Adolf von Deines

Deines was born to a landowning family with roots in Roßdorf bei Hanau dating back to the 16th century, which was ennobled in 1847.[1] His father was Ludwig Ritter von Deines (1818 – 1901), a landowner in Hanau, who from 1868 to 1885 represented his district and Alexis, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld in the Hessian municipal parliament.[2] His mother was Emilie Pfeiffer (1816 – 1866), granddaughter of the theologian Johann Jakob Pfeiffer. Through his mother's sisters, Deines was the nephew by marriage of three prominent men: the chemist Friedrich Wöhler, the legal scholar Otto Bähr, and the Hessian finance minister Karl Ledderhose.[3]

After attending gymnasium in Weinheim, Deines studied at the Universities of Göttingen, Halle, and Bonn. While at Bonn, he became a member of the Corps Palatia. On March 1, 1867, he joined the 7th Hussar Regiment of the Prussian army as a one-year volunteer, and on July 6, 1869, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the military reserve.[4] At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Deines was called into active duty with his regiment, and he saw combat at the battles of Gravelotte, Amiens, and Hallue. Following the siege of Metz, Deines served as an ordnance officer in the VIII Army Inspectorate, and later as part of the Prussian South Army. On December 18th, 1870, he was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class.[4]

After the end of the conflict, Deines remained a commissioned officer of the 7th Hussars, rising to the rank of adjutant before being appointed to the Prussian General Staff in March 1872.[5] This was followed by promotion to Oberleutnant in 1876, and in 1878, promotion to Hauptmann.[5] In 1881, after the signing of the Convention of Constantinople, Deines was sent to the newly established Ottoman/Greek border as a foreign observer.[4]

From 1885 to 1887, von Deines served as the military attaché to the Prussian embassy in Spain, where he was responsible for maintaining cordial military relations between the two kingdoms. In 1887, he was transferred to the Prussian embassy in Vienna, but when Wilhelm II was named German Emperor and King of Prussia, Deines was made the Kaiser's aide-de-camp.[4] This position gave Deines the curious German right of Immediatstellung, or "immediate access" to the Kaiser, a privilege restricted to the highest ranking nobility and members of the military.[5]

As a political agent of Alfred von Waldersee, Deines played an important part in Waldersee's struggle with Otto von Bismarck from 1887 to 1890. Like the military attachés in Saint Petersburg, Paris and Rome, Deines provided the Waldersee with reports that cast a bad light on German foreign policy at the time - and thus on Bismarck as its author. Waldersee later presented these reports to the Wilhelm II in order to rally him against Bismarck and thus bring about his downfall.[6]

In 1890, Deines was promoted to the rank of Oberstleutnant, and in 1892, to Oberst. In October 1894, while retaining his position as aide-de-camp, Deines was recalled from Vienna to Berlin to act as Obergouverneur, or the individual in charge of the education of the emperor's sons.[7] In order to achieve this end, a former summer residence at Plön was converted to a boarding school, the Prinzenhaus, or Princes' House. Here, Deines undertook the education of the Emperor's oldest sons, Crown Prince Wilhelm, Prine Eitel Friederich, and Prince Adalbert (with their younger brothers following them in the decade to come).[8] Deines is generally seen as successful in the acquittal of this duty, particularly in exposing the boys to military cadets their own age from different social backgrounds. This was despite a noted tension between him and the boys' mother, the Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, whose meddling and temperament he viewed as detrimental to their education and development as men.[6] In one partifcular memorandum, von Deines wrote "a crown prince is not a higher form of human being, but simply one placed in a higher position. In order to form a capable, whole man, one will have to take the same road as that for other sons of the educated classes," a sentiment which did little to endear him to the Kaiserin.[5] In gratitude for overseeing the education of his sons, Wilhelm II made Deines a Commander of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern in 1900, as well as raising him to the rank of adjutant general.[1] At the same time, he was made commander of the 21st Division. In October 1902, he was appointed commanding officer of the VIII Army Corps, and in 1903, was promoted to the rank of General of the Cavalry, marking the pinnacle of his military career. In the same year, he was made a Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle.[5] By 1906, increased hearing loss forced Deines to relinquish his command of the VIII Army Corps, and he was retired from active duty, although he retained the honorary rank of Adjutant general in his old unit, the 7th Hussar Regiment.[4]

Adolf von Deines died at his home in Hanau on November 17, 1911, from complications following a surgery to relieve an intestinal blockage.[5] His tombstone in the Hanau Hauptfriedhof has been designated a cultural heritage monument by the Hessisches Denkmalschutzgesetz.[9]