Information about Hans Joachim Von Zieten

Hans Joachim von Zieten^[1] (May 14, 1699 – January 26, 1786), was a Prussian general who served in numerous wars and battles underneath Frederick the Great.

Character

Zieten was a man of very small stature and had a very light voice, and these factors would lead him to have a quick temper as other men were quick to insult him. He liked to drink and was extremely defensive about his shortcomings, purportedly engaging in 74 separate duels, although it is unlikely that he actually killed all 74 of his opponents.

Beginnings

He began his military career as a volunteer in an infantry regiment, retired after ten years' service, but soon afterwards became a lieutenant of dragoons. Being involved in some trade transactions of his squadron-commander, he was cashiered, but managed to obtain reinstatement, and was posted to a hussar corps, then a new arm. At that time light cavalry work was well known only to the Austrians, and in 1735 Rittmeister (Captain) von Zieten participated in the Rhine campaign under the Austrian general Baronay.

Promotion

In 1741, just promoted lieutenant-colonel, Zieten met his old teacher in battle and defeated him at the action of Rothschloss. The chivalrous Austrian sent him a complimentary letter a few days later, and General Winterfeld (who was in command at Rothschloss) reported upon his conduct so favourably that Zieten was marked out by Frederick the Great for future higher command. Within a year he was colonel of the newly formed Hussar Regiment, and thereafter his advance was rapid. In the Moravian foray of the following year Zieten and his hussars penetrated almost to Vienna, and in the retreat to Silesia he was constantly employed with the rearguard.

Distinguishment and Valor

Still more distinguished was his part in the Second Silesian War. In the short peace, the hussars, like the rest of the Prussian cavalry, had undergone a complete reformation. To their iron discipline they had added the dash and skirmishing qualities of the best irregulars, and the Prussian hussars were considered the best of their kind in Europe. Zieten fought the brilliant action of Moldau Tein almost on the day he received his commission as major-general. In the next campaign he led the famous Zietenritt around the enemy's lines with the object of delivering the king's order to a distant detachment. At Hohenfriedberg (Striegau) and at Katholisch-Hennersdorf the hussars covered themselves with glory, shadowing the enemy waiting to pounce on them. Hennersdorf and Kesselsdorf ended the Second Silesian War, but the Prussian army did not rest on its laurels, and their training during the ten years peace was careful and unceasing.

Career in the Seven Years' War

When the Seven Years' War broke out in 1756 Zieten had just been made lieutenant-general. At Reichenberg and at Prague he held important commands, and at the disastrous battle of Kolin (June 18 1757) his left wing of cavalry was the only victorious corps of troops. At Leuthen, the most brilliant battle of the 18th century, Zieten's cavalry began the fighting and completed the rout of the Austrians. In June 1758 he was sent to protect a convoy with supplies for the army besieging Olomouc, but could not prevent it from being completely destroyed at Domašov. Despite that he continued, during the whole of the war, to be one of Frederick's most trusted generals.

Mistakes and Retirement

About the only big error in his career of battles was his misdirection of the frontal attack at Torgau, but he made up for this mistake by his assault on the Siptitz heights, which eventually decided the day. After the war, General Zieten went into retirement, the hero alike of the army and the people. During the War of the Bavarian Succession, Frederick the Great forbade him to go, so he retired to his estate at Wustrau with his niece, Leopoldine von Blumenthal (whose son was serving in his regiment); during this period she gathered his reminiscences for a famous biography of him. Six years after his death, Frederick's successor erected a column to his memory on the Wilhelmsplatz in Berlin.

References

• See the Lives by his niece, Leopoldine von Blumenthal (Berlin, 1800), by Hahn (5th ed, Berlin, 1878), by Lippe-Weisseafeld (2nd ed., Berlin, 1878), and by Winter (Leipzig, 1886).
• The German Way of War: From the Thirty Years War to the Third Reich (Robert M. Citino: Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2005)

Footnotes