Otto Ferdinand von Abensperg und Traun

[1] He was sent to Halle to complete his education, but in 1693 left the university to serve with the Prussian contingent of the allied army in the Low Countries.

The War of the Spanish Succession soon followed, in which Traun served with distinction in Italy and on the Rhine till 1709, when he became lieutenant-colonel and aide-de-camp to Field Marshal Count Guido Starhemberg (1654–1737) in Spain.

He was at once promoted Feldzeugmeister and employed in a difficult semi-political command in Hungary, after which he was made commander-in-chief in northern Italy and interim governor-general of the Milanese, in which capacity he received the homage of the army and civil authorities on the accession of Maria Theresa in 1740.

In this capacity he inspired the brilliant operations which led up to the passage of the Rhine and the skillful strategy whereby Frederick of Prussia was forced to evacuate Bohemia and Moravia (1744) without a battle.

[2] Traun's last active service was the command of an army which was sent to Frankfurt to influence the election of a new emperor to succeed Charles VII.