Born in
Dresden in the
Electorate of Saxony on 29 August 1756, his family stemmed from the
Bellegarde family, an old line of Savoyards. His father was the Saxon General Johann Franz von Bellegarde (1707-1769) (awarded with the title of
Count in 1741) and his mother was Countess Maria Antonia von Hartig (b. 1719). Bellegarde first served in the Saxon army, receiving a commission as a
Fähnrich (ensign) in the Infantry Regiment Bork; later as a lieutenant in the Queen's regiment. Transferring his services to
Austria in 1771, Bellegarde and distinguished himself leading the
dragoon regiment
Zweibrück in the
War of the Bavarian Succession. In 1781,
Joseph II named him major of the Savoy dragoons, and four years later he was colonel of the Dragoon Regiment
Berlichingen. At
Batajnica (in German sources called Bexania), a village on the outskirts of
Belgrade, at 09:00 on 9 September 1788, Bellegarde engaged in his first feat of arms (the War of Bavarian Succession had no battles): with four squadron of his regiment, he led an attack against the Ottomans entrenched in a line between Batajnica and
Semlin; and in the enthusiasm of the attack brought with him a squadron of the Division Zeschwitz Cuirassiers, the Joseph Toscana Dragoons, part of a division of Zelschwit cuirassiers and a squadron of Wurmser Hussars, securing control of a dam and earthenworks on a
Danube tributary. By the end of fighting, in which Bellegarde played a pivotal role in leading the Wurmser Hussars to secure control of the earth works, the Ottoman force lost 300 men, and the Austrians lost 31, and 42 wounded. In the course of the following year, Bellegarde, with his dragoons, came under the command of General of Cavalry Count Kinsky. The largest part of the campaign, he remained with his regiment in cantonment, in the
Banat, but as part of the force upon which Feldmarshal Laudon could draw. In late summer 1792, the Regiment Archduke Joseph Toscana dragoons transferred to the Netherlands. ==Wars of the First and Second Coalition==