Guidobald von Starhemberg first gained prominence in the defense of Wien in 1683 by assisting his cousin Ernst Ridinger von Starhemberg. He then decided to follow Eugene of Savoy in his campaigns against the Ottomans. At Senta, by leading the left wing of the Austrian army, he provided crucial contrubition to defeating the Sultan’s army. After the Great Turkish War he engaged in the War of the Spanish Succesion as well as in fighting the rebels of Francis Rakoczi in Hungary. He was appointed administrater of Catalonia and later governor of Slavonia by Emperor Carl VI. For his military and administrative achievements he was proclaimed a count.