WIEPRECHT HANS KARL FRIEDRICH ERNST HEINRICH GRAF VON ZIETEN, (1770–1848)

Hans Ernst Karl von Zieten, by Franz Kr端ger

Prussian general.

In the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), the support of the Duke of Wellington's left wing by I Corps under Zieten's command was vital to the outcome of the battle. From 1815 to 1819, he commanded the Prussian corps of occupation in France. He was made Graf (count) on 3 September 1817.

Zieten entered military service on 26 May 1785, becoming a corporal. On 2 February 1788 he became a cornet, a second lieutenant on 10 June 1790, a captain of the army on 7 December 1793 (that is, without assignment to a unit), a major on 12 June 1800, a lieutenant colonel on 21 June 1807, and a colonel on 20 May 1809 (the patent being postdated to 1 June). On 12 December of that year he was promoted to brigadier general, rising to major general on 14 March 1813 (the patent being postdated to 30 March). He was made a lieutenant general on 13 December 1813, a general of cavalry on 18 June 1825, and a general field marshal on 6 June 1839. He fought in the campaigns of 1792-1794 on the Rhine, and in the campaigns of 1813, 1814, and 1815 in Germany, France, and Belgium, respectively.

Born 3 March 1770, Zieten joined the hussar regiment of his distant relative, the famous General Hans Joachim von Zieten, at the age of fifteen. From 1793 to 1806, he was adjutant to General Friedrich Adolf Graf von Kalckreuth (or Kalkreuth). In 1806 he reentered service in the line, commanding different hussar brigades and regiments, until, on 12 December 1809, he was given charge of the Upper Silesian brigade. In 1811 he was a member of the commission that prepared the new regulations for cavalry exercise. In the spring of 1813 his brigade was part of the army corps commanded by General Gebhard von Bl端cher, distinguishing himself especially in the combat at Haynau on 26 June. After the armistice he commanded the 11th Brigade in II Corps.

On 10 April 1814, Zieten took command of II Corps from General Friedrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf. On 19 March 1815 he was made commander of I Corps, which bore the main burden of fighting on 15 June, and at Ligny on the following day. He also fought at the Battle of Waterloo on the eighteenth and took part in the advance on Paris. On 3 October he became chief of the Prussian corps of occupation in France. After the return of this formation to Prussia, he was made commanding general of VI Corps on 11 February 1819. Zieten was pensioned on 2 June 1839 and died on 3 May 1848.