DAUN, Leopold Josef Maria, Count von (1705- 1766), field-marshal and commander-in-chief of the Austrian army during the Seven Years’ War, was born at Vienna on the 25th September 1705. He was intended for the church, and studied in his youth at Rome; but his natural inclination for the army, in which his father and grandfather had been distinguished generals, proved irresistible. In 1718 he served in the war in Sicily, in his father’s regiment; in 1734-5, having risen to the rank of major-general, he was engaged in the wars in Italy and on the Rhine. He continued to add to his distinctions in the war against the Turks (1737-9), and in the war of the Austrian succession. In 1745 he was placed in the supreme command of the artillery, and in the same year he confirmed himself in the favour of his sovereign, Maria Theresa, by marrying her protegé, the Countess Fuchs. In 1746-8 the held a command in the Netherlands. In 1754 he was elevated to the rank of field-marshal. During the interval of peace that preceded the Seven Years’ War he was engaged in carrying out an elaborate scheme for the reorganization of the Austrian army; and it was chiefly through his instrumentality that the military academy was established at Wiener-Neustadt in 1751. During the Seven Years’ War he was the most formidable opponent that Frederick the Great encountered. On the 18th June 1757 he inflicted a decisive defeat on the greatest general of the age at the battle of Kollin. In commemoration of this brilliant exploit the queen immediately instituted a military order bearing her name, of which Daun was nominated first grand cross. In December 1757 he succeeded Prince Charles of Lorraine as commander-in-chief, and he gained fresh fame by the victories of Hochkirchen (14th October 1758) and ...Maxen (20th November 1759). On the latter occasion he took General Fink and his whole army prisoners. These successes were counterbalanced by the defeat of Laudon at Liegnitz, which was attributed to the dilatoriness of Daun, and the defeat near Torgau (3d November 1760) by Ziethen’s cavalry in a night surprize. In this engagement Daun was so severely wounded that he had to return to Vienna to recruit. He resumed his command in 1761, but did not again achieve any marked success. He retired finally in 1763, at the close of the war. In the previous year he had been appointed president of the Aulic Council. He died on the 5th February 1766. By the order of Maria Theresa a monument to his memory was erected in the church of the Augustinians, with an inscription styling him the Saviour of the State. As a general Daun has been reproached for the dilatoriness of his operations, but this was only the wariness required in opposing a general like Frederick, who was quick and unexpected in his movements beyond all precedent. A more indisputable fault was his inability to secure the full results of a victory.
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