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EUGENE OF SAVOY [FRANCOIS EUGENE], PR...

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 884 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EUGENE OF See also:SAVOY [See also:FRANCOIS EUGENE], See also:PRINCE (1663-1736) , fifth son of Prince Eugene See also:Maurice of Savoy-See also:Carignano, See also:count of See also:Soissons, and of See also:Olympia See also:Mancini, niece of See also:Cardinal See also:Mazarin, was See also:born at See also:Paris on the 18th of See also:October 1663. Origin-ally destined for the See also:church, Eugene was known at See also:court as the See also:petit See also:abbe, but his own predilection was strongly for the See also:army. His See also:mother, however, had fallen into disgrace at court, and his application for a See also:commission, repeated more than once, was refused by See also:Louis XIV. This, and the See also:influence of his mother, produced in him a lifelong resentment against the See also:king. Having quitted See also:France in disgust, he proceeded to See also:Vienna, where his relative the See also:emperor See also:Leopold I. received him kindly, and he served with the See also:Austrian army during the See also:campaign of 1683 against the See also:Turks. He displayed his bravery in a See also:cavalry fight at Petronell (7th See also:July) and in the See also:great See also:battle for the See also:relief of Vienna. The emperor now gave him the command of a See also:regiment of dragoons. At the See also:capture of Buda in 1686 he received a See also:wound (3rd See also:August), but he continued to serve up to the See also:siege of See also:Belgrade in 1688, in which he was dangerously wounded. At the instigation of See also:Louvois, a See also:decree of banishment from France was now issued against all Frenchmen who should continue to serve in See also:foreign armies. " The king will see me again," was Eugene's reply when the See also:news was communicated to him; he continued his career in foreign service. Prince Eugene's next employment was in a service that required See also:diplomatic as well as military skill (1689). He was sent by the emperor Leopold to See also:Italy with the view of binding the See also:duke of Savoy to the See also:coalition against France and of co-operating with the See also:Italian and See also:Spanish troops.

Later in 1689 he served on the See also:

Rhine and was again wounded. He returned to Italy in See also:time to take See also:part in the battle of Staffarda, which resulted in the defeat of the coalition at the hands of the See also:French See also:marshal See also:Catinat; but in the See also:spring of 1691 Prince Eugene, having secured reinforcements, caused the siege of Coni to be raised, took See also:possession of See also:Carmagnola, and in the end completely defeated Catinat. He followed up his success by entering See also:Dauphine, where he took possession of See also:Embrun and See also:Gap. After another campaign, which was uneventful, the further See also:prosecution of the See also:war was abandoned owing to the defection of the duke of Savoy from the coalition, and Prince Eugene returned to Vienna, where he soon afterwards received the command of the army in See also:Hungary, on the recommendation of the See also:veteran count Rudiger von Starhemberg, the defender of Vienna in 1683. It was about this time that Louis XIV. secretly offered him the See also:baton of a marshal of France, with the See also:government of See also:Champagne which his See also:father had held, and also a See also:pension. But Eugene rejected these offers with indignation, and proceeded to operate against the Turks commanded by Kara Mustapha. After some skilful manoeuvres, he surprised the enemy (See also:September 11th, 1697) at See also:Zenta, on the See also:Theiss. His attack was vigorous and daring, and the victory was one of the most See also:complete and important ever won by the Austrian arms. Formerly it was often stated that the battle of Zenta was fought against See also:express orders from the court, that Eugene was placed under See also:arrest for violating these orders, and that a proposal to bring him before a See also:council of war was frustrated only by the threatening attitude of the citizens of Vienna. This See also:story, See also:minute in details as it is, is entirely without See also:foundation. After a further periad of manoeuvres, See also:peace was at length concluded at See also:Karlowitz on the 26th of See also:January 1609. Two years later he was again in active service in the War of the Spanish See also:Succession (q.v.).

At the beginning of the See also:

year 1701 he was sent into Italy once more to oppose his old antagonist Catinat. He achieved a rapid success, See also:crossing the mountains from See also:Tirol into Italy in spite of almost insurmountable difficulties (See also:Journal d. nailitdrwissensch. Verein, No. 5, 1907), forcing the French army, after sustaining several checks, to retire behind the Oglio, where a See also:series of reverses equally unexpected and severe led to the recall of Catinat in disgrace. The incapable duke of See also:Villeroi, who succeeded to the command of which Catinat had been deprived, ventured to attack Eugene at Chiari, and was repulsed with great loss. And this was only the forerunner of more See also:signal reverses; for, in a See also:short time, Villeroi was forced to abandon the whole of the Mantuan territory and to take See also:refuge in See also:Cremona, where he seems to have considered himself secure. By means of a stratagem, however, Eugene penetrated into the See also:city during the See also:night, at the See also:head of 2000 men, and, though he found it impossible to hold the See also:town, succeeded in carrying off Villeroi as a prisoner. But as the duke of See also:Vendome, a much abler See also:general, replaced the See also:captive, the incursion, daring though it was, proved anything but advantageous to the Austrians. The generalship of his new opponent, and the fact that the French army had been largely reinforced, while reinforcements had not been sent from Vienna, forced Prince Eugene to confine himself to a war of observation. The campaign was terminated by the sanguinary battle of Luzzara, fought on the 1st of August 1702, in which each party claimed the victory. Both armies having gone into See also:winter quarters, Eugene returned to Vienna, where he was appointed See also:president of the council of war. He then set out for Hungary in See also:order to combat the insurgents in that See also:country; but his means proving insufficient, he effected nothing of importance.

The collapse of the revolt, however, soon freed the prince for the more important campaign in See also:

Bavaria, where, in 1704, he made his first campaign along with See also:Marlborough. Similarity of tastes, views and talents soon established between these two great men a friendship which is rarely to be found amongst military chiefs, and contributed in the fullest measure to the success which the See also:allies obtained. The first and perhaps the most important of these successes was that of See also:Hochstadt or See also:Blenheim (q.v.) on the 3rd of August 1704, where the Englishandimperial troops triumphed over one of the finest armies that France had ever sent into See also:Germany. But since Prince Eugene had quitted Italy, Vendome, who commanded the French army in that country, had obtained various successes against the duke of Savoy, who had once more joined See also:Austria. The emperor deemed the crisis so serious that he recalled Eugene and sent him to Italy to the assistance of his ally. Vendome at first opposed great obstacles to the See also:plan which the prince had formed for carrying succours into See also:Piedmont; but after a variety of See also:marches and See also:counter-marches, in which both commanders displayed signal ability, the two armies met at See also:Cassano (August 16, 1705), where a deadly engagement ensued, and Prince Eugene received two severe wounds which forced him to quit the See also:field. This See also:accident decided the See also:fate of the battle and for the time suspended the prince's See also:march towards Piedmont. Vendome, however, was recalled, and La Feuillade (who succeeded him) was incapable of See also:long arresting the progress of such a See also:commander as Eugene. After once more passing several See also:rivers in presence of the French army, and executing one of the most skilful and daring marches he had ever performed, the latter appeared before the entrenched See also:camp at See also:Turin, which See also:place the French were now besieging with an army eighty thousand strong. Prince Eugene had only See also:thirty thousand men; but his antagonist the duke of See also:Orleans, though full of zeal and courage, wanted experience, and Marshal Marsin, his adlatus, held See also:powers from Louis XIV. which could not fail to produce dissensions in the French headquarters. With equal courage and address, Eugene profited by the misunderstandings between the French generals; and on the 7th of September 1706 he attacked the French army in its entrenchments and gained a victory which decided the fate of Italy. In the See also:heat of the battle Eugene received a wound, and was thrown from his See also:horse.

His recompense for this important service was the government of the Milanese, of which he took possession with great pomp on the 16th of See also:

April 1707. He was also made See also:lieutenant-general to the emperor See also:Joseph I. The See also:attempt which he made against See also:Toulon in the course of the same year failed completely, because the invasion of the See also:kingdom of See also:Naples retarded the march of the troops which were to have been employed in it, and this delay afforded Marshal de Tesse time to make See also:good dispositions. Obliged to renounce his project, therefore, the prince went to Vienna, where he was received with great See also:enthusiasm both by the See also:people and by the court. " I am very well satisfied with you," said the emperor, " excepting on one point only, which is, that you expose yourself too much." This monarch immediately despatched Eugene to See also:Holland, and to the different courts of Germany, in order to forward the necessary preparations for the campaign of the following year, 1708 (see SPANISH SUCCESSION, WAR OF THE). See also:Early in the spring of 1708 the prince proceeded to See also:Flanders, in order to assume the command of the See also:German army which his diplomatic ability had been mainly instrumental in assembling, and to unite his forces with those of Marlborough. The campaign was opened by the victory of Oudenarde (q.v.), to which the perfect See also:union of Marlborough and Eugene on the one See also:hand, and the misunderstanding between Vendome and the duke of See also:Burgundy on the other, seem to have equally contributed. The French immediately abandoned the See also:Low Countries, and, remaining in observation, made no attempt whatever to prevent Eugene's army, covered by that of Marlborough, making the siege of See also:Lille. The French See also:governor, Boufllers, made a glorious See also:defence, and Eugene paid a flattering See also:tribute to his valour in inviting him to prepare the articles of See also:capitulation himself, with the words " I subscribe to everything beforehand, well persuaded that you will not insert anything unworthy of yourself or of me." After this important See also:conquest, Eugene and Marlborough proceeded to the See also:Hague, where they were received in the most flattering manner by the public, by the states-general, and above all, by their esteemed friend the See also:pensionary See also:Heinsius. Negotiations were then opened for peace, but proved fruitless. In 1709 France put forth a supreme effort, and placed Marshal See also:Villars, her best living general, in command. The events of this year were very different to those of previous See also:campaigns, and the bloody battle of See also:Malplaquet (q.v.), though a victory for Marlborough and Eugene, led to little result, and this at the cost of enormous losses.

The Dutch army, it is said, never recovered from the slaughter of Malplaquet; indeed, the success was so dearly bought that the allies found themselves soon afterwards out of all See also:

condition to undertake anything. Their army accordingly went into winter quarters, and Prince Eugene returned to Vienna, whence the emperor almost immediately despatched him to See also:Berlin. From the king of See also:Prussia the prince obtained everything which he had been instructed to require; and having thus fulfilled his See also:mission, he returned into Flanders, where, excepting the capture of See also:Douai, See also:Bethune and See also:Aire, the campaign of 1710 presented nothing remarkable. On the See also:death of the emperor Joseph I. in April 1711, Prince Eugene, in See also:concert with the empress, exerted his utmost endeavours to secure the See also:crown to the See also:archduke, who afterwards ascended the imperial See also:throne under the name of See also:Charles VI. In the same year the changes which had occurred in the policy, or rather the caprice, of See also:Queen See also:Anne, brought about an approximation between See also:England and France, and put an end to the influence which Marlborough had hitherto possessed. When this See also:political revolution became known, Prince Eugene immediately repaired to See also:London, charged with a mission from the emperor to re-establish the See also:credit of his illustrious See also:companion in arms, as well as to re-attach England to the coalition. The mission having proved unsuccessful, the emperor found himself under the See also:necessity of making the campaign of 1712 with the aid of the Dutch alone. The defection of the See also:English, however, did not induce Prince Eugene to abandon his favourite plan of invading France. He resolved, at whatever cost, to penetrate into Champagne; and in order to support his operations by the possession of some important places, he began by making himself See also:master of Quesnoy. But the Dutch, having been surprised and beaten in the lines of See also:Denain, where Prince Eugene had placed them at too great a distance to receive timely support in See also:case of an attack, he was obliged to raise the siege of Landrecies, and to abandon the project which he had so long cherished. This was the last campaign in which Austria acted in See also:conjunction with her allies. Abandoned first by England and then by Holland, the emperor, notwithstanding these desertions, still wished to maintain the war in Germany; but Eugene was unable to relieve either See also:Landau or See also:Freiburg, which` were success sively obliged to capitulate; and seeing the See also:Empire thus laid open to the armies of France, and even the Austrian hereditary states themselves exposed to invasion, the prince counselled his master to make peace.

Sensible of the prudence of this See also:

advice, the emperor immediately entrusted Eugene with full powers to negotiate a treaty of peace, which. was concluded at Rastadt on the 6th of March 1714. On his return to Vienna, Prince Eugene was employed for a time in political matters, and at this time he exchanged the government of the Milanese for that of the Austrian See also:Netherlands.' It was not long, however, before he was again called on to assume the command of the army in the field. In the spring of r 716 the emperor, having concluded an offensive See also:alliance with See also:Venice against See also:Turkey, appointed Eugene to command the army of Hungary; and at See also:Peterwardein he gained (5th of August 1716) a signal victory over a See also:Turkish army of more than twice his own strength. In recognition of this service to Christendom the See also:pope sent to the victorious general the cohsecrated See also:hat and See also:sword which the court of See also:Rome was accustomed to bestow upon those who had triumphed over the infidels. Eugene won another victory in this campaign at See also:Temesvar. But the ensuing campaign, that of 1717, was still more remarkable on See also:account of the battle of Belgrade. After having besieged the city fora See also:month Eugene found himself in a most See also:critical, if not hopeless situation. He had to See also:deal not only with the See also:garrison of 30,000 men, but with a relieving army of 200,000, and his own force was only about 40,000 strong. In these circumstances the only possible deliverance was by a bold and decided stroke. Accordingly on the See also:morning of the 16th of August 1 717 Prince Eugene ordered a general attack, which resulted in the See also:total defeat of the enemy with an enormous loss, and in the capitulation of the city six days afterwards. The prince was wounded in the heat' Of the See also:action, this being the thirteenth time that he had been See also:hit upon the field of battle. On his return to Vienna he received, among other testimonies of gratitude, a sword valued at 8o,000 florins from the emperor.

The popular -See also:

song " Prinz Eugen, der ed'le See also:Ritter," commemorates the victory of Belgrade. In thefollowing year, 1718, after some fruitless negotiations with a view to the conclusion of peace, he again took the field; but the treaty of Passarowitz (July 21, 1718) put an end to hostilities at the moment when the prince had well-founded hopes of obtaining still more important successes than those of the last campaign, and even of reaching See also:Constantinople, and dictating a peace on the shores of the See also:Bosporus. As the government of the Netherlands, up to' 1724 held by Eugene, had now for some See also:reason been bestowed on a See also:sister of the emperor, the prince was appointed See also:vicar-general of Italy, with a pension of 300,000 florins. Though still retaining his See also:official position and much of his influence at court; his See also:personal relations with the emperor were not so cordial as before, and he suffered from the intrigues of the Spanish or See also:anti-German party. The most remarkable of these political intrigues was the See also:con' spiracy of Tedeschi and Nimptsch against the prince in 1719. On discovering this the prince went to the emperor and threatened to See also:lay down all his offices if the conspirators were not punished, and after some resistance he achieved his purpose. During' the years of peace between the treaty of Passarowitz and the War of the See also:Polish Succession, Eugene occupied himself with the arts and with literature, to which he had hitherto been able to devote little of his time. This new See also:interest led him to correspond with many of the most eminent men in See also:Europe. tut the contestwhich, arose out of the succession of See also:Augustus II. to the throne of See also:Poland having afforded Austria a pretext for attacking France, war, was resolved on, contrary to the advice of Eugene (1734). In spite of this, however, he was appointed to command the army destined to See also:act upon the Rhine, which from the commencement had very See also:superior forces opposed to it; and if it could not prevent the capture of Philipsburg after a long siege, it at least prevented the, enemy from entering Bavaria. Prince Eugene, having now attained his seventy-first year, no longer possessed the vigour and activity necessary for a general in the field, and he welcomed the peace which was concluded on the 3rd of October 1735. On his return to Vienna his See also:health declined more and more, and he died in that See also:capital on the 21st of April 1736, leaving an immense See also:inheritance to his niece, the princess See also:Victoria of Savoy, Of a See also:character See also:cold and severe, Prince Eugene had almost no other See also:passion than that of See also:glory. He died unmarried, and seemed so little susceptible to See also:female influence that he was styled a See also:Mars without a See also:Venus.

That he was one of the great captains of See also:

history is universally admitted. He was strangely unlike the commanders of his time in many respects, though as a See also:matter of course: he was, when he saw See also:fit to follow the accepted rules, 'equal to any in careful and methodical See also:strategy. The See also:special characteristics of his generalship were See also:imagination, fiery See also:energy, and a See also:tactical See also:resolution which was rare indeed in the 18th See also:century. Despising the lives of his soldiers as much as he exposed his own, it was always by persevering efforts and great sacrifices that he obtained victory. His almost invariable success raised the reputation of the Austrian army to a point which it never reached either before or since his See also:day. War was with him a passion. "Always on the march, in camps, or on the field of battle during more than fifty years, and under the reigns of three emperors, he had scarcely passed two years together without fighting.. Yet his political activity was not inconsiderable, and his advice was always See also:sound and well-considered; while in his government of the Netherlands, which he exercised through the See also:marquis de See also:Prie, he set himself resolutely to oppose the many See also:wild schemes, such as See also:Law's See also:Mississippi project, in which the times were so fertile. His interest in literature and See also:art has been alluded to above. His See also:palace in Vienna, and the See also:Belvedere near that city, his library, and his collection of paintings, were renowned. Prince Eugene was a See also:man of the See also:middle See also:size, but, upon the whole, well made; the See also:cast of his visage was somewhat long, his mouth moderate and almost always open; his eyes were See also:black and animated, and his complexion such as became a See also:warrior. See A. v.

See also:

Arneth, Prinz Eugen (3 vols., Vienna, 1858 ; end ed.,1864) ; H. v. See also:Sybel, Prinz Eugen von Savoyen (See also:Munich, 1868); Austrian official history, , Feldeuge See also:des Prinzen Eugen von Savoyen (Vienna, 1876); See also:Malleson, Prince Eugene (London, 1888) ; See also:Heller, Militdrische Korrespondenz des Prinzen Eugens (Vienna, 1848) ; Keym, Prinz Eugen' (Freiburg,.. 1899); Osterr. militarische Zeilschrift (" Streffleur ") ; Ridler's Osterr. Archiv See also:fur Geschichte (1831—1833) ; Archie-le storico Italico, vol. 17; Milted. des Instituts fur esterr. Geschichtsforschung, vol. 13. The political See also:memoirs attributed to Prince Fugene (ed. Sartori, See also:Tubingen, 1812) are See also:spurious; see Bohm, See also:Die Sarnnilung der hinterlassenen politischen Schrif ten des Prinzen Eugens (Freiburg, 1900).

End of Article: EUGENE OF SAVOY [FRANCOIS EUGENE], PRINCE (1663-1736)

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