Ludwig von Benedek

Ludwig von Benedek was the Austrian general who lost the battle that decided which power would unify Germany, and who had said before it that he was the wrong man for the command. He was born at Odenburg in Hungary, the son of a doctor, and rose through the Habsburg army on ability rather than birth at a time when that was unusual. He made his reputation in Galicia and then in Italy, where he covered the Austrian retreat after Magenta in 1859 and held his ground at Solferino when the rest of the line gave way. He was popular with his soldiers in a way few Habsburg generals were, and the army knew him as a fighting officer rather than a courtier. In 1866 the emperor gave him the North Army against Prussia. Benedek asked twice to be relieved of it, saying that he knew Italy and did not know the northern theatre, and was refused both times. He was beaten at Koeniggraetz on 3 July 1866, where Moltke moved three armies by rail and telegraph onto converging roads and the Prussian needle gun, loaded lying down, cut apart Austrian infantry that still had to stand to reload. Around 44,000 Austrians and Saxons were lost in a single day. The war was over in seven weeks and Austria was out of Germany permanently. Benedek was relieved, court-martialled, and then had the proceedings quashed on condition that he never defend himself in public. He kept that bargain for the fifteen years he had left, while the semi-official press blamed him for a plan he had not written. His wife burned his papers after his death, which is why the case has never been fully reopened.

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