August Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Bevern

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August Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Bevern (1715–1781), Prussian soldier, son of Ernst Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick-Bevern, was born at Brunswick in 1715, and entered the Prussian army in 1731, becoming colonel of an infantry regiment in 1739. He won great distinction at the battle of Hohenfriedberg as a major-general, and was promoted lieutenant-general in 1750.

Bevern was one of the most experienced and exact soldiers in the army of Frederick the Great. He commanded a wing in the battle of Lobositz in 1756, and defeated the Austrians under Marshal Königsegg in a well-fought battle at Reichenberg on April 21, 1757. He took part in the battles of Prague and Kolin and the retreat to Görlitz, and subsequently commanded the Prussians left behind by Frederick in the autumn of 1757 when he marched against the French.

Bevern conducted a defensive campaign against overwhelming numbers with great skill, but he soon lost the valuable assistance of General Winterfeld, who was killed in a skirmish at Moys; and he was eventually brought to battle and suffered a heavy defeat at the battle of Breslau on November 22. He fell into the hands of the Austrians on the following morning, and remained prisoner for a year. He was made general of infantry in 1759, and on August 11, 1762 inflicted a severe defeat at Reichenbach on an Austrian army endeavouring to relieve Schweidnitz. Bevern retired, after the peace of Hubertusburg, to his government of Stettin), where he died in peace in 1781.

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.