Maximilian Friedrich von Merveldt

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Maximilian Friedrich von Merveldt

Maximilian Friedrich Graf von Merveldt (born June 29, 1764 ; † July 5, 1815 in London ) was a German officer and diplomat in the Habsburg service.

Life

Maximilian Friedrich came from the Westphalian noble family Merveldt . As the middle of three brothers, he was out of the question for the successor to the family estates, which is why he only had the alternative of a spiritual or military career. At the age of 16 he joined the army of the Principality of Münster and two years later switched to Austrian services. In 1780 his older brother had almost 700 Reichstaler for his equipment, u. a. Issued for two riding horses, a boy and the ensign's patent.

Maximilian began his service in the Austrian army at the military border with the Dragoons , was used in Flanders and took part in the Turkish campaign in part (1787-1789). In the early 1790s he was promoted to major and commanded to the general staff.

In the first coalition war against France, von Merveldt had made a decisive contribution to the victory in 1793 in the battle of Neerwinds as a wing adjutant to General Prince Saxe-Coburg , when he put himself at the head of a deviating wing and led him to attack again. For this he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in 1794 was awarded the Maria-Theresia-Order , the highest military distinction of the Habsburg monarchy.

In 1793, as Chief of Staff under the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of York , he coordinated the strong siege army in front of the fortress of Valenciennes . The Duke of York then described him as the bravest and most talented officer in the entire imperial army. For the enclosure of the French fortress Landrecies (east of Cambrai ), the present emperor promoted Merveldt to colonel in 1794 .

After almost nine months of illness, he was able to resume service in September 1795. Archduke Karl had meanwhile reported to the emperor:

“I cannot praise and recommend Colonel Merveldt enough. Not only bravery, but also rare military talents, if he shows in all occasions, make him worthy of your grace, and in time you will have an excellent general in him ... "

In 1796 he was promoted to major general, a rank that an officer from the lower nobility usually received with his disposition.

In the Second Coalition War (1799-1802) Merveldt was promoted to field marshal lieutenant for his ability during the retreat battles and was given command of a division. After Austria's complete defeat in the Battle of Austerlitz , 50 generals were tried and dismissed. Not so Merveldt, who was spared, even if he suffered a heavy defeat in Styria by Davout .

In place of his childhood friend Johann Philipp Graf Stadion, who was appointed to the Vienna Foreign Ministry, Merveldt went to Saint Petersburg as envoy in January 1806 . In this way he was taken out of the line of fire of the critics, in which he had also gotten into as a member of the Anglophile, belligerent party. After his recall from Petersburg, Merveldt was transferred to Lemberg in 1808 as division commander. He was not used in the fifth coalition war.

After the Peace of Schönbrunn he was transferred to Brno . Here his financial circumstances allowed him to buy goods in Bohemia, as well as to collect copperplate engravings, landscapes and old weapons.

At the beginning of the Wars of Liberation , Merveldt received the governorate of the Theresienstadt Fortress , at the same time he was promoted to General of the Cavalry. As a troop commander in the battle of Kulm, he later succeeded in driving the French out of Aussig and inflicting heavy losses on them.

In the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig , Merveldt commanded the 2nd Corps of the Bohemian Army , with which he advanced over the Pleiße near Dölitz on the late afternoon of October 16, 1813 in the hope of encountering allied troops. However, he was wrong. He met the enemy under the orders of General Poniatowski , was captured wounded and taken before Napoleon. On October 17, Napoleon released the prisoner against a promise not to take up arms again until he was exchanged for an officer of equal value. Since he had tied up strong enemy forces through his action in battle, Tsar Alexander later awarded him the second highest order in the Tsarist Empire, the Alexander Nevsky Order .

Foreign Minister Metternich , who as envoy in Paris had still intrigued against Merveldt, sent him as ambassador to London in 1813, where he arrived in February 1814, but died in July 1815 after a brief illness. The recognition he had earned there testifies to the burial of her husband in Westminster Abbey offered by the British government to the widow . At his request, however, von Merveldt was buried in the crypt of the Michaelis chapel at Lembeck Castle. The tombstone is still there, it shows the inscription:

Maximillian Graf von Merveldt, KK General of the Cavalry * Ambassadeuer b. September 1, 1764, d. July 5, 1815

Diplomatic career

During the preliminary negotiations for the Austro-Prussian Convention of Reichenbach of July 27, 1790, Merveldt worked for the first time in a diplomatic function. Field Marshal Laudon recognized his talent and recommended Merveldt with the words:

"This count combines a fine way of life with a very solid and sedate character, knows how to deal with people and how to judge them, will never go by in speech and action and render useful service."

When the Allies wanted to take massive action against the French in 1794, this could only be achieved with the British. At this point, however, the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of York, threatened to be recalled. In order to achieve one thing and prevent the other, an Austrian delegation, including Merveldt, traveled across the canal. This campaigned successfully for the retention of York as commander in chief of the Anglo-Hanoverian troops.

When Napoleon threatened Vienna from Carinthia in 1797 after his victorious Italian campaign , Foreign Minister Thugut , a staunch opponent of France, sent Field Marshal Lieutenant Bellegarde and Colonel Merveldtal's negotiators to Leoben . Merveldt was also supposed to act as watchdog of the Marchese di Gallo in the subsequent peace negotiations in Campo Formio . Di Gallo was considered too willing to compromise and was later replaced by Cobenzl .

Napoleon characterized Merveldt as:

“... very skilled people and a bright head ... excellently suited to handle all delicate matters. His only mistake was that he often wanted to be too smart and therefore made his counterpart suspicious from the start. He was more of a diplomat than a general, although he lacked neither courage nor spirit. "

Merveldt, who had to be assigned to the war party, later criticized Napoleon's offer of peace and Vienna's lack of steadfastness, which feared an advance on the capital, because he correctly assessed the poor condition of the French troops in northern Italy. However, the threat from the French was in the room and could not be lightly dismissed.

marriage

When Merveldt was sent to the court of Saint Petersburg in 1806, he married his wife Therese there in 1807. - In 1801 there was a scandal between Merveldt and the Teutonic Order , to which he had been a knight since 1792. Since he did not tolerate any other decorations besides his own black medal , Merveldt sought to resign: The Maria Theresa Order - which was at stake -

“Is ... the decoration of a service in which I made my fortune and in a few years received the character of lieutenant general . I can't take it off. I would then not be allowed to continue to hope that in the kk military service, in the only craft that I have focused on from my youth, I can do something useful and still be able to use and serve my religion and my fatherland in easily foreseeable wars. .. "

If he discards the Theresa Order, he will lose the soldiers' trust, and the emperor sees this as a disdain for his highest order.

His resignation from the German order, which was only approved in 1807, released him from the obligation to be celibate. But although it only became known in Vienna in 1803, Merveldt had been in a relationship with Therese Countess Kinsky since 1798. Because of her extraordinary beauty, the sister of the influential Franz Joseph von Dietrichstein was called la celeste Therese in Vienna . She had been married to Count Philipp Kinsky since 1787 , but left them shortly after the wedding.

After the marriage in Rome was annulled, Maximilian Friedrich von Merveldt and Therese Countess Kinsky got married in St. Petersburg in 1807. Von Merfeldt is said to have spent more than 150,000 guilders on the dispensations required on both sides, as well as jewelry and diamonds as gifts to his wife.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Merveldt, Maximilian Friedrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Merveldt, Maximilian Friedrich Graf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian general and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1764
DATE OF DEATH July 5, 1815
Place of death London