Unlike Schiller, who wrote his Wallenstein and Die Jungfrau von Orleans without the benefit of military experience, Kleist was born into a family of officers and destined for a career in the Prussian army. From age 15 to 22, he was stationed with a regiment in Potsdam and was present at the siege of Mainz in 1793. But military life did not agree with Kleist and in 1799 he decided to quit. In a letter to Christian Ernst Martini, dated March 19, 1799, he calls the army a “lebendiges Monument der Tyrannei” (a living monument to tyranny) and explains that “der Soldatenstand, dem ich nie von Herzen zugetan gewesen bin, weil er etwas durchaus Ungleichartiges mit meinem ganzen Wesen in sich trägt, [wurde mir] so verhaßt, daß es mir nach und nach lästig wurde zu seinem Zwecke mitwirken zu müssen … immer zweifelhaft war, ob ich als Mensch oder als Offizier handeln mußte; denn die Pflichten beider zu vereinen, halte ich bei dem jetzigen Zustande der Armeen für unmöglich” (ii: 479) (the profession of soldier, which I have never truly loved because it contains in itself something wholly incompatible with my entire being, [became so] hateful to me that it became more and more onerous to have to further its purpose … was always doubtful whether I had to act as a human being or as an officer; for I consider it impossible to reconcile the obligations of both in the current state of the armies).