András Hadik


Count András Hadik de Futak was a Hungarian nobleman and Field Marshal of the Habsburg Army. He was Governor of Galicia and Lodomeria from January 1774 to June 1774, and the father of Karl Joseph Hadik von Futak. He is famous for capturing the Prussian capital Berlin during the Seven Years' War.

Early life

András Hadik, son of a lesser noble family, was born on October 16, 1710, in Csallóköz or in Kőszeg, Kingdom of Hungary. He had Hungarian,
Luxembourgian and Slovak ancestors. According to another source, he was of Hungarian ethnic origin, but the name "Hadik" is a diminutive from the Slovak appellative had, the family was thus of Slovak extraction.
Alternative theories also suggest his Tartar or Cherkess ancestry.
His father, Mihály Hadik was a cavalryman. His mother, Franciska Hardy had a German background. András Hadik volunteered for the Ghilányi Hussar regiment when he was 20, and at 22 he was given the rank of officer and became the standard bearer in the Dessewffy Hussar regiment in the Habsburg army. Hadik fought in the War of the Polish Succession and the Austro-Turkish War, 1737-1739. In 1738 Hadik was promoted to the rank of captain.

Military successes

During the War of the Austrian Succession he gained fame for his actions against the Prussians at the city of Neisse using surprise attacks and tricks under the unwritten laws of the so-called "small war," relying on the excellent training of his light cavalry hussars. During the war he served under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1744 he gained the rank of Commanding Colonel of his own hussar regiment, then near the end of the war in 1747 he attained the rank of General and was appointed commander of a cavalry brigade.
Early in the Seven Years' War, Hadik executed the most famous hussar action in history: when the Prussian King Frederick was marching south with his powerful armies, the Hungarian general unexpectedly swung his 5,000 force of mostly hussars around the Prussians and took their capital Berlin. The city was spared for a negotiated ransom of 300,000 thalers, which he distributed among his troops. For this feat, Hadik was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. He was also awarded the
Großkreuz of the Maria Theresia Order.

Legacy

Slovak National Academy of Defense of Marshal Andrej Hadík was named after him.