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ISAAC HAWKINS BROWNE (1705-1760)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 665 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ISAAC See also:HAWKINS See also:BROWNE (1705-1760)  , See also:English poet, was See also:born on the 21st of See also:January 1705 at See also:Burton-upon-See also:Trent, of of the See also:Empire (Reichsgraf) by the See also:emperor See also:Charles VI . His See also:uncle Georg, Reichsgraf von See also:Browne (1698-1792), was a distinguished soldier, who See also:rose to the See also:rank of See also:field See also:marshal in the See also:Russian See also:army, and was made Reichsgraf by the emperor See also:Joseph II. in 1779 . The powerful See also:influence which he commanded, through his See also:father and his wife (nee Countess See also:Marie Philippine v . Martinitz), advanced the See also:young officer through the subordinate grades so rapidly that at the See also:age of twenty-nine he was See also:colonel of an See also:infantry See also:regiment . But he justified his See also:early promotion in the field, and in the See also:Italian See also:campaign of 1734 he greatly distinguished himself . In the Tirolese fighting of 1735, and in the unfortunate See also:Turkish See also:war, he won further distinction as a See also:general officer . He was a See also:lieutenant field marshal in command of the Silesian garrisons when in 1740 See also:Frederick II. and the Prussian army overran the See also:province . His careful employment of such resources as he possessed materially hindered the See also:king in his See also:conquest and gave See also:time for See also:Austria to collect a field army (see See also:AUSTRIAN See also:SUCCESSION, WAR OF THE) . He was See also:present at Mollwitz, where he received a severe See also:wound . His vehement opposition to all See also:half-hearted See also:measures brought him frequently into conflict with his superiors, but contributed materially to the unusual See also:energy displayed by the Austrian armies in 1742 and 1743 . In the following See also:campaigns Browne exhibited the same qualities of generalship and the same impatience of See also:control . In 1745 he served under See also:Count See also:Traun, and was promoted to the rank of Feldzeugmeister .

In 1746 he was present in the Italian campaign and the battles of See also:

Piacenza and Rottofredo . See also:Brown himself with the advanced guard forced his way across the See also:Apennines and entered See also:Genoa . He was thereafter placed in command of the army intended for the invasion of See also:France, and early in 1747 of all the imperial forces in See also:Italy . At the end of the war Browne was engaged in the negotiations which led to the See also:convention of See also:Nice(January 21st, 1749) . He became commanderin-See also:chief in Bohemia in 1751, and field marshal two years later . He was still in Bohemia when the Seven Years' War opened with Frederick's invasion of See also:Saxony (1756) . Browne's army, advancing to the See also:relief of See also:Pirna (see SEVEN YEARS' WAR), was met, and, after a hard struggle, defeated by the king at Lobositz, but he See also:drew off in excellent See also:order, and soon made another See also:attempt with a picked force to reach Pirna, by See also:wild See also:mountain tracks . The field marshal never spared himself, bivouacking in the See also:snow with his men, and See also:Carlyle records that private soldiers made rough shelters over him as he slept . He actually reached the See also:Elbe at See also:Schandau, but as the See also:Saxons were unable to break out Browne retired, having succeeded, however, in delaying the development of Frederick's operations for a whole campaign . In the campaign of 1757 he voluntarily served under See also:Prince Charles of See also:Lorraine (q.v.) who was made commanderin-chief, and on the 6th of May in that See also:year, while leading a See also:bayonet See also:charge at the See also:battle of See also:Prague, Browne, like See also:Schwerin on the same See also:day, met his See also:death . He was carried mortally wounded into Prague, and there died on the 26th of See also:June, his last days embittered by the knowledge that he was unjustly held responsible for the failure of the campaign . His name has been See also:borne, since 1888, by the 36th Austrian infantry .

See Zuverlassige Lebensbeschreibung U.M . Reichsgrafen, v . B . . K.-K . Gen.-Feldmarschall (Frankfurt and See also:

Leipzig, 1757); See also:Baron O'Cahill, Gesch. der grossten Herrfuhrer (Rastadt, 1785, v. ii. pp . 264-316) .

End of Article: ISAAC HAWKINS BROWNE (1705-1760)
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