Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen

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Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver von Hohenzollern-Hechingen

Friedrich Franz Xaver von Hohenzollern-Hechingen (born May 31, 1757 at Geulle Castle near Maastricht ; † April 6, 1844 in Vienna ) was Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen , Burgrave of Nuremberg , Count of Sigmaringen and Währingen , Imperial and Royal Field Marshal , Knight of the Golden Fleece as well as secret council and chamberlain.

Life

origin

He was the youngest son of Franz Xaver (* July 18, 1720 in Bayreuth ; † March 14, 1765 in Mouffrin, Province of Namur) and his wife Anna Maria Bernhardina Countess von und zu Hoensbroech (* May 8, 1729 in Geulle; † 26 September 1798 at Geulle Castle). Friedrich Franz Xaver was prepared for the trade of war early on by his father, who was also a field marshal.

Early military career

At the age of 18 he joined the Dutch army, but one year later he switched to the Austrian Cuirassier Regiment No. 4; with him he took part in the War of the Bavarian Succession of 1778/1779. After the Treaty of Teschen he was promoted to major in the Nassau cuirassiers. During the Turkish war from 1787 to 1792 he took part with them in the siege of Belgrade .

In the First Coalition War

In 1792 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 1793 to colonel of the Cuirassiers and Count Kavanagh. He went with them to the Netherlands and took part on March 18, 1793 as their commander in the battle of Neer winds .

In 1796 he was promoted to major general and came to the army of Jean-Pierre de Beaulieu in Northern Italy , where Napoleon led his Italian campaign . On November 12, 1796, he was able to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte as leader of the Alvincys avant-garde in the battle of Caldiero .

He then commanded General Provera's vanguard in an attempt to take the besieged fortress of Mantua . The general had spoken out against the attempt himself. The crossing of the Adige only succeeded in the second attempt. At San Giorgio there were four French divisions facing each other. After a two-hour battle, Hohenzollern's unit had to surrender. Despite the defeat, Friedrich von Hohenzollern-Hechingen was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Maria Theresa Order on April 29, 1797 for his bravery.

In the Second Coalition War

After the peace treaty of 1798 he was given command of the troops in Treviso and Belluno and from 1799 also in Veneto over the troops of Field Marshal Lieutenant Paul von Kray . At the beginning of the second coalition war , his troops stood on the right bank of the Adige near San Massimo . At the end of March he was able to stop the attacks of three French divisions in a 13-hour battle. By skillful retreats between April 2nd and 21st via Sommacampagna , Povegliano and Isolalta, he deceived the enemy and was able to occupy Cremona . On May 11th he took the small fortress Pizzighettone and forced the enemy to retreat after these battles before Verona . On May 24, 1799 his troops were able to lift the siege of Milan and recapture the citadel.

He then fought successfully against Jacques MacDonald and Jean-Victor Moreau to cover the Austrian siege of Mantua. Due to the delays, the armies could not unite and the Russians under Marshal Suvorov were able to defeat Macdonald in the Battle of the Trebbia . The general has now been promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal .

After the Treaty of Lunéville he was transferred to Krakow and appointed to the Privy Council in the autumn of 1804. In the third coalition war - at the Battle of Ulm - he was in command of General von Werneck's vanguard. While the army had to surrender, he was able to escape the encirclement and reach his own ranks with his units. Then he commanded the section to the Bohemian border and Cracow.

In the fifth coalition war

In the campaign of 1809 he operated as the commanding general of the II Corps together with Count Bellegarde on the lower Danube and marched into the Kingdom of Bavaria . He took part in the Battle of Teugn-Hausen on April 16 and was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa on May 6 for his bravery demonstrated there . Under the supreme command of Archduke Karl , he led the II. Corps in the battle of Aspern on May 21, while his son Lieutenant Friedrich Anton fought in the front row. Impressed by the steadfastness of his troops, Archduke Karl assigned him the center of the Battle of Wagram . On July 31, 1809, he was finally promoted to general of the cavalry . After the lost battle he was transferred back to the administration in Galicia .

During the Wars of Liberation in 1814/1815 he became the commander of the second German Army Corps for the Baden, Württemberg and Switzerland area. His last stand was the siege of Strasbourg in 1815, where General Rapp had holed up with 24,000 men.

Then he was the commanding general in Grätz and in 1825 became President of the Court War Council . In 1826 he became a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece and on September 18, 1830 he became Field Marshal and gave up the office of President.

family

On January 22, 1787, he married Maria Theresia Countess von Wildenstein in Kahlsdorf (born June 23, 1763 in Graz , † November 16, 1835 in Vienna).

The couple had the following children:

  • Friedrich Franz Anton (born November 3, 1790 in Rakovník (Rakonitz), Bohemia; † December 14, 1847 in Piešťany (Pistyan))
⚭ 1839 Karoline Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1810–1885), daughter of Karl von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1785–1853)
  • Julia Friederike (born May 27, 1792 in Brandýs nad Labem (Brandeis); † July 1, 1864 in Illenau)
  • Friedrich Adalbert (born May 18, 1793 in Prague, † October 10, 1819 in Vienna)
  • Josephine Friederike (* July 7, 1795 - † January 24, 1878 in Opava (Troppau))
⚭ 1826 Count Felix Vetter von der Lilie († May 16, 1853)

literature

Web links

See also

predecessor Office successor
Heinrich von Bellegarde President of the Court War Council
1825–1830 		Ignaz Count Gyulay
personal data
SURNAME Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian field marshal
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1757
PLACE OF BIRTH Geulle Castle near Maastricht
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 1844
Place of death Vienna