Charles William Ferdinand (redirected from Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick)

Charles William Ferdinand, 1735–1806, duke of Brunswick (1780–1806), Prussian field marshal. He had great success in the Seven Years War (1756–63) and was commander in chief (1792–94) of the Austro-Prussian armies in the French Revolutionary Wars. Although he sympathized with some of the goals of the Revolution, he led the German army in its ill-fated march into France in 1792 and issued a manifesto threatening severe reprisals against the revolutionaries. Defeated at Valmy (1792), in 1793 he routed the French at Kaiserslautern and Pirmasens. He again commanded the Prussian armies in 1806 and was defeated by the French marshal Davout at Auerstedt. He was blinded in the battle and died soon after. His son was Frederick William, duke of Brunswick.

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Charles William Ferdinand 

duke of Brunswick. Born Oct. 9, 1735; died Nov. 10, 1806. Duke of Brunswick from 1780 to 1806.

Charles was commander in chief in 1792 of the Austro-Prussian armies advancing against revolutionary France. On July 25, 1792, he issued a manifesto to the French people in which he revealed the counterrevolutionary purposes of the intervening powers and threatened revolutionary Paris with merciless reprisal. In September 1792 the armies under the Duke of Brunswick’s command were defeated at Valmy. In 1806 the duke was in command of the Prussian Army and was mortally wounded in a battle in the vicinity of Auerstädt.