Klemens von Metternich: Did you mean...?

A 1938 photograph of Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893-1946), Nazi German foreign minister, who negotiated the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939. (German Federal Archives)

A portrait of James II of Scotland (r. 1437-1460 CE) by Jörg von Ehingen. 1450s CE. (Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Stuttgart, Germany)

German field marshal Fedor von Bock (1880-1945) in 1939. Bock commanded important victories in the invasion of Poland in 1939, the Fall of France, and Operation Barbarossa during the Second World War (1939-45). (German Federal Archives)

A 1906 photograph of Alfred von Schlieffen (1833-1913). The field marshal developed the Schlieffen plan, Germany's plan of attack on France devised in 1905 for execution should war break out between the two states. The plan aimed to move...

An 1885 oil-on-carton portrait by Hermann von Kaulbach of the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner (1824-96). (Oberösterreichische Landesmuseen)

Portrait of Martin Luther and his wife, Katharina von Bora, oil on panel painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder,1525. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York.

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917), the founder of the Zeppelin airship company in Germany. The first Zeppelin flew in 1900. Photographic postcard, 1900. German Federal Archives.

Manfred von Richthofen (1892-1918), known as the ‘Red Baron’, was the First World War's most successful fighter pilot, amassing 80 victories but eventually succumbing himself in April 1918. Here he wears around his neck the prestigious Pour...

A 1939 photograph of the German general Günther von Kluge (1882-1944). (German Federal Archives)

Portrait of Franz von Sickingen (l. 1481-1523), one of the leaders of the Knights' Revolt in the Germanic regions of the Holy Roman Empire and an advocate for the Protestant Reformation. Oil on panel painting by an unknown artist, 16th century...