EUGENE OF SAVOY (FRANcoIS EUGENE), PRINCE (1663 1736), fifth son of Prince Eugene Maurice of Savoy-Carignano, count of Soissons, and of Olympia Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin, was born in Paris on Oct. 18, 1663. Originally destined for the church, Eugene desired to enter the army, but his mother had fallen into disgrace at court, and Louis XIV. refused him a commission. This, and his mother's influence produced in him a lifelong resentment against the king. He went to Vienna, where his relative the emperor Leopold I. received him kindly, and he served with the Austrian army during the campaign of 16S3 against the Turks. His courage in a cavalry fight at Petronell (7th July) and in the great battle for the relief of Vienna won for him the command of a regiment of dragoons. He was wounded at the capture of Buda (Aug. 3, 1686) and at the siege of Bel grade (1688). A decree of banishment from France was now issued against all Frenchmen who continued to serve in foreign armies. "The king will see me again," was Eugene's reply when the news was communicated to him ; he continued his career in foreign service.
Prince Eugene's next employment (1689) was partly diplo matic. He was sent by Leopold to Italy with the view of secur ing the co-operation of the duke of Savoy with the Italian and Spanish troops. Later in 1689 he served on the Rhine and was again wounded. He returned to Italy in time for the battle of Staffarda, in which the coalition was defeated by the French mar shal Catinat; but in the spring of 1691 Prince Eugene raised the siege of Coni, took possession of Carmagnola, and in the end completely defeated Catinat. He followed up his success by en tering Dauphine, where he took possession of Embrun and Gap. Eventually the further prosecution of the war was abandoned owing to the defection of the duke of Savoy, and Eugene re turned to Vienna, where he received the command of the army in Hungary. Louis XIV. now secretly offered him the baton of a marshal of France, the government of Champagne and a pen sion. Eugene indignantly rejected these offers and proceeded to serve against the Turks. He surprised the enemy (Sept. 11, 1697) at Zenta, on the Theiss. The victory was one of the most complete ever won by the Austrian arms. Peace was at length concluded at Karlowitz on Jan. 26, 1699.
Two years later he was again in active service in the War of the Spanish succession (q.v.). At the beginning of the year 17oi he was sent into Italy to oppose his old antagonist Catinat. He achieved a rapid success, crossing the mountains from Tirol into Italy in spite of almost insurmountable difficulties (Journal d. Militdrwissenscfii. Verein, No. 5, 1907), forcing the French army to retire behind the Oglio, where a series of reverses led to Catinat's recall. Villeroi, Catinat's successor, ventured to attack Eugene at Chiari, and was repulsed with great loss. The French were forced to abandon the whole of the Mantuan territory and to take refuge in Cremona. By means of a stratagem, Eugene pene trated into the city during the night, at the head of 2,000 men, and though he could not hold the town, carried off Villeroi as a pris oner. The French army was then largely reinforced under the able command of Vendome, and the campaign was ended by the sangui nary battle of Luzzara (Aug. 1, 1702) in which each party claimed the victory. The armies went into winter quarters, and Eugene returned to Vienna, where he was appointed president of the coun cil of war. He was then sent against the insurgents in Hungary. After the collapse of the revolt, he was sent to Bavaria, where, in 1704, he made his first campaign along with Marlborough. Similar ity of tastes, views and talents soon established between these two great men a rare friendship which contributed to the success of the allies. The first victory (Aug. 13, 1704) was that of Hochstadt or Blenheim (q.v.) where the English and imperial troops van quished one of the finest armies that France had ever sent into Germany.
But in Eugene's absence, Vendome, who commanded the French army in Italy, had obtained various successes against the duke of Savoy, who had once more joined Austria. The emperor re called Eugene and sent him to Italy. After a variety of marches and counter-marches, in which both commanders displayed signal ability, the two armies met at Cassano (August 16, 17o5) . Prince Eugene received two severe wounds which forced him to quit the field ; this accident decided the fate of the battle, and for the time suspended the prince's march towards Piedmont. Vendome, how ever, was recalled, and his successor, La Feuillad, was helpless against Eugene who appeared before the entrenched camp at Turin, which place the French were now besieging with an army 8o,000 strong. Prince Eugene had only 30,00o men; but on Sept. 7, 1706 he attacked the French army in its entrenchments and gained a victory which decided the fate of Italy. In the heat of the battle Eugene received a wound, and was thrown from his horse. He was rewarded by the government of the Milanese, of which he took possession with great pomp on April 16, 1707. He was also made lieutenant-general to the emperor Joseph I. The attempt which he made against Toulon in the course of the same year failed completely. The prince now returned to Vienna, where he was received with great enthusiasm. The Emperor immediately despatched Eugene to Holland, and to the different courts of Ger many, in order to forward the necessary preparations for the cam paign of the following year, 1708 (see SPANISH SUCCESSION, WAR OF THE).
Early in the spring of 1708 the prince assumed the command of the German army in Flanders. The campaign was opened by the victory of Oudenarde (q.v.). The French immediately abandoned the Low Countries, and made no attempt to prevent Eugene's army, covered by that of Marlborough, making the siege of Lille. After the capture of Lille, Eugene and Marlborough proceeded to the Hague, and negotiations were opened for peace, but proved fruitless. In 1709 France placed Marshal Villars, her best living general, in command. The bloody victory of Malplaquet (q.v.), was so dearly bought that the allies broke off the campaign and went into winter quarters. Eugene was sent on a mission to the king of Prussia. He then returned to Flanders, where, excepting the capture of Douai, Bethune and Aire, the campaign of 1710 presented nothing remarkable. On the death of the emperor Joseph I. in April 1711, Prince Eugene, in concert with the em press, sought to secure the crown to the archduke, who afterwards ascended the imperial throne under the name of Charles VI. In the same year Marlborough fell from favour with Queen Anne. Prince Eugene immediately repaired to London, in the hope of restoring Marlborough's credit and re-attaching England to the co alition. The mission failed, and the emperor had to make the cam paign of 1712 with the aid of the Dutch alone. Nevertheless, Eugene resolved, at whatever cost, to penetrate into Champagne ; and began operations by making himself master of Quesnoy. But the Dutch, having been surprised and beaten in the lines of Denain, he was obliged to raise the siege of Landrecies, and to abandon the project of invading France. Abandoned first by England and then by Holland, the emperor still wished to continue the war in Ger many ; but Eugene was unable to relieve either Landau or Frei burg, both of which capitulated. Seeing the Empire thus laid open to the armies of France, and the Austrian hereditary states exposed to invasion, the prince counselled peace. He was entrusted with full powers to negotiate and concluded peace at Rastadt on March 6, 1714. After his return to Vienna, Eugene exchanged the government of the Milanese for that of the Austrian Nether lands.
In the spring of 1716 the emperor having concluded an offensive alliance with Venice against Turkey, appointed Eugene to com mand the army of Hungary ; and at Peterwardein he gained (Aug. 5, 1716) a signal victory over a Turkish army of more than twice his own strength. The pope sent the victorious general the con secrated hat and sword which the court of Rome was accustomed to bestow upon those who had triumphed over the infidels. Eugene won another victory in this campaign at Temesvar. In 1717, Eugene laid siege to Belgrade, where he had to deal with the garri son of 30,00o men and a relieving army of 200,000, while his own force was only about 40,000 strong. On the morning of Aug. 16, 1717 he ordered a general attack, which resulted in the total defeat of the enemy with enormous loss, and in the capitulation of the city six days afterwards. The prince was wounded, for the thir teenth time. The popular song "Prinz Eugen, der edle Ritter," commemorates the victory of Belgrade. In 1718, after some fruit less negotiations, he again took the field, but the treaty of Passaro witz (July 2I, 1718) concluded hostilities at the moment when the prince had well-founded hopes even of reaching Constantinople, and dictating a peace on the shores of the Bosporus.
As the government of the Netherlands, up to 1724 held by Eugene, had now been bestowed on a sister of the emperor, the prince was appointed vicar-general of Italy, with a pension of 300,00o florins. His personal relations with the emperor were not so cordial as before, and he suffered from the intrigues of the Spanish or anti-German party. On discovering the conspiracy of Tedeschi and Nimptsch in 1719, the prince threatened to lay down all his offices if the conspirators were not punished. During the years of peace between the Treaty of Passarowitz and the War of the Polish Succession, Eugene occupied himself with the arts and with literature, and corresponded with many of the most eminent men in Europe. Austria attacked France against the advice of Eugene (1734). Nevertheless, he was appointed to command the army destined to act upon the Rhine ; if it could not prevent the capture of Philipsburg after a long siege, it at least prevented the enemy from entering Bavaria. Eugene, who was now 71, no longer possessed his former vigour, and he welcomed the peace concluded on Oct. 3, He died at Vienna on April 21, 1736, leaving an immense inheritance to his niece, the princess Victoria of Savoy.
Of a character cold and severe, Prince Eugene had almost no other passion than that of glory. He died unmarried, and seemed so little susceptible to female influence that he was styled a Mars without a Venus. That he was one of the great captains of history is universally admitted. The special characteristics of his general ship were imagination, fiery energy and a tactical resolution which was rare indeed in the 18th century. His almost invariable success raised the reputation of the Austrian army to a point which it never reached either before or since his day. War was with him a passion. Always on the march, in camps, or on the field of battle during more than fifty years, and under the reigns of three em perors, he had scarcely passed two years together without fighting. Yet his political activity was not inconsiderable and his advice was always sound and well-considered ; while in his government of the Netherlands, which he exercised through the marquis de Prie, he set himself resolutely to oppose the many wild schemes, such as Law's Mississippi project, in which the times were so fertile. He took keen interest in literature and art. His palace in Vienna, and the Belvedere near that city, his library, and his collection of paintings were renowned.