Radetzky, Joseph Wenzel Anton Franz Karl,
count Radetzky von Radetz (1766–1858)
Austrian general
Joseph Radetzky was born into a family of Hungarian
ancestry on 2 November 1766 in Trzebnitz, Bohemia, in
what is now the Czech Republic. He joined the Austrian
military in 1784 when he was 18 and saw action in the
Austrian-Russian war against Turkey (1787–92) as a gal-
loper (messenger) on the staff of Count Franz Moritz
Lacy. He was also involved during the opening years of
the wars against Revolutionary France, particularly in
Italy from 1796 onward. Seeing action against French
forces, he took part in Dagobert Wurmser’s campaign in
Mantua and showed considerable courage in several bat-
tles, including at Trebbia (17–19 June 1799) and Novi
(15 August 1799); at Marengo (14 June 1800), he was
struck by five shots but survived. In 1801, he received
the knighthood of the Maria Theresa order.
In 1805, following a series of promotions, Ra-
detzky was made a major general and given command of
a brigade of Austrian forces in Italy. Four years later, he
fought at Wagram, near Vienna (6 July 1809), when the
Austrians were defeated by a French army under naPo-
leon bonaParte. Following this battle, Radetzky was
named as chief of the Austrian army general staff. In this
role, he modernized tactics and implemented a number
of reforms, but he resigned when the Austrian treasury
refused him the funds needed. Nonetheless, he was able
to implement reforms that were extremely effective and
improved the Austrian military performance. He also
aided in the planning for the Battle of Leipzig (16–18
October 1813), where the former French commander,
Jean-Baptiste bernadotte, a Swedish prince, defeated
Napoleon himself. Radetzky was one of the key lead-
ers in Napoleon’s eventual defeat, and in 1814 he was
invited to attend the Congress of Vienna, which met
to settle the question of the boundaries of nations that
had been overrun by Napoleon. Following the congress,
Radetzky returned to the Austrian army. He served as
commander in chief of the Austrian army in northern
Italy (1831–37), and in 1836 he was promoted to field
marshal.
In 1848, agitation by Italian partisans wanting to
end Austrian control over their country erupted into war,
and Radetzky was placed in charge of Austrian troops
to put down the insurrection. Although he was then 82
years old, he skillfully defeated the Italians at Custoza
(24 July 1848) and at Novara (23 March 1849). Histo-
rian George Bruce writes of the battle at Novara that it
was “between 47,000 Piedmontese under Chrzanowski
and three Austrian army corporations, 45,000 [strong],
under Field Marshal Radetzky. After hard fighting the
Piedmontese were completely defeated and driven from
the field in disorder. Under the peace treaty the defeated