Turenne, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de

Turenne, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de (1611-1675), French marshal who distinguished himself in the Thirty Years' War and during the Fronde.

Turenne was born September 11, 1611, in Sedan, the son of the marshal of France, Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, duc de Bouillon, and grandson of William I, prince of Orange. In 1625, at the age of 14, Turenne entered the service of the principality of Orange-Nassau, in the Netherlands, and in the following year he became a captain. In 1630 he joined the French Army and was made a colonel of infantry. During the Thirty Years' War Turenne distinguished himself in Flanders, Italy, and Germany, and in 1644 he became a marshal of France. His campaigns of 1644-1645 in Germany were instrumental in bringing the war to an end. In the civil wars of the Fronde, a movement against royal absolutism, Turenne at first joined the party of the Frondeurs. After he was defeated at Rethel in 1650, he returned to the service of the government. In 1652 he defeated the rebel armies led by Louis II, prince de Condé, at the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris; and the war was eventually concluded by Turenne's victory at the Dunes, near Dunkerque, in 1658. In 1661 King Louis XIV appointed Turenne “marshal-general of the camps and armies of the king”. Turenne led a French invasion of the Spanish Netherlands in 1667, during the War of the Devolution, and fought successful campaigns in Germany during a second war against the Dutch and their allies that began in 1672. On July 27, 1675, he was killed during the Battle of Sasbach, in Baden. Turenne is considered one of the greatest military leaders in French history.