Friedrich Georg zu Wied-Runkel

Friedrich Georg Heinrich zu Wied-Runkel (born October 19, 1712 , † February 16, 1779 in Milan ) was a General Feldzeugmeister of the German Empire and Imperial Austrian Chamberlain , Privy Councilor and Field Marshal .

Life

origin

He was a grandson of Count Georg Hermann Reinhard and nephew of Count Maximilian Heinrich (1681–1706), the founder of the Wied-Runkel line . He was born in 1712 as the son of Count Karl zu Wied (* October 21, 1684; † June 21, 1764) and Caroline Albertine von Lippe-Detmold (* October 14, 1674; † July 13, 1740). His older brother Franz Carl Christoph (1711–1756) achieved the rank of major general in the Dutch military service .

Military career

Intended for the military from his earliest youth, he joined the imperial army and fought under Prince Eugene on the Rhine in 1734 . He had so tactically proven himself in smaller battles that he took part in the war against the Turks in 1738/39 as a staff officer. In 1741 he was promoted to colonel and took part in the 1742 infantry regiment Marschall von Bieberstein No. 18 in the siege of Prague . He was slightly wounded and already distinguished himself in the battle near Striegau . After the Battle of Czaslau (May 17, 1742) he was sent to King Friedrich II as an envoy for peace . On November 26, 1745 he was promoted to major general and in 1746 defended the citadel of Antwerp against the French.

In the Seven Years' War he proved himself brilliantly again. At the end of September 1756 he and his reserve division were near Lobositz. On January 23, 1757 he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal . In the battle of Kolin (June 18, 1757) his troops intervened decisively. As the commander of the reserve troops, he covered the right flank that the Prussians had bypassed, repelled three attacks by the enemy and took the commander of the Prussian regiment, Colonel von Tettenborn, prisoner. He then drove the opponents out of the village of Krzeczow and captured a Prussian gun. On March 7, 1758, he acquired the small cross of the newly founded Maria Theresa Order .

On September 7, 1757, his reserve corps was to change its line-up during the Battle of Moys and advance on the left wing towards the heights opposite Hirschberg. Count Wied noticed early on that General von Winterfeld's enemy bypass column was trying to occupy the heights there over the bridge near Hirschberg. Count Wied-Runkel immediately had the enemy avant-garde taken under fire with his artillery at a distance of 300 paces. The Prussians had to retreat and retreated to the heights further back. For this success he was promoted to Imperial Feldzeugmeister on November 14, 1759 (with rank from September 1) .

On November 22nd, 1757, when Breslau was taken by the Austrians, General von Wied-Runkel commanded the reserve under Prince Karl of Lorraine and Count Daun . At the end of October he received the order from Daun to support General Harsch , who was besieging the Neisse fortress , with 9 battalions, 10 grenadier companies and 4 cavalry regiments. General Wied arrived in front of the fortress on November 24th, but Harsch broke off the building of Neisse early after the arrival of the Prussian king. In the following battle near Leuthen (December 5, 1757) he and the Arriere Guard secured a wooden bridge throughout the day, which secured the retreat over the Schweidnitz at Rathen. With 8 regiments he then carried out a 7-day march between the fortress Glatz and Schweidnitz in the face of the Fouquet'schen Corps from Görlitz to Bohemia . In this operation, his close relative, Lieutenant General Franz Karl Ludwig von Wied zu Neuwied, fought on the opposing side.

In the winter of 1759 to 1760 he took command of the Hadik corps and distinguished himself on November 3, 1760 in the battle of Torgau . For his services he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Maria Theresa Order on December 22, 1761 .

After the Treaty of Hubertusburg , he was appointed commanding general in Bohemia in February 1763 and was appointed owner of Infantry Regiment No. 28. On May 20, 1768 he was elected General-Feldzeugmeister for the Imperial Army. In the unlucky winter from 1771 to 1772, when hunger and epidemics raged, he gained favor with the Bohemian population through his poor relief and public education. Maria Theresa appointed him imperial field marshal and governor in Lombardy on February 27, 1778 . He died in Milan shortly after taking office in February 1779.

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Wied-Runkel, Friedrich Georg Heinrich Graf . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 55th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1887, p. 288 f. ( Digitized version ).