Graf Johann Joseph Wenzel Anton Franz Karl Radetzky von Radetz

http://www.zeit.de/2016/44/josef-graf-radetzky-marsch-oesterreich-f... ...Als Spross eines alten böhmischen Adelsgeschlechts kam Radetzky im 60 Kilometer südlich von Prag gelegenen Schloss Trebnitz (Třebnic) zur Welt. In den Nachschlagewerken wird er abwechselnd als Tscheche und als Deutscher bezeichnet. Für ihn selbst stellte sich diese Frage gar nicht: Er definierte sich nicht ethnisch, sondern über seine Stellung im Reich, als Offizier der Habsburger Kaiser. Fünf waren es, denen er im Laufe seines langen Lebens gedient hat.

Die Kindheit des Jungen stand unter keinem günstigen Stern. Seine Mutter Maria Venantia, geborene Freifrau Bechinie von Lazan, starb bei seiner Geburt. Zehn Jahre später war auch der Vater tot. Der Großvater holte den Jungen daraufhin nach Prag, wo dieser die Volksschule und das Gymnasium besuchte. Ein Versuch, den kleinen Josef an der Theresianischen Militärakademie unterzubringen, der Offiziersschule des österreichischen Heeres in Wiener Neustadt, scheiterte am Befund des Regimentschirurgen des in Prag stationierten Kürassierregiments Graf d’Ayasasa......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Radetzky_von_Radetz

gróf, tábornagy, teljes neve: János József Vencel Antal Ferenc Károly Johann Josef (Joseph) Wenzel (Anton Franz Karl) Graf Radetzky von Radetz (English: John Joseph Wenceslaus, Count Radetzky of Radetz, Czech: Jan Josef Václav hrabě Radecký z Radče) (November 2, 1766 – January 5, 1858) was a Czech nobleman[1] and Austrian general, immortalised by Johann Strauss I's Radetzky March. General Radetzky was in the military for over 70 years, until his death at age 91, and is known for the victories at the Battles of Custoza (July 24–25, 1848) and Novara (March 23, 1849) during the First Italian War of Independence.

Contents [hide] 1 Early years 2 Napoleonic wars 3 Italian campaigns 4 Death 5 Ancestry 6 Legacy 7 References 8 Notes 9 Further reading 9.1 Radetzky in history 9.2 Works by Radetzky 9.3 Correspondence 9.4 Biographies 9.5 Military career 9.6 Anecdotal Histories 9.7 Radetzky in drama and music 10 External links

[edit] Early years Chateau Třebnice, the birthplace of Radetzky Radetzky von Radetz coat of armsRadetzky was born into a noble family at Chateau (zámek) Třebnice (German: Trebnitz) near Sedlčany in Bohemia (now part of the town). Orphaned at an early age, he was educated by his grandfather, and after the count's death, at the Theresa Academy at Vienna. The academy was dissolved during his first year's residence in 1785, and Radetzky became a cadet in the Austrian Army. The following year he became an officer, and in 1787 was promoted to first lieutenant in a cuirassier regiment. He served as a galloper on Count von Lacy's staff in the Turkish War, and in the Austrian Netherlands from 1792 to 1795.

In 1798 he married Countess Francisca von Strassoldo Grafenberg, from Tržič, Carniola (now in Slovenia). They would have five sons and three daughters.

[edit] Napoleonic wars Radetzky Memorial on Ringstraße, ViennaIn 1795 Radetzky fought on the Rhine. The following year he served with Johann Beaulieu against Napoleon in Italy, but disliked the indecisive "cordon" system of warfare which Count von Lacy had instituted and other Austrian generals imitated. His personal courage was conspicuous. At the Battle of Fleurus (1794) he led a party of cavalry through the French lines to discover the fate of Charleroi, and at Valeggio sul Mincio in 1796, with a few hussars, he rescued Beaulieu from the enemy. Promoted to major, he took part in Dagobert Wurmser's Siege of Mantua campaign, which ended in the fall of that fortress. As lieutenant-colonel and colonel he displayed bravery and skill in the battles of Trebbia and Novi (1799). At the Battle of Marengo, as colonel on the staff of Melas, he was hit by five bullets, after endeavouring on the previous evening to bring about modifications in the plan suggested by the "scientific" Anton von Zach. In 1801 Radetzky was created a Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa.

In 1805, on the march to Ulm, he received news of his promotion to major-general and his assignment to a command in Italy under the Archduke Charles of Austria. He thus took part in the failed campaign of Caldiero. Peace provided a short respite, which he spent in studying and teaching the art of war. In 1809 he led a brigade in V Corps during the Battle of Eckmuhl.[2] Promoted lieutenant field marshal, he commanded a division in IV Corps at the Battle of Wagram.[3] In 1810 he was created a Commander of the Order of Maria Theresa and awarded the colonelcy of the 5th Radetzky Hussars. From 1809 to 1812, as chief of the general staff, he was active in reorganising the army and its tactical system, but, unable to carry out the reforms he desired owing to the opposition of the Treasury, he resigned his position. In 1813 he was Schwarzenberg's chief of staff and had considerable influence on the councils of the Allied sovereigns and generals. Langenau, the quartermaster-general of the Grand Army, found him an indispensable assistant, and he had a considerable share in planning the Leipzig campaign.He won praise for his tactical skills in the battles of Brienne and Arcis sur Aube. He entered Paris with the allied sovereigns in March 1814, and returned with them to the Congress of Vienna, where he appears to have acted as an intermediary between Metternich and Tsar Alexander I of Russia, when the two were not on speaking terms.

[edit] Italian campaigns Former Radetzky Memorial in Malostranské náměstí, Prague, removed in 1919, now on display in collections of National MuseumDuring the succeeding years of peace he disappeared from public view. He resumed his functions as chief of staff, but his ardent ideas for reforming the army came to nothing in the face of the general war-weariness and desire to "let well alone." His zeal added to the number of his enemies, and in 1829, after twenty years as lieutenant field marshal, it was proposed to place him on the retired list. The emperor, unwilling to go so far as this, promoted him general of cavalry and shelved him by making him governor of a fortress. But very soon afterwards the Restoration settlement of Europe was shaken by fresh upheavals, and Radetzky was brought back into the field of war again. He took part under Frimont in the campaign against the Papal States insurgents, and succeeded that general in the chief command of the Austrian army in Italy in 1834.

In 1836 he became a field marshal. He was now seventy, but still displayed the activity of his youth in the training and discipline of the army he commanded. But here too he was in advance of his time, and the government not only disregarded his suggestions and warnings but also refused the military the money that would have enabled the finest army it possessed to take the field at a moment's notice. Thus the events of 1848 in Italy, which gave the old field marshal his place in history among the great commanders, found him, in the beginning, not indeed unprepared but seriously handicapped in the struggle with Charles Albert's army and the insurgents in Milan and elsewhere. By falling back to the Quadrilateral and there,rebuffing one opponent after another, he was able to spin out time until reinforcements arrived, and thenceforward up to the final triumph at the Battle of Novara on March 23, 1849, he and his army carried all before them. He also commanded the Austrian troops who reconquered Venice after the year-long siege of the rebellious city in May 1848-August 1849. He became a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1848.

His well-disciplined sense of duty towards officers of higher rank had become more intense in the long years of peace, and, after keeping his army loyal midst the confusion of 1848, he made no attempt to play the part of Wallenstein or even to assume Wellington's role of 'family adviser to the nation'. While as a patriot he dreamed a little of a united Germany, he remained to the end simply the commander of one of the emperor's armies.

After his triumph in Italy, he was made Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia from 1848 to 1857 - being the only one not of royal Habsburg blood. In spite of his success against Italian patriots, even in Italy he is not remembered unkindly : he was regarded as a fair ruler (for an enemy) and a gentleman who paid his debts. There is also a memorable anecdote of his meeting the man responsible for one of the most significant checks in the 1848 campaign, General Cesare Launier, shaking his hand, and congratulating him on getting "a bunch of kids" (much of Launier's command was made up of volunteer university students) to fight so hard that Radetzky and his men seriously thought they were facing crack professional Sardinian troops. Politically, he worked to reconcile the lower classes especially, to the Habsburg monarchy; he could see the Industrial Revolution coming and hoped to use the conflict of classes to isolate the patriotic party, made up mostly of the upper and middle classes, from the rising working class. He was ruthless in punishing rebellious soldiers - Hungarian troopers who had passed to the rebels' side in 1848 were not even shot, but hanged - and violent rebels, but very mild with unarmed opponents: patriot leaders of European renown, such as Giuseppe Verdi, Alessandro Manzoni and Antonio Rosmini, were allowed to live in peace in the kingdom, while Italy's other reactionary governments drove all their liberals into exile. Already in 1849, at the end of the siege of Venice, he had allowed the local patriot leaders to quietly slip away, and avoid public martyrdom. This was probably the best policy that Austria could possibly adopt in the circumstances, but it was doomed anyway; the events of 1848-49 had dug too deep a chasm between the Italians and the Austrian government, and - as events in 1859 showed - it was only the power of Austrian military might that kept Austria and her client states in Italy. It was part of Radetzky's good fortune that he died one year before his whole work dissolved like ice in an erupting volcano.

[edit] DeathHe died in harness, though in poor health. Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky of Radetz died on January 5, 1858 after an accident in Milan. On January 19, 1858, he was buried in Heldenberg in Lower Austria. The Emperor wished that he be buried in the Capuchin crypt (the Imperial Crypt in Vienna). Radetzky bequeathed his earthly remains, and the right to bury him, to Joseph Gottfried Pargfrieder, who decades earlier had settled his debts. In Heldenberg is an open-air pantheon with warrior statues, the Gedenkstätte Heldenberg (literally translated as the Hero Mountain Memorial.) Radetzky lies buried under a monumental obelisk.

[edit] Ancestry[show]Ancestors of Joseph Radetzky von Radetz [4]

 16. Baron Jan Jiří Radecký z Radče 

8. Baron Petr Eusebius Viktorin Radecký z Radče
17. Albertina Eusebie von Briaumont
4. Count Václav Leopold Radecký z Radče
18. Julius Weikhart von Heussenstamm
9. Marie Polyxena von Heusenstamm
19. Johana Isabela Veronika Ogilvy
2. Count Peter Eusebius Radetzky von Radetz
20.
10. František Mikuláš Bzenský z Prorubě
21.
5. Anna Bzenská z Prorubě
22. Jindřich Jan Straka z Nedabylic
11. Anna Marie Straková z Nedabylic
23. Marie Veronika Stošová z Kounic
1. Count Joseph Radetzky von Radetz
24. Baron Mikuláš Felix Bechinie z Lažan
12. Baron František Leopold Bechinie z Lažan
25. Alžběta Věžníková z Věžník
6. Baron Ignác Ladislav Bechinie z Lažan
26.
13. Marie Magdalena Sohier von der Windmühl
27.
3. Baroness Marie Venantia Bechinie von Lažan
28. Count Bernard František Ignác Věžník z Věžník
14. Count Leopold Ignác Věžník z Věžník
29. Terezie Rosina von Arco
7. Countess Marie Františka Věžníková z Věžník
30. Leopold Vilém I. z Valdštejna
15. Marie Alžběta z Valdštejna
31. Marie Elisabeth Khuen von Belasi
[edit] LegacyIn military history Radetzky's fame rests on one great achievement, but in the history of the Austrian army he figures as the frank and kindly "Vater Radetzky" whom the soldiers idolized. In the year following his death, another and greater Italian war broke out, and his beloved army disintegrated and was defeated in every encounter.

[edit] References Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Radetzky, Josef". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ^ RADECKÝ z RADČE Jan Josef Václav hrabě ^ Bowden, p 70 ^ Bowden, p 164 ^ http://patricus.info/Panstvo.htm [edit] NotesRegarding personal names: Graf was a title until 1919, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany, however, since 1919 Graf/Gräfin is no title any more but part of the surname and thus following the given name(s) and not to be translated.

[edit] Further reading Some of the about 40 decorations of Radetzky on display at the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Vienna.[edit] Radetzky in historyAlan Sked: The survival of the Habsburg Empire: Radetzky, the Imperial Army, and the Class War, 1848. London; New York: Longman, 1979, ISBN 0-582-50711-1 Alan Sked: Radetzky: Imperial Victor and Military Genius. London; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2011, ISBN 978-1-84885-677-6 Oskar Regele: Feldmarschall Radetzky: Leben, Leistung, Erbe. Wien: Herald, [1957] [edit] Works by RadetzkyJoseph Radetzky von Radetz: Denkschriften militärisch-politischen Inhalts aus dem handschriftlichen Nachlass des k.k. österreichischen Feldmarschalls Grafen Radetzky. Stuttgart: J.G. Cotta, 1858 [edit] CorrespondenceJoseph Radetzky von Radetz: Briefe des Feldmarschalls Radetzky an seine Tochter Friederike 1847-1857; aus dem Archiv der freiherrlichen Familie Walterskirchen hrsg. von Bernhard Duhr: Festschrift der Leo-Gesellschaft zur feierlichen Enthüllung des Radetzsky-Denkmals in Wien. Wien: J. Roller, 1892. These are Radetzky's letters to his daughter Friederike Radetzky von Radetz, Gräfin Wenckheim, published to celebrate the unveiling of the Radetzky monument in Vienna.

[edit] BiographiesFranz Herre: Radetzky: eine Biographie. Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, c1981. ISBN 3-462-01486-2 Franz Ferdinand Hoettinger: Radetzky: ein Stück Österreich. Leipzig; Wien: Höger, 1934. Joseph Radetzky von Radetz: Radetzky: sein Leben und sein Wirken; nach Briefen, Berichten und autobiographischen Skizzen zusammengestellt von Ernst Molden. Leipzig: Insel-Verlag, [1915] (Österreichische Bibliothek; Nr. 10) Alessandro Luzio: Radetzky. Bergamo: Istituto italiano d'arti grafiche, 1901 Alan Sked: Radetzky: Imperial Victor and Military Genius. I.B.Tauris, 2011. ISBN 978-1-84885-677-6 [edit] Military careerPetr Havel and Andrej Romanák: Maršál Radecký: vojevůdce pěti císařů. Praha: Paseka, 2000. ISBN 80-7185-297-X Viktor Bibl: Radetzky: Soldat und Feldherr. Wien: J. Günther, [c1955] Hugo Kerchnawe: Radetzky: eine militär-biographische Studie. Prag: Volk und Reich Verlag, [1944] Oskar Freiherr Wolf-Schneider von Arno: Der Feldherr Radetzky. [Wien: Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen, 1934] (Reprinted from the second ed. of 'Militärwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen', No. 3) Hermann Kunz: Die Feldzüge des Feldmarschalls Radetzky in Oberitalien 1848 und 1849. Berlin: R. Wilhelmi, 1890 A. B. Gavenda and Franz de Vuko et Branko (eds.): Feldmarschall Graf Radetzky, sein Leben und seine Taten. Prag: Rohlicek, 1858 Franz Schneidawind: Feldmarschall Graf Radetzky: sein kriegerisches Leben und seine Feldzüge vom Jahre 1784-1850. Augsburg: Schmid, 1851 Johann Sporschil: Der Feldzug der Oesterreicher in der Lombardei unter dem General-Feldmarschall Grafen Radetzky in den Jahren 1848 und 1849. 2. Ausg. Stuttgart: Köhler, 1850 P. S. Lebedev: Graf Radetskii i ego pokhody v Italii. [n.p.], 1850. Bowden, Scotty & Tarbox, Charlie. Armies on the Danube 1809. Arlington, Texas: Empire Games Press, 1980. [edit] Anecdotal Histories[Anni Stern-Braunberg]: In deinem Lager ist Österreich!: Geschichte und Anekdoten um Feldmarschall Radetzky. Graz: Stocker, 2000, ISBN 3-7020-0898-5 Otto Stradal: Der andere Radetzky: Tatsachen und Gedanken um ein Phänomen. Wien: Österreichischer Bundesverlag, c1981, ISBN 3-215-04438-2 Franz Grobauer (ed.): In seinem Lager war Österreich: Feldmarschall Radetzky in Geschichte und Anekdote. [Wien], 1957 [edit] Radetzky in drama and musicAlexander Lernet-Holenia: Radetzky: Schauspiel in drei Akten. [Frankfurt am Main]: S. Fischer, 1956. Johann Strauss: Radetzky March (Opus 228) Vater Radetzky, a 1929 film biopic

Johann Wenzel

Josef Václav Radecký

maršála Radeckého

Jan Josef Václav Eusebius Francis Anthony Karel

Mr. Earl Radecký svobodný of Counselor

rec Field Marshal

Johann Joseph Wenzel Anton Franz Karl

Personal Information

CHILDREN:

He was married to Countess Franziska Strassoldo-Gräfenberg, with whom he had 8 children, of whom except for one daughter only one son, Theodor Konstantin, survived, general major (died 1878), who alone continued the family line.

The legendary Johann Joseph Wenzel Anton Franz Karl, Count von Radetzky Radetz born at the family castle Trzebnitz born in southern Bohemia. Radetzkys father, Peter Eusebius II. Graf Radetzky von Radetz (1732-1776) Mother Maria Venantia, nee Baroness Bechyne von Lazan.

South Bohemia, in the ancestral castle of Trebnice (then known as the German Trebnitz in the circle of Tábor),

Radetzky's father, Peter Graf Radetzky von Radetz Eusebius II (1732-1776) was a captain in the Imperial Austrian Army, his mother Mary Venantia, nee Baroness von Bechyne Lazan. The family Radetzky was an old Bohemian noble family. The documented ancestors can be recorded until the 16th . Traced back centuries, but in the 14th Century have demonstrated single ancestor "Radetzky"

NAME: Two days after his birth on 4 November 1766. received in baptism the name of Johann Joseph Wenzel Anton Franz Karl

BORN: Trzebnitz Castle (Třebenice) / Bohemia, 02.11.1766 -- at the family castle in Bohemia Trebnitz (formerly District Tábor). Born to the nobility of which his family, originally Hungarian, had for several centuries belonged.

castle Trzebnitz in the Bohemian district of Tabor

DIED: Milan (Milano) / Lombardy, 05.01.1858

Radetzky is buried in Wetzdorf (in Lower Austria). In Prague in 1858 a monument to him was raised (by the brothers Max)(, in Vienna in 1893 a statue of him on horseback (by Zumbusch).

OTHER

Radetzky is buried in Wetzdorf (in Lower Austria). In Prague in 1858 a monument to him was raised (by the brothers Max)(, in Vienna in 1893 a statue of him on horseback (by Zumbusch).

See biographies on Radetzki by Trubetzkoi (1860), Kunz (1890), H. von der Sann (1906) och Radetzki's letters to his daughter, edited in 1892.

Family Status

Married: 1798 Franziska Gräfin Strassoldo-Grafenberg (1779-1854)

FATHER: died in 1776. [http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u...]

1857 to 21 May sulfur room, drop a result of a broken left leg csuklyója, which wound was not completely healed again, had nevertheless so much space to July 30, Khan moved to Milan from Verona. Plague fell on 30, then stroke and the surprise of this year on January 5 to 8 o'clock in the morning reáléban Milan Villa moved to the other world, lived in 92-th year.

Promotions

Major: 19.05.17961

Oberstleutnant: 01.05.1799

Oberst: 05.11.1799

Generalmajor: 01.09.1805 (w.r.f. 24.02.1804)

Feldmarschalleutnant: 01.06.1809 (w.r.f. 27.05.1809)

General der Kavallerie: 18.02.1829

Feldmarschall: 17.09.1836

Retired: 28.02.1857

Russia:

General Field Marshal: 07.04.1849

Posts and Offices (Army, Politics, Court)

Chief of the Quartermaster General Staff: 08.1809 – 02.1813 / 05.1813 – 06.1814 / 03.1815 – 10.1815

Adlatus of the Commanding General in Hungary: 1818 – 18??

Fortress Commandant of Olmütz: 11.1829 – 11.1831

Commanding General in Lombardo-Venetia: 23.11.1831 – 05.1853

Governor-General in Lombardo-Venetia: 1850-1856

Commanding General in Lombardo-Venetia: 02.1856 – 28.02.1857

Field Service (1792-1815)

Chief of the Quartermaster General Staff of the main army: 08.-12.1809

Chief of the Quartermaster General Staff of the Bohemian Observation Army: 05.-06.1813

Chief of the Quartermaster General Staff of the main army: 06.1813 – 06.1814

Chief of the Quartermaster General Staff of the Army of the Upper Rhine: 04.-10.1815

Orders, Awards, Honorary Appointments (Austria)

Order of the Golden Fleece: 03.04.1849

Military Maria Theresian Order – KC: 18.08.1801 / CC: 08.04.1810 / GC: 30.07.1848

Order of St. Stephen – GC: 1851 / w.d.: 1853/54

Order of Leopold – GC: 22.10.1813

Order of the Iron Crown 1st cl.: 14.09.1838

Military Merit Cross

Military Honor Cross 1813/14 (Army Cross 1813/14): ~ 1814

Officers Military Service Cross 2nd cl.: 1849

2nd Colonel-Proprietor of the Cuirassier Regiment N°4: 1809

Colonel-Proprietor of the Hussar Regiment N°5: 06.09.1809 – 1814

2nd Colonel-Proprietor of the Hussar Regiment N°5: 1814-1830

Colonel-Proprietor of the Hussar Regiment N°5: 1830-1831

2nd Colonel-Proprietor of the Hussar Regiment N°5: 1831-1848

Colonel-Proprietor of the Hussar Regiment N°5: 1848 – 05.01.1858

I.R. Privy Councillor: 22.06.1815 (w.r.f.: 22.10.1813)

I.R. Chamberlain

Orders, Awards, Honorary Appointments (Foreign Countries)

Baden:

Order of the Lion of Zähringen – GC: 1816/17

Bayern:

Order of St. Hubert: 1850

Military Order of Maximilian Joseph – GC: 1814

Denmark:

Order of the Elephant: 1850

France:

Military Order of St. Louis – GC: 05.04.1816

Greece:

Order of the Redeemer – GC: 1853

Hannover:

Order of St. George: 1850

Guelphic Order – GC: 1817

Hessen-Darmstadt:

Order of Ludwig – GC: 1850

Hessen-Kassel:

Order of the Golden Lion – GC: 1850

Lucca (Parma):

Military Order of St. George 1st cl.: 08.1846

Modena:

Order of the Eagle of Este – GC: 1855

Naples-Sicily:

Military Order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit – GC

Papal State:

Order of St. Gregor – GC: 01.1839 / w.d.: 1850

Order of St. Pius: 1850 / w.d.

Parma:

Constantinian Order of St. George – GC: 1833

Order of St. Ludwigs – GC: 1850 / w.d.

Poland (Russia):

Order of the White Eagle: 1839

Prussia:

Order of the Black Eagle 1847/48 / w.d.: 1850

Order of the Red Eagle 1st cl.: 1814 / w. swords.: 185?

Russia:

Order of St. Andrew: 04.1839 / w.d.: 12.1845 / w. swords

Order of St. Alexander Nevskij: 1814 / w. swords

Order of St. George 3rd cl.: 10.10.[28.10.]1813 / 1st cl. 08.09.[27.08.]1848

Order of St. Vladimir – GC: 1814

Order of St. Anne 1st cl.: 08./09.1813 / w. swords

Colonel-Proprietor of the Hussar Regiment N°?

Sardinia-Piedmont:

Order of the Annunziata: 1838

Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus – GC: 02.1832

Saxony:

Order of the Rue Crown: 1850

Tuscany:

Order of St. Joseph – GC

Order of Military Merit 1st cl.: 1854

Württemberg:

Order of the Crown of Wuerttemberg – GC: 07.1851

Order of Military Merit – GC: 07.1851

Biographical Essay (by Digby Smith)

Born on 2 November 1766 in Trzebnitz in Bohemia as a member of an old Bohemian family and son of Graf Peter Eusebius, he entered military service on 1 August 1784 as cadet in Cuirassier Regiment "Caramelli" N°2. On 3 February 1786 he was promoted to Unterleutnant and on 11 November 1787 to Oberleutnant.

He fought in the Turkish wars 1788-1791, mostly as ADC to FM Graf Lacy. Radetzky was at the sieges of Berbir and Belgrade; distinguished on the retreat to Illowa against a superior force of Spahis. He fought in the Netherlands 1792 as ADC to FML Baron Beaulieu. On 25 June 1794 he swam the River Sambre to establish that the French had already captured Charleroi; this caused the intended relief attempt to be cancelled. In June 1794 he was promoted to Rittmeister and on 28 October 1795 he led a storming column at the siege of Mainz.

In February 1796, Radetzky joined FZM Baron Beaulieu's GHQ in Pavia; he led an assault column at Voltri on 10 April. On 30 May, after the Austrian defeat at Borghetto, Radetzky escaped by swimming the Mincio and saved the sick FZM Beaulieu. On 19 (29?) May, he was promoted to Major in the Pionierkorps. Radetzky took part in Wurmser's operations around Mantua and on 15 October, was forced to take refuge in the fortress. When the place fell on 4 February 1797, Radetzky was in the 500-strong force that marched out with their weapons, colours flying and drums beating in recognition of the brave defence of the citadel.

In 1799, he was again in Italy on the staff of the GQM, Oberst Baron Zach. On 1 May Graf Radetzky was promoted to Oberstleutnant and appointed Adjutant General to GdK Melas. From 17-19 June, he fought in the battle of the Trebbia River. Radetzky led some grenadier battalions around the French flank into their rear and caused the collapse of their position. He was also distinguished at Novi on 15 August. The following year he fought at Marengo (14 June 1800) and in November of that year, Radetzky was given command of Cuirassier Regiment "Herzog Albrecht" N°3 and fought at Hohenlinden on 3 December.

On 18 August 1801 Radetzky was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Maria Theresian Order. From 1801 to 1805 he worked to make his regiment so efficient that it was chosen to be the model for all heavy cavalry regiments in the army. Additionally the count was appointed to be a member of the Cavalry Commission in 1802 to develop new tactics.

In September 1805 Radetzky received his promotion to Generalmajor together with the commandership of a cavalry brigade in Italy, where he again could distinguish himself. After the war (1806) he conducted a review of the military train and veterinary services.

In 1809 he commanded a light cavalry brigade in the V Corps and saved Schusteck's belated column at Ebelsberg on 3 May. Three days later (6 May) he fought at Blindenmarkt and – after the battle of Aspern – was promoted to Feldmarschalleutnant. At Wagram Radetzky commanded a division in IV Corps and was again distinguished. He was then appointed 2nd Colonel-Proprietor of Cuirassier-Regiment "Kronprinz Rudolf" N°4 which post he hold only for a little while. On 6 September 1809, he became Proprietor of Hussar Regiment N°5. The following year FML Radetzky was created Commander of the MMTO and involved in the army reform programme following the defeat of 1809.

In May 1813 Radetzky was appointed to Chief of the Austrian General Staff and chief of staff of the main army (under FM Prince Schwarzenberg). For the defeat of Napoleon at Leipzig the two Emperors, Francis I. and Alexander I. awarded him the Grand Cross of the Leopold Order (Austria) and the Order of St. George 3rd cl. (Russia). In 1829 he was promoted to General of Cavalry. In 1831 Radetzky was appointed Commanding General in Lombardo-venetia; five years later, he was promoted to Feldmarschall. From 1848-1849 he fought against the Italian rebels and won decisive victories at Custozza (25 / 25 June 1848) and Novara (23 March 1849). With the high age of 91 Radetzky died in Milan in 1858 as one of the very vew Austrian general officers, who had served under five emperors (Joseph II., Leopold II., Francis II./I., Ferdinand I., Francis Joseph).

Printed Sources

ADB 27, p.122ff. | Hirtenfeld 2, p.1363ff. | Hollins, p.50f. (wrong: "Radetsky") | MilSchem | MZ, year 1858, N°3 (from 09.01.1858), p.17ff. / N°4 (from 13.01.1858), p.25ff. / N°6 (from 20.01.1858), pp.41ff., 47f. / N°19 (from 06.03.1858), p.143ff. | Pizzighelli, DR3, pp.113, 127f. | Regele, p.30f. | NDB 21, p.87f. | ÖBL 8, p.370f. | Vlies-Orden, p.189, N°938 | Wrede 3, pp.145, 256 | Wrede (6), pp.33, 41 | Wurzbach 24, p.177ff. | WZ, 25.11.1809, 07.09.1813, 27.10.1813, 19.02.1814, 20.02.1814, 29.07.1815, 12.09.1816 | Zivkovic, Generalität, pp.14, 40 | Zivkovic, Heerführer, pp.60, 110, 111

Internet Sources

Boettger

Ebert (http://www.napoleon-online.de/AU_Generale/html/radetzky.html)

Jewison/Steiner

Saint-Louis (wrong: "Radetsky")

Schmidt-Brentano, Generale

Vederman

Notes

1) MZ N°3: 29.05.1796 (?)

MORE OTHER:

An uncle squandered much of his fortune and was left with what was sent to study first in Brno and then in Vienna, the Theresianum (the Academy for young noblemen established by the lamented Empress Maria Theresa). Student is not brilliant, only to be passionate about history, with a particular fondness for the King Justinian and Sole

[http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://sissilud...]

MARRIAGE, CHILD DISCIPLINE

"Radetsky was a man of value, now quite old, but already brilliant officer of the Austrian General Staff at the time of the Battle of Leipzig. Lived for many years separated from his wife (an unfortunate Countess Strassoldo, thirty, who had threatened to expel him from the army accumulating gambling debts), and live together without being married with a working-Milan. The Cesana recalls a funny incident in which a son of Field Marshal, a young and arrogant officer, had committed a Lombard insolence against an abbot in the odor of liberalism, this being slapped. The Radetzky, recognizing the reasons of the abbot, punish the child, adding to slap a solemn ecclesiastic kick in the backside of the young man. ! "

SLOVENIA:

Two sculptures of the famous Austrian field marshal Count Joseph Wenzel Radetzky (1766-1858), who was closely linked to our country, can be seen in the inner courtyard.

Married to a Carniolan-born wife, he inherited extensive estates and an ironwork in Tržič and thus acquired Carniolan citizenship. A life-size statue of Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980), erected in 1957 in the Slovene parliament building, was moved to the museum courtyard in 1990.