Maximilian, Count von Merveldt | |
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| Born | 29 June 1764 (1764-06-29) |
| Died | 5 July 1815(1815-07-05) (aged 51) London, United Kingdom |
| Allegiance | Habsburg monarchy |
| Branch | Cavalry |
| Service years | 1782–1814 |
| Rank | General of Cavalry |
| Conflicts | Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791) French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars |
| Awards | Knight's Cross,Military Order of Maria Theresa Order of Leopold |
| Other work | Novice,Teutonic Order, 1790–1808. Ambassador,Second Congress of Rastatt Ambassador,St. Petersburg Envoy Extraordinaire,Court of St. James's |
Maximilian, Count von Merveldt (29 June 1764 – 5 July 1815), among the most famous of an illustrious old Westphalian family, entered Habsburg military service, rose to the rank of General of Cavalry, served asFrancis II, Holy Roman Emperor's ambassador to Russia, and became special envoyextraordinaire to theCourt of St. James's (Great Britain). He fought with distinction in the wars between the Habsburg and the Ottoman empires, theFrench Revolutionary Wars, and theNapoleonic Wars.
Maximilian entered the military as a young man, and acquired his first combat experiences the Habsburg wars with the Ottoman Empire. Following his experience in the Balkans, he retreated to the cloister at Bonn, where he spent a year as a novice in theTeutonic Order. At the outbreak of war between the Habsburg monarchy and France in 1792, he returned to military service, and proved an intrepid and enterprising cavalry field officer. His role in the Habsburg victory atNeerwinden in 1793 earned him the honor of conveying the news to the Emperor in Vienna.
In theWar of the Second Coalition, Maximilian served inSwabia andnorthern Italy and Switzerland. In subsequent wars between France and the Habsburg Monarchy, his role on the battlefield often meant the difference between defeat and victory. He was wounded and captured at theBattle of Leipzig and, as a condition of release, he agreed not to bear arms against France again. He was subsequently appointed as an envoy to Britain, where he died in 1815.
Maximilian was born on 29 June 1764 in the ecclesiastical territory of Münster, inWestphalia. By birth, he was a member of theHouse of Merveldt, an old Westphalian family, raised tocomital status in 1726.[1] He joined the military service in 1782, in a dragoon regiment, and was promoted tolieutenant andfirst lieutenant by 1787. In the wars betweenAustria and the Ottoman Empire, (1787–1791), he was aRittmeister, or captain of cavalry and wing adjutant to Field MarshalFranz Moritz, Count von Lacy. In 1790, Merveldt commanded the VolunteersGrün-Loudon and later that year, after his promotion tomajor, he served on the staff of Field MarshalErnst Gideon, Baron von Laudon inMoravia.[2]
Following the defeat of the insurrection in theAustrian Netherlands, he received permission from Field Marshal Laudon, shortly before the latter's death, to take a one year novitiate in theTeutonic Order, atBonn where he remained until April 1792.[3] The outbreak of theWar of the First Coalition against France required his military talents and Mervelt rejoined the Habsburg army at as adjutant toJosias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He led two infantry battalions in the Habsburg victory atNeerwinden (18 March 1793), during which his battalions repulsed a strong French column. For his role at the head of his battalions of grenadiers, which his commander considered greater than duty required, in this victory, Merveldt received the honor of carrying the message to the Emperor Francis in Vienna.[4] There, he was promoted tolieutenant colonel and awarded the Knight's Cross of theMilitary Order of Maria Theresa on 7 July 1794. Subsequently, he was appointed as an attaché to the staff ofFrederick, Duke of York.[2]
In the 1794 campaign, Merveldt fought at theBattle of Famars and again at theBattle of Villers-en-Cauchies, 15 kilometres (9 mi) south ofLandrecies on 22 April, during which he commanded the right wing.[2] At theBattle of Willems, he guided the British cavalry into a flanking position based on his knowledge of the terrain.[5] After theBattle of Tournai (22 May 1794), he was promoted on the field toOberst (colonel). His failing health prevented him from continued field service and he took sick leave until early 1796.[2] In 1796 he transferred to the 18thChevau-légers RegimentKaraczay and fought at theBattle of Kircheib,[6] in theWesterwald, where, despite the French superiority of numbers, the Habsburgs eked out a victory. At Kircheib, with two squadrons of Chevaux-legers, Merveldt saved the Austrian artillery from French capture, thus contributing to the Habsburg victory.[7] TheTagebericht (daily dispatch) of the Army of the Rhine referred to his keen sense of duty, and his ability to seize the moment, which, in this case, proved a vital element in the extraordinary success of the small Habsburg force against the considerably larger French one.[3] Afterward he was promoted tomajor general. He was assigned asproprietor of the First Lancer's Regiment, and given command of a cavalry brigade inFranz von Werneck's Reserve of the Army of the Lower Rhine.[2]
Merveldt was known to his contemporaries for his strength of will, presence of mind, and his self-control. Those same qualities made him attractive to his military superiors as part of the negotiation party in the cease-fire preliminaries atLeoben in 1797. He opposed Napoleon's desire to move a general peace congress closer to Vienna, and later was a co-signator of thePeace of Campo Formio on 17 November 1797. He brought the document to Rastatt, where theRastatt Peace Congress convened. He stayed in Rastatt in the capacity ofambassador.[3]
At the outbreak of theWar of the Second Coalition in March 1799, and the dissolution of Congress on 7 April 1799, Merveldt returned to his regiment, which by this time had crossed theLech andIller rivers, and was advancing intoSwabia. During the campaigns of 1800, he commanded the left wing byEckartsweiler at theBattle of Alt-Breisach on 25 April, and on 10 May conducted a rear-guard action to protect the Imperial army's withdrawal. He remained with his brigade on the right bank of the Danube, where he directed a series of bold actions against the French, and then along the Iller and Lech rivers, he organized a series of well-timed thrusts designed to keep the French from pushing the retreating army. After the battle atOffenburg, he was promoted toFeldmarshall-Leutnant on 4 September 1800. At the Habsburg defeat in theBattle of Hohenlinden on 3 December, Merveldt commanded a division in the left wing.[2] The division consisted of theArchduke Charles Nr. 3 andWenzel Colloredo Nr. 56 Infantry Regiments, theWaldeck Dragoon Nr. 7 andAnspach Cuirassier Nr. 11 Regiments for a total of 4,204 infantry and 1,799 cavalry.[8]
He signed the 24-hour cease-fire at Kremsmünster withJean Victor Moreau on 22 December. During the cease-fire, he retreated to Pressburg.[9]
In 1805 he was in Berlin when the hostilities between France andAustria resumed, and he returned to theDanube valley, where he fought a series of rearguard actions.[2] He avoided being caught in the capitulation ofUlm and fell back towardMikhail Kutuzov's Russian army. With 6,000 soldiers in six line and tenGrenz infantry battalions plus 14 squadrons of cavalry, Merveldt made forStyria, hoping to join the army of Archduke Charles. Napoleon detachedLouis Davout's III Corps in pursuit. Slowed by heavy snow in the mountains, his "poorly-handled corps" was overtaken by the French.[10] At Gross-Ramig, also calledMariazell, in the AustrianSteiermark, on 8 November 1805, his exhausted troops were routed by General of BrigadeEtienne Heudelet de Bierre's advanced guard ofLouis-Nicolas Davout's III Corps; half, about 2,000, were taken prisoner, and they lost four colors and 16 guns.[11]
Promotions
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After theWar of the Third Coalition, he acted as ambassador toSt. Petersburg for over two years, with the assignment of improving military relations between the armies of the respective countries.[3] He attempted to do this, including trying an offer to mediate between Britain and France,[12] and was appointed Privy Councilor. During this time, he marriedCountess Maria Theresia von Dietrichstein, member of the powerfulHouse of Dietrichstein, who was previously divorced from Count Philip Joseph, CountKinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (1741–1827).[13]
In 1808 he was given command of a cavalry division inLemberg.[2] In early 1809, Merveldt became a prominent member of the group pushing for war against France, together with such notables asArchduke Ferdinand,Archduke John, EmpressMaria Ludovika of Austria-Este, andCount Heinrich von Bellegarde.[14] In the 1809 campaign, Merveldt's force was stationed in theBukowina and part ofGalicia, and from 1809 to mid-1813, he spent three years inMoravia.[2]
On 22 July 1813 he was appointed governor of the fortress ofTheresienstadt and shortly after that Commanding General in Moravia and Silesia. He then became commander of II Corps; the First Division held the village of Nollendorf, in the French defeat at theBattle of Kulm (now Chlumec) on 29–30 August 1813.[15]
On 16 October, during theBattle of Leipzig, Merveldt's forces were arrayed on the right flank of the French center, commanded by Napoleon. On his own right stood Wittgenstein's Corps, and beyond that,Johann von Klenau's. His troops were interspersed among several wooded sections and surrounding several small villages:Dölitz, Mark-Kleeburg and Gautsch. Opposite him were the forces ofJózef Antoni Poniatowski andPierre Augereau.[16] He rode out to view the battlefield and to direct the disposition of his force. NearDölitz, which lay close to the French line, he wandered into a troop of Hungarians, or so he thought, but they were actually a mixed group of Saxons and Poles, whom he mistook for Hungarians, and was captured.[17] Most of the action, on the first day, occurred to the north, whereBlücher's Prussians repelledMichel Ney's cavalry, but when Napoleon heard that Ney andMarmont had been forced back, he sought a cease-fire from the Allied monarchs. He called for Merveldt, and, after a meeting, Merveldt carried Napoleon's proposal to the allied monarchs, which they refused.[18][2]
As a condition of his release at Leipzig, he agreed not to participate in combat against France. Subsequent to his release, Merveldt was appointed commanding general ofMoravia, and lived inBrno, where he received in January 1814 the instructions to proceed toLondon as anenvoy extraordinaire to theCourt of St. James's, replacing Baron Wessembourg. He arrived in London in early March, and met thePrince Regent at Carlton House on 7 March 1814, where he ceremoniously presented his ambassadorial credentials.[19] He was well-received in Britain, and became a notable personage, invited to many social events; he told good stories about the wars and the various people he had encountered, which made him popular in social circles.[18] His comings and goings were widely reported in the society columns: For example, on 4 July 1814, he attended a lecture by the Abbé Secard, and was listed among the distinguished persons present.[20] When he died in 1815, the British government proposed to bury him atWestminster Abbey. However, his widow took into account his last wishes and had the remains sent to Germany. He was buried in the crypt of the Michaelis Chapel in Lembeck Castle where his grave still exists.[18]
In 1903, in the Lößnig neighborhood of the city of Leipzig a square and a street were named after Maximilian von Merveldt, in honor of his contribution to theBattle of Leipzig. In 1950, the communist authorities ofEast Germany renamed Merveldt Square to Rembrandt Square and Merveldt Street to Rembrandt Street.[21]
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