Ignác Gyulay

Who was Ignác Gyulay?

Count Ignác Gyulay de Marosnémeti et Nádaska, Ignácz Gyulay, Ignaz Gyulai, or Ignjat Đulaj was a Hungarian military officer, joined the army of Habsburg Austria, fought against Ottoman Turkey, and became a general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars. From 1806 he held the title of Ban of Croatia. In the struggle against the First French Empire during Napoleonic Wars, he commanded army corps. At the time of his death, he presided over the Hofkriegsrat, the Austrian Council of War.

While fighting against the Turks, Gyulay rose in rank to become a field officer. From 1793 to 1796, he served on the upper Rhine in combat with the armies of the First French Republic. In 1799 he led a brigade in Germany and the following year he commanded a division. From 1801 until 1831, he was Proprietor of a Hungarian infantry regiment.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Gyulay fought in the 1805 campaign against the First French Empire and later served his emperor as a negotiator in the peace talks. He commanded an Austrian army corps in the 1809 campaign in Italy. Again leading a corps, he fought at the decisive Battle of the Nations in 1813. During the subsequent French campaign in 1814, he led one of the corps in the victorious Allied armies.