Frederick Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | |
|---|---|
.png) Portrait byWilliam Essex afterFerdinand Jagemann | |
| Native name | Friedrich Josias von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld |
| Born | (1737-12-26)26 December 1737 |
| Died | 26 February 1815(1815-02-26) (aged 77) Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld |
| Allegiance |  Holy Roman Empire |
| Branch | Army |
| Service years | 1756–1794 |
| Rank | Generalfeldmarschall |
| Conflicts | |
| Awards | Military Order of Maria Theresa |
| Relations | Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (father) Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (mother) |
| Signature | %2c_1791.svg) |
PrinceFrederick Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (German:Friedrich Josias von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld; 26 December 1737 – 26 February 1815) was a military commander in thearmy of theHoly Roman Empire. He began his career at the age of 18 in a cavalry regiment with which he took part in theSeven Years' War. Coburg's bravery allowed him to quickly rise through the ranks. Promoted to colonel in 1759, he became ageneral officer in the following years and, in this capacity, took command of an army corps during theAustro-Turkish War. Coburg campaigned successfully inMoldavia where he won the battles ofFocşani,Rymnik and Martinestje against theOttomans, which earned him the rank offield marshal in 1789.
Thanks to his extensive experience, Coburg was appointed supreme commander of the Imperial Army in theAustrian Netherlands at the beginning of theFrench Revolutionary Wars. He triumphed at theBattle of Aldenhoven, then at theBattle of Neerwinden in March 1793, but these victories were overshadowed some time later by his defeat at theBattle of Wattignies. In 1794, Coburg was defeated by GeneralJean-Baptiste Jourdan at theBattle of Fleurus and had to abandon the Austrian Netherlands to the French. He was relieved of his command following this setback and retired to his lands in Coburg. Coburg was alsoInhaber (owner) of a dragoon regiment from 1769 to 1802 and of an infantry regiment from 1802 to 1815.
Frederick Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was born inCoburg on the night of 26 to 27 December 1737.[1] He was the youngest child of DukeFranz Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and PrincessAnna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.[1] He joined theArmy of the Holy Roman Empire on 4 January 1756 as aRittmeister in the 33rdCuirassier RegimentAnspach. Coburg, then aged 18, first saw action in theSeven Years' War, in which he distinguished himself. He fought at the battles ofLobositz,Prague andHochkirch, where he was seriously wounded, then atLandshut andLiegnitz. In the meantime, Coburg was promoted toOberstleutnant on 16 April 1758 and toOberst (colonel) on 16 January 1759.[2]
After the end of hostilities, Coburg was successively promoted toMajor-General on 30 July 1766, toFeldmarschall-Leutnant on 1 May 1773 and toGeneral der Kavallerie on 22 August 1786,[2] in addition to the post of military governor ofGalicia andBukovina.[1] He also becameInhaber (owner) of the 37thDragoon Regiment in 1769. Coburg then fought in theWar of the Bavarian Succession from 1778 to 1779. In 1788, he was sent to theOttoman front at the head of an army corps and invadedMoldavia. After a series of victorious against Ibrahim Pasha's army, Coburglaid siege to Khotyn on 15 May. The city capitulated on 16 September, delivering a large amount of equipment to the Imperials.[2]
Coburg followed up his success and, with the help of GeneralSuvorov's Russian troops, defeated the Ottomans atBattle of Focşani on 21 July 1789. Knighted in theMilitary Order of Maria Theresa, he scored another victory over the Turks at theBattle of Rymnik on 22 September, and emerged victorious at Martinestje the following day. Following this engagement, Coburg was promoted toGeneralfeldmarschall on 3 October.[2] He then set out to conquerWallachia and seizedBucharest, where he was enthusiastically welcomed by the population.[1] He concluded his campaign with the capture ofOrșova in April 1790.[2]
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In February 1793, Coburg was madeReichsgeneralfeldmarschall, a rank confirmed to him by decree on 8 April, and commander-in-chief of the imperial army in theAustrian Netherlands (Belgium). The Holy Roman Empire was then taking part in theWar of the First Coalition againstRevolutionary France.[2] On 1 March, Coburg attacked the French reserve corps under the command of GeneralLanoue [fr] atAldenhoven; charged by the imperial cavalry, the revolutionary troops were routed, losing 2,300 men, seven cannons and two flags. Two days later, the French abandoned theSiege of Maastricht.[3] On 18 March, Coburg clashed with the French army of GeneralCharles François Dumouriez at theBattle of Neerwinden. The forces were balanced at around 40,000 men on each side. In a defensive position, the prince divided his army into three groups:Archduke Charles on the right,Colloredo and theDuke of Württemberg in the center and finallyClerfayt on the left with the reserves. The French attacked in the morning, pushed back the left flank of the Imperials and took Neerwinden, but Clerfayt managed to restore the situation and recaptured the village after a fierce fight. Despite continuous assaults, Dumouriez failed to break through Coburg's lines. He ordered a retreat on the morning of 19 March, after losing 5,000 men and 30 cannons against 2,800 Austrian casualties.[4]
The victory at Neerwinden opened the way into Belgium to Coburg's army.[5] At this stage, the prince was in favour of a diplomatic agreement with France to end the war, even going so far as to declare: "I am the ally of all friends of order, ready to renounce all projects of conquest carried out in the name of emperors". Harshly reprimanded by the government inVienna, he was nevertheless forced into action.[6] The Coalition forces, comprising the imperial army and theBritish-Hanoverian corps, to which was added aDutch contingent, then totalled 118,000 men under Coburg's command. He quicklybesieged Condé-sur-l'Escaut andValenciennes, which capitulated in July 1793, creating a breach in the French defensive system.[7] In parallel with the siege operations, Coburg won the battles ofRaismes on 8 May andFamars on 23 May.[1] He then obtained thesurrender of Le Quesnoy on 13 September, but his alliesfailed to take Dunkirk.[8] The strategic situation nevertheless remained very favourable to the Coalition: "onlyMaubeuge [...] remained in the hands of the French. However, if it fell in turn, a large breach would open up in the border protection system. Nothing would stop Coburg's army from marching onParis and, then, only a battle in the open countryside would make it possible to redress the situation".[9]
WhileCambrai andBouchain, lacking garrisons, were at Coburg's mercy, the commander of the imperial army chose first to take Maubeuge, which he placed under siege on 30 September 1793.[10][11] GeneralJean-Baptiste Jourdan, the new commander-in-chief of the FrenchArmy of the North, pressed by theCommittee of Public Safety, decided to go on the offensive to defeat Coburg's forces and relieve Maubeuge.[12] The imperial army took up position on the heights ofWattignies, which the prince had fortified and equipped with artillery. Confident in his chances of success, the prince declared: "if they get here, I'll become asans-culotte!", though the phrase is possibly apocryphal. TheBattle of Wattignies began on 15 October. French attacks followed one another all day long but were repelled on the right, left and centre, to the point that Coburg believed the battle had been won. However, the fighting resumed the next day with the same intensity; led by Jourdan andrepresentative on missionCarnot, the French took control of the field despite the efforts of Coburg's troops. Reinforced late by theDuke of York, Coburg ordered a retreat behind theSambre and lifted theSiege of Maubeuge. His army went into winter quarters shortly afterwards and remained inactive until the following year.[13]
In April 1794, Coburg launched an offensive against the fortress ofLandrecies which, according to the Coalition strategy, was to serve as a concentration point for the Allied armies before they began the march on Paris.[14] Coburg had around 100,000 men at his disposal for this campaign,[15] divided between the forces of theCount of Kaunitz on the left, his own in the centre and those of the Count of Clerfayt on the right.[16] Having recently arrived at the army headquarters inValenciennes, EmperorFrancis II himself led the whole operation, thus replacing Coburg as supreme commander of the Coalition forces. Landrecies, after abrief siege, capitulated on 30 April 1794 despite GeneralPichegru's attempts to relieve it.[1] The rivalries and lack of coordination between the generals, however, affected the cohesion of the Allied high command.[2] Coburg was severely defeated at theBattle of Tourcoing on 18 May, leaving 5,500 casualties and six cannons on the battlefield.Mack, his chief of staff, who before the battle had talked about "exterminating" the French army, was replaced. The prince won a rematch a few days later at theBattle of Tournai where he forced Pichegru to retreat after inflicting 6,000 casualties on his army. The Emperor returned to Vienna on June 13, allowing Coburg to resume overall command of operations.[1]
Coburg then faced two French armies, soon to be reinforced by a third under the command of Jourdan. On 12 May, the French general had already succeeded in expellingBeaulieu from the town ofArlon; then, pushing back Kaunitz's corps, Jourdan's troops crossed the Sambre and laid siege toCharleroi. Faced with the urgency of the situation, Kaunitz requested the support of Coburg. The latter, after several days of forced marches, finally arrived near the city on 26 June and immediately prepared to go to battle, unaware that Charleroi had surrendered to the besiegers the day before. The French forces entrenched themselves on the heights ofFleurus, withKléber atTrazegnies,Championnet atHeppignies and theMarceau andLefebvre divisions atLambusart. Supervising the operations on the left wing himself, Coburg delegated command of the center to GeneralQuasdanovich and of the right wing to thePrince of Orange. The Allied attacks were however carried out without any coordination. Orange struck first but was held in check in front of Trazegnies; Quasdanovich then managed to briefly control Heppignies before being driven out by a combined counterattack by Jourdan's and Championnet's troops. Finally, Coburg engaged last with the right column with which he headed towards Lambusart. The Marceau division was quickly overwhelmed by superior numbers and it took the intervention of Lefebvre, then of the reserves commanded by Jourdan, to drive the Imperials out of the area. Held in check on the entire front, and informed in the meantime of the capitulation of Charleroi, Coburg decided to retreat.[17] Both armies suffered around 5,000 casualties.[18]
Coburg's defeat at Fleurus led to the loss ofBrussels on 10 July and, in a few months, of all of Belgium. On the 16 July, shortly after the fall ofNamur, he was defeated by Jourdan one last time near Leuven.[19] Following this final setback, Coburg asked to be relieved of his command and blamed the defeat on his subordinates, whom he accused of having deliberately caused the campaign to fail in order to intrigue against him. The prince was dismissed from his duties on 9 August 1794 and was replaced on 1 September by the Count of Clerfayt.[1] He then retired to his lands in Cobourg where he died on 26 February 1815, at the age of 77.[2]
Coburgmarried morganatically Therese Stroffeck in 1789. Their son Friedrich (1789–1873) was unable to claim his father's titles but was made Baron of Rohmann (Freiherr von Rohmann). Frederick Josias was the younger brother ofChristian Francis of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld [de] (1730–1797), who also served the Imperial Army, reaching the rank of Major-General. His nephew, Louis Charles Frederick of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1755–1806), became aFeldmarschall-Leutnant in 1796. Coburg was the great-uncle of KingLeopold I of Belgium and the great-great-uncle of QueenVictoria of the United Kingdom.
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