Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick | |
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Field Marshal | |
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Ferdinand, Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (12 January 1721, Wolfenbüttel – 3 July 1792, Vechelde), was a German-Prussian field marshal (1758–1766) known for his participation in the Seven Years' War. From 1757 to 1762 he led an Anglo-German army in western Germany which successfully repelled French attempts to occupy Hanover.
Early life
The fourth son of
He also was a
During ten years of peace, he was in the closest touch with the military work of Frederick the Great, who supervised the instruction of the guard battalion, and sought to make it a model of the whole Prussian army. Ferdinand was, moreover, one of the most intimate friends of the king, and thus he was peculiarly fitted for the tasks which afterwards fell to his lot. In this time, he was promoted to major-general and then lieutenant-general.
Seven Years' War
In the first campaign of the Seven Years' War, Ferdinand commanded one of the Prussian columns which converged upon Dresden, and in the operations which led up to the surrender of the Saxon army at Pirna (1756). At the Battle of Lobositz, he led the right wing of the Prussian infantry. In 1757, he distinguished himself at Prague, and served also in the Rossbach campaign.
Hanover
Shortly after this, he was appointed to command the
He found this army dejected by a reverse and a capitulation, yet within a week of his taking up the command, he assumed the offensive, and thus began the career of victory which made his reputation as a soldier. He tried to raise Hanoverian support for the war effort by highlighting various atrocities committed by French troops during their occupation.
Offensive across the Rhine
Ferdinand followed up his success in driving the French back by crossing the Rhine himself as part of a fresh offensive. This caused alarm in France, as it was feared that a naval descent by large number of British reinforcements was intended to be co-ordinated with Ferdinand's advance, although the destination of the descent soon turned out to be St Malo in Brittany rather than the Low Countries. In spite of this Ferdinand still posed a not insignificant threat and it was believed he was poised to attack the Austrian Netherlands or even northern Italy.
On 12 June 1758 he fought an indecisive
Minden
He resumed a bold offensive in 1759, only to be repulsed at Bergen where he was defeated by France in the Battle of Bergen on 13 April 1759. Following the battle Ferdinand retreated in the face of a French advance, but managed to check them with a decisive victory at the Battle of Minden. This ended the immediate French threat to Hanover, as the French army was in no condition to continue its advance.
In promoting him to
Later career
After the war, he was honored by other sovereigns, and he received the rank of field marshal and a regiment from the Austrians. During the
The estrangement of Frederick and Ferdinand in 1766 led to the duke's retirement from Prussian service, but there was no open breach between the old friends, and Ferdinand visited the king in 1772, 1777, 1779 and 1782. Ferdinand retired to
The merits, civil and military, of the prince were recognized by memorials not only in Prussia and Hanover, but also in Denmark, the states of western Germany and England. The Prussian memorials include an equestrian statue at Berlin 1863.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Christine Friederike of Württemberg | | |||||||||||||||
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31. Anna Catherine of Salm-Kyrburg | ||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ Frederick the Great, A history of my own times Part II, p. 232 in Posthumous Works, vol 1, 1789. Translated by Thomas Holcroft. Text available at Google Books
- ^ Denslow, William R. (1957). 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Columbia, Missouri, USA: Missouri Lodge of Research.
- ^ McLynn p.259-60
- ^ McLynn p.260
- ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 51.
Bibliography
- McLynn, Frank (2005). 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World. Pimlico.
- Marston, Daniel (2001). The Seven Years War. Osprey publishing.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ferdinand of Brunswick". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the