Everything about Adalbert Of Prussia totally explained
Heinrich Wilhelm Adalbert von Hohenzollern (
October 29,
1811 –
June 6,
1873) was a
Prussian prince from the
House of Hohenzollern, naval theorist, and
admiral. Adalbert was instrumental during the
Revolutions of 1848 in founding the first unified German fleet. During the 1850s he helped establish the
Prussian Navy.
Adalbert was born in
Berlin as the son of Prince
William, the youngest brother of King
Frederick William III.
As a young man, Adalbert entered the
Prussian army and served in the artillery. Several journeys led him between 1826 and 1842 to the
Netherlands,
Britain,
Russia,
Turkey,
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 1835-36 wrote a first plan for the construction of a Prussian fleet. 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 1848-51, 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.
During the
Revolutions of 1848, the
German National Assembly which met at St. Paul’s Church in
Frankfurt resolved with "a majority clearly bordering on unanimity" to establish a German Imperial fleet and named Prince Adalbert to lead the so-called Maritime Technical Commission. 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 himself favored the middle solution, because it wouldn't 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 fledging Imperial Navy. The reactionary king distrusted the National Assembly because of its revolutionary nature, and had already turned down its offer to take up 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
July 20,
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
March 30,
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 was shot at by
pirates within sight of
Morocco’s Rif coast and was lightly wounded. During the
Second Schleswig War of 1864 (also known as the "Danish-Prussian War") he commanded the Baltic Squadron, without being able to take an active role in the war.
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 in
Karlsbad.
Adalbert was married to the dancer Therese Elssler (Frau von Barnim); their only son, Adalbert v. Barnim (born 1841), died in 1860 during an expedition on the
Nile.
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