EUGENE, (le prince Francois-Eugene de Savoie-Carignan), better known as prince Eugene, equally distinguished as a gen. and as a statesman, was b. at Paris, 18th Oct., 1663. He was the son of Eugene Maurice, count of Soissons, and of Olympia Mancini, a niece of cardinal Mazarin. He was intended for the church; but the banish ment of his mother to the Low Countries, by the orders of Louis XIV., was so deeply resented by him, that he indignantly renounced his country, and entered the service of the emperor Leopold as a volunteer against the Turks. Subsequently, the French gov ernment made him the most flattering offers, but he never returned to the service of his native country. He displayed extraordinary military talent in the Turkish war, especially at the famous siege of Vienna in 1683, and soon rose to a high position in the army. In the coalition war against Louis XIV. in Italy, he took an active part; and in 1691, was raised to the command of the imperial army in Piedmont. On his return to Vienna, he was placed at the head of the army of Hungary, and defeated the Turks, with imihense slaughter, in the famous battle of Zenta, Sept. 11, 1697. The booty obtained was almost incredible, amounting to several millions sterling. In 1701, broke out the Spanish war of succession. E. for two years commanded the army of Italy, but his forces were too small for him to accomplish anything of importance. In the year 1703, being appointed president of the council of war, he became thenceforth the prime mover of every undertaking. He first took the command of the imperial army in Germany, and along with Marlborough gained a brilliant victory at the battle of Blen heim, 13th Aug., 1704, when the two commanders defeated the French and Bavarian army. E. afterwards saved Turin, and expelled the French from Italy in the year 1706. He shared, too, with Marlborough the glory of the fields of Oudenarde (in 1708) and Malplaquet (in 1709); but being crippled in his resources by the retirement of Holland and England from the contest, he was unable to withstand the enemy on the Rhine, and his defeat by Villars at Danain, 24th July, 1712, was followed by other disasters, until the peace of Rastadt put an end to the war. In 1716, on the recom
mencement of the war against the Turks, E. defeated an army of 180,000 men at Peter wardein, took Temeswar, and in the year 1717, after a bloody battle, gained possession of Belgrade. After the peace of Passarowicz, which was concluded in the following year, he returned covered with glory to Vienna, where, during the succeeding years of peace, lie labored with unwearied energy in the cabinet. When the question of the succession to the throne of Poland brdught On a new war with France, E. appeared again on the Rhine; but being now advanced in years, and destitute of sufficient resources, he was unable to accomplish anything of importance. After the peace, he returned to Vienna, where he died, 21st April, 1736. E. was small in stature, with thin face, and long nose; he was simple in dress and manner, and indulged profusely in snuff. An enthusiast in his profession, and a strict disciplinarian, he was also kind hearted and sympathetic, and always carefully attended to the wants of his men. He introduced no new tactics in the art of war, and was deficient in the guidance and command of masses; but by his rapidity of perception and decision, and faculty for making the best of existing circumstances, which was historic, he raised the prestige of the Austrian arms to an eminence unequaled before or since his time. He successively served under three emperors, of whom he was wont to say, that in Leopold I. he had a father, in Joseph I. a brother, and in Charles VI. a master. E.'s political writings, published by Sartori, are important for the light they throw upon the history and manners of the time. Compare Dumont, Histoire Militaire du Prince Eugene; Ferrari, De Rebus Gestis Eugenii (Rome, 1747); Campbell's Military History of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough; and the monographs of Kausler (1838), Arneth (1858), and Von Sybel (1861).