Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen
Friedrich Ludwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, commanded one of the two Prussian armies destroyed by Napoleon in a single day. Born in 1746 into a princely family of Franconia, he entered Prussian service young and served in the War of the Bavarian Succession and against revolutionary France in the 1790s, where he had some success in the Rhineland. He was one of the senior officers of an army that had not been seriously reformed since Frederick the Great's death in 1786, and whose confidence in its own methods was undiminished. The Prussian system relied on linear formations, meticulous drill, harsh discipline and long supply trains, and it was slow. In October 1806, Prussia mobilised against France with a divided command — the Duke of Brunswick nominally in charge, with Hohenlohe and Rüchel commanding separately and the king present. On 14 October 1806 Napoleon attacked Hohenlohe's force at Jena, believing it to be the main Prussian army; it was not, and he had roughly double the numbers by afternoon. Hohenlohe fed troops in piecemeal and held a line under skirmisher fire without adapting. On the same day, a few miles north at Auerstedt, Davout with a single corps defeated the actual main army under Brunswick. Both Prussian armies broke, and the pursuit was relentless. Fortress after fortress surrendered without resistance. Hohenlohe retreated north with the remnant and surrendered some seventeen thousand men at Prenzlau on 28 October, deceived by Murat into believing he was surrounded by a far larger force. He resigned and died in 1818.
- Lived: 1746 CE – 1818 CE
- Nationality: German
- Roles: general
