Background
He was born at Düsseldorf, with siblings including Rosa Maria Varnhagen.
(Goethe in den Zeugnissen der Mitlebenden by Karl August E...)
Goethe in den Zeugnissen der Mitlebenden by Karl August Ense. This book is a reproduction of the original book published in 1823 and may have some imperfections such as marks or hand-written notes.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/153504022X/?tag=2022091-20
He was born at Düsseldorf, with siblings including Rosa Maria Varnhagen.
He studied medicine in Berlin, but spent more time on philosophy and literature, which he later studied more thoroughly at Halle and Tübingen.
He began his literary career in 1804 as editor with Adelbert von Chamisso of the latter"s Musenalmanach. In 1809, he joined the main Austrian army under Archduke Charles, serving in IR20 Reuss-Plauen at the Battle of Wagram, where he was wounded. After the peace, he was made adjutant to Prince Bentheim who he accompanied to Paris where he continued his studies.
In 1812, he entered the Prussian civil service in Berlin, but he soon left to enter the Russian service as captain.
He served in Tettenborn"s corps as adjutant to Tettenborn on trips to Hamburg and Paris. He recorded his experiences in Geschichte der Hamburger Ereignisse (History of the events in Hamburg.
London, 1813) and Geschichte der Kriegszüge Tettenborns (History of Tettenborn"s Campaigns, 1814). He worked as a tutor and butler in the homes of several families of the wealthy Jewish bourgeoisie.
He accompanied Prince Hardenburg to the Congress of Vienna (1814), and in 1815-1819 was Prussian Minister-Resident at Carlsruhe.
After 1819, he resided chiefly in Berlin with the title of “Geheimer Legationsrat.” He had no fixed official appointment, but was often employed in important political business. He carried on an extensive correspondence with Alexander von Humboldt and two volumes of Humoboldt"s letters to him have been published. Blätter aus der preussischen Geschichte appeared in 5 volumes in 1874-1875.
And that with Carlyle in 1892.
Varnhagen was devotedly attached to her, and found in her sympathy and encouragement one of the chief sources of his inspiration as a writer
(Goethe in den Zeugnissen der Mitlebenden by Karl August E...)
(Lang:- German, Pages 410. Reprinted in 2013 with the help...)
This allowed him to learn from an early age young characters in his time, some already famous, such as: Adelbert von Chamisso, Justinus Kerner, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, Ludwig Uhland and many other poets of romanticism.
