Eugène, Prince of Savoy (correctly Savoy-Carignan) (1663-1736). The Austrian Prinz Eugen, born in Paris, started training to be a priest but, by personal merit alone, rose to be one of the foremost military men of his age. Refused service in the army of Louis XIV, the young Eugène was determined to become a soldier somehow. He fled France disguised as a woman and was given a commission in the imperial army in 1683. At this time the Turks were laying siege to Vienna, where Eugène proved his courage and as a result was appointed to the command of the Kufstein dragoons. Campaigning in Hungary he again showed his worth as a field commander, and in 1685 was promoted to major general and then lieutenant general in 1688. By the time of the League of Augsburg war, he had reached the rank of field marshal at the age of only 30. Although the campaign in Italy was frustrating for Eugène, he learned the art of siege warfare and gained valuable experience in fighting the French.
In the east, the Ottoman threat was ever-present, and as the empire's most promising young commander, Eugène was despatched to counter the rising tide of Turkish expansion after the capture of Belgrade. He utterly routed the Ottoman army at Zenta in 1697, and retook much of Bosnia for the empire. On his return to Vienna he was hailed as a great hero. Eugène's finest hour came during the War of the Spanish Succession where he was in command of the Italian theatre in Lombardy. He attacked the important fortress of Cremona, by using a startling coup de main, but was foiled by a lack of adequate ammunition. Disgusted with the ramshackle army administration that had let him down so badly, he returned to Vienna to instigate some serious reforms. The commissariat and cavalry arms were much improved, and Eugène paid particular attention to the conditions of service for individual soldiers.
In 1703 the empire was threatened by a war in Hungary and a large Franco-Bavarian army moving on Vienna in order to take Austria out of the war. Eugène stabilized the defence of Hungary, and linked up with Marlborough for the Blenheim campaign. The two brilliant commanders found an instant rapport and the result was a crushing defeat for the French and the withdrawal of Bavaria from the war entirely.
Eugène then returned to Italy, where he defeated the French at Turin in 1706 and went on to push them right out of the north Italian plain. He linked up with Marlborough again for the campaign and battle of Oudenarde in July 1708, and subsequently the Allies went on to capture Ghent and Bruges, taking Vauban's great fortress of Lille on 9 December. The last engagement fought by the two commanders together was at Malplaquet, a dearly bought victory that gained little for an enormous loss in life on the Allied side. In England the Tory opposition played on the feeling of disenchantment with the war, and Marlborough soon fell from favour, being recalled in 1711.
Without effective British assistance, Eugène was on his own and could rely on Vienna less and less for wholehearted support. The French counter-attack caught him off guard and the war did not end well for him. Yet he was still able to inflict stinging defeats on the Turks when war flared up again in 1716. At Peterwardein he secured an important victory, taking Belgrade shortly thereafter. He then spent the rest of his life on his great project, the reform of the Austrian army, and lived out his days in genteel splendour in the great palace of the Belvedere in Vienna.
Eugène was a decisive and bold commander who went against the grain of the rigid and formulaic warfare of his era. From his wars against the Turks he had learned the value of scouting and light troops, and this provided an important precedent in the development of the Austrian cavalry arm. His personal brand of leadership was an inspiration to the men under his command, and his impeccable performance in alliance warfare in co-operating with Marlborough surely ranks him among the greatest generals of the early modern world.
— Toby McLeod
