In early 1894, Albert caught a cold while attending
the funeral of his nephew Francis II (1836–94), the for-
mer king of Naples (ruled 1859–61). He died in Arco,
in South Tirol, then in Austria-Hungary, on 18 Febru-
ary 1895 at the age of 78. Although barely remembered
today, he was a worthy successor to Radetzky and did
much to improve the Austrian armed forces.
References: Wawro, Geoffrey, The Austro-Prussian War:
Austria’s War with Prussia and Italy in 1866 (Cambridge,
U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Bruce, George,
“Custoza,” in Collins Dictionary of Wars (Glasgow, Scot-
land: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995), 68.
Albufera, duc de See suchet, louis-gabriel,
duc d’albufera da Valencia.
Alexander, Sir Harold Rupert Leofric George,
first earl Alexander of Tunis (1891–1969)
British general
Harold Alexander was born in London on 10 December
1891, the third son of the fourth earl of Caledon, who
died in 1897. He spent much of his childhood on his
family estate at Caledon in County Tyrone, Ireland, and
was educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military
Academy at Sandhurst. In 1911, he was commissioned
into the Irish Guards. He saw action in the First World
War, during which he was wounded twice and decorated
with the Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross,
and the Legion of Honor. After the war, he was placed
in command of troops sent to northern Russia to fight
the communists, and by the early 1920s he had risen
to the rank of brigadier general. In the period between
the two world wars, Alexander was commander of the
Irish Guards (1928–30), served with General Claude
Auchinleck in the Northwest Frontier in India, and was
the commander of the Nowshera Brigade in the North-
ern Command in India. In 1937, at the age of 45, he
became the youngest major general in the British Army.
Returning to the United Kingdom when the Sec-
ond World War began, Alexander took charge of the
evacuation of some 500,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk
(May–June 1940). Named general officer command-
ing in chief for the Southern Command of the United
Kingdom in 1940, Alexander was later sent to help in
the retreat of Allied troops from Burma in early 1942.
In August 1942, he and General Bernard Law mont-
gomery were sent to the Middle East as commander in
chief and commander of the Eighth Army, respectively,
to drive German troops from North Africa. In Febru-
ary 1943, Alexander was named deputy commander in
chief of Allied troops in North Africa and commander
in chief of the 18th Army Group in Tunisia. The editors
of the The Wordsworth Dictionary of Military Biography
write: “After the Anglo-American landings in Algeria
under General [Dwight D.] Eisenhower, Alexander was
directly responsible for the coordination of the simul-
taneous convergence from east and west on the Axis
forces withdrawing into Tunisia. Following a setback
suffered by the American forces attacking from the west
(for which Eisenhower must take some responsibility,
since he had become embroiled in Franco-American po-
litical turmoil), all Allied ground forces in Tunisia were
grouped into the 18th Army Group under Alexander’s
command.” Alexander coordinated the eastern and west-
ern forces against the Germans under General Jürgen
von Arnim, forcing the Axis forces into the northeast-
ern portion of Tunisia and their ultimate surrender on
13 May 1943. Alexander cabled British prime minister
Winston Churchill: “Sir: It is my duty to report that
the Tunisian campaign is over. All enemy resistance has
ceased. We are masters of the North African shores.”
Alexander became Supreme Allied Commander of Al-
lied Armies in Italy; under his command, the Allied forces
invaded Sicily and then southwestern Italy. The Americans
of General George Patton’s Seventh Army and the Brit-
ish of General Montgomery’s Eighth Army fought their
way up Italy to break the Axis resistance. Alexander moved
into Rome on 4 June 1944 and was promoted to field
marshal, the highest rank in the British army. On 29 April
1945, he received the unconditional surrender of all Ger-
man forces in Italy. This was followed a few days later by
the surrender of all German armies in Europe.
In 1946, Alexander was created viscount Alexander
of Tunis and made a Knight of the Garter. That same
year, he was named governor-general of Canada, a post
he held until his retirement in 1952, when he became
Earl Alexander of Tunis and Errigal. He was then named
defense secretary to Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
serving until 1954. In 1959, Alexander was awarded the
Order of Merit.
Alexander died of heart failure at the Wexham Park
Hospital in Slough on 16 July 1969 at the age of 76; he
was buried at Tyttenhanger, Hertfordshire. Despite hav- 0 AlbuFeRA, Duc De