[3]Prince Eugene, one of the greatest of the world’s generals, was born at Paris, October 18, 1663, and died at Vienna, April 21, 1736. He entered the service of Austria in 1683; defeated the Turks in 1697; at the outbreak of the Spanish war of the succession invaded Italy; joined Marlborough in Germany; and defeated the French and Bavarians at Blenheim in 1704. In 1706 he drove the French out of Italy, and in 1708 won the great victories at Oudenarde, Lille, and Malplaquet. War breaking out afresh with Turkey, he won the great battle at Belgrade against overwhelming odds, and forced the Turks to accept peace. The year of Maria Theresa’s nuptials, 1736, was the year of his death.
[4]Frederick contended that he inherited a lawful claim to Silesia, and that the Pragmatic Sanction, which his father had recognized, referred only to lands belonging to the house of Austria.
[5]Frederick offered to aid Maria Theresa against all her enemies if she would concede his claims upon Silesia, but the Queen haughtily declined, and even intimated that Frederick was a robber.
[6]Count Maximilian Ulysses von Browne, an Austrian field-marshal, was born at Basel, Switzerland, Oct. 23, 1705, and died at Prague, Bohemia, June 26, 1757. He was a commander both in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ War.
[7]Count Kurt Christoph Schwerin, a German general, was born at Wusecken, Pomerania, Oct. 26, 1684, and was killed at the battle of Prague, May 6, 1757. He was made a field-marshal by Frederick the Great, and won the important victory of Mollwitz, a Silesian village.
[8]This refers to the time when the Hungarians revolted and called upon the Turks to help them. The latter, under Kara Mustapha, besieged Vienna in 1683, which was only saved by an army of Poles and Germans under Sobieski (John III, King of Poland), in which Kolonitzsch and Stahremberg were conspicuous.
[9]Karl Albrecht, Elector of Bavaria, subsequently Charles VII, was born at Brussels, Aug. 6, 1697, and died at Munich, Jan. 20, 1745. He was a claimant of the Austrian inheritance, took part in the War of the Succession, was proclaimed King of Bohemia in 1741, and crowned Emperor in 1742.
[10]Hans Joachim von Zieten was a famous cavalry officer in the Prussian army, and won distinction from a march with his hussars in 1745. He decided three of Frederick’s victories,—Leuthen, Liegnitz, and Torgau.
[11]Count Raimondo Montecuculi was born at Modena, Italy, in 1608, and died at Linz, Austria, in 1680. He served with great distinction in the Thirty Years’ War; commanded the Austrian army which was sent to Poland against the Swedes and Transylvanians, 1657-60; gained a great battle over the Turks at St. Gotthard in 1664; and fought Turenne and Condé on the Rhine from 1672 to 1675. He wrote a famous treatise on the art of war, from which the saying above attributed to him is quoted.
[12]Kurmark the old name for the larger portion of Brandenburg, Prussia.