1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wrede, Karl Philipp, Prince von

WREDE, KARL PHILIPP. Prince von (1767-1838), Bavarian field-marshal, was born at Heidelberg on the 29th of April 1767, and educated, for the career of a civil official under the Palatinate government, but on the outbreak of the campaign of 1799 he raised a volunteer corps in the Palatinate and was made its colonel. This corps excited the mirth of the well-drilled Austrians with whom it served, but its colonel soon brought it into a good condition, and it distingtiished itself during Kray's retreat on Ulm. At Hohenlinden Wrede commanded one of the Palatinate infantry brigades with credit, and after the peace of Lunéville he was made lieutenant-general in the Bavarian army, which was entering upon a period of reforms. Wrede soon made himself very popular, and distinguished himself in opposing the Austrian invasion of 1805. The Bavarians were for several years the active allies of Napoleon, and Wrede was engaged in the campaign against Prussia, winning especial distinction at Pultusk. But the contemptuous attitude of the French towards the Bavarian troops, and accusations of looting against himself, exasperated the general's fiery temper, and both in 1807 and in 1809 even outward harmony was only maintained by the tact of the king of Bavaria. In the latter year, under Lefebvre, Wrede conducted the rearguard operations on the Isar and the Abens, commanded the Bavarians in the bitter Tirolese war, was wounded in the decisive attack at Wagram, and returned to Tirol in November to complete the subjection of the mountaineers. Napoleon made him a count of the Empire in this year. But after a visit to France, recognizing that Napoleon would not respect the independence of the Rhine states, and that the empire would collapse under the emperor's ambitions, he gradually went over to the anti-French party in Bavaria, and though he displayed his usual vigour in the Russian campaign, the retreat convinced him that Napoleon's was a losing cause and he left the army. At first his resignation was not accepted, but early in 1813 he was allowed to return to Bavaria to reorganize the Bavarian army. But he had no intention of using that army on Napoleon's side, and when the king of Bavaria resolved at last to join Napoleon's enemies, Wrede's army was ready to take the field. In concert with Schwarzenberg Wrede threw himself across Napoleon's line of retreat from Germany at Hanau, but on the 30th of October he was driven off the road with heavy losses. Nexc year, after recovering from a dangerous wound, he led a corps in the invasion of France, and supported Blücher's vigorous policy. In 1815 the Bavarians took the field but were not actively engaged. After Waterloo, Wrede, who had been made a prince in 1814, played a conspicuous part in Bavarian politics as the opponent of Montgelas, whom he succeeded in power in 1817, and in 1S35 he was made head of the council of regency during the king's absence. He died on the 12th of December 1838.

See lives by Riedel (1844) and Heilmann (1881).