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Prince Adalbert of Prussia (1811–1873)

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For the later prince, see Prince Adalbert of Prussia (1884–1948).

Prince Adalbert of Prussia
Born(1811-10-29)29 October 1811
Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Died6 June 1873(1873-06-06) (aged 61)
Karlsbad, Grand Duchy of Baden
Spouse
Therese Elssler, Frau von Barnim
​
​
(m. 1850)​
IssueAdalbert, Freiherr von Barnim
Names
English: Henry William Adalbert
German: Heinrich Wilhelm Adalbert
HouseHohenzollern
FatherPrince Wilhelm of Prussia
MotherLandgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg

Prince Heinrich Wilhelm Adalbert of Prussia (29 October 1811 – 6 June 1873) was a son of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg. He was a naval theorist and admiral. He was instrumental during the Revolutions of 1848 in founding the first unified German fleet, the Reichsflotte. During the 1850s he helped to establish the Prussian Navy.

Biography

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Adalbert was born in Berlin, the son of Prince William, the youngest brother of King Frederick William III.

As a young man, Adalbert entered the Prussian army and by 1839, had become commander of the Guards Artillery brigade, a position he held until 1942. Several journeys led him between 1826 and 1842 to the Netherlands, Britain, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Greece, and Brazil. He recognized during his many sea voyages the importance that sea power had for a modern commercial and industrial nation. He studied carefully the theory of naval warfare and in 1836 wrote a plan for the construction of a Prussian fleet, which would be centered on three 1,000-tonne (980-long-ton; 1,100-short-ton) paddle steamers. The cost of the ships meant that it had no chance of being enacted. [1] Prussia at that time was a land power focused on Continental Europe, possessing practically no navy of its own; rather, it relied on the allied powers of Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark. During the First Schleswig War of 1848–1851, however, the failure of this strategy became apparent: Britain and the Netherlands remained neutral and Denmark became the enemy. Within a few days, the Danish navy had destroyed German maritime commerce in the North Sea and the Baltic.

In 1843, upon returning from the cruise to Brazil, Adalbert was made the General Inspector of Artillery. He recruited then-Major Albrecht von Stosch as his adjutant in 1847; Stosch would go on to become the first chief of the German Imperial Admiralty in 1871.[1]

During the Revolutions of 1848, and contemporaneously during the First Schleswig War against Denmark, the German National Assembly embarked on a project to establish a unified German fleet to combat the Danish blockade of the northern German states. The assembly named Prince Adalbert to lead the Technische-Marine-Commission (Naval Technical Commission), along with Karl Rudolf Brommy, Jan Schröder, among others; he was also placed in charge of Prussia's own initiative to build a fleet.[2] He presented his recommendations in a "Memorandum on the Construction of a German Fleet" (Denkschrift über die Bildung einer deutschen Flotte) (Potsdam, 1848). In this memorandum, still regarded highly for its insights on naval strategy, Adalbert distinguished between three fleet models:

  • A naval force intended solely for defensive actions in relation to coastal defense;
  • An offensive naval force intended for national defense, and for the most necessary protection of commerce; or
  • An independent naval power.

Adalbert favored the middle solution, because it would not provoke the great sea powers (such as Britain), but would provide the German navy with significant value as an ally.

In 1849 his cousin, King Frederick William IV, ordered Adalbert to resign his office in the fledgling Imperial Navy. The reactionary king mistrusted the National Assembly because of its revolutionary nature, and had already turned down its offer to assume the German Imperial crown. Despite the setback, Adalbert continued to give active support to the construction of a fleet.

In 1852 Adalbert argued that Prussia needed to build a naval base on the North Sea. He arranged the Jade Treaty of 20 July 1853, in which Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg jointly withdrew from a region on the west bank of the Jade bay, where from 1854 onward Prussia established the fortress, naval base and city of Wilhelmshaven.

On 30 March 1854, Adalbert was named Admiral of the Prussian Coast and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. In the summer of 1856, while on a training cruise of Prussian warships, he led Prussian forces at the Battle of Tres Forcas. He was shot by Riffians during the fighting.

During the Second Schleswig War of 1864 (also known as the "Danish-Prussian War") he commanded the Prussian Navy, though operational command of its main unit, the Baltic Squadron, fell to Eduard von Jachmann.[3] He spent time aboard the aviso SMS Grille, and on 14 April he conducted a sweep into the Bay of Pomerania that resulted in an encounter with the Danish ship of the line Skjold and the steam frigate Sjælland. Grille opened fire at long range, leading to an indecisive two-and-a-half-hour battle in which Grille easily outran the more powerful Danish vessels and escaped back to Swinemünde.[4]

After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, which led to the creation of the German Empire, Adalbert laid down his title of "Prince-Admiral" and retired from the now-renamed Imperial Navy. He died two years later of liver disease, aged 62, in Karlsbad.

Adalbert was married to the dancer Therese Elssler (Frau von Barnim); their only son, Adalbert v. Barnim (born 22 April 1841), died in July 1860 during an expedition on the Nile.

Honours

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He received the following orders and decorations:[5]

Ancestry

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b Sondhaus, p. 14.
  2. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 19–21.
  3. ^ Sondhaus, pp. 75–76.
  4. ^ Embree, p. 279.
  5. ^ Handbuch, p. 7.
  6. ^ Stillfried, p. 18.
  7. ^ Lehmann, p. 461.
  8. ^ Staat Hannover, pp. 37, 74.
  9. ^ Melchert, p. 17.
  10. ^ Baden, pp. 32, 44.
  11. ^ Tarlier, p. 52.
  12. ^ Bayern, p. 9.
  13. ^ Hessen, p. 8.
  14. ^ Oldenburg, p. 28.
  15. ^ Württemberg, p. 31.

References

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  • Embree, Michael (2007). Bismarck's First War: The Campaign of Schleswig and Jutland 1864. Solihull: Helion & Co. ISBN 978-1-906033-03-3.
  • Handbuch über den Königlich Preußischen Hof und Staat: für das Jahr 1873. Berlin: Verlag der Königlichen Geheimen Ober-Hofbuchdruckerei. 1873.
  • Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden. Karlsruhe: G Braun'sche. 1862.
  • Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Hessen: 1860. Darmstadt: Verlage der Invalidenanstalt. 1860.
  • Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für 1869/70. Oldenburg: Schulze. 1870.
  • Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern: 1870. München: Central-Schulbücher - Verlages. 1870.
  • Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Württemberg: 1869. Stuttgart: Carl Grüninger. 1869.
  • Lehmann, Gustaf (1913). Die Ritter des Ordens pour le mérite 1812–1913 [The Knights of the Order of the Pour le Mérite] (in German). Vol. II. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Sohn.
  • Melchert, Johann Friedrich (1867). Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt. Dessau: H. Heybruch.
  • Sondhaus, Lawrence (1997). Preparing for Weltpolitik: German Sea Power Before the Tirpitz Era. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-745-7.
  • Staat Hannover (1865). Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1865. Hannover: Berenberg.
  • Stillfried, R. G., ed. (1851). Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler. Berlin: Dederschen Geheimen Ober-Hofbuchbruderei.
  • Tarlier, H., ed. (1868). Almanach Royal Officiel. Brussels: E. Guyot.
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