Yorck entered the Prussian Army in 1772 and reached the rank of
lieutenant in 1777. After seven years' service, however, he was cashiered for
insubordination, having reproached his superior for
plundering during the
War of the Bavarian Succession when in 1779, during the Guard Parade, Yorck expressed his contempt for him. He spent one year's confinement in
Fort Friedrichsburg,
Königsberg, after which King Frederick the Great denied him re-employment. Yorck left Prussia and joined the
Swiss mercenaries in
Dutch service in 1781. He took part in the operations of 1783-84 in the
East Indies as a captain of the
Regiment de Meuron. He also participated with the French army in a battle against the British in
Cape Town. Returning to Potsdam in 1786 he was, on the death of Frederick the Great, reinstated in the army by
Frederick William II, from 1792 with the rank of
major. In 1794/95 he participated in the operations in
Poland during the
Kościuszko Uprising, distinguishing himself especially in the
Szczekociny. From 1799, Yorck began to make a name for himself as commander of a
light infantry (
Jäger) regiment, being one of the first to emphasize the training of skirmishers. In 1805, with the rank of
Oberst, he was appointed to command an infantry brigade as a vanguard force of Duke
Karl August of Saxe-Weimar during the
War of the Fourth Coalition. In the disastrous
Jena campaign, he was a conspicuous and successful rearguard commander, especially at
Altenzaun. Having crossed the
Elbe river and
Harz mountains, he was taken prisoner, severely wounded, in the last stand of
Blücher's corps at
Lübeck. In the reorganization of the Prussian army which followed the 1807
Treaty of Tilsit, Yorck was one of the leading figures. At first major-general commanding the
West Prussian brigade, afterwards inspector-general of light infantry, he was finally appointed second in command to General
Grawert, the leader of the auxiliary corps which Prussia was compelled to send in support of Napoleon's
invasion of Russia. The two generals did not agree, Grawert being an open partisan of the French alliance, and Yorck an ardent Prussian patriot, but Grawert soon retired and Yorck assumed the command. Opposed in his advance on
Riga by the Russian General
Steingel, Yorck displayed great skill in a series of battles which ended in the retreat of the enemy to Riga. Throughout the campaign he had been the object of many overtures from the enemy's generals, and though he had hitherto rejected them, it was soon clear to him that the French Grand Army was doomed.
Marshal MacDonald, his immediate French superior, retreated before the corps of
Diebitsch, and Yorck found himself isolated. As a soldier his duty was to break through, but as a Prussian patriot his position was more difficult. He had to judge whether the moment was favorable for the war of Prussia's liberation; and, whatever might be the enthusiasm of his junior staff officers, Yorck had no illusions as to the safety of his own head. On 20 December, the general made up his mind. The
Convention of Tauroggen armistice, signed by Diebitsch and Yorck without the consent of their king, declared the Prussian corps "neutral". The news was received with the wildest enthusiasm, but the Prussian Court dared not yet throw off the mask, and an order was despatched suspending Yorck from his command pending a court-martial. Diebitsch refused to let the bearer pass through his lines, and the general was finally absolved when the
Treaty of Kalisz placed Prussia on the side of the Allies. Yorck's act proved to be a significant turning point in Prussian history. His veterans formed the nucleus of the forces of
East Prussia, and Yorck himself in public took the final step by declaring war on Napoleon as the commander of those forces. , Berlin, by
Christian Daniel Rauch On 17 March 1813, Yorck made his entry into
Berlin in the midst of the wildest exuberance of patriotic joy. On the same day, the king declared war on France. During 1813-14, Yorck led his veterans with conspicuous success. He covered Blücher's retreat after
Bautzen and took a decisive part in the battles on the
Katzbach. In the advance on
Leipzig, his corps won the action of
Wartenburg (3 October) and took part in the crowning victory in the
Battle of the Nations of 18 October. In the campaign in France, Yorck drew off the shattered remnants of
Osten-Sacken's corps at
Montmirail, and decided the day at
Laon. The storming of Paris was Yorck's last fight. In the campaign of 1815, none of the older men were employed in Blücher's army, in order that
August von Gneisenau might be free to assume command in case of the old prince's death. Yorck was appointed to a reserve corps in Prussia, and, feeling that his services were no longer required, he retired from the army. His master would not accept his resignation for a considerable time, and in 1821 made him
Generalfeldmarschall. He had been made
Graf Yorck von Wartenburg in 1814. The remainder of his life was spent on his estate of Klein-Öls (today
Oleśnica Mała, Poland) in
Silesia, a gift of the king. A statue by
Christian Daniel Rauch was erected in Yorck's honor in Berlin in 1855. The former football club
Yorck Boyen Insterburg was also named in honor of Yorck. A 1931 film
Yorck was made about him with
Werner Krauss playing the General. ==Notable descendants==