Johann Gottlieb Tielke

Johann Gottlieb Tielke (2 July 1731, in Tautenburg near Jena – 6 November 1787, in Freiberg) was an army officer and an internationally recognized military writer.

Consequently, in 1751 he enlisted in the army of Saxony in the infantry regiment Herzog von Sachsen-Weißenfels as a common soldier.

Tielke was promoted from lance-bombardier to bombardier and transferred to Silesia, where he took part in the siege of Schweidnitz.

Although, because of his parents' poverty, Tielke had not received any academic training, he became a world-class expert on military fortifications, intelligence, artillery, tactics, and strategy.

On these subjects he published several treatises, which were republished numerous times and translated into English and French.

Tielke declined offers of military service several times from the Russian Tsar and from the Prussian King because he felt bound to Saxony.