Albrecht von Roon
Albrecht von Roon built the army that made Germany, and his one important act was sending a telegram. He was an orphaned Pomeranian officer's son, educated in cadet schools, who made his early name writing military geography rather than fighting. As war minister from 1859 he proposed the reorganisation that caused the constitutional crisis: longer conscript service, more line regiments, and the reduction of the Landwehr militia to a reserve. The military argument was that the militia was unreliable in the field; the political argument, which the liberals in the chamber understood perfectly, was that the Landwehr was the citizens' army and the line was the crown's. The chamber refused the budget, the king dissolved it twice and lost both elections, and Wilhelm had a letter of abdication drafted. Roon telegraphed Bismarck, then ambassador in Paris, with three words - there is danger in delay - and Bismarck came, took the government, and spent four years collecting the taxes without a budget at all. The reformed army beat Austria at Sadowa in 1866 in seven weeks and France in 1870, and the reform that had been called unconstitutional was retrospectively approved. He was at the dinner in July 1870 where Bismarck edited the Ems telegram, and he and Moltke confirmed the army was ready before it was published. He was made a count and a field marshal, served briefly as minister-president in 1873, and resigned in poor health. He is the third figure in the standard portrait with Bismarck and Moltke, and the least remembered.
- Lived: 1803 CE – 1879 CE
- Nationality: Prussian
- Roles: military, minister
