Heinrich

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

von Bülow (16 September 1792, in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...

– 6 February 1846, in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

) was a

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n statesman. Bülow, born to members of the noble Bülow family, was educated at the ''Domschule Güstrow'', then studied Law from 1810 onwards, at first in

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

, then in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

. In 1813 he joined the ''Walmodensche Korps'' as a lieutenant and was made adjutant to the Prussian colonel August Ludwig Ferdinand von Nostitz, on whose campaigns he distinguished himself several times. After the war, he dedicated himself to diplomacy, working under the minister

Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named afte ...

, when the latter led the negotiations on determining the borders of the German territories in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. He followed von Humboldt to London in 1817 as embassy secretary and in 1819 to Berlin, where he took over the section for trade and maritime affairs in the Prussian Foreign Office. Here he married Wilhelm von Humboldt's younger daughter Gabriele (1802–1887) in 1820. He was particularly successful and active in preparing the ''

Zollverein The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had b ...

'' (German Customs Union) through the conclusion of customs agreements with the neighbouring states. Also as ambassador to London, to which he was appointed in 1827, he worked to advance the ''Zollverein''. He won the trust of the British statesmen and played a successful part in the negotiations over Belgium and the Eastern Question (1840–41). In autumn 1841 he was made envoy to the Bundestag in Frankfurt am Main, but already on 2 April 1842 was appointed

Foreign Minister of Prussia This article lists Foreign Ministers of Prussia. After the creation of the German Empire in 1871, the Imperial Chancellor was normally also Foreign Minister of Prussia. However, during the chancellorship of Prince Hohenlohe (1894–1900), the po ...

in place of

Mortimer von Maltzan Joachim Karl Ludwig Mortimer Graf von Maltzan (or Maltzahn), Freiherr von Wartenberg und Penzlin (born 1793 at Schloss Lissa; died 1843 in Berlin) was a Prussian diplomat and Foreign Minister from 1841 to 1842. Maltzan was the son of the Count J ...

. He and the

Minister of War A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Hermann von Boyen Leopold Hermann Ludwig von Boyen (20 June 1771 – 15 February 1848) was a Prussian army officer who helped to reform the Prussian Army in the early 19th century. He also served as minister of war of Prussia in the period 1810-1813 and later agai ...

belonged to the more liberal tendency in the cabinet, but had only a negligible influence on politics in general. Bülow left the government in 1845 and retired to

Tegel Tegel () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') in the Berlin borough of Reinickendorf on the shore of Lake Tegel. The Tegel locality, the second largest in area (after Köpenick) of the 96 Berlin districts, also includes the neighbourhood of ''Saatwinkel ...

See also