Franz Moritz von Lacy (21 October 1725-24 November 1801) was a Field Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire.
Biography[]
Franz Moritz von Lacy was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire in 1725, the son of Peter Lacy. Educated in Germany, he served in the Austrian Reichsarmee in Italy, Bohemia, Silesia, and the Netherlands during the War of the Austrian Succession and was wounded twice, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He reached the rank of colonel and attained a regimental command at the age of 25, and he was promoted to major-general after distinguishing himself at the Battle of Lobositz in 1756 during the Seven Years' War. Lacy was again wounded at Prague in 1757, was wounded while covering the Austrian retreat from the 1757 Battle of Leuthen, and teamed up with Field Marshal Leopold Joseph von Daun to inflict several defeats on the Prussian king Frederick the Great. However, the tide turned against the Austrians towards the end of the war, blocking Lacy from promotion. During the War of the Bavarian Succession, Lacy and Ernst Gideon von Laudon commanded the Austrian forces in Bohemia, and his last conflict was the war with the Turks in the 1780s. He died in 1801.