George Olivier, Count of Wallis - Life

Life

After his father Ernst Georg Wallis's death in 1689 in the Nine Years' War during the Siege of Mainz, George Olivier became a page at the Vienna court and just one year later became a lieutenant in the imperial army. In 1697 he fought as a hauptmann at the battle of Zenta. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) he first served in northern Italy (rising to command a regiment as oberst in 1703), then from 1707 in the conquest of Naples. He also served in Spain until 1713 and by the end of the war had reached the rank of Feldmarschall-Leutnants.

He fought again in the Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718), under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy at the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716 and at the sieges of Temesvár and Belgrade. The following year he was put in command of three regiments and posted to operations in Naples. In the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20) he fought in the Austrian army on Sicily, being wounded in the struggle for Messina but later becoming governor of that city's fortress until 1727, when he returned to Austria. When the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729) threatened to escalate the Holy Roman Emperor ordered Olivier back to Sicily to ready the island's defences. When no attack on Sicily came Olivier was dismissed in 1731 and from then until 1734 commanded the fortress at Mainz. In the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1735/38) he served against France in northern Italy (from 1723 with the rank of Feldzeugmeister) - he even took overall command of the whole Austrian force there for a time and won some advantages.

In the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–1739) he commanded an Austrian corps and was shortly afterwards promoted to field marshal. In the last year of the war he was the Austrian army's supreme commander but he lost the decisive battle of Grocka on 22 July 1739. Only a week after the battle Austria was forced to sign the Peace of Belgrade, losing large swathes of territory to the Ottoman Empire. Olivier was one of the main culprits for the defeat, was tried with other generals before a war tribunal and on 22 February 1740 was sentenced to imprisonment at the fortress at Spielberg. On the death of Charles VI he was pardoned by Maria Theresa of Austria in November the same year. He then spent his final years on his lands, often being consulted by Vienna on military matters. The war against the Turks, however, had caused lasting damage to his brilliant military reputation, as is reflected in later historians' assessments of him.