Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/788

 772 EUGENE an enemy. He entered the Austrian service, and made his first campaign against the Turks the same year, so distinguishing himself that he was placed in command of a dragoon regi- ment. He was present at the battle of Vienna. Further service led to further promotion, and he held the rank of major general at the siege of Belgrade in 1688, where he was severely wounded. Louvois now required all French- men serving in foreign armies to return home, on pain of banishment. Eugene refused to obey, and declaring that he would return to France in spite of the minister, remained in the imperial service, and was rapidly promoted. He was sent to Savoy in command of the Austrian troops furnished to the duke of that country to aid him against France. In this service he fought in several campaigns, and fulfilled the boast he had made at the time of Louvois's or- der, by invading France with the duke in 1692. He was breveted field marshal, and after his return to Vienna in 1696 was placed at the head of the army in Hungary. Sensible of the folly he had committed, Louis XIV. now made him great offers on condition of his entering the French service. These offers he would not listen to, but took command of an army that was employed against the Turks. He completely outgeneralled the enemy and exter- minated their army at Zenta, Sept. 11, 1697, winning one of the greatest victories of that age. A story that the action was fought in violation of orders, that he was afterward placed under arrest, and that it was intended to send him before a council of war, was long current, and has generally been given by all but the more recent historians and biographers ; but it has now been proved to be entirely false. He accomplished nothing more of im- portance in this campaign, and peace was made at Carlovitz in 1699. When the war of the Spanish succession opened in 1701, Eugene was sent to Italy, whither he led his troops by a skilful march across the Tyrolese Alps. Opposed to Catinat, he won great successes. Villeroi, Catinat 1 s successor, he defeated at Chiari, and compelled him to abandon the terri- tory of Mantua. In January, 1702, he at- tacked the French in Cremona, and, though repulsed, captured their general. In Vend6me he found a worthy antagonist, and they fought the bloody drawn battle at Luzzara, Aug. 15, 1702. Appointed president of the war council, and afterward sent against the Hungarians, Eugene's next important command was in southern Germany, whither he was sent to oppose the united Bavarian and French armies threatening Austria from that direction. Here he first served in company with Marlborough. They fought and won the battle of Blenheim, Aug. 13, 1704, Eugene's part in the action be- ing important. He was then sent again to Italy, and was defeated at Cassano by Vendome, Aug. 16, 1705, being twice wounded. When the French army passed into the hands of the duke of Orleans and Marshal Marsin, and they were engaged in besieging Turin, Eugene, at the head of only 30,000 men, attacked their 80.000 men, and defeated them, Sept. 7, 1706. He was wounded in the action, and was rewarded with the government of the Milanese. The next year he again led an army into the south of France, and made an attempt upon Toulon, but failed. He was then employed at the Ger- man court in hastening preparations for the next campaign in the Netherlands, now the scene of the chief events of the war, and in that campaign (1708) he helped Marlborough to win the battle of Oudenarde, and took Lille. He also won with him the battle of Malplaquet, Sept. 11, 1709. Much of the ground gained by these victories was lost through the subsequent lukewarmness of the English. On the decline of Marlborough's power in 1711, Eugene visited England, hoping to gain her back to her for- mer position in the alliance, but ineffectually. The peace of Utrecht was concluded in 1713. His own exertions against the French were fruitless, and in 1714 the peace of Rastadt, in negotiating which he played a principal part, put an end to the war between the empire and France. After residing at Vienna for some tune, where he was much consulted by the emperor, he was appointed to the command of the army sent against the Turks. He defeated them at Peterwardein, Aug. 5, 1716, with im- mense slaughter. The next year he advanced against Belgrade, and was there assailed by very superior forces; but at a time when his de- struction was regarded as inevitable he assailed the enemy, inflicted upon them the greatest defeat they ever experienced, Aug. 16, and two days later the city surrendered. He was wounded in the battle. In 1718 he hoped to dictate peace at Constantinople, but the treaty of Passarovitz stopped his career of conquest. He was rewarded by a pension, an estate worth 300,000 florins per annum, and the vicar-general- ship of Italy, having previously occupied the office of governor of the Netherlands. He held for many years nearly the same position in Austria that Wellington subsequently held in England. Yet he had bitter enemies, toward whom he was very forbearing and patient. In many of his political opinions he was in ad- vance of his age. He saw the error of the house of Austria in encouraging the growth of Prussia, and in conferring on her chief the royal title. He favored an alliance with France, thus anticipating the policy of Kaunitz. He fostered literature, science, and art, and cor- responded with Boerhaave, Montesquieu, and Leibnitz, the last named being his personal friend ; and he made great collections of MSS., books, and pictures. The last military service in which he was engaged was that which grew out of the war of the Polish succession, in 1734, when he commanded an army against the French on the Rhine. There was not much fighting and no pitched battle. The heir ap- parent to the Prussian crown, afterward Fred- erick II., then served under him, and the first