Prince Eugene of Savoy (born October 18, 1663 - death April 21, 1736) - an outstanding commander of the Holy Roman Empire, Generalissimo.
Evgeny Savoisky was born in Paris. His father, Prince Eugene Moritz of Saxony, was in military service with the French crown. But his parents were soon expelled from France for their part in an unsuccessful conspiracy against King Louis XIV. He showed generosity to the conspiratorial prince, without subjecting him and his family to the usual monarchical repressions in such cases.
Choosing a military career, Yevgeny Savoysky left Paris for Austria. 1683 - he volunteered for the Austrian Imperial Army. In those days, Vienna was at war with the Ottoman Port and willingly accepted any volunteers into the Austrian army.
For the first time, young Eugene of Savoy distinguished himself in a big battle with the Turks near the walls of Vienna, which they besieged from July 14, 1683. He served in a 70,000-strong army of Christian Europeans under the command of King Jan Sobieski III of Poland, who came to the aid of besieged Vienna. On September 12, a battle took place near the Austrian capital with a 158,000-strong Turkish army, under the command of Kara-Mustafa-Pasha.
The king of Poland was the first to attack the positions of the Ottomans and, after a fierce battle that lasted all day, defeated the Turks, who suffered significant losses. On the battlefield, six Sultan generals fell - pasha. Kara-Mustafa Pasha himself happily escaped captivity, escaping from near Vienna to his own limits. The Austrian capital was saved.
After that, Yevgeny Savoysky participated in the liberation of Hungary from Turkish troops in 1684-1688. In this Austro-Turkish war, Eugene of Savoy won his first victories.
Then he took part in the war of the Great Alliance in 1688-1697. for the English inheritance. But here the commander was in for a defeat, which he suffered on October 4, 1693 in the battle of Marsaglia, where he commanded the combined forces of the Austrians, Spaniards and British. That afternoon, the Allies, who were superior in strength, were attacked by the French army under the command of Marshal de Catine and, after a fierce battle, retreated across the river. In the battle, the Austrians alone lost about 6,000 soldiers killed. The winners lost far fewer people.
But Duke Eugene of Savoy completely erased this defeat with a brilliant victory over the Turkish army under the command of Grand Vizier Ilyas Mehmed at Zente on September 11, 1697. The prince at the head of the Austrian troops, after a 10-hour march, approached the Zente River, while the Sultan's cavalry was already crossing the river, and the infantry crossed it over the bridge. The Grand Vizier was taken by surprise on his march to Transylvania. In the course of this prolonged battle, the Turks lost (according to various sources) from 20 to 29,000 people, while the Austrians lost only 500 people.
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The victory over the Turkish army at Zenta nominated Eugene of Savoy among the best generals in Europe. 1697 - he becomes Generalissimo of Austria. The victory on the banks of the Zenta contributed to the conclusion of the Karlovytsky Peace, which was beneficial for Vienna.
Prince Eugene of Savoy
The prince fought with a variety of opponents, was an ally or enemy of most of the largest European generals of the time. In this respect, the War of the Spanish Succession of 1701-1714 is indicative.
July 1701 - Austrian troops under his command at the Battle of Carpi in Italian Lombardy defeated the French troops under the command of Marshal de Catine. So the commander repaid the marshal for the defeat at Marsaglia. In the same year, he won another victory - at the city of Chiari. After a 2-hour battle, the enemy (represented by the French and Spaniards), having lost 3,000 people, retreated, and the Austrians cost 117 people.
The following year, the Prince of Savoy suddenly attacked the city of Cremona with a strong French garrison. The defenders of Cremona did not even have time to sound the alarm, and many French military leaders, including Marshal Villeroy, were captured. Part of the garrison fortified in the citadel. The Austrians did not storm it, because they received news of the approach of large enemy forces, hurrying to the rescue of the garrison of Cremona, and retreated.
The War of the Spanish Succession lasted a long time - from 1701 to 1714. 1704, August 13 - Eugene of Savoy, in alliance with British troops under the command of the Duke of Marlborough, defeated the Franco-Bavarian army near the village of Blenheim under the command of Marshals Tallard and Marsen and the Elector of Baden. The victors had a numerical superiority - 60,000 against 52,000. At first, the British cavalry cut the French line in two with a decisive blow. Then the Austrians entered the business, successfully repelling the attack of the French and Bavarians. After the first successes, Savoy and Marlborough went on the offensive and defeated the right flank and the center of the enemy, who fled or began to surrender.
The Austrians and British lost 11,000 men during this battle. The French army lost 40,000 people, including 16,000 captured by the victors. Marshal Tallard was among the prisoners.
In that war, the Austrian army under the command of the imperial commander won another great victory - at Cassano in August 1705.
Fighting on Italian soil, Prince Eugene of Savoy won great victories over the French troops, inflicting a final defeat on them when lifting the siege from the city of Turin. During the siege, the Turin garrison of the Austrians lost half of its strength - 5,000 people, many of whom died from disease. Generalissimo of Savoy, who led the defense of the city at the beginning of the siege, was able to gather troops outside its borders in a timely manner and come to the rescue. The French troops under the command of General de Fellada were completely defeated.
The siege of one of the largest Italian cities was lifted on September 7, 1706, after which the French army left this country. Her defeat led to the final conquest of Northern Italy by the Austrian Habsburg dynasty.
The War of the Spanish Succession received a new continuation on the European continent that year. In the battle of Ramiyah, the Anglo-Austrian army of Marlborough and Savoy (about 62,000 men with 120 guns) inflicted a crushing defeat on the French, about the same number, with 70 guns, under the command of Marshal Villerois. The French lost in the battle a third of their army killed, wounded and captured, as well as 50 guns.
1708 - the Generalissimo at the head of the troops of the Holy Roman Empire besieged, bombarded and eventually took the hitherto impregnable French fortress of Lille, built by the remarkable military engineer-fortifier de Vauban. Another great victory came to the commander Eugene of Savoy and his ally the Duke of Marlborough on September 11, 1709 at the battle of Malplac, where they commanded the Anglo-Austro-Dutch army (117,000 men with 120 guns). They were opposed by a French army of 90,000 with 60 guns led by Marshal L. Villard. He approached the city of Montsou, which was surrounded by the allies, in order to liberate the garrison besieged there.
Duke of Marlborough
The Battle of Malplac was marked by great bloodshed: the Allies lost up to 30,000 men, the French 12,000, but they still had to retreat from the besieged city.
1710 - The Prince of Savoy won another victory. At the head of the allied troops, he laid siege to the city of Douai. His French garrison stubbornly defended itself, undertaking numerous sorties, but at the end of June, after a 2-month siege, was forced to surrender.
But the real military leader's triumph was the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-1718. Eugene of Savoy was again at the head of the Austrian imperial army. In the battle of Petervardein on August 10, 1716, he commanded an army much smaller than the Turkish commander Darnad Ali Pasha. He, according to various sources, had from 110 to 200,000 soldiers. But the Austrian army consisted mainly of veterans of the War of the Spanish Succession, experienced and seasoned soldiers in battles and campaigns.
In that battle, the commander launched his famous night attack by the Turkish army, although his army was 4 times smaller than the enemy. The Austrians fought a bayonet battle so decisively that the Ottomans fled. The Turks lost 20,000 killed, 50 banners and 250 cannons. The Austrians lost about 3,000 people in the night attack.
As a result of the victory in the battle of Petervardein, the Holy Roman Empire acquired new territories. After this battle, Austrian troops occupied the city of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, which was under Ottoman rule.
In the battle near Belgrade, the 40,000-strong army of Eugene of Savoy fought with the nearly 180,000-strong army of the grand vizier Ibrahim Pasha. The Austrians suffered almost three times less losses than their enemy - only about 5,500 people killed and wounded, and received 166 guns as trophies.
After the defeat of the Turkish troops at Petervardein and under the walls of Belgrade, the Sultan of the Ottoman Port did not dare to continue the war. Soon, the parties signed a peace treaty, beneficial to Vienna.
1703 - Prince Eugene of Savoy was the chairman of the Military, then the Privy Council under the emperor, exerting a significant influence on foreign state policy. He advocated a military alliance of Austria with Prussia and Russia against France. He pursued a policy of Germanization of the territories annexed to the empire, primarily the lands inhabited by the southern Slavs.
At the age of 70, the commander had a chance to take part in another war - for the Polish heritage, which was his last. July 1734 - The Austrian army under the command of the imperial commander-in-chief defeated the French army under the command of Marshal Duke de Broglie at the Battle of Quistello. The prince again, as in previous years, demonstrated his military leadership.
1736 - the famous military leader Eugene of Savoy died in Vienna.
Evgeny Savoisky entered the world military history as an outstanding strategist and tactician. As the first (of course, after the emperor) person in the military hierarchy of Austria, he carried out a number of reforms in its armed forces, raised their combat effectiveness.
So, he canceled the rule according to which command positions were bought for money, and appointed army commanders, taking into account only their personal merits and qualities. At the same time, the aristocratic origin of candidates for the vacated command positions was not taken into account.
In the Austrian possessions, the prince created a system of rear bases, where large stocks of provisions, ammunition and other equipment necessary for the troops were stored. Now, in wartime conditions, they were not so much dependent on logistic services and the army convoy.
The commander-in-chief of the imperial army made a great contribution to the organization of military intelligence: in his army, special small detachments of cavalry and dragoons were watching the maneuvering of the enemy troops. Their mobility made it possible to anticipate enemy attacks in advance. Under Eugene of Savoy, Austrian army intelligence turned out to be head and shoulders above any enemy.
A. Shishov