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Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen

Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Laurentius of Austria, Duke of Teschen (German: Erzherzog Karl Ludwig Johann Josef Lorenz von Österreich, Herzog von Teschen; 5 September 1771 – 30 April 1847) was an Austrian field-marshal, the third son of Emperor Leopold II and his wife, Maria Luisa of Spain. He was also the younger brother of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. He was epileptic, but achieved respect both as a commander and as a reformer of the Austrian army. He was considered one of Napoleon's more formidable opponents and one of the greatest generals of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

"Archduke Charles of Austria" redirects here. For other uses, see Archduke Charles of Austria (disambiguation).

He began his career fighting the revolutionary armies of France. Early in the wars of the First Coalition, he saw victory at Neerwinden in 1793, before being defeated at Wattignies in 1793 and Fleurus in 1794. In 1796, as chief of all Austrian forces on the Rhine, Charles defeated Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at Amberg, Würzburg and Limburg, and then won victories at Wetzlar, Emmendingen and Schliengen that forced Jean Victor Marie Moreau to withdraw across the Rhine. He also defeated opponents at Zürich, Ostrach, Stockach, and Mannheim in 1799. He reformed Austria's armies to adopt the nation-at-arms principle. In 1809, he entered the War of the Fifth Coalition and inflicted Napoleon's first major setback at Aspern-Essling, before suffering a defeat at the bloody Battle of Wagram. After Wagram, Charles saw no more significant action in the Napoleonic Wars.


As a military strategist, Charles was able to successfully execute complex and risky manoeuvres of troops. However, his contemporary Carl von Clausewitz criticised his rigidity and adherence to "geographic" strategy. Many Austrians nevertheless remember Charles as a hero of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Grundsätze der Kriegskunst für die Generale (1806)

Grundsätze der Strategie erläutert durch die Darstellung des Feldzugs 1796 (1814)

Geschichte des Feldzugs von 1799 in Deutschland und in der Schweiz (1819)

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Charles [Karl Ludwig]". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 935–936.

public domain

Clausewitz, Carl von (2020). Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 1. Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.  978-0-7006-3025-7

ISBN

Clausewitz, Carl von (2021). The Coalition Crumbles, Napoleon Returns: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 2. Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.  978-0-7006-3034-9

ISBN

Criste, Oscar "Erzherzog Carl" (3 vols) (Vienna 1912)

Eysturlid, Lee "The Formative Influences, Theories, and Campaigns of the Archduke Carl of Austria" (2000)

Hertenberger, H & Wiltschek, F "Erzherzog Karl: der Sieger von Aspern" (1983)

Rothenberg, Gunther E. Napoleon's Great Adversary: Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army, 1792-1814. Staplehurst: Spellmount, 1995.  1-873376-40-5

ISBN

. The American Cyclopædia. 1879.

"Charles, archduke of Austria"