Maximilian, Count von Merveldt (29 June 1764 – 5 July 1815), among the most famous of an illustrious old Westphalian family, entered Habsburg military service, rose to the rank of General of Cavalry, served as Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor's ambassador to Russia, and became special envoy extraordinaire to the Court of St. James's (Great Britain). He fought with distinction in the wars between the Habsburg and the Ottoman empires, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars.
Maximilian entered the military as a young man, and acquired his first combat experiences the Habsburg wars with the Ottoman Empire. Following his experience in the Balkans, he retreated to the cloister at Bonn, where he spent a year as a novice in the Teutonic Order. At the outbreak of war between the Habsburg monarchy and France in 1792, he returned to military service, and proved an intrepid and enterprising cavalry field officer. His role in the Habsburg victory at Neerwinden in 1793 earned him the honor of conveying the news to the Emperor in Vienna.
In the War of the Second Coalition, Maximilian served in Swabia and northern Italy and Switzerland. In subsequent wars between France and the Habsburg Monarchy, his role on the battlefield often meant the difference between defeat and victory. He was wounded and captured at the Battle of Leipzig and, as a condition of release, he agreed not to bear arms against France again. He was subsequently appointed as an envoy to Britain, where he died in 1815.
Family and early career
Maximilian was born on 29 June 1764 in the ecclesiastical territory of Münster, in Westphalia. By birth, he was a member of the House of Merveldt, an old Westphalian family, raised to comital status in 1726. He joined the military service in 1782, in a dragoon regiment, and was promoted to lieutenant and first lieutenant by 1787. In the wars between Austria and the Ottoman Empire, (1787–1791), he was a Rittmeister, or captain of cavalry and wing adjutant to Field Marshal Franz Moritz, Count von Lacy. In 1790, Merveldt commanded the Volunteers Grün-Loudon and later that year, after his promotion to major, he served on the staff of Field Marshal Ernst Gideon, Baron von Laudon in Moravia.
Military career
War of the First Coalition
Following the defeat of the insurrection in the Austrian Netherlands, he received permission from Field Marshal Laudon, shortly before the latter's death, to take a one year novitiate in the Teutonic Order, at Bonn where he remained until April 1792. The outbreak of the War of the First Coalition against France required his military talents and Mervelt rejoined the Habsburg army at as adjutant to Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He led two infantry battalions in the Habsburg victory at Neerwinden (18 March 1793), during which his battalions repulsed a strong French column. For his role at the head of his battalions of grenadiers, which his commander considered greater than duty required, in this victory, Merveldt received the honor of carrying the message to the Emperor Francis in Vienna. There, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa on 7 July 1794. Subsequently, he was appointed as an attaché to the staff of Frederick, Duke of York.
In the 1794 campaign, Merveldt fought at the Battle of Famars and again at the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies, south of Landrecies on 22 April, during which he commanded the right wing. After the Battle of Tournai (22 May 1794), he was promoted on the field to Oberst (colonel). His failing health prevented him from continued field service and he took sick leave until early 1796. In 1796 he transferred to the 18th Chevau-légers Regiment Karaczay and fought at the Battle of Kircheib, in the Westerwald, where, despite the French superiority of numbers, the Habsburgs eked out a victory. At Kircheib, with two squadrons of Chevaux-legers, Merveldt saved the Austrian artillery from French capture, thus contributing to the Hahsburg victory. The Tagebericht (daily dispatch) of the Army of the Rhine referred to his keen sense of duty, and his ability to seize the moment, which, in this case, proved a vital element in the extraordinary success of the small Habsburg force against the considerably larger French one. Afterward he was promoted to major general. He was assigned as proprietor of the First Lancer's Regiment, and given command of a cavalry brigade in Franz von Werneck's Reserve of the Army of the Lower Rhine.