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Richard Joachim Heinrich von Mollendorf

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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RICHARD JOACHIM HEINRICH VON MOLLENDORF (1724-1816), Prussian soldier, began his career as a page of Frederick the Great in 1740. The outbreak of the Silesian wars gave him his first opportunity of seeing active service, and the end of the second war saw him a captain. in the Seven Years' War his brilliant conduct at the churchyard of Leuthen (1757) and at Hochkirch won him his majority. In 1760 his exertions retrieved the almost lost battle of Torgau, and the last success of the great king was won by the brigades of Prince Wied and Mdllendorf (now major-general) at the Burkersdorf heights. Seventeen years later, as lieutenant-general, he won at Brix one of the few successes of the Bavarian Succession (or "Potato") War. In the years of peace he occupied considerable posts, being made governor of Berlin in 1783. Promoted general of infantry in 1787, and general field marshal in 1793, he commanded the Prussian army on the Rhine in 1794. In the disastrous campaign of Jena (1806) Mdllendorf played a considerable part, though he did not actually command a corps. He was present with the king at Auerstadt, falling into the hands of the French in the debacle which followed. After his release he passed the remainder of his life in retirement. He died in 1816.