Johann Philipp von Arco

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Johann Philipp von Arco (born May 11, 1652 in Arco ; † February 18, 1704 in Bregenz ) was Imperial Field Marshal-Lieutenant in the War of the Spanish Succession and commandant of the Alt-Breisach fortress .

Life

After studying at the university in Ingolstadt, Phillip von Arco entered the imperial military service. He fought against insurgents in Hungary and in 1683 was one of the relief troops that liberated Vienna from the Turkish siege . As a colonel in a dragoon regiment , he entered Bavarian service in 1685 and fought against the troops of Louis XIV on the Upper Rhine and in the United Netherlands as part of the Augsburg Alliance .

Returned to imperial service in 1699, he was appointed field marshal lieutenant and on May 24, 1700, fortress commander of Alt-Breisach . With the support of the court chancellor Buccelini, he had won against Karl Egon Eugen von Fürstenberg , who had also applied for this post. In the 1702 campaign, Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden-Baden accused him of having insufficiently prepared the defense of the Austrian foreland, and in particular of the city of Neuchâtel on the Rhine , and thus of being responsible for the fall of Neuchâtel on October 13, 1702.

Engraving of the town and fortress of Breisach after Merian, 1644

Louis XIV could not get over the loss of Breisach in the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697. At the end of September 1703, one of his grandsons, Le Petit Dauphin with the title Duke of Burgundy , and Marshal Tallard stood before the city with a French army. Alt-Breisach, developed into a fortress by Vauban , was considered impregnable. In addition, it had an adequate crew and was adequately supplied with weapons, ammunition and provisions. That is why Margrave Ludwig von Baden (the Turkic Louis) ordered his commanding officer to fight to the last man. But after only 13 days of siege, Arco handed the fortress over to the French. Prinz Eugen commented: Breisach has been shamefully lost . A court martial chaired by Field Marshal Johann Karl von Thüngen sentenced Arco to death on February 4, 1704 . Two weeks later (February 18, 1704) he was beheaded in Bregenz .

His Vice-Commander Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli was demoted and dishonorably discharged from the army.

literature

Individual references / comments

  1. ↑ see Esteban Mauerer: Südwestdeutscher Reichsadel in the 17th and 18th centuries. Money, reputation, career: the Fürstenberg company . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001 ( p. 236 )
  2. ↑ Report to King Joseph of October 24, 1702. In: Philipp Roeder von Diersburg (Ed.): War and state writings of Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden on the War of the Spanish Succession . First volume (1700–1703) in the Google book search. Karlsruhe 1850, p. 104
personal data
SURNAME Arco, Johann Philipp von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Arco, Johann Philipp Jakob von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Commander of the Alt-Breisach Fortress in the War of the Spanish Succession
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1652
PLACE OF BIRTH Arco
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1704
Place of death Bregenz