Deutsche Geschichte - Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben

With the fourth of July coming up at the end of this week, I thought it would be appropriate to introduce you all to a German general who helped make our independence possible. In school, we often discussed the French naval contributions that helped us win the war against King George III. I had no idea the Germans also contributed to our victory.

During the hard winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, the Continental Army underwent rigorous training to become a disciplined fighting force. They suffered terrible losses due to cold, sickness, and hunger, but those that survived the winter gained the skills necessary to beat the English Army. The man in responsible for this transformation was German.

I present to you Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben.

Small side note: he has five first names. People here think "Elizabeth" is a hard name to pronounce. False. Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben is a hard name to pronounce. I wonder what his lovers called him in bed...? Freddy? Willy? Ludolf Gerhard Augustin? I digress. Back to the topic.

P.S. - for those of you tempted to stop reading because you're not into history, please keep reading. I promise you it is an interesting story. I don't write about boring shit.

Von Steuben did not help the American cause because of his ideals. He helped the American cause because a series of circumstances backed him into a corner. He had no other option. Von Steuben was a military man; by the age of seventeen he was an officer in the Prussian Army. He rose quickly to the rank of captain, but was suddenly out of a job when the Prussian Army reduced its numbers following the Seven Years' War. He then falsified his lineage, calling himself "Baron," and went to France hoping to borrow money. Disgrace soon followed. He returned to Germany deeply in debt and was thrown out of the Hohenzollern-Hechingen court following accusations that he was homosexual and had inappropriate sexual contact with young boys.

Fortunately, Von Steuben was still friendly with the French Minister of War. He travelled to Paris in the summer of 1777, where they saw his knowledge of Prussian fighting as potentially valuable to the American cause. He was introduced to Benjamin Franklin, who wrote a letter to George Washington recommending Von Steuben for his service. Once again, Von Steuben's credentials were overinflated. This could have been due to an error in translation, or Von Steuben could have lied about his past - after his disgrace in Germany he was finding it nearly impossible to find a job in any other army. However, he was accepted into the American service shortly thereafter. During the winter of 1777-1778, Von Steuben was responsible for turning the Continental Army into a well-disciplined fighting force. He designed a training program based on a "model company," a group of 120 men who then trained soldiers at the regiment and brigade levels. Funny story - he swore a lot, but didn't speak much English. After becoming frustrated that his soldiers didn't understand his cursing, he got a translator to swear at his troops for him in English.

True to his German upbringing, von Steuben was very disciplined. He was the first to implement camp sanitation in the Continental Army - regulations which remained the standard for army sanitation for over 150 years. He provided his troops with extensive bayonet training that was crucial in later battles of the war. The next winter (1778-1779), he wrote Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States based on the training program implemented at Valley Forge.

This German discipline paid off. Many historians regard the winter spent at Valley Forge to be a turning point for the Continental Army. Before the winter, the army was an untrained, rag-tag band of farmers with muskets. After the winter, they became a trained fighting force capable of winning against the English Army.

Von Steuben never married, never had any children, and enjoyed a "extraordinarily intense emotional relationship" with his male aides. While it was never proven that he was a homosexual, it is interesting that today's military openly persecutes gays when we owe a part of our independence to a gay man. Without the training provided to our army by von Steuben, who knows what would have happened. Maybe there would be no America, maybe there would be. One can only speculate.

Have a happy fourth of July, and special thanks to Wikipedia for the interesting facts about Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augstin von Steuben.

Next week: Portrait of a famous German artist.


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