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LOUDUN

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 27 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LOUDUN , a See also:

town of western See also:France, See also:capital of an See also:arrondissement in the See also:department of See also:Vienne, on an See also:eminence overlooking a fertile See also:plain, 45 M. by See also:rail S.W. of See also:Tours. Pop. (1906) 3931. It was formerly surrounded by walls, of which a single gateway and two towers remain. Of the old See also:castle of the See also:counts of See also:Anjou which was destroyed under See also:Richelieu, the site now forming a public See also:promenade, a See also:fine rectangular See also:donjon of the 12th See also:century is preserved; at its See also:base traces of See also:Roman constructions have been found, with fragments of See also:porphyry See also:pavement, mosaics and mural paintings. The Carmelite See also:convent was the See also:scene of the trial of See also:Urban See also:Grandier, who was burnt alive for See also:witchcraft ,in 1634; the old Romanesque See also:church of Sainte Croix, of which he was cure, is now used as a See also:market. The church of St See also:Pierre-du-See also:Marche, See also:Gothic in See also:style with a See also:Renaissance portal, has a lofty See also:stone See also:spire. There are several curious old houses in the town. into a brilliant victory, and was promoted Feldzeugmeister and made See also:commander-in-See also:chief in Bohemia, See also:Moravia and See also:Silesia. In 176o he destroyed a whole See also:corps of See also:Frederick's See also:army under See also:Fouque at See also:Landshut and stormed the important fortress of See also:Glatz. In r 76o he sustained a See also:reverse at Frederick's hands in the See also:battle of See also:Liegnitz (Aug. 15th, 1760), which See also:action led to See also:bitter controversy with See also:Daun and See also:Lacy, the commanders of the See also:main army, who, Loudon claimed, had See also:left his corps unsupported.

In 1761 he operated, as usual, in Silesia, but he found his See also:

Russian See also:allies as timid as they had been after See also:Kunersdorf, and all attempts against Frederick's entrenched See also:camp of Bunzelwitz (see SEVEN YEARS' See also:WAR) failed. He brilliantly seized his one fleeting opportunity, however, and stormed See also:Schweidnitz on the See also:night of See also:Sept. 3o/See also:October 1st, 1761. His tireless activity continued to the end of the war, in conspicuous contrast with the temporizing See also:strategy of Daun and Lacy. The student of the later See also:campaigns of the Seven Years' War will probably admit that there was need of more aggressiveness than Daun displayed, and of more caution than suited Loudon's See also:genius. But neither recognized this, and the last three years of the war are marked by an ever-increasing See also:friction between the " See also:Fabius" and the " See also:Marcellus," as they were called, of the See also:Austrian army. After the See also:peace, therefore, when Daun became the virtual commander-in-chief of the army, Loudon See also:fell into the back-ground. Offers were made, by Frederick the See also:Great amongst others, to induce Loudon to See also:transfer his services elsewhere. Loudon did not entertain these proposals, although negotiations went on for some years, and on Lacy succeeding Daun as See also:president of the See also:council of war Loudon was made inspector-See also:general of See also:infantry. Dissensions, however, continued between Loudon and Lacy, and on the See also:accession of See also:Joseph II., who was intimate with his See also:rival, Loudon retired to his See also:estate near See also:Kuttenberg. Maria See also:Theresa and Kaunitz caused him, however, to be made commander-in-chief in Bohemia and Moravia in 1769. This See also:post he held for three years, and at the end of this See also:time, contemplating retirement from the service, he settled again on his estate.

Maria Theresa once more persuaded him to remain in the army, and, as his estate had diminished in value owing to agrarian troubles in Bohemia, she repurchased it from him (1776) on generous terms. Loudon then settled at Hadersdorf near See also:

Vienna, and shortly afterwards was made a See also:field-See also:marshal. Of this See also:Carlyle (Frederick the Great) records that when Frederick the Great met Loudon in 1776 he deliberately addressed him in the See also:emperor's presence as " Herr Feldmarschall." But the hint was not taken until See also:February 1778. In 1778 came the War of the Bavarian See also:Succession. Joseph and Lacy were now reconciled to Loudon, and Loudon and Lacy commanded the two armies in the field. On this occasion, however, Loudon seems to have in a measure fallen below his reputation, while Lacy, who was opposed to Frederick's own army, earned new laurels. For two years after this Loudon lived quietly at Hadersdorf, and then the reverses of other generals in the See also:Turkish War called him for the last time into the field. Though old and broken in See also:health, he was commander-inchief in fact as well as in name, and he won a last brilliant success by capturing See also:Belgrade in three See also:weeks, 1789. He died within the See also:year, on the 14th of See also:July at Neu-Titschein in Moravia, still on See also:duty. His last See also:appointment was that of commander-in-chief of the armed forces of See also:Austria, which had been created for him by the new emperor See also:Leopold: Loudon was buried in the grounds of Hadersdorf. Eight years before his See also:death the emperor Joseph had caused a See also:marble bust of this great soldier to be placed in the chamber of the council of war. His son JOHANN See also:LUDWIG ALEXIUS, Freiherr von Loudon (1762—1822) fought in the Revolutionary and See also:Napoleonic See also:Wars with See also:credit, and See also:rose to the See also:rank of See also:lieutenant-field-marshal.

See memoir by v. See also:

Arneth in Allgemeine deutsche Biographic, s.v. " Laudon," and See also:life by G. B. See also:Malleson.

End of Article: LOUDUN

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