Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg

Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg was a count and general who held several commanding posts in the forces of the Habsburg Monarchy. Born in Schwaigern in 1684 to a Swabian comital family, he joined Imperial service in 1702 and was a colonel by 1715, distinguishing himself at the sieges of Temesvar in 1716 and Belgrade in 1717 in the Austro-Turkish War. He later left the army to oversee the education of Francis of Lorraine, the future Holy Roman Emperor, and was made a count in 1726. In 1739 he signed a preliminary peace with the Ottomans without valid powers, which led to the Treaty of Belgrade and to his arrest, and he was pardoned in 1740. During the War of the Austrian Succession he commanded the Austrian army beaten by Frederick II at Mollwitz, yet became an Imperial field marshal that year. He died in Vienna in 1774.