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Col. Christian I K.A.L. 
von und zu Massenbach
1758 - 1827


Col. Christian I K.A.L. 
von und zu Massenbach
, 9th Baron Massenbach in the H.R. Empire, etc. (with his 2 brother co-succ. his father Baron Wilhelm VIII., Prussian Army Colonel, of Baialokosch, Pinne, Jakobowo & Konin, West Prussia, * Co-Lord of Massenbach, etc. He was succ. by his son "Georg IX., 1799-1885". Educ. Karlsruhe, subs. Prof. of mathematics. etc. Founder and General, Chief of Staff, diplomat etc.. Served with Hohenlohe (as Quartermaster General) during the Napoleonic Wars; in 1817 convicting of disclosing state secrets (in his historical writings) and sentenced to fourteen years' imrpisonment; pardoned in 1826. Educated with Schiller? (FG/II. - pp.197-204) Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. - Mnnchen; Leipzig. - 1912 (Band 56: Generalregister) Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911 ed "MASSENBACH, CHRISTIAN KARL AUGUST LUDWIG VON (1758-1827), Prussian soldier, was born at Schmalkalden on the 16th of April 1758, and educated at Heilbronn and Stuttgart, devoting himself chiefly to mathematics. He became an officer of the Wuerttemberg army in 1778, and left this for the service of Frederick the Great in 1782. The pay of his rank was small, and his appointment on the quartermaster-generals staff made it necessary to keep two horses, so that he had to write mathematical school-books in his spare time to eke out his resources. He was far however from neglecting the science and art of war, for thus early he had begun to make his name as a theorist as well as a mathematician. After serving as instructor in mathematics to the young prince Louis, he took part with credit in the expedition into Holland, and was given the order Pour le merite. On returning to Prussia he became mathematical instructor at the school of military engineering, leaving this post in 1792 to take part as a general staff officer in the war against France. He was awarded a prebend at Minden for his services as a topographical engineer on the day of Valmy, and after serving through the campaigns of 1793 and 1794 he published a number of memoirs on the military history of these years. He was chiefly occupied however with framing schemes for the reorganization of the then neglected general staff of the Prussian army, and many of his proposals were accepted. Bronsart von Schellendorf in his Duties of the General Staff says of Massenbachs work in this connection, the organization which he proposed and in the main carried out survived even the catastrophes of 1806-1807, and exists even at the present moment in its original outline. This must be accounted as high praise when it is remembered how much of the responsibility for these very disasters must be laid to Massenbachs account. The permanent gain to the service due to his exertions was far more than formal, for it is to him that the general staff owes its tradition of thorough and patient individual effort. But the actual doctrine taught by Massenbach, who was now a colonel, may be summarized as the doctrine of positions carried to a ludicrous excess; the claims put forward for the general staff, that it was to prepare cut-and dried plans of operations in peace which were to be imposed on the troop leaders in war, were derided by the responsible generals; and the memoirs on proposed plans of campaign to suit certain political combinations were worked out in quite unnecessary detail. It was noteworthy that none of the proposed plans of campaign considered France as an enemy. In 1805 came threats of the war with Napoleon which Massenbach had strongly opposed. He was made quartermaster general (chief of staff) to Prince Hohenlohe, over whom he soon obtained a fatal ascendancy. War was averted for a moment by the result of the battle of Austerlitz, but it broke out in earnest in October 1806. Massenbachs influence clouded all the Prussian operations. The battles of Jena and Auerstaedt were lost, and the capitulation of Prince Hohenlohes army was negotiated. Even suggestions of disloyalty were not wanting; an attempt to try him by court-martial was only frustrated by Prince Hohenlobes action in taking upon himself, as commanderin-chief, the whole responsibility for Massenbachs actions. He then retired to his estate in the Posen province, and occupied himself in writing pamphlets, memoirs, &c. When his estates passed into the grand duchy of Warsaw, he chose to remain a Prussian subject, and on the outbreak of the war of liberation he asked in vain for a post on the Prussian staff. After the fall of Napoleon he took part in Wurttemberg politics, was expelled from Stuttgart and Heidelberg, and soon afterwards arrested at Frankfurt, delivered over to the Prussian authorities and condemned to fourteen years fortress imprisonment for his alleged publication of state secrets in his memoirs. He was kept in prison till 1826, when Frederick William III., having recovered from an accident, pardoned those whom he considered to have wronged him most deeply. He died on the 21st of November 1827, at his estate of Bialokoscz, Posen. The obituary in Neuer Nekrolog der Deutsclien, pt. ii. (Ilmenau, 1827) is founded on a memoir (Der Oberst C. v. Massenbach) which was published at the beginning of his imprisonment."

Born: Schmalkalden 16th Apr 1758 Baptised:
Died: Bialokosz 21st Nov 1827 Buried: Bialokosz c. 21st Nov 1827
Family:
von und zu Massenbach

Ancestors
[ Patrilineage | Matrilineage | Earliest Ancestors | Force | Force2 | Set Relationship | Relationship | Options ]

1.
Col. Christian I K.A.L. 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Gualtieri
) 1758 - 1827
2.
Georg Wilhelm VIII Reinhold 
von Massenbach
(
von Edelsheim
) 1721 - 1788
4.
Karl Ludwig II 
von Massenbach
(
von Gemmingen
) 1686 - 1727
5.
Bernhardine Sophie 
von Gemmingen
(
von Massenbach
) 1689 - 1761
3.
Fredericke 
von Edelsheim
(
von Massenbach
) 1724 - 1791
6.
Philipp Reinhard 
von Edelsheim
(
von Dernbach
) 1695 - 1771
7.
Christiane Juliane 
von Dernbach
(
von Edelsheim
) 1702 - 1732

Siblings


1.
Friedrich Reinhard III Wilhelm 
von Massenbach
(
von Bescheffer
) 1749 - 1816
2.
Sophie Charlotte Wilhelmine 
von Massenbach
1751 - 1790
3.
Philipp Eberhard Ludwig II 
von Massenbach
1752 - 1777
4.
Johann Friedrich Sylvanus I C.A. 
von Massenbach
1753 - 1774
5.
Wilhelm Adolf 
von Massenbach
1754 - 1754
6.
Sophie Wilhelmine Henriette Charlotte 
von Massenbach
1755 - 1755
7.
Dorothaeus F.E. Ferdinand I 
von Massenbach
(
von Seckendorff
) 1760 - 1825
8.
Julianus Georg VII Wilhelm 
von Massenbach
1763 - 1774
9.
Marianne Lucretia Luise 
von Massenbach
(
von Gemmingen
,
Stein
) 1767 - 1833

Spouses



1. 12th Jul 1788
Amalie Henriette 
von Gualtieri
(
von und zu Massenbach
) 1767 - 1846

Descendants
[ Options ]

a.
Amalie Henriette 
von Gualtieri
(
von und zu Massenbach
) 1767 - 1846
1.
Adelheid Friedricke Henriette Luise Amalie Wilhelmine 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Rappard
) 1790 - 1846
2.
Albertine Philipine K.U. 
von und zu Massenbach
1791 - 1833
3.
Wilhelm XI R.P.H.F. 
von und zu Massenbach
1795 - 1813
4.
Karoline Wilhelmine Auguste Henriette 
von und zu Massenbach
1797 - 1811
5.
Georg IX Sylvius Karl Julius Erich Magnus 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Gemmingen Steinegg
) 1799 - 1885
5a.
Sophie 
von Gemmingen Steinegg
(
von und zu Massenbach
) 1810 - 1888
5.1.
Luise Amalie Marie Adelheid 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Stosch
) 1830 - 1894
5.2.
Hermann II Christian Julius Johann 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Sander
) 1831 - 1866 ...
5.3.
Christian II J.A.K. 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Puttkamer
) 1832 - 1904 ...
5.4.
Albertine Luise Thekla Mathilde 
von und zu Massenbach
1834 - 1913
5.5.
Amalie Marianne Mathilde 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Treskow
) 1836 - 1865
5.6.
Mathilde Hedwig Caroline Adelheid Auguste 
von und zu Massenbach
1837 - 1844
5.7.
Adelheid Marie Elisabeth Charlotte 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Thuemen
) 1839 - 1868
5.8.
Julius Hermann Eduard Otto 
von und zu Massenbach
1841 - 1845
5.9.
Georg XI Karl Wilhelm Eberhard 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Nathusius
) 1842 - 1893 ...
5.10.
Karl VIII August Heinrich Ernst 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Cosel
) 1844 - 1911 ...
5.11.
Sophie Anna Laura Luise 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Flotow
) 1845 - 1915
5.12.
Wilhelm (Willy) Franz Karl Johann Julius 
von und zu Massenbach
1847 - 1862
5.13.
Dorothea Hedwig Julie Caroline 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Hopfengaertner
) 1848 - 1931
5.14.
Anna Dorothea Wilhelmine Elisabeth 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Nathusius
) 1850 - 1937
5.15.
Marie Wilhelmine Anna Amalie 
von und zu Massenbach
(
von Seeger
) 1851 - 1930
5.16.
Henriette Anna Marie Emma 
von und zu Massenbach
1853 - 1854
Sources

Timeline


16th Apr 1758Born (birth) Schmalkalden
12th Jul 1788Married
Amalie Henriette 
von Gualtieri
(
von und zu Massenbach
) 1767 - 1846 (marriage)
21st Nov 1827Died (death) Bialokosz
c. 21st Nov 1827Buried (burial) Bialokosz
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