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GOEBEN, AUGUST KARL VON (1816—188o)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 180 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GOEBEN, See also:AUGUST KARL VON (1816—188o) , Prussian See also:general of See also:infantry, came of old Hanoverian stock. See also:Born at See also:Stade on the loth of See also:December 1816, he aspired from his earliest years to the Prussian service rather than that of his own See also:country, and at the See also:age of seventeen obtained a See also:commission in the 24th See also:regiment of Prussian infantry. But there was little See also:scope there for the activities of a See also:young and energetic subaltern, and, leaving the service in 1836, he entered the Carlist See also:army campaigning in See also:Spain. In the five See also:campaigns which he made in the service of See also:Don See also:Carlos he had many and various vicissitudes of See also:fortune. He had not fought for two months when he See also:fell, severely wounded, into the hands of the See also:Spanish Royal troops. After eight months' detention he escaped, but it was not See also:long before he was captured again. This See also:time his imprisonment was long and painful, and on two occasions he was compelled to draw lots for his See also:life with his See also:fellow-captives. When released, he served till 184o with distinction. In that See also:year he made his way back, a See also:beggar without means or clothing, to See also:Prussia. The Carlist See also:lieutenant-See also:colonel was glad to be re-admitted into the Prussian service as a second lieutenant, but he was still young, and few subalterns could at the age of twenty-four claim five years' meritorious See also:war service. In a few years we find him serving as See also:captain on the See also:Great General See also:Staff, and in 1848 he had the See also:good fortune to be transferred to the staff of the IV. army See also:corps, his immediate See also:superior being See also:Major von See also:Moltke. The two " coming men " became fast See also:friends, and their mutual esteem was never disturbed.

In the See also:

Baden insurrection Goeben served with distinction on the staff of See also:Prince See also:William, the future See also:emperor. Staff and regimental See also:duty (as usual in the Prussian service) alternated for some years after this, till in 1863 he became major-general commanding the 26th infantry See also:brigade. In 186o, it should be mentioned, he was See also:present with the Spanish troops in See also:Morocco, and took See also:part in the See also:battle of See also:Tetuan. In the first of Prussia's great See also:wars (1864) he distinguished himself at the See also:head of his brigade at Rackebull and See also:Sonderburg. In the war of 1866 Lieutenant-General von Goeben commanded the 13th See also:division, of which his old brigade formed part, and, in this higher See also:sphere, once more displayed the qualities of a born See also:leader and skilful tactician. He held almost See also:independent command with conspicuous success in the actions of Dermbach, Laufach, See also:Kissingen, See also:Aschaffenburg, Gerchsheim, Tauber-Bischofsheim and See also:Wurzburg. The mobilization of 1870 placed him at the head of the VIII. (Rhineland) army corps, forming part of the First Army under See also:Steinmetz. It was his resolute and energetic leading that contributed mainly to the victory of Spicheren (6th August), and won the only laurels gained on the Prussian right wing at See also:Gravelotte (18th August). Under See also:Manteuffel the VIII. corps took part in the operations about See also:Amiens and Bapaume, and on the 8th of See also:January 1871 Goeben succeeded that general in the command of the First Army, with which he had served throughout the See also:campaign as a corps See also:commander. A fortnight later he had brought the war in See also:northern See also:France to a brilliant conclusion, by the decisive victory of St Quentin (18th and 19th January 1871). The See also:close of the Franco-See also:German War See also:left Goeben one of the most distinguished men in the victorious army.

He was colonel of the 28th infantry, and had the See also:

grand See also:cross of the See also:Iron Cross. He commanded the VIII. corps at See also:Coblenz until his See also:death in 1880. General von Goeben left many writings. His See also:memoirs are to be found in his See also:works Vier r ahre in Spanien (See also:Hanover, 1841), Reise-und Lagerbriefe aus Spanien and vom spanischen Heere in Marokko (Hanover, 1863) and in the See also:Darmstadt Allgemeine Militarzeitung. The former See also:French See also:port (Queuleu) at See also:Metz was renamed Goeben after him, and the 28th infantry bears his name. A statue of Goeben by Schaper was erected at Coblenz in 1884. See G. Zernin, Das Leben See also:des Generals August von Goeben (2 vols., See also:Berlin, 1895—1897) ; H. See also:Barth, A. von Goeben (Berlin, 1906) ; and, for his See also:share In the war of 1870—71; H. Kunz, Der Feldzug See also:im N. and N.W. Frankreichs 187o—187z (Berlin, 1889), and the 14th Monograph of the Great General Staff (1891).

End of Article: GOEBEN, AUGUST KARL VON (1816—188o)

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