Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg

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Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg

Karl Aloys Fürst zu Fürstenberg (born June 26, 1760 in Prague , † March 25, 1799 near Liptingen ) was an imperial ( Austrian ) lieutenant field marshal who fought against revolutionary France .

Life

Karl Aloys came as the third son of Prince Karl Egon I. zu Fürstenberg (1729–1787), from the Bohemian line of the Fürstenberger zu Pürglitz , and his wife Maria Josepha, née. Countess von Sternberg-Manderscheid, to the world. He belonged to the old Bohemian noble family Sternberg and the House of Fürstenberg , which promised him a great career. His father wanted his youngest son to embark on a military career, so he hired the Austrian lieutenant Ernst as court master and educator for Karl Aloys. Lieutenant Ernst then always took the young Karl Aloys with him to the maneuvers of the imperial army, so that in 1776 he was presented to the Habsburg War Minister Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy and the then Feldzeugmeister Gideon Ernst Freiherr von Laudon . Emperor Joseph II even invited him personally to dinner.

Motivated by this encounter, the young Karl Aloys began his military career as a subaltern officer in Prague in 1777 . He experienced his first war in 1778/79 when the Bavarian War of Succession broke out. Karl Aloys then had to go into the field, but he was not involved in any major skirmishes. In 1780 he traveled on and changed to Infantry Regiment No. 34 "Anton Esterházy" and took part in the Turkish Wars from 1787 to 1792 with the rank of captain . His first personal award took place on April 27, 1788, when he stormed the fortress Schabatz on the Save. Emperor Joseph II was so impressed that on May 4, 1788, he promoted Prince zu Fürstenberg to major and commander of a grenadier battalion. On October 8, 1789, he boasted again during the conquest of Belgrade , after which he was appointed Colonel and Commander of Infantry Regiment No. 34 "Anton Esterházy". His good relationship with Feldzeugmeister Gideon Ernst von Laudon benefited him in 1790, because on January 1st he was promoted to major general on his special recommendation . On November 4, 1790, Karl Aloys married his cousin Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis (1767–1822), the youngest daughter of Prince Alexander Ferdinand von Thurn and Taxis .

First coalition war

Fürstenberg experienced the First Coalition War as a brigade commander in a small Austrian corps of 10,000 men. This and he were under the command of Field Marshal Lieutenant Prince Esterházy . His corps was intended to secure the city of Kehl im Breisgau. In 1793 he was assigned to the Upper Rhine Army under Cavalry General Count Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser . On March 30, 1793, he crossed the Rhine at Ketsch at the head of the avant-garde, which at that time consisted of 9,000 men. Fürstenberg moved into Speyer on April 1, 1793 after Adam-Philippe de Custine , the commander of the French Rhine Army there , left the city without a fight . The following day he occupied Germersheim with his avant-garde . The first real battles took place on April 3, when Fürstenberg defeated the infantry Custines in a bayonet attack near Bellheim , Hördt and Leimersheim and was able to push them back to Landau and Lauterburg . After these successes, Karl Aloys was transferred again. This time he came under the command of Lieutenant Field Marshal Count von Kavanagh, where he distinguished himself by fighting other French. With his brigade he managed to break through the Weissenburg lines , which were considered impregnable, on October 13, 1793. During the French counter-offensive, Fürstenberg was not used very much, only on November 20, 1793, in the battle near Geudertheim an der Zorn , he had to come to the aid of Lieutenant Field Marshal Gabriel Freiherr von Splényi, who was in dire straits, because the French troops under Hoche and Pichegru made him difficult was attacked. After his helpful work, Fürstenberg fell ill and therefore had to stay in Hagenau for the whole of December 1793 . But at the end of December Fürstenberg had to run again, because the Austrian Upper Rhine Army had been severely weakened after the defeats at Fröschweiler , Reichshofen and Wörth on December 22, 1793. Count Wurmser had to retreat across the Rhine at Philipsburg on December 30th, so that Karl Aloys was given the task of observing the Upper Rhine and building an entrenched camp there in order to be able to surprise the French there in an emergency. The section from Fürstenberg was therefore immensely important for the Austrian army, as there was one of the last possibilities to cross the Rhine, and this one could not lose. Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg set up camp across from Hüningen near Basel. But as early as 1794 he and his brigade were again on the Upper Rhine, but here it remained relatively quiet until June 1796, even at the feared entry gates of the French into southern Germany, near Kehl and Hüningen. As France negotiated a three-month armistice with Austria in December 1795, Karl Aloys took leave. He spent this with his family in Prague. During his leave from the front, he received a great honor, namely his promotion to field marshal lieutenant .

In June 1796, he was back on the battlefield, and secured there Fürstenberg with his division , which consists of four infantry - battalions , 13 squadrons and the volunteer corps Gyulay existed, the Rhine basin between Kehl and Rastatt. On June 26, 1796 came to be that the French Rhine and Moselle Army under Jean-Victor Moreau Kehl crossed the Rhine and the local Circle contingent drove out of town. It was now Fürstenberg's job to ensure that Moreau's troops were thrown back across the Rhine. The French were outnumbered, however, so that Fürstenberg could not defeat Moreau, but still push back as far as Rastatt and stop. He was now waiting for Archduke Karl , who was to bring new reinforcements from the Lower Rhine. Archduke Karl reached Fürstenberg on July 5, 1796 and thus he was able to participate as a division commander with five battalions in the battle of Malsch on July 9. He fought in the third attack column under Feldzeugmeister Count Baillet von Latour and was able to drive the French infantry under Desaix with his five battalions from Bietigheim and Ötigheim at this position . Archduke Karl also had to withdraw after several defeats via Pforzheim and the Swabian Alb , so that the Fürstenberg division was at the center of the battle in the battle of Neresheim on August 11, 1796. The Austrians won and tried to defend the territory they had just won. Until mid-August 1796, this was Fürstenberg's only task. On August 24, 1796 he had to defend the Lech crossing near Friedberg with 6,000 men. Then he was to defend the right bank of the Isar from Wolfratshausen to Moosburg on behalf of Latour. It was only thanks to his military skill that France's Rhine and Moselle armies were unable to advance to the Austrian homeland and Regensburg as early as August 1796 , because Fürstenberg was repeatedly successful against the French division general Ferino on the Isar bridge near Munich proven. In the Battle of Emmendingen on October 19, 1796, he fought again with Archduke Karl, who had rallied. Fürstenberg commanded the fourth attack column with five battalions and 32 squadrons. In the Battle of Schliengen on October 24th, he commanded the second wave of attacks with 9 battalions and 30 squadrons and was here directly facing Division General Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr . In the meantime, the French General Moreau managed to cross the Rhine at Hüningen, so Archduke Karl's army was sent to conquer this and the other bridgehead at Kehl. A plan was quickly drawn up stating that Feldzeugmeister, Count Baillet von Latour, surrounded the town of Kehl, while Field Marshal-Lieutenant Fürstenberg was to field the siege army against the Hüningen bridgehead . The Archduke had placed great confidence in Fürstenberg, which is why he left him with his two divisions of 20 battalions and 40 squadrons in Hüningen to go to Kehl. The siege began on October 27, 1796, and the Fürstenberg Army was armed and prepared on November 27. The field marshal-lieutenant submitted a request for resignation to the French Brigadier General Jean Charles Abbatucci , but the latter refused. As a result, he carried out an assault on the night of November 30th to December 1st, but it failed. But it was advantageous that the French commander-in-chief was fatally wounded. The will to fight was thus broken on the French side. On January 10, 1797, Kehl finally surrendered and the armies of Latour and Archduke Karl were able to send their heavy siege guns and four battalions of reinforcements to Hüningen. Shortly before the second, which was to break out the all-destructive assault, Division General Dufour, the new French commander in chief, submitted the handover confirmation. Due to his military achievements in this siege, the Prince of Fürstenberg received the ownership of the Infantry Regiment No. 36, which also bore its name until his death.

When the First Coalition War was over, Karl Aloys spent some time at the court of his cousin in Donaueschingen , the ruling Prince of Fürstenberg, Karl Joachim . From there, he and his family moved back to Prague to take up his new divisional posts in Linz in May 1798.

Second coalition war - battles near Ostrach and Stockach

Field Marshal Lieutenant Prince Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg in the Battle of Liptingen - painting by Wilhelm Emelé

From January 30, 1799, the prince was back at war when he set out west to join Archduke Karl in the army camp near Augsburg am Lech. The new goal of the two was to pursue and provide the Danube Army under Jean-Baptiste Jourdan . March 1799 had crossed the Rhine near Basel and Strasbourg and was able to advance without a fight to Upper Swabia . With an army twice as strong they advanced against Jourdan and met him near Ostrach, where the battle broke out on March 21, 1799.

Fürstenberg received the command of the right wing of the main army and was supposed to secure the position at Hohentengen in order to secure Archduke Karl , who took over the center. Fürstenberg conquered Hohentengen and drove out Marshal Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr . The latter returned the favor on March 25th at Stockach , where Archduke Karl hesitated too long because he wanted to wait and was slowly planning. Due to his numerical inferiority, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan wanted to launch a surprise attack, which he did. He moved his army against the positions of Austria very early on and initially met the avant-garde of the right wing under Major General Graf von Merveldt. This oppression of the French caused general confusion among the Austrians, and so they withdrew ever further. An orderly defense could only be started at Raithaslach, which included Prince Fürstenberg, who fought under Feldzeugmeister Michael Joseph Count Wallis. With his infantry regiments No. 1 "Kaiser" and No. 31 "Benjowsky", Fürstenberg faced the French. The outcome of the battle fluctuated for a long time, as the preponderance of the French was reinforced by more and more returning Austrian refugees. When Archduke Karl of Austria finally appeared on the battlefield in person, he wanted to motivate his troops and fight in the French grape fire himself, although everyone advised against it. In the end, the Lieutenant Field Marshal von Fürstenberg persuaded him to move away from the tumult of the battle. Then Fürstenberg said: "Praise God, I took the Archduke away, but now I want to attack right away!" He kept his word and a few minutes after the attack began, he sank to the ground at the head of his troops. He was of three French grapeshot bullets fatally wounded and thrown from his horse.

Field Marshal Lieutenant Karl Aloys Fürst zu Fürstenberg was a strictly pious person, a good and respected soldier with a lot of skill and support from the very bottom and from the top.

Commemoration

Karl Aloys was initially buried in the Stockach cemetery. On the 50th anniversary of his death, his grandson Karl Egon III let him . zu Fürstenberg transferred to the princely Fürstenberg family crypt Maria Hof zu Neudingen near Donaueschingen and in 1857 he had a memorial cross erected for him on the Fürstenbühl in the municipality of Liptingen , which was renewed in 1894 and 1990.

Marriage and offspring

On November 4, 1790, Karl Aloys married Maria Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis (1767–1822), the youngest daughter of Prince Alexander Ferdinand von Thurn and Taxis, and had five children with her:

  • Maria Leopoldine (September 4, 1791 - January 10, 1844) ⚭ May 20, 1813 Prince Karl Albrecht zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst
  • Maria Josepha (* / † September 9, 1792)
  • Antonia (October 28, 1794 - October 1, 1799)
  • Karl Egon (* October 28, 1796; † October 22, 1854), 1804–1806 last sovereign Prince of Fürstenberg
  • Maria Anna (September 17, 1798 - July 18, 1799)

literature

Web links

Individual references / comments

  1. ↑ see Georg Goerlipp: Karl Egon I. Fürst zu Fürstenberg 1729–1787. In: Badische Heimat, No. 2, July 1988, 68th year, pp. 301–303
  2. ^ Homepage Nellenburg
  3. ↑ Homepage of the municipality of Liptingen
personal data
SURNAME Fürstenberg, Karl Aloys too
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fürstenberg, Karl Aloys Fürst zu (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1760
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1799
Place of death near Liptingen