Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze Friedrich Freiherr ( Baron ) von Hotze ( 20 April 1739 – 25 September 1799 ) , was a Swiss - born field marshal in the Austrian army during the French Revolutionary Wars , campaigned in the Rhineland during the War of the First Coalition and in Switzerland in the War of the Second Coalition , notably at Battle of Winterthur in late May 1799 , and the First Battle of Zürich in early June 1799 . He was killed at the Second Battle of Zürich . Hotze was born on 20 April 1739 in Richterswil in the Canton of Zürich , in the Old Swiss Confederacy ( present - day Switzerland ) . As a boy , he graduated from Zürich ' s acclaimed " Carolinum " academy and pursued studies at the University of Tübingen . In 1758 , he entered the military service of the Duke of Württemberg , and was promoted to captain of cavalry ; he campaigned in the Seven Years ' War , but saw no combat . Later , he served in the Russian army in Russia ' s War with Turkey , ( 1768 – 74 ) . His persistent attentiveness to Joseph II garnered for him a commission in the Austrian imperial army , and he served in the brief War of Bavarian Succession ( 1778 – 79 ) . A diligent and creative commander , he rose quickly through the ranks . His campaigning in the War of the First Coalition , particularly at the Battle of Würzburg , earned him the Knight ' s Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa and , in 1798 , the Commander ' s Cross . Archduke Charles placed him in full command of the center of the Austrian line at the First Battle of Zürich in 1799 . He was killed by French musket fire in the morning mist near Schänis , in Canton of St . Gallen on 25 September 1799 . Childhood and early career . Friedrich Hotze was the second son of Johannes Hotze , a doctor and surgeon in Hessian military service and his Zürich - born wife , Juditha Gessner . Hotze came from an old Swiss family , and was a cousin of Heinrich Pestalozzi , the pedagogue and education reformer . As a young man , Hotze studied at the renowned " Gymnasium Carolinum " ( Zürich ) . Later he attended the University of Tübingen . In October 1758 , Hotze entered the military service of the Duke of Württemberg , in a Hussar regiment as an officer cadet ( ensign ) . By 1759 , he had been promoted to lieutenant , and in 1761 , to cavalry captain ( or " Rittmeister " ) . He left the Duke ' s service during the disagreement between the Duke and the Württemberg Estates over financial matters involved in maintaining a standing army , and entered the service of the King of Prussia , where he remained until the end of the Seven Years War ( 1756 – 1763 ) . After service in Prussia , he took a brief vacation in Switzerland . In May 1768 , Hotze entered the service of Catherine II , the Tsarina of Russia , but only as lieutenant of a regiment of dragoons , the so - called " Ingermannland " , named for the territory between Lake Peipus , the Narova River , and Lake Ladoga , in the old Grand Duchy of Novgorod . He participated in several battles in Russia ' s on - going conflict with the Ottoman Empire , attracting the attention of Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov during the battle at Giurgiu , on the lower Danube , during which he was wounded . Suvarov praised him for his bravery and promoted him to major . Habsburg service . The war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire ended with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca , signed on 21 July 1775 . In 1776 , Hotze returned to his home near Zürich . On the return journey , he stopped in Vienna , to present himself to the Emperor , Joseph II , and to seek an appointment as a major in the imperial Austrian army . When Joseph traveled to Hüningen near Basel , in the upper Rhine in 1777 , Hotze once again presented himself , after which he finally secured a major ' s commission in the Cuirassiers Regiment 26 , known as the " Baron of Berlichingen " ( " Freiherr von Berlichingen " ) regiment . His regiment served in the field during the brief War of Bavarian Succession ( 1778 – 79 ) . He served for a short time with the " cuirassiers " regiment " Marquis de Voghera " in Hungary , and returned with this regiment to Vienna in 1783 . In 1784 , he was promoted to lieutenant colonel ( " Oberstleutnant " ) and given command of the 1 . Galican Lancers , which , in 1795 , became the foundation of the 1 . Lancers Regiment . Hotze ' s experience with military preparedness and organization gave him an advantage in establishing the lancers as a new combat arm . Recognizing the importance of lancers as part of the Austrian armed force , he embarked on an organizational and training program . The Emperor named him as commander of these corps , with the rank of a full colonel . In 1787 , he returned temporarily to Russia , this time to establish a similar force in Catherine the Great ' s army . At the outbreak of the border war between the Ottoman Empire and Austria , he returned to Austria and took command of his regiment . French Revolutionary Wars . Initially , the rulers of Europe viewed the revolution in France as an event between the French king and his subjects , and not something in which they should interfere . In 1790 , Leopold succeeded his brother Joseph as emperor and by 1791 , he considered the situation surrounding his sister , Marie Antoinette , and her children , with greater alarm . In August 1791 , in consultation with French émigré nobles and Frederick William II of Prussia , he issued the Declaration of Pilnitz , in which they declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe as one with the interests of Louis and his family . They threatened ambiguous , but quite serious , consequences if anything should happen to the royal family . The French Republican position became increasingly difficult . Compounding problems in international relations , French émigrés continued to agitate for support of a counter - revolution abroad . Chief among them were the Prince Condé , his son , the Duke de Bourbon , and his grandson , the Duke d ' Enghien . From their base in Koblenz , adjacent to the French - German border , they sought direct support for military intervention from the royal houses of Europe , and raised an army . On 20 April 1792 , the French National Convention declared war on Austria . In this War of the First Coalition ( 1792 – 1798 ) , France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her , plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire . War of First Coalition . In April 1792 , Hotze and his regiment joined the autonomous Austrian Corps under Paul Anton II , Count von Esterházy in the Breisgau although they took no part in any military clashes . Early in 1793 , Hotze and his regiment were assigned to the Upper Rhine Army , commanded by General of Cavalry Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser , at which time Hotze was promoted to major general . As commander of the third column , he played an essential role the storming of the line at Wissembourg and Lauterburg , for which he was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Maria Theresia Order . In the following year , 1794 , he was assigned to the Army Corps of the Prince von Hohenlohe - Kirchberg , on the left bank of the Rhine , and later , from May – September at Heiligenstein on the Rhine , Schweigenheim , Westheim , and Landau in der Pfalz , against the French army commanded by the general of division Louis Desaix . In each of these assignments , Hotze proved himself as a confident and courageous general against the stronger French Army of the Moselle . In recognition , he was promoted to lieutenant field marshal , a rank unusual for a man from a non - aristocratic family . He was also raised to the rank of baron ( " Freiherr " ) by Emperor Francis II . In the campaign of 1795 , he served again under the command of Wurmser ; his troops secured Rhineland positions near Mannheim , and later took part in engagements at Edighofen and Kaiserslautern . In the Battle of Neresheim ( 11 August 1796 ) , Hotze commanded 13 battalions and 28 cavalry squadrons , a total of 13 , 300 men , and formed the center of Archduke Charles ' line . Although Hotze ' s force managed to push the French out of several villages , his force was not strong enough to follow - up on his advantage . Following the action at Neresheim , his force participated in the joint battles of Neumarkt and Lauf , followed by the Battle of Würzburg on 3 September 1796 . During these consecutive actions , Hotze ' s organization and initiative led to the overwhelming of the French lines . For his actions in this campaign , he was awarded a promotion on 29 April 1797 , and received the Commander ' s Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa . Peace and the Congress of Rastatt . The Coalition forces — Austria , Russia , Prussia , Great Britain , Sardinia , among others — achieved several victories at Verdun , Kaiserslautern , Neerwinden , Mainz , Amberg and Würzburg . While experiencing greater success in the north , in Italy , the Coalition ' s achievements were more limited . Despite the presence of the most experienced of the Austrian generals — Dagobert Wurmser — the Austrians could not lift the siege at Mantua , and the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte in northern Italy pushed Austrian forces to the border of Habsburg lands . Napoleon dictated a cease - fire at Leoben on 17 April 1797 , which led to the formal peace treaty , the Treaty of Campo Formio , which went into effect on 17 October 1797 . The treaty called for meetings between the involved parties , to work out the exact territorial and remunerative details . These were to be convened at a small town in the mid - Rhineland , Rastatt , close to the French border . The primary combatants of the First Coalition , France and Austria , were highly suspicious of each other ' s motives , and the Congress quickly derailed in a mire of intrigue and diplomatic posturing . The French demanded more territory than originally agreed . The Austrians were reluctant to cede the designated territories . The Rastatt delegates could not , or would not , orchestrate the transfer of agreed upon territories to compensate the German princes for their losses . Compounding the Congress ' s problems , tensions grew between France and most of the First Coalition allies , either separately or jointly . Ferdinand of Naples refused to pay agreed - upon tribute to France , and his subjects followed this refusal with a rebellion . The French invaded Naples and established the Parthenopaean Republic . A republican uprising in the Swiss cantons , encouraged by the French Republic which offered military support , led to the overthrow of the Swiss Confederation and the establishment of the Helvetic Republic . Other factors contributed to the rising tensions . On his way to Egypt in 1798 , Napoleon had stopped on the Island of Malta and forcibly removed the Hospitallers from their possessions . This angered Paul , Tsar of Russia , who was the honorary head of the Order . Furthermore , the French Directory was convinced that the Austrians were conniving to start another war . Indeed , the weaker the French Republic seemed , the more seriously the Austrians , the Neapolitans , the Russians , and the English actually discussed this possibility . Outbreak of war in 1799 . With the signing of the Treaty of Campo Formio on 17 October 1797 , Hotze left Austrian service and returned to his home in Switzerland . Hardly had he arrived there when the government of the Swiss Confederation in Bern was overthrown , with the assistance of the French Directory . He returned to Austria , received a new commission and a new command . He was already in the border regions between Switzerland , Austria , and Liechtenstein when the war broke out again in 1799 . Archduke Charles of Austria , arguably among the best commanders of the House of Habsburg , had taken command of the Austrian army in late January . Although Charles was unhappy with the strategy set forward by his brother , the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II , he had acquiesced to the less ambitious plan to which Francis and his advisers , the Aulic council , had agreed : Austria would fight a defensive war and would maintain a continuous defensive line from the southern bank of the Danube , across the Swiss Cantons and into northern Italy . The archduke had stationed himself at Friedberg for the winter , east - south - east of Augsburg . His army settled into cantonments in the environs of Augsburg , extending south along the Lech River . As winter broke in 1799 , on 1 March , General Jean Baptiste Jourdan and his army of 25 , 000 , the Army of the Danube , crossed the Rhine at Kehl . Instructed to block the Austrians from access to the Swiss alpine passes , Jourdan planned to isolate the armies of the Coalition in Germany from allies in northern Italy , and prevent them from assisting one another . His was a preemptive strike . By crossing the Rhine in early March , Jourdan acted before the Charles ' army could be reinforced by Austria ' s Russian allies , who had agreed to send 60 , 000 seasoned soldiers and their more - seasoned commander , Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov . Furthermore , if the French held the interior passes in Switzerland , they could not only prevent the Austrians from transferring troops between northern Italy and southwestern Germany , but could use the routes to move their own forces between the two theaters . The Army of the Danube , meeting little resistance , advanced through the Black Forest in three columns , through the Höllental ( Hölle valley ) , via Oberkirch , and Freudenstadt ; a fourth column advanced along the north shore of the Rhine , and eventually took a flanking position on the north shore of Lake Constance . Jourdan pushed across the Danube plain and took up position between Rottweil and Tuttlingen and eventually pushing toward the imperial city of Pfullendorf in Upper Swabia . At the same time , the Army of Switzerland , under command of Andre Massena , pushed toward the Grison s , intending to cut the Austrian lines of communication and relief at the mountain passes by Luziensteig and Feldkirch . A third Army of Italy , commanded by Louis Joseph Schérer , had already advanced into northern Italy , to deal with Ferdinand and the recalcitrant Neapolitans . War of the Second Coalition . When Hotze took up arms against the French in Switzerland , the revolutionary Swiss government in Bern revoked his Swiss citizenship . For the Coalition allies , though , his Swiss roots made him an ideal emissary between Vienna and Confederation sympathizers in Switzerland . He worked with William Wickham , and a Colonel Williams , an Englishman in Austrian service , to establish the Bodensee ( Lake Constance ) Flotilla . A Lieutenant Field Marshal , he commanded 15 , 000 troops in the Voralberg against France ' s Army of Switzerland , commanded by André Masséna . After fortifying Feldkirch , he overwhelmed the fortress at St . Luzisteig , an important pass ( elevation : ) in the Canton of Graubünden that links Swiss Confederation and Liechtenstein . Then , realizing that the main French army had crossed the Rhine and moved north of Lake Constance , he reorganized the defenses of Feldkirch , and deputed command to Franjo Jelačić , an able officer and commander . Hotze took 10 , 000 of the 15 , 500 troops designated for the defense of the Voralberg toward Lake Constance , intending to support Archduke Charles ' left wing at the battles of Ostrach and , a few days later Stockach . Although his forces did not arrive in time to participate in the battles , the threat of their pending arrival influenced French planning . In his absence , Jellacic ' s 5 , 500 men faced 12 , 000 under the command of generals of division Jean Joseph Dessolles and Claude Lecourbe , inflicting enormous casualties ( 3000 ) on the French while suffering minimal losses ( 900 ) of their own . First Battle of Zürich . By mid - May 1799 , the Austrians had wrested control of Switzerland from the French as the forces of Hotze and Count Heinrich von Bellegarde pushed them out of the Grisons ; after pushing Jean - Baptiste Jourdan ' s force , the Army of the Danube , back to the Rhine , Archduke Charles ' own sizable force — about 110 , 000 strong — crossed the Rhine , and prepared to join with the armies of Hotze and Bellegarde on the plains by Zürich . The French Army of Switzerland and the Army of the Danube , now both under the command of Masséna , tried to prevent this merger of the Austrian forces ; in a preliminary action at Winterthur , the Austrians succeeded in pushing the French forces out of Winterthur , although they took high casualties . Once the union took place in the first two days of June , Archduke Charles , supported by Hotze ' s command , attacked French positions at Zürich . In first Battle of Zürich , on 4 – 7 June 1799 , Hotze commanded the entire left wing of Archduke Charles ' army , which included 20 battalions of infantry , plus support artillery , and 27 squadrons of cavalry , in total , 19 , 000 men . Despite being wounded , he remained on the field . His troops not only pushed the French back , but harassed their retreat , forcing them across the Limmat river , where they took up defensive positions . Death at Second Battle of Zürich . In August 1799 , Archduke Charles received orders from his brother , the Emperor , to withdraw the Austrian army across the Rhine . While Charles could see this to be unreasonable — Alexander Suvorov had not yet reached central Switzerland , and it was folly to think that Alexander Korsakov ' s force of 30 , 000 and Hotze ' s 20 , 000 could hold all of the region until the arrival of the rest of the Russian force — the order was emphatic . Charles delayed as long as he could , but in late August he withdrew his force across the Rhine and headed toward Phillipsburg . When Suvorov heard of this breach of military common - sense , he wondered " the owl [ referring to the Emperor ] has either gone out of his mind , or he never had one . " The order was eventually reversed too late for the Archduke to stop his withdrawal . Unlike Korsakov , Hotze knew his military business , and he had organized a competent defense of the St . Gallen border , on Korsakov ' s left flank , reasoning , correctly , that Suvorov was on his way and needed St . Gallen as a safe haven after he passed through the Canton Schwyz . On the morning of 25 September , Hotze and his chief of staff , Colonel Count von Plunkelt , conducted a reconnaissance ride near the village of Schänis , on the Linth river , only from Richterswil , the village in which he had been born . In the heavy morning mist , they encountered a party French scouts from the 25th demi - brigade concealed behind a hedge . Summoned to surrender , Hotze wheeled around and spurred his horse , where both he and Colonel Plumkelt were killed by a volley of musketry . Initially , Hotze was taken from the battlefield to the church in Schänis , where he was buried . In 1851 , his body was moved to Bregenz and established in a monument there . Consequences of Hotze ' s death . Hotze was sorely missed . Despite mis - communication between and among the British , the Austrians and the Russians , the British miscalculation of the size of troops ( consistently 10 – 25 percent higher than they actually were ) , the lack of Swiss volunteers , and failed promises of transport mules , Suvorov organized his impressive march across the Alps from northern Italy , counting on Korsakov and his Austrian allies to hold Zürich . His soldiers took the pass at St . Gotthard in a bayonet charge , and endured incredible hardships navigating the narrow trails of the Alps . By the time the Russian army reached Schwyz , preparing to descend from the mountains into the Zürich plain , Masséna ' s army already had crushed the incompetent Korsakov ' s force at Zürich , and , in Hotze ' s absence , Jean - de - Dieu Soult ' s French division overwhelmed the Austrian flank at Schänis and crossed the Linth unhindered . When Suvorov cleared the mountains , he had nowhere to go ; he was forced to withdraw in another arduous march into the Voralberg , where his starving and ragged army arrived in late October . Between Korsakov ' s inability to hold the French at Zürich , and Hotze ' s death at Schänis , the Swiss campaign degenerated to an utter shambles .