Editing Ferdinand von Zeppelin (section)

==Army career==
[[File:Hauptmann Graf Zeppelin.jpg|thumb|right|upright|In uniform as adjutant to Charles I of Württemberg, 1865]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1972-099-15, Ferdinand Graf Zeppelin am Schreibtisch.jpg|thumb|right|Zeppelin in 1900]]
In 1853, Count Zeppelin left to attend the [[University of Stuttgart|polytechnic]] at Stuttgart, and in 1855 he became a cadet of the military school at [[Ludwigsburg]] and then started his career as an army officer in the [[army of Württemberg]].<ref name="uk"/>

By 1858, Zeppelin had been promoted to [[lieutenant]], and that year he was given leave to study science, engineering and chemistry at [[Tübingen]]. Würtemberg's mobilising for the [[Second Italian War of Independence|Austro-Sardinian War]] interrupted this study in 1859 when he was called up to the ''{{lang|de|Ingenieurkorps}}'' (Würtemberg [[Military engineer|engineering corps]]) at [[Ulm]].<ref name="hb">{{cite web |title=Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin |url=http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/ZeppelinFerdinand/index.html|publisher=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de |access-date=6 December 2012}}</ref>

In 1863, Zeppelin took leave to act as an observer for the Union's [[Army of the Potomac]] in the [[American Civil War]] in Virginia. Later, he travelled to the Upper Midwest with a party that probably included two Russians. Led by Native American (probably [[Ojibwe]]) guides, they canoed and portaged from the western end of Lake Superior up the [[Saint Louis River (Lake Superior tributary)|St. Louis River]] and across to [[Crow Wing, Minnesota]], on the Upper Mississippi River. On reaching [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]] (via stagecoach and hired carriage), Zeppelin encountered German-born itinerant balloonist John Steiner and made his first aerial ascent with him from a site near the International Hotel in downtown St. Paul on 19 August.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} Many years later he attributed the beginning of his thinking about dirigible lighter-than-air craft to this experience.<ref name=Americana/><ref>{{cite web|title=John Steiner Balloon Ascension Ambrotype, 1857|url=https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/john-steiner-balloon-ascension-ambrotype-1857|website=National Air and Space Museum|publisher=Smithsonian Institution|access-date=9 March 2017|date=16 May 2016|archive-date=13 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613160905/https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/john-steiner-balloon-ascension-ambrotype-1857|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1865, Zeppelin was appointed adjutant of the [[Charles I of Württemberg|King of Württemberg]] and as general staff officer participated in the [[Austro-Prussian War]] of 1866. He was awarded the ''[[Ritterkreuz]]'' (Knight's Cross) of the [[Military Merit Order (Württemberg)|Military Merit Order of Württemberg]].<ref name="uk"/> In the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870–1871 a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines, during which he narrowly avoided capture, made him famous among many Germans.<ref>{{cite news|title=The German Official Account Of The Franco-German War |journal=The Times |location=London |date=25 October 1872 |page=10 |issue=27517 }}</ref>

From 1882 to 1885, Zeppelin was commander of the 19th [[Uhlan]]s in Ulm, and was then appointed to be the envoy of Württemberg in Berlin. In 1890, he gave up the post to return to army service and was given command of a Prussian cavalry brigade. His handling of this at the 1890 autumn manoeuvres was severely criticised, and he was forced to retire from the Army,<ref name="uk2">{{cite web |title=Zeppelin Biographie |url=http://www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Philo/Geschichte/Zeppelin/english/lebensdaten.htm |access-date=4 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091116144101/http://www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Philo/Geschichte/Zeppelin/english/lebensdaten.htm |archive-date=16 November 2009}}</ref> albeit with the rank of {{lang|de|[[General (Germany)#19th century|generalleutnant]]}}.

===Promotions===
* 23 September 1858: Lieutenant (as of December 1871 ''Second-Lieutenant'', as of January 1899 ''Leutnant'') 
* 22 September 1862: Ober-Lieutenant (as of December 1871 ''Premier-Lieutenant'', as of January 1899 ''Oberleutnant'') 
* 31 March 1866: [[Rittmeister]]
* 4 May 1873: Major
* 18 September 1880: Oberstlieutenant (as of January 1899 ''Oberstleutnant'')
* 12 January 1884: Oberst
* 4 August 1888: Generalmajor
* 18 November 1890: Generallieutenant (as of January 1899 ''Generalleutnant'') 
* 5 December 1905: Charakter als General der Kavallerie