François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt
François de Croix, Count of Clerfayt
|Born||14 October 1733|
|Died||21 July 1798 64)(aged|
|Service/|| Seven Years' War |
Prussian invasion of Holland
French Revolutionary Wars
|Years of service||1753 – c. 1798|
François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt (14 October 1733 – 21 July 1798),a Walloon, joined the army of the Habsburg Monarchy and soon fought in the Seven Years' War. Later in his military career, he led Austrian troops in the war against Ottoman Turkey. During the French Revolutionary Wars he saw extensive fighting and rose to the rank of Field Marshal.
Born at the Castle of Bruille in Hainaut in the Austrian Netherlands, he entered the Austrian army in 1753.[ citation needed ] In the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) he distinguished himself, earning rapid promotion, and received the Military Order of Maria Theresa decoration. At the conclusion of the peace (Treaty of Hubertusburg, 15 February 1763), though still under thirty, he had already become an Oberst (colonel).
During the revolt in the Netherlands in 1787, Clerfayt, as a Walloon by birth, came under great pressure to abandon Emperor Joseph II. But he resisted all overtures, and in the following year went to fight in the Austro-Turkish War with the rank of Feldmarschal-Leutnant (lieutenant field marshal). In an independent command Clerfayt achieved great success, defeating the Turks at Mehadia and Calafat.On 10 November 1788, the emperor appointed him to the rank of Feldzeugmeister .
In 1792, as one of the most distinguished of the emperor's generals, he received the command of the Austrian contingent in army of the duke of Brunswick, and at Croix-sous-Bois his corps inflicted a reverse on the troops of the French Revolution. In the Netherlands, he commanded the center at the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November. He opened the campaign of 1793 with the victory of Aldenhoven and the relief of Maastricht, and on 18 March 1793 proved instrumental in causing the complete defeat of Charles Dumouriez at the Battle of Neerwinden. In October, however, his victorious career suffered a reverse at the Battle of Wattignies.
He participated in the Flanders Campaign against Charles Pichegru in 1794. [ citation needed ] Clerfayt succeeded Prince Josias of Coburg in the supreme command, but he failed to make headway against the French, and had to recross the Rhine.Leading a flanking column from the north, he fought at the Battle of Tourcoing on 17–18 May. A French force under Dominique Vandamme slowed his progress until Joseph Souham defeated the Anglo-Austrian army on the southern part of the battlefield. Souham then turned against Clerfayt and compelled him to retreat to the northeast. In the course of the campaign.
A Feldmarschall from 22 April 1795,he commanded on the middle Rhine against Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, and this time the fortunes of war changed. Clerfayt beat Jourdan at Höchst and brilliantly relieved Mainz. But the Austrian Foreign Minister Johann Thugut did not approve Clerfayt's action in concluding an armistice with the French, so the field marshal resigned his command and became a member of the Aulic Council in Vienna. He died in 1798.
Clerfaytgasse in Hernals, Vienna is named after him.
A brave and skillful soldier, Clerfayt perhaps achieved more than any other Austrian commander (except the Archduke Charles of Austria) in the hopeless struggle of small dynastic armies against a French "nation in arms".
The Battle of Aldenhoven or Battle of the Roer saw a Republican French army commanded by Jean Baptiste Jourdan attack a Habsburg army under François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt which was defending the line of the Roer River. The key crossing was won by the French right wing at Düren after heavy fighting. The Austrian retreat from the Roer conceded control of the west bank of the Rhine River to France. The battle occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of a wider conflict called the Wars of the French Revolution. Aldenhoven is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany about 21 kilometres (13 mi) northeast of Aachen.
The Battle of Tourcoing saw a Republican French army directed by General Joseph Souham defend against an attack by an Habsburg, British, and Hanoverian Coalition army under Austrian Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. The French army was temporarily led by Souham in the absence of its normal commander Jean-Charles Pichegru. Threatened with encirclement, Souham and division commanders Jean Victor Marie Moreau and Jacques Philippe Bonnaud improvised a counterattack which defeated the Coalition's widely separated and badly coordinated columns. The War of the First Coalition action was fought near the town of Tourcoing, just north of Lille in northeastern France.
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The Battle of Würzburg was fought on 3 September 1796 between an army of the Habsburg Monarchy led by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen and an army of the First French Republic led by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. The French attacked the archduke's forces, but they were resisted until the arrival of reinforcements decided the engagement in favor of the Austrians. The French retreated west toward the Rhine River. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. Würzburg is 95 kilometres (59 mi) southeast of Frankfurt.
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In the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792, a French army led by Charles François Dumouriez attacked and defeated an Austrian army commanded by Albert of Saxe-Teschen. Though the Austrians were outnumbered three-to-one, the victory greatly encouraged the population of the young First French Republic.
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Johann Heinrich von Schmitt was an officer in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire. He was arguably one of the most successful chiefs of staff; he rose to the rank of Feldmarshalleutnant during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
Franz Freiherr von Werneck, enlisted in the army of Habsburg Austria and fought in the Austro-Turkish War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. He enjoyed a distinguished career until 1797, when he lost a battle and was dismissed as punishment. He was only reinstated in 1805. In that year he surrendered his command and was later brought up on charges. He died while awaiting a court-martial.
In the Siege of Belgrade a Habsburg Austrian army led by Feldmarschall Ernst Gideon von Laudon besieged an Ottoman Turkish force under Osman Pasha in the fortress of Belgrade. After a three-week leaguer, the Austrians forced the surrender of the fortress. During the campaign which was part of the Austro-Turkish War, the Austrian army was greatly hampered by illness. Austria held the city until 1791 when it handed Belgrade back to the Ottomans according to the terms of the peace treaty. Several Austrian soldiers who distinguished themselves during the siege later held important commands in the subsequent French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Belgrade is the capital of modern Serbia.
The Battle of Mouscron was a series of clashes that occurred when the Republican French Army of the North under Jean-Charles Pichegru moved northeast to attack Menen (Menin) and was opposed by Coalition forces under the overall leadership of François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt. In their initial advance, the French began the Siege of Menin and captured Kortrijk (Courtrai). With Habsburg Austrian reinforcements, Clerfayt counterattacked on the 28th but Joseph Souham soon massed superior French forces and drove the Coalition troops out of the area. This Flanders Campaign action happened during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle occurred near Mouscron, Belgium, located at the French border 9 kilometres (6 mi) south of Kortrijk and at Menen, located 11 kilometres (7 mi) west of Kortrijk.
The Battle of Handschuhsheim or Battle of Heidelberg saw an 8,000-man force from Habsburg Austria under Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich face 12,000 men from the Republican French army led by Georges Joseph Dufour. Thanks to a devastating cavalry charge, the Austrians routed the French with disproportionate losses. The fight occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. Handschuhsheim is now a district of Heidelberg, but it was a village north of the city in 1795.
At the Battle of Höchst, the Habsburg Austrian army commanded by François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt outmaneuvered the French Republican Army of Sambre-et-Meuse commanded by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. Although the French attacked first, they were unable to dislodge an Austrian flanking column. Afterward Jourdan's army retreated to the north. The clash happened during the War of the First Coalition, part of a wider conflict known as the French Revolutionary Wars. Modern-day Höchst is a suburb and administrative district of Frankfurt am Main in the state of Hesse in Germany. Höchst is about 12 kilometers (7 mi) west of the Frankfurt city center.
The Battle of Pfeddersheim or Battle of the Pfrimm saw a Habsburg Austrian army led by François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt attack a Republican French army under Jean-Charles Pichegru. The Austrians defeated the French and forced them to retreat south to Frankenthal where Clerfayt won another clash a few days later. The battle occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The borough of Worms-Pfeddersheim is located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. Worms is approximately 23 kilometres (14 mi) north of Mannheim and Pfeddersheim is about 6 kilometres (4 mi) west of Worms.
The Siege of Ypres saw a Republican French army commanded by Jean-Charles Pichegru invest the fortress of Ypres and its 7,000-man garrison composed of Habsburg Austrians under Paul von Salis and Hessians led by Heinrich von Borcke and Georg von Lengerke. French troops under Joseph Souham fended off three relief attempts by the corps of François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt. Meanwhile, the French besiegers led by Jean Victor Marie Moreau compelled the Coalition defenders to surrender the city. The fighting occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the Wars of the French Revolution. In 1794 Ypres was part of the Austrian Netherlands, but today it is a municipality in Belgium, located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) west of Brussels.
Franz Joseph, Count Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau was a Habsburg Austrian general in the War of the Bavarian Succession and the French Revolutionary Wars. A nobleman from the House of Kinsky, he began his military service in 1759 and within ten years he commanded an infantry regiment. Ahead of his time, he began a school in his regiment to train officer cadets. As a general officer he led troops in a successful action against Prussia in 1778. A year later he was appointed Inhaber of an infantry regiment and Director of the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt; he held both posts during the remainder of his life. In the Flanders Campaign in 1794, he commanded an infantry division against the French. He led an attack column at Tourcoing where he failed to support Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. He was promoted to Feldzeugmeister in September 1794. He held no more active commands and died at Vienna in 1805.
Georg Wilhelm Baron von dem Bussche-Haddenhausen was a general officer of Hanoverian soldiers during the War of the First Coalition who famously led one of the Coalition columns at the Battle of Tourcoing. In 1743 he joined the Hanoverian military service and fought in the War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War, fighting at Minden and Lutterberg. He led a battalion at Gibraltar in the American Revolutionary War. In the War of the First Coalition he led his soldiers at Valenciennes, Hondschoote, Mouscron, Tourcoing and Tournai. On 11 December 1794 while defending the Bommelerwaard in the Dutch Republic, his hand was taken off by a cannonball and he died shortly afterward.
The Action at Mannheim 1795 began in April 1795 when two French armies crossed the Rhine and converged on the confluence of the Main and the Rhine. Initial action at Mannheim resulted in a minor skirmish, but the Bavarian commander negotiated a quick truce with the French and withdrew. On 17 October 1795, 17,000 Habsburg Austrian troops under the command of Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser engaged 12,000 soldiers, led by Jean-Charles Pichegru in the grounds outside the city of Mannheim. In a combination of maneuvers, the Habsburg army forced 10,000 of the French forces to withdraw into the city itself; other French troops fled to join neighboring Republican armies. First Coalition forces then laid siege to Mannheim. Subsequent action at neighboring cities forced the French to withdraw further westward toward France; after a month's siege, the 10,000-strong Republican French garrison now commanded by Anne Charles Basset Montaigu surrendered to 25,000 Austrians commanded by Wurmser. This surrender brought the 1795 campaign in Germany to an end. The battle and siege occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. Situated on the Rhine River at its confluence with the Neckar River, Mannheim lies in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in modern-day Germany.