Otto Philipp Braun

Otto Philipp Braun (called also: Felipe Braun) was born on 13 December 1798 in Kassel, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (today Germany), and he died on 24 July 1869 in Bad Wildungen near Kassel, a province of the Kingdom of Prussia. Braun was one of the most successful foreign volunteers participating in the independence war of South America. He was an important supporter of Simon Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre and later of Andrés de Santa Cruz. In 1838 Braun was awarded the title “Great Marshal of Montenegro” being Bolivia's only Great Marshal and South America's only foreign Marshal until today.

Braun went to school in Kassel until he joined the volunteer brigade of the horseback rangers of the Electorate of Hesse in 1814 in order to fight against the troops of Napoleon. Afterwards Braun went to Hannover where he studied veterinary medicine. He continued his studies at the University of Göttingen.

In 1818 Braun left crisis-ridden Europe and emigrated to the United States. There he failed to establish himself as a veterinarian. His stay on Haiti as the official horse instructor of King Henri Christophe ended also without the desired long term contract.

Therefore, he joined the army of Simón Bolívar in the midyear of 1820 as a low ranking officer. Felipe Braun, as he was called from then on, participated in the campaigns of Colombia and the Battle of Carabobo in Venezuela. He joined the Guard of Simón Bolívar in 1821 and accompanied him on his Campaign to liberate today’s Ecuador and Peru as one of his many officers.

...
Wikipedia