[Albrecht Theodor Emil von Roon] Graf von Roon Prussian Field Marshal and Military Minister
in Uniform Official Portrait Original Grave [on steel], Leipzig ND(1890s). From photography.
Publisher and Printer von Weger, Leipzig. One side print. Size 208 x 278 mm. Near Fine condition:
mainly clean sheet with lt. stains and small pollution, minor defects, traces of time (see pictures).
Albrecht Theodor Emil von Roon, Count von Roon (1803 - 1879) from 1871, was a Prussian field marshal.
As Minister of War, he played a key role in Prussia's success in the Wars of German Unification.
He is one of the most important army reformers of his time.
During the 1849 campaign he made the acquaintance of the Supreme Commander, Prince of Prussia,
to whose ideal circle he belonged from then on. Roon was deployed in various positions in the general staff
and in the military service. In 1851 he was promoted to colonel, in 1856 he was appointed major general and in 1858 he was
appointed commander of the 14th Division, always with transfers to various regions of the Prussian monarchy.
At the suggestion of the Prince of Prussia, Roon, retired in Kolberg, wrote memorandum in the summer of 1858
on questions of modernizing the Prussian military system. It was entirely in the spirit of Otto von Bismarck
and the prince in the looming Prussian constitutional conflict. After the beginning of his reign, the Prince of Prussia
appointed Roon to the commission for the reorganization of the army in 1859, appointed him minister of war
in December 1859 and, after his accession to the throne as Wilhelm I in 1861, also naval minister.
As non-attached member of the Prussian House of Representatives, of which he was member from 1859 to 1860
and 1863 to 1870, Roon defended the army reform against the majority in an uncompromising and rhetorical manner.
When Wilhelm wanted to give up in the fight for army reform, Roon sent Bismarck a memorable telegram
on September 18, 1862 with the sentence: “Periculum in mora. Dépêchez-vous!” (“Danger imminent! Hurry!”).
The telegram prompted Bismarck to return from his Paris ambassadorial post to Berlin, where the king
appointed him Prime Minister.
At Bismarck's side, Roon then modernized the army against strong liberal opposition. In the German public,
Roon's reputation rose like that of Bismarck and Helmuth von Moltke when successes in solving the German question
through blood and iron became noticeable in the wars against Denmark and Austria since 1864. The Prussian state
parliament granted them endowments. After the Battle of Königgrätz, Roon received the Order of the Black Eagle.
On June 16, 1871, on day of the brilliant Berlin Victory Parade, the king elevated Roon to the rank of Prussian count
for his services to the victorious wars of unification and appointed him to the manor house as a lifelong member in 1872.