Friedrich – Fritz – awake, awake!
Friedrich von Berg, known simply as Fritz to his fellow comrades, stirred but refused to open
his eyes. The room was freezing – the kind of cold that seeped through wool and bone alike.
But no one complained; complaining wasn’t a Prussian habit. Instead, he pulled the blanket
tighter around his shoulders, pretending not to hear his friend’s urgent whisper – more a
warning than a wake-up call.
Friedrich “Fritz” von Berg was born on April 2nd, 1785, in Stettin, the capital of the Prussian
Province of Pomerania. His father, a minor noble and, at that time, a Major in the Prussian
army, is more administrator than warrior. After his mother fell ill, young Friedrich was sent to
live with his grandfather on the family estate near Erfurt, then part of the Archbishopric of
Mainz.
Friedrich spent joyful years on the estate, yet his father insisted on a military career. He was
accepted into the Kadettenschule in Berlin, where he graduated tenth in his class in 1802.
This distinction allowed him to continue his education at the prestigious Académie Militaire,
reestablished just one year prior, with Colonels Gerhard von Scharnhorst and Levin von
Geusau appointed as directors.
It is now the the autumn of 1805, and Friedrich von Berg had earned promotion to
Sekondelieutenant. He finds himself navigating the strictures of Prussian discipline while
wrestling with the new ideas and philosophies that are flowing across Europe from France – a
tension that will define his future.