I. FRIEDRICH LUDWIG

i. friedrich ludwig, prince of hohenlohe-ingelfingen (1746-1818), prussian general, was the eldest son of prince johann friedrich (d. 1796) of hohenlohe-ingelfingen, and began his military career as a boy, serving against the prussians in the last years of the seven years' war. entering the prussian army after the peace (1768), he was on account of his rank at once made major, and in 1775 he became lieutenant-colonel; in 1778 he took part in the war of the bavarian succession and about the same time was made a colonel. shortly before the death of frederick the great he was promoted to the rank of major-general and appointed chief of a regiment. for some years the prince did garrison duty at breslau, until in 1791 he was made governor of berlin. in 1794 he commanded a corps in the prussian army on the rhine and distinguished himself greatly in many engagements, particularly in the battle of kaiserslautern on the 20th of september. he was at this time the most popular soldier in the prussian army. blucher wrote of him that "he was a leader of whom the prussian army might well be proud." he succeeded his father in the principality, and acquired additional lands by his marriage with a daughter of count von hoym. in 1806 hohenlohe, now a general of infantry, was appointed to command the left-wing army of the prussian forces opposing napoleon, having under him prince louis ferdinand of prussia; but, feeling that his career had been that of a prince and not that of a scientific soldier, he allowed his quartermaster-general massenbach to influence him unduly. disputes soon broke out between hohenlohe and the commander-in-chief, the duke of brunswick, the armies marched hither and thither without effective results, and finally hohenlohe's army was almost destroyed by napoleon at jena (see napoleonic campaigns). the prince displayed his usual personal bravery in the battle, and managed to rally a portion of his corps near erfurt, whence he retired into prussia. but the pursuers followed him up closely, and, still acting under massenbach's advice, he surrendered the remnant of his army at prenzlau on the 28th of october, a fortnight after jena and three weeks after the beginning of hostilities. hohenlohe's former popularity and influence in the army had now the worst possible effect, for the commandants of garrisons everywhere lost heart and followed his example. after two years spent as a prisoner of war in france hohenlohe retired to his estates, living in self-imposed obscurity until his death on the 15th of february 1818. he had, in august 1806, just before the outbreak of the french war, resigned the principality to his eldest son, not being willing to become a "mediatized" ruler under wurttemberg suzerainty.