Austrian commander in the Thirty Years War born in Hermanice, Bohemia, whose ambition led him to attempt peace deals in the absence of Emperor Ferdinand II, who ordered his assassination. Orphaned by an uncle at age 13, he was enrolled in a Protestant school in Silesia and then (1599) entered the Protestant University of Altdorf. In nearly three years of travel (1600-1602) he was in Germany, France and Italy, and converted to Catholicism (1606). Widowed and heir to his wife (1617), he financed a mercenary force in support of Ferdinand II, future emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, in the war against Venice. Summoned by Fernando II to fight Cristiano IV of Denmark, he gathered about fifty thousand men, among veterans, bandits and miserables from Germany, promising to reward them with the plunder of the regions conquered.
He beat the Danes and received the title of Admiral General of the Baltic. He then organized a squadron to conquer Denmark and Sweden, but before that the emperor signed the peace with Christian in the Treaty of Lübeck in (1629), and gave to his commander the duchies of Sagan and Mecklenburg. Recalled when Gustav II Adolph of Sweden invaded the Holy Roman Empire, the general faced the opponents in the battle of Lützen (1632), where Gustav II Adolfo died in combat, although victory was for the Swedes. After this defeat he entered into negotiations with various powers, with clearly personal objectives, and was accused of treason by the emperor. Hopelessly in disgrace, he was murdered in Eger, Bohemia.
Picture copied from the PORTRAIT GALERY / UTL website:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/photodraw/portraits/
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order A - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/albrecht-wenzel-eusebius.htm
