Maximilian, Count of Merveldt

Maximilian, Count von Merveldt
Maximilian Friedrich, Count von Merveldt
Born	29 June 1764 (1764-06-29) Münster, Westphalia
Died	5 July 1815 (1815-07-06) (aged 51) London, United Kingdom
Allegiance	Habsburg Austria
Service/branch	Cavalry
Years of service	1782–1814
Rank	General of Cavalry
Battles/wars	Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791) French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars
Awards	Knight's Cross, Military Order of Maria Theresa Order of Leopold
Other work	Novice, Teutonic Order, 1790–1808. Ambassador, Second Congress of Rastatt Ambassador, St. Petersburg Envoy Extraordinaire, Court of St. James's

Knight's Cross, Military Order of Maria Theresa

Maximilian, Count von Merveldt (29 June 1764 – 5 July 1815), among the most famous of an illustrious old Westphalian family, entered Austrian 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 Austria and France in 1792, he returned to military service, and proved an intrepid and enterprising cavalry field officer. His role in the Austrian 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 Austria, 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.

Maximilian was born on 29 June 1764 in the ecclesiastical territory of Münster, in Westphalia. His was 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.