Erwin von Neipperg

Neipperg was born on 6 April 1813 in Schwaigern, in the Kingdom of Württemberg. He was the youngest son of General Count Adam Albert von Neipperg (a grandson of Count Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg) and his first wife, Countess Theresia Pola di Treviso (1778–1815). His elder brother, Count Alfred von Neipperg, married Princess Marie Friederike Charlotte of Württemberg (a daughter of King William I of Württemberg and Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, the fourth daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia).^[1] After his mother's death, Adam Albert would marry Archduchess Maria Luisa of Habsburg-Lorraine, Napoleon's widow and daughter of Emperor Franz II, thus acquiring the title of Count of Neipperg.^[2]

Neipperg completed military studies and after the death of his father acquired, in coregency with his brothers Alfred, Ferdinand and Gustav, lead the village of Schwaigern with its annexation of Burg Neipperg, the hunting grounds in Kleingartach, Bönningheim and Erlingheim as well as lands in Schwaigern and a forest near Neipperg. In 1833, he and his brothers closed a trust on the succession, which gave all the property to the eldest son and regulated the succession in the event of the termination of a line of descendants.^[3]

Neipperg served for a long time in the Imperial Austrian Army as a cavalry officer in the garrison in Parma, where his stepmother Maria Luisa resided.^[4] He was promoted to colonel in 1848 and was commander of the Austrian garrison in Parma. He found himself to stem the weak insurrectional uprisings that took place in Parma and to support the heir to the throne, Carlo III of Parma. He participated in the battles of the First Italian War of Independence, distinguishing himself in Morozzo and Custoza. Subsequently, he was military governor of Gorizia until 1865; having been promoted to Feldmarschall-Leutnant in 1863.^[5]

Fiercely anti-Prussian and a supporter of a federation of German states led by the Austrian Empire, Neipperg participated in the Austro-Prussian War at the head of the 4th Division of the VIII Army Corps, composed of Austrian and Nassauian troops. On 14 July 1866, due to the pleas of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine for Austrian support in the Campaign of the Main, he clashed with the troops of the Prussian general August Karl von Goeben near Aschaffenburg.^[6] The Prussians, in clear numerical superiority with 16,600 men, won a crushing victory over Neipperg's troops that forced the Austrians, now decimated, to a hasty flight. Neipperg, after having been military commander of Bratislava and Vienna, left the Imperial Austrian Army and for some years served as head of the local militia of the Kingdom of Württemberg, leaving all military posts in 1878. Meanwhile he had been promoted to General of the Cavalry in 1870.^[7]