Karl Philip Schwarzenberg (18 April 1771-15 October 1820) was an Austrian Field Marshal during the Napoleonic Wars. Schwarzenberg played a key role in the defeat of Napoleon I during the 1813-14 War of the Sixth Coalition, during which he commanded the main Austrian army during its advance through Germany and into France.
Biography[]
Karl Philip von Schwarzenberg was born in Vienna, Austrian Empire, on 18 April 1771. In 1778, at the age of 17, he joined the cavalry of the Austrian empire and fought in the Battle of Cateau-Cambresis in 1794, where his impetuous charge killed and wounded 3,000 French and captured 32 French cannon. He was given the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa as a reward for his services. Even at Austria's defeat at the 1800 Battle of Hohenlinden, Schwarzenberg had distinction and was one of the brave cavalry who escaped from encirclement at the Battle of Ulm in 1805 by cutting his way through French troops. In 1809 he gained the Order of the Golden Fleece.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, he was held in great esteem by his usual enemy Emperor Napoleon of France, but he decided to not fight a major battle against the Russian Empire, with whom Austria was politically but not morally hostile. He was made commander of the Sixth Coalition's Austrian forces and although he was defeated at the Battle of Dresden in 1813, he led a push into France from Switzerland in early 1814. He was defeated at the Battle of Bar-le-Duc in January, but won the Battle of Bar-sur-Aube in February. In March he captured Paris after victories at Arcis-sur-Aube and La Fere-Champenoise. Schwarzenberg wrote books on military tactics after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and he died in Leipzig in 1820.
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