Karl O'Donnell, Count of Tyrconnel (1715–1771) held important commands in the Austrian army during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. Between 1768 and 1770, he was governor of

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

Biography

O'Donnell held important commands during the

Third Silesian War The Third Silesian War () was a war between Prussia and Austria (together with its allies) that lasted from 1756 to 1763 and confirmed Prussia's control of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland). The war was fought mainly in Silesi ...

between Prussia and Austria, during the

, up to the rank of general. He distinguished himself in the Battles of Lobositz (1756), Prague (1757) and Kolin (1757). He was wounded and taken prisoner in the

Battle of Leuthen The Battle of Leuthen was fought on 5 December 1757 between Frederick II of Prussia, Frederick the Great's Prussian Army and an Austrian army commanded by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Prince Charles of Lorraine and Count Leopold ...

. Released in 1758, he participated in the

Battle of Hochkirch The Battle of Hochkirch took place on 14 October 1758, during the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War). After several weeks of maneuvering for position, an Austrian army of 80,000 commanded by Lieutenant Field Marshal Leopold Jos ...

and

Battle of Maxen The Battle of Maxen (20 November 1759) was a battle at Maxen, in the Electorate of Saxony during the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War). It resulted in surrender of a Prussian corps. The Prussian corps of 14,000 men, commanded b ...

, amongst others.
His greatest military performance was in the

Battle of Torgau In the Battle of Torgau on 3 November 1760, King Frederick the Great's Prussian army fought an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Leopold Josef Graf Daun. The Prussians won a costly victory in one of the bloodiest battles of the T ...

(1760), where he repelled an attack from the numerically superior enemy cavalry and took over the command for the wounded

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Graf (; feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title ...

'' von Daun, which he held until the winter of 1760. He was awarded the Grand Cross of the

Military Order of Maria Theresa The Military Order of Maria Theresa (; ; ; ; ; ) was the highest military honour of the Habsburg monarchy, Austrian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire. History Founded on 18 June 1757, the day of the Battle of Kolín, by the Empress Mari ...

for his achievements in this battle.BLKÖ:O’Donnell, Karl Graf
/ref>

Family

O'Donnell was a descendant of the Irish noble dynasty of

O'Donnell of Tyrconnell The O'Donnell dynasty ( or ''Ó Domhnaill,'' ''Ó Doṁnaill'' ''or Ua Domaill;'' meaning "descendant of Dónal") were the dominant Irish clan of the kingdom of Tyrconnell in Ulster in the north of History of Ireland (1169–1536), medieval an ...

who left Ireland after the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ) took place in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and James's daughter), had acceded to the Crowns of England and Sc ...

and settled in Austria.

Descendants

A descendant

Maximilian Karl Lamoral O'Donnell Maximilian Karl Lamoral Graf O'Donnell von Tyrconnell (29 October 1812 — 14 July 1895) was an Austrian officer and civil servant who became famous when he helped save the life of Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria. O'Donnell was a descendant of ...

was a notable figure in the history of the Italian and Hungarian campaigns of 1848 and 1849, and achieved fame for helping to save the life of

Emperor Franz Josef I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reig ...

during an assassination attempt in 1853. Henry Joseph O'Donnell, Count of La Bisbal (1769–1834) was from another branch of the family, a member of the Irish noble dynasty of

who left Ireland after the

; he was a general in the Spanish Army during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

References

;Attribution * 1715 births 1771 deaths Counts of the Holy Roman Empire Austrian people of Irish descent Wild Geese (soldiers)

Karl Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cac ...

Generals of the Holy Roman Empire Grand Crosses of the Military Order of Maria Theresa {{Austria-noble-stub