Biography
Schlieffen was born in Berlin on February 28, 1833 as the son of a Prussian army officer and he was part of an old Prussian noble family. He lived with his father, Major Magnus Von Schlieffen in their estate in Silesia. Soon Alfred Von Schlieffen left to go to school in 1842. Growing up, Schleiffen showed no interest in joining the military and so he did not attend the traditional Prussian cadet academies. Instead, he studied law at the University of Berlin. While studying law, he enlisted in the army in 1853 for his required one year volunteer military service. After his one year was up, instead of joining the reserves, he was chosen as an officer candidate. Thus he started a long military journey, working his way up through the rankings, and lasting 53 years in service.
During the middle of Schlieffen's military duties, he married and had a family. He married his cousin Countess Anna Schlieffen in 1868. They had one healthy kid, however after the birth of their second child, Anna passed away. After his wife's death, Schlieffen focused all his attention on his military work.
Read more about this topic: Alfred Von Schlieffen
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“There never was a good biography of a good novelist. There couldn’t be. He is too many people, if he’s any good.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“As we approached the log house,... the projecting ends of the logs lapping over each other irregularly several feet at the corners gave it a very rich and picturesque look, far removed from the meanness of weather-boards. It was a very spacious, low building, about eighty feet long, with many large apartments ... a style of architecture not described by Vitruvius, I suspect, though possibly hinted at in the biography of Orpheus.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)