Johann Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz (November 2, 1766 – January 5, 1858) was a Czech nobleman and
AustriaThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
n general, immortalised by
Johann Strauss IJohann Strauss I , born in Vienna, was an Austrian Romantic composer famous for his waltzes, and for popularizing them alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons to carry on his musical dynasty...
's
Radetzky MarchRadetzky March, Op. 228 is a march composed by Johann Strauss Sr. in 1848. It was dedicated to the Austrian Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, and became quite a popular march among soldiers....
. 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
CustozaThe Battle of Custoza was fought on July 24 and 25, 1848 during the first Italian War of Independence between the armies of the Austrian Empire, led by Field Marshal Radetzky, and of the Kingdom of Sardinia, led by King Charles Albert of Piedmont....
(July 24-25, 1848) and
NovaraThe Battle of Novara or Battle of Bicocca was one of the battles fought between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia during the First Italian War of Independence, within the era of Italian unification...
(March 23, 1849) during the
First Italian War of IndependenceThe First Italian War of Independence was fought in 1848 between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Empire. The war saw main battles at Custoza and Novara in which the Austrians under Radetzky managed to defeat the Piedmontese....
.
Early years
Radetzky was born into a noble family at Třebnice (Trebnitz) in
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
(modern-day
Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
). Orphaned at an early age, he was educated by his grandfather, and after the count's death, at the Theresa Academy at
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
. The academy was dissolved during his first year's residence in 1785, and Radetzky became a cadet in the
AustriaThe Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The capital was mainly Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when the capital was Prague...
n Army. The following year he became an officer, and in 1787 was promoted to first lieutenant in a
cuirassierCuirassiers were mounted cavalry soldiers equipped with armour and firearms, first appearing in late 15th-century Europe. They were the successors of the medieval armoured knights...
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
TržičTržič is a town and municipality in northern Slovenia near the Austrian border . The first settlement was founded near the road which connected Roman city of Emona with Virunum in nowadays Carinthia...
. They would have five sons and three daughters.
Napoleonic wars
In 1795 Radetzky fought on the
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
. Next year he served with
Johann BeaulieuJohann Peter Beaulieu de Marconnay, also Jean Pierre Beaulieu de Marconnay, fought in the Austrian army during Seven Years War and attained high command during the French Revolutionary Wars...
against Napoleon in Italy, but disliked the indecisive "cordon" system of warfare which
Count von LacyFranz Moritz Graf von Lacy or Lascy , , Austrian field marshal, was born at St Petersburg....
had instituted and other Austrian generals imitated. His personal courage was conspicuous. At the
Battle of Fleurus (1794)In the Battle of Fleurus French forces under Jourdan defeated an Austrian army under Saxe-Cobourg in one of the most decisive battles in the Low Countries during the French Revolutionary Wars...
he led a party of cavalry through the French lines to discover the fate of
CharleroiCharleroi is the largest city and municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2008, Charleroi had a total population of 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and has a total population of 522,522 as of 1...
, and at
Valeggio sul MincioValeggio sul Mincio is a comune in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 120 km west of Venice and about 25 km southwest of Verona. It is crossed by the Mincio river....
in 1796, with a few hussars, he rescued Beaulieu from the enemy. Promoted to major, he took part in
Dagobert WurmserDagobert Sigismund Count de Wurmser was an Austrian field marshal during the French Revolutionary Wars.Born a French subject in Strasbourg, Wurmser first served in the French army during the Seven Years' War as a cavalry officer. Having transferred to the Austrian service, Wurmser later took part...
's
Siege of MantuaIn the Siege of Mantua, which lasted from 4 July 1796 to 2 February 1797 with a short break, French forces under the overall command of Napoleon Bonaparte besieged and blockaded a large Austrian garrison under Dagobert von Wurmser until it surrendered...
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" Franz Zach. In 1801 Radetzky was created a Knight of the
Military Order of Maria TheresaThe Military Order of Maria Theresa was an Order of the Austro-Hungarian Empire founded on June 18 1757, the day of the Battle of Kolin, by the Empress Maria Theresa to reward especially meritorious...
.
In 1805, on the march to
UlmUlm is a city in the German Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and traditions...
, he received news of his promotion to major-general and his assignment to a command in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
under the Archduke Charles of Austria. He thus took part in the successful
campaign of CaldieroThe Battle of Caldiero took place on October 30 1805. Marshal André Masséna with 37,000 Frenchmen, encountered the Austrian 50,000 strong army, under the Archduke Charles of Austria, who were posted in the village and on the heights of Caldiero, near Verona, in northern Italy.Masséna attacked and...
. Peace provided a short leisure, which he used in studying and teaching the art of war. In 1809 he led a brigade in V Corps during the
Battle of EckmuhlThe Battle of Eckmühl fought on 21 April – 22 April, 1809, was the turning point of the 1809 Campaign, also known as the War of the Fifth Coalition...
. Promoted lieutenant field marshal, he commanded a division in IV Corps at the
Battle of WagramThe Battle of Wagram was the most important military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition and took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name...
. 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 the 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
LeipzigLeipzig is, with a population of 515,459, the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany.-Origins:Leipzig's name is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means "settlement where the lime trees stand"....
campaign. As a tactician he won praise in the battles of
BrienneThe Battle of Brienne was fought on January 29, 1814, and resulted in a French victory under Napoleon Bonaparte against the Russians and Prussians under General Blücher....
and Arcis sur Aube. He entered
ParisThe Battle of Paris was fought during the Napoleonic Wars in 1814. The French defeat led directly to the abdication of Napoleon I.-Background:...
with the allied sovereigns in March 1814, and returned with them to the
Congress of ViennaThe Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from November, 1814 to June, 1815. Its objective was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic...
, where he appears to have acted as an intermediary between
MetternichKlemens Wenzel, Prince von Metternich was a German-Austrian politician and statesman and was one of the most important diplomats of his era. He was a major figure in the negotiations before and during the Congress of Vienna and is considered both a paradigm of foreign-policy management and a...
and Tsar
Alexander I of RussiaAlexander I of Russia , also known as Alexander the Blessed served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and Ruler of Poland from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania.He was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later...
, when the two were not on speaking terms.
Italian campaigns
During 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 he had been for twenty years a 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 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 youth in training and disciplining 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 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'sCharles Albert was the King of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1849. He succeeded his distant cousin Charles Felix, and his name is bound with the first Italian statute and the First War of Independence...
army and the insurgents in
MilanThe Five Days of Milan was a major event in the First Italian War of Independence, in which the population of Milan, northern Italy, rebelled against the Austrian occupation forces.-History:...
and elsewhere. By falling back to the
QuadrilateralThe word quadrilateral can refer to:* Quadrilateral, in geometry, a polygon with 4 sides* Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, a four-point statement of fundamental doctrine, in the Anglican Communion...
and there, checking 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 NovaraThe Battle of Novara or Battle of Bicocca was one of the battles fought between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia during the First Italian War of Independence, within the era of Italian unification...
on March 23, 1849, he and his army carried all before them. He also commanded the Austrian troops who reconquered
VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
after the year-long siege of the rebellious city in May 1848-August 1849. He became a Knight of the
Order of the Golden FleeceNOT to be confused with the Golden Fleece Award.The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges in 1430 by Duke Philip III of Burgundy to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Isabel of Aviz.- Origin :...
in 1848.
His well-disciplined sense of duty to the superior officer had become more intense in the long years of peace, and after keeping his army loyal in the midst of the confusion of 1848, he made no attempt to play the part of Wallenstein or even to assume
WellingtonField Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, KP, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Anglo-Irish soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the nineteenth century....
'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 - the first and last not of royal Habsburg blood. In spite of his success against Italian patriots, he is not remembered unkindly even in Italy: 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 especially the lower classes 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 Verdi, Manzoni and 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 avoided public martyrdoms. 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 arms 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.
Death
He died in
harnessA harness is a looped restraint or support.Harness may also refer to:*Harness , a character in the Marvel Comics universe*Child harness*Climbing harness*Dog harness*Horse harness*Parrot harness*Safety 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
HeldenbergHeldenberg is a small village in the district of Hollabrunn in Lower Austria, Austria.-Gedenkstätte Heldenberg:In Heldenberg is an open-air pantheon with warrior statues, the Gedenkstätte Heldenberg It was founded by Joseph Gottfried Pargfrieder, a major supplier to the imperial army, and...
in Lower Austria. The Emperor wished that he be buried in the Capuchin crypt (the
Imperial Crypt in ViennaSince 1633 The Imperial Crypt in Vienna has been the principal place of entombment for members of the Habsburg dynasty.The Imperial Crypt lies below the Capuchins' church and monastery founded in 1617 and dedicated in 1632...
). Radetzky bequeathed his earthly remains, and the right to bury him, to Joseph Gottfried Pargfrieder, whom 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.
Legacy
In military history Radetzky's fame rests on one great achievement, but in the history of the Austrian army he is 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.
Radetzky in history
- Alan 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
- Oskar Regele: Feldmarschall Radetzky: Leben, Leistung, Erbe. Wien: Herald, [1957]
Works by Radetzky
- Joseph Radetzky von Radetz: Denkschriften militärisch-politischen Inhalts aus dem handschriftlichen Nachlass des k.k. österreichischen Feldmarschalls Grafen Radetzky. Stuttgart : J.G. Cotta, 1858
Correspondence
- Joseph 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.
Biographies
(There has been no full-length biography of Radetzky in English).
- Franz 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
Military career
- Petr 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.
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
Radetzky in drama and music
- Alexander Lernet-Holenia: Radetzky: Schauspiel in drei Akten. [Frankfurt am Main]: S. Fischer, 1956.
- Johann Strauss: Radetzky March
Radetzky March, Op. 228 is a march composed by Johann Strauss Sr. in 1848. It was dedicated to the Austrian Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, and became quite a popular march among soldiers....
(Opus 228)
External links