Born Nov. 12, 1755, in Bordenau, Hanover; died June 28, 1813, in Prague. Prussian military figure. General (1807).
The son of a sergeant major, Scharnhorst entered the Hanoverian Army in 1777 and served in the artillery. After joining the Prussian Army in 1801, he became head of the German War College in Berlin in 1802 and was knighted in 1804. In 1806, during the war with France, Scharnhorst served as chief of staff to the commander in chief, the duke of Braunschweig, and fought in battles at Auerstedt and Preussisch Eylau. In July 1807 he was appointed director of the war department, head of the general staff, and chairman of the commission for the reorganization of the army. In 1808, Scharnhorst headed the newly re-created war ministry, although he did not hold the rank of minister.
Scharnhorst and A. Gneisenau significantly improved the army’s organization and its officer training. They made progressive changes in tactics, shortened the length of mandatory service (as a result of which a trained reserve was created), and prepared the way for military conscription, which was introduced in 1813. Because Scharnhorst supported war against France, he was forced to retire in 1811 at the insistence of the French government.
Serving in the war of liberation of 1813 as chief of staff to General G. Blücher in the Silesian Army, Scharnhorst was critically wounded in fighting near Lützen in May 1813.