Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg (26 June 1760 – 25 March 1799) was an Austrian military commander. He achieved the rank of Field Marshal and died at the Battle of Stockach.
The third son of a cadet branch of the House of Fürstenberg, at his birth his chances of inheriting the family title of Fürst zu Fürstenberg were slight; he was prepared instead for a military career, and a tutor was hired to teach him the military sciences. He entered the Habsburg military in 1777, at the age of seventeen years, and was a member of the field army in the short War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–79). His career progressed steadily during the Habsburg War with the Ottoman Empire. In particular he distinguished himself at Šabac in 1790, when he led his troops in storming the fortress on the Sava river.
During the French Revolutionary Wars, he fought with distinction again for the First Coalition, particularly at Ketsch and Frœschwiller, and in 1796 at Emmendingen, Schliengen and Kehl. He was stationed at key points to protect the movements of the Austrian army. With a force of 10,000, he defended the German Rhineland at Kehl, and reversed a bayonet assault by French troops at Bellheim; his troops also overran Speyer without any losses. By the end of the War of the First Coalition, at the age of 35, he had achieved the rank of Field Marshal. During the War of the Second Coalition, he fought in the first two battles of the German campaign, at Ostrach on 21 March 1799, and at Stockach on 25 March 1799. At the latter action while leading a grenadier regiment, he was hit by French case shot and knocked off his horse. He died shortly afterward.
Childhood and early military training
As the third son of a cadet (junior) branch of the Fürstenberg princely family, Karl Aloys was prepared for a military career. His tutor, Lieutenant Ernst, was in active service in the Habsburg military, and took six-year-old Karl Aloys on maneuvers with him. In this way, he learned as a child the Habsburg military manual, and came into contact with important military men who later furthered his education and career; he also acquired an honorary rank as Kreis-Obristen, or Colonel of the Imperial Circle, by the time he was ten years old. As a youth, in 1776, he met the Habsburg war minister Count Franz Moritz von Lacy and Baron Ernst Gideon von Laudon; he was also invited to dine with Emperor Joseph II. He started his service in 1777 as a Fähnrich (ensign) in the Habsburg military organization. He saw his first field service during the War of the Bavarian Succession (1777–78), although he was not involved in any battles.
In 1780, at the age of twenty years, he was promoted to captain, and assigned to the 34th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Anton Esterházy, named for Paul II Anton, Prince Esterházy, the general of cavalry, field marshal of the Seven Years' War, and ambassador to Britain. While he was assigned to this unit, he participated in the border conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburgs, 1787–92, and stormed the fortress at Šabac (German: Schabatz) on the Sava River in Serbia on 27 April 1788. For his action at Šabac, he was personally commended by the Emperor; on the following day, he was promoted to major and given command of a grenadier battalion.
On 1 January 1790, at Laudon's explicit request, Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg was promoted to major general; at the end of June of that year, he received the coveted position of second colonel of the 34th Infantry Regiment Anton Esterhazy, where he served as the executive officer for Anton I, Prince Esterházy, the 34th Hungarian Regiment's Colonel and Proprietor. This was a customary appointment in which a less prominent officer completed the day-to-day administrative duties of the Colonel and Proprietor, who was usually a noble and was often posted in a different assignment, sometimes a different staff location. Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg also received the confraternal Order of Saint Hubert from the Duke of Bavaria and married the "elegant" Princess Elisabeth of Thurn und Taxis (1767–1822), that year.