Gustav Bogislav von Münchow

Gustav Bogislav von Münchow (10 September 1686 – 20 June 1766) was a Prussian general. In the early years of the reign of Frederick the Great, Münchow was not only a soldier and a diplomatic confidant, but he also earned a reputation for the improvement of Prussian military medical care. He was honored with the Black Eagle Order and his name is listed on the Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great.

Family Gustav von Münchow was born on 10 September 1686 in Kosemühl, Pomerania. He was the son of Bernhard Christian von Münchow and Clara Erdmuthe Wobeser. The father was a master of Kosemühl, a royal Brandenburg cornet at a young age, and when Crown Prince Frederick was imprisoned between 1732–1733, he was chamber president in Küstrin. A long-term friendship existed between Bernhard and both Frederick I and his son and successor, Frederick William.

Military career In 1701, Gustav von Münchow entered as a junior cadet in the Hessian-Kassel regiment of prince Frederick, who was the son-in-law of his father's friend and benefactor, Frederick William I. The following year, the prince appointed Münchow as his Valet de chambre.

In the course of the First Silesian War, in May 1741, Münchow took over the supervision of the Prussian hospitals set up in the neutral Wrocław after the Battle of Mollwitz. Until then, Prussian military medicine had been in a neglected and chaotic state. Münchow's most important improvement was the separate treatment and care of the sick from wounded, which greatly reduced the danger of cross infection. In 1752, Münchow received an appointment to the cathedral in the Abbey of Saint Sebastian in Magdeburg. In addition to the names of other contemporaries who had been associated with the king, Münchow is also listed on the Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great.

Gustav von Münchow was married twice. With his first wife, Antoinette Philippine von Borstell (20 February 1701–5 September 1730 in Berlin), he had a son and two daughters. The daughter, Antoinette Katharina (born 24 August 1730), married Ludwig Clamor de la Chevallerie, the son of General Ernst August de la Chevallerie von la Motte. His married second wife, Sophie Elenore von Schwerin, on 14 June 1732 (13 April 1706 in Rehberg–16 July 1769 in Berlin), in the Berlin garrison church. She was the sister of General Philipp Bogislav von Schwerin. This marriage remained without children.

Münchow died in Berlin in 1766 and was buried in the Garrison Church.

References and citations

Literature König, Anton Balthasar, Biographisches Lexikon aller Helden und Militairpersonen. Band III, Berlin, 1796, pp. 77–79. Mebes, Julius. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Brandenburgisch-Preussischen Staates, Band 1, S. 397 Digital version. Accessed 11 January 2017 Priesdorff, Kurt von, Soldatisches Führertum. Teil 2. Die preußischen Generale vom Regierungsantritt Friedrichs des Großen bis 1763 [Band 1], Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt, Hamburg o.J. (1937), S. 258f. (Nr. 301)