Raimondo, Count of Montecuccoli (21 February
1609 - 16 October 1680)
... was an Italian-born professional soldier who served the
Habsburg Monarchy. He was also a Prince of the Holy Roman
Empire and Duke of Melfi, in the Kingdom of Naples.
Montecuccoli was considered as the only commander to be the
equal of the French general Turenne, (1611-1675), and like
him, was closely associated with the post-1648 development
of linear infantry tactics.
Early life:
Montecuccoli was born on 21 February 1609 in the Castello di
Montecuccolo in Pavullo nel Frignano, near Modena.
Early military service:
At the age of sixteen Montecuccoli began as a private
soldier under his uncle, Count Ernest Montecuccoli (died
1633), a distinguished Austrian general. Four years later,
after much active service in Germany and the Low Countries,
he became a captain of infantry. He was severely wounded at
the storming of New Brandenburg, and again in the same year
(1631) at the first battle of Breitenfeld, where he fell
into the hands of the Swedes.
He was again wounded at Lützen in 1632, and on his recovery
was made a major in his uncle's regiment. Shortly afterwards
he became a lieutenant-colonel of cavalry. He did good
service at the first battle of Nordlingen (1634), and at the
storming of Kaiserslautern in the following year won his
colonelcy by a feat of arms of unusual brilliance, a charge
through the breach at the head of his heavy cavalry.
He fought in Pomerania, Bohemia and Saxony (surprise of
Wolmirstadt, battles of Wittstock and Chemnitz), and in 1639
he was taken prisoner at Melnik and detained for two and a
half years in Stettin and Weimar. In captivity he studied
military science, and also geometry by the way of Euclid,
history of Tacitus, and Vitruvius' architecture, all the
while planning his great work on war.
Commanding Officer:
Returning to Italy and to the field in 1642, Montecuccoli
commanded mercenaries loyal to the Duke of his native Modena
during the First War of Castro, but when that conflict
ground to an unproductive stalemate he departed. His
involvement, though understandable given his allegiance to
Modena, was nonetheless unusual in that his service pitted
him against the papal forces of Pope Urban VIII.
In 1643 he was promoted to lieutenant-field-marshal and
obtained a seat in the Council of War. In 1645-46 he served
in Hungary against Prince Rákóczy of Transylvania, on the
Danube and Neckar against the French, and in Silesia and
Bohemia against the Swedes. The victory of Triebel in
Silesia won him the rank of General of Cavalry, and at the
battle of Zusmarshausen in 1648 his stubborn rearguard
fighting rescued the imperials from annihilation.
For some years after the Peace of Westphalia Montecuccoli
was chiefly concerned with the business of the council of
war, though he went to Flanders and England as the
representative of the emperor, and to Sweden as the envoy of
the pope to Queen Christina, and at Modena his lance was
victorious in a great tourney.
In 1657, soon after his marriage with Countess Margarethe de
Dietrichstein, he was ordered by the Emperor to take part in
the Habsburg expedition (as agreed between the King of
Poland and the Emperor) against Prince Rákóczy, Charles X
Gustav of Sweden and the Cossacks, who had already, in 1655,
attacked the Kingdom of Poland in the war known in Poland as
The Deluge or elsewhere as the Second Northern War. During
the conflict he was promoted to commanding officer of the
division.
He became field-marshal in the imperial army and his
division, along with Stefan Czarniecki's division, Frederick
William's army and Danish forces, participated in the
struggle in Denmark against the invading Swedes. Eventually
the war ended with the Peace of Oliva in 1660 and
Montecuccoli returned to his sovereign.
From 1661 to 1664 Montecuccoli, with inferior numbers,
defended Austria against the Turks but at St. Gotthard
Abbey, on the Rába, he and Carl I. Ferdinand Count of
Montenari defeated the Turks so comprehensively that they
entered into a twenty-year truce. They were given the Order
of the Golden Fleece, and Montecuccoli became president of
the council of war and director of artillery. He also
devoted much time to compiling his various works on military
history and science. He opposed the progress of the French
arms under Louis XIV, and when the inevitable war broke out
he received command of the imperial forces. In the campaign
of 1673 he completely outmanoeuvred his rival Turenne on the
Neckar and the Rhine, captured Bonn and joined his army with
that of William III, the prince of Orange on the lower
Rhine.
He retired from the army when, in 1674, the Great Elector
was named command in chief, but the brilliant successes of
Turenne in the winter of 1674 and 1675 brought him back. For
months the two famous commanders manoeuvred against each
other in the Rhine valley, but on the eve of a decisive
battle Turenne was killed and Montecuccoli promptly invaded
Alsace, where he engaged in another war of manoeuvre with
the Great Condé. The siege of Philippsburg was
Montecuccoli's last achievement in war.
Retirement and death:
The rest of Montecuccoli's life was spent in military
administration and literary and scientific work at Vienna.
In 1679 the emperor made him a prince of the empire, and
shortly afterwards he received the dukedom of Melfi from the
King of Spain.
Montecuccoli died in an accident at Linz in October 1680.
Assessment:
As a general, Montecuccoli shared with Turenne and Condé the
first place among European soldiers of his time. For his
success in halting the Turkish advance he had been hailed
the savior of Europe. He was also influential as a military
theorist, with perhaps his most famous quote being "For war
you need three things: 1. Money. 2. Money. 3. Money." His
Memorie della guerra profoundly influenced the age which
followed his own. "Unequalled as a master of 17th-century
warfare, Montecuccoli excelled in the art of fortification
and siege, march and countermarch, and cutting his enemy’s
lines of communications. In advocating standing armies, he
clearly foresaw future trends in the military field".
source: wikipedia |
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