Georg Olivier of Wallis

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Georg Olivier Count of Wallis (1673-1744) ; anonymous contemporary copperplate engraving

Georg Olivier Graf von Wallis, Baron von Carighmain (* February 8, 1673 , † December 19, 1744 in Vienna ) was Imperial Field Marshal and General Commander of the Kingdom of Sicily .

Origin and family

Georg Olivier's ancestor was Richard Wallis of Carrickmines ( County Dublin ), who was one of the first Irish officers to enter imperial service in 1612. He died as a colonel in 1632 from an injury sustained in the battle of Lützen . His elder son Theobald returned to Ireland, and this branch of the family took the name Walsh .

The younger son Olivier Wallis continued to serve in the imperial army and became the progenitor of the Austrian Wallis . He died as a major general in Hungary in 1667. His son, Feldzeugmeister Ernst Georg Olivier Wallis († 1689), was the father of Georg Olivier Wallis and his younger brother Franz Paul von Wallis (1677-1737). He was the heir of Kunzendorf in the county of Glatz , where he also came to Plomnitz .

Georg Olivier von Wallis was married to Maria Antonia Countess von Götzen for the first time. After her death he married Maria Theresie Countess von Kinsky (1721–1751) on Kunitz and Tettau, a daughter of Prince Stephan Wilhelm Kinsky (1679-1749). After Georg Olivier's death she administered his property until the only son Georg Stephan came of age (* July 19, 1744, † February 5, 1832).

Life

After the death of his father Ernst Georg Wallis in 1689 in the Palatinate War of Succession during the siege of Mainz , Georg Olivier came to the Viennese court as a noble boy . A year later he became a lieutenant in the imperial army. In 1697 he took part in the battle of Zenta as a captain . During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), he initially served in northern Italy before participating in the conquest of Naples in 1707. Since 1703 he himself led a regiment as a colonel . Until 1713 he also served in the theater of war in Spain. At the end of the war he held the rank of field marshal lieutenant .

In the Turkish War of 1716-1718 he fought again under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy on August 5, 1716 in the Battle of Peterwardein and the sieges of Temesvár and Belgrade. In the following year he was entrusted with the command of three regiments and sent to Naples. In the war of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720) he was a member of the Austrian armed forces in Sicily. Valais was wounded in the fighting for Messina , but was appointed governor of this fortress a short time later . He held this post until 1727 and then returned to Austria. After the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729) threatened to escalate, the Emperor sent him again to Sicily to prepare for the island's defense. Since there was no attack there, Wallis was recalled in 1731 and remained governor of Mainz fortress until 1734 . In the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1735 / 38) he served (since 1723 in the rank of Feldzeugmeister ) in northern Italy in the fight against France. There he even led the supreme command of the imperial army for a time and was able to gain some advantages.

In the Russo-Austrian Turkish War (1736–1739) he initially commanded an Austrian corps and was promoted to field marshal shortly thereafter . In the last year of the war he was in command of the army and suffered a heavy defeat in the Battle of Grocka on July 22, 1739 . Only weeks later, Austria lost large territories and Belgrade to the Ottoman Empire in the Peace of Belgrade . Wallis was seen as one of the main culprits of the defeat and after the judgment of a court martial was imprisoned together with other generals on February 22, 1740 in the fortress Spielberg near Brno. After the death of Emperor Charles VI. however, he was pardoned by Maria Theresa in November of the same year . He then spent the last few years on his property until his death on December 19, 1744, although he was often called in for military consultations in Vienna. However, the war against the Turks had permanently damaged its brilliant military reputation, which was also reflected in the assessment of later historians.

Possessions

In addition to the Bohemian possessions of Kolešovice , Petrowitz , Seywedel and Hochlibin , Georg Olivier von Wallis acquired or inherited extensive property in the County of Glatz . They were the lords of Wallisfurth , Seitenberg and Kunzendorf . After the death of his brother Franz Paul von Wallis in 1737, he inherited the County's estates Plomnitz , Kieslingswalde , Glasegrund , Weißbrod , Altwaltersdorf and Kaiserswalde as well as Friedrichswald in Bohemia . After Georg Olivier's death in 1744, his son Stephan Olivier von Wallis († 1832) inherited the property. In 1783 he sold it to Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Schlabrendorf on Hassitz and Stolz.

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personal data
SURNAME Wallis, Georg Olivier von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wallis, Georg Olivier Graf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian field marshal
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1673
DATE OF DEATH December 19, 1744
Place of death Vienna