Karl Josef Batthyány
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Count Karl Josef Batthyány of Németújvár (28 April 1697 - 15 April 1772) was an Austrian general and field marshal of Hungarian origin.
Károly József Batthyány was born 1697 as a son of the Hungarian count Ádám Batthyány. He served in the Austrian army under Prince Eugen of Savoy in the war against the Turks, and participated in the battles in Peterwardein, Temeswar and Belgrade.
He commanded, in 1734, as a general of imperial troops at the Rhine against France, and in 1737 against the Turks. From 1739 to 1740, he was the envoy at the Berliner yard, but returned, however, after the outbreak of the first Schlesischen war with Prussia.
In the War of Austrian Succession (1744), he served again in an independent command, serving as a corps commander. He faced General Ségur and his French in the battle of Pfaffenhofen on 15 April 1745. In spite of numerical inferiority, he won a huge victory. Batthyány worked with Field Marshal Otto Ferdinand of Abensberg and Traun, uniting and defeating the French, and forcing a French withdrawal over the Rhine.
In 1746, he served under the command Karls of Lorraine in Belgium and took part in the battle at Roucoux, in 1747. Serving under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, he executed an exemplary withdrawal in Lauffeldt.
After the war, Batthyány was raised to the nobility by Maria Theresia, and he later served as an advisor to the crown prince and later emperor Joseph II.
Batthyány spent his old age in Vienna, where he died in 1772.
[edit] Source
- Wilhelm Edler von Janko: Batthyány, Karl Josef. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Bd. 2, S. 133–134.
