Viktor von Philippi

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Viktor von Philippi (1675–24 October 1739) was an Imperial Habsburg field marshal and diplomat. Born in 1675 in Piedmont, he began his career as a lieutenant colonel and adjutant general to Prince Eugene in 1703, and became a colonel in 1711. In 1717 he led the Bayreuth Dragoon Regiment and helped negotiate the surrender of Belgrade during the siege, later escorting the Turkish garrison across the Morava as a guard.

He was promoted to Major General on 16 October 1723 and, in 1727, became commander of the 12th Dragoon Regiment. He then took on a diplomatic post, serving as Imperial Envoy to the Sardinian court at Turin from 1732 to 1733, when he was recalled and promoted to Lieutenant Field Marshal on 8 November 1733.

During the War of the Polish Succession he fought in the Rhine campaign with the main army. He became General of Cavalry on 26 April 1735 and Field Marshal on 22 April 1737. In the Seventh Turkish War (1737) he led the advance to Nissa and formed the vanguard of the main army under Field Marshal Seckendorf. In 1738 he took command of the Cavalry.

After Seckendorf’s dismissal, Philippi served as acting Commander-in-Chief ad interim before handing over to Count Olivier Wallis. He captured Nissa on 25 July 1737 and the fortress Usiya on 26 September 1737. He led the left wing at the Battle of Kornia on 4 July 1738 and commanded at Mehadia on 15 July. Illness forced him to leave the army briefly, but he returned for the 1739 campaign as cavalry commander-in-chief and then returned to Vienna, where he died on 24 October 1739.

Contemporaries regarded him as a capable and knowledgeable officer, though some described him as scheming and inclined to intrigue. He married Marie Christine Rebekka von Malenthein in 1720; she died around 1747.