Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg

Johann or Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg (1583 Boitzenburg - April 28, 1641 Dresden) was a Field Marshal of Holy Roman Empire and the Electorate of Saxony, diplomat, and politician.

Arnim was born in the Boitzenburger Land of Brandenburg. After studies at Frankfurt (Oder), Leipzig, and Rostock, he entered into service at the Prussian court at Königsberg in 1612, a post he had to leave the next year because of a duel. He served in the Swedish and Polish armies, before entering into the army of the Holy Roman Empire under Wallenstein in 1624. In his earlier years under Gustav Adolph, he was sent to arrange the marriage to Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. Throughout the Thirty Years' War, he served as a senior figure in the imperial army and on diplomatic missions.

Arnim, a devoted Lutheran himself, was sent by the emperor Ferdinand. The emperor sent him and his imperial troops to aid Swedish-Polish King Sigismund III in the battle against Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden on June 17, 1629 at Honigfeld(e). They did so very reluctantly. When the Polish did not pay the troops they mutineered or went over to the Swedish side. Arnim requested release from the imperial troops and it was granted. He then served with the Saxon cavalry at the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631). In protest at the Peace of Prague, Arnim left the Saxon forces in 1635. He was kidnapped by Axel Oxenstierna and taken to Sweden in 1637, although he escaped the following year. He died in Dresden.