BLUCHER, GEBHARD LEBERECHT VON (1742 1819), Prussian general field-marshal, prince of Wahlstadt in Silesia, was born at Rostock on Dec. 16, 1742. In his 14th year he entered the service of Sweden, and in the Pomeranian campaign of 176o he was taken prisoner by the Prussians. He was persuaded by his captors to enter the Prussian service. He took part in the later battles of the Seven Years' War as a hussar officer. In peace his ardent spirit led him into excesses of all kinds, and being passed over for promotion, he sent in his resignation, to which Frederick the Great replied, "Captain Blucher can take himself to the devil" (1773). He now settled down to farming, and in 15 years he had acquired an honourable independence. After the death of Frederick the Great he was reinstated as major in his old regiment, the Red Hussars. He took part in the ex pedition to Holland in 1787, and in the following year became lieutenant-colonel. In 1789 he received the order pour le merite, and in 1794 he became colonel of the Red Hussars. In 1793 and 1794 he distinguished himself in cavalry actions against the French, and for his success at Kirrweiler he was made a major general. In 18o1 he was promoted lieutenant-general.
He was one of the leaders of the war party in Prussia in 1805 o6, and served as a cavalry general in the disastrous campaign of the latter year. At Auerstadt Blucher repeatedly charged at the head of the Prussian cavalry, but without success. In the retreat of the broken armies he commanded the rear-guard of Prince Hohenlohe's corps, and upon the capitulation of the main body of Prenzlau he carried off a remnant of the Prussian army to the northward, and in the neighbourhood of Lubeck he fought a series of combats, which, however, ended in his being forced to surrender at Ratkau (Nov. 7, 18o6). His adversaries testified in his capitulation that it was caused by "want of provisions and ammunition." He was soon exchanged for General Victor, and was actively employed in Pomerania, at Berlin, and at Konigsberg until the conclusion of the war. After the war, Blucher was looked upon as the natural leader of the patriot party, with which he was in close touch during the period of Napoleonic domination. His hopes of an alliance with Austria in the war of 1809 were disappointed. In that year he was made general of cavalry. In 1812 he expressed himself so openly on the alliance of Russia with France that he was recalled from his military governorship of Pomerania and virtually banished from the court.
When at last the Napoleonic domination was ended by the outbreak of the War of Liberation in 1813, Blucher was at once placed in high command, and he was present at Liitzen and Bautzen. During the armistice he worked at the organization of the Prussian forces, and when the war was resumed Blucher became commander-in-chief of the Army of Silesia, with Gnei senau and Muffling as his principal staff officers, and 40,000 Prussians and 5o,000 Russians under his control. (The autumn campaign of 1813 will be found described in the article NA POLEONIC CAMPAIGNS.) He met and defeated Marshal Macdonald at the Katzbach, and by his victory over Marmont at Mockern led the way to the decisive overthrow of Napoleon at Leipzig, which place was stormed by Blucher's own army on the evening of the last day of the battle. On the day of Mockern (Oct. 16, 1813) Blucher was made a general field-marshal, and after the victory he pursued the routed French with his accustomed energy. In the winter of 1813-14 Blucher, with his chief staff officers, was mainly instrumental in inducing the allied sovereigns to carry the war into France itself. The combat of Brienne and the battle of La Rothiere were the chief incidents of the first stage of the celebrated campaign of 1814, and they were quickly followed by the victories of Napoleon over Blucher at Champaubert, Vaux champs and Montmirail. But the courage of the Prussian leader was undiminished, and his great victory of Laon (March 9-1o) practically decided the fate of the campaign. After this Blucher infused some of his own energy into the operations of Prince Schwarzenberg's Army of Bohemia, and this army and the Army of Silesia marched in one body direct upon Paris. The victory of Montmartre, the entry of the allies into the French capital, and the overthrow of the First Empire were the direct conse quences. Blucher was disposed to make a severe retaliation upon Paris for the calamities that Prussia had suffered from the armies of France, had not the allied commanders intervened to prevent it. Blowing up the bridge of Jena was said to be one of his con templated acts. On June 3, 1814, he was made prince of Wahl stadt (in Silesia on the Katzbach battlefield).
After the peace he retired to Silesia, but the return of Napoleon soon called him to further service. He was put in command of the Army of the Lower Rhine with General Gneisenau as his chief of staff (see WATERLOO CAMPAIGN). In the campaign of 1815 the Prussians sustained a very severe defeat at the outset at Ligny (June 16), in the course of which the old field-marshal was ridden over by cavalry charges, his life being saved only by the devotion of his aide-de-camp, Count Nostitz. He was unable to resume command for some hours, and Gneisenau drew off the defeated army. The relations of the Prussian and the English headquarters were at this time very complicated, and it is un certain whether Blucher himself was responsible for the daring resolution to march to Wellington's assistance. This was in fact done, and after an incredibly severe march Blucher's army in tervened with decisive and crushing effect in the battle of Water loo. The great victory was converted into a success absolutely decisive of the war by the relentless pursuit of the Prussians, and the allies re-entered Paris on July 7. Prince Blucher remained in the French capital for some months, but his age and infirmities compelled him to retire to his Silesian residence at Krieblowitz, where he died on Sept. 12, 1819, aged 77. He retained to the end of his life that wildness of character and proneness to excesses which had caused his dismissal from the army in his youth. The qualities which made him a great general were his patriotism and the hatred of French domination which inspired every success of the War of Liberation. He was twice married, and had, by his first marriage, two sons and a daughter. Statues were erected to his memory at Berlin, Breslau and Rostock.
See J. Scherr, Blucher, seine Zeit und sein Leben (Leipzig, i862-63) ; K. W. von Schoning, Ge.,chichte des Koniglich-preussischen 5, Husaren Regiments mit besonderer RUcksicht auf Bliicher (1843) • F. Schulze, Briefe und Reden (2nd ed. 1917) ; J. Herold, Gebhar'd Leberecht Blucher (vol. i., 1921)