Eduard von Peucker

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Eduard von Peucker, copperplate by Auguste Hüssener


Eduard Peucker, (from 1816 von Peucker) (* 19 January 1791 in Schmiedeberg; † 10 February 1876 in Berlin) was an officer of Royal Prussian Army who played important roles in the modernization of the Prussian artillery, the introduction of improved firearms to the Prussian infantry, the unification of Germany, the advancement of the applicatory method of military education, and the study of the military history of the Germanic peoples of the ancient world.


Life

Early Life

Peucker was born to Christiane Henriette Peucker, née Klaußen, and her husband, Christian Ephraim Peucker, on 19 January 1791.[1] Christian Peucker, who worked as a merchant, estate owner, and forest inspector, belonged to a family that had lived in Bernstadt an der Weide since 1664. [2]

Peucker attended the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium in Breslau, with a view to preparing himself to study law. However, after hearing a relative of General August Neidhardt von Gneisenau give a passionate speech about the national revival of Prussia, he decided that, rather than going to university, he would pursue a military career. So, after passing his final examinations, he joined the Prussian Army.[3]

Napoleonic Wars

On 24 June 1809, Peucker entered the 4th Foot Company of the Silesian Artillery Brigade as a gentleman volunteer. On 1 October 1810, having attained the rank of Unteroffizier, Peucker matriculated at the War School (Kriegschule) in Breslau, where he performed so well in his studies that he was given the task of correcting the mathematical exercises of his classmates.[4]

In 1811, Peucker was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. In that same year, his company joined the Auxiliary Corps (Hilfskorps), a formation of some 21,000 men that Prussia was obligated to provide to the army of the French Empire.[5] In 1812, Peucker's company, along with the rest of the Auxiliary Corps, took part in Napoleon's invasion of Russia. During the retreat from Russia, he served as an adjutant to commanding officer of the artillery of that formation.[6]

In 1813, after the Auxiliary Corps switched sides and joined the alliance against Napoleon, Peucker distinguished himself by swimming across the flood-swollen waters of a river in order to obtain ammunition for the artillery of that formation. On 29 September 1813, Prince August of Prussia issued a directive that described this deed as a model of soldierly achievement.[7] Subsequently, Peucker was mentioned in dispatches, and awarded both the Iron Cross (Second Class) and the Russian Order of St. Vladimir (Fourth Class), for his exemplary conduct at the Battle of Möckern.

During the first day of the Battle of Paris (1814) (30 March 1814), Peucker served with such great distinction that he was awarded the Iron Cross (First Class).[8]

On 7 June 1815, Peucker was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant.[9]

Peacetime Military Service

On 16 May 1816, Peucker was elevated to the nobility, thereby earning the right to add the preposition "von" to his family name.

In June of 1816, Peucker reported for duty with the War Ministry in Berlin. [10]

Sometime before 8 December 1816, Peucker was promoted to the rank of captain. (In an announcement of his first marriage, which took place on that day, he is described as "Eduard von Peucker, Hauptmann.") [11]

On 11 October 1820, Peucker joined the Commission on Military Studies (Militair-Studien Kommission). [12]

On 4 February 1822, Peucker was promoted to the rank of major. In 1825, he took charge of the Artillery Office (Artillerieabtheilung) of the General War Department (allgemein Kriegsdepartement), where he led the effort to rationalize the weaponry of the Prussian Army. This program included a reform of the ordnance mounted in fortresses, improvements to the guns and howitzers of the Prussian artillery, and the introduction of the breech-loading needle gun.

In 1834, Peucker received an accelerated (außer der Reihe) promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1836, he was promoted to the rank of colonel.

In 1842, Peucker was promoted to the rank of brigadier general (Generalmajor).

In January of 1843, he became a special assistant to General Hermann von Boyen, who was then serving as minister of war. In April of 1843, he joined the commission charged with the writing of new service regulations.[13]

On 4 January 1844, Peucker was designated an "inspector of artillery."[14]

German Civil War of 1848-1849

In May of 1848, Peucker became the Prussian military commissioner to the Federal Military Commission (Bundesmilitärkommission) of the German Confederation in Frankfurt am Main. On 15 July 1848, the regent Archduke John of Austria appointed Peucker to the position of federal war minister (Reichskriegsminister].

One of Peucker's first acts as federal war minister was the sending out of a circular letter, dated 16 July 1848, to the war ministers of the various states of the German Confederation. This document, known as the "decree of homage" (Huldigungserlass), asked the war ministers to hold military parades on 6 August 1848, during which the troops of their respective states would render honors to both the regent and the German national flag.

In September of 1848, Peucker organized the suppression of a revolt in Frankfurt am Main.

On 8. Mai 1849, Peucker was promoted to the rank of major-general (Generalleutnant).

On 10 May 1849, Prussia rejected the imperial constitution championed by Peucker's colleagues in the federal cabinet. In response, the entire cabinet resigned. Nonetheless, Peucker served in the two conservative cabinets that were formed after this incident and, for a short while, served on the Federal Central Commission (Bundeszentralkommission) that handled federal affairs for the central government.

On 10 June 1849, Peucker took command of the Neckar Corps, a formation composed of elements from several German states that had been assembled to suppress the revolution that had broken out in the Grand Duchy of Baden.

In December of 1849, Peucker became Prussian representative to the Federal Central Commission of the German Confederation (Bundeszentralkommission zur Erhaltung des Deutschen Bundes).

Between of December of 1850 and February of 1851, Peucker served as the Prussian military commissioner to the Electorate of Kassel.

Reform of Prussian Military Education

In 1854, Peucker was appointed as the inspector general of military training and education [Generalinspektor des Militärerziehungs- und Bildungswesens]. In that position, he carried out a thoroughgoing reform of the military school system of the Prussian Army and promoted the use of the applicatory method as a means of teaching tactics, military history, and the operational art.

On 22 November 1858, Peucker was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general (General der Infanterie).

Honors

In 1860, the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin granted Peucker the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy.

On 18 October 1861 Peucker was decorated with the grand cross (with swords) of the Order of the Red Eagle (Roter Adlerorden).

On 17 March 1863 Peucker was dubbed a knight of the Order of the Black Eagle (Schwarzer Adlerorden).

On 21 November 1872, Peucker retired from active service. On that same day, he was named honorary colonel (Regimentschef) of the 6th Silesian Field Artillery Regiment (Schlesischen Feld-Artillerie Regiment Nr. 6).

On 24 November 1872, Peucker was granted a lifetime appointment to the House of Lords (Herrenhaus) of the Prussian Parliament.

On 13 Februar 1873, Peucker's remains were interred in the Dorotheenstädt cemetery in Berlin.

On 27 January 1889, the War Ministry of the Kingdom of Prussia promulgated a reform of unit designations that, among other things, renamed an artillery regiment in honor of General Peucker. What had been the 6th Silesian Field Artillery Regiment (Schlesische Feld-Artillerie Regiment Nr. 6), the unit of which Peucker had been the honorary colonel, thus became Field Artillery Regiment von Peucker (Silesian) Number 6 (Feld-Artillerie Regiment von Peucker (Schlesische) Nr. 6).[15]

Family

Peucker married twice. On 8 December 1816 he married Christiane (* 8 December 1792 in Berlin; † 7 September 1817), the daughter of Werner Friedrich Rimpler. Three years after the death of his first wife, Peucker married (on 19. November 1820 in Zeesen, Countess Clara von der Schulenburg-Ottleben (February 1802 in Ottleben; † 17 August 1837 in Berlin).

The first marriage produced no children. The second was blessed with one daughter and two sons. These were:

  • Clara (* 20. November 1821 in Berlin)
  • Eduard (* 4. November 1823 in Berlin; † 13. April 1897 in Flechtingen)
  • Werner (* 19. März 1825 in Berlin; † 27. Mai 1825) [16]

Writings

  • Das deutsche Kriegswesen der Urzeit in seinen Verbindungen und Wechselwirkungen mit dem gleichzeitigen Staats- und Volksleben [German Military Methods in Antiquity with Respect to their Connections and Interactions with the Contemporary Life of the State and the People], published in three parts (Berlin: Decker, 1860–64)

([1]) ([2]) ([3])

  • Beiträge zur Beleuchtung einiger Grundlagen für die künftige Wehrverfassung Deutschlands. [Contribution to the Illumination of a Foundation for the Future Defense Establishment of Germany] (Frankfurt am Main: S. Schmerber'schen, 1848) [4]
  • Denkschrift über den geschichtlichen Verlauf, welchen die Vorschriften über das von den Offizier-Aspiranten darzulegende Maaß an formaler Bildung und die Erfolge dieser Vorschriften seit der Reorganisation des Heeres im Jahre 1808 genommen haben [Memorandum on the Historical Path Taken by the Regulations Related to the Formal Education Required of Officer Candidates and the Results Achieved by these Regulations since the Army Reorganization of 1808] (Berlin: Decker, 1861)
  • "Ein Wort über Artillerie, und worin das wahre Verdienst dieser Waffe gesucht werden muß; mit Bezugname auf den Aufsatz des Herrn Professor Benzenberg, im 48sten Stück des Militair- Wochenblatts." ["A word about artillery, and where the real merit of that arm must be sought; with reference to the article by Professor Benzenberg, in the 48th edition of the Military Weekly"] "<ref>Militair-Wochenblatt (Military Weekly), Volume 2, Number 51 (14 June 1817), pages 185-187 ([5])

Literature

  • Kurt von Priesdorff: Soldatisches Führertum [Soldierly Leadership] Band 6, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt, Hamburg, [1938], S. 146–152.
  • Detlef Bald: Bildung und Militär : das Konzept des Reformers Eduard von Peucker [Education and the Soldier: The Concept of the Reformer Eduard von Peucker] Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr, Munich, 1977 [[6]]

Weblinks



References

  1. ↑ "Peucker, Eduard von", Neue Deutsche Biographie, Band 20 (2001), page 279, [7]
  2. ↑ Karl Wippermann, "Peucker, Eduard von" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 25 (1887), pages 556-559 ;[[8]]
  3. ↑ Karl Wippermann, "Peucker, Eduard von" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 25 (1887), pages 556-559 ;[[9]]
  4. ↑ Wilhelm von Rahden, Wanderungen eines alten Soldaten: Befreiungskrieg von 1813, 1814 und 1815, (Berlin: Alexander Duncker, 1849), pages 28-30 [[10]]
  5. ↑ Karl Wippermann, "Peucker, Eduard von" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 25 (1887), page 556 [[11]]
  6. ↑ Karl Wippermann, "Peucker, Eduard von" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 25 (1887), page 556 [[12]]
  7. ↑ Kurd Wolfgang von Schöning, Historische-Biographische Nachrichten zur Geschichte der Brandenburgish-Preußischen Artillerie (Berlin: E.S. Mittler, 1845), Volume 3, pages 338-339 [[13]]
  8. ↑ Karl Wippermann, "Peucker, Eduard von" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 25 (1887), page 556 [[14]]
  9. ↑ Karl Wippermann, "Peucker, Eduard von" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 25 (1887), page 556 [[15]]
  10. ↑ Karl Wippermann, "Peucker, Eduard von" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 25 (1887), pages 556-559 ;[[16]]
  11. ↑ Berlinische Nachrichten von Staats- und gelehrten Sachen, 12 December 1816, page 14 [[17]]
  12. ↑ Militair-Wochenblatt (Military Weekly), Volume 5, Number 227 (28 October 1820), page 1599 [[18]]
  13. ↑ Karl Wippermann, "Peucker, Eduard von" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 25 (1887), pages 556-559 ;[[19]]
  14. ↑ Militair-Wochenblatt (Military Weekly), Volume 28, Number 5 (3 February 1844), page 18 [[20]]
  15. ↑ Prussia, Kriegsministerium, Armee-Verordnugsblatt, Volume 23, Number 2 (27 January 1889), page 13.
  16. ↑ "Peucker, Eduard von", Neue Deutsche Biographie, Band 20 (2001), page 279, [21]
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