Sigbert Graf Heister ( Kirchberg an der Raab, 1 January 1646 – Kirchberg an der Raab in Steiermark, 22 February 1718) was an Imperial Field marshal. His father was Gottfried Heister (1609–1679), vice president of the

Hofkriegsrat The ''Hofkriegsrat'' (or Aulic War Council, sometimes Imperial War Council) established in 1556 was the central military administrative authority of the Habsburg monarchy until 1848 and the predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War. Th ...

. Sigbert fought in 1665 against the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

, and later against the French. Because of his bravery and insight in combat, he reached the rank of General. He participated in the Battle of Vienna in 1683 and fought in the following Great Turkish War in

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

. He became General Major in 1686. In 1689, Heister commanded the entire Infantry under Louis of Baden in the Battles of Batočina and

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

, and in 1693 he led his own army corps against the insurgents in Hungary. In 1697, Heister was one of the commanders under

Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. He ...

, who defeated the Turks in the

Battle of Zenta The Battle of Zenta, also known as the Battle of Senta, was fought on 11 September 1697, near Zenta, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Senta, Serbia), between Ottoman and Holy League armies during the Great Turkish War. The battle was the most deci ...

. In the beginning of the

War of Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phili ...

, he was deployed in 1703 in

Bayern Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

and

Tirol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. After the outbreak of Rákóczi's War for Independence in Hungary, and Prince Eugene fighting the French and Bavarians in the West, Heister was put at the head of an improvised army to defend Vienna against Rákóczi's Kurucs. Heister became Field Marshal and crushed in May 1704 a Kuruc army under

Sándor Károlyi Baron, later Count Sándor Károlyi de Nagykároly (german: Alexander Károly von Nagy-Károly; 20 March 1668 – 8 September 1743) was a Hungarian aristocrat, statesman and Imperial Feldmarschall. He was one of the generals of Francis II Rákóczi ...

near St. Niclas. He fought many more battles against the insurgents, winning victories at

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of ...

(22 June 1704) and

Trnava Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' ( Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' ( T ...

(26 December 1704) and pushed ruthlessly the fighting back into Hungary. His harshness was not appreciated in Vienna, where the Court still hoped to come to a negotiated peace with Rákóczi. He was replaced by General d´Erbeville and sent to Italy in 1706. In 1708 the situation in Hungary was still not under control, and Heister was reappointed at the head of the army. Here he won the decisive Battle of Trenčín, but was again replaced by the more diplomatic Johann Pálffy, who finally negotiated the end of the war in 1711. Heister served one more time in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18 and played an important role in the capture of

Belgrad Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 million ...

on 22 August 1717, in which his son was killed. The next year, Heister died in his palace in Kirchberg.

Literature

* Gertrude Hopfinger: ''Biographie des Feldmarschalls Heister.'' Dissertation, Wien 1939. {{DEFAULTSORT:Heister, Sigbert 1646 births 1718 deaths 17th-century Austrian people 18th-century Austrian people Field marshals of Austria Rákóczi's War of Independence