Claude-Louis, Comte de Saint-Germain

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Claude-Louis de Saint-Germain.

Claude-Louis, comte de Saint-Germain (born April 15, 1707 in the castle of Vertamboz ; † January 15, 1778 in Paris ) was Marshal of France and Minister of War, who also served in non-French services.

Live and act

Saint-Germain attended Jesuit schools and was supposed to become a priest , but was then able to acquire an officer's license as a sous-lieutenant . He went into foreign services early on (allegedly he had to leave France because of a duel ) and served under the Elector Palatinate in Hungary against the Turks. In the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740, he served the Bavarian Elector, who later became Emperor Charles VII . Because of his bravery, he was promoted to major general. After the emperor's death, he briefly served Frederick the Great and was then Maréchal de camp in the French army under Moritz Graf von Sachsen in the Netherlands. He took part in the battles at Lauffeldt , Rocoux and Maastricht. At the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756 he held the post of lieutenant-général in the French army, but gave it up in 1760 after court intrigues. He became field marshal of the Danish king Friedrich V. From 1762 he reorganized his army. After the death of the Danish king in 1766, he returned to France and became a landowner near Lauterbach in Alsace . After a financial crisis, he had to look again for a military position. In October 1775 he was (sponsored by Turgot and Malesherbes ) Minister of War of Louis XVI. Here too he wanted to reorganize the army (based on the Prussian model) and reduce the number of officers. During this time he brokered contact between Benjamin Franklin and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben , who then reorganized the Continental Army in the American War of Independence . Saint-Germain's attempt to introduce Prussian discipline into the French army led to such resistance that he resigned on September 23, 1777. He received a royal pension, but died a little later in Paris in the arsenal.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Augspurgische Ordinari-Post-Zeitung. Of state-political and other news . No. 2 . Augsburg January 2, 1702, p. 1 , left column, first article - Hamburg, December 24th. , urn : nbn: de: bvb: 384-uba002880-0 (The newspaper article of December 24, 1867 reported that His Excellency, the Royal Danish Field Marshal General, Count von St. Germain, and his wife had arrived in Hamburg and wanted to stay there for some time.).
personal data
SURNAME Saint-Germain, Claude-Louis, comte de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French general
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1707
PLACE OF BIRTH Vertamboz
DATE OF DEATH January 15, 1778
Place of death Paris