
Emilio Körner in 1906.
Emil Körner Henze (10 October 1846 in Wegwitz – 25 March 1920 in Berlin), sometimes called Emilio Körner Henze in Spanish, was a German officer (Hauptmann) of the Prussian Army and Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army with the rank of Inspector General from 1900 to 1910.
Biography[]
Emil Theodor Körner was born on October 10, 1846 in Wegnitz in the Merseburg district, a province of Saxony in the Kingdom of Prussia, son of Ludwig Körner and Alwina Henze, being baptized in the Lutheran faith as were his parents. He joined the Prussian Army as an officer candidate while the campaigns of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 were materializing and admitted as an officer candidate in the 4th Artillery Regiment of Maagdeburg, without turning in the entrance exams due to his excellent grades.
In the campaigns of the Franco-Prussian War, despite his few years of service, he stood out as battery commander on behalf of his performance in the Battles of Wörth, Sedan, and in the Siege of Paris, where he was hurt many times. These actions awarded him the Iron Cross second class and the commemorative medal of the campaign.
With the War of the Pacific recently concluded, President Domingo Santa María, based on his lived war experiences in the conflict, judged that the Army needed to modernize and reorganize itself on the model of a European army. The government fixed its sights on Germany, whose military prestige presented itself as the zenith of war experience after the campaigns against Austria and France. Besides that, the Chilean government had already known the general progress in the south of the country, thanks to the German colonization which was a clear demonstration of German ability.
The embassy in Berlin in the charge of Guillermo Matta, fulfilling government instruction, contacted the German military and under the authorization of the Marshal von Moltke, through the War Ministry, General Bronsart von Schellendorf, in 1885 and after three years of negotiations, contracted the services of a Prussian artillery captain, that at this time found himself stationed in the Artillery and Engineering School of Charlottenburg. Emil Körner, who stood out for his brilliant background and great war experience, under the concept that he must realize in Chile the necessary reforms to transform its army into a mirror of the Prussian, a five-year work agreement, with contract renewal.
The Civil War of 1891 was a conflict of powers between the president of the republic and the parliament around (initially) the interpretation of the constitution, and marked the first political intervention of the four officers educated by General Körner in the Prussian way.
The defense institutions of the Chilean Republic adhered to one or another faction, but there were dissidents who followed their particular ideologies without permitting the institutional ideology to interfere with their personal and particular ideologies, one of these being the now Lieutenant Colonel of the Chilean Army, Emil Körner, principally because of the disagreements he had with the veteran officers of the War of the Pacific, who resisted his modifications since they believed that the modernization could soon remove them from their leadership positions.
The war carried out with these well-instructed troops developed itself in good form for the congress and it opened the doors for the central area to where their forces were transferred to give the coup de grace to the government of the President Balmaceda. The recently named Colonel Körner (July 1) planned and materialized a disembarking at the north of Concón approaching by means of columns to enemy positions. On August 26, 1891 the Battle of Concón was developed where besides serving as Chief of Staff, Körner was given the command of the first brigade and the corresponding responsibility to effect the attack in the west wing of the offensive.
Two days later the Battle of Placilla was fought which was a continuation of the Battle of Concón and conforming to the planning, the principal attack had to materialize over the right of the government troops from the two constitutional brigades. On this occasion Körner in his position as Chief of Staff had to remain with the commander of the forces, Estanislao del Canto.
After these bloody battles, they occupied Santiago and made the Navy Captain Jorge Montt the choice as president to replace General Manuel Baquedano, who had been named provisional president for Balmaceda, who committed suicide in the Argentine legation at Santiago. In turn, Estanslao del Canto was relegated to a secondary position for representing a political danger and they gave all the honors for the victory to Körner. Slowly, peace returned to Chile.
The civil war ended, the triumphant parliament honored Körner with the rank of Brigadier General and named him Chief of the General Staff, restarting immediately his institutional reforms. Whereas before General Körner had been reprimanded by Germany for his participation in the civil war of a country whose government had contracted him, in 1892 Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded him the Cross of the Red Eagle, second class for bringing his troops to victory in the revolution. Afterwards the Kaiser would give him a commemorative medal in 1898.
In 1894 he returned to Germany in commission of service for the Chilean Army to supervise the construction and reception of the Krupp coastal batteries and field artillery for the army, returning to Chile the following year. During the 1890s, the Chilean government began to make provisions for disagreements and a probable border conflict with Argentina because of the territorial problem and subsequent judgment for the territories comprising the Puna de Atacama and Lacár Lake. These provisions for the defense of national interests were decided in secret cabinet meetings between the president of the republic and his ministers beginning in January 1898 and lasting many months. The Chief of Staff, Army General, General Commander of Army Weapons (since 1897), and Major General Emilio Körner was invited to these meetings. And had a vital role in this meeting and indicated that the Chilean Army still wasn't ready for this conflict.
In April of the year 1909, General Körner already being 64 years old, processed his separation from the institution and on April 19, 1910, he is granted the absolute retirement having served Chile for 25 years. After his retirement, that same year of 1910 he returned to Germany with his wife Mathilde Junge and his four children, two boys and two girls, taking up residence in the capital of the German Empire, Berlin. In March 1920, a cable was received from the capital in Berlin announcing the sad news that on the 23rd of that month, Major General Emilio Körner Henze had died of a stroke, and was later buried in Berlin. By posthumous will of the general, his wife, seconded by the government of Chile, managed and succeed in repatriating the mortal remains of the General to his adoptive homeland. He was transferred by the steamship Altmark in 1924, to Valparaiso, four years after his death, arriving in Chile on July 25, 1924. He was buried in the army mausoleum momentarily, receiving a series of speeches and sincere demonstrations of appreciation.