Alexander von Dönhoff

Alexander Graf von Dönhoff (February 9, 1683 - October 9, 1742) was a Prussian Lieutenant-General and confidant of King Friedrich Wilhelm I.

Biography

Alexander was the son of Friedrich von Doenhoff and Eleonore Katharina von Schwerin Freiin. He was on 30 Ensign November 1699 in Brandenburg services. Then he went to Hesse-Kassel, where he was captain and 1701 in the Spanish war of succession against France participated. 1704 he became a Major, on 9 Lieutenant Colonel in February 1705 and fought in the years 1706 and 1707 in northern Italy. He was Adjutant General of the Friedrich von Hessen-Kassel. On 27 December 1709 as a colonel, he was a separate regiment in 1720 and was Kurhessisches Major General. On 13 July 1722, he was a Major General in the Prussian service, and on 10 September head of a regiment on foot. In the trial against the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick and Hans Hermann von Katte 1730, he was a member of the war court. In the years 1734 and 1735 he made the campaign on the Rhine, and was adopted on 7 June 1737 promoted to Lieutenant General. On 24 June 1740 he retired from active service.

On 31 October 1720 he married Charlotte Gräfin von Blumenthal († September 28, 1761 in Berlin, the daughter of a Prussian Supreme Lord), and they had two sons and a daughter. His son, [[Friedrich Ludwig Graf von Dönhoff (* February 10, 1724; † June 19, 1778) was also Major-General.

Literature

• Kurt von Priesdorff (Hg.): Soldatisches Führertum. Hanseatische Verl.-Anst., Hamburg [1937], Band 1, Nr. 216
• Anton Balthasar König: Biographisches Lexikon aller Helden und Militärpersonen, welche sich in preussischen Diensten berühmt gemacht haben, [Wever], Berlin 1788-1791, Nachdruck: LTR-Verlag, Starnberg 1989, ISBN 3-88706-305-8