Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Herzog v Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel
(09.10.1735 - 10.11.1806)
place of birth:  Wolfenbüttel, Herzogtum Braunschweig
Herzogtum Braunschweig:  Herzog,  Generalfeldmarschall

                            

Karl Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick (1780–1806) and Prussian field marshal. He had great success in the Seven Years War (1756–63) and was commander in chief (1792–94) of the Austro-Prussian armies in the French Revolutionary War. Although he sympathized with some of the goals of the revolution, he led the German army in its ill-fated march into France in 1792 and issued a manifesto threatening severe reprisals against the revolutionaries. 

The field marshal captured Longwy and Verdun but was decisively defeated at Valmy in 1792. In 1793 he routed the French at Kaiserslautern and Pirmasens. He again commanded the Prussian armies in 1806 and was defeated by the French marshal Davout at Auerstädt. He was blinded in the battle and died soon after. His son was Friedrich Wilhelm, the Black Duke of Brunswick.