EUGENE

From Agepedia

EUGENE, Francis, of Savoy, known as prince Eugene, fifth son of Eugene Maurice, duke of SavoyCarignan, count of Soissons, and Olympia Mancini, a niece of cardinal Mazarin, was bom at Paris, 1663. Among all the generals and statesmen of Austria, none has rendered more numerous and important services than Eugene. He was great alike in the field and the cabinet. Contrary to his own inclinations, Eugene was destined for the church. He petitioned Louis XIV for a company of dragoons, but was refused on account of the opposition of Louvois, minister of war, who hated the family of Eugene. Indignant at this repulse, and at the insults offered to his family, and particularly to his mother, Eugene, in 1683, entered the Austrian service, as two of his brothers had already done. He Served his first campaign as a volunteer against the Turks, under two celebrated generals, Charles, duke of Lorraine, and Louis, prince of Baden, with so much distinction that he received a regiment of dragoons. Louvois, jealous of the reputation of Eugene, said angrily, "He shall never re'* turn to his country." Eugene, to whom these words were reported, replied, "I shall return in spite of Louvois;" and, in fact, some years afterwards, he entered France at the head of a victorious army. In 1687, after the batde of Mohacz, he was made lieutenant fieldmarshal. War having broken out between France and Austria, he prevailed upon the duke of Savoy to enter into an alliance with the emperor, and commanded the imperial forces sent for the defence of Savoy He rejected the tempting offers made by France to engage him in her service, and was* raised by the emperor to the rank of general fieldmarshal. After the war in Italy was concluded, he was sent to Hungary with the rank of commanderinchief. He defeated the Turks at the battle of Zenta (September 11, 1697), and obtained, on that occasion, the applause of Europe, and the entire confidence of the imperial armies, although his enemies, envious of his glory, accused him of temerity, in undertaking so hazardous an enterprise. The loss of the Turks at Zenta obliged them to accede to the peace of Carlowitz, 1699, which was the first symptom of their decline. The Spanish war of succession next called Eugene to a new theatre of glory. Italy became the field in which he displayed his military talents. He advanced rapidly through the passes of the Tyrol, at the head of 30,000 men, in the face of marshal Catinat, who endeavored in vain to arrest his progress. Villeroi was still more unsuccessful, being surprised and defeated, near Cremona, by Eugene. In 1703, he received the command of the army in Germany; and, being appointed president of the council of war, he was the soul of all important enterprises, to which he imparted great activity; and his efficient cooperation with Marlborough frustrated the plans of France and ber allies. In the battle of Hochstadt (Blenheim, see Blenheim), August 13,1704, the two heroes gained a decisive victoiy over the French and Bavarian army, commanded by the prince of Bavaria and marshal Tallard, the latter of whom was made prisoner. In 1705, Eugene returned to Italy, where he was severely wounded in an engagement, with the French under the duke de Vend6me, and being obliged to retire from the field, his army was defeated; but Venddme was recalled, and his successor, the duke de la Feuillade, could not withstand Eugene, who n"w hastened to the relief of 'Turin, stormed the French lines, forced them to raise the siege, and in one month drove them out of Italy* In 1707, he entered France, and laid siege to Toulon; but the immense superiority of the enemy obliged him to retire into Italy. The ioi lowing years he fought on the Rhine, took Lille, and defeated the marshals Villars and Boufflers at the battle of Malplaquet, where he himself was dangerously wounded. In this situation, he maintained that calmness peculiar to great souls: when the officers urged upon him the necessity of providing for his personal safety, " What need of bandages," said he, " if we are about to die here ? If we escape, the evening will be time enough." After the recall of Marlborough, which Eugene opposed in person, at London, without success, and the defection of England from the alliance against France, his farther progress was in a great measure checked, more particularly after the defeat of general Albemarle at Denain. The peace of Rastadt, the consequence of the treaty of Utrecht, was concluded between Eugene and Villars in 1714. In the war with Turkey, in 1716, Eugene defeated two superior armies at Peterwaradin and Temesvar and, in 1717, took Belgrade, after having gained a decisive victory over a third army that came to its relief. The treaty of Passarovitz was the result of this success. During fifteen years which followed, Austria enjoyed peace, and Eugene was as active in the cabinet as he had been in the field, when the Polish affairs, in 1733, became the source of a new war. Eugene appeared, in his old age, at the head of an army, on the banks of the Rhine, but returned to Vienna, without effecting any thing of importance. He died in 1736, at the age of 72. The Austrian department of war, to which he imparted such activity during his presidency, relapsed, ailer his death, into its former imbecility.