Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg

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Karl Philipp Prince of Schwarzenberg Signature Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg.PNG

Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg also Carl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg (born April 15, 1771 in Vienna , † October 15, 1820 in Leipzig ) was an Austrian field marshal and ambassador to Saint Petersburg and Paris . He was the commander in chief of the allied forces against Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813.

origin

Karl Philipp Johann Nepomuk Joseph von Schwarzenberg was born as the son of Prince Johann Nepomuk von Schwarzenberg and his wife Marie Eleonore, Countess of Oettingen-Wallerstein . He came from the branch of the aristocratic Schwarzenberg family, which is based in southern Bohemia .

Life

Carl, Prince of Schwarzenberg

Schwarzenberg had been in Austrian military service since 1788 and took part in the Turkish War in 1789 and the First Coalition War. In the battle of Quievrain on May 1, 1792 he was able to distinguish himself for the first time. In the following years he was still involved in the wars against revolutionary France. In the campaign of 1794 he commanded a cavalry squadron of the avant-garde under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg . During the siege of Valenciennes and the great cavalry battle of Le Cateau-Cambresis on April 26, 1794, he distinguished himself so much that he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Maria Theresa Order on the battlefield . In 1796 he was promoted to colonel and was given command of the cuirassier regiment No. 10 "Zscheschwitz". After participating in the Battle of Würzburg , he was promoted to major general on August 10, 1796 . From September 3, 1800 he was appointed Lieutenant Field Marshal and commanded the first right wing meeting in the unfortunate battle of Hohenlinden .

In 1802 his older brother Prince Joseph II zu Schwarzenberg ceded the second majorate of the Princely House, founded in 1703 by Ferdinand Wilhelm Eusebius Prince von Schwarzenberg as a secondary school, and transferred it to the Worlik rule . Karl Philipp expanded this with the purchase of the Zalužany (1804), Zbenice (1805), Bukovany (1816) and Sedlec (1819) estates .

In the campaign of 1805 he commanded the right Austrian wing near Ulm . After General Mack had to surrender, he escaped to Bohemia with some cavalry regiments together with Archduke Ferdinand Karl and was appointed Vice President of the Court War Council .

Field Marshal Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg with Ulan from his U2 regiment

Schwarzenberg was promoted to General of the Cavalry on September 26, 1809 . After the Treaty of Schönbrunn , he was sent to Paris as the Austrian ambassador in 1810 and led negotiations on Napoleon's marriage to Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria , a daughter of Emperor Franz I. According to the following treaty of March 14, 1812, Austria had an auxiliary corps of 30,000 men, whose supreme command was transferred to Prince Schwarzenberg at the request of Napoleon.

During the Russian campaign , the prince led the Austrian auxiliary corps via Lublin to Poland and in July 1812 covered the south wing of Napoleon's Great Army in the Brest area . On August 12, 1812 Schwarzenberg was able to push back the Russian army under General Tormassow in the battle of Gorodechno after his advance in the Kobryn area together with the French general Reynier . On September 18, after Tormassov's union with the army under Chichagov from the Danube, he had to retreat behind the Bug . After the defeat of the main French power in the Battle of the Beresina , the Schwarzenberg Corps had to withdraw to Krakow via Białystok at the end of November . After the successful return of his corps to Galicia, Schwarzenberg was appointed field marshal on October 2, 1812 .

After the armistice with Russia and the unsuccessful attempt to mediate between France and Russia, at the instigation of Prince von Metternich , Schwarzenberg received supreme command of the allied forces against Napoleon at the end of June 1813 . His main army , which was about 225,000 men strong , was also subordinate to 48,000 Russians, and Field Marshal Lieutenant Radetzky served as chief of staff .

Prince Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg reports victory in the Battle of Nations near Leipzig to the allied monarchs. Painting by Johann Peter Krafft , 1817, Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Vienna

After his advance on Saxony he was defeated by Napoleon's forces in the battle of Dresden on August 26th and had to retreat over the Ore Mountains . King Friedrich Wilhelm III. von Prussia awarded him the Order of the Black Eagle shortly before the Battle of Leipzig on October 8th . Schwarzenberg then commanded the main army on the southern section of the Leipzig Battle of the Nations . On October 16, 1813, his troops and Napoleon faced each other between Wachau and Liebertwolkwitz , and on October 18, they were able to victoriously push back the main opposing forces between Connewitz and Probstheida on the city of Leipzig.

In the campaign of 1814 Schwarzenberg was able to withstand Napoleon on March 20 at the Battle of Arcis sur Aube and on March 31, 1814, after the Battle of Paris , he entered Paris victoriously. Schwarzenberg was plenty awarded by the three victorious monarch and by Emperor Franz President of the Hofkriegsrats ordered. On May 5, 1814, he laid down the high command and returned to his estates in Bohemia.

After Napoleon's return from Elba in March 1815, Schwarzenberg again took over the supreme command of the Austrian army , which, although still assembled in the Heilbronn area , was no longer deployed. On July 17th he took part again in the second entry into Paris and then withdrew to his Orlik estate.

Schwarzenberg burial chapel

Schwarzenberg suffered a stroke on January 13, 1817 , and then spent some time on a cure in Karlsbad . Increasing physical paralysis and further attacks worsened his condition rapidly, he died on October 15, 1820 in Leipzig. His corpse was accompanied by the royal Saxon troops to the state border, where the Austrian military took it over and transferred it to the Schwarzenberg burial site in Wittingau . Emperor Franz I of Austria ordered a three-day state mourning for the deceased general. His sarcophagus was later transferred to the Schwarzenberg burial chapel in the Orlík Castle Park near Kožlí .

Marriage and offspring

Karl Philipp married on January 28, 1799 in Vienna the widow of Prince Anton Esterházy , Countess Maria Anna von Hohenfeld (* May 20, 1768 Linz; † April 2, 1848 in Vienna), a daughter of Count Otto Franz von Hohenfeld and Maria Anna, born Freiin vom Stain zu Jettingen. The marriage produced three sons:

The Czech politician Karel Schwarzenberg (* 1937) is his direct descendant through the line of Karl Philipps.

Awards

Equestrian monument on Schwarzenbergplatz in Vienna

reception

  • Through the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I of February 28, 1863, Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg was added to the list of the “most famous warlords and generals of Austria worthy of perpetual emulation” , in whose honor and memory there is also a life-size statue in the general hall of the at that time newly established kk Hofwaffenmuseums (today: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien ) was built. The statue was created in 1868 by the Bohemian sculptor Emanuel Max Ritter von Wachstein (1810–1901) from Carrara marble and was dedicated by the Schwarzenberg family .
  • In 1838, a monument was erected in Schwarzenberg in the Meusdorf district of Leipzig.
  • In Vienna, Schwarzenbergplatz was named after him in 1880 , on which an equestrian monument stands in his honor (1867 by the sculptor Ernst Hähnel ).
  • His bust is in the Munich Hall of Fame .
  • In 1967 the largest barracks in Austria (at that time one of the largest in Europe) Schwarzenberg barracks was named in his honor .
  • In Leipzig, Meusdorf district, Schwarzenbergweg is named after him.
  • A street in Ulm-Jungingen is named after him.

literature

Web links

Commons : Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A. Prokesch: Memories from the Life of Field Marshal Prince Carl zu Schwarzenberg, limited preview in the Google book search
  2. Johann Gottfried Sommer The Kingdom of Bohemia, Vol. 9 Budweiser Kreis, 1840, p. 44
  3. Louis Schneider: The book of the black eagle. Duncker, Berlin 1870, p. 206.
  4. Rudolf von Kramer and Otto Freiherr von Waldenfels: VIRTUTI PRO PATRIA - The Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order, Acts of War and Book of Honor 1914–1918. Self-published by the Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order, Munich 1966, p. 443.
  5. Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 37.
predecessor Office successor
Karl Binder von Krieglstein Austrian Ambassador to Russia
Dec. 27, 1808 to May 28, 1809
Joseph of Saint-Julien (from Oct. 26, 1809)
Klemens Wenzel von Metternich Austrian Ambassador to France
November 26, 1809 to April 25, 1813
Ludwig Philipp von Bombelles (from June 15, 1814)
Heinrich Count Bellegarde President of the Court War Council from
1814 to 1820
Heinrich Count Bellegarde