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Baron Franz von der Trenck | |
|---|---|
 Baron Franz von der Trenck | |
| Born | (1711-02-01)February 1, 1711 Reggio di Calabria |
| Died | October 4, 1749(1749-10-04) (aged 38) Brno |
| Allegiance |  Habsburg monarchy |
BaronFranz von der Trenck (German:FranzFreiherr von der Trenck,Croatian:Barun Franjo Trenk) (Reggio di Calabria. January 1, 1711 –Brno. October 4, 1749) was anAustrian soldier whose unit is considered one of the worst in modern European history, and that was a law unto itself, taking property, livestock, and women as the unit saw fit.[1]
Trenck was born into a military noble family that originated inPomerania on 1 January 1711, inReggio in southItaly, where his father Johann Heinrich von der Trenck served as anAustrian officer. Although born in Italy, Trenck was actually aPrussian, but was an Austrian subject with large estates inCroatia, more preciselySlavonia. He spent his childhood mostly in Italy, Slavonia, andHungary, which was not unusual since his father's job required frequent relocation. He was educated by theJesuits atÖdenburg.
Trenck entered theImperial Army in 1728 but resigned in disgrace three years later and decided to live peacefully inPožega. He married and lived on his estate for a few years. Upon the death of his wife who had perished in theGreat Plague of 1738, he offered to raise anirregular corps ofpandurs for service against theTurks, but this offer was refused, after which he entered theImperial Russian Army as amercenary. InRussia, he met and befriendedErnst Gideon von Laudon. However, after serving against the Turks andTatars during theRusso-Turkish War for a short time as captain and major of cavalry, he was accused of bad conduct, brutality, and disobedience andcondemned to death. Despite showing insubordination, he had gained popularity for defying an order to retreat. His sentence was commuted by Field MarshalMünnich todegradation andimprisonment.[2]
After a time Trenck returned to Austria, where his father was governor of a small fortress, but there he came into conflict with everyone and actually took sanctuary in a convent inVienna.Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, interesting himself in this strange man, obtained for him anamnesty and acommission in a corps of irregulars. In this command, besides his usual truculence and bad manners, he displayed conspicuous personal bravery, and in spite of the general dislike into which his vices brought, his services were so valuable that he was promoted to lieutenant colonel (1743) and colonel (1744).[2]
Trenck earned most of his fame during theWar of the Austrian Succession, as the leader and commander of a unit of pandurs, orparamilitary troops in the Imperial Army, which specialized in frontier warfare, guerrilla tactics, and surprise hit-and-run actions, into which he recruited mostlyCroatian mercenaries, experienced fighters from the Austro-OttomanMilitary Frontier.Trenck's Pandurs soon became infamous for the atrocities they committed on the civilian population, some actions deemed brutal even by the standards of the day.[3]
When theWar of the Austrian Succession broke out Trenck rallied volunteers and marched for Vienna to assistMaria Theresa. While in Vienna, Trenck's Pandurs marched the streets before invading Prussia.[citation needed] At theBattle of Soor, he and his irregulars plundered when they should have been fighting and Trenck was accused of having allowed KingFrederick the Great himself to escape.[2]
After a time he was brought before acourt-martial in Vienna, which convicted him of having sold and withdrawn commissions to his officers without the permission of the empress, having punished his men without heed of the military code, and having drawn pay and allowance for fictitious men. Much was allowed to an irregular officer in all these respects, but Trenck had far outrun the admitted limits, and above all his brutalities and robberies had made him detested throughout Austria and Silesia. A death sentence followed, but the composition of the court-martial and its proceedings were thought to have been such as from the first forbade a fair trial, though most modern historians think the sentence to have been correct. Nonetheless, concerns about the apparently arbitrary form of the proceedings meant that eventually the sentence was commuted by the Empress into one of cashiering and imprisonment. The rest of his life was spent in mild captivity in the fortress ofSpielberg (Czech:Špilberk) inBrno, where he died on October 4, 1749.[4] In his last will, he left the sum of 30,000florins to the small town ofMarienburg, which had been sacked, burned, and razed to the ground by his troops.
Trenck'smummified remains can presently be seen on display in the crypt of Brno's Capuchin Monastery.
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Trenck, Franz, Freiherr von der".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 245–246.