Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 46. (1998)
LUND, Erik: The generation of 1683: Habsburg General Officers and the military technical Corps, 1686–1723
The Generation of 1683 tenant-Field-Marshal Peter Freiherr Göldy [Göldlin] von Dieffenau (1668-1741) was not born in 1663, there being a confusion in the standard biographic sources with his brother, Colonel Joseph-Alexander (1662-1719). Nevertheless, the 1686-1723 sample captures two significant cohorts, the 1660-65 birth cohort, a veritable Generation of 1683, and a promotional cohort consisting of general officers promoted in 1725. Both groups have a demographic significance greater than even their numbers suggest3. A Profile of the Sample Between 1686 and 1723, 427 men were promoted to general officer’s rank in the Imperial service, or were offered general officer’s rank upon volunteering. (More than 20 officers in English and Dutch service given courtesy promotions and cited in the Generallisten are omitted from this study). Of these, 189 officers achieved the terminal ranks of Colonel or Major-General. While secondary reading led to the early expectation that this group would be found to contain a significant concentration of marginal figures, including the foreign technical specialists, in fact they showed few, if any distinct characteristics, other than being worse documented. Thus, they have been omitted from the prosopographic investigation. So, too, have some very distinguished personages made Imperial generals, including the Electors Max Emmanuel of Bavaria, John George of Saxony, George August of Saxony, and Georg Ludwig of Hanover, as well as Duke Victor Amadeus of Savoy4. The remaining group includes 125 terminal Lieutenant-Field-Marshals, 74 terminal Generals, and 72 terminal Field-Marshals. As with Major-Generals, there is no sign of a promotional pyramid. This sample includes 142 Germans or Czechs (43 Field-Marshals), 5 identified Czechs, 37 Italians or members of predominantly Italian families with Spanish and/or German connections (12 Field-Marshals), 16 Hungarians (5 Field-Marshals), 5 Slavs, 37 French (9 Field-Marshals), 10 Scots-Irish, 2 3 The primary prosopographic source for this study is Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Wien, Kriegsarchiv, Generallisten (hereafter: Generallisten). The Habsburg military ranks used in this source and German historical writing are highly idiosyncratic by English-speaking standards. The following translation scheme has been followed below: General Lieutenant or Generalissimo [us] as Generalissimus; Feldmarschall as Field-Marshal; Feldzeugmeister or General der Cavallerie as General; Feldmarschalleutnant as Lieutenant-Field-Marshal; and Generalfeldwachtmeister as Major-General; Obrist [Oberst] as colonel; the rank attributed to each officer on first reference is the ultimate achieved by that individual; the birthdate cited for Göldy von Dieffenau is given inWurzbach, Constantin: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Österreich. Vienna 1856-1891, Vol. 5, p. 236; see Godet, Marcel: Historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Schweiz. Dictionnaire historique et biographique de la Suisse. Hrsg, unter der Leitung von Heinrich Türler [et als.] Tom. 1-7. Suppl. 1. 2. Neuchätel 1921-1934, Vol. 3, p. 477f. 3 39 of the 43 colonels and Major Generals whose final fates can be identified were not in service ten years after their promotion, so it cannot be argued that they were held back from promotion; 21 terminal Major Generals and colonels of this period were immediate family of Imperial officers holding the rank of Lieutenant-Field-Marshal or higher; 10 were of the higher nobility; see also Cor visier: Les generaux, p. 42; at least in 1708, promotion from colonel to general was virtually automatic, with 24 officers promoted that year from Lieutenant to füll Colonel, of whom 12 were promoted general by 1723 (Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Wien Kriegsarchiv, Alte Feldakten [hereafter: AFA] 1708-Roemisches Reich 14). 191
