Karl Philipp von Wrede

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Bronze statue of Fürst von Wrede in the Feldherrnhalle in Munich

Karl (or Carl) Philipp Josef Wrede, Freiherr von Wrede, 1st Fürst von Wrede (April 29, 1767 – December 12, 1838), Bavarian field-marshal, was born at Heidelberg, the youngest of three children of Ferdinand Josef Wrede (1722-1793), created in 1791 1st Freiherr von Wrede, and wife, married on March 21, 1746, Anna Katharina Jünger (1729-1804), by whom he had two more children Luise, Freiin von Wrede (September 23, 1748 - February 9, 1794), married to Philipp, Freiherr von Horn (-1834), and Georg, Freiherr von Wrede (December 8, 1765 - April 3, 1843), married on January 17, 1808 to Julie Zarka de Lukafalva (1781 - August 1, 1847), without issue.^[1]

He was educated for the career of a civil official under the Palatinate government, but on the outbreak of the campaign of 1799 he raised a volunteer corps in the Palatinate and was made its colonel. This corps excited the mirth of the well-drilled Austrians with whom it served, but its colonel soon brought it into a good condition, and it distinguished itself during Kray's retreat on Ulm. At the Battle of Hohenlinden (1800) Wrede commanded one of the Palatinate infantry brigades with credit, and after the peace of Lunéville he was made lieutenant-general in the Bavarian army, which was entering upon a period of reforms. Wrede soon made himself very popular, and distinguished himself in opposing the Austrian invasions of 1805 and 1809.

The Bavarians were for several years the active allies of Napoleon, and Wrede led the Bavarian corps that aided Napoleon’s victory at Wagram in 1809. Just before the Battle of Leipzig (1813) he negotiated the Treaty of Ried between Austria and Bavaria and fought with the allies against Napoleon. After Leipzig, he tried to block the French escape at Hanau but was beaten by Napoleon. In 1814 he was created prince and field marshal, Wrede represented Bavaria at the Congress of Vienna.

He married on March 18, 1795 Sofie, Gräfin von Wiser (May 23, 1771 - May 7, 1837), by whom he had eight children.