View source for François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt

{{Short description|Austrian marshal}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt
| image         = Clairfait.jpg
| caption       = François de Croix, Count of Clerfayt
| birth_date    = {{birth-date|14 October 1733}}
| death_date    = {{death-date and age|21 July 1798|14 October 1733}}
| birth_place   = 
| death_place   = 
| allegiance    = {{flag|Habsburg Monarchy}}
| battles       = {{Tree list}}
* [[Seven Years' War]]
* [[Prussian invasion of Holland]]
* [[Austro-Turkish War (1788–91)|Austro-Turkish War]]
** {{ill|Battle of Mehadia (1789)|ru|Бой при Мехадии}}
** {{ill|Battle of Calafat|ru|Бой при Калафате (1790)}}
* [[French Revolutionary Wars]]
** [[War of the First Coalition]]
*** [[Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition|Flanders Campaign]]
**** [[Battle of Jemappes]]
**** [[Battle of Aldenhoven (1793)]]
**** [[Battle of Neerwinden (1793)|Battle of Neerwinden]]
**** [[Siege of Le Quesnoy (1793)|Siege of Le Quesnoy]]
**** [[Battle of Wattignies]]
**** [[Battle of Tourcoing]]
**** [[Battle of Courtrai (1794)|Battle of Courtrai]]
**** [[Battle of Aldenhoven (1794)]]
**** [[Battle of Sprimont]]
*** [[Battle of Höchst (1795)|Battle of Höchst]]
*** [[Battle of Mainz]]
*** [[Rhine campaign of 1795]]
**** [[Battle of Pfeddersheim (1795)|Battle of Pfeddersheim]]
{{Tree list/end}}
| serviceyears  = 1753 – {{circa}} 1798
| rank          = [[Field marshal]]
| awards        = [[Military Order of Maria Theresa]]
| laterwork     = 
}}
'''François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt''' ({{IPA|fr|fʁɑ̃swa sebastjɛ̃ ʃaʁl ʒozɛf də kʁwa}}; 14 October 1733 – 21 July 1798),<ref>His title is also spelled '''Count of Clairfayt''' and '''Count of Clairfait'''</ref> a [[Walloons|Walloon]], joined the army of the [[Habsburg monarchy]] and soon fought in the [[Seven Years' War]]. Later in his military career, he led Austrian troops in the war against [[Ottoman Turkey]]. During the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] he saw extensive fighting and rose to the rank of [[Field Marshal]].

==Early career==
In the [[Seven Years' War]] (1756–1763) he distinguished himself, earning rapid promotion, and received the [[Military Order of Maria Theresa]] decoration. At the conclusion of the peace ([[Treaty of Hubertusburg]], 15 February 1763), though still under thirty, he had already become an [[Oberst]] ([[colonel]]).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=496}}

During the [[Patriottentijd#A creeping civil war|revolt in the Netherlands in 1787]], Clerfayt, as a [[Walloons|Walloon]] by birth, came under great pressure to abandon [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Joseph II]]. But he resisted all overtures, and in the following year went to fight in the [[Austro-Turkish War (1788–91)|Austro-Turkish War]] with the rank of Feldmarschal-Leutnant (lieutenant field marshal). In an independent command Clerfayt achieved great success, defeating the Turks at [[Mehadia]] and [[Calafat]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=496}} On 10 November 1788, the emperor appointed him to the rank of ''[[Feldzeugmeister]]''.{{sfn|Kudrna|Smith|loc="Clerfayt de Croix"}}

==French Revolutionary Wars==
In 1792, as one of the most distinguished of the emperor's generals, he received the command of the Austrian contingent in army of the [[Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|duke of Brunswick]], and at [[La Croix-aux-Bois]] his corps inflicted a reverse on the troops of the [[French Revolution]]. In the Netherlands, he commanded the center at the [[Battle of Jemappes]] on 6 November. He opened the campaign of 1793 with the victory of [[Battle of Aldenhoven (1793)|Aldenhoven]] and the relief of [[Maastricht]], and on 18 March 1793 proved instrumental in causing the complete defeat of [[Charles François Dumouriez|Charles Dumouriez]] at the [[Battle of Neerwinden (1793)|Battle of Neerwinden]]. In October, however, his victorious career suffered a reverse at the [[Battle of Wattignies]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=496}}
[[Image:Grab von Graf von Clerfait und von Carbonne.jpg|thumb|His Grave in [[Vienna]] Hernals Cemetery]]

He participated in the [[Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition|Flanders Campaign]] against [[Charles Pichegru]] in 1794.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=496}} Leading a flanking column from the north, he fought at the [[Battle of Tourcoing]] on 17–18 May. A French force under [[Dominique Vandamme]] slowed his progress until [[Joseph Souham]] defeated the Anglo-Austrian army on the southern part of the battlefield. Souham then turned against Clerfayt and compelled him to retreat to the northeast. In the course of the campaign.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}<!-- for the last two sentences which are not in the EB1911--> Clerfayt succeeded [[Prince Josias of Coburg]] in the supreme command, but he failed to make headway against the French, and had to recross the [[Rhine]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=496}}

A [[Feldmarschall]] from 22 April 1795,{{sfn|Kudrna|Smith|loc="Clerfayt de Croix"}} he commanded on the middle Rhine against [[Jean-Baptiste Jourdan]], and this time the fortunes of war changed. Clerfayt [[Battle of Höchst (1795)|beat]] Jourdan at [[Höchst (Frankfurt am Main)|Höchst]] and brilliantly [[Battle of Mainz|relieved Mainz]]. But the Austrian Foreign Minister [[Johann Amadeus von Thugut|Johann Thugut]] did not approve Clerfayt's action in concluding an armistice with the French, so the field marshal resigned his command and became a member of the [[Aulic Council]] in [[Vienna]]. He died in 1798.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=496}}

Clerfaytgasse in [[Hernals]], Vienna is named after him.

==Commentary==
A brave and skillful soldier, Clerfayt perhaps achieved more than any other Austrian commander (except the [[Archduke Charles of Austria]]) in the hopeless struggle of small dynastic armies against a French "nation in arms".{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=496}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{Cite book|last=Kudrna |first=Leopold |last2=Smith |first2=Digby |title=A Biographical Dictionary of All Austrian Generals during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars •1792–1815 (with Biographical Essays by Digby Smith)|chapter=C2 Clerfayt de Croix, (Franz Sebastian) Karl Joseph Graf|publisher=Napoleon Series website|url=http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/biographies/Austria/AustrianGenerals/c_AustrianGeneralsC.html#C26 |access-date=2017-01-04}}
;Attribution
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Clerfayt, François Sebastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of |volume=6|page=496}} cites as a source:
**{{cite book|first=Alfred |last=von Vivenot |title=Thugut, Clerfayt, und Würmser|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_cphAAAAAYAAJ |location=Vienna |year=1869}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite web|url=http://www.napoleon-online.de/AU_Generale/html/clerfayt.html |title=Feldmarschall de Croix Graf von Clerfayt |first=Jens-Florian|last=Ebert|access-date=2017-01-04}} (in German)
*{{cite book|last=Smith |first=Digby |title=The Napoleonic Wars Data Book|location=London |publisher=Greenhill |year=1998 |isbn=1-85367-276-9}}

{{French Revolution navbox}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clerfayt, Francois Sebastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of}}
[[Category:1733 births]]
[[Category:1798 deaths]]
[[Category:Counts of Austria]]
[[Category:Field marshals of Austria]]
[[Category:Military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars]]
[[Category:Austrian military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars]]
[[Category:Walloon people]]
[[Category:Grand Crosses of the Military Order of Maria Theresa]]
[[Category:Military personnel of the Habsburg monarchy]]