Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin
| Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin | |
|---|---|
Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1917)
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| Native name | Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin |
| Born | 8 July 1838 Konstanz, Grand Duchy of Baden (now part of Baden-Württemberg, Germany) |
| Died | 8 March 1917 (aged 78) Berlin, German Empire |
| Allegiance |
Grand Duchy of Baden (1855–1917) German Empire (1871–1917) |
| Years of service | 1855 1885, 1890 |
| Rank | Officer (1855–1858) Lieutenant (1858–1865) Adjutant (1865–1882) Commander of the 19th Uhlands (1882–1885) Generalleutnant (1890) |
| Spouse(s) | Isabella Freiin von Wolff (m. 1869–1917; his death) |
| Signature |  |
Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin (8 July 1838 – 8 March 1917) was a German general and later aircraft manufacturer, who founded the Zeppelin airship company.
Ferdinand was the scion of a . Zepelin, the family's eponymous hometown, is a small community outside the town of Bützow in Mecklenburg.
Ferdinand was the son of Württemberg Minister and Hofmarschall Friedrich Jerôme Wilhelm Karl Graf von Zeppelin (1807–1886) and his wife Amélie Françoise Pauline (born Macaire d'Hogguer) (1816–1852). Ferdinand spent his childhood with his sister and brother at their Girsberg manor near Constance, where he was educated by private tutors and lived there until his death. On 7 August 1869 Ferdinand married Isabella Freiin von Wolff in Berlin. She was from the house of Alt-Schwanenburg (present day — Gulbene town in Latvia, then part of Livonia). They had a daughter, Helene (Hella) von Zeppelin (1879–1967) who in 1909 married Alexander Graf von Brandenstein-Zeppelin (1881–1949).
Ferdinand had a nephew Baron Max von Gemmingen who was to later volunteer at the start of World War I, after he was past military age, to become general staff officer assigned to the military airship LZ 12 Sachsen.
In 1853 Count Zeppelin left to attend the polytechnic at Stuttgart, and in 1855 he became a cadet of the military school at Ludwigsburg and then started his career as an army officer in the army of Württemberg.
By 1858, Zeppelin had been promoted to Lieutenant, and that year he was given leave to study science, engineering and chemistry at Tübingen. The Prussians mobilising for the Austro-Sardinian War interrupted this study in 1859 when he was called up to the Ingenieurkorps (Prussian engineering corps) at Ulm.
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