Ludwig von Benedek

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Ludwig August Ritter von Benedek (Hungarian: Lovag Benedek Lajos ) (born July 14, 1804 in Ödenburg , Hungary , † April 27, 1881 in Graz ) was an Austrian military officer of Hungarian nationality. He commanded the imperial army in 1866 in the battle of Königgrätz against the Prussian army .

Ludwig Benedek (lithograph by August Prinzhofer , 1849)

Life

Ludwig von Benedek (copper engraving from 1859)
Ludwig von Benedek, photograph by Ludwig Angerer , 1860

Early years

Ludwig von Benedek was the son of Dr. med. and Professor Johann Andreas von Benedek (1774-1850) and Sofia Katharina, née Thurner (1780-1836). His military training began on May 3, 1818 when he entered the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt . He joined Infantry Regiment No. 27 as an ensign on October 20, 1822 and was transferred as a second lieutenant to Infantry Regiment No. 47 on February 1, 1825. Promoted to first lieutenant on March 15, 1831 , he was assigned to the Quartermaster General of the Army in Italy at the end of July 1833 . On April 20, 1835 he became a captain , on May 22, 1840 major and adjutant at the General Command in Galicia . After his transfer to the infantry regiment no. 37, he was on 22 December 1843 to lieutenant colonel , and on April 17, 1846 Colonel promoted. In February of that year he contributed significantly to the rapid suppression of an uprising in the western parts of Galicia. He was then called the "Falcon of the Vistula " and he received the Knight's Cross of the Leopold Order . By being awarded the order, he was knighted .

In 1841 he married Julie von Woyna (1811–1895).

Commander in Italy

On January 21, 1848 he became the commander of Count Gyulay's 33rd Infantry Regiment in the Pavia area , with whom he had been in service since mid-August 1847. At the beginning of the uprisings in Milan , he led his regiment from his garrison Pavia back to the main army. On April 5, 1848, he took command of a brigade . He distinguished himself several times in the first Italian War of Independence , namely on May 29 at Curtatone , where he led the decisive assault at the head of his brigade. For this he was awarded the Military Maria Theresa Order . The following day he took part in the Battle of Goito .

In the campaign of 1849 he gained new laurels in the storming of Mortara (March 21) and in the following battle of Novara . Archduke Albrecht , Benedek's general , presented him with the sword of his father, Archduke Karl , the victor of Aspern . On April 3, 1849 he was promoted to major general and briefly appointed chief of staff to the quartermaster general of the Italian army.

Hungarian uprising

During the uprising in Hungary in 1849 Benedek was assigned to the army in Hungary and took part in the conquest of Raab on June 29th . During the Second Battle of Komorn (July 2, 1849) he distinguished himself in the area of ​​the IV Reserve Corps ( FML Wohlgemuth ) near Ács and stormed the village of Ö-Szőny, an important base of the Hungarian position. After the end of the war in Hungary he was appointed Chief of Staff of Field Marshal Radetzky's Army of Italy on October 14, 1849 . On October 26, 1852 he was promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal . On February 28, 1857, he briefly took over the command of the II Army Corps in Cracow , and on March 27 he exchanged this command with the command of the IV Army Corps in Lemberg , which was assigned to the observation army in Galicia during the Crimean War .

Battle of San Martino

In spring 1859 Ludwig von Benedek took part in the Sardinian War in Italy as commanding general of the VIII Army Corps (based in Cremona) . On May 27, 1859 he was promoted to Feldzeugmeister (that was the second highest rank in the Austrian army after the field marshal ). After the loss of Milan he covered the retreat, on June 8th his troops led the successful battle of Melegnano . While on June 24th under the command of the young Emperor Franz Joseph I the bloody battle of Solferino against the troops of the French Emperor Napoléon III. was defeated, Ludwig von Benedek provided the entire army of King Viktor Emanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont a few kilometers north of Solferino in the battle of San Martino . The Austrian units first threw the Piedmontese back, so that the king had to order his brigade "Aosta", marching towards Solferino, back to San Martino. While the Battle of Solferino ended in a terrible defeat for Franz Joseph I, the Battle of San Martino remained undecided for a long time. The hill of San Martino changed hands seven times during the day. Feldzeugmeister Benedek had meanwhile received an order to withdraw, but he did not obey. The last Austrian positions could not be taken by the Piedmontese until around 9 p.m. In return, he received the Commander's Cross of the Maria Theresa Order, which was also awarded for actions and successes achieved against orders.

As Benedek, in contrast to the other Austrian generals, had fought successfully in the Sardinian War, he became chief of the quartermaster staff on January 30, 1860, civil and military governor of Hungary on April 19, 1860 and a little later on October 20 In 1860 appointed supreme commander of the Austrian troops in Veneto and the Alpine countries. On April 18, 1861, he became a member of the Austrian mansion , the upper house of the Imperial Council, for life .

Battle of Königgrätz

Battle of Königgrätz (painting by Georg Bleibtreu)
Ludwig von Benedek lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1866

His achievements to date had earned him such confidence and popularity that he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Army when the German War broke out in 1866, although Archduke Albrecht was always intended for this. Benedek had resisted this appointment because he knew neither the terrain in the north nor the enemy he was supposed to fight, but in the end he obeyed out of consideration for the dynastic interests of the Habsburgs, although he himself could not complete a general staff training and therefore largely gave up the head of his surgery office was instructed. Albrecht's defeat could have meant the resignation of Franz Joseph.

In addition, the modernization of the army was not yet complete, so that any general would have had trouble operating successfully with it. The needle guns, which had long been considered superior, did not give the Prussians as much advantage as is often assumed. Because Benedek had chosen the position well, since Königgrätz was the firing range of the Austrian artillery. This was far superior to the Prussian because it had guns with rifling . However, the Austrian infantry had already lost 77% in the preliminary battles of Skalitz , Trautenau , Hühnerwasser and Schweinskullel due to the high rate of fire of the Prussians. The failures in the military armaments preparation and the mistakes of the head of the operations chancellery Alfred von Henikstein and the Unterführer were ultimately even more decisive.

The Battle of Königgrätz marked a turning point in military history, as it helped the principle of "march separately, but strike together" to a breakthrough and the railway transport capacity ( strategic railway ) and telegraphic communications became a decisive factor.

Benedek's army command was therefore not as systematic and determined as before. Surprised by the rapid advance of the Prussians, he made the mistake of splitting up his troops; Furthermore, he did not oppose the army of the Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm during the invasion of Bohemia and chose a position for the decisive battle on July 3, 1866 at Königgrätz, which in case of defeat would bring the defeated Austro-Hungarian army into the greatest danger by keeping the Elbe behind.

After the Austrian army was defeated, Benedek rescued a large part of the army with skill to Olomouc and from there to Hungary: “When the last shot was fired at around nine o'clock in the evening, of the 215,000 Austrians who ... Benedek led into battle against 221,000 Prussians 180,000 had escaped Moltke's pincer grip. "

The American historian Gordon A. Craig (see #Literature ) attributed this to the high risk of the pincer strategy. The leader of the “Elbe Army” on the right wing of Prussia, Eberhard Herwarth von Bittenfeld , was also constantly concerned about his line of retreat. Therefore was Moltke optimal target - the Austrians include - has not been achieved: Herwath hesitated with a blow to the road to Hradec Kralove and so did the Austrians to escape freely.

Loss of command

Tomb of Ludwig von Benedek; Leonhard Graz cemetery

The position of Emperor Franz Joseph I was greatly weakened in foreign and domestic politics by the defeat at Königgrätz. With the use of the “ small German solution ”, i.e. the exclusion of Austria from the German Confederation , Prussia had finally become the leading power in Germany.

Ludwig von Benedek lost his command and was replaced by Archduke Albrecht in the supreme command. The Supreme Military Justice Senate imposed a court martial on him and some officers , but this was discontinued on the orders of the Emperor. However, he was required to promise to remain silent forever about the circumstances of his defeat.

In an article in the Wiener Zeitung, Benedek was strongly condemned that the emperor had shown mercy, because there is no code of law that declares the lack of the highest intellectual talent criminal . Deeply depressed by this humiliation, he retired to Graz after his farewell, where he lived in the utmost seclusion and died on April 27, 1881 in his villa, Beethovenstrasse 8. He is buried in a grave of honor in the St. Leonhard Cemetery in Graz .

Appreciation

Bust in the Army History Museum Vienna.

The barracks of the Austrian Armed Forces in Bruckneudorf is named after FZM Benedek.

literature

Web links

Commons : Ludwig von Benedek  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julie von Woyna, b. Freiin von Krieg-Hochfelden - Aristocratic Portraits in a Political Context | New Gallery Graz. Retrieved May 8, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b spiegel.de
  3. ^ A b Stephan Vajda: Felix Austria. A history of Austria. Ueberreuter, Vienna 1980, p. 523.
  4. ↑ † FZM. Ludwig Ritter v. Bendek. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Abendblatt (No. 5985/1881), April 27, 1881, p. 2, bottom center. (Online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
  5. ↑ http://austria-forum.org/af/Wissenssammlungen/Damals_in_der_Steiermark/Vom_Kriegshelden_zum_Buhmann
  6. ↑ spiegel.de 1966: Review / summary
personal data
SURNAME Benedek, Ludwig von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benedek, Ludwig August Ritter von (full name); Benedek, Lajos (Hungarian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian Feldzeugmeister
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1804
PLACE OF BIRTH Ödenburg
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 1881
Place of death Graz