Johann Casimir von Isenburg-Birstein

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Count Johann Casimir von Isenburg-Birstein (born December 9, 1715 in Birstein , † April 13, 1759 near Bergen ) was a lieutenant general in Hesse-Kassel .

Family and education

Johann Casimir was the sixth child of Count Wolfgang Ernst I of Isenburg and Büdingen (* 1686, † 1754), who was raised to the rank of imperial prince by Emperor Charles VII on May 23, 1744, from his first marriage to Countess Friederike Elisabeth von Leiningen-Dagsburg . His older brother Christian Ludwig was also a general and at times his superior. Casimir remained unmarried.

Johann Casimir received his higher education from 1733 under the guidance of the court master and later diplomat Friedrich Karl von Buri , who accompanied him to the University of Giessen and in 1735 and 1736 on a study trip to France.

Military background

He began his military career in Russian service . In the Russo-Swedish War (1741-1743) he was captured by Sweden. After his release he entered the service of Landgrave Wilhelm VIII of Hesse-Kassel. He was one of the 6000 men who the Swedish King Friedrich , the older brother of Landgrave Wilhelm, sent to England in 1746 to support King George II against the rebellious Scottish Jacobites of Prince Charles Edward Stuart . However, the Hessian army did not take part in any combat, as the uprising was quickly ended with the Scottish defeat in the Battle of Culloden in April 1746. The Hessian contingent then crossed over to the Netherlands , where it took part in the final battles of the War of the Austrian Succession . In 1751 Johann Casimir was promoted to major general.

In 1756 he was part of the Hessian auxiliary corps that his older brother Christian Ludwig led back to England to ward off a feared French landing. In March 1757 the Hessian troops came back to Germany via Stade . They were immediately subordinated to the Duke of Cumberland , son of George II , the English King and Elector of Hanover , who gathered an army of contingents of German Protestant principalities on the central Weser , the so-called observation army , in order to allow the French to penetrate in the now raging Seven Years War To prevent troops to Hanover. At the against the French under Marshal d'Estrées lost battle of hastenbeck John Casimir did not participate because it with a department of Minden had been sent.

After the defeat at Hastenbeck, he initially took part in the retreat to the Bremen area and then, in the spring of 1758, under Cumberland's successor, Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , the successful campaign through Westphalia. He was promoted to lieutenant general after he had been appointed owner of the Donop Foot Regiment the previous year . On May 9th, 1758 he was ordered from the resting quarters near Munster , with 2 battalions and 2 squadrons of his regiment to Upper Hesse to protect the country against incursions by the French Main Army in the Frankfurt area . For this he needed additional troops, which were to be provided by means of new formation and the use of garrison battalions and companies of invalids. On June 1, however, he had at best pulled together 4,000 men near Marburg and had to withdraw from Marshal Broglie , who was advancing from the south with around 8,500 men . On the orders of Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig, he surrendered to Broglie on July 23 in a battle near Sandershausen , immediately east of Kassel , and was defeated. He suffered heavy losses and had to retire to Einbeck .

On September 22nd, he began a march to Kassel ordered by Duke Ferdinand. At Holzminden he crossed over to the western bank of the Weser and then united with the Hanoverian general Christoph Ludwig von Oberg , who took over the command as senior officer. At Lutterberg , northeast of Kassel, they met the French on October 10th and were beaten again by them, under Marshal Soubise . Since Soubise went to winter quarters with his army in the Hanau area soon afterwards , Johann Casimir was able to go to winter quarters in Hesse with the rest of his troops.

Battle of Bergen (copper engraving)

On April 10, 1759, Ferdinand von Braunschweig moved from Fulda again towards Frankfurt, where Marshal Broglie had concentrated his around 31,000 men. Ferdinand intended to eliminate Broglie first and then to oppose the main French power, 66,000 men under Marshal de Contades , on the Lower Rhine. On April 13, 1759 he met Broglie's troops near Bergen and battle broke out almost immediately . In one of the three unsuccessful attacks on the French positions, Johann Casimir was hit in the chest by a bullet and killed. After the third unsuccessful attack, Duke Ferdinand broke off the battle.

See also

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Today the Isenburg monument of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies from 1893 commemorates this battle.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Isenburg-Birstein, Johann Casimir von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Isenburg-Birstein, Johann Kasimir von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German army leader
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1715
PLACE OF BIRTH Birstein
DATE OF DEATH April 13, 1759
Place of death at Hanau