August Neidhardt von Gneisenau
Prussian field marshal (1760-1831)
August Wilhelm Antonius Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau (27 October 1760 – 23 August 1831) was a Prussian field marshal. He was a prominent figure in the reform of the Prussian military and the War of Liberation.
Early life
Gneisenau was born at Schildau in the Electorate of Saxony. He was the son of a Saxon lieutenant of artillery, August William Neidhardt, and his wife Maria Eva Neidhardt, née Müller. He grew up in great poverty at Schildau, and subsequently at Würzburg and Erfurt. In 1777 he entered the University of Erfurt, but two years later joined an Austrian regiment quartered there. In 1782, taking the additional name of Gneisenau from some lost estates of his family in Austria, he entered as an officer the service of the Margrave of Bayreuth-Ansbach. With one of that prince's mercenary regiments in British pay, he saw active service and gained valuable experience in the American Revolutionary War. Returning in 1786, he applied for Prussian service, and King Frederick the Great gave him a commission as first lieutenant in the infantry.
Made Stabskapitän (Staff Captain) in 1790, Gneisenau served in Poland from 1793 to 1794.
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