Iggelheim was in the Electoral Palatinate
Sibein was born in Iggelheim in 1750. At the time, the village belonged to the Electoral Palatinate, not to Old Bavaria.
Origin and rise
Why a Palatine officer became a Bavarian general
The key lies in the political connection between the Electoral Palatinate and Bavaria from 1777 onward. Sibein first entered the Palatine army. When the Palatine and Bavarian lines were united under Elector Karl Theodor, his career gradually became a Palatine-Bavarian and later Bavarian military career. The Swiss campaign of 1799 already shows him as commander of his own battalion on the coalition side against France.
Simple explanation
How the Palatinate and Bavaria were connected
The basic question is simple: Justus Ritter von Sibein came from the Palatinate, but later became a Bavarian general. The connection was not a move to Old Bavaria, but the political union of the Electoral Palatinate and Bavaria under Elector Karl Theodor.
In 1777 Karl Theodor inherited Bavaria
When the Bavarian line of the Wittelsbach dynasty died out, Bavaria passed to Elector Karl Theodor from the Palatine line.
The Palatinate and Bavaria were linked
This created a shared ruler and a Palatine-Bavarian framework. For officers such as Sibein, the political setting of their career changed.
A Palatine officer became a Bavarian general
This is why Sibein later appears as a Bavarian major general, although his origins clearly lay in the Palatinate.
Electoral Palatinate
Iggelheim · Palatinate
→
1777
Elector Karl Theodor
Elector Karl Theodor
Bavaria
later Bavarian military career
This graphic is intentionally schematic. It does not try to show every historical border, but explains the political connection between the Palatinate and Bavaria in a clear way.
Origin
Iggelheim, the parsonage and the Palatine background
Justus Heinrich Sibein was born in Iggelheim in July 1750. His father Johann Nikolaus Sibein was a Reformed pastor, and his mother Anna Maria came from Haßloch. The exact birthday is not securely preserved, because the church register was damaged or difficult to read after wartime disruption. A Dutch genealogical journal from 1912 explicitly refers to information from the Royal Bavarian War Archive and to a copy of the Iggelheim baptismal record.
This origin is important: Sibein was not an Old Bavarian officer from Munich or Upper Bavaria, but a Palatine. His later Bavarian position becomes understandable through the connection between the Electoral Palatinate and Bavaria.
Military career
From cadet to major general
1766Entered the Palatine army as a cadet in the Infantry Regiment “Pfalzgraf Karl August”.
1771–1788Rose through the ranks from ensign, adjutant, second lieutenant, first lieutenant and captain to major.
1792Assigned to the newly established general staff; later served in various infantry units.
1799Battalion Sibein in the Swiss theatre of war: a Palatine-Bavarian unit on the coalition side against French revolutionary troops.
1804Promoted to major general.
1805Commander of the 6th Bavarian Brigade in the war against Austria.
1809/1810Tyrolean campaign, Bavarian control of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, command over Bavarian troops in Tyrol.
1812Russian campaign, wounded near Beloye/Polotsk, died shortly afterward in Polotsk.
Swiss campaign 1799
With Battalion Sibein against France
In 1799 Justus Ritter von Sibein was not active only in Bavaria or the Palatinate. He was deployed with the battalion named after him, Battalion Sibein, in the Swiss theatre of war. He did not serve in a Swiss army; he commanded a Palatine-Bavarian unit on the anti-French coalition side.
Switzerland was not a quiet neutral space at that time. In 1798 France had overthrown the old Swiss Confederacy and created the Helvetic Republic. During the War of the Second Coalition, Switzerland became a transit, retreat and combat zone. For France’s opponents, the aim was to push back French dominance.
What Sibein did there
In 1799 several companies were formed into a separate unit, first described as a combined battalion and later as Battalion Sibein. This battalion belonged to a Palatine-Bavarian contingent assigned to the Russian army under General Korsakov.
Early command responsibility
The deployment in Switzerland shows Sibein in a position of responsibility before his later career as major general. With Battalion Sibein he commanded his own unit in a European theatre of war where France, Russia, Austria and allied German contingents encountered one another.
Kloster Paradies / Büsingen
The regimental history of the later 9th Bavarian Infantry Regiment names the Swiss campaign of 1799 and places Battalion Sibein in connection with fighting in the area of Büsingen and Kloster Paradies. The area of Büsingen / Kloster Paradies is therefore a cautious geographical description.
Ingolstadt on the Danube
The route to Tyrol begins in the Bavarian operational area
In 1805 Sibein commanded the 6th Bavarian Brigade. His troops first stood near Ingolstadt, operated from 14 to 17 October against the Austrian general Franz Freiherr von Werneck and then remained on the Ilm to cover the rear of the French army.
From there Sibein was sent to Tyrol in forced marches in order to reinforce the Bavarian corps under General Wrede.
Political background
Why Tyrol was difficult for Bavaria
Tyrol was shaped by Habsburg rule, came to Bavaria at the end of 1805 after the Peace of Pressburg, and remained politically and militarily contested. For Bavaria, Tyrol was not a calm inland province, but a newly acquired territory that had to be controlled and secured.
Tyrol 1805–1810
Innsbruck, Bergisel and Bavarian occupation
The Innsbruck chronicle makes Sibein’s role particularly vivid: on 29 November 1805 the first Royal Bavarian troops under General Sibein entered Innsbruck. On 10 December, Generals Sibein and Minucci took up the quarters in the Hofburg that had been vacated by the French. On 6 January 1806 General von Sibein gave a large banquet in the Hofburg to celebrate Bavaria’s elevation to a kingdom.
In the Tyrolean war of 1809, Sibein appears several times. Accounts of Bergisel mention him at Wilten or as the leader of a main thrust against Bergisel. This shows him not as a marginal figure, but as a Bavarian commander in one of the most sensitive regions of Napoleonic Bavaria.
Sauzey also names Sibein in connection with the situation after the suppression of the Tyrolean uprising: Drouet d’Erlon handed command over to him while Bavaria reduced its occupation forces in Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Sauzey’s account shows that Sibein’s connection with Tyrol was not limited to a single episode, but also reached into Bavarian military administration after the uprising had been suppressed.
Silesia 1806/07
Wartha, Breslau and Glatz
In Sauzey’s account of the campaign of 1806/07, Sibein also appears in Silesia. At Wartha he was attacked by Prussian forces, but was able to drive them back. During the attack on the position in front of Glatz, Sibein played a role with Bavarian infantry, dragoons and light cavalry against the right side of the enemy position.
These episodes broaden the picture: Sibein was not only a commander connected with Tyrol, but an active brigade leader in several Napoleonic campaigns.
Bergisel 1809
An attack from the fields of Wilten
In accounts of the Bergisel fighting, General Sibein is linked with a Bavarian main thrust against Bergisel. His troops are described as advancing with bayonets and under artillery fire from the fields of Wilten to the edge of the plateau before the attack was thrown back.
A cautious historical interpretation is therefore appropriate: Sibein led an important Bavarian attack, but he was not the sole decision-maker of the Tyrolean war.
Russian campaign 1812
Polotsk: wound, death and memory
In 1812 Sibein marched with the Bavarian troops in the Russian campaign. The Bavarians reached Polotsk severely weakened. In the fighting, Sibein was wounded on 22 August near Beloye or in the Polotsk area. Several sources give 24 August 1812 as the date of his death.
Sibein’s death stands alongside that of the aged General Deroy as a symbol of Bavarian losses in the campaign. Polotsk thus became a place of memory in Bavarian military history, even though the exact grave site later disappeared.
Munich · Karolinenplatz
The obelisk and Bavarian memory of 1812
The obelisk on Karolinenplatz was erected in 1833 on the initiative of King Ludwig I. It commemorates the 30,000 Bavarian soldiers who died in Napoleon’s Russian campaign of 1812. The inscription “Auch sie starben für des Vaterlandes Befreyung” is historically double-edged, because in 1812 Bavaria was still allied with Napoleon and only changed sides against France in 1813.
Sebastian Franz von Daxenberger composed an ode for the unveiling. In it, Siebein is named together with Polotsk and Deroy:
“Hier ruhen Polozk’s umgestürzte Mauern, auf ihren blutbegoss’nen Waffentaten,… Ach jene Klosterglocke die das Zeichen zum Donner der Geschütze gab, mußt euer Herz mit jenem Klang erreichen, der läutet zu dem Grab. Mußt euer Aug’ mit heißem Zähren, erfüllen und zu jenen Wunden kehren, die Siebein’s und des greisen Deroy’s Sarg, dem glühenden weit off’nen Blick verbarg.”
Traces
What remains visible of Sibein
In Germersheim, Siebeinstraße recalls him; in the area of the former fortress there was also an outwork named after him. In Iggelheim, his origin remains tangible through the family, the parsonage milieu and the grave slabs of his parents.
In Polotsk, the memory is more difficult to grasp. The former chapel with the grave of Bavarian generals disappeared. The tradition surrounding the “Red Bridge” and Bavarian memory of the fallen nevertheless continue to connect the place with the catastrophe of the Russian campaign.
Images
Free images used on this page
The images are embedded from Wikimedia Commons. Only files marked there as Public Domain or freely usable were used; the detailed provenance is listed in the sources and licence section.
Sources and further reading
Source basis of this page
Wikipedia biographyBiographical overview; listed there under the source form Justus Siebein.
Dutch genealogical journal, 1912Birth, baptismal record, reference to the Bavarian War Archive; also information on the Swiss campaign.
Regimental history of the 9th Bavarian Infantry RegimentBattalion Sibein and participation in the 1799 campaign in Switzerland.
Swiss Alpine Club: Mountain War 1798/1799Background: Switzerland as a theatre of war and French influence.
Chronicle of InnsbruckEntry of Bavarian troops, the Hofburg and Sibein in Innsbruck.
Sauzey, campaign of 1806/07Silesia, Breslau, Glatz, Sibein as brigade commander.
Sauzey, campaign of 1809, part IISibein’s brigade in the context of the Tyrolean campaign.
Sauzey, campaign of 1809, part IIIDrouet d’Erlon hands command over to General Sibein.
Napoleon Series, appendix 1812Sibein wounded on 22 August near Beloye and dead on 24 August.
Bergisel fightingGeneral Sibein and the main thrust against Bergisel.
Obelisk in MunichKarolinenplatz, erection in 1833, inscriptions and memory of 1812.
Wikimedia CommonsPortraits, obelisk and grave slabs; partly listed under the source form Justus Siebein.