Hannibal Marchese di Sommariva
Command Ratings
Commands
- Commands the Right Column of Austrian III Corps at Linz-Urfahr (1809, age 54)
Hannibal Marchese di Sommariva was an Austrian Imperial officer of Lombard origin, born at Lodi on 10 March 1755 and dead at Vienna on 10 July 1829. He was educated at the Collegio dei Nobili in Milan before entering Habsburg service in 1771 as an Unterleutnant in the cavalry regiment later numbered as Ulanen-Regiment Nr. 8.
His early active service included the 1778 campaign against Prussia, after which he continued his regimental career into the Habsburg war with the Ottoman Empire of 1787–1789. In November 1789 he was appointed Major. In the wars against Revolutionary France he served with distinction from 1793 onward, by that year holding the rank of Oberstleutnant. During operations in the Low Countries in 1793 he took part in the action at Orchies on 24 October 1793, and he was also noted in fighting connected with Marchiennes in the same campaign period. He was present in the hard-fought battle of Fleurus on 16 June 1794.
In 1795 he took part in the operations around Mannheim, including the attack and seizure of the French position and camp at Mannheim on 18 October 1795. After the fall of Mannheim he was again engaged in the subsequent fighting, including the defense at Edigheim from 7 to 11 December 1795. In 1796 he became Oberst and commander of his regiment (Ulanen-Regiment Nr. 8). In the course of the 1796 campaign in Germany under Erzherzog Karl he was engaged in actions in the Rhine-Neckar area, including fighting at Schwetzingen, Mannheim, and Frankenthal, and he fought in the battle of Amberg on 24 August 1796.
In 1799 he served in Italy and earned the Ritterkreuz of the Military Order of Maria Theresa for conduct at the battle of Magnano (5 April 1799). In the same year he was promoted to Generalmajor. At the beginning of 1800 he was appointed Generalgouverneur of the Tuscan provinces, an administrative-military appointment he held until he was compelled to evacuate the provinces later in 1800 in the face of French operations.
He continued to serve in the Italian theater in the campaign of 1801, and again in 1805. In 1805 he fought as a brigadier in Italy, including at Caldiero (29–31 October 1805). In 1806 he was appointed Inhaber (Proprietor) of Kürassier-Regiment Nr. 5, a colonel-proprietorship he retained thereafter.
On 1 January 1807 Sommariva was promoted to Feldmarschalleutnant and simultaneously appointed military commander in Austrian Silesia, with headquarters at Troppau (Opava). This post placed him in charge of a key frontier military district and its resources during a period when Austria was rebuilding after the defeats of 1805 and preparing for renewed conflict.
In the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, Sommariva held divisional command in the field army. At the opening of the campaign he commanded a division in Franz Seraph von Orsini-Rosenberg’s IV Corps. On 19 April 1809, during the fighting around Dünzling in the Regensburg sector, his troops charged and overthrew a brigade under the French cavalry commander Pajol. On 22 April 1809, during the battle of Eckmühl, he commanded the rearguard of the Austrian right wing, a role that involved covering the army’s movements in the face of Napoleon’s main effort in Bavaria.
After Eckmühl he was transferred from IV Corps to the corps of Feldzeugmeister Kolowrat (III Corps). In this new assignment he fought at Linz-Urfahr on 17 May 1809, during operations on the Danube in Upper Austria connected with the attempt to contest French control of the river crossings and communications. After the action at Linz-Urfahr he did not participate in the later Major battles of the 1809 campaign, and he also did not serve on the 1812 expeditionary commitments associated with the Franco-Russian War.
In 1813 he returned to active higher command, again with divisional responsibilities, serving in the Army of Innerösterreich. This army operated on Austria’s southern approaches during the War of the Sixth Coalition, and Sommariva’s post indicates he remained within the higher command cadre trusted for independent divisional leadership in a complex multi-theater war.
Sommariva’s senior-rank career continued into the post-Napoleonic army. On 21 January 1817 he was promoted to General der Kavallerie. He remained a prominent general officer of the Austrian establishment through the 1820s, and he died in Vienna on 10 July 1829.
Sources
XX 09 Abensberg-Eckmuhl; XX 13 Inner Austria & Italy