Benedek

Benedek, LUDWIG VON, an Austrian general, born in 1804 at Oedenburg, in Hungary. He entered the army in 1822, and on the occasion of the insurrection of Galicia in 1846, had several opportunities of distinguishing himself. In 1847 he commanded a regiment in Italy. He distinguished himself at the taking of Mortara, and in the battle of Novara. In 1849 he commanded in Hungary, and took an important share in several battles, being twice wounded. At the close of the Hungarian campaign, he was ordered again, high in command, to Italy. In the Italian campaign of 1859, Benedek commanded the eighth corps of the Austrians. At Solferino he drove back the Piedmontese with great slaughter. He was governor of Hungary in 1860, and soon after commander-in-chief in Venice. In 1866 he commanded the northern Austrian army in the war with Prussia; but shortly after the defeat of Sadowa, he was superseded, and brought to a court-martial. Though his proceedings were quashed by the emperor, Benedek never recovered from the savage criticism to which his vanquished and mortified countrymen subjected him; and he retired to Graz, where he died April 27, 1881.