Friedrich Bernhard Karl Gustav Ulrich Erich Graf von der Schulenburg
(21.11.1865 - 19.5.1939)
place of birth:  Bobitz, Mecklenburg-Schwerin


German count and major general who started the war as von Plettenberg's chief of staff in the Guard Corps. He later became Crown Prince Wilhelm's chief of staff, replacing Schmidt von Knobelsdorf who was more addicted to extremist political views. As the war ended, he encouraged the Kaiser to use the military to fight German revolutionaries. He later advised him to abdicate as German Emperor and retain the title of King of Prussia. After the war, Schulenburg served in the Reichstag as a Nazi Party representative.

Friedrich was the second son born to Count Werner von der Schulenburg and his spouse Mary Freiin von Maltzahn. After studying at Heidelberg for a semester, Friedrich entered the military in 1888, joining an Uhlan regiment in Berlin. He soon thereafter transferred to the elite Gardes du Corps regiment in nearby Potsdam and would remain attached to that unit for several years. Prior to the War, he also spent about four years as military attache at the London Embassy. In the year leading up to the War, von der Schulenburg was sent back to Potsdam to command the Guard Corps regiment, also doing duty as an aide-de-camp to the Kaiser.