Moriz von Lyncker
{{Short description|Prussian officer}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Moriz Freiherr von Lyncker
|birth_date={{birth date|1853|01|30|df=y}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1932|01|20|1853|01|30|df=y}}
|birth_place=Spandau, Kingdom of Prussia
|death_place=Demnitz, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic
|image=File:Alexius WW1 Moriz Freiherr von Lyncker.jpg
|caption=
|nickname=
|allegiance={{flagicon |Prussia}} Prussia
{{flagicon|German Empire}} Imperial Germany
|branch=Prussian Army
German Imperial Army
|serviceyears=1870–1919
|rank=50px Generaloberst
|commands=
{{plainlist |
- 3rd (Queen Elizabeth) Guards Grenadiers
- 1st Garde-Infanterie-Brigade
- 19th Division
- Reichsmilitärgericht
}}
|unit=
|battles=Franco-Prussian War
First World War
|awards= Pour le Merite
|relations=
}}
Image:General Hans G. von Plessen.jpg and the victor of Liège, General Otto von Emmich, 1914]]
Moriz Freiherr{{efn|{{German title Freiherr}}}} von Lyncker (30 January 1853 – 20 January 1932) was a Prussian officer of the German Empire and Chief of the Military Cabinet of Emperor Wilhelm II.
He was one of the general adjutants of the Kaiser during World War I with Oskar von Chelius, Hans von Plessen, and Hans von Gontard.{{Cite web|title=Hans von Gontard|url=http://prussianmachine.com/aok/gontard_hans.htm|access-date=2021-12-27|website=prussianmachine.com}}
Life
Lyncker was born in Spandau, Prussia, into a military family, with his father, his father-in-law and two brothers being officers. He took part in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, and two of his sons died in the First World War.
His association with the Prussian royal family began when he served as aide-de-camp to Crown Prince Frederick William as a captain. Subsequently Lyncker was appointed military mentor to the adolescent Crown Prince Wilhelm and Prince Eitel Friedrich for three years, until 1898. After resuming his regular career, he successively commanded a Guards regiment and brigade, before taking up leadership of the 19th Division at Hannover in 1905.
After the sudden death of the Chief of the Military Cabinet, General Dietrich von Hülsen-Haeseler, von Lyncker was on 17 November 1908 appointed to the post. He was responsible for personnel matters of the Prussian army and during First World War he was one of the closest aides to Kaiser Wilhelm II. He was present at the famous Imperial War Council of 8 December 1912.
He has been evaluated as "politically innocent, intellectually mediocre, with subservient devotion to Wilhelm II."The Entourage of Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1888-1918 by Isabel V. Hull; Cambridge University Press, 2004 p. 248; {{ISBN|0-521-53321-X}}, 9780521533218N
On the other hand, as the First World War progressed and the Kaiser withdrew into an atmosphere of "fear of the world and flight from reality", he worked with Georg Alexander von Müller, Chief of the Imperial Naval Cabinet, at great lengths to persuade him to spend more time on the business of the government in Berlin.Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Kaiser Wilhelm II. als Oberster Kriegsherr im Ersten Weltkrieg: Quellen aus der militärischen Umgebung des Kaisers 1914-1918, bearb. v. Holger Afflerbach. München: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2005. 1.051 S. EUR 118.00 (cloth), {{ISBN|978-3-486-57581-1}}.
By 10 August 1914 he was considering replacing Helmuth von Moltke with Erich von Falkenhayn as Chief of the German General Staff. After the failure of the Battle of the Marne it was his duty to convince von Moltke to leave.
After 1915 he was ready to moderate Germany's aims to achieve peace, but still demanded that the Reich should retain Belgium or at least the Belgian ports for future use against Britain. Like Falkenhayn, he wanted a compromise peace with the Russian Empire and a substantial victory over Britain and France.
He died in Demnitz, Germany.
= Ranks =
- 1870: Fahnenjunker
- 1895-1898: Leutnant ... Oberst
- 1901: Generalmajor
- 1905: Generalleutnant
- 1909: General der Infanterie
- 1918: Generaloberst
Honours
;German orders and decorations{{cite web|title=Moriz Freiherr von Lyncker |website=the Prussian Machine|access-date=26 July 2022|url=http://prussianmachine.com/aok/lyncker.htm}}
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle, with Crown (Prussia)
- Knight of the Royal Order of the Crown, 1st Class (Prussia)
- Iron Cross (1870), 2nd Class (Prussia)
- Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern (Prussia)
- Knight of Justice of the Johanniter Order (Prussia)
- Service Award Cross (Prussia)
- Pour le Mérite (military), 2 November 1917 (Prussia)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion, 1909 (Baden){{citation|title=Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden|year=1910|chapter=Großherzogliche Orden|page=[https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/periodical/pageview/1881437 189]|location=Karlsruhe|language=German}}
- Grand Cross of the Merit Order of Philip the Magnanimous, 19 August 1909 (Hesse and by Rhine){{citation|title=Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste|chapter=Verdienst-Orden Philipps des Großmütigen|chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112089248618&view=1up&seq=138&skin=2021|page=130|language=German|location=Darmstadt|year=1914|publisher=Staatsverlag|via=hathitrust.org}}
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown (Württemberg)
- Grand Cross of the Friedrich Order, with Crown (Württemberg)
;Foreign orders and decorations
- Grand Cross of the Austrian Imperial Order of Leopold, 1910 (Austria-Hungary){{citation|chapter-url=https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&page=424&size=45|chapter=Ritter-orden|title=Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie|date=1918|location=Vienna|publisher=Druck und Verlag der K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei|pages=[https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&size=45&page=449 75], [https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&size=45&page=509 135], [https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&page=672&size=45 298]}}
- Knight of the Imperial Order of the Iron Crown, 1st Class, 1909 (Austria-Hungary)
- Knight of the Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph, 1877 (Austria-Hungary)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark)
- Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Sword (Sweden)
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- Holger Afflerbach (Hrsg.): ''Kaiser Wilhelm II. als Oberster Kriegsherr im Ersten Weltkrieg. Quellen aus der militärischen Umgebung des Kaisers 1914 - 1918, Munich: Oldenbourg 2005, {{ISBN|3-486-57581-3}} (Umfangreiche Sammlung von Briefen Lynckers an seine Frau über den Kaiser in der Kriegszeit)
- {{NDB|15|587|588|Lyncker, Moriz Freiherr von|Ekkehart P. Guth}}
- Biographische Skizze in: Kaiser Wilhelm II als Oberster Kriegsherr im Ersten Weltkrieg, hrsg. von Holger Afflerbach, München 2005 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091325/http://www.sehepunkte.de/2005/11/toc/5354.pdf Inhaltsverzeichnis], Akademie Aktuell: [http://www.badw.de/aktuell/akademie_aktuell/2006/heft1/12_Afflerbach.pdf Rezension] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718201927/http://www.badw.de/aktuell/akademie_aktuell/2006/heft1/12_Afflerbach.pdf |date=2011-07-18 }}), Heft 1/2007, S.37f.
External links
{{Commonscat}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyncker, Moriz von}}
Category:Colonel generals of Prussia
Category:German military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War
Category:German Army generals of World War I
Category:19th-century Prussian military personnel
Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class)
Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1870), 2nd class
Category:Knights of the Order of Franz Joseph
Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog