NEITHARDT VON (1760-1831), Prussian field marshal, son of a Saxon officer named Neithardt, was born on Oct. 27, 1760, at Schildau, near Torgau. He assumed the name of Gneisenau from the lost estates of the family in Austria. After two years' study at Erfurt he entered the Austrian army in 1779, and transferred in 1782 to the service of the margrave of Baireuth-Anspach. With one of that prince's mercenary regiments in English pay he fought in the War of American Independence, and returning in 1786, applied for Prussian service. Gneisenau served in Poland, ' 794, and in the next ten years devoted himself to military study, for which a quiet garrison life at Jauer gave him opportunity. In 1796 he married Caroline von Kottwitz. In 1806 he was one of Hohenlohe's staff-officers, f ought at Jena, and commanded a pro visional infantry brigade which fought under Lestocq in the Lithuanian campaign. Early in 1807 Gneisenau was commandant at Colberg, which, small and ill-protected as it was, succeeded in holding out until the peace of Tilsit. For this service he received the much-prized order "pour le snerite," and was promoted lieu tenant-colonel.
A wider sphere of work was now opened to him. As chief of engineers, and a member of the reorganizing committee, he played a great part, with Scharnhorst, in the reorganization of the Prus sian army. His energy aroused the suspicion of the dominant French, and Stein's fall was followed by Gneisenau's retirement. But, after visiting Russia, Sweden and England, he returned to Berlin and resumed his place as a leader of the patriotic party. In open military work and secret machinations his energy and 'There are two places of this name in Austria. (I) Gmund, a town in Lower Austria, (2) a town in Carinthia, with a Gothic church.
patriotism were equally tested, and with the outbreak of the War of Liberation, Gneisenau, now a major-general, became Blucher's quartermaster-general. With Blucher, Gneisenau served to the capture of Paris ; his military character was the exact complement of Blucher's, and under this happy guidance the young troops of Prussia, often defeated but never discouraged, f ought their way into the heart of France. The plan of the march on Paris was specifically the work of the chief-of-staff. In reward for his dis tinguished service he was made a count.
In 1815, once more chief of Blucher's staff, Gneisenau played a conspicuous part in the Waterloo campaign (q.v.). When the old field marshal was disabled at Ligny, Gneisenau assumed the control of the Prussian army.
The precise part taken by Gneisenau in the events which fol lowed is much debated. Gneisenau distrusted Wellington, who, he considered, had left the Prussians in the lurch at Ligny, and even considered falling back on the Rhine. Blucher, however, soon recovered from his injuries, and, with Grolmann, the quarter master-general, he managed to convince Gneisenau. The relations of the two may be illustrated by Brigadier-General Hardinge's report. Blucher burst into Hardinge's room at Wavre, saying "Gneisenau has given way, and we are to march at once to your chief." On the field of Waterloo, however, Gneisenau was quick to realize the magnitude of the victory, and he carried out the pursuit with relentless vigour. In 1816 he was appointed to com mand the VIII. Prussian Corps, but soon retired. In 1818 he was made governor of Berlin and member of the Staatsrat. In 1825 he became general field-marshal. In 1831 he was appointed to the command of the Army of Observation on the Polish frontier, with Clausewitz as his chief-of-staff. At Posen he was struck down by cholera and died on Aug. 24, 1831.
See his Brie f e 1809-15, ed. Pflugk-Harttung (1913) ; also G. H. Pertz, Das Leben des Feldmarschalls Grafen Neithardt von Gneisenau, vols. 1-3 (1864-69) ; vols. 4 and 5, H. Delbruck, Das Leben des G. F. M. Grafen von Gneisenau (2 vols., 3rd ed., 1907) , based on Pertz's work, but containing much new material ; W. von Unger, Gneisenau (z914).