Julius von Haynau

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Julius Freiherr von Haynau; Original steel engraving by Nordheim, around 1850
Signature Julius von Haynau.PNG

Julius Jakob Freiherr von Haynau (born October 14, 1786 in Kassel , † March 14, 1853 in Vienna ) was an Imperial and Royal Privy Councilor , Chamberlain , Feldzeugmeister and owner of Infantry Regiment No. 59 , who was included in the list of the most famous Austrian generals .

Life

Coat of arms of the barons of Haynau
Austrian medal undated by Gottfried Drentwett in honor of J. von Haynau 1849, obverse.
Back of this medal.

He was born as the son of the future Elector Wilhelm I of Hessen-Kassel and his lover, Rosa Dorothea Ritter . He had six siblings; his brother Wilhelm Karl (1779-1856) was an Elector of Hesse general. He spent his childhood together with some of his siblings with his mother, who was exiled to Babenhausen Castle . He and his siblings were legitimized on March 10, 1800 and elevated to barons of Haynau .

In 1801 he entered Austrian service and was promoted to captain after the campaign of 1805. As such he made the war of 1809 and as a major the wars of 1813–1815. In 1844 already Lieutenant Field Marshal and Division Commander in Inner Austria, he became Division Commander in Temeschburg in 1847 , but was soon relieved of his post due to incompatibility. In 1848, when the revolution broke out , he voluntarily rejoined his regiment in Italy as a colonel and became a commander in Verona. On July 25, 1848, by sending a brigade to Sommacampagna, he made a decisive contribution to the victory of the imperial army in the Battle of Custozza , accelerated the fall of Peschiera del Garda and kept calm in Bergamo , Brescia and Ferrara with iron severity . At the end of March 1849 he put down the uprising in Brescia with brutal severity and took over the supreme command of the demolition of Venice.

Julius von Haynau; Lithograph by Joseph Kriehuber , 1849
Plaque commemorating the physical attack carried out by two brewery workers on Haynau in London in 1850

On May 22, 1849, he arrived in Pressburg and on June 1, while being promoted to Feldzeugmeister as the successor to Ludwig Freiherr von Welden, he took over the high command in Hungary with unlimited powers. He waited for reinforcements from the Russians and quickly suppressed the revolution in Hungary . First he assembled the main imperial army on the right bank of the Danube , repulsed the Hungarian attacks on the Waag sector in the Battle of Pered (June 21) and began his counter-offensive by storming Raab fortress (June 28). At the beginning of July he enclosed the Komorn Fortress on three sides and threw the Hungarian main army under Görgey and Klapka back on the fortress on July 2nd and 11th in the Battle of Ács and again before Komorn . On July 19th his right wing of the army reached the capture of Ofen- Pesth, and three days later he started the pursuit of the Hungarians to the Tisza . On August 5th he defeated the Hungarians under Dembinski in the battle of Szöreg and on August 9th, his victory at Temesvár against General Bem decided the war and the lifting of the sieges of Temesvár and Arad .

The general fought resolutely against all opponents of the monarchy and was therefore notorious among them as the “hyena of Brescia” or the “ blood judge of Arad ”. On his orders, thirteen Hungarian generals were executed on October 6, 1849, as well as the first Hungarian Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány in Budapest on the same day . These were deeds that secured his military reputation, but at the same time made him a figure of hatred for the rising bourgeoisie.

After the defeat of the Hungarians, he was appointed commander of the 3rd Army in Hungary in autumn 1849, but in 1850 he took his leave prematurely due to disputes with the ministry. From Graz , where he had retired, he traveled, where he was attacked and ill-treated in London and Brussels , which led to diplomatic resentment.

Haynau died in Vienna in 1853 and was buried in the St. Leonhard Cemetery in Graz . He was married to Theresia Weber von Treuenfels (born May 29, 1787, † October 21, 1851). She was the daughter of Lieutenant Field Marshal Franz Weber von Treuenfels († 1809).

Awards

The general was honored with numerous medals:

reception

By the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I. from 28 February 1863 Julius was Haynau in the list of "most famous, to the everlasting emulation worthy warlords and generals of Austria" added to their honor and memory of a life-size statue in the Feldherrenhalle of time The newly established Imperial and Royal Court Weapons Museum (today: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien) was built. The statue was created in 1866 by the sculptor Vincenz Pilz (1816–1896) from Carrara marble and was dedicated by Emperor Franz Joseph himself.

Julius von Haynau, who became an honorary citizen of Budapest during his lifetime , was revoked posthumously in 2011 under the national conservative city leadership. To this day he is still an honorary citizen of Vienna and the cities of Graz , Bratislava , Arad and Sopron .

literature

Web links

Commons : Julius von Haynau  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Karl Freiherr von Schönhals: "Biography of the kk Feldzeugmeister Julius Freiherrn von Haynau", Verlag August Hesse, Graz 1853, pp. 131, 132
  2. ↑ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 30
  3. ^ Budapest revised the list of its honorary citizens in Pester Lloyd of March 25, 2011, accessed on April 2, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Haynau, Julius von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Haynau, Julius Jakob Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian general
DATE OF BIRTH October 14, 1786
PLACE OF BIRTH kassel
DATE OF DEATH March 14, 1853
Place of death Vienna