Didrik Thomas Johannes Schnitler

Not to be confused with Diderik Schnitler.

Didrik Thomas Johannes Schnitler (9 September 1833 – 15 December 1888) was a Norwegian military officer and war historian.

Personal life

He was born in Østre Toten, as the son of military officer Balthasar Schnitler (died 1840) and Bolette Rogneby.^[1] He married Nanni Cathrine Sidonia Gudmundson (1833–1901) in 1859,^[1] and was the father of military officer and historian Gudmund Schnitler.^[2]

Career

Schnitler graduated from the Norwegian Military Academy (Norwegian: Krigsskolen) in 1854, and went on to study at the Norwegian Military College (Norwegian: Den Militære Høiskole), where he graduated in 1858.^[1] His first assignment was at the Bergenhusiske gevorbne Musketerkorps in Bergen.^[3] He served at the 2nd Akershusiske Brigade, and then at Kanalvæsenet. From 1859 he was assigned to the General Staff, where he had the title of Adjoint from 1864.^[4] He gained the rank of Captain in 1872,^[1] and was given a special post as military historian in 1876.^[5] He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1882. He was a teacher of military history at both of his alma maters, the Norwegian Military Academy and the Norwegian Military College.^[1]

His main work is the four-volume series Almindelig krigshistorie ("General War History"), published between 1878 and 1885.^[6] The series is an expanded version of works originally written for his lectures at the Military Academy. Volume I covered the Ancient Greek and Macedonian period, volume II covered the Roman period, volume III covered Medieval warfare, and volume IV covered the period up to 1650.^[7] A fifth volume, based on his manuscripts,^[8] covering the period from 1650 to 1792, was completed and published by his son, Gudmund, in 1905.^[2]

He was a member of the editorial board of the periodical Norskt militært Tidsskrift. He was the secretary of the Miliary Commission of 1869, a member of the Military Education Commission from 1870 to 1872, and a member of the Commission of 1884, which had been given the mandate of preparing for the reorganization of the Norwegian Army.^[1]

A selection of his articles originally published in various magazines was published in 1895 as Blade af Norges krigshistorie.^[9] He was decorated as a Knight of the Order of St. Olav in 1880, and was also a Knight of the Swedish Order of the Sword and Order of the Polar Star, and the Prussian Order of the Crown.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Amundsen, O. Delphin (1947) (in Norwegian). Den kongelige norske Sankt Olavs Orden. Oslo: Grøndahl. p. 210. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Gudmund Schnitler" (in Norwegian). Store norske leksikon. Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. http://www.snl.no/Gudmund_Schnitler. Retrieved 6 July 2011. 
3. ^ Schnitler 1895: p. VI
4. ^ Schnitler 1895: p. VI
5. ^ Schnitler 1895: p. VI
6. ^ "Didrik Thomas Johannes Schnitler" (in Norwegian). Store norske leksikon. Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. http://www.snl.no/Didrik_Thomas_Johannes_Schnitler. Retrieved 6 July 2011. 
7. ^ Schnitler 1895: pp. VII-VIII
8. ^ Schnitler 1895: p. VIII
9. ^ Schnitler, Didrik (1895). Blade af Norges krigshistorie. Kristiania: Aschehoug. 

External links

• Works by or about Didrik Schnitler at Internet Archive and Google Books (scanned books)