I Swear To You, My Dear Followers And All The Napoleonic History Lovers: Im Capable Of Drawing Not Only

I swear to you, my dear followers and all the Napoleonic history lovers: I’m capable of drawing not only Austrians and I have a proof! A very hooligan one but still. X)

Here it is! Ahem. 👑

So, who do we have here? Oh, gosh, what an honour! Their Majesties, the king of Sweden and the King of Naples, are certainly sharing the same train of thought which considers the preservation of their crown in the years 1813-1814… 🤭

What can I say about the whole affair? Well, no shame, for sure, only bright royal future in a foresight!

Love these two gascon bastards despite any mischievous combinations they had to perform during their turbulent lives. If only both succeeded in their claims… That could have been the strangest and the perkiest pair of monarchs in all the post-Napoleonic wars Europe!

While I was searching for some fan-art with Metternich in my collection not so long ago, I suddenly came across these two sketches I’ve not shared on Tumblr before. Even though now I’m aware of some huge mistakes in their appearances (primarily Schwarzenberg’s one: since then I’ve seen a bunch of planchettes depicting Austrian soldiers and officers at the different stages of Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars which made me rethink a lot - especially his hair style), love the general meaning behind it all so far. ❤️

One day I’ll probably make an adequate redraw… However, that doesn’t stop me from posting the “original”!

Besides, they still look pretty cool and cinematic. 🎥✨

The concept itself came to me, when I was exploring Metternich and Schwarzenberg’s lives once again in search for a “common ground” - major milestones in the Napoleonic wars period which brought them closer, until they’ve started working hand in hand in practical terms. The most important one is, for sure, the war of the Fifth Coalition culminating in the battles of Wagram and Znaim.

Won’t go into details on this one: there’re many people out there who are much more familiar with the Austrian campaign of 1809 and it’s origins. I’m still a noob who has a lot - A LOT - to learn about (three volumes of Gill’s “Thunder on the Danube”… *looking respectfully with almost holly fear* 👁👁). However, the circumstance which interests me the most is that the events of the day brought back to the shores of the Danube two Austrian ambassadors - a military man and a professional diplomat. The military man discussed the matters of the Danube principalities and the Ottoman Empire with the Russian court in Saint-Petersburg: they had been waging war against Turks since 1806; and the diplomat… well, let’s say that after his mission the brilliant city of Paris took a special place in his heart~

Briefly speaking, Metternich’s struggles on his journey back, which started in May, were phenomenal since he had to travel during the war time in a state of a living “bargaining chip”, meanwhile Schwarzenberg almost missed Wagram itself because of the long detour he had to take on his way back to the Austrian empire. Still in the first days of July they were both present before emperor Franz (as well as Gentz’s inquisitive gaze and feather) - after that one of them went straight to the front line.

What came next, history says for itself. A series of defeats (Znaim being the fatal blow, since Wagram wasn’t that disastrous at all - it was a worthy showdown, even the French acknowledge this in their memoires), humiliating peace of Schönbrunn and the disgrace that finally overtook the country’s war party (since emperor Franz had never been a big fan of it all). Now the time had come for the pacification of Napoleon. It was also the time for the recently appointed chancellor and Austrian ambassador in Paris to shine. ✨

Despite all odds, it was certainly a new beginning - extraordinary one for Metternich, incredibly difficult and tedious one for Schwarzenberg. Nevertheless, it was for the greater good - for the sake of the Habsburg’s Empire. And I sincerely believe that this thought lifted the spirits of such men of service even in the darkest hours (until it’s too much for them to handle as it was in Schwarzenberg’s case). 🇦🇹

P.S.

These pair drawings actually made me think for the first time about how much “fun” it was for the Austrians with their predominantly white uniforms (by the way, the three-coloured combo - white, red and gold - is one of my favourites now, thank you, my dear obsession 🤍❤️💛) to participate in a serious combat, when the heavy artillery fire was unleashed from the both sides. Like, man, at what state were the coats of the soldiers and officers afterwards, I can’t even imagine… ☠️

Also, Schwarzenberg’s face says it all for him.

“Why am I, a professional military man who dreams about guns, glory and making my job right, that cursed to miss all the triumph aka Aspern and Essling and now have to witness one more epic failure as it was with Ulm and Austerlitz”.

At the meantime Metternich is just vibing. Mischievously, as always. 😌

A sudden thought came recently to my mind: why haven’t I ever spoken about my favourite portrayal of one mischievous Austrian statesman on the big screen? I’ve actually seen several interpretations of Metternich in different types of media but only one won me over completely after some time of contemplation. 🎥

Thus, let us turn to a movie called “Der Kongreß tanzt” (“The Congress Dances”)! 💃

This intriguing product of German cinematography was originally filmed in 1931. The movie focuses on - who could have guessed! - on the events of the Congress of Vienna (mostly imaginary but still). It stared many leading German actors and comedians of the time and was promoted as a response to the success of the American cinema in Europe.

Here’s how Wikipedia’s article expands on the whole drama:

“Der Kongress tanzt” is a particularly well achieved move in Ufa's attempt to challenge US supremacy in the European film arena, taking advantage of the introduction of sound. As such, the studio released the movie in three different language versions (MLV): in German, in French as Le congrès s'amuse, and English as Congress Dances. Lilian Harvey played in all three versions, as she spoke all languages; Henri Garat replaced Willy Fritsch for the French and English versions.

Ufa spared no efforts: the cast reads like a who's who of German film, from the top billers of the day to heavy-weight comedians - even the supporting cast is made out of stars. The sets were lavish and top talent made up the entire technical cast.

Despite the ambition and the auspicious beginning, Ufa's challenge to US supremacy never materialized, both due to the strength of the Hollywood majors and to the constraints Germany's creative film and performers would suffer from 1933 onwards.

As you can see, the destiny of this movie is quite an upsetting one… But there is one review mentioned in the article which strikes me right to the heart. 💔

"This truffle of cinema unfolds its flavours like a heavenly feast for the anonymous millions it is dedicated to." Lichtbild-Bühne

That truly is the state of this film in the eyes of the public. It won’t be interesting for the major part of the audience, even if the audience enjoys cinema of the old times, simply because this movie is about history at it’s finest! Of course, the original creators did their best in an attempt to adapt the plot to the taste of general public, removed a lot of notable historical characters who would seem excess for the storytelling and oversimplified the relationships between certain political figures but it still requires some level of immersion in the historical context…

That’s why for those who are invested in the period of Napoleonic wars this movie may be a treasure. Or a complete disaster, perhaps! :)

I’m obliged to feature the “disaster” part here because of those oversimplifications I mentioned earlier, immense problems with costumes (especially uniforms and women’s clothes) and appearances (as usual) of certain historical characters (for example, the man in the posters above is… emperor Alexander I, even though his moustache makes him look much more like Prussian king Frederick Wilhelm III; the resemblance is almost shocking!). Also, the plot focuses mostly on an idle love affair between emperor Alexander with the charming lady next to him and many other possible plot lines were left behind for the sake of it…

Still one of the best parts of this movie remains the same, in my humble opinion: it is an incredibly talented and dashing German actor Conrad Veidt playing the one and only - chancellor Metternich! 🇦🇹

I guess, the only thing I can say about this cast in particular is that Veidt was… just… someone extraordinary. 👁👄👁

Hence, I’m simply going to recommend you this movie wholeheartedly (if you haven’t watched it already, of course), as you’ll be able to savour it’s lively comedy, lovely music and wonderful acting of the Pleiad of old German cinema stars!

To sum it all up, I’ll leave few more screenshots of Metternich and his entourage for you to enjoy. 🤲💗

P.S.

Also, like… those cuffs… Oh (boy) prince…

Das Ende~ 🎥

Prince Bagration with 10 please

I am not sure what I think he is judgmentally side-eyeing

Resaah hati ini tanpanyaaaa🎵🎶

He plays the cello