Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of Turenne, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of Turenne

French nobleman, general, Marshal of France

Date of Birth: 11-Sep-1611

Place of Birth: Sedan, Grand Est, France

Date of Death: 27-Jul-1675

Profession: military officer

Nationality: France

Zodiac Sign: Virgo


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About Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of Turenne

  • Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (11 September 1611 – 27 July 1675), often called simply Turenne, was a French Marshal General and the most illustrious member of the La Tour d'Auvergne family.
  • His military exploits over his five-decade career earned him a reputation as one of the greatest generals in modern history. Born to a Huguenot family, Turenne learned his military skills in Dutch service during the Eighty Years' War.
  • After returning to France in 1630, he rose to prominence during the Thirty Years' War by capturing the fortress of Breisach in 1638.
  • Created Marshal of France in 1643, he invaded Bavaria the following year, defeating the Bavarian army in three years of campaigning and forcing the Elector of Bavaria to make peace.
  • The Elector soon broke the treaty and in 1648 Turenne invaded again with Swedish support, subduing the Imperial army at Zusmarshausen and pacifying Bavaria. Turenne initially supported the Fronde but returned to Royal service in 1651, emerging as France's foremost general by defeating the rebellious army of the Prince of Condé on the outskirts of Paris and re-occupying the city.
  • His triumphs against Spanish armies at Arras (1654) and at Dunkirk (1658) led to the overrunning of much of the Spanish Netherlands and brought the war against Spain to a victorious conclusion.
  • Two years later, Louis XIV appointed him Marshal General of France.
  • A supporter of absolute monarchy, he converted to Catholicism in 1668. During the War of Devolution in 1667 Turenne captured the Spanish Netherlands practically without resistance.
  • In 1672 the French invaded the Dutch Republic and the Marshal General conquered the country up to Amsterdam.
  • Checked by the Dutch flooding of the land, he invaded the Holy Roman Empire the next year, reaching the Elbe and compelling Brandenburg to abandon the anti-French coalition.
  • Faced with the loss of Alsace to superior Allied forces, he crowned his career with a series of battlefield victories, most notably at Turckheim (1675) and a masterful strategic turning movement around the Vosges in mid-winter that drove the Imperials from Alsace.
  • He was killed by an Imperial cannonball at the battle of Salzbach in 1675.

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