Guido Starhemberg

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Guido Wald Rüdiger, Graf von Starhemberg (11 November 1657 – 7 March 1737) was an Austrian army officer and one of the great military leaders of the early modern period. Born in Graz into the old Starhemberg family, he was the eldest son of Count Bartholomäus von Starhemberg and Baroness Esther Windisch-Graetz. He fought alongside his cousin Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg and later Prince Eugene of Savoy against the Ottoman Empire during the Great Turkish War. In the War of the Spanish Succession, he served in Italy and Spain and commanded the imperial army in Hungary from 1706 to 1708 against Francis II Rákóczi. In 1708 he was appointed Supreme Commander of the Austrians in Spain. With James Stanhope, he helped capture Madrid in 1710 after wins at Almenar and Saragossa, but later left Madrid due to lack of local support for the Habsburg claimant. After defeats at Brihuega and Villaviciosa, he retreated to Catalonia and became its viceroy when Archduke Charles returned to Austria. Following the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, Charles VI ordered him to leave Catalonia, and he sailed to Genoa. He later served as Governor of Slavonia, where he died in 1737.