The New International Encyclopædia/Arnim, Hans Georg von

ARNIM, är'nĭm, or ARNHEIM, ärn'hīm, Hans Georg von (1581-1641). A German general in the Thirty Years' War. He was born at Boitzenburg in Brandenburg. He fought under Gustavus Adolphus against Russia in 1613, served in the Polish forces, and in 1626 entered the Imperial service under Wallenstein and was appointed a field-marshal. Being a Protestant, he left the Imperial service on account of the Edict of Restitution, entered that of the Elector John George of Saxony, and was in command of the left wing of the army of Gustavus Adolphus at Breitenfeld (1631). He was one of the principal agents in the negotiations between John George and Wallenstein, which were terminated by the latter's death in 1634. After this he defeated the Imperialists at Liegnitz and operated in conjunction with Bauer in Bohemia. In 1635 John George abandoned the Protestant cause, making peace with the Emperor Ferdinand II., and Arnim now left the Saxon service. He was seized by Oxenstierna in March, 1637, for alleged intrigues against Sweden, and was taken to Stockholm, but escaped to Hamburg in November, 1638, and thereafter devoted himself to freeing Germany from foreign domination. He was carrying on a campaign, as lieutenant-general of the imperial and Saxon forces against the French and Swedes, when he died at Dresden, April 18, 1641.

Consult: Helbig, Wallenstein und Arnim, 1632-34 (Dresden, 1850); Irmer, "G. von Arnim als kaiserlicher Feldherr in Pommern und Polen," in Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte (Göttingen, 1879), and H. G. von Arnim, Lebensbild (Leipzig, 1894). See Thirty Years' War; Wallenstein.