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SCHARNHORST, GERHARD JOHANN DAVID VON...
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See also:SCHARNHORST, See also:GERHARD JOHANN See also:DAVID VON (1755-1813) , Prussian See also:general, was See also:born at Bordenau near See also:Hanover, of a See also:farmer stock, on the 12th of See also:November 1755. He succeeded in educating himself and in securing See also:admission to the military See also:academy of Wilhelmstein, and in 1778 received a See also:commission in the Hanoverian service. He employed the intervals of regimental See also:duty in further self-See also:education and See also:literary See also:work. In 1783 he was transferred to the See also:artillery and appointed to the new artillery school in Hanover. He had already founded a military See also:journal which under various names endured till 18o5, and in 1788 he designed, and in See also:part published, a Handbuch See also:fur Offiziers in den anwendbaren Theilen der Kriegswissenschaften. He also published in 1792 his Militarische Taschenbuch fur den Gebrauch See also:im Felde. The income he derived from his writings was his See also:chief means of support, for he was still a See also:lieutenant, and though the See also:farm of Bordenau produced a small sum annually he had a wife (See also:Clara Schmalz, See also:sister of Theodor Schmalz, first director of See also:Berlin University) and See also:family to maintain. His first See also:campaign was that of 1793 in the See also:Netherlands, in which he served under the See also:duke of See also:York with distinction. In 1794 he took part in the See also:defence of See also:Menin and commemorated the See also:escape of the See also:garrison in his Vertheidigung der Stadt Menin (Hanover, 18o3),which, next to his See also:paper See also:Die Ursachen See also:des Glucksthe See also:staff of the Hanoverian contingent.
In 1795, after the See also:peace of See also:Basel, he returned to Hanover. He was by now so well known to the armies of the various allied states that from several of them he received invitations to See also:transfer his services. This in the end led to his engaging himself to the See also: He was employed, almost as a See also:matter of course, in important instructional work at the See also:War Academy of Berlin, he had See also:Clausewitz (q.v.) as one of his pupils, and he was the founder of the Berlin Military Society. In the mobilizations and precautionary See also:measures that marked the years 1804 and 18o5, and in the war of r8o6 that was the natural consequence, Scharnhorst was chief of the general staff (lieutenant-quartermaster) of the duke of See also:Brunswick, received a slight See also:wound at Auerstadt and distinguished himself by his stern See also:resolution during the See also:retreat of the Prussian See also:army. He attached himself to See also:Blucher in the last stages of the disastrous campaign, was taken prisoner with him at the See also:capitulation of Ratkau, and, being shortly exchanged, See also:bore a prominent and almost decisive part in the leading of L'Estocq's Prussian See also:corps which served with the Russians. For his services at See also:Eylau, he received the See also:order pour le merite. It was now evident that Scharnhorst was more than a brilliant staff officer. Educated in the traditions of the Seven Years' War, he had by degrees, as his experience widened, divested his mind of antiquated forms of war, and it had been See also:borne in upon him that a " See also:national " army and a policy of fighting decisive battles alone responded to the See also:political and strategical situation created by the See also:French Revolution. The steps by which he converted the professional See also:long-service army of Prussia, wrecked at See also:Jena, into the national army as we know it to-See also:day, based on universal service, were slow and laboured. He was promoted See also:major-general a few days after the peace of See also:Tilsit, and placed as the See also:head of a reform commission, to which were appointed the best of the younger See also:officers such as See also:Gneisenau, Grolman and Boyen. See also:Stein himself became a member of the commission and secured Scharnhorst See also:free See also:access to the king by causing him to be appointed aide-de-See also:camp-general. But See also:Napoleon's suspicions were quickly aroused, and the king had repeatedly to suspend or to See also:cancel the reforms recommended. In 1809 the war between See also:France and See also:Austria roused premature hopes in the patriots' party, which the conqueror did not fail to See also:note. By See also:direct application to Napoleon, Scharnhorst evaded the See also:decree of the 26th of See also:September 181o, whereby all foreigners were to leave the. Prussian service forthwith, but when in 1811—1812 Prussia was forced into an See also:alliance with France against See also:Russia and despatched an See also:auxiliary army to serve under Napoleon's orders, Scharnhorst See also:left Berlin on unlimited leave of See also:absence. In retirement he wrote and published a work on firearms, Uber die Wirkung des Feuergewehrs (1813). But the retreat from See also:Moscow at last sounded the See also:call to arms for the new national army of Prussia. Scharnhorst was recalled to the king's headquarters, and after refusing a higher See also:post was made chief of staff to Blucher, in whose vigour, See also:energy and See also:influence with the See also:young soldiers he had See also:complete confidence. The first See also:battle Li.itzen or See also:Gross-Gorschen was a defeat, but a very different defeat from those which Napoleon had hitherto been accustomed to inflict. In it Scharnhorst received a wound in the See also:foot, not in itself See also:grave, but soon made mortal by the fatigues of the retreat to See also:Dresden, and he succumbed to it on the 8th of See also:June at See also:Prague, whither he had been sent to negotiate with See also:Schwarzenberg and See also:Radetzky for the armed intervention of Austria. Shortly before his See also:death he had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. See also:Frederick See also: See also:Lehmann (Leipzig, 1886-1888, an important work in two volumes) ; also Max Jahns, Gesch. der Kriegswissenschaften, 2154; Weise, Scharnhorst and die Durchfuhrung der allgemeinen Wehrpflicht (1892); A. von Holleben, Der Frii.hjahrsfeldzug, i813 (1905); and F. N. See also:Maude, The Leipzig Campaign (1908). SCHAUMBURG-See also:LIPPE, a principality forming part of the See also:German See also:Empire, consisting of the western See also:half of the old countship of Schaumburg, and surrounded by See also:Westphalia, Hanover and the Prussian part of Schaumburg. See also:Area, 131 sq. m. Its See also:northern extremity is occupied by a See also:lake named the Steinhuder See also:Meer. The See also:southern part is hilly (Wesergebirge), but the See also:remainder consists of a fertile See also:plain. Besides husbandry, the inhabitants practise See also:yarn-See also:spinning and See also:linen-See also:weaving, and the See also:coal-mines of the Buckeberg, on the See also:south-eastern border, are very productive. The See also:great bulk of the See also:population (in 1905, 44,992), are See also:Lutherans. The See also:capital is See also:Buckeburg, and Stadthagen is the only other See also:town. Under the constitution of 1868 there is a legislative See also:diet of 15 members, to elected by the towns and rural districts and 1 each by the nobility, See also:clergy and educated classes, the remaining 2 nominated by the See also:prince. Schaumburg-Lippe sends one member to the Bundesrat (federal See also:council) and one See also:deputy to the reichstag. The See also:annual See also:revenue and See also:expenditure amount each to about £41,000. The public See also:debt is about £23,000. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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