Franz Ferdinand Joachim von Blücher (1778 - 1829)

Born 10 Feb 1778 in Gresonse

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 10 Oct 1829 at age 51 in Köpenick, Berlin, Germany

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Biography

Franz von Blücher is Notable.

Franz Count von Blücher was born in 1777, and died on October 10, 1829. He was the son of Gebhard Prince von Blücher and Karoline von Mehling.

He entered the Royal Prussian Army in 1792, serving initially as a Cornet in the Hussar Regiment von der Goltz (No. 8) and participating in the Battles of Edesheim, Hasnon, Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken and Weidental.

Awarded the Pour le Mérite in 1794, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant in 1794, and First Lieutenant in 1805. Named an aide de camp to his father, he fought at the Battles of Auerstädt and Lübeck but was then placed on the inactive list.

Appointed a Captain of the Cavalry and then a Major in 1807, he served in the corps commanded by his father. He was granted unlimited sick lease in 1809 and returned to full service in 1809, serving as a supernumary officer to the 2nd Silesian Hussar Regiment in 1811. He became commander of the 1st Silesian Hussar Regiment in 1813, serving in the II Corps as part of the Army of Bohemia and fighting at the Battle of Gross-Görschen and winning the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. Badly wounded in the head and captured at the Battle of Peterswalde on 16 September, he was quickly exchanged and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and then Colonel in 1813.

Given unlimited sick leave as a result of his wounds, he fought at the Battle of Coulommiers, for which he was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st Class, in 1814.

In 1814, he was created Graf Blücher von Wahlstatt.

He retired as a General Major in 1815, with a pension of 800 Thalers.

Mentally unbalanced, he tried to commit suicide in 1815, but was committed to the hospital in Köpenick (Berlin).

Sources

Michael V. Leggiere, Blücher: Scourge of Napoleon (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press; 2014).

Roger Parkinson, The Hussar General; The Life of Blücher, Man of Waterloo (Ware, England: Wordsworth Editions Limited; 2001).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gebhard_Leberecht_von_Blucher

https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/biographies/Prussia/PrussianGenerals/c_Prussiangenerals5.html