Eduard Clam-Gallas

Eduard Clam-Gallas

Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, 1849.
Born 14 March 1805
Prague
Died 17 March 1891 (aged 86)
Vienna
Allegiance  Austrian Empire
Years of service 1823–1866
Rank General der Kavallerie
Unit Cavalry
Commands held 1st Transylvanian Army Corps, 1st Bohemian Army Corps
Battles/wars First Italian Independence War
Battle of Santa Lucia
Battle of Vicenza
Battle of Custoza
Hungarian Revolution of 1848
Battle of Segesvár
Second Italian War of Independence
Battle of Magenta
Battle of Solferino
Austro-Prussian War
Battle of Podol
Battle of Münchengrätz
Battle of Gitschin
Awards Military Order of Maria Theresa
Relations Clothilde von Dietrichstein (1828 – 1899)
Other work Member of the Aulic Council

Count Eduard Clam-Gallas (14 March 1805, in Prague – 17 March 1891, in Vienna) was an Austrian General. He was the eldest son of Count Christian Christoph Clam-Gallas (1771–1838), patron of Beethoven, and Countess Josephine Clary-Aldringen (1777–1828).

Career

In 1823 Clam-Gallas joined the Army, at first as a Rittmeister (Captain) of the 1st Cavalry Regiment in 1831, then Commander (1835), Colonel (1840) and General in Prague (1846).

In 1848, called to Italy under the orders of General Joseph Radetzky, he commanded a brigade which distinguished itself at Santa Lucia, Vicenza and the Battle of Custoza. He was decorated with the Military Order of Maria Theresa and promoted to Field Marshal Lieutenant (equivalent of two-star general).

In April 1849 he became commander of the Transylvanian Army Corps which needed to return to Turkey (7,000 infantry, 1,600 horse and 36 cannon). At the beginning of July he was moving into Hungary to Hungarian: Brassó (now Romanian: Braşov), to support Alexander von Lüders on the right flank. In this month there were a few battles between Lüders, Józef Bem and Sándor Gál. During the Transylvanian summer campaign, Clam-Gallas was defeated by Bem, but after that was able to defeat Sándor Gál and his Székels Army. After occupying Székely Land he joined Lüders and together they defeated Bem at Segesvár.

In 1850, he was head of the I Army Corps of Bohemia in Vienna, and in the Second Italian War of Independence (1859) took part in the Battle of Magenta and the Battle of Solferino. This army corps was one of the first to be repelled, but this failure had no personal consequences for Clam-Gallas, who was promoted to General der Kavallerie.

In 1861 he was admitted to the Aulic Council before becoming, in 1865, Imperial Hofmeister.

In the course of the Austro-Prussian War, he suffered a humiliating defeat at Jičín, for which he was court-martialled, but he was acquitted because of his position in society. He spent his final years in retirement in Frýdlant and Liberec in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic).

Family

In 1850 he married Clothilde von Dietrichstein (1828 – 1899), heiress of Prince Joseph-Franz von Dietrichstein (1798 – 1858) and sister-in-law of Alexander von Mensdorff-Pouilly, a senior minister of the Austrian Empire and a brother-in-arms during the Battle of Magenta. They had one son, Franz and two daughters, Eduardine and Clotilde.

Bibliography