Ludwig von Welden

Ludwig Freiherr von Welden ( born June 16, 1780 in Laupheim, Upper Swabia, † August 7, 1853 in Graz) was an Austrian Feldzeugmeister and temporarily supreme commander of the army of the Empire of Austria in Hungary.

Life

Ludwig was a member of the noble family von Welden, which transmit the reign of Laupheim got after the Peasants' War in 1582. The Welden built Laupheim from their residence and allowed the settlement of Jews in Laupheim.

Ludwig von Welden appeared first in 1798 in Württemberg services and participated in the campaigns of 1799 to 1800 the coalition war against France. In 1802 he passed into Austrian service, got captured by the French in 1809, but was soon exchanged, so that he could participate as a major at the battle of Aspern.

In 1812 he was a general staff officer at the headquarters of Prince Schwarzenberg. As a lieutenant colonel on the staff of the army in Italy in 1814, he distinguished himself multiple times, and after the capture of Mantua him the order was placed, due to the French army, which had surrendered there to southern France. In 1815 he served in the General Staff of the Army established against Murat, was colonel and 1816 Brigadier of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Then he stood for a long time the topographical office before, made the campaign against Piedmont in 1821 as Chief of the General Staff with and then conducted the national military description. From this period dates his monograph The Monte Rosa ( Vienna 1824).

From 1832 to 1838 he was the Austrian representative at the Central Military Commission of the German Confederation in Frankfurt am Main. Since 1836 field marshal lieutenant, he received in 1838 the Division command in Graz, in 1843 the General Command in Tyrol. In the uprising of Lombardy 1848 he was able to secure the connection Radetzky with the hereditary lands and directed the inclusion of Venice.

Operations in Hungary and Vienna

In September 1848 he was appointed civil and military governor of Dalmatia and, after the October insurrection in Vienna in November 1848 in the same property there. In April 1849 he received after Windischgrätz ' Loss of Emperor Franz Joseph I with the rank of Feldzeugmeister the supreme command of the army in Hungary transmitted. After taking the furnace through the revolutionary Hungary Welden was replaced by the Emperor in May 1849 Julius Haynau and returned to his post as governor of Vienna.

Welden led to June 1851 on behalf of the Emperor in Vienna a dictatorial regime that interned thousands of urban residents in barracks and should provide with the help of a spy system for post-revolutionary peace. He was aware that he was therefore hated by many and was the Viennese population as hostile.

1851 retired due to his health broken, he died on August 7, 1853 in Graz. There is a statue to him was erected ( by sculptor Hans Gasser ) in return for the creation of the park on Castle Hill in 1859. Another merit Weldens was the foundation of a disability fund named after him.

1869 Weldengasse was named in Vienna Favorites for him.