Karl Zu Schwarzenberg - Tumblr Posts

For the last couple of weeks have been feeling a tiny bit depressed because… reasons. However, something brings me back to life: it’s my immense love for certain historical characters and their relationships, of course!

And here is one more tribute to it as always. 🇦🇹 ❤️

It’s the year 1815 in Vienna, early spring comes shyly to the Austrian capital. In the middle of all the uproar happening at the Congress two imperial ministers of the highest rank possible are simply having some recreation time for themselves.

Soon they won’t be able to enjoy it for a long time…

Finished this drawing today with an immense feeling of accomplishment. This month marks a year, since I’ve started learning much more about Austria, Austrians and their contribution to the history of the Napoleonic wars. It was also the time, when I thought that Metternich and Schwarzenberg are such a perfect pair of political and diplomatic partners that I would love to learn much more about them.

That’s how I got there where I am now. And I hope it’s only a beginning. :)

There’s probably going to be a bunch of new and old drawings dedicated to this occasion and I’m very excited to share much more history-related stories in the nearest future. I’m also incredibly grateful for a warm response I receive over here, on Tumblr. It always helps me to get through all the disturbing real-life stuff.

Thank you so much for your support and attention! Vielen Dank! 🥺🤲🌺

Weekly fan-art with two Austrians I’m obsessed with? That’s a “hell yeah” for me, for sure!

Today I bring you something spontaneous, something I’ve wanted to start depicting months ago… However, the fear of failure was too strong for me to handle. It’s not fully gone yet - far from it - but I finally made some steps towards my aim! Hope it would help me overcome any other art blocks in the nearest future. :)

Besides, even the intermediate results of my little experiment please me greatly - love all kinds of cinematic effects which helps greatly with bringing the action to the scene, even when you draw simple sketches only. 🎥

The first reason why I wanted to draw an art-series of some sort is quite simple. Since I’ve thought through the general plot and overall historical background of my favourite Napoleonic “partners in crime”, I would actually love to depict as many of their interactions in different timelines as possible - starting from their first meeting, of course!

The second one is even simpler: while Schwarzenberg’s family had more than enough means to provide their son with an exceptional amount of portraits depicting him from the earliest ages, Metternich couldn’t boast of the same luxury. That circumstance in particular gives me such a freedom of expression. I’m definitely going to play with his appearance a lot~

It will be a lot of fun, I’m sure! After all, fate brought them together at the turn of the two extremely turbulent centuries...

So, let’s dive into the history a little bit deeper than I usually prefer: the summer of 1793 is knocking on our doors! Outside the French Revolution is reaching it’s highest, most violent point and soon the blood of a Habsburg will water down the land of the French, serving as a sign - a ferocious cry for revenge which swept through the ranks of the Coalition armies gathered at the boarders of the new-born Republic.

At that time one promising German count named Klemens von Metternich, who, following in his father’s footsteps, chose the diplomatic service for the Holy Roman Empire as his main life path, had just turned twenty years old, meanwhile his future close friend, prince Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg, who joined the Imperial military ranks in his teenage years, was only two years older than him.

Back then, they constantly traveled the roads of the so-called Austrian Netherlands (nowadays Belgium) - from the frontline to the capital city of Brussels. And it was rather logical for two young men of their statuses to bond over the grounds of mutual respect and political benefit.

However, they could never imagine how many disasters, adventures and challenges were waiting for them in the future… 🤫🇦🇹

Haven’t made full-fledged informative posts for a while but definitely want to continue sharing all the curious things I’m able to find through my endless researches on the Napoleonic era.

For example, I’m a big fan of finding out how exactly the handwritings of certain historical characters looked like. Recently I was able to discover a copy of marshal Blücher’s letter to Metternich which was written by him after the battle of Waterloo and now want to make a short compilation due to the occasion. :)

So, let’s start - as usual - with two historical characters I’m currently obsessed with: Schwarzenberg and Metternich! 🇦🇹

Here come the samples:

The first letter written by Schwarzenberg dates back to the summer of 1812. It is conducted in French (first part of it, actually, the second one is in German) and is directly connected with the participation of an Austrian auxiliary corps commanded by prince Karl himself during Napoleon’s campaign in Russia. This letter is one of many - m a n y - letters which Schwarzenberg sent his wife, Marie Anne (“Marianna” for all her loved ones as it was with Metternich’s wife - everybody in Vienna called Eleonora von Kaunitz-Rietberg “Laura” or “Laurel”) von Hohenfeld, practically anytime they were apart. You can actually see his usual tender address to her at the beginning of the ninth line - “ma Nany”. ❤️

As for Metternich’s handwriting, it comes from a single fragment of a letter (or some memoir, perhaps) written in German. It’s a pity that on a site of the auction there was only this small part… However, we can at least admire Metternich’s signature in all it’s flamboyant glory!

Klemens loved to strike directly at people’s hearts and his signature represents it in full measure, for sure. ✨

I’m also such a big fan of the way how the letter “z” looked in a handwritten form of German language, it’s just ah! Magnificent! Besides, it closely resembles the handwritten form of the same letter in Russian - “з” - that I find fascinating. :)

(Moreover, if you are suddenly curious about Schwarzenberg’s signature, I can provide!

You are welcome~)

Now we can talk about the main piece of cake - Blücher‘s letter written in German! No doubt, there was a lot to describe after such a hard-fought battle. 😅

You can examine marshal’s signature as well. I’ll leave all the judgements to you, my dear readers!

And the man who closes the selection for today is the victor at Waterloo himself - here’s a later sample of Arthur Wellesley’s handwriting which will serve us as a cherry on top of the Austro-Prussian cake. 🇬🇧

Thank you for your attention as always! 💗

Hope you’ve missed some cringe historical content in your lives cause here I am with my spontaneous fan-arts as always!

You know, firstly, we are going to enter Paris in 1814…

𝖀𝖓𝖉 𝖉𝖆𝖓𝖓 𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖟𝖊𝖓 𝖜𝖎𝖗! ✨

Jumping on the departing March train just to claim once again how strong my love toward certain Napoleonic Austrians is~ 🇦🇹

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to realise all the creative plans I had for this March but whatever. Besides, next two months huge birthday parties are incoming, since Schwarzenberg is an April boy and Metternich is a May queen…

So yeah! It’s going to be so much fun. 🥰

Die Frucht der Täuschung 🍎

Something fairly abstract and a little bit tragic with my dear Austrians as usual... 🇦🇹

And what do I like even more than cheap symbolism? Oh, the ✨ golden ✨ embroidery, for sure!

I would gladly spend the rest of my life practising, until it looks as realistic as it can be. Guilty pleasure, here I come~

May I ask you, dear gentlemen and gentlewomen, what time is it? I humbly believe that it’s a meme time!

Once again trying my best in the field of some incredibly local history-related jokes and puns realised with the help of memes which sometimes seem old as time itself… Fortunately, we constantly speak about time, space and particular historical epoch over here, thus I proclaim the notion “outdated meme” a social construct. 👍

Aaaand proudly present to you this notorious composition called “The Austrian Chancellor who came to save the imperial day from the God-knows-where-in-the-Rhein-region and the 33 Bohemian noblemen (with the intrusion of one Moravian “fonctionnaire”) who accompanied him on his thorny life-path”!

Of course, 33 person in one picture would be a little bit too much. That’s why I took the creative liberty to pick only the most famous and influential ones whom I’m going to name all at once (with the exception of dear Fürst Karl, for sure, cause his emersion will probably start causing headaches for everyone who still checks this God forsaken blog soon…)!

Let’s start with two wonderful people standing proudly behind Schwarzenberg’s back as they were his favourite adjutants during the Napoleonic campaigns of 1812-1814 and owe him a lot with regards to their careers in the Austrian military ranks. The first one is Karl Johann Nepomuk Gabriel Graf Clam-Martinez (count Karl Clam-Martinez, in short), a wonderful soldier and even more brilliant administrator who will actively help Metternich in his rivalry with another exceptional gentlemen featuring in this meme which took place in the late 1830s (like he suddenly died in 1840).

Cool story alert! In April 1814 Clam was a member of the group of allied generals who accompanied Napoleon himself on his journey to Elba and saved the emperor from certain humiliating experience few times. Napoleon was truly grateful to him and treated him well during those memorable times. 🤲

The second one is non other than Alfred Candidus Ferdinand Fürst zu Windisch-Grätz (prince Alfred zu Windish-Grätz, in short), a flamboyant, hot-headed, very straight-forwards military man (future field-marshal) who - according to the contemporaries - managed to steal the hearts of half of the renown European beauties, most notably of Wilhelmina, duchess of Sagan. So, yeah, he actually was Metternich’s adversary №1 for a while, when it came to the sphere of scandalous love affairs, and let me tell you all, it was a sh*t show I still can’t comprehend fully because it was too much. Even for such an eccentric person as Metternich… ☠️

(Actually! Actually, both Clam and Windisch-Grätz were les amants of the two most renown sisters of Sagan - Wilhelmina, being the eldest, and Dorothea, being the youngest, - during the Congress of Vienna. Basically at the same time as those stunning women drove crazy Metternich and Talleyrand respectively. I can see that hilarious picture clearly: two diplomats practically dying of their love towards sisters of Sagan; two sisters of Sagan cheerfully celebrating the New 1815 year together with two young distinguished Austrian officers of Czech origin; meanwhile Schwarzenberg, the president of Hofkriegsrath already, just sits in his Kriegsgebäude, listens to the rumours about his ✨good boiz✨ and sighs resignedly…)

Well, that was fun! Passing on to count Radetzky…

…Comes a sudden revelation that I won’t speak out a lot about Joseph Wenzel Anton Franz Karl Graf Radetzky von Radetz (count Joseph Radetzky, in short) simply because it’s him! He probably is the most well-known herr out of the whole company - Metternich’s close friend, whom Klemens saved from the total oblivion after the war of 1809, the head-of-stuff at Schwarzenberg’s times, future president of Hofkriegsrath as well and the “father of the nation”, of course (does a question “what is the second-to-first «titular» nation in the Habsburg’s monarchy after the Austrians themselves” truly appear after that claim, I wonder)!

*also, like, Windish-Grätz and Radetzky were the 1848s main repressive force in the empire and the only people who truly mourned Metternich’s resignation and exile - what a turn of events, for Alfred especially!*

Now we come to the uncharted territory almost.

This wonderful person is… Karl Friedrich von Kübeck, Freiherr von Kübau. He sounds quite simple, ordinary even, you might say, however his origin story is a miracle. This man was a son of a tailor from Moravia (it’s like Bohemia is the western part of modern-days Czech Republic and Moravia is the eastern part of the country) who rose to the position of hofrat and obtained a barony as a reward for his excellent service. He joined Metternich’s opposition to the last character who will appear in our miraculous story in the late 1830-1840s as he understood everyone’s weaknesses very well and still saw in Metternich, an incredibly experienced official at the time, a lot of potential.

The man of his social background, he understood the needs of the country better than anyone else, yet he was unsuccessful in his efforts of reforming the monarchy slowly but surely without any need for an internal bloodshed. And that was a real tragedy, since even Metternich himself tried to adapt the bullky machinery of the Austrian empire to the certain notions of time still in the 1820s… Even Metternich, one the most famous conservators of the post-Napoleonic Europe.

I guess, that circumstance speaks all for itself. 😔

Thus, we arrive to the glorious conclusion of this extensive memology and it has the magnetic face of Franz Anton Graf von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky (count Franz Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky). He deserves to crown our noble list of Bohemian aristocrats, since he became the actual governor of the region in the year 1809! He also was elevated to lead the Austrian State Council responsible for the Interior and Finances in 1826. 🇨🇿

The most important period in his life came with the death of the emperor Franz II and the accession to the throne of his poor son Ferdinand who had such bad health issues that he needed a Regency council to aid him in his reign. Who tried to claim all the responsibilities to himself only? Of course, it was our dear Klemens! Metternich actually waged very intense battles against Kolowrat since his appointment as the minister of the interior. And after the creation of the Regency council their rivalry could be described as “two delicate, aristocratic from the top of their silver-haired heads to the tip of their sleek fingers, old queens fighting constantly throughout the whole damned Vormärz”. 🙄

In the end, we can say with confidence, that count Kolowrat emerged victorious from the struggle: the Revolution of 1848 made an exile out of the damned Mephistopheles Metternich, meanwhile Kolowrat became the first Minister-President of the renewing Habsburg’s monarchy.

~~~~~~~

Well. That was an incredible journey half a century long, for sure. 👁👁

Very proud of marrying successively all the puns with the factual information I wanted to share about this incredible company of Austrian men who were connected to each other so gracefully and so closely. 🇦🇹

Hope you’ll like it as well, dear readers! It’s always my pleasure. 💗

Bis zum nächsten Mal~

My part of the trade for @count-lero

With beautiful reference:

Today is the day, when I actually created my first art-account on social networks ever, and that’s why I dedicate this particular drawing to the occasion! 🎉

Here we have three most influential ministers of the Habsburg’s monarchy waiting for their auguste maître to start a secret meeting on some urgent political matter at the times of Vienna congress - the imperial chancellor aka Klemens von Metternich, the president of Hofkriegsrath in the face of Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg and Johann Philipp von Stadion, Metternich’s old rival who was appointed as the minister of finance in the year 1815.

The latter two are definitely displeased with the behaviour of the former, since Metternich is a living embodiment of cringe and probably treats some serious political considerations too… lightheartedly once again. 😅

And what is at stake? The well-being of an immense empire, of course! Buuut they’ll make it to the better times. 🇦🇹✨

Eventually)

Sometimes emotions overwhelm you so much that you let them stream subconsciously through your art. At least, it can turn out nicely in the very end. 🥀

Don’t know what kind of plot lies behind this illustration. Perhaps, it will appear on its own a little bit later.

The only thing I can say for sure is that field-marshal Schwarzenberg experienced an unhealthy amount of stress during the years 1813 - 1815 and chancellor Metternich was never good at supporting those people in his surroundings who suffered profoundly physically and mentally.

“You have done what a good general must and can do; the fatherland and posterity will thank you for it”.

Did you really think that it was enough, dear Klemens? Was that really enough?

Even when I feel exhausted, I still want to make funny redraws of stock pictures because some memes simply have to be born!

At first, I wanted the child to represent Austrian empire as a whole, since Metternich and Schwarzenberg did so much to make it great once again, but then my fingers slipped… 😗🇦🇹

As a result, please, come here, caring someone, take smol Aiglon from this two crafty statesmen and make his life at least bearable! He deserves it after all that happened to him historically. 🤲

The magnificent lipitian flies like an arrow, exploding the dusty ground with it’s hooves, while the rider almost merges with his stately horse.

Snow-white stallion, uniform’s cloth, powder on the rider’s wig; scarlet cuffs, and collar, and visage flushed from a fast race.

For one brief moment Klemens struggles to catch his own breath.

— Is that really you, Prince? - He raises his voice, fearlessly leaning out of the carriage to a strangled exclamation coming from prince Esterhazy. - By what fates?

— Duty calls, dear Count, - brisk reply is heard as Schwarzenberg squeezes the rump of his hot steed, ready to gallop...

However, the will of a skilled rider is immutable to it.

— You see, these days I have nothing to do in St. Petersburg.

— Yet, I hope you brought us good news…

— Without any doubt! I’d like to ask you a lot of questions as well in return. Besides, favourable opportunity will present itself very soon.

Klemens smiles simply with one corner of his lips, fanning himself with an unsurpassed grace.

— So many years have passed, and you’ve not changed a bit.

As a response Karl only raises an eyebrow, tightening his grip on the reins.

— Is that bad?

— Quite the opposite, Prince! Believe me, at such turbulent times only few people of your kind could be found in the whole empire.

The good-natured smile on the cavalryman’s lips becomes instantly wider.

***

Ehem!

So, what you’ve just read is an excerpt from a small text I wrote about an imaginary reunion of Metternich and Schwarzenberg on the verge of the battle of Wagram. It was heavily inspired by Metternich’s own descriptions of his return from the mission in Paris in June 1809 and I couldn’t resist the need to depict two main characters of the story as well. 🤲🇦🇹

That’s also my first attempt of translating a literary text which I composed meticulously in Russian with all the specific expressions which were common for our language in the beginning of 19th century and are still used nowadays as I needed to find some alternatives or simply paraphrase everything…

The main reason why I made this clumsy attempt is that I predict an appearance of much more history-related stories about people I adore and the Austrian court in general. I already have two long stories written featuring Metternich and his grown-up children in one of them as well as Metternich, Schwarzenberg and Radetzky in another, however I was too shy to try and translate them in English. Perhaps, one day I’ll even create a separate account on AO3 just to share them with all the English-speaking world… But for now I’ll just make a few small steps in that direction!

*And here is a small postscript for all the people who appreciate the ✨ aesthetic ✨: young, handsome and incredibly flamboyant Klemens as an ambassador without his dear mother’s fan but with a pearl earring… just because I can*

Even when I feel exhausted, I still want to make funny redraws of stock pictures cause some memes simply have to be born!

At first, I wanted this child to represent the Austrian empire as a whole, since Metternich and Schwarzenberg fought so hard to make it great once again, but then my fingers slipped… 😗🇦🇹

As a result, please, come here, caring someone, take smol Aiglon from this two crafty statesmen and make his life at least bearable! He deserves it after all that happened to him historically. 🤲

Prince of Schwarzenberg

Good morning/day/evening/night to you, dear readers, and

Welcome to my TED-talk!

An enormous TED-talk about field-marshal Schwarzenberg, his military talents, the star-illness of tsar Alexander and Metternich and many other issues.

It all started with frustration about how emperor Alexander I wanted to reclaim the glory of the Sixth coalition “commander” and ended up with gigantic self-discourse based on my current knowledge of Napoleonic era, Austrian affairs at the time and incredible figure of field-marshal Schwarzenberg whom I adore with all my heart.

So, here is the main inflammation point.

"Alexander laughs at the armaments of Austria and said in front of Wolzogen and several other Russian generals: 'We'll see if I or Schwarzenberg was the greatest leader during the past campaigns.'"

"Wolzogen, who visited me yesterday, confirmed that Alexander would not be upset at all if he had an opportunity to demonstrate his talents as a military commander. According to his personal opinion - and then he fully echoed the words of his emperor - without the opportune intervention of Alexander, who had made adjustments to the imperfect disposition chosen by prince Schwarzenberg, the battle of Leipzig would have ended badly. Schwarzenberg, according to tsar, was made not to lead armies, but to conduct ministerial campaigns and other things alike."

…And now I’m ready to start (committing a mass murder) speaking out. 🇦🇹✨

***

As a person striving for the golden means in terms of historical objectivity, I’m obliged to make a remark - the question of Schwarzenberg's military merits is really not an unambiguous one. The prince himself revered the military path as his true vocation,

[Schwarzenberg to his wife, Maria Anna von Hohenfeld]

"How annoying I am to you, my Nani - I'm sorry, but you understand that we are allowed to perk up when it comes to the matters of the craft that we’ve been doing for a long time."

…although he served more out of a sense of duty, for his family and his fatherland, because of his high position in a society and not for the sake of "vain military tinsel" that many wanted to achieve through services in the army (it should be noted: this man had absolutely everything in his life by default, everything that other people, less wealthy and noble, dreamed of and for the sake of which they tore each other's throats, climbing the career ladder on their own).

[Schwarzenberg to Marianna]

"You are familiar with my principles, my Nani, you know that it is not at all a vain military tinsel that keeps me in my place; no one knows better than you that I am, perhaps, the only person in the army who serves solely out of conviction that it’s a duty that my position imposes on me. Our happiness depends entirely on the preservation of the social order (I immensely respect those rich aristocrats from the past, who were at least aware of what exactly their personal "happiness" depended on); unfortunately, my reputation in military circles, attached to that of a decent man, already sets me apart too much, which is why my desertion in reality will affect not so much the whole picture, but the effect it will produce in a society."

Anyway, questions of military nature ignited him much more than diplomatic and court routine, for sure. The latter... bored him usually.

[Schwarzenberg to Marianna]

"Foreigners are received here very courteously, I cannot but praise them for politeness with which they shower me, but such a lifestyle repels me in particular. To rack my head all day in order not to say something completely inappropriate, to constantly turn to the right, then to the left, to pirouette like a dancer, bowing to everyone who is present - this fatigue, this boredom make me sweat a lot day after day."

What’s immensely interesting, Schwarzenberg possessed the mind of a thorough and meticulous observer at the same time: despite boredom and regular ailments, he perfectly grasped all the trends looming on the political horizon. I believe these prudence and insight were the main reason why Metternich valued Schwarzenberg so much and therefore turned to him for cooperation on a common basis (not to mention the fact that both gentlemen considered themselves entitled to actively interfere in the political life of the country that was their native (after all, Klemens is a man of the Holy Roman Empire and therefore subsequently considered himself "his own" in Austria, although the Viennese court refused him this honor with enviable regularity)).

[Here is one of Metternich’s letters]

"The best way I can summarize all of the above is with the saying which I find in the last letter addressed to me by Prince Schwarzenberg: "The fall of a great man is heavyweight!“ This expression is so apt that all the calculations of Austria and the poor middlemen should be aimed at ensuring that we are not crushed."

[And here is a fragment of my favourite Metternich’s biography in Russian]

“On December 20, 1812, Schwarzenberg's auxiliary corps was advancing towards Warsaw to prevent the Prussians from invading deep into the territory of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Schwarzenberg's position can be judged by his own words: "The more both colossi [meaning Russia and France] mutually weaken each other, the better." With a soldier's straight-forwardness, he expressed what was now on Metternich's mind.”

However, Metternich remained a professional diplomat who did not combine this path with the military one, unlike many other employees of the imperial diplomatic corps - same Schwarzenberg, Bubna, Neyperg, etc. In fact, as Marshal Marmont later wrote, Klemens was never able to understand the "true essence" of the war, even if he had personally followed more than one major battle.

[Here is that brilliant characteristic Marmont gave him]

"Like many people, he [Metternich] had a great predilection to believe in what he wanted. Similarly, he had an exceptional claim to the honor of being born with a military genius, and - surprisingly - this is exactly what prince Metternich, who had been living during wartime for so long among the most outstanding generals of his era and had been following many armies, did not understand at all, when it came to the moral side of the war. A person, gifted with the qualities he possessed, had to unravel it immediately, as soon as he found himself on the battlefield, and had to be amazed at the mysteries that accompany it." (In other words, Klemens suffered from the same star-illness that struck poor emperor Alexander: it's hard to be a diplomat during the time of constant wars and not start wanting to snatch a piece of military glory to yourself. It’s very, very hard).

Prince Karl, on the contrary, perfectly delved into all the subtleties of war - his discretion in making decisions on which the lives of hundreds of thousands soldiers depended was worth a lot.

For Schwarzenberg, war was a "craft": he certainly knew how to kill (frenzied passion for hunting on the verge of obsession is a proof to that - it’s, of course, their house’s specialty (and a major trend for many aristocratic families at the time), but without personal inclination it wouldn’t last for long).

[Emperor Napoleon in one of his letters]

"... that if I invited Prince Schwarzenberg to hunt as a correction, it is primarily because of the wedding circumstances, and also because he is greatly amused by it as a military man."

And if we speak about prince's combat talents directly, we have to state that he, unfortunately, could not fully reveal himself as a supreme commander. The campaigns of 1813-1814 did not allow him to fully develop, even though during his military career Schwarzenberg managed to prove himself as a fairly capable field commander who won local victories with the help of those limited military forces he had at hand (Neervinden, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Ulm, Austerlitz, Wagram).

That is, he held himself with dignity in one-on-one battles. In terms of supreme command the same Archduke Karl probably surpassed him, it’s true. He just had much more experience in that field. And who, if not the emperor with the archdukes have to rule the armies! *sounds of sarcasm*

One way or another, we wouldn’t know the true military potential of Schwarzenberg, because, I repeat, in the wars of 1813-1814 (including 1812, although the auxiliary corps meant almost nothing at the time; and then prince Karl covered the retreat of the Grand Army brilliantly, as he was ordered, until Vienna recalled him in February 1813) the Austrians had a lot at stake. Therefore, Schwarzenberg behaved himself as carefully as he could, giving way to any diplomatic endeavours, which Metternich, for his part, conducted purely in the interests of the empire.

[Schwarzenberg to Metternich]

"Don't leave me, my dear friend. You promised me in Frankfurt, while I was actively implementing military operations, to launch peace negotiations; I kept my promise, but alas, how far behind you are!"

Thus, no such full-scale… massacre was taking place as in the campaigns of the Third and Fourth (and even the Fifth) Coalitions, where all sorts of marshals and generals were shining exceptionally bright and Schwarzenberg, at his turn, could prove himself at the higher commanding post.

Despite this uncertainty, I believe that Schwarzenberg certainly possessed greater military talents and experience in combat operations than AlexanderI. In the coalition ranks tsar was assigned with a powerful consolidating function. Actually, that’s why it was decided in the first place to choose an Austrian commander-in-chief for the Allied army - simply to glue everyone to each other. However, this same Austrian commander not only ruled the armies, receiving thousands of unnecessary tips and reprimands from all sides, but also reconciled everyone much more effectively than tsar, whom the glory of great generals of his time hit strongly in the head…

But it’s a completely different story, isn’t it, historians of my fatherland and some other historiographers?)))

The same Metternich, with his usual exorbitant self-esteem, eventually began to attribute the triumph over Napoleon exclusively to himself, to his own clever political moves. Alas, there was no place under the sun for his colleague whose incredible perseverance made this triumph even possible in the first place.

Three days of mourning after field-marshal’s death look truly indecent against all the efforts made by Prince Schwarzenberg, who absolutely ruined his own health in the name of the greater good and in the last years of his life lost all hope for a long happy old age surrounded by his beloved wife Marianna, their three sons Friedrich, Karl and Edmund, numerous relatives and friends (most of whom passed away quickly as well).

In my humble opinion, the willpower and dedication of this one-of-a-kind man should be admired to the depth of our human souls and serve as an example to us all. An example of what a long, persistent, thankless diligence in a field that does not bring you much enthusiasm where, after all the hard work you’ve done, you are denied even minor merits and recognition can lead to.

Dixi. 🏛

Thank you so, so much, Josefa, for your kind words! ❤️

The global discontent with themselves and pretty much everyone in their surroundings truly seems to be the major trend at the time. Perhaps, it’s in human nature generally - that difficulty of recognising other people’s achievements. Perhaps, the phenomenon of “one-man-army” in face of Napoleon just amplified that tension everywhere.

And what you’ve said about the French during the campaign of 1806… It all looks like sufferings from the profound rift between sweet dreams of glory and not so glorious reality. Meanwhile, the wartime made this dissociation unbearable to handle for pretty much everyone - from the common soldiers to the battle commanders. It’s a terrifying state of mind and an eternal struggle at the same time. 😔

I’m also glad to hear that prince Schwarzenberg’s personality contributes to the matter! His life story is heart-breaking, generally relatable and very humane in many ways. He is an incredibly important figure for the Napoleonic era and it’s always a pleasure to share some curious facts about his character and deeds. 🇦🇹🇨🇿✨

Good morning/day/evening/night to you, dear readers, and

Welcome to my TED-talk!

An enormous TED-talk about field-marshal Schwarzenberg, his military talents, the star-illness of tsar Alexander and Metternich and many other issues.

It all started with frustration about how emperor Alexander I wanted to reclaim the glory of the Sixth coalition “commander” and ended with gigantic self-discourse based on my current knowledge of Napoleonic era, Austrian affairs at the time and incredible figure of field-marshal Schwarzenberg whom I adore with all my heart.

So, here is the main inflammation point.

"Alexander laughs at the armament of Austria and said in front of Wolzogen and several other Russian generals: 'We'll see if I or Schwarzenberg was the greatest leader during the past campaigns.'"

"Wolzogen, who visited me yesterday, confirmed that Alexander would not be upset at all if he had an opportunity to demonstrate his talents as a military commander. According to his personal opinion - and then he fully echoed the words of his emperor - without the opportune intervention of Alexander, who had made adjustments to the imperfect disposition chosen by prince Schwarzenberg, the battle of Leipzig would have ended badly. Schwarzenberg, according to tsar, was made not to lead armies, but to conduct ministerial campaigns and other things alike."

…And now I’m ready to start (committing a mass murder) speaking out. 🇦🇹✨

***

As a person striving for the golden means in terms of historical objectivity in general, I have to make a remark that the question of Schwarzenberg's military merits is really not an unambiguous one. The prince himself revered the military path as his true vocation,

[Schwarzenberg to his wife, Maria Anna von Hohenfeld]

"How annoying I am to you, my Nani - I'm sorry, but you understand that we are allowed to perk up when it comes to matters of the craft that we have been doing for a long time."

…although he served more out of a sense of duty, for his family and his fatherland, because of his high position in society and not for the sake of "vain military tinsel" that many wanted to achieve through services in the army (it should be noted: this man had by default absolutely everything in his life, everything what other people, less wealthy and noble, dreamed of and for the sake of which they tore each other's throats, climbing the career ladder on their own).

[Schwarzenberg to Marianna]

"You are familiar with my principles, my Nani, you know that it is not at all a vain military tinsel that keeps me in my place; no one knows better than you that I am, perhaps, the only person in the army who serves solely out of conviction that it’s a duty that my position imposes on me. Our happiness depends entirely on the preservation of the social order (I immensely respect those rich aristocrats from the past, who were aware of what exactly their personal "happiness" depended on); unfortunately, my reputation in military circles, attached to that of a decent man, already sets me apart too much, which is why my desertion in reality will affect not so much the whole picture, but the effect it will produce in society."

Anyway, questions of military nature ignited him more than diplomatic and court routine, for sure. The latter... bored him usually.

[Schwarzenberg to Marianna]

"Foreigners are received here very courteously, I cannot but praise them for the politeness with which they shower me, but such a lifestyle repels me in particular. To rack my head all day in order not to say something completely inappropriate, to constantly turn to the right, then to the left, to pirouette like a dancer, bowing to everyone who is present - this fatigue, this boredom make me sweat a lot day after day."

What’s immensely interesting, Schwarzenberg possessed the mind of a thorough and meticulous observer at the same time: despite boredom and regular ailments, he brilliantly grasped all the trends looming on the political horizon. I believe these prudence and insight were the main reason why Metternich valued Schwarzenberg so much and therefore turned to him for cooperation on a common basis (not to mention the fact that both gentlemen considered themselves entitled to actively interfere in the political life of the country that was their native (after all, Klemens is a man of the Holy Roman Empire and therefore subsequently considered himself "his own" in Austria, although the Viennese court refused him this honor with enviable regularity)).

[Here is one of Metternich’s letters]

"The best way I can summarize all of the above is the saying that I find in the last letter addressed to me by Prince Schwarzenberg: "The fall of a great man is crushing!“ This expression is so apt that all calculations of Austria and the poor middlemen should be aimed at ensuring that we are not crushed."

[And here is a fragment of my favourite Metternich’s biography in Russian]

“On December 20, 1812, Schwarzenberg's auxiliary corps was advancing towards Warsaw to prevent the Prussians from invading deep into the territory of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Schwarzenberg's position can be judged by his own words: "The more both colossi [meaning Russia and France] mutually weaken each other, the better." With a soldier's straight-forwardness, he expressed what was now on Metternich's mind.”

However, Metternich remained a professional diplomat who did not combine this path with the military one, unlike many other employees of the imperial diplomatic corps - same Schwarzenberg, Bubna, Neyperg, etc. As Marshal Marmont later wrote, Klemens was never able to understand the "true essence" of the war, even if he had personally followed more than one major battle.

[Here is that brilliant characteristic Marmont gave him]

"Like many people, he [Metternich] had a great predilection to believe in what he wanted. Similarly, he had an exceptional claim to the honor of being born with a military genius, and - surprisingly - this is exactly what prince Metternich, who had been living during wartime for so long among the most outstanding generals of his era and had been following many armies, did not understand at all when it came to the moral side of the war. A person, gifted with the qualities that he possessed, had to unravel it immediately, as soon as he found himself on the battlefield, and had to be amazed at the mysteries that accompany it." (In other words, Klemens suffered from the same star-illness that struck poor emperor Alexander: it's hard to be a diplomat during the time of constant wars and not start wanting to snatch a piece of military glory to yourself. It’s very, very hard).

Prince Karl, on the contrary, perfectly delved into all the subtleties of war, and his discretion in making decisions on which the lives of hundreds of thousands soldiers depended was worth a lot.

For Schwarzenberg, war was a "craft": he knew how to kill (frenzied passion for hunting on the verge of obsession is a proof to that - it’s, of course, their house’s specialty (and a major trend for many aristocratic families at the time), but without personal inclination it wouldn’t last for long).

[Emperor Napoleon in one of his letters]

"... that if I invited Prince Schwarzenberg to hunt as a correction, it is primarily because of the wedding circumstances, and also because he is greatly amused by it as a military man."

And if we speak about prince's combat talents directly, we have to state that he, unfortunately, could not fully reveal himself as a supreme commander. The campaigns of 1813-1814 did not allow him to fully develop, even though during his military career Schwarzenberg managed to prove himself as a fairly capable field commander who won local victories with the help of those limited military forces he had at hand (Neervinden, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Ulm, Austerlitz, Wagram).

That is, he held himself with dignity in one-on-one battles. In terms of the supreme command the same Archduke Karl probably surpassed him, it’s true. He just had much more experience in that field. And who, if not the emperor with the archdukes have to rule the armies! *sounds of sarcasm*

One way or another, we wouldn’t know the true military potential of Schwarzenberg, because, I repeat, in the wars of 1813-1814 (including 1812, although the auxiliary corps meant almost nothing at the time; and then prince Karl covered the retreat of the Grand Army brilliantly, as he was ordered, until Vienna recalled him in February 1813) the Austrians had a lot at stake. Therefore, Schwarzenberg behaved himself as carefully as he could, giving way to any diplomatic endeavours, which Metternich, for his part, conducted purely in the interests of the empire.

[Schwarzenberg to Metternich]

"Don't leave me, my dear friend. You promised me in Frankfurt, while I was actively implementing military operations, to launch peace negotiations; I kept my promise, but alas, how far behind you are!"

Thus, no such full-scale… massacre was taking place as in the campaigns of the Third and Fourth (and even the Fifth) Coalitions, where all sorts of marshals and generals was shining exceptionally bright and Schwarzenberg, at his turn, could prove himself at the higher post.

Despite this uncertainty, I believe that Schwarzenberg certainly had greater military talents and experience in combat operations than Emperor Alexander. In the coalition ranks tsar was assigned with a powerful consolidating function. Actually, that‘s why it was decided in the first place to choose an Austrian commander-in-chief for the Allied army - simply to glue everyone to each other. However, this same Austrian commander not only ruled the armies, receiving thousands of unnecessary tips and reprimands from all sides, but also reconciled everyone much more effectively than the tsar, whom the glory of great generals of his time hit strongly in the head… Bit it’s a completely different story, isn’t it, historians of my fatherland and some other historiographers?)))

The same Metternich, with his usual exorbitant self-esteem, eventually began to attribute the triumph over Napoleon exclusively to himself, to his own clever political moves. Alas, there was no place under the sun for his colleague whose incredible efforts made this triumph even possible in the first place.

Three days of mourning after field-marshal’s death look truly indecent against all the efforts made by Prince Schwarzenberg, who absolutely ruined his own health in the name of the greater good and in the last years of his life lost all hope for a long happy old age surrounded by his beloved wife Marianna, their three sons Friedrich, Karl and Edmund, numerous relatives and friends (most of whom passed away quickly as well).

In my humble opinion, the willpower and dedication of this one-of-a-kind man should be admired to the depth of our human souls and serve as an example to us all. An example of what a long, persistent, thankless diligence in a field that does not bring you much enthusiasm where, after all the hard work you’ve done, you are denied even minor merits and recognition can lead to.

Dixi. 🏛

Und lodernd brennt das Firmament

In der Völkerschlacht

That nice feeling when you’re finally getting out of an art-block with much inspiration and excitement for the future projects. :)

Due to the occasion comes victorious field-marshal as a warming up piece! Just to sum up that lengthy conversation started at the beginning of the week. 🇦🇹✨

And a poster-like appeal which suits the occasion perfectly! (Of course the font style called “Deutsch-Gotic” will have problems with Umlauts, of course… 🙄)

Don’t know what exactly stopped me for months from adapting one of my favourite memes to the Austrian way… but I did it. Finally! 🎉

Thus, I dedicate it proudly to Metternich and Schwarzenberg’s lovely correspondence (which I reread almost monthly because o- obsession), to their mutual, truly Habsburg displeasure with Burbon’s dynasty and, at last, to the perfect example of how comfortable two prominent politicians may be with each other in private. 🐍❤️🐍

Spent such a good day in one of the most famous and huge Russian libraries digging for some golden nuggets in terms of books on the Napoleonic era and Austrian affairs.

Feeling unbelievably calm and relieved. Haven’t experienced that in a long time. ❤️

And here is a meme as usual! The temptation was too strong. X)

(Oops, simple spelling mistakes but I’m too lazy to go and fix them…)

Schwarzenberg: Are you a vegetarian?

Wellington: I’m a Gemini.

Metternich: That’s not what he meant. And you’re wrong, you’re a Taurus.

Blücher: I thought he was Irish?

Metternich: Can I be frank with you guys?

Wellington: Sure, but I don’t see how changing your name is gonna help.

Schwarzenberg: … You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking.

Blücher: Shhh, let Frank speak.