Louis-François de Boufflers
Louis-François, duc de Boufflers (born January 10, 1644 , † August 20, 1711 in Fontainebleau ) was a French general and Marshal of France , from 1678 to 1692 he was also " Colonel général des Dragons" and from 1692 to 1704 " Colonel général des Gardes-Françaises ”.
Life and work
Louis-François came from an old noble family in Picardy . He distinguished himself under Condé , Turenne , Créquy , Luxembourg and Catinat in the wars of Louis XIV since 1672. At the end of 1677, after the conquest of Freiburg, he became city commander of Freiburg and fought in 1678 in Breisgau under Marshal François de Créquy .
On October 15, 1688, he attacked Mainz fortress with 20,000 men during the War of the Palatinate Succession . Despite the new fortifications, Elector Anselm surrendered and the “Key to the Empire” fell into French hands for almost a year. At the end of October 1688 his troops began the siege of Koblenz . The shelling lasted until the beginning of November and caused great destruction in Koblenz . The town and the Ehrenbreitstein fortress were the only ones in the Kurtrier area that could not be taken. He was appointed marshal in 1693 and, after defeating Namur against Wilhelm III in 1695 . of England and the fortress of Lille from August 12th to December 8th, 1708 against Prince Eugene , raised to Duke and Peer .
In the War of the Spanish Succession between France and an alliance of the Austrian Habsburgs , Great Britain and the United Provinces of the Netherlands , Lille was contested. In 1708, Lille was besieged and the city was taken by Alliance troops. The fortress was held by 15,000 French soldiers under de Boufflers, but had to surrender after five months. In the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, France was nevertheless allowed to keep Lille.
His last mission was to cover the retreat of the French after the defeat at Malplaquet on September 11, 1709, in which he had taken over command after Marshal Villars was wounded .
literature
- Alfred Börckel : Mainz as a fortress and garrison from Roman times to the present day , Mainz 1913.
- L. Dussieux: Les Grands Géneraux de Louis XIV , Librairie Victor Lecoffre, Paris 1888, pp. 312-332.
- F. Hörmann von Hörbach: Boufflers , in: Bernhard von Poten (Hrsg.): Concise dictionary of the entire military sciences , Volume 2, Leipzig / Bielefeld 1877, p. 89. Digitized in the Internet Archive
- M. Pinard, Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet duc de Belle-Isle, Robert Philippe Louis Eugène Ferdinand duc d 'Orléans: Chronologie historique militaire, contenant l'histoire de la création de toutes les charges, dignités et grades militaires supérieurs: ... , Volume 3, Paris 1761, pp. 82–92 Digitized by gallica (French)
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred Börckel: Mainz as a fortress and garrison from Roman times to the present . Published by J. Diemer, Mainz 1913.
- ↑ Koblenz city history - Part 19: A senseless war and its consequences in: Rhein-Zeitung , December 8, 2011
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Boufflers, Louis-François de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Boufflers, Louis-François duc de (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French general and marshal of France |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 10, 1644 |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 20, 1711 |
| Place of death | Fontainebleau |