Count Leopold Joseph von Down , Prince Tiano ( German: Leopold Joseph Graf Daun, Fürst von Thiano ; September 24, 1705 , Vienna , Austria - February 5, 1766 , Vienna) - Austrian commander, Field Marshal , President Hofkrigsrath ( 1762 - 1766 ). From 1758 to 1763, he was commander in chief of the Austrian forces in the Seven Years War .
| Leopold Joseph von Down | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| him Leopold joseph von daun | ||||
 Portrait of L.Y. von Down (18th century) | ||||
| Date of Birth | September 24, 1705 | |||
| Place of Birth | Vein | |||
| Date of death | February 5, 1766 (aged 60) | |||
| Place of death | Vein | |||
| Affiliation |  Holy Roman Empire | |||
| Years of service | 1718 - 1766 | |||
| Rank | Field Marshal | |||
| Commanded | Director of Theresian Military Academy Imperial Army Commander president of the gofkrigsrat | |||
| Battles / Wars | Fourth Alliance War War of the Polish Succession Austro-Turkish War (1737-1739) , War of the Austrian Succession Seven year war | |||
| Awards and prizes |
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| Connections | father virich philip von down | |||
Biography
Contrary to the wishes of his father, Count Virich Philip von Down , also an Austrian field marshal, to make a son of a clergyman, he entered military service. He received a baptism of fire in the war against the Spaniards in Sicily in 1718 . Family ties facilitated a quick career: in the war for the Polish inheritance , in Italy, he was already a colonel under the leadership of his own father, and in the war against the Turks of 1737-1739, he was Major General.
In the war for the Austrian inheritance, he managed to distinguish himself in the battles of Hohenfriedberg and Soor , and was promoted to field master .
After the war, he led the reorganization of the Austrian army, presenting it with a unified charter in 1749 , and the Military Academy on December 14, 1751 , becoming its first director. In 1753 he was awarded the Order of the Golden Fleece ; on July 7, 1754 he was promoted to field marshal . Through his wife, the widow of Count Nostica, he had strong ties at court, enjoyed the constant disposition and trust of Maria Theresa .
He met the seven-year war in Moravia . Having come to the aid of the Austrian troops besieged in Prague, he defeated the Prussians at Colin on June 18, 1757 . Frederick II , after a lost battle, had to leave Bohemia . The victory at Colin destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Prussian king. To commemorate her, Maria Theresa established an order that received her name . Field Marshal Down became the first military commander to receive a large cross of this order.
Together with the Commander-in-Chief Prince Karl of Lorraine, on November 22, 1757, he defeated the troops of the Duke of Beverna under Breslau . On December 5, 1757, the army of Karl of Lorraine and Down suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Leuthen , after which Karl of Lorraine resigned from command of the Austrian forces. The new commander was Down.
The name of Down is associated with the victory over Frederick II at Hochkirch on October 14, 1758, which he did not use because of his excessive caution, as a reward for this victory, the Russian Empress Elizabeth sent him a golden sword decorated with diamonds and captivity of Fink's corps in the battle of Maxene November 20, 1759 . November 5, 1760 lost the battle of Torgau , in which he was seriously wounded. After serving for amendment in Vienna, he was absent from the army until 1762 . After returning to the army, in the same 1762 he was defeated in the battles of Burkersdorf ( July 21 ) and Reichenbach ( August 16 ).
Becoming president of the Hofkrigsrat during the war, after the war and until his death in 1766, he continued the work he had begun in the 40s on the reorganization of the Austrian army.
He was a skilled master of tactics, maneuvering, had the glory of an excellent organizer, commander, whose decisions were always balanced and thought out to the last detail. The flip side of these qualities was indecision and slowness, which often led to the non-use, as happened, for example, under Hochkirch, of favorable opportunities for the development of success. His contemporaries were nicknamed the Austrian Fabius Kuntator . In the person of the "unpredictable" Friedrich, who represented, anticipating the Napoleonic wars, the new school of military art, he had a dangerous opponent, to whom he often gave in. The Russian allies were not unreasonably accused of striving to win the war with Russian blood. Envious of Laudon , whose popularity in the Austrian forces was higher than his own, in contrast to all possible contributed to the career and exaltation of Lassi , who became his successor as president of the Hofkrigsrat.
Literature
- Down, generals // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Band 4, Leipzig 1876.
- Hirtenfeld, Joseph: Der Militär-Maria-Theresien-Orden und seine Mitglieder, Wien 1857.
- Thadden, Franz-Lorenz von: Feldmarschall Daun, Maria Theresias größter Feldherr, München, Wien 1967.