Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie

Victor François de Broglie, 2nd Duke of Broglie (19 October 171830 March 1804) was an officer of the French Army. He became a Marshal of France in 1759.

Biography He served with his father, François Marie de Broglie, 1st Duke of Broglie, at Parma and Guastalla, and in 1734 obtained a colonelcy.

In the War of the Austrian Succession, he took part in the storming of Prague in 1742, and was made a brigadier. In 1744 and 1745 he saw further service on the Rhine, and he succeeded his father as 2nd duc de Broglie on the old duke's death in 1745. He was made a Maréchal de Camp, and he subsequently served with Marshal de Saxe in the Low Countries, and was present at Roucoux, Val and Maastricht. At the end of the war, he was made a lieutenant-general.

In French history, Victor François de Broglie's term as Secretary of State, Minister of War, was the shortest. According to this contemporary defamatory pamphlet, it lasted exactly: 36 hours, 44 minutes and 25 seconds. After his victory at the Battle of Bergen, followed that with the capture the city of Minden, the French were defeated at the Battle of Minden under the command of Contades, whom he would succeed in command. In 1760, he won an action at the Korbach, but was defeated at Villinghausen in 1761. After the war, he fell into disgrace and was not recalled to active employment until 1778, when he was given command of the troops designed to operate against Great Britain, when France intervened on the Thirteen Colonies' side during the American war of independence. He played a prominent part in the French Revolution, which he opposed with determination; he commanded troops at Versailles in July 1789 and briefly served as Louis XVI's minister of war before fleeing France. After his emigration, the duc de Broglie commanded the Army of the Princes for a short time (1792).

Since the duke's eldest son, Charles-Louis-Victor, prince de Broglie, died in the Terror, the succession fell to his grandson, who became the third duc de Broglie. He died at Münster in 1804.

Marriage and children Victor François de Broglie first married in 1736 Marie Anne Dubois de Villers, who died in 1751. They had 4 sons, which all died young.

In 1752, he remarried Louise Augustine Salbigothon Crozat de Thiers. They had 12 children, including : Victor de Broglie, Prince of Broglie (1756-1794), his successor, guillotined. Maurice-Jean de Broglie (1766-1821), Bishop of Ghent. Amédée de Broglie (1772-1851), Maréchal de camp, Order of the Holy Spirit.