Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg (26 June 1760 – 25 March 1799) was an Austrian military commander. He achieved the rank of Feldmarschallleutnant and died at the Battle of Stockach.
A younger member of a cadet branch of the House of Fürstenberg, at his birth his chances of inheriting the family title of Fürst zu Fürstenberg were slight; he was prepared instead for a military career, and a tutor was hired to teach him the military sciences. He entered the Habsburg military in 1777, at the age of seventeen years, and was a member of the field army in the short War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–79). His career progressed steadily during the Habsburg War with the Ottoman Empire. In particular he distinguished himself at Šabac in 1790, when he led his troops in storming the fortress on the Sava river.
During the French Revolutionary Wars, he fought with distinction again for the First Coalition, particularly at Ketsch and Frœschwiller, and in 1796 at Emmendingen, Schliengen and Kehl. He was stationed at key points to protect the movements of the Austrian army. With a force of 10,000, he defended the German Rhineland at Kehl, and reversed a bayonet assault by French troops at Bellheim; his troops also overran Speyer without any losses. By the end of the War of the First Coalition, at the age of 35, he had achieved the rank of Feldmarschallleutnant. During the War of the Second Coalition, he fought in the first two battles of the German campaign, at Ostrach on 21 March 1799, and at Stockach on 25 March 1799. At the latter action while leading a grenadier regiment, he was hit by French case shot and knocked off his horse. He died shortly afterward.
Childhood and early military training Karl Aloys was a son of Karl Egon, second son of Joseph Wilhelm Ernst, first Prince of Fürstenberg. His tutor, Lieutenant Ernst, was in active service in the Habsburg military, and took six-year-old Karl Aloys on maneuvers with him. In this way, he learned as a child the Habsburg military manual, and came into contact with important military men who later furthered his education and career; he also acquired an honorary rank as Kreis-Obristen, or Colonel of the Imperial Circle, by the time he was ten years old. Ernst Hermann Joseph Münch. Geschichte des Hauses und Landes Fürstenberg. Aachen: Mayer, 1847, p. 318. As a youth, in 1776, he met the Habsburg war minister Count Franz Moritz von Lacy and Baron Ernst Gideon von Laudon; he was also invited to dine with Emperor Joseph II. He started his service in 1777 as a Fähnrich (ensign) in the Habsburg military organization. He saw his first field service during the War of the Bavarian Succession (1777–78), although he was not involved in any battles. Jens-Florian Ebert, "Feldmarschall-Leutnant Fürst zu Fürstenberg," Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815. Napoleon Online: Portal zu Epoch . Markus Stein, editor. Mannheim, Germany. 14 February 2010 version. Accessed 28 February 2010.
In 1780, at the age of twenty years, he was promoted to captain, and assigned to the 34th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Anton Esterházy, named for Paul II Anton, Prince Esterházy, the general of cavalry, field marshal of the Seven Years' War, and ambassador to Britain. While he was assigned to this unit, he participated in the border conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburgs, 1787–92, and stormed the fortress at Šabac (German: Schabatz) on the Sava River in Serbia on 27 April 1788. For his action at Šabac, he was personally commended by the Emperor; on the following day, he was promoted to major and given command of a grenadier battalion.Smith. "Fürstenberg".
On 1 January 1790, at Laudon's explicit request, Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg was promoted to major general; at the end of June of that year, he received the coveted position of second colonel of the 34th Infantry Regiment Anton Esterhazy, where he served as the executive officer for Anton I, Prince Esterházy, the 34th Hungarian Regiment's Colonel and Proprietor. Jens-Florian Ebert, "Feldmarschall-Leutnant Fürst zu Fürstenberg," Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815. This was a customary appointment in which a less prominent officer completed the day-to-day administrative duties of the Colonel and Proprietor, who was usually a noble and was often posted in a different assignment, sometimes a different staff location.Stephen Herold. The Austrian Army in 1812. In: Le Societé Napoléonienne. Accessed 31 December 2009. Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg also received the confraternal Order of Saint Hubert from the Duke of Bavaria and married the "elegant" Princess Elisabeth of Thurn und Taxis (1767–1822), that year.Münch, p. 331. Princess Elisabeth of Thurn und Taxis (Regensburg, 30 November 1767 – 21 July 1822), was the youngest daughter of Alexander Ferdinand, 3rd Prince of Thurn and Taxis.
Fight against Revolutionary France
While Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg fought for the Habsburg cause in Serbia, in France, a coalition of the clergy and the professional and bourgeois class—the First and Third estates—led a call for reform of the French government and the creation of a written constitution. Initially, the rulers of Europe viewed the French Revolution as an event between the French king and his subjects, and not something in which they should interfere. In 1790, Leopold succeeded his brother Joseph as emperor and by 1791, he considered the situation surrounding his sister, Marie Antoinette, and her children, with greater alarm. In August 1791, in consultation with French émigré nobles and Frederick William II of Prussia, he issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, in which they declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe as one with the interests of Louis XVI and his family. They threatened ambiguous, but quite serious, consequences if anything should happen to the royal family. The French émigrés continued to agitate for support of a counter-revolution. On 20 April 1792, the French National Convention declared war on Austria. In the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797), France opposed most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her, plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire.Timothy Blanning. The French Revolutionary Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996, , pp. 41–59. Promotions Fähnrich (Ensign): 1777 Hauptmann (Captain): 1780 Major: 1788 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel): 1788 Oberst(Colonel): 2 November 1789 Generalmajor (Major General): 1 January 1790 (effective 12 March 1789) Feldmarschalleutnant (Lieutenant Field Marshal): 4 March 1796 (effective 12 February 1794) Swabian Circle of the Empire: Feldzeugmeister (General of Infantry): 1796
War of the First Coalition
In the early days of the French Revolutionary Wars, Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg remained as brigade commander of a small Austrian corps, approximately 10,000 men, under the overall command of Anton I, Prince Esterházy. He was stationed in the Breisgau, a Habsburg territory between the Black Forest and the Rhine. This location between the forested mountains and the river included two important bridgeheads across the river which offered access to southwestern Germany, the Swiss Cantons, or north-central Germany. His brigade defended Kehl, a small village immediately across the Rhine from Strasbourg, but most of the action in 1792 occurred further north, in present-day Belgium, near the cities of Speyer and Trier, and at Frankfurt on the Main River.Smith, pp. 31–34.
In the second year of the war, Fürstenberg was transferred to the cavalry of Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, in the Army of the Upper Rhine, and placed in charge of the advance guard near Speyer, which was still held by the French. On 30 March, he crossed the Rhine by Ketsch at the head of the advance guard, which included 9,000 men. He took the city of Speyer on 1 April, in the absence of the commander of the city, Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine, who was away with most of his troops; those that remained behind simply abandoned the city. On the following day, Fürstenberg occupied the town of Germersheim. His first combat action of the war occurred on 3 April, when Custine's infantry attacked him in a bayonet charge near the villages of Bellheim, Hördt and Leimersheim, and afterward at Landau and Lauterbourg. During these attacks, he lost all the ground he had gained in the days before. After these events, he was again transferred, this time to the command of the Regiment Count von Kavanagh, where he continued to distinguish himself during the French counter-offensive of October–November 1793. In the action around Geidertheim, on the Zorn River, he assisted Lieutenant Field Marshal Gabriel Anton, Baron Splény de Miháldy, in repelling a French counter-attack. Shortly afterward, he became very ill and, in December 1793, was sent to the Hagenau to recover. On 22 December, he rejoined Wurmser's Corps for the Battle of Froeschwiller against Lazare Hoche and Jean-Charles Pichegru. After the French retreated over the Rhine at Huningue, near Basel, he directed the construction of its new fortifications. Jens-Florian Ebert, "Feldmarschall-Leutnant Fürst zu Fürstenberg," Die Österreichischen Generäle 1792–1815.
In June 1796, Fürstenberg commanded a division of four infantry battalions, 13 artillery pieces, and the Freikorps (Volunteers) Gyulay and secured the Rhine corridor between Kehl and Rastatt. On 26 June 1796, the French Army of the Rhine and Moselle crossed the Rhine and chased the Swabian Circle's military contingent out of Kehl. In June 1796, Archduke Charles added the contingent to Fürstenberg's command, making him the Swabian's Feldzeugmeister, or General of Infantry. Fürstenberg's troops defended the imperial line at the town of Rastatt until support troops arrived, and they could make an orderly withdrawal into the Upper Danube Valley.Smith. "Fürstenberg". The Swabian contingent was demobilized in July, and Fürstenberg returned to the command of Austrian regulars during the Austrian counter-offensive. At the Battle of Emmendingen on 19 October 1796, his leadership was again instrumental in an Austrian victory. General Jean Victor Marie Moreau's Army of the Rhine-and-Moselle sought to retain a foothold on the eastern side of the Rhine, following his retreat from southwestern Germany west of the Black Forest. Fürstenberg held Kenzingen, north of Riegel on the Elz River. Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg was ordered to feint against Riegel, to protect the primary Austrian positions at Rust and Kappel.J. Rickard. "Battle of Emmendingen," 19 October 1796. History of War. Peter D. Antill, Tristan Dugdale-Pointon and J. Rickard, editors. February 2009 update. Accessed 7 October 2009.