Thursday, March 19, 2020

Erzherzog Karl von Österreich



Erzherzog Karl Ludwig Johann Joseph Lorenz von Österreich, Herzog von Teschen; (Archduke Charles in English) was born in Florence (Tuscany) on September 1771. He was the third son of  Emperor Leopold II, but was raised by his childless Aunt and her husband., in Florence, Vienna, and the Austrian Netherlands. This magnificent sculpt of Karl is from Foundry. 



At age 21 he commanded a brigade at the battle of Jamaopes (1792), was victorious at the battle of Neerwinden (1793) but defeated at the battles of Wattignies (1793) and Fleurus. As commander of all Austrian forces on the Rhine, in 1796 he prevailed over Jourdan at the battles of Amberg and Wurzburg, and defeated Moreau at Emmendingen that obliged his withdrawal across the Rhine. During 1799,  Karl defeated Massena at the 1st battle of Zurich, and Jourdan at the battles of Ostrach and Stokach, before being repulsed by Moreau at Messkirch. 

The Archduke first faced then General Bonaparte in 1797, when he managed the later stages of the withdrawal of the Austrians from the Italian theater. During the 1805 campaign, Karl commanded what was intended to be the main Habsburg army, and fought the French Army of Italy under Massena at the battle of Caldiero. It is debatable who won the battle tactically, but strategically the result was the withdrawal of Austrian forces. 


Were you to be introduced to Erzherzog Karl, you would properly address him as königliche und kaiserliche Hoheit (Royal and Imperial Highness).  Following the disastrous outcome of the 1805 campaign, Karl, who already held the the rank of  Feldmarchal, was appointed supreme commander of the Habsburg forces in 1806, and directed the reform of the Army. His exploits during the 1809 campaign are likely too well know to readers of the blog to be worth repeating here, but thereafter he effectively retired from military life (and later, finally married in 1815, having 4 sons and 2 daughters, in the Habsburg tradition of fertility!) .


Portrait of  Archduke Charles, by Thomas Lawrence, in the public domain (from Wikipedia). 
Karl died in Vienna in 1847.


The famous equestrian statue of Karl at the battle of Aspern-Essling, located in the Heldenplatz (Heroes Square) , in front of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, by Anton Dominick Ritter von Fernkorn.  Karl is reputed to have scoffed at the design, saying "I am quite a small fellow, you know, and those colors are very heavy!" Photo by Brücke-Osteuropa - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 at, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25847022

28 comments:

  1. What a wonderful post Peter and that final shot of the statue of Charles is a cracker. Great looking army the Austrians.

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    1. Thanks, Carlo. The Austrians were my second army, and are still second only to the French for me. It helps that I know a lot more German than French, too!

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    2. The Austrian army was my first Napoleonic army. I still hold a soft spot for the Austrians across many conflicts.

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    3. Me too; my Frenchmen are starting to complain; the Kaiserlicks have almost as many Line infantry as they (32 vs 31). Sacre Bleu!

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  2. Great work on the Charles command vignette and interesting bio too!

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    1. Thanks, Jon. I am sure there is a decent bio of Karl in English somewhere that covers his career prior to 1809 in a lot more detail. If not, maybe John Hill wants to write one! :-)

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  3. Nice to see you have the big guy now.

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    1. I actually have at least one other Karl, to be re-purposed to be just another Austrian Corps commander. This one is just so much more dynamic.

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  4. That is a fine command vignette. The Archduke Charles appears to have been a fine commander, perhaps not quite in Napoleon's class, but then, who was?
    I have long had this 'thing' about the Austrians, and have been building Hapsburg armies from 30YW Imperialist to Napoleonic. My Imagi-nations 7YW-style army of Trockenbeeren-Auslese (commanded by Archduke Piccolo) is based heavily upon the Austrian (and Empress Harmonica upon Maria-Theresa); and I decided my WSS army would also be Imperialist.

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    1. Thank you, your Royal and Imperial Highness! :-)
      I think your choice of the Austrians is inspired, myself!

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  5. Very nice Peter, and those Foundry sculpts come up very well.

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    1. I hadn't been aware of this figure until this past winter when I was putting together a Foundry order for their Sale!

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  6. Nice post! Lovely statue and wonderful looking vignette!

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  7. Great stuff Peter, one of my favourite Austrian generals!

    Cheers
    Matt
    French Wargame Holidays

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    1. Thanks, Matt - Karl, Liechtenstein, Frimont, and Radetsky are my favorite Österreichers.

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  8. Lovely vignette true leaders of men

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    1. Thanks, Gary. I would certainly agree re; Karl!

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  9. Super looking Austrian command stand! Maybe I'll reward myself with a version, once I've painted all the infantry and cavalry I've got!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you Iain. I never do command stands until I have a decent force of troops already completed. Big projects the past 11 years (Wagram 2009, Borodino 2012, and Ligny 2015) have ramped up the command elements for the French and Austrians, then the Russians, then the Prussians! This is the second wave... more French to come!

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  10. An inspiring post, thank you!

    I working on some Austrian generals at the moment, but 15mm.

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    1. Thanks; good luck with adding to The White Menace! :-)

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  11. Wonderful figures and background info, Peter. Although I haven't added any Austro-Hungarians to my Napoleonic collection, they certainly have an appeal.

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    1. Thanks, Dean! Can't really have Napoleonics without the Austrians; next to the French, they fought more than anyone else. For the Line infantry, you have up to 27 different facing colors. How cool is that? :-)

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  12. Great work. I'm pretty sure that Charles is a Front Rank figure. The fellow to his right is a Connoisseur or Elite, and the fellow in green is a Foundry. Quite a mix, but they work really well together!

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    1. Charles seems way to slender for Front Rank, but I checked and you are right. I don't have any Connoisseur or Elite figures, though I agree he looks like Elite miniatures; could even be a stray Old Glory...

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  13. One of the few to battle Bonaparte to a stand still in the early days.

    Wonderful brushworks on your vignette.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words; much appreciated!

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