The war of manoeuvre and the campaigns of Louis XIV
Signature
Patient marches and sudden, decisive strokes
Legacy
Ranked by Napoleon among the great captains
Turenne was one of the finest French soldiers of his century1, a general so admired that Napoleon later counted him among the great captains of history2 and urged his officers to study his campaigns. His art was not the headlong charge but the patient war of movement, wearing down an enemy3 and then striking hard.
The Thirty Years War
Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, learned his trade young and rose fast, made a Marshal of France in his early thirties.3 In the closing campaigns of the Thirty Years War he led French armies deep into Germany, combining with allied forces to help bring the long war to its end in 16483.
Plan of the Battle of Nordlingen, 3 August 1645, fought by the French army under the Duke of Enghien with Marshals Turenne and Gramont against the Bavarians. Engraving by Antoine Coquart, BnF. Public domain
Civil war and the service of the king
During the Fronde, the great revolt against the crown, Turenne at first joined the rebels but soon returned to the royal cause4, and it was he who secured Paris and the young king's government, fighting his former comrade Conde3. Under Louis XIV he became the foremost commander of France, winning campaigns against Spain and later in the Dutch War5.
Turenne on a skewbald horse at the Battle of the Dunes near Dunkirk, 14 June 1658, his victory over Spain and Conde. Painting by Charles-Philippe Lariviere, 1837, Galerie des Batailles, Versailles. Public domain
Death in Germany
In the campaigns of 1674 and 1675 Turenne outmanoeuvred his imperial opponents along the Rhine6 in what many count among his masterpieces. On the eve of battle at Salzbach in 1675 he was killed by a cannon shot3, a loss felt across France. He was buried among the kings at Saint-Denis, an honour rarely given to a soldier; in 1800 Bonaparte moved his tomb to the Invalides.
The battle at Sasbach (Salzbach) on 27 July 1675, in which Turenne was struck down by a shot while on horseback. Etching by Jan Luyken, about 1680, Rijksmuseum. CC0 (public domain)
Napoleon I, The Officer's Manual: Napoleon's Maxims of War (trans. G. C. D'Aguilar), Maxim LXXVIII: 'Peruse again and again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Eugene, and Frederick'; text at Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50750. ↩
He was Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne (1611 to 1675), a Marshal of France and one of the greatest generals of the seventeenth century.
What is Turenne famous for?
For his mastery of the war of manoeuvre, his campaigns in the Thirty Years War and under Louis XIV, and his admired final campaign on the Rhine.
How did Turenne die?
He was killed by a cannon shot at Salzbach in 1675, on the eve of battle, and was buried among the kings of France at Saint-Denis; since 1800 his tomb has stood in the Invalides.
Why did Napoleon admire Turenne?
Napoleon counted him among the great captains of history and told his officers to study Turenne's campaigns for their skill in movement and timing.
What was the Fronde?
A series of revolts against the French crown in the mid-seventeenth century; Turenne joined the rebels at first but returned to fight for the young Louis XIV.
Was Turenne better than Conde?
The two were the great French generals of the age and often rivals; Turenne is usually praised for method and manoeuvre, Conde for bold, aggressive strokes.
Master the war of manoeuvre
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