) and

Volturno The Volturno (ancient Latin name Volturnus, from ''volvere'', to roll) is a river in south-central Italy. Geography It rises in the Abruzzese central Apennines of Samnium near Castel San Vincenzo (province of Isernia, Molise) and flows southe ...

(1 October 1860). At the end of the campaign he settled down in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. At the outbreak of the 1870

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

, he offered his services to Prussia, but was rejected. In 1878, on the foundation of a military professorship at Zürich, Rüstow applied for the post, but taught only short, and, on its being given finally to another officer (Emil Rothpletz), lost heart and committed suicide at

Aussersihl Aussersihl is a district in the Swiss city of Zürich. Known officially as District number 4, the district is known as colloquially ''Chreis Cheib'', ''cheib'' being the Zürich German word for an animal cadaver. It earned the name as the area h ...

near Zürich. Two of Rüstow's younger brothers were distinguished Prussian soldiers,

Alexander Rüstow Alexander Rüstow (8 April 1885 – 30 June 1963) was a German sociologist and economist. At the Colloque Walter Lippmann in August 1938 he popularised the term "neoliberalism". He became one of the fathers of the "Social Market Economy" that ...

and

Cäsar Rüstow Cäsar Rüstow (18 June 1826 – 4 July 1866) was a Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian soldier and military writer. The brother of Wilhelm Rüstow and Alexander Rüstow (soldier), Alexander Rüstow, Cäsar Rüstow was one of the foremost experts of hi ...

. He was also the great-uncle of the sociologist

Works

Amongst Rüstow's works, which covered nearly every branch of the military art, a large number must be mentioned.

Historical

* ''Heerwesen und Kriegführung Julius Cäsars'' (Gotha, 1855; 2nd ed., Nordhausen, 1862) * ''Kommentar zu Napoleon III's Geschichte Julius Cäsars'' (Stuttgart, 1865–67) * ''Geschichte des griechischen Kriegswesens'' (in collaboration with

Hermann Köchly Hermann August Theodor Köchly (born Leipzig, 5 August 1815; died Trieste, 3 December 1876) was a German philologist and educational reformer. Biography He studied at Leipzig, taught at the Saalfeld Progymnasium (1837) and at the Dresden Kreuzsch ...

, Aarau, 1852) * ''Militar. Biographen (David,

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

, Montluc)'' (Zürich, 1858) * ''Geschichte der Infanterie'' (Gotha, 1857–58; 3rd ed., 1884) * * ''Der Krieg von 1805 in Deutschland und Italien'' (Frauenfeld, 1854)
''Geschichte des ungarischen Revolutionskrieges in den Jahren 1848 und 1849''. Vol 1, Zürich, Schultheß, 1860. Digitized by the Bavarian State Library
* reminiscences of 1860 in Italy (Leipzig, 1861) * monograph on the campaigns of 1848–49 in Italy (Zürich, 1849) * monograph on the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

(Zürich, 1855–56).

Critical and general

* ''Allgemeine Taktik'' (Zürich, 1858; 2nd ed., 1868) * ''Kriegspolitik und Kriegsgebrauch'' (Zürich, 1876) * ''Militär-Handwörterbuch'' (Zürich, 1859) * ''Die Feldherrenkunst des 19. Jahrhunderts'' (Zürich, 1857; 3rd ed., 1878–79) * French edition
''L'art militaire au XIXe siècle: études stratégiques et tactiques sur les guerres les plus récentes''. 3 Bände, Paris, Dumaine 1875–1880.
* ''Der Krieg und seine Mittel'' (Leipzig, 1856). He also wrote ''Annalen des Königreichs Italien'' (Zürich, 1862–63). See Zernim, "F. W. Rüstow," in ''Unsere Zeit.'' vol. 2 (Leipzig, 1882).

Notes

References

* * Marcel Herwegh: ''Guillaume Rustow. Un grand Soldat – Un grand Caractère (1821–1878), avec des lettres inédites en fac-similé de Garibaldi et de Bismarck''. Paris, Neuchâtel, Editions V. Attinger, 1935 * Robert von Steiger: ''Der Rüstow-Prozess, 1848–1850: Eine wehrpolitische Kontroverse''. Dissertation, Berne, 1937. * Peter Wiede: ''Wilhelm Rüstow, 1821–1878, ein Militärschriftsteller der deutschen Linken''. Dissertation Munich 1957 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rustow, Wilhelm 1821 births 1878 deaths People from Brandenburg an der Havel Prussian Army personnel 19th-century Swiss military personnel Academic staff of ETH Zurich Academic staff of the University of Zurich Military personnel from the Province of Brandenburg Writers from the Province of Brandenburg Swiss non-fiction writers Swiss male writers German military writers German male non-fiction writers Military personnel from Brandenburg