Giuseppe Lahoz Ortiz

Giuseppe Lahoz Ortiz
Born	1766 Mantua
Died	13 September 1799 Ancona (aged 33)
Allegiance	Austrian Empire Cisalpine Republic (1796-1798)
Rank	Brigadier general

Giuseppe Lahoz Ortiz, also known as Giuseppe La Hoz (Mantua, 1766 — Ancona, 13 September 1799) was an Italian general, who served the Austrian Empire, the Cisalpine Republic and then fought in the anti-French insurrections in 1799.

Biography

Born into an aristocratic family of Spanish origin who moved to Lombardy, he began his military career in the Austrian imperial army. In 1796, on Napoleon's descent in Italy, having adhered to Jacobin ideas, he left the Austrian army to join the French army (on that occasion he was given the age of thirty; his birthplace was not recorded).

Lahoz became commander of Napoleon's Lombardy Legion and, after distinguishing himself in the repression of the Venetian uprisings, was appointed brigadier general of the Cisalpine army (April 1797). After the Treaty of Campo Formio (17 October 1797), he became one of the most ardent opponents of French policy in Italy: in fact, he was one of the main opponents of the coup d'état of the French ambassador in Milan Claude-Joseph Trouvé (30 August 1798) and went to Paris to protest against the Directoire's policy towards the Cisalpine Republic.

Thus disappointed by the French, Giuseppe Lahoz abandoned the uniform of the transalpine army and joined the Italian insurgents: in May 1799, the anti-French rebels in Le Marche appointed him their military leader. Under Lahoz's leadership, for almost six months the Marches insurrection took on the appearance of a real war between armies, not least because of the arrival of a Russian-Turkish fleet on 17 May 1799 off the coast of Ancona, where General Monnier's French army had taken refuge. Joseph Lahoz died of wounds sustained in combat during a sortie by the besieged French on 10 October 1799. The sudden change of camp has led some to speculate that Lahoz was a long-standing conspirator for Italian independence and founder of the Society of Rays.

References

• Agnoli, Francesco Mario (2009). Il giacobino pentito. Vita, morte e battaglie del generale Giuseppe La Hoz. Il Cerchio.
• Botta, Carlo (1832). Storia d'Italia dal 1789 al 1814, Vol. 3. Parigi: Baudry, pp. 455–62.
• Pigni, Emanuele (2004). "La Hoz, Giuseppe." In: Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Vol. 63. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.
• Ricciardi, Giuseppe (1860). Martirologio italiano dal 1792 al 1847: Libri dieci. Firenze: Felice Le Monnier, pp. 86–89.
• Zaghi, Carlo (1938). "La Hoz, Giuseppe." In: Enciclopedia Italiana, I Appendice. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.