Paul Leopold Eduard Heinrich Anton Bronsart von Schellendorff
(25.01.1832 - 23.06.1891)
place of birth:  Danzig, Westpreußen  (Gdansk, Poland)
Königreich Preußen:  Kriegsminister;  General der Infanterie

                          

Prussian War Minister and General der Infanterie Paul Bronsart  von Schellendorff was born into the family of General Heinrich Bronsart von Schellendorff and Antonia Drège, he also had a younger brother Walther who later succeeded him as War Minister. Bronsart entered the Prussian Guards in 1849, Grenadier-Regiment Kaiser Franz, and was appointed to the general staff in 1861 as a captain. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, he was section chief on the Great General Staff, conducting the preliminary negotiations for the surrender of the French at Sedan. 

Following the war, Bronsart was promoted to colonel and chief of staff of the Guard Army Corps. He was promoted to major general in 1876 and lieutenant general (with a divisional command) in 1881. Two years later he succeeded Georg von Kameke as Prussian War Minister. During his tenure (1883-1889), many important reforms were carried out in the Prussian army, particularly the introduction of the magazine rifle and laws concerning obligatory army service. He later commanded I. Army Corps at Königsberg until his death in 1891.