Austria
Metternich and the Map of Europe
Clemens von Metternich came to office as Austrian foreign minister in 1809. A Rhinelander who had lost all to revolutionary France and Napoleon, his debts were at the time of his appointment reckoned at 1.25 million gulden. His master, Emperor Francis II (1792–1835), was bankrupt too. Unable to redeem the state bonds he had issued, Francis survived financially only by…
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Leuthen
At Borna, Frederick the Great and his staff develop their battle plan, as illustrated by Hugo Ungewitter To the Prussians’ disbelief, their infantry could calmly dress their lines after their march and advance almost unnoticed. Drawing up in line, their first volley caused the startled Württembergers to break and flee.…
Belgrade
Eugene of Savoy at the Battle of Belgrade by Johann Gottfried Auerbach. Date: 15 June-22 August 1717 Location: modern Yugoslavia There is no doubt that the blood which is going to flow on both sides will fall like a curse upon you, your children and your children’s children until the…
Galicia 1914 Part I
The German VIII Army in East Prussia had won, at least partly because sense had been imposed on it. The army was small enough to be controlled. The invasion-routes, the lines of retreat, and the possible areas of riposte had been clearly marked-out; there was a railway-system that allowed transport…
Galicia 1914 Part II
Conrad hints, in his memoirs—and other writers have gone further—that the railway-technicians behaved incompetently. This was unfair: the railway-technicians had simply behaved according to a plan that Conrad had prescribed for them. II Army did, in fact arrive in Galicia on schedule—about the 24th day of mobilisation—although with a few…
Galicia 1914 Part III
This subtraction of strength on the eastern side allowed Conrad to hope for victory on the northern one. Here there was, in Conrad’s words, ‘a happy beginning’. The three corps of the Russian IV Army advanced onto Austrian territory. Their cavalry-screen failed to reconnoitre; the army’s passage was obscured by…
‘We Are Heroes After All, Aren’t We?’*
Capture of a French regiment’s eagle by the cavalry of the Russian guard, by Bogdan Willewalde (1884) Northern Flank: Austerlitz 2 December 1805 While Vandamme’s division dispersed the final remnants of IV Column from the plateau, Saint-Hilaire’s battle for control of the Pratzeberg still raged. At about 11.00am Langeron, still…