François Marie, Duc de Broglie

François Marie, afterwards Duc de Broglie (1671-1745), entered the army at an early age, and had a varied career of active service before he was made, at the age of twenty-three, lieutenant-colonel of the king's regiment of cavalry.

He served continuously in the War of the Spanish Succession and was present at Malplaquet. He was made lieutenant-general in 1710, and served with Villars[?] in the last campaign of the war and at the battle of Denain. During the peace he continued in military employment, and in 1719 he was made director-general of cavalry and dragoons. He was also employed in diplomatic missions, and was ambassador in England in 1724.

The war in Italy called him into the field again in 1733, and in the following year he was made marshal of France. In the campaign of 1734 he was one of the chief commanders on the French side, and he fought the battles of Parma[?] and Guastalla[?]. A famous episode was his narrow personal escape when his quarters on the Secchia were raided by the enemy on the night of September 14, 1734.

In 1735 he directed a war of positions with credit, but he was soon replaced by Marshal de Noailles[?]. He was governor-general of Alsace when Frederick the Great paid a secret visit to Strassburg (1740).

In 1742 de Broglie was appointed to command the French army in Germany, but such powers as he had possessed were failing him, and he had always been the "man of small means," safe and cautious, but lacking in elasticity and daring. The only success obtained was in the action of Sahay (May 25, 1742), for which he was made a duke. He returned to France in 1743, and died two years later.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.