Wilhelm Freiherr von Ramming von Riedkirchen (30 June 1815 - 1 July 1876) was an Austrian ''

Feldzeugmeister ''Feldzeugmeister'' was a historical military rank in some German and the Austro-Hungarian armies, especially in use for the artillery. It was commonly used in the 16th or 17th century, but could even be found at the beginning of the 20th century ...

'' who commanded an

army corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

during the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

Biography

After attending the Wiener Neustadt Military Academy, Wilhelm Ramming was appointed in October 1834 as a lieutenant in the Cuirassier Regiment No. 7, with whom he served for the next five years. On 30 November 1839, he became a lieutenant in the staff of the General Quartermaster. He was promoted to captain on 20 June 1845. During the

First Italian War of Independence The First Italian War of Independence ( it, Prima guerra d'indipendenza italiana), part of the Italian Unification (''Risorgimento''), was fought by the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) and Italian volunteers against the Austrian Empire and other ...

he served under FML Haynau and participated in the attack on

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

and the siege of Fort Malghera, as well as in the battles against the insurgents at Pieve di Cadore. On 4 June 1849, he was appointed lieutenant colonel. During the Hungarian Revolution Ramming took part in the battles at Szered,

Raab Raab is a market town (''Marktgemeinde'') in the district of Schärding in Upper Austria in Austria. History The village historically belonged to the Duchy of Bavaria until the Treaty of Teschen transferred the area to Austria in 1780. During ...

, Komorn and Szegedin as General Staff of the FZM Haynau. For his services as chief of staff of the army during the summer campaign in Hungary, he was promoted to colonel and awarded the Knight's Cross of the

Order of Maria Theresa The Military Order of Maria Theresa (german: Militär-Maria-Theresien-Orden; hu, Katonai Mária Terézia-rend; cs, Vojenský řád Marie Terezie; pl, Wojskowy Order Marii Teresy; sl, Vojaški red Marije Terezije; hr, Vojni Red Marije Te ...

. Ramming was ennobled as a baron in 1851. After the peace he remained chief of the general staff of the 3rd Army in Hungary. On May 17, 1854, he was promoted to major general. After he had been chief of the general staff of various army corps for several years, he received a brigade within III. Army Corps and was promoted to ''Feldmarshall-Leutnant'' on 28 June 1859. With his brigade, he took part in the

Second Italian War of Independence The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Sardinian War or Italian War of 1859 ( it, Seconda guerra d'indipendenza italiana; french: Campagne d'Italie), was fought by the Second French Empire and t ...

, where he served in the

Battle of Magenta The Battle of Magenta was fought on 4 June 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence, resulting in a French-Sardinian victory under Napoleon III against the Austrians under Marshal Ferencz Gyulai. It took place near the town of Magenta ...

. Thereafer he was assigned to the chief of staff,

Heinrich von Heß Heinrich Hermann Josef Freiherr von Heß (alternatively: von Hess) (17 March 1788, Vienna – 13 April 1870, Vienna), was an Austrian soldier and field marshal, who entered the army in 1805 and was soon employed as a staff officer on survey wo ...

, as chief of the operations office. After the Peace of Villafranca in 1859, Ramming received the post of ''Feldmarshall-Leutnant'' in charge of the operative business in the General Quartermaster's Staff. In 1864 Ramming was given command of the VI. Army Corps, which he also commanded in the

in 1866. Defeated by Steinmetz's V Corps at

Náchod Náchod (; german: Nachod) is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It is known both as a tourist destination and centre of industry. The town centre with the castle complex is well preserved ...

on 27 June, Ramming's corps formed the reserve at Skalitz and Sadowa. After the war he served as commanding general in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

and

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

. In 1868 Ramming was promoted to ''Feldzeugmeister''. In 1873 he was appointed a lifelong member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. Wilhelm von Ramming died in Karlsbad on 1 July 1876.

Bibliography

Geoffrey Wawro Geoffrey Wawro (born 1960) is an American Professor of Military History at the University of North Texas, and Director of the UNT Military History Center. His primary area of emphasis is modern and contemporary military history, from the French Re ...

, ''The Austro-Prussian War. Austria's war with Prussia and Italy in 1866'' (New York 2007), * Constantin von Wurzbach, ''Ramming von Riedkirchen, Wilhelm Freiherr'' in ''Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich''. 24. Theil. Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien 1872, S. 312–315. *R. v. R., ''Ramming von Riedkirchen, Wilhelm Freiherr'' in ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB). Band 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, S. 215–218. * Christoph Tepperberg, ''Ramming von Riedkirchen Wilhelm Frh. von'' in ''Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950'' (ÖBL). Band 8, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 1983, , S. 408. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramming, Wilhelm von 1815 births 1876 deaths 19th-century Austrian people Austrian generals Austro-Hungarian generals People of the First Italian War of Independence People of the Austro-Prussian War People of the Second Italian War of Independence Knights Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Fourth Degree Knights of the Order of the Sword Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great Theresian Military Academy alumni