Random Facts #1: The Red Baron and the Silk Road

In the last couple of weeks I have started to put posts together that, when done, were too short or otherwise unsuited for full-length pieces. However, I am always coming up with interesting tidbits of information while reading or working on projects, and I thought a series would be a great way to share these with everyone. I am going to toy around with the exact format for this new "Random Facts" series of posts, but for now I am hoping they will each be relatively short posts with a minimum of personal opinion interjected in. I am aiming to avoid facts that I feel are are relatively common knowledge (Napoleon wasn't actually short, the vikings didn't have horned helmets, etc.) and I am hoping to focus on areas that are semi-obscure, but we will see! So onto the first post!

What do the Red Baron and the Silk Road have in common? A little background. The Silk Road is a term commonly used to describe a network of trade routes between Asia and Europe in the pre-modern period, which fell into decline for a variety of reasons I won't get into here. Today, the term "Silk Road" is actually a bit controversial within the field of history, if you can believe that as I am sure that many of you, like myself, were taught about this trade route during school and possibly even in survey-level history courses you may have had in college. Why is it controversial?

The Traditional Route of the Silk Road, courtesy of Wikipedia

Trade routes have existed between Asia and Europe and the Middle East basically since complex civilizations developed in the regions, but things really picked up with the building of the Royal Road by the Persians, increased contact with Europe brought on by Alexander's conquests, and then especially with the establishment of the Han Dynasty in China. In addition to silk, a wide variety of trade goods were exchanged, as were cultural and religious ideas, scientific knowledge, etc.

Y'all got any more of those sweet sweet Asian empires? Alexander the Great

The problem with the name "Silk Road" and the traditional image of the route (shown above) is that they are really overly-simplistic. There were a large number of routes, and they connected more than the eastern Mediterranean and China. India, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and the Arabian peninsula were all important areas along these routes of trade. Perhaps the thing that most shocks many people today though is that the term Silk Road itself is that it wasn't used in the ancient or medieval world. It's a modern invention.

The really crazy thing is that this extremely well-known and widely used term was coined by a single man, He wasn't, as you might expect, a historian, or an economist, or anything like that. He was a German geographer and (what we would call today) travel writer. And he single handedly coined the term "Silk Road" in... 1877. Just to put that in perspective, that's 12 years AFTER the end of the American Civil War, one year after the first successful telephone call, and only 26 years before the first aircraft took off. That is extremely recent!

Don't quote me on this, but I believe the 1870's were also the decade that inspired the song "Baby Got Back". 

And now to the point of this post. What was this well-traveled geographer's name? Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen. Richthofen led an interesting life; he traveled widely, including several major expeditions around Asia. He spent year in America, where he used his geographical knowledge to help locate gold fields in California, having a major impact on the California Gold Rush. In addition to his coining of the "Silk Road" name, he pioneered several important geographical concepts. He taught a number of students who went on to have major impacts in the scientific and geographical communities, including Swedish explorer Sven Hedin who was the first European to accurately map Central Asia, and Wilhelm Sievers whose work in South America formed the basis for the modern study of South American geography. His works were considered must-reads in various fields for decades after his death and geographical features were named after him, including one of the highest mountains in the American Rockies.

Ferdinand Richthofen

Pertinent to this post though is that Ferdinand came from a very prominent family. One of Ferdinand's brothers founded the Denver chamber of Commerce and is sometimes considered a founding father of Colorado. One of his cousins was Freida Lawrence, the wife of famed novelist DH Lawrence; her sister Else von Richthofen was one of the first female sociologists in the world. The Richthofens produced scientists, diplomats, academics, and socialites, and even a few military men.

Else von Richthofen

And we finally come to the point. Ferdinand had another brother, Major Albrecht Philipp Karl Julius Freiherr (Freiherr being a German noble title usually translated as "Baron) von Richthofen, who, despite his impressive name was not particularly notable. However, in 1892 Albrecht had a son, whom he named Manfred.

Manfred von Richthofen

You probably know him better by his World War I nickname, the Red Baron. So there you go, The Red Baron's uncle created the "Silk Road", at least in a round about way. For such an interesting family, there is surprisingly little information available about them, at least in English. My sources for this little post were mostly German pieces found online. Despite my best efforts to stay in-practice my German remains rusty, so if any of the information found here is erroneous please let me know! I should note that Manfred's brother also became an Ace, as did his distant cousin Field Marshall Wolfram von Richthofen. Many members of the family immigrated to the United States, including a branch to right here in the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area.

I love that history has all of these hidden little connections; it's one of the coolest thing about studying it! This post ran a little longer than i expected, but hopefully you still found it interesting. Let me know if you'd like to see more of these!