Background
Steinmetz was born at Eisenach on 27 December 1796.
Steinmetz was born at Eisenach on 27 December 1796.
He was educated at the cadet school of Stolp in Pomerania from 1807 to 1811, in the midst of the misery and poverty caused by the French occupation.
At the outbreak of the War of Liberation he and his elder brother made their way through the French posts to Breslau, where, in spite of their poverty, they were at once appointed to the army, the elder as ensign on probation, the younger to the substantive rank of second lieutenant. After a vain attempt to transfer to the Blücher Hussars, a regiment he had an intense boyish admiration for when it was quartered at Stolp, he was ordered to report to General Yorck, who treated him and the other officers from Breslau with coldness, until Steinmetz asked about returning to the king who had sent him.
The brothers were in the hardest fighting of the campaign of 1813, the elder being killed at the Battle of Leipzig and the younger being wounded more than once. The short halt on the Rhine he utilized in improving his military and general education. In the battles in France he won the second class of the Iron Cross. After the peace, he entered Paris only once, fearing to spend the ten ducats that sent monthly to his mother. For the same reason, he did not take part in the pleasures of his better off comrades.
He rigorously devoted himself to study and his professional duties. From 1820 to 1824 he studied at the General War Academy, graduating from the course with distinction, and so was appointed to the topographical section of the general staff. General von Müffling reported that he was arrogant and resented encouragement, which he probably regarded as patronising, but that his ability would outdistance his comrades. Steinmetz was too poor to buy a good horse or a house, and he had to live in his regimental quarters. However, shortly after his marriage to his cousin Julie, the daughter of Lieutenant-General KKF von Steinmetz (1768–1837), gave him enough money to temper his resentment, since his father-in-law was generous to the young couple, and helped him get an appointment as captain at the Landwehr Guard at Potsdam. His brigade commander, General von Röder, was an excellent soldier, and Steinmetz often spoke of the thorough training he received.
After this from about 1830 his regimental work and his promotion went on without incident for several years in various garrisons, until in 1839 he became major and battalion commander. In this position he had many official differences with his immediate superiors, for he urged a strenuous war training for the troops, in season and out of season, too vigorously for his more conservative comrades, but off parade his relations with all, thanks chiefly to the social gifts of his wife, were of the most pleasant character.
In 1848 he was in command of a guard battalion during the disturbances in Berlin, but was not engaged, and soon found more active employment in the Danish War. At Schleswig he so distinguished himself that Wrangel, the commander-in-chief, told him that he had "decided the battle. " He distinguished himself again at Diippel, and Prince William himself decorated him with the order pour le Write on parade. For his campaign journals and letters see supplement to Militcir Wochenblatt for 1878.
On returning he was entrusted with the difficult command of the troops at Brandenburg during the sitting of a democratic popular convention at that place, and after this with the control of some troops that were known to be affected by the prevalent spirit of revolution.
At the time of the Olmiitz-Bronnzell incident of 1850 he was employed as military governor of Cassel, and in 1851, becoming colonel commandant of the cadet school of Berlin, he at once set about the reformation of the prevailing system of instruction, the defects of which he had openly condemned as early as 1820. Though more than fifty years of age, he now learned Latin and English in order to be a more competent instructor.
In 1854, after forty-one years of active service, he was promoted major-general. At Magdeburg, as at Berlin, his reforming zeal made him many enemies, and in October of this year he sustained a loss which almost unhinged his mind in the death of his youngest and only surviving child, a girl of twenty-six. From Magdeburg he was removed to the command of a guard brigade at Berlin (1857), and thence almost immediately to a divisional command in the I Corps. Early in 1858 he was promoted lieutenant-general, and for the five years that he held this command he devoted himself particularly to acquiring knowledge of the cavalry arm. About 1863, learning that von Bonin, his senior by date, but his junior in age and length of service, was about to be appointed to command the I Corps, he meditated retirement, but the authorities at the same time as they appointed Bonin made Steinmetz commander of the II Corps, and shortly afterwards, when the crown prince of Prussia took over this post, commander of the V Corps at Posen. Shortly after this his wife died.
He was promoted general of infantry in 1864, alid led the V Corps to the war against Austria in 1866. This was the chance of his lifetime. His skilful and resolute leadership was displayed in his three battles, won on three successive days, of Nachod, Skalitz and Schweinschadel, and opened the way through the mountains in spite of the defeat of Steinmetz's rival Bonin at Trautenau. In 1867, in his loneliness, the "Lion of Nachod, " as he was popularly called, contracted a second marriage. He was now, for the first time in his life, a fairly wealthy man, having been awarded a money grant for his brilliant services in 1866. About this time he was elected a member of the North German Confederation parliament.
At the outbreak of the war of 1870 Steinmetz was appointed to command one of the three armies assembled on the Rhine, the others being led by Prince Frederick Charles and the crown prince. It was not long before serious differences arose between Steinmetz and Prince Frederick Charles. The former, embittered by a lifelong struggle against the influences of wealth and position, and perhaps somewhat grise by his successes in 1866, considered an order to clear the roads for the prince's army as an attempt to crowd a humbler comrade out of the fighting line, and various incidents added day by day to his growing resentment until at last on the field of Gravelotte he lost his temper and wasted his troops. After this there was no alternative but to relieve him of the command of the I Army and to send him home as governor-general of the V and VI Army Corps districts.
In April 1871 he was retired at his own request, but his great services were not forgotten when victory had softened animosites, and he was promoted general fieldmarshal, given a pension of 2000 thalers and made a member of the upper chamber. In the spirit of loyalty which had guided his whole career as a soldier he made no attempt to justify his conduct in 1870 either against the criticisms of the general staff history or against unofficial attacks. His life in retirement was quiet and happy, and he retained his bodily health to the last. He died at Bad Landeck on the 2nd of August 1877.
Steinmetz's avoidance of youthful excesses helped him overcome bad health and become physically vigorous, which he was to the end of his military career. His character as well as his physique was strengthened by his Spartan way of life, but his temperament was embittered by the circumstances which imposed this self-restraint. His poverty and want of influence were the more obvious as he was, shortly after the wars, assigned to the lowly 2nd Foot Guards, stationed in Berlin.
He married to his cousin Julie, the daughter of Lieutenant-General KKF von Steinmetz (1768–1837).
In 1867 he married Elise von Krosigk (who after his death married Count Bruhl).