army. Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister to King Louis
XIII, gave him the rank of colonel and the command
of a regiment of infantry, but he did not see action
until 1634, when he led the assault on the city of La
Motte in Lorraine in 1634. For his services in this battle,
Turenne was promoted to the rank of maréchal de camp
(major general). In 1635, he began his participation in
the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) when France declared
war against Spain; he was at Mainz when the French
lifted the Spanish siege there, but his forces were forced
to retreat to Metz when they ran short of rations and
supplies. In 1636, he led the French in the capture of
the French Alsatian city of Saverne, where he was seri-
ously wounded. The following year, he rejoined his unit,
fighting at the capture of the city of Landrecies (26 July
1637). While serving under Duke Bernhard of Saxe-
Weimer, a German commander, Turenne led the attack
on the fortress at Breisach and forced its surrender (17
December 1638).
In 1639, Turenne’s battlefield exploits led Cardi-
nal Richelieu to send him to Italy to fight under Henri
of Lorraine (1601–66), duc d’Harcourt. D’Harcourt
moved from the city of Carignano to Casale, send-
ing Turenne to fight Prince Thomas of Savoy at Turin.
In 1640, d’Harcourt met Prince Thomas’s forces at
Turin, forcing Thomas’s surrender on 17 September
- This action, mainly due to Turenne’s services, led
to further battles in 1641, most notably at Mondovi,
Coni (also Cuneo), and Ceva. In 1641, Turenne, as sec-
ond in command of French forces, besieged the city of
Roussillon.
On 19 December 1643, Turenne was given the
command of French forces in Germany, and he was pro-
moted to the rank of marshal. Dispatched to the prov-
ince of Alsace, he was given command of “the Army of
Weimar,” the forces that had fought under Duke Bern-
hard of Saxe-Weimar and suffered the disastrous defeat
at Tuttlingen (24–25 November 1643). Within a year,
he had reorganized these remaining troops into an effec-
tive fighting force and, as second in command to the duc
d’Enghien, marched them across the Rhine River into
Germany in June 1644. He was the victor in a series of
battles, including at Freiburg (also known as the Three
Days’ Battle, 3, 5, and 9 August 1644), but he was badly
beaten at Mergentheim (also known as Marienthal, 2
May 1645) and Nördlingen (also known as Allerheim, 3
August 1645). Nevertheless, he continued to command
the French army, capturing Trier (Trèves) and forcing
the elector of Bavaria to sign a peace treaty at Ulm (14
March 1647). Marching into Luxembourg, Turenne was
forced to turn back when the Bavarians repudiated the
treaty, but he defeated them at Zusmarshausen (17 May
1648), destroying the city. This final defeat of the anti-
French alliance forced the signing of the Peace of West-
phalia (1648) and an end to the war.
A civil war broke out in France that same year, and
at first Turenne sided with the revolutionaries. However,
he soon returned to the royalist fold, supporting and
leading the forces of King Louis XIV. In 1651, his for-
mer superior, the duc d’Enghien, now duc de condé,
sided with the rebels, and the two men then became op-
ponents. Several years of minor and indecisive battles
culminated in the battle at Rethel (15 December 1650),
where Turenne was defeated; however, at the battle of
the Dunes near what is now Dunkirk (14 June 1658),
he defeated Condé, who was forced to leave France, and
ended the war.
In 1660, Cardinal Mazarin, who had governed
France as regent for the young King Louis XIV, died,
and Louis took control of the throne. One of his first
moves was to name Turenne—now elevated to vicomte
de Turenne—as “marshall-general of the camps and
armies of the King.” In 1672, when Louis XIV fought
the Dutch, Turenne’s forces overran the Dutch provinces
as far as the city of Amsterdam. Instead of surrendering
to the French army, however, the Dutch opened the city’s
dikes and flooded its plains, forcing Turenne to forego
an assault. This setback encouraged others to take up
arms against France. In January 1673, taking the initia-
tive, Turenne marched into Germany, forcing the elector
of Brandeburg to sue for peace. Outmaneuvered by the
Italian commander Raimondo Montecucculi, conte di
Montecucculi, leading European imperial forces, he had
to abandon attacking the city of Bonn. In June 1674,
he won a victory at Sinzheim, but he was checked at
Enzheim (4 October 1674). He lured the imperialists to
Turkheim, in the French Rhineland, and won a massive
victory on 5 January 1675. He then marched into Alsace
and took it back from Montecucculi’s forces, pursuing
the Italian commander until they met at Sassbach on
27 July 1675. At the very start of the battle, a bullet
struck Turenne, killing him instantly. Mourned by the
nation, his body was returned to France and buried in
the church of St. Denis in Paris. In 1800, upon an order
of naPoleon, his remains were exhumed and placed in
the church of Les Invalides in Paris.tuRenne, henRi De lA touR D’AuveRgne, vicomte De