George Olivier, count of Wallis
Encyclopedia
George Olivier, Count of Wallis ' onMouseout='HidePop("87186")' href="/topics/Vienna">Vienna
- 19 December 1743, Vienna) was a field marshal of Irish descent in the service of the Holy Roman Empire
and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
and last regent of the Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia (1738–1739). Born into an Irish family, he distinguished himself in Sicily
by his capture of Messina. He then commanded on the Rhine (1733), then in Italy
and Hungary
. He lost the decisive Battle of Grocka
against the Ottoman Empire
in 1739, thus leading to the peace of Belgrade, which was unfavourable to Austria and thus led to his disgrace.
, County Dublin
, who became one of the first Irish officers in imperial service in 1632. He died later that year after being wounded in the Battle of Lützen
. Richard's eldest son Theobald returned to Ireland, with this branch of the family from then on taking the name Walsh, whilst his youngest son Olivier remained in the imperial Austrian army and became the founder of the Austrian Wallis branch before dying in 1667 as a major general
in Hungary
. Theobald's son, Feldzeugmeister
Ernst Georg Wallis (died 1689) was the father of George Olivier and his elder brother Franz Paul von Wallis (died 1737).
, George Olivier became a page
at the Vienna court and just one year later became a lieutenant in the imperial army. In 1697 he fought as a hauptmann
at the battle of Zenta
. During the War of the Spanish Succession
(1701–14) he first served in northern Italy (rising to command a regiment as oberst
in 1703), then from 1707 in the conquest of Naples
. He also served in Spain until 1713 and by the end of the war had reached the rank of Feldmarschall-Leutnants.
He fought again in the Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718), under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy
at the Battle of Petrovaradin
on 5 August 1716 and at the sieges of Temesvár and Belgrade
. The following year he was put in command of three regiments and posted to operations in Naples. In the War of the Quadruple Alliance
(1718–20) he fought in the Austrian army on Sicily, being wounded in the struggle for Messina but later becoming governor of that city's fortress until 1727, when he returned to Austria. When the Anglo-Spanish War (1727)
threatened to escalate the Holy Roman Emperor
ordered Olivier back to Sicily to ready the island's defences. When no attack on Sicily came Olivier was dismissed in 1731 and from then until 1734 commanded the fortress at Mainz
. In the War of the Polish Succession
(1733-1735/38) he served against France in northern Italy (from 1723 with the rank of Feldzeugmeister) - he even took overall command of the whole Austrian force there for a time and won some advantages.
In the Austro-Turkish War, 1737-1739 he commanded an Austrian corps and was shortly afterwards promoted to field marshal. In the last year of the war he was the Austrian army's supreme commander but he lost the decisive battle of Grocka
on 22 July 1739. Only a week after the battle Austria was forced to sign the Peace of Belgrade, losing large swathes of territory to the Ottoman Empire
. Olivier was one of the main culprits for the defeat, was tried with other generals before a war tribunal and on 22 February 1740 was sentenced to imprisonment at the fortress at Spielberg. On the death of Charles VI
he was pardoned by Maria Theresa of Austria
in November the same year. He then spent his final years on his lands, often being consulted by Vienna on military matters. The war against the Turks, however, had caused lasting damage to his brilliant military reputation, as is reflected in later historians' assessments of him.
, Petrowice and Hochlibin, Olivier acquired or inherited several properties in the Grafschaft Glatz. He was lord of Wallisfurth
, Seitenberg
and Kunzendorf
. On his brother Franz Paul's death in 1737 he inherited Plomnitz, Kieslingswalde
, Glasegrund, Weißbrod, Altwaltersdorf
, Kaiserswalde
and Friedrichswald in Bohemia
. His properties were inherited by his son Stephan (died 1832) on his death in 1744, though he sold Hassitz and Stolz to Friedrich Wilhelm, count of Schlabrendorf.
He was the wartime and last governor of the Kingdom of Serbia, from November of 1738 until the accession of the crownland back to the Ottoman Empire
in late 1739 according to the Treaty of Belgrade
, from which it was carved out in accordance to the Treaty of Passarowitz
in 1717. Serbia was previously for a time governed from the Ottoman Empire between 1689 and 1691, after the great defeat at Vienna during the Great Turkish war
. A short-lived restoration of the Serbian Kingdom would follow during the Austro-Turkish war in 1788 during the occupation of those regions.
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
- 19 December 1743, Vienna) was a field marshal of Irish descent in the service of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, commonly known as the Two Sicilies even before formally coming into being, was the largest and wealthiest of the Italian states before Italian unification...
and last regent of the Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia (1738–1739). Born into an Irish family, he distinguished himself in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
by his capture of Messina. He then commanded on the Rhine (1733), then in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. He lost the decisive Battle of Grocka
Battle of Grocka
The Battle of Grocka, also known as Battle of Krotzka, was fought between Austria and the Ottoman Empire on July 21–22, 1739, in Grocka, Belgrade. The Turks were victorious and took the city of Belgrade. The battle was part of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars.-Battle:The Austrians had direct orders from...
against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1739, thus leading to the peace of Belgrade, which was unfavourable to Austria and thus led to his disgrace.
Ancestry
Georg Olivier's ancestor was Richard Wallis of CarrickminesCarrickmines
Carrickmines is suburb of Dublin in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Ireland. Traditionally a location for large expensive houses, being situated just south of Foxrock. The area is now divided north/south by the M50 motorway and its associated Junction 15...
, County Dublin
County Dublin
County Dublin is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Dublin Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the city of Dublin which is the capital of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first of the parts of Ireland to be shired by King John of England following the...
, who became one of the first Irish officers in imperial service in 1632. He died later that year after being wounded in the Battle of Lützen
Battle of Lützen (1632)
The Battle of Lützen was one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years' War. It was a Protestant victory, but cost the life of one of the most important leaders of the Protestant alliance, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, which caused the Protestant campaign to lose direction.- Prelude to the...
. Richard's eldest son Theobald returned to Ireland, with this branch of the family from then on taking the name Walsh, whilst his youngest son Olivier remained in the imperial Austrian army and became the founder of the Austrian Wallis branch before dying in 1667 as a major general
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. Theobald's son, Feldzeugmeister
Feldzeugmeister
Feldzeugmeister was a military rank in various European armies , especially in the artillery. It was commonly used in the 16th or 17th century, but could even be found in the beginning of the 20th century in some European countries...
Ernst Georg Wallis (died 1689) was the father of George Olivier and his elder brother Franz Paul von Wallis (died 1737).
Marriage and issue
George Olivier of Wallis married for the first time to Countess Maria Antonia of Götzen. After her death he married Maria Theresie, Countess of Kinsky auf Kunitz and Tettau. His only son and heir was Georg Stephan (19 July 1744 - 5 February 1832).Life
After his father Ernst Georg Wallis's death in 1689 in the Nine Years' War during the Siege of MainzSiege of Mainz
In the Siege of Mainz , from 14 April to 23 July 1793, a coalition of Prussia, Austria, and other German states besieged and captured Mainz from revolutionary French forces...
, George Olivier became a page
Page (servant)
A page or page boy is a traditionally young male servant, a messenger at the service of a nobleman or royal.-The medieval page:In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a knight; an apprentice squire...
at the Vienna court and just one year later became a lieutenant in the imperial army. In 1697 he fought as a hauptmann
Hauptmann
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e...
at the battle of Zenta
Battle of Zenta
The Battle of Zenta or Battle of Senta, fought on 11 September 1697 just south of Zenta , on the east side of the Tisza river, was a major engagement in the Great Turkish War and one of the most decisive defeats in Ottoman history...
. During the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
(1701–14) he first served in northern Italy (rising to command a regiment as oberst
Oberst
Oberst is a military rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. The Swedish rank överste is a direct translation, as are the Finnish rank eversti...
in 1703), then from 1707 in the conquest of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. He also served in Spain until 1713 and by the end of the war had reached the rank of Feldmarschall-Leutnants.
He fought again in the Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718), under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
at the Battle of Petrovaradin
Battle of Petrovaradin
The Battle of Petrovaradin or Battle of Peterwardein was a decisive victory for Austrian forces in the war between Austria and the Ottoman Empire , at Petrovaradin, now part of Novi Sad, Vojvodina, in Serbia.-History:...
on 5 August 1716 and at the sieges of Temesvár and Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. The following year he was put in command of three regiments and posted to operations in Naples. In the War of the Quadruple Alliance
War of the Quadruple Alliance
The War of the Quadruple Alliance was a result of the ambitions of King Philip V of Spain, his wife, Elisabeth Farnese, and his chief minister Giulio Alberoni to retake territories in Italy and to claim the French throne. It saw the defeat of Spain by an alliance of Britain, France, Austria , and...
(1718–20) he fought in the Austrian army on Sicily, being wounded in the struggle for Messina but later becoming governor of that city's fortress until 1727, when he returned to Austria. When the Anglo-Spanish War (1727)
Anglo-Spanish War (1727)
The Anglo-Spanish War of 1727–1729 was a limited war that took place between Great Britain and Spain during the Eighteenth Century, and consisted of a failed British attempt to blockade Porto Bello and a failed Spanish attempt to capture Gibraltar...
threatened to escalate the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
ordered Olivier back to Sicily to ready the island's defences. When no attack on Sicily came Olivier was dismissed in 1731 and from then until 1734 commanded the fortress at Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
. In the War of the Polish Succession
War of the Polish Succession
The War of the Polish Succession was a major European war for princes' possessions sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II, King of Poland that other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests...
(1733-1735/38) he served against France in northern Italy (from 1723 with the rank of Feldzeugmeister) - he even took overall command of the whole Austrian force there for a time and won some advantages.
In the Austro-Turkish War, 1737-1739 he commanded an Austrian corps and was shortly afterwards promoted to field marshal. In the last year of the war he was the Austrian army's supreme commander but he lost the decisive battle of Grocka
Battle of Grocka
The Battle of Grocka, also known as Battle of Krotzka, was fought between Austria and the Ottoman Empire on July 21–22, 1739, in Grocka, Belgrade. The Turks were victorious and took the city of Belgrade. The battle was part of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars.-Battle:The Austrians had direct orders from...
on 22 July 1739. Only a week after the battle Austria was forced to sign the Peace of Belgrade, losing large swathes of territory to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Olivier was one of the main culprits for the defeat, was tried with other generals before a war tribunal and on 22 February 1740 was sentenced to imprisonment at the fortress at Spielberg. On the death of Charles VI
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
he was pardoned by Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
in November the same year. He then spent his final years on his lands, often being consulted by Vienna on military matters. The war against the Turks, however, had caused lasting damage to his brilliant military reputation, as is reflected in later historians' assessments of him.
Lands
In addition to the Bohemian estates of KolešoviceKolešovice
Kolešovice is a village and municipality in Rakovník District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. -References:*This article was initially translated from the Czech Wikipedia....
, Petrowice and Hochlibin, Olivier acquired or inherited several properties in the Grafschaft Glatz. He was lord of Wallisfurth
Wolany
Wolany may refer to the following places in Poland:*Wolany, Lower Silesian Voivodeship *Wolany, Masovian Voivodeship...
, Seitenberg
Stronie Slaskie
Stronie Śląskie is a town in Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Stronie Śląskie, close to the Czech border...
and Kunzendorf
Trzebieszowice
Trzebieszowice is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Lądek-Zdrój, within Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany....
. On his brother Franz Paul's death in 1737 he inherited Plomnitz, Kieslingswalde
Idzików
Idzików is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Bystrzyca Kłodzka, within Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany....
, Glasegrund, Weißbrod, Altwaltersdorf
Stary Waliszów
Stary Waliszów is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Bystrzyca Kłodzka, within Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany....
, Kaiserswalde
Lasówka
Lasówka is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Bystrzyca Kłodzka, within Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany....
and Friedrichswald in Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. His properties were inherited by his son Stephan (died 1832) on his death in 1744, though he sold Hassitz and Stolz to Friedrich Wilhelm, count of Schlabrendorf.
He was the wartime and last governor of the Kingdom of Serbia, from November of 1738 until the accession of the crownland back to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in late 1739 according to the Treaty of Belgrade
Treaty of Belgrade
The Treaty of Belgrade was the peace treaty signed on September 18, 1739 in Belgrade, Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia , by the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Habsburg Monarchy on the other....
, from which it was carved out in accordance to the Treaty of Passarowitz
Treaty of Passarowitz
The Treaty of Passarowitz or Treaty of Požarevac was the peace treaty signed in Požarevac , a town in Ottoman Empire , on 21 July 1718 between the Ottoman Empire on one side and the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria and the Republic of Venice on the other.During the years 1714-1718, the Ottomans had...
in 1717. Serbia was previously for a time governed from the Ottoman Empire between 1689 and 1691, after the great defeat at Vienna during the Great Turkish war
Great Turkish War
The Great Turkish War refers to a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and contemporary European powers, then joined into a Holy League, during the second half of the 17th century.-1667–1683:...
. A short-lived restoration of the Serbian Kingdom would follow during the Austro-Turkish war in 1788 during the occupation of those regions.