Born in Laupheim, Ludwig von Welden joined the army of the Duchy of Württemberg in 1798, taking part in the war against revolutionary France 1799–1800.

Having been promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, Ludwig von Welden served with distinction as a staff officer in Italy in 1814, and, after the capture of Mantua, was given the task to repatriate the French army, which had capitulated there, to southern France.

In 1815, Ludwig von Welden was an officer in the general staff in the army raised to confront Joachim Murat, the dethroned king of Naples.

After the Prince of Windischgrätz's failure to suppress the revolutionary movements in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Ludwig van Welden was given the supreme command of the Austrian army in Hungary in April 1849.

However, after the Hungarian conquest of Ofen in May, he was replaced by Julius Jacob von Haynau and returned to Vienna to resume his post as governor, having also been promoted to the second highest rank in the Austrian army, Feldzeugmeister.