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Marshal Vauban Homepage
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U.K. © April 1998
This page created : 21 April 1998
Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne
Turenne was born on 11 September 1611 in the Northern French city of Sedan. By the time of his death at the battle of Sasbach
on 27 July 1675 he'd risen to the rank of Marshal of France, after
a career which later prompted Napoleon to list him as one of history's
seven great captains [and the only Frenchman on his list]. Whether this rating stands
the test of time is debatable, but what can't be disputed
is that Turenne was an exceptionally gifted commander. Another
of Napoleon's tributes was to have Turenne's remains removed to
a monument under the dome of Les Invalides church in Paris
[as was done with Vauban's heart, also at Napoleon's bidding]
where they lie today a short distance from the Emperor's own
tomb.
Early years & the beginnings of his Military Career
1611 Turenne is born, He is the son of the Protestant Henri, duc
de Bouillon, by his second wife, Elizabeth of Nassau,
daughter of William the Silent - stadholder of the
Netherlands.
1623 Father dies. Turenne is sent to learn soldiering with his
uncles Maurice and Frederick Henry - princes of Orange who
are leading the Dutch against the Spaniards in the
Netherlands
1630 Given command of an infantry regiment in the French
service.
1632 Continues service under Frederick Henry.
1635 Serves with the rank of maréchal de camp [General of
Brigade] under Cardinal de La Valette [Louis de Nogaret] on
the Rhine. Performs heroically during a retreat from Mainz
to Metz
1636 July - is wounded in the assault on Saverne.
1638 Undertakes a mission to Liège to hire troops for France and
is then sent to the Rhine again to reinforce Bernhard of
Saxe-Weimar at the siege of Breisach; he conducts the final
assault [17 December] during which he wins the respect of
Bernhard's German troops. The town falls to this assault -
the townspeople having by this time eaten every cat, dog
and rat in the place! The French now hold the key to the
Rhine.
1640 Participates in two campaigns in Italy. These culminate in
the capture of Turin on 17 September. This service
confirms his reputation.
1642 Serves as second in command at the siege of the
Spanish-held city of Perpignan. However, a conspiracy,
aimed against the Louis XIII's chief minister Richelieu and
led by the King's favourite the Marquis de Cinq-Mars is
uncovered. Turenne's elder brother, the Duc de Bouillon,
is implicated. The Duc is arrested and has to surrender
Sedan in order to obtain his freedom. Turenne remains
loyal to Louis XIII and to Richelieu throughout. By the
close of the year Richelieu dies.
1643 Louis XIII dies. His widow Anne of Austria, mother of and
Regent for the infant King Louis XIV, makes Turenne a
Marshal of France on 16 May. He is given command in Italy.
However, Richelieu's successor Mazarin, suspicious on
account of Turenne's family's links with the Marquis de
Cinq-Mars' plot, does not supply him with any fresh troops.
Command of French forces in Germany
1643 On 3 December news reaches Paris that France's Army of
Germany has been routed in the Black Forest and it's
commander killed. Turenne is appointed to lead the remnants
- mainly Germans who had followed Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar -
which he successfully welds into an effective force.
However, for the next four years Turenne's army, never more
than 10,000 strong, is continually weaker than his Bavarian
opponents. The Rhineland is devastated, and Turenne must
march far into Germany to obtain sustenance for his force.
Without effective support he will not be able to achieve
much.
1644 Faced by the superior Bavarian army under von Mercy,
Turenne leaves a garrison at Frieburg and falls back on
Briesach. In June von Mercy's army of 17,000 besieges
Frieburg. Turenne appeals for help as he impotently
witnesses Frieburg's inevitable fall to the enemy.. On 2
August he is joined by the small army of the Duke d'Enghien
[Louis II de Bourbon, the future prince de Condé]. The
latter is younger by 10 years than Turenne but assumes
command of their combined force [now 17,000] since a Prince
of the Blood is superior to even a Marshal of France.
Nevertheless, the two of them are to work well together.
Three fierce actions near Frieburg, 3, 5 & 10 August,
induce the Bavarians to leave the Rhine valley; and in
September Enghien and Turenne take Philippsburg & wrest
control of the Rhine towns as far north as Bingen.
1645 Turenne, hoping to join up with France's Swedish allies in
Germany, marches through Württemberg. However, on 2 May
the von Mercy's Bavarians mount a surprise attack and
Turenne looses half his army in the Battle of Marienthal
[Mergentheim]. Turenne must fall back & Mazarin sends
Enghien to rescue him. Their united forces encounter the
Bavarians in the Battle of Nördlingen [Allerheim] on 3
August and in a desperate & costly struggle, in which von
Mercy is killed, the Bavarian's are driven off. Enghien &
Turenne reach the Danube but only after suffering such
grievous losses in infantry that they soon must return to
the Rhine.
1646 Turenne crosses the Rhine at Wesel and on 10 August, near
Giessen, achieves his intended junction with the much
stronger Swedish army under Field Marshal Carl Gustav
Wrangel. This forces the Imperialsist to fall back on
Fulda. Then in September the Franco-Swedish force evades
the Austro-Bavarian army on the river Main and marches
straight for the Danube threatened Augsburg & Munich and
laying waste the countryside.
1647 The Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria opens negotiations with
the French and, by the Treaty of Ulm [14 March] abandons
his alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III.
However, pressure is taken off the Austrians when Mazarin
orders the Army of Germany to operate in Luxembourg. As
the army reaches the Vosges the German cavalry mutinies and
re-crosses the Rhine. For three months Turenne marches
with them, far into Germany. Finally the force of his
personality brings most of them back to the French service.
1648 Bavaria returns to the Emperor's side in 1648 and Turenne
rejoins Wrangel for a march on the Danube, & then the Lech.
After the Battle of Zusmarshausen they reach the Inn - the
furthest towards Austria the French have so far penetrated.
Maximilian flees Bavaria & the Emperor sues for Peace.
The Treaty of Westphalia brings the Thirty Years' War to a
close.
Turenne & The Fronde.
1648 Precipitated by the unpopularity of Mazarin's fiscal
measures, as well as a certain amount of jealousy at his
influence, a rebellion among the aristocracy flares up.
This is the beginning of the so-called Fronde. In the
first war of the Fronde Turenne's family's interests, and
the friendship of Condé's sister, the Duchess de
Longueville, lead him to intervene on the side of the
rebellion [as co-incidentally, was the case with the young
Vauban]. Mazarin sends a new commander, and long overdue
arrears of pay, to the Army of Germany. Turenne is forced
to flee to Holland.
1649 A compromise-peace is signed at Reuil on 11 March and in
May Turenne returns to Paris.
1650 On 18 January Mazarin, forced by Condé's plotting, has the
latter arrested. Turenne again flees, joining the Duchess
de Longueville at Stenay on the eastern border of
Champagne. They ally themselves with the Spaniards, then at
war with France. Turenne heads the Fronde and wages war in
Champagne. However, in an attempt to relieve the Frondeurs
in Rethel he is completely defeated in the Battle of Champ
Blanc [15 October] by forces superior in number and
training under the command of the royalist Marshal César de
Choiseul, Comte Plessis-Praslin. Turenne narrowly escapes
capture.
1651 Mazarin goes into voluntary exile from Paris and Condé is
released. Under a general amnesty Turenne & others return
to Paris in May. Nevertheless, this is the lowest point in
Turenne's career. On a happier note he marries Charlotte
de Caumont [a confirmed Protestant]. He then remains aloof
from politics. He refuses to commit himself to Condé's
faction.
1652 Turenne's brother, the Duke de Bouillon, comes to terms
with the queen regent in March. As a consequence Turenne
is put in command of one of the two divisions of the Royal
Army [each is some 4,000] which have been assembled on the
Loire River to oppose Condé and his allies. Days later,
by dint of a courageous and clear-sighted action in
blocking the bridge at Jargeau he saves the young king
Louis XIV from capture by the rebels. In April, at
Bléneau, he checks Condé and rescues his beleaguered
colleague, Marshal d'Hocquincourt. On 5 July in the Battle
of St-Antoine under the very walls of Paris Turenne was on
the point of crushing Condé's army when the fickle
Parisians threw open their gates and gave the rebels
succour.
1652- Turenne's campaigning, first on the Loire, then before
1653 Paris, and finally in the Champagne region, represents
Turenne's greatest service to the monarchy. His resources
are always limited, and but for his great skill he might
have been overwhelmed; yet he staunchly keeps the queen
regent's court from taking refuge far from Paris and so
enables Louis XIV at last to re-enter his capital.
War with Spain
1654 With the defeat of the rebellion, good troops from other
parts of France can now be brought to reinforce those in
the Northeast contending with the forces of Spain - with
whom Condé is now serving. The turning point comes when
Turenne & his colleagues storm three lines of trenches &
expel an enemy army besieging Arras. He is later defeated
at Valenciennes [16 July] but this does not check his
overall success.
1658 Turenne overcomes numerous physical obstacles and invests
Dunkirk. When the Spaniards advance he defeats them in the
Battle of the Dunes [14 June] wherein he masterfully uses
the difficult ground into which his enemy had unwisely
moved. As the tide recedes Turenne encircles his enemy's
now open flank and crushes his forces. The Spanish tercios
are practically annihilated. His stunning and masterful
victory leads to the fall of Dunkirk which is handed over
to France's English allies [who have fought along side him
in the Battle of the Dunes] and he then moves freely into
Flanders. He takes Ypres [Ieper] and threatens Ghent &
Brussels.
1659 On 7 November France & Spain sign the Peace of the
Pyrenees. The Spanish Empire is left crippled while the
French monarchy is stabilised. Even Condé returns to the
fold and is pardoned. For the second time Turenne's
operations have contributed greatly to an advantageous
peace for France.
Final campaigns
1660 On 5 April Turenne is appointed "Marshal-General of the
camps and armies of the King," an extraordinary honour
which implies he may be elevated to Constable of France
[ex-officio Commander in chief in wartime] if he were to
abjure [renounce] his Protestant faith.
1666 Turenne's wife dies.
1668 Turenne renounces his Protestant faith. However, he is not
made Constable. The development of a Ministry of War by
the Marquis de Louvois has enabled Louis XIV to command in
person, and in the War of Devolution (1667-68) and in the
invasion of Holland (1672) Turenne marches at his side.
1672 Holland's German allies menace the lower Rhineland.
Turenne is once more sent east of the Rhine. However, with
only 16,000 men under him this is only a secondary command.
But the campaigns of this and succeeding years are to
bring him enduring fame. He had long been a master of the
delicate strategic fencing match but now bolder he offers
battle more often and looks for opportunities to defeat his
more powerful adversaries when they are weakened by
detachments.
1673 Already by the opening of the year Turenne has broken the
German coalition for a time and, by invading the county of
Mark, had forces the elector Frederick William of
Brandenburg to negotiate having also prevented the enemy
from crossing the Rhine. Later in the year his wider
manoeuvring against the emperor Leopold's army is so
successful he night reach Bohemia, but Louvois starves him
of the reinforcements needed for a decisive operation, and
so when Turenne is called back to cover Alsace, the
emperor's forces strike at Bonn and break French control of
the lower Rhine.
1674 Greatly superior German forces move toward the Rhine.
Turenne wins a complete victory over a detached corps at
Sinzheim, near Heidelberg, on 16 June and ravages the
Palatinate. But by September, under orders from Paris, he
is again west of the Rhine, with little hope of barring the
advance of the main enemy forces under Bournonville. At
Enzheim, near Strasbourg, on 4 October, with only 22,000
men to the enemy's 38,000, he attacks Bournonville who is
in an entrenched position. Turenne has to break off the
engagement before a decisive point is reached. With the
Brandenburgers joining the emperor's forces, their 57,000
men seem now to have secured control of Alsace. Turenne
replies in December with the most famous of his marches, a
march worthy of a Napoleon.
Turning south on the French side of the Vosges, Turenne
splits his forces into small packets to ease movement and
deceive enemy spies. They then make their way across the
snow covered mountains and reunite at Belfort. On 29
December they scatter the Imperial forces at Mulhouse.
Turenne follows up with an advance North toward Strasbourg.
A slightly superior Imperial force awaits him en-route at
Colmar.
1675 At Turckheim on 5 January, despite his army's epic &
exhausting winter march, Turenne delivers such a heavy blow
on the flank of the main enemy army that the Germans offer
only a perfunctory resistance and then re-cross the Rhine.
Alsace is saved. So ends one of the most brilliant
campaigns in military annals.
In June 1675 Turenne is on the east bank of the Rhine
manoeuvring against the Italian field marshal in imperial
service, Raimondo Montecuccoli, in order to control the
crossing near Strasbourg. The armies are in contact at
Sasbach. On 27 July Turenne is examining a position when
he is killed by a cannon shot.
Turenne is buried with the kings of France at Saint-Denis.
1808 The Emperor Napoleon has Turenne's remains transferred to
the Invalides Church in Paris. These repose in a new tomb
standing directly opposite the monument erected to Marshal
Vauban, in which the latter's heart is entombed.
Sources:
Dupuy & Dupuy, The Encyclopedia of Military History [London
1970]
Max Weygand, Turenne: Marshall of France [1930].
"Turenne, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de" Britannica
Online.
"http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/608/8.html"
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