BROWN (Ulysses Maximilian), a celebrated general of the 18th century, was son of Ulysses, baron Brown and Camus, colonel of a regiment of cuirassiers in the emperor's service, and descended from one of the most ancient and noble families in Ireland. He was born at Basil in 1705; and having finished his first studies at Limerick in Ireland, was, in 1715, sent for into Hungary, by count George Brown, his uncle, member of the aulic council of war, and colonel of a regiment of infantry. He was present at the famous battle of Belgrade, in 1717. Next year he followed his uncle into Italy, who made him continue his studies, in the Clementine college, at Rome, till the year 1721, when he was sent to Prague in order to learn the civil law. At the end of the year 1723, he became captain in his uncle's regiment; and in 1725, lieutenant-colonel: in 1730, he went into Corsica with a battalion of his regiment; and contributed greatly to the taking of Callanfara, where he received a considerable wound in his thigh. In 1732, the emperor made him chamberlain: He was raised to the rank of colonel in 1734; and distinguished himself so much in the war of Italy, especially at the battles of Parma and Guastalla, and in burning in the presence of the French army the bridge which the marshal de Noailles had caused to be thrown over the Adige, that he was made general in 1736. The following year he favoured the retreat of the army, after the unhappy battle of Banjulica in Bosnia, by an excellent manoeuvre, and saved all the baggage. His admirable conduct upon this occasion was rewarded by his obtaining a second regiment of infantry, vacant by the death of count Francis de Wallis.
At his return to Vienna, in 1739, the emperor Charles VI. raised him to the rank of general-field-marshal-lieutenant, and made him counsellor in the aulic council of war. After the death of that prince, the king of Prussia entering Silesia, count Brown, with a small body of troops, disputed the country with him inch by inch. He signalized himself on several other occasions: and, in 1743, the queen of Hungary made him a privy-counsellor, at her coronation in Bohemia. He at length passed into Bavaria, where he commanded the van-guard of the Austrian army; seized Deckendorf, with a great quantity of baggage; and obliged the French to abandon the banks of the Danube, which the Austrian army passed in full security. The same
year, viz. in 1743, the queen of Hungary sent him to Worms, in quality of her plenipotentiary to the king of Britain; where he put the last hand to the treaty of alliance between the courts of Vienna, London, and Turin. In 1744, he followed prince Lobkowitz into Italy; took the city of Veletri, on the 4th of August, in spite of the superior numbers of the enemy; entered their camp, overthrew several regiments, and took many prisoners. The following year he was recalled into Bavaria, where he took the town of Wilshofen by assault, and received a dangerous shot in the thigh. The same year he was made general of the artillery; and in January 1746, marched for Italy, at the head of a body of 18,000 men. He then drove the Spaniards out of the Milanese; and having joined the forces under prince de Lichtenstein, commanded the left wing of the Austrian army at the battle of Placentia on the 15th of June 1746, and defeated the right wing of the enemy's forces commanded by marshal de Maillebois. After this victory, he commanded in chief the army against the Genoeese; seized the pass of Bochetta or Bochetta, though defended by above 4000 men; and took the city of Genoa. Count Brown at length joined the king of Sardinia's troops; and took, in conjunction with him, Mont-Alban, and the county of Nice. On the 30th of November he passed the Var, in spite of the French troops; entered Provence; took the isles of St Margaret and St Honorat; and thought to have rendered himself master of a much greater part of Provence, when the revolution which happened in Genoa, and marshal de Belleisle's advancing with his army, obliged him to make that fine retreat which procured him the admiration and esteem of all persons skilled in war. He employed the rest of the year 1747 in defending the states of the house of Austria in Italy; and after the peace in 1748, he was sent to Nice to regulate there, in conjunction with the duke of Belleisle and the marquis de la Minas, the differences that had arisen with respect to the execution of some of the articles of the definitive treaty of Aix la Chapelle.
The empress queen, to reward these signal services, especially his glorious campaigns in Italy in 1749, made him governor of Transylvania, where he rendered himself generally admired for his probity and disinterestedness. In 1752, he obtained the government of the city of Prague, with the chief command of the troops in that kingdom; in 1753, the king of Poland, elector of Saxony, honoured him with the collar of the order of the white eagle; and the next year he was declared field-marshal.
The king of Prussia entering Saxony in 1756, and attacking Bohemia, count Brown marched against him; and repulsed that prince at the battle of Lobositz, on the 1st of October, though he had only 27,000 men, and the king of Prussia had at least 40,000. Seven days after this battle, he undertook the famous march into Saxony, to deliver the Saxon troops shut up between Pirna and Königstein; an action worthy of the greatest captains, ancient or modern. He at length obliged the Prussians to retire from Bohemia; for which he was rewarded, by being made a knight of the golden fleece. Soon after, count Brown hastily assembled an army in Bohemia, to oppose the king of Prussia, who had again penetrated into