Johann, Prince of Liechtenstein

Johann Baptist Joseph Adam Johann Nepomuk Alois Franz de Paula (commonly Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein; German usage also Johann I. Joseph Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein) was born in Vienna on 27 June 1760, the younger son of Franz Josef I von Liechtenstein (1726–1781) and Leopoldine von Sternberg. He chose a professional military career in the Habsburg service and became one of the highest-ranking Austrian cavalry commanders of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, culminating in appointment as Feldmarschall.

He entered the Imperial and Royal Army as a cavalry officer in the early 1780s, joining a cuirassier regiment as a Lieutenant at about twenty-two. He served in the Austro-Turkish War of 1788–1791 (part of the wider Austro-Russian war against the Ottoman Empire). In this conflict he advanced rapidly through the field-grade ranks, becoming major, Oberstleutnant, and then Oberst (colonel). His wartime service established him as a capable cavalry commander and brought him high decoration: he received the Knight’s Cross of the Militär-Maria-Theresien-Orden in 1790.

With the outbreak of war against Revolutionary France, Liechtenstein served in the Austrian Netherlands and on the northern French frontier. He participated in the campaign of 1793 and took part in the cavalry combat at Avesnes-le-Sec on 12 September 1793, an action in which Allied cavalry routed French troops and captured guns and prisoners. His reputation in cavalry leadership continued to grow through the early coalition campaigns, and he remained in front-line employment in the western theater during the 1792–1794 fighting.

By the mid-1790s Liechtenstein had reached general rank. In the German theater he served during the campaigns of 1796–1797, when Austrian field forces fought repeated actions along the Rhine and in southern Germany against the armies of the French Republic. In these years he held senior command responsibilities that consistently kept him with cavalry-heavy formations used to screen, exploit, and cover withdrawals in a war characterized by rapid marches and repeated river-line maneuvers.

In 1799 he served in northern Italy during the Second Coalition. He was present in the operations around the Trebbia, including the battle fought 17–20 June 1799, where Austro-Russian forces under Suvorov defeated a French army in a hard-fought campaign that temporarily reversed French gains in Italy. Later in 1799 he was involved in the defense of the fortress of Cuneo during the French pressure on Piedmontese and Austrian positions; despite prolonged resistance, the fortress ultimately fell. These Italian operations were followed by further coalition campaigning as Austria shifted forces between theaters in response to French offensives and changing strategic priorities.

During the short War of the Third Coalition in 1805, Liechtenstein held a Major cavalry command in the allied Austro-Russian army. At Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 he commanded the cavalry assigned to the allied left-center, operating as the mounted strength of a principal column. His cavalry fought in the heavy actions on the allied left during Napoleon’s decisive victory. After the defeat, Liechtenstein became the key Austrian interlocutor in the immediate armistice and settlement process; he conducted negotiations with Napoleon that led to the Peace of Pressburg, signed on 26 December 1805, which imposed severe territorial and political terms on Austria.

In the reorganization that followed, Liechtenstein continued in high command. In 1808 he was promoted to General of Cavalry, one of the senior general-officer grades in the Austrian army’s hierarchy for cavalry commanders. In the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809 he commanded the I Reserve Corps (I. Reserve-Korps) in Archduke Charles’s main army, an organization that combined elite infantry elements with substantial cavalry and was intended for decisive employment in Major battles.

He led this corps in the spring campaign against Napoleon’s forces in Bavaria. At Eckmühl on 22 April 1809, when Austrian plans were disrupted by Napoleon’s concentration, Liechtenstein’s reserve formations were engaged in intense fighting during the Austrian retreat from the Danube line. In the subsequent operations on the Danube approaches to Vienna, he fought at Aspern-Essling on 21–22 May 1809, where Archduke Charles inflicted Napoleon’s first Major tactical check in a set-piece battle; Liechtenstein’s mounted and reserve troops were employed in the contested fighting around the villages and the river crossings. He was again in action at Wagram on 5–6 July 1809, the climactic battle of the campaign, where the Austrian army was defeated after two days of massed fighting; the reserve corps and cavalry were heavily involved in covering movements and meeting French assaults on critical sectors.

After Wagram and the armistice that followed, Archduke Charles relinquished command. Liechtenstein took over leadership of the main army for the remainder of 1809, overseeing the difficult transition from active campaigning to post-campaign reorganization under the political and military constraints imposed by the armistice and the Treaty of Schönbrunn (14 October 1809). In September 1809 Emperor Francis promoted him to Feldmarschall, placing him among the highest military ranks in the Habsburg monarchy.

Alongside his military career, Liechtenstein was head of the Princely House. On 12 April 1792 he married Landgravine Josepha Sophie zu Fürstenberg-Weitra (1776–1848), and the marriage produced thirteen children, including his successor Alois II (1796–1858). In the political rearrangements of 1806, the Principality of Liechtenstein entered the Confederation of the Rhine, a development that contributed to the consolidation of Liechtenstein’s sovereignty, and the principality’s status was later confirmed in the 1815 settlement.

Liechtenstein died in Vienna on 20 April 1836.

Sources

• Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein
• Prince Johann I von Liechtenstein (Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna)