Prussian count and field marshal, military administrator and statesman who was orphaned as a child and raised by his grandmother. His father had been a Prussian army officer. Assigned to a corps staff at Krefeld (1832), he first became aware of the need for army reform. Served with Kaiser Wilhelm I in 1848 putting down an insurgency in Baden. 

     General von Roon was placed on a commission to reorganize the army; his proposals called for an increase in term of infantry service to three years (four in the cavalry and artillery) and expansion of army to 200,000 men. This was extremely unpopular, and Roon was probably the most hated man in Prussia at the time. But, he was supported by Wilhelm I and Bismarck, and his reform proved itself worthy during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). He served as War Minister from 1859-1873 and also Minister of Marine in 1861. He was promoted to field marshal in 1873 but resigned one year later due to ill health.