Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser

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Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
Born7 May 1724 (1724-05-07)
Strasbourg, Alsace, Kingdom of France
Died22 August 1797 (1797-08-23) (aged 73)
Vienna
Allegiance Kingdom of France
 Habsburg Monarchy
Service/branchKingdom of France French Army
Habsburg monarchy Imperial Army
Years of service1741–1763 (France)
1763–1796
RankField Marshal
Battles/warsWar of the Bavarian Succession

Austro–Turkish War (1787–1791)
, as Commanding General.
French Revolutionary Wars

Awards1778, Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa[1]
1789, Commander's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa[1] 1793, Grand Cross of the Military order of Maria Theresa[1]
Other workImperial and Royal Privy Councilor; Imperial and Royal Chamberlain.
Signature

Dagobert Sigismund, Count von Wurmser (7 May 1724 – 22 August 1797) was an

Napoleon Bonaparte
during the 1796 campaign in Italy.

Although initially in the Army of France during the Seven Years' War, Wurmser left France after Louis reached a peace agreement with Britain, and joined the military of the

lines of Lauterburg and Weissenburg
in October 1793.

In 1796,

Mantua
; after a negotiated capitulation, Wurmser left the city with his honors and 700 men, and marched back to Vienna. His defeat at Mantua did not diminish the luster of his service in imperial eyes—he was granted another appointment immediately—but he was an old man of 72 years who had spent most of his adult life in arduous campaigning. His health failed him shortly after his appointment and he died in 1797.

Family and early career

Born in Strasbourg, in the French province of Alsace, he was the son of Frantz Jacob Wurmser von Vendenheim. He was christened in the Protestant church of Saint Nicolas and first served in the French Army in 1741 during the early campaigns of the Silesian Wars as a cavalry officer under the command of Marshal Charles, Prince of Soubise.[2] In 1747, he was promoted to Captain of Cavalry.[3]

He married on 25 January 1761 in Vendenheim (Département du Bas-Rhin) Sophia Henrietta Rosina Juliana von und zu der Thann. She died aged 39 in Trautenau (Bohemia) on 27 June 1772 as a consequence of childbirth, and was buried in Michelsdorf (Silesia).[4]

In 1750, when his father left Alsace and became a Habsburg subject, Wurmser too left French service and joined the

comital status of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Two years later, Francis' brother, Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, the Statthalter of the Austrian Netherlands, known as an audacious partisan collected his volunteers—a regiment each of Infantry and Hussars, with an artillery company—and joined Austrian service.[5]

War of the Bavarian Succession

In Spring 1778, Wurmser's 30th Hussars were posted in northern Bohemia, to cover the border with Saxony and Silesia.

Königgrätz.[7]

In October,

Frederick II of Prussia did the same. A small force of hussars and dragoons remained in Bohemia to provide a winter cordon, designed to prevent Prussian incursions into Bohemia. Appointed to be commander of the winter cordon, Wurmser ordered a small assault column under command of Colonel Wilhelm Klebeck to attack the village of Dittersbach.[8] Klebeck led a column of Croats into the village. During the action, 400 Prussians were killed, another 400 made prisoner, and eight colors were captured.[2] Following his successes against the Prussians in 1778, Joseph awarded him the Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa on 21 October 1778.[9]

In another raid, in January 1779, Wurmser advanced into the Grafschaft Glatz in five columns, two of which, commanded by Major General Franz Joseph, Count Kinsky, surrounded Habelschwerdt on 17–18 January. While one column secured the approach, the other, under the leadership of Colonel Pallavicini,[10] stormed the town, captured Major General Adolph, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld and 714 men, three cannons, and seven colors. Wurmser himself led the third column in an assault on the so-called Swedish blockhouse at Oberschwedeldorf;[5] it and the town of Habelschwerdt were set on fire by howitzers. Major General Ludwig, Baron of Terzi (1730–1800), who was covering with the remaining two columns, threw back the enemy relief and took 300 Prussian prisoners. Meanwhile, Wurmser maintained his position at the nearby village of Rückerts and town Reinerz. His forward patrols reached the outskirts of Glatz, and were able to cover the Silesian borders, almost reaching Schweidnitz.[2] Halberschwerdt and Oberschwedeldorf were both destroyed.[11]

French Revolutionary Wars

Promotions

  • Transferred from French service to Austrian military in 1763
  • Major General: 1763
  • Lt. Field Marshal: 10 October 1778 (effective 10 January 1778)
  • General of Cavalry: 8 September 1787 (effective 2 September 1787)
  • Field Marshal 11 December 1795

In 1787, Wurmser received a promotion to

French National Convention declared war on Austria. In the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797), France opposed most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her, plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire.[12]

Rhine campaign 1793–1794

From February 1793 to January 1794, Wurmser commanded the Imperial Army of the Rhine.[9] He commanded the successful storming of the Lauterburg and Weissenburg lines on 13 October 1793. The Lines, a series of earthworks on the south side of the Lauter river, a tributary of the Rhine river in Alsace-Lorraine, offered a major strategic defensive position for the French.

Part of France's Army of the Vosges, under the general command of

Jean Victor Moreau, manned the French position. The three battalions and six squadrons, commanded by General of Brigade Illier, held the position with ten artillery pieces. The French defensive line ran west from Lauterbourg on the Rhine to Saarbrücken
. The western part of this line, from Lauterbourg to Wissembourg, was protected by the Lines of Wissembourg, a series of fortifications built nearly a century earlier to protect Alsace from invasion along the flat plain between the Vosges and the Rhine. The Army of the Rhine defended these Lines. The Army of the Rhine also was at Saarbrücken and the Corps of the Vosges linked the two, with camps at Hornbach and Kettrick.

On 20 August, Wurmser directed the 4th Allied Column, and Field Marshal Kavanagh's Hessen and Austrian troops, augmented by a battalion of Emigre troops, to assault part of the works; Kavanagh's attack successfully ousted the French from the position; General Illier was killed by a Hessen Jäger. An unknown number of the 3,000 French defenders were killed or wounded; three officers and 100 men were captured. The testing for the Weissembourg Lines continued for the next 45 days, Each skirmish, each probe, tested the French strength and resolve. In mid-September the Prussians successfully defeated a French assault on Pirmasens, a small fortification to the north and east; this success encouraged the Austrian and Prussian alliance to venture a major assault on the French defenses.[13]

Field Armies Commanded by Wurmser[9]

  • Army of the Rhine February 1793–January 1794
  • Army of the Upper Rhine, August 1795–June 1796
  • Army of Italy, June 1796–September 1796
  • Commanding General, Galicia, September 1796 – 1797

Wurmser's force of 33,599 infantry and 9,635 cavalries had whittled away at the Lines, skirmishing throughout August and September with French infantry and cavalry, which always withdrew to the superior defensive position behind the earthen works. While the Prussians marched around the lines, from Pirmasens, Wurmser organized his force into seven columns, and they assaulted the Lines in waves. In the

First Battle of Wissembourg on 13 September the French defenses were successfully breached.[14]

Two months later, the French committed major forces to recover the Lines. Wurmser commanded the Austrian contingent at the defeat at the

Second Battle of Wissembourg on 26 December 1793.[9]

Upper Rhine campaign

From August 1795 to June 1796, Wurmser commanded the Army of the Upper Rhine.

Battle of Mannheim

Campaign in northern Italy

The sun, low on the horizon, bathes a small city in light; the light casts deep shadows on tiled roofs, church towers, gardens, and walls.
Klenau approached the town of Brescia at night, surprising the garrison, and taking as his prisoners three officials of the French Directory. Photo courtesy of Luca Giarelli.

In 1796, Wurmser descended into northern Italy, with 25,000 men from his old Army of the Rhine, to unite with Beaulieu's battered army of northern Italy. The two armies met at Trent and marched to Mantua in three columns.[15]

Wurmser's columns scored some initial successes. The forward column, under command of under

Peter Quasdanovich moved toward Lake Garda,[15] and a small reconnaissance force under Johann von Klenau advanced from the alps on the city of Brescia; there, they found the local French garrison unprepared. At midnight, Klenau led two squadrons of the Wurmser 8th Hussar Regiment and several other battalions and squadrons in an attack on the French garrison. They captured 600–700 French soldiers stationed there and three officials of the French Directory: Jean Lannes, Joachim Murat, and François Étienne de Kellermann.[16] Quasdanovich managed to occupy Lonato.[15]

Wurmser did not count on swift movement by the French. Within two days, Klenau's force retreated in the face of

Napoleon Bonaparte and 12,000 Frenchmen; his small advance guard was quickly pushed out of Brescia on 1 August. At the subsequent Battle of Lonato of 2–3 August 1796, the French also forced Quasdanovich's column to withdraw into the mountains, with heavy losses.[17] The mopping up operations lasted until mid-August, isolated Quasdanovich's force by Lake Garda, and freed the French to concentrate on Wurmser's main force at Castiglione delle Stiviere, further south; Bonaparte's subsequent victory against Wurmser at the Battle of Castiglione forced the old commander across the Mincio river and allowed the French to return to the siege of Mantua.[18]

The resumed siege was not without its problems. To move swiftly against Wurmser, Napoleon had abandoned his all his siege equipment, leaving it at Mantua. When he resumed the siege, it was much less effective without his guns.

La Favorita near there on 15 September. This was the second attempt to relieve the fortress; as the Austrians withdrew from the battle, they retreated into Mantua itself, and from 15 September until 2 February 1797, Wurmser was trapped inside the fortress while the city was besieged.[20]

Following the Austrian loss at the Battle of Rivoli, 48 kilometers (30 mi) north of Mantua, on 14–15 January 1797,[21] when clearly there would be no Austrian relief for Mantua, Wurmser sent one of his juniors, Johann von Klenau, to negotiate conditions of surrender with French General Jean Sérurier,[22] Additional evidence suggests that Bonaparte was present and dictated far more generous terms than the Austrians had expected. Wurmser, who Napoleon held in high esteem, left Mantua with his men and officers, and his battle honors, and marched back to Austrian lands.[23]

Legacy

Of all the field marshals in Habsburg service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Wurmser was recognized among the best. Some historians attribute Austrian problems to its aging general staff, compared to the relatively young general staff of the French Empire. For instance, Wurmser was 72, approaching 73 in the 1796 campaign, and

Peter Vitus von Quasdanovich (b. 1738) was nearing 60. Besides the graying general staff, there were also youngsters, and these demonstrated acute military acumen: Archduke Charles was 26 years old in the 1796 campaign and had been tutored by Hohenlohe-Kirchberg and Wurmser; Schwarzenberg was also young, under 30; Johann von Klenau, at 31, was the youngest field Marshal in the Habsburg military; and there were many others. But Wurmser may have been hampered more by the Aulic Council than by his age; Digby Smith points out that he descended into Italy fettered with a new and inexperienced chief of staff sent to him by the Council with battle plans and instructions in writing. These restricted his movements in Italy and prevented him from responding to targets of opportunity.[9]

Broken in health, a knight without fear and above reproach,[2] Wurmser died in Vienna the following summer.[9]

See also

Sources

Citations and notes

  1. ^ a b c Jaromir Hirtenfeld. Der militär-Maria-Theresien-Orden und seine Mitglieder: nach authentischen Quellen bearbeitet. Wien: Hofdruckerei, 1857, pp. 1736, 1731.
  2. ^ a b c d e f (in German) Constant Wurzbach. Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Österreich. Vienna, 1856–91, vol 59, pp. 1-5.
  3. ^ a b Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The Penny cyclopædia. London: C. Knight, 1833–1843. p. 594.
  4. ^ Protestant Church Book of Sundhouse, and that of Vendenheim.
  5. ^ a b Oscar Criste. Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 44 (1898), S. 338–340, Digitale Volltext-Ausgabe in Wikisource. (Version vom 24. März 2010, 13:18 Uhr UTC).
  6. ^ (in German) Jens-Florian Ebert. "Nauendorf, Friedrich August Graf." Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815. Accessed 15 October 2009; (in German) Constant von Wurzbach. "Nauendorf, Friedrich August Graf." Biographisches Lexikon des kaiserthums Oesterreich, enthaltend die Leben ski zen der denkwürdigen personen, welche seit 1750 in den österreichischen kronländern geboren wurden oder darin gelebt und gewirkt haben. Wien: K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerie [etc.] 1856-91, Volume 20, pp. 103–105, p. 103 cited.
  7. Fortress Josefov
    .
  8. ^ Shortly afterward, Klebeck was elevated to the rank of Baron (Freiherr), and awarded the Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa (15 February 1779). Digby Smith. Klebeck. Leonard Kudrna and Digby Smith, compilers. A biographical dictionary of all Austrian Generals in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, Editor in Chief. April 2008. Accessed 22 March 2010.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Digby Smith. Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser. Leonard Kudrna and Digby Smith, compilers. A biographical dictionary of all Austrian Generals in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, Editor in Chief. April 2008. Accessed 22 March 2010.
  10. ISBN 978-0-313-31041-6
    , p. 152.
  11. ^ Thomas Carlyle. History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great: in eight volumes. Vol. VIII in The works of Thomas Carlyle in thirty volumes. London: Chapman and Hall, 1898, p. 219.
  12. ISBN 0-340-56911-5
    , pp. 41–59.
  13. ^ Smith states there were skirmishes and clashes on 21 and 27 August, 7, 11, 12, 14, 19, 20, 23, and 30 September, culminating in the major assault on 13 October. Digby Smith. Napoleonic Wars Data Book. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole, 1998, p. 52.
  14. ^ J. Rickard, J (9 February 2009) Storming of the lines of Wissembourg, 13 October 1793. History of War. Peter D Antill, Tristan Dugdale-Pointon, and John Rickard, editors. 9 February 2009. Accessed 23 March 2010.
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-1-55970-631-5
    , pp. 121–123.
  16. ISBN 0-304-35305-1
    , p. 382; Smith, Battles of "Lonato" and "Castiglione Delle Stiviere," p. 119.
  17. ^ Kudrna and Smith. "Klenau".
  18. ^ Smith, Battles of "Lonato" and "Castiglione Delle Stiviere," Data Book. p. 119.
  19. ^ Smith, "Bassano," Data Book. p. 123.
  20. ^ (in German) Klenau (ADB).
  21. ^ At the Battle of Rivoli, 22,000 French overwhelmed 28,000 Austrians; the Austrians lost 4,000 killed or wounded, and 8,000 prisoners, including 11 colors and standards. Three Austrian units (i.e., two battalions of the Nr. 14 Klebek and a battalion of the Jägerkorps Kurz) were captured in their entirety. Smith, p. 131.
  22. ^ Boycott-Brown, p. 521.
  23. ^ John Ashton. English caricature and satire on Napoleon I. London: Chatto & Windus, 1888, p. 39. Kudrna and Smith. "Klenau".

References

  • Ashton, John. English caricature and satire on Napoleon I. London: Chatto & Windus, 1888.
  • Boycott-Brown, Martin. The Road to Rivoli. London: Cassell & Co., 2001.
    ISBN 0-304-35305-1
  • Carlyle, Thomas. History of Friedrich II of Prussia called Frederick the great : in eight volumes. Vol. VIII in The works of Thomas Carlyle in thirty volumes. London: Chapman and Hall, 1896–1899.
  • (in German) Criste, Oscar. Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Herausgegeben von der Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 44 (1898), S. 338–340, Digitale Volltext-Ausgabe in Wikisource. (Version vom 24. März 2010, 13:18 Uhr UTC).
  • (in German) Ebert, Jens-Florian. "Nauendorf, Friedrich August Graf." Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815. Accessed 15 October 2009.
  • (in German) Hirtenfeld, Jaromir. Der militär-Maria-Theresien-Orden und seine Mitglieder: nach authentischen Quellen bearbeitet. Wien: Hofdruckerei, 1857.
  • McLynn, Frank. Napoleon: A Biography. New York: Arcade, 2002,
    ISBN 978-1-55970-631-5
    .
  • Rickard, J. Storming of the lines of Wissembourg, 13 October 1793. In History of War. Peter D Antill, Tristan Dugdale-Pointon, and John Rickard, editors. 9 February 2009. Accessed 23 March 2010.
  • Smith, Digby. Klebeck. Leonard Kudrna and Dibgy Smith, compilers. A biographical dictionary of all Austrian Generals in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, Editor in Chief. April 2008. Accessed 22 March 2010.
  • (in German) Wurzbach, C., von. Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Österreich. Vienna, 1856–91, vol 20, 59.

External links

Military offices
Preceded by
Karl von Nauendorf
 Proprietor (Inhaber)
Hussar Regiment No. 30 (formerly No.8)
1775–1797 		Succeeded by
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