Raimondo Montecuccoli

Raimondo Montecuccoli (born Feb. 21, 1609, Castle Montecuccolo, near Modena, Duchy of Modena—died Oct. 16, 1680, Linz, Austria) was a field marshal and military reformer, a master of the warfare based on fortifications and manoeuvre, who led Austrian armies to victory against enemies of the House of Habsburg for half a century.

Montecuccoli entered the Austrian Army in 1625, during the early part of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48), and distinguished himself against King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden at Breitenfeld (1631) and Lützen (1632). In action again at Nördlingen (1634) and Wittstock (1636), he was a Swedish prisoner from 1639 to 1642, using that time to complete his education and to study the art of war. His strategic and tactical writings were begun then. Returning to the field in 1642, he campaigned for his native Modena in the War of Castro (1642–44), between the papacy and its opponents, and against the Hungarian rebel György Rákóczy I in 1645. Back in Germany, his skillful retreat in Bavaria in the face of a combined French–Swedish onslaught led to his promotion to general.

The Peace of Westphalia (1648) enabled Montecuccoli to return to writing and to carry out a number of diplomatic missions for the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand III. Promoted field marshal, he drove the Swedes from Germany, Denmark, and Pomerania (1658–60) and foiled the Turkish offensives against Austria between 1661 and 1664, winning a decisive victory at St. Gotthard on the Raab (Aug. 1, 1664), for which he was hailed as the saviour of Christendom. He then received rapid promotions. Named generalissimo of all imperial armies in 1664, he became president of the Hofkriegsrat (supreme imperial war council) in 1668. As head of that body, he sponsored a number of reforms, among them the introduction of a lighter musket, the reduction of the number of infantry pikemen balanced by a corresponding increase in soldiers armed with firearms, and the elevation of grenadiers into an elite force.

Already an old man, Montecuccoli was recalled to lead the imperial armies against France in 1672, defeating Marshal Henri de Turenne repeatedly during the next three years. Age and ill health finally forced his retirement in 1675.

Unequalled as a master of 17th-century warfare, Montecuccoli excelled in the art of fortification and siege, march and countermarch, and cutting his enemy’s lines of communications. In advocating standing armies, he clearly foresaw future trends in the military field. His most important work, Dell’arte militare (1792; “The Military Art”), has been reprinted numerous times.