Franz Moritz von Lacy

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Franz Moritz Count Lacy Signature Franz Moritz von Lacy.PNG
Coat of arms of Count Lacy
Lacy tomb "Moritzruhe" in Schwarzenbergpark

Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy (also Lascy; born October 21, 1725 in Saint Petersburg , † November 24, 1801 in Vienna ) was an Austrian general .

biography

Lacy was born on October 21, 1725 as the son of Count Peter von Lacy and his wife Martha Philippine, born. von Funcken was born in St. Petersburg. The family comes from the Norman aristocracy ( Lassy from Calvados / Normandy) and later settled in Ireland . Franz Moritz's father, Peter de Lacy, entered Russian service in 1698 and established a branch of the family here.

In 1737 Count Franz Moritz von Lacy left Russia and first went to Liegnitz before moving to Vienna in 1739 . In 1743 he joined the Austrian army. In the Austrian War of Succession he fought at Piacenza and Rottofredo in 1746 , and a year later also at Genoa . In 1749 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 1753 to colonel .

At the beginning of the Seven Years' War he was promoted to Sergeant General after the Battle of Lobositz (October 1, 1756). In the following year, after the Battle of Breslau (November 22, 1757), he made the next career leap when he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal and made Quartermaster General. Lacy reorganized the Austrian army, from him came the plan for the Battle of Hochkirch on October 14, 1758 during the Seven Years' War. After the battle, he received the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa . His career continued to climb steeply. In 1759 he carried out the plan at Maxen (near Dresden ), the Finckenfang von Maxen . 17,000 Austrians included a 15,000-strong Prussian army under General Friedrich August von Finck . For this he was promoted to General Feldzeugmeister . On October 9, 1760, Lacy attacked Berlin together with the Russian General Gottlob Heinrich von Tottleben and occupied Berlin ( Russian occupation of Berlin ). After 1757, Berlin was occupied by the Austrians for the second time in the Seven Years' War. However, the city was evacuated again on October 12th before the approaching Prussians.

In 1763 Count Franz Moritz von Lacy was appointed Court War Councilor, three years later he was appointed Court War Council President, which he remained until 1774. In 1770 he became a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece , and in 1794 Chancellor of the Military Maria Theresa Order. In the “Zwetschkenrummel”, the fight for the Bavarian heritage , he supported Emperor Joseph II , who personally led the high command. However, due to war fatigue, lack of money, supply problems, etc., there were no significant battles.

After setbacks in the Turkish War of 1788/89 , about the breakthrough at Old Orşova on 7 August 1788 and the defeat at Mehadia on August 28, 1788 against the Ottoman Grand Vizier Koca Yusuf Pasha , had Lacy in command of Ernst Gideon von Laudon post with which he had come into conflict over his cautious tactics.

Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy bought Gut Neuwaldegg ( Vienna-Hernals ) in 1765 , in whose park he is also buried.

Letter from Emperor Joseph II on the day before his death

On the day before his death (February 19, 1790), Emperor Joseph II wrote a letter to Lacy in which he expressly thanked him for his services.

My dear Field Marshal Lascy!

My trembling hand alone makes it impossible for me to write these few lines with my own hand; therefore I have to make use of a stranger, because I see the moment approaching with quick steps that will forever separate us. I would be very ungrateful if I left this world without showing you, my dear friend, the attitudes of gratitude that I owe you in so various respects, and that I have had the pleasure of asserting in the face of the whole earth . Yes! if I have become something in the world, I thank you, for it was you who educated me, who enlightened me, and who taught me to get to know people, and moreover the whole army owes its education and fame to you and their reputation. The security of your advice in all matters, the personal attachment to me, who has never been shaken by any great or small event, all this, my dear Field Marshal, mean that I am unable to adequately express my gratitude to you.

I saw your tears flow around me; The tears of a great man and a wise man are the finest apology. Receive my farewell by embracing you tenderly.

The only thing I regret leaving in the world is the small number of friends among whom you will certainly be the first. Remember me, your most sincere friend and devoted

Joseph.

family

Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy remained unmarried and had no children. Descendants of the Russian branch of the de Lacys , from which Franz Moritz also came - the O'Brien de Lacys - live today, after their escape from the Augustówek estate near Grodno (today Belarus) in 1939, in Poland and Argentina and have after as before close contacts with Austria.

Works

Lacy had the previous building of the pleasure palace Schloss Wilhelminenberg built. Then Neuwaldegg Castle was designed according to his ideas and served as a residence until his death.

reception

Marble bust by Giuseppe Cerracci in the Army History Museum

Through the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I on February 28, 1863, Franz Moritz von Lacy was added to the list of the "most famous warlords and generals of Austria worthy of perpetual emulation" , in whose honor and memory there is also a life-size statue in the general hall of the at that time newly established kk Hofwaffenmuseums (today: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien ) was built. The statue was created in 1864 from Carrara marble by the sculptor Cyprian Godebski and was dedicated by Emperor Franz Joseph himself. The Army History Museum can also admire the bust that Emperor Joseph II had made in 1783 for the Court War Council.

Statue of Field Marshal Lacy at the Maria Theresa Monument in Vienna
(the central statue of Josef Wenzel (Liechtenstein) was removed for restoration)

Lacy is also shown at the Maria Theresa monument (behind Josef Wenzel von Liechtenstein in half relief on the far left). A bust of Count Franz Moritz von Lacy has been placed in the Heldenberg Memorial .

In 1877 the Lascygasse in Vienna- Hernals (17th district) was named after him.

literature

Web links

Commons : Franz Moritz von Lacy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lacy tomb in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
  2. ↑ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 34
predecessor Office successor
Leopold Joseph Count Daun President of the Court War Council
1766–1774 		Andreas Graf Hadik von Futak
personal data
SURNAME Lacy, Franz Moritz von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lascy, Count Franz Moritz von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian general
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1725
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Petersburg
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 1801
Place of death Vienna