Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (11 September 1611 – 27 July 1675), commonly known as Turenne (French: [tyʁɛn]), was a French general and one of only six marshals to have been promoted Marshal General of France. The most illustrious member of the La Tour d'Auvergne family, his military exploits over his five-decade career earned him a reputation as one of the greatest military commanders in history.
Born to a Huguenot family, the son of a Marshal of France, he was introduced to the art of war at a young age. He first served as a volunteer in the Dutch States Army under the orders of his maternal uncles Maurice of Nassau and Frederick Henry before pursuing his career in the service of France, where his noble origins and proven qualities soon saw him rise to the top of the military hierarchy. He rose to prominence during the Thirty Years' War by capturing the fortress of Breisach in 1638. Promoted Marshal of France in 1643, he struck against Bavaria the following year, defeating the Bavarian army in three years of campaigning and forcing the Elector of Bavaria to make peace. The Elector soon broke the treaty and in 1648 Turenne invaded again with Swedish support, subduing the Imperial army at Zusmarshausen and pacifying Bavaria.
Turenne initially supported the Fronde but returned to royal service in 1651, emerging as France's foremost general by defeating the rebellious army of the Prince of Condé on the outskirts of Paris and re-occupying the city.
His triumphs against Spanish armies at Arras (1654) and at Dunkirk (1658) led to the overrunning of much of the Spanish Netherlands and brought the war against Spain to a victorious conclusion. Two years later, Louis XIV appointed him Marshal General of France. Although a supporter of absolute monarchy, he only converted to Catholicism in 1668, refusing to do so earlier despite political incentives.
During the War of Devolution in 1667 Turenne captured the Spanish Netherlands practically without resistance. In 1672 the French invaded the Dutch Republic and the Marshal General conquered the country up to Amsterdam. Checked by the Dutch flooding of the land, he invaded the Holy Roman Empire the next year, reaching the Elbe and compelling Brandenburg to abandon the anti-French coalition. Faced with the loss of Alsace to superior Allied forces, he crowned his career with a series of battlefield victories, most notably at Turckheim (1675) and a masterful strategic turning movement around the Vosges in mid-winter that drove the Imperials from Alsace. He was killed by an Imperial cannonball at the battle of Salzbach in 1675.
The second son of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, sovereign Prince of Sedan, by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, he was born at Sedan. It is said that much of his money found its way to the poor during his early life. He received a Huguenot education and the usual training of a young noble of the time, but physical infirmity hampered his progress, though he showed a marked skill at history and geography, and was greatly impressed by the exploits of Alexander the Great and Caesar. At first he was a lazy student but after his father started saying his intellectual laziness was as great a barrier to joining the army as his physical weakness, he began to study on his own accord. After his father's death in 1623, he devoted himself to bodily exercises and in a great measure overcame his natural weakness. Turenne and his mother were devout Calvinists and were suspicious of Cardinal Richelieu, so when Turenne began his military career at the age of fourteen, he did so in the camp of his uncle, Maurice of Nassau, the Stadtholder of Holland and Prince of Orange. He started as a private in Maurice's bodyguard during the Eighty Years' War.
Frederick Henry of Nassau, who succeeded his brother Maurice as Stadtholder and Prince of Orange in 1625, granted Turenne a captaincy in 1626. Turenne personally drilled his troops, as was the custom at the time, and won their respect with his charity and simple lifestyle. His company was alleged to be the best drilled and most disciplined one in the army, he required of his soldiers not only discipline but also high moral standards. His kindness made him well-liked among the entire army. The young officer took his part in the sieges of the period, learning much about fortifications and siege warfare. In 1629, Turenne served in the siege of Bois-le-Duc as commander of an artillery and reconnaissance. He won special commendation for his skill at this battle, but was reprimanded for recklessness. He also learned much about the details of leading an army, like posting guards and reconnaissance. In 1630 Turenne left the Netherlands and entered the service of France, motivated both by the prospect of military advancement but also because of his mother's desire to display loyalty to the French crown.
Cardinal Richelieu immediately made him colonel of an infantry regiment. Yet he continued to serve with the prince of Orange at short intervals, who at the time had an alliance with France. He took part in successful fighting near Antwerp and fought against Hendrik van den Bergh. He took part in an uneventful campaign under Schomberg in 1630 but his first serious service under the French flag occurred at the siege of La Mothe in Lorraine by Marshal de la Force (1634), where his brilliant courage at the assault won him immediate promotion to the rank of maréchal de camp (equivalent to the modern grade of major-general). In 1635 Turenne served under Louis de Nogaret de La Valette in Lorraine and on the Rhine. The French and their allies raised the Imperial siege of Mainz (8 August 1635), but the French army had to fall back on Metz for want of provisions. In the retreat he measured swords with the famous imperial General Gallas, and distinguished himself greatly. He managed to defeat his pursuers in battle but the Imperials were too numerous to be turned around. The reorganised army took the field again in 1636 and captured Saverne (Zabern), at the storming of which he was seriously wounded. In 1637 he took part in the campaign of Flanders, including the capture of Landrecies (26 July). In the latter part of 1638, serving under Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1608–1639), he directed the assault on Breisach (reputedly the strongest fortress on the upper Rhine), which surrendered on 17 December. In led the assault on the powerful fortress of Vieux-Brisach in 1638 and obtained its capitulation on December 17.
Turenne had now gained a reputation as one of the foremost of the younger generals of France, and Richelieu next employed him in the Italian campaign of 1639–1640 under Henri de Lorraine, count of Harcourt. On 19 November 1639 Turenne fought in the famous rearguard action called the battle of the "Route de Quiers", for which he received a lot of credit though he only gave himself a small role in his own description of events. At the battle of Casal, 10,000 Frenchmen defeated 20,000 Spaniards. The French commander Harcourt was almost encircled but Turenne used deception to scare off the enemy and the battle was won. In 1640, Harcourt saved Casale Monferrato and besieged Prince Thomas' forces in Turin, which in turn were besieging another French force in the citadel thereof. That winter he relieved the citadel of Turin, held by the French against the forces of Prince Thomas of Savoy. The French in the citadel held out, while Prince Thomas had to surrender on 17 September 1640, a fourth army which had invested Harcourt's lines being at the same time forced to retire. Turenne, by now lieutenant-general, played a major role in the victory. He himself commanded during the campaign of 1641 and took Coni, Ceva and Mondovì.
In 1642 he served as second-in-command of the French troops which conquered Roussillon. At this time Richelieu discovered the conspiracy of Cinq Mars in which Turenne's elder brother, the Duke of Bouillon, had become implicated.