A native of
Magdeburg, Etzel entered the
Prussian Army in 1881. On September 19, 1901, he was promoted to the rank of major and was sent on May 29, 1902 as
military attache to the German Embassy in
Tokyo,
Japan. During the
Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, he was embedded within the
Imperial Japanese Army and an official military observer. He remained in Japan as a military attaché until 1906. After his return to Germany, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on May 18, 1908 and assigned to the Kurmärkische Dragoon Regiment No. 14, a
cavalry unit within the Prussian Army. In the
First World War, Etzel was made commander of the
German 33rd Division, which participated in the initial German offensive on the
Western Front. He was later commander of the
Guards Cavalry Division and promoted to lieutenant general on January 27, 1918. From June 23, 1918 he commanded the
German XVII Army Corps, and from August 27 of the same year, the
German XVIII Army Corps. He resigned from service on April 4, 1919, and went into retirement. He died in
Wiesbaden in 1948. ==Honors==