Johann von Klenau

Who was Johann von Klenau?

Johann von Klenau, also called Johann Josef Cajetan von Klenau und Janowitz, the son of a Bohemian noble, was a field marshal in the Habsburg army. Klenau joined the Habsburg military as a teenager and fought in Austria's wars with the Ottoman Empire, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars, in which he commanded a corps in several important battles.

In the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars, Klenau distinguished himself at the Wissembourg lines, and led a battle-winning charge at Handschuhsheim in 1795. As commander of the Coalition's left flank in the Adige campaign in northern Italy in 1799, he was instrumental in isolating the French-held fortresses on the Po River by organizing and supporting a peasant uprising in the countryside. Afterward, Klenau became the youngest lieutenant field marshal in the history of the Habsburg military.

As a corps commander, Klenau led key elements of the Austrian army in its victory at Aspern-Esslingen and its defeat at Wagram, where his troops covered the retreat of the main Austrian force.