Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien

Who was Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien?

Friedrich Bogislav von Tauentzien was a Prussian general who served during the wars of King Frederick the Great.

Tauentzien hailed from the von Tauentzien family and was born in the village of Tauentzien near Lauenburg in Farther Pomerania. He participated throughout the Silesian Wars. Tauentzien fought alongside Frederick in many of the king's great battles, including Mollwitz, the capture of Prague, Hohenfriedberg, and Kolin. He distinguished himself during the defense of Breslau against Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon in 1760 during the Seven Years' War.

Tauentzien married Charlotte von dem Knesebeck, with whom he had two sons and four daughters. One of his sons was Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien, a Prussian general during the Napoleonic Wars.

Tauentzien died in Breslau; his funerary monument was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans and Johann Gottfried Schadow. It was located in the middle of Breslau's Tauentzienplatz near the Schweidnitz Gate where the general had personally defended against Austrian troops in 1760. The plaza experienced Breslau's densest traffic until 1945. With the transfer of the city to Poland following World War II, the monument was leveled.