Benedek, Ludwig von [key], 1804–81, Austrian general. Entering the army in 1822, he served in the suppression of the Polish insurrection of 1846, in the Austrian campaigns of 1848–49 in Italy and Hungary, and in the Italian War of 1859. In the Austro-Prussian War (1866), he reluctantly accepted, under imperial pressure, an appointment to command the army of the North, although he felt inadequately prepared to direct troops in the unfamiliar territory of Bohemia. He suffered a crushing defeat at Sadová (or Sadowa; also known as the battle of Königgrätz). After his court-martial was stopped by imperial command, von Benedek was permitted to retire to Graz, provided he would make no attempt to rehabilitate himself.
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