Gerhard Johann David Waitz von Scharnhorst
Gerhard Johann David Waitz von Scharnhorst (November 12, 1755 – June 28, 1813) was a Saxon general in Prussian Army during the Napoleonic Wars, rising as high as Chief of the Prussian General Staff.
Born in near Hanover in 1755. He attended various military academies. Became a publisher of military journals.
Following the first phase of the Napoleonic wars (1793-1794) he became so well known as a soldier that many armies sought him out. He chose to join the Prussians. Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm III elevated him into the nobility and appointed him as an instructor at the War Academy of Berlin (where Carl von Clausewitz was one of his students).
In the battles after 1806, Scharnhorst was wounded at the battle of Auerstedt, surrendered with General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher following the battle of Lübeck, and fought again at the battle of Eylau.
Following the Peace of Tilsit (July 1807), Scharnhorst was appointed to head a commission investigating how to reform the Prussian Army. He served with Hermann von Boyen, Karl von Grolman, Heinrich Friedrich Karl, Baron von und zum Stein, and August von Gneisenau. The reforms suggested were to transform the traditional army of Prussia into a national army based on universal service, foreign enrollees were forbidden, the system of punishments for military crimes was reformed, promotion was based on merit, the structure of the military administration was rationalized, and the army reserves (or Landwehr) was created. Because of French oversight (following the Prussian defeat at the battle of Jena), many of these reforms could not be implemented or only partially implemented. When Napoleon impressed Prussian troops for his invasion of Russia, Scharnhorst went into retirement.
Following Napoleon's defeat in Russia, Prussia re-organized its army and recalled Scharnhorst who joined Blücher as his Chief of Staff. In early May, he was detailed to the Russian Army. In the battle of Lützen, Scharnhorst was wounded in the foot but probably because of poor attention to it or infection, he eventually died from it on June 28, 1813.