Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars
Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars , prince de Martigues, marquis et duc de Villars et vicomte de Melun (born May 8, 1653 in Moulins , † June 17, 1734 in Turin ), Marshal of France , was one of the most famous military leaders of the French History and one of only seven Marshals General of France .
Early career
Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars was the son of the army officer Pierre de Villars , who had turned to diplomacy. At a young age he became the page of King Louis XIV. He accompanied the court to Flanders and, in 1672, when war broke out in the Netherlands, he became an aide to his uncle, Marshal von Bellefonds . Since he fell out of favor at the beginning of the war, Villars volunteered in the army and distinguished himself several times under the eyes of the king, especially during the siege of Maastricht . He fought in 1673 under Turenne on the Rhine and on August 11, 1674 under Prince Condé in the battle of Seneffe , in which he was seriously wounded by a sword stab. The king promoted him to the Mestre de camp after this battle and made him commander of a cavalry regiment. He fought in further campaigns until the conclusion of the Peace of Nijmegen (1679), among others with the Marshal of Luxembourg in Flanders and the Marshal Créquy in Alsace . In particular, he distinguished himself in 1678 in the storming of Fort Kehl , but was disadvantaged by the War Minister Louvois , because he was averse to his family. Villars' complaints to the king were unsuccessful.
Participation in the Turkish war
Villars was banned from court for some time because of love affairs and court intrigues. In 1683 he took part in a campaign in the Netherlands. At that time Austria was embroiled in a protracted Turkish war. Several French nobles, including Villars, unsuccessfully asked the king for permission to volunteer in the Austrian army. Villars was then sent to Vienna as envoy . From here he was commissioned to follow the Elector Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria, whom he had met in Vienna and who was to be drawn to France's side, to Munich . He won the elector's trust and accompanied him on the campaigns against the Turks in Hungary from 1684 to 1685 . His services, which he performed several times, including the battle of Gran , were recognized at the Viennese court. By participating in these campaigns, he made the acquaintance of the Austrian generals Prince Eugene of Savoy and Ludwig von Baden , against whom he was later to compete as a military leader. The negotiations that Villars conducted in Munich were received with disapproval by the Viennese court. When the elector of Bavaria was given supreme command in Hungary in 1687, this was done on the express condition that Villars was not allowed to accompany him.
Role in the Palatinate War of Succession
Returned to France, Villars reconciled with Louvois and bought the position of Commissaire général de cavallerie . Louis XIV was very satisfied with his diplomatic successes and in 1688, when the League of Augsburg threatened to break out a new war, gave him the secret mission to travel to Munich to win the Elector of Bavaria again. This failed, however, the War of the Palatinate Succession began and the Elector of Bavaria finally felt compelled, despite his agreement with France, to order Villars to leave. He escaped in a hurry amidst many dangers, threatened several times by the rural people - over the atrocities perpetrated by the French armies in Swabia - in the harshest winter to Switzerland and from here returned to France. In 1689 the king sent him to the army in Flanders as commander-in-chief of the cavalry and maréchal de camp , where he led the cavalry with some success against the Allies in the battle of Walcourt in August of the same year . He also distinguished himself on September 18, 1691 in the battle of Leuze at the head of the cavalry of the royal household troops .
In 1692 Villars was in the army of Marshal de Lorges in Germany and had command of the battle near Pforzheim , in which the Duke administrator of Württemberg, Friedrich Karl , was defeated and captured. Back in Flanders in 1693, he commanded the army in the absence of Marshal Boufflers and was appointed lieutenant-général . Transferred to the army in Germany in the same year, he tried in vain to restore discipline in the cavalry subordinate to him and to contain the atrocities committed by the French troops. He reports in his memoirs that 20 soldiers were sometimes hanged in one day without being able to remedy the situation. He then served in the campaigns in Germany and Italy until the Rijswijk Peace Treaty (1697).
Role in the War of the Spanish Succession
In 1698, Louis XIV sent Villars to Vienna on the matter of the Spanish succession, where he stayed for three years. Dismissed at the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession , he was given a command in Italy under Villeroy in 1701 . Dissatisfied with the poor conduct of the war, Villars asked for his recall, whereupon he was given a command in the army of Marshal Catinat on the Rhine. Operating independently, he crossed the Rhine with a strong corps and on October 14, 1702, in the battle of Friedlingen , parted in a draw with Margrave Ludwig von Baden . After the battle, his soldiers proclaimed him marshal and the king confirmed the appeal 15 days later.
In 1703 Villars penetrated through the Black Forest to Tuttlingen , where on May 12th he established contact with the Elector of Bavaria, with whom he won the Battle of Höchstädt on September 20th and put the imperial family to flight. Afterwards he fell out with the elector, which is why he was recalled and used to suppress the uprising of the Camisards ( Huguenots ) in the Cevennes , where he brought about a peace in 1704 through wisdom and leniency. The next year he was given the title of duke. In 1706 he returned to Germany, conquered Hanau and drove Prince Ludwig of Baden across the Rhine. In the campaign of 1707 on May 23, he overpowered the German lines at Bühl and Stollhofen ( Bühl-Stollhofener line ), advanced to Gmünd, but then had to retreat to Rastatt . In 1708 he invaded Piedmont with the Dauphinée Army .
In 1709 entrusted with the supreme command of the 120,000-strong army in the Netherlands, Villars lost the battle of Malplaquet against Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough on September 11, 1709 . Villars was wounded in the knee in the battle and then mostly had to limit himself to the defensive due to the weakness of his armed forces. From 1712, when Marlborough had separated from the Imperial, he regained the upper hand and won on July 24, 1712 at Denain . In 1713 he led the command in Alsace and Germany, seized the cities of Worms , Kaiserslautern , Speyer and Kirn and forced Landau to surrender on August 20 and Freiburg im Breisgau on November 16 . Both parties were tired of war and commissioned their first generals, Villars and Prince Eugene, with peace talks. Since November 26, 1713, they negotiated the Rastatt Peace concluded on March 6, 1714 , which was supplemented in the following September by the Peace of Baden , also signed by them, and made legally binding.
Later life and death
As early as 1701, Villars acquired the magnificent Vaux-le-Vicomte Castle, southeast of Paris , on which he had his coat of arms affixed. The Académie française accepted Villars , who had already been appointed governor of Provence in 1712, as a member in 1714, although it was claimed that he could not write completely correctly. After the death of Louis XIV. He was by his will in the Regency Council for Louis XV. appointed, was able to assert himself against the regent, the Duke of Orléans , and was appointed President of the Council of War in 1715 and Minister of State in 1718. But he took little part in the negotiations. Instead, he went to his governorate and built the Rhone Canal known as the Villars Canal . Returning to Paris, he vigorously opposed Cardinal Guillaume Dubois and the financial plans of John Law . After the death of the Duke of Orléans (December 2, 1723) he gained great influence.
Already 80 years old, Villars received the supreme command in Italy when the War of the Polish Succession broke out in 1733 , with the dignity of Maréchal général des camps et armées du roi , which has not been granted since Turenne . Villars arrived at the Pizzighettone warehouse on November 11th and took that place twelve days after the trenches were opened. His falling strength and his dissatisfaction with his comrade-in-arms, the Duke of Savoy, induced him to request his recall. He fell ill on the trip to France and died on June 17, 1734 in Turin.
His memoirs were published by the Marquis de Vogüé for the Société de l'histoire de France (Paris 1884–1904). Anquetil (Paris 1784, 4 volumes), Giraud (das. 1881) and Vogüé (das. 1888, 2 volumes) described his life.
family
Villars' brother Armand, comte de Villars made himself known in the Spanish War of Succession in 1707 through the conquest of Menorca . He died on August 20, 1712.
Villars' son Honoré-Armand de Villars , duc de Villars , prince de Martigues , born December 4, 1702, was Brigadier des armes du roi, member of the academy and benefactor of Voltaire . He died in May 1770 without male offspring.
See also
- Maréchal de Villars had the Larochemillay Castle built.
literature
- Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars: Memoires du marechal de Villars , Frankfurt 1734, available as a digitized version at the Munich Digitization Center
- Anquetil: Vie du Maréchal Duc de Villars , 4 volumes; Paris: Moutard, 1784
- Melchior de Vogüé : Le Maréchal de Villars, d'après sa correspondance et des documents inédits , 2 volumes; Paris 1888
- Henri Carre: Le maréchal de Villars, homme de guerre et diplomate dédicacé ; Paris: Hachette, 1936
- Philippe Le Bas: L'Univers. France, annales historiques ; Paris 1840-1843
Individual evidence
- ↑ Le Bas, p. 76 ff.
- ↑ The detailed description of the stay of Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars and Prince Eugene of Savoy at the Peace Congress in Baden in: The Diary of the Peace of Baden 1714 by Caspar Joseph Dorer. With introduction and commentary edited by Barbara Schmid. (= Contributions to Aargau history . 18). Baden: Hier und Jetzt, 2014, ISBN 978-3-03919-327-1 .
Web links
- Short biography and list of works of the Académie française (French)
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel-Voysin de la Noiraye |
Minister of War of France October 1, 1715–24. September 1718 |
Claude le Blanc |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Villars, Claude-Louis-Hector de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Marshal of France, General |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 8, 1653 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Moulins |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 17, 1734 |
| Place of death | Turin |