Historica Olomucensia

Field Marshall Schwarzenberg and the Battle of Leipzig in Czech Historical Memory

Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg, the commander-in-chief of allied armies at Leipzig in 1813, was one of the most popular celebrities of his time, this popularity encompassing even the first proponents of Czech nationalism. After his death, he was mourned as a great Czech captain by the Czech nationalist press, one who had spread national glory throughout the whole Europe. However, his memory slowly waned into oblivion, a process supported by the fact that Czech nationalism turned towards liberal worldview during 1840s, acquiring liberal interpretations of the past (the Revolution and Bonaparte included) along the way. Thus, while contemporaries celebrated the Leipzig battle as a liberation from French hegemony over Europe, their descendants saw it as a beginning of anti-liberal reaction.
Only in 1913, during the Leipzig centennial, was the marshal remembered by Czechs on a large scale, and it was also for the last time. However, even then the optics changed completely again. The whole centennial was not a celebration of Napoleon's defeat, but a struggle with German nationalism, which attributed all merit in defeating the Corsican's armies to Prussia and other German states. In this case at least, the Czech public stood by the Habsburg monarchy, proclaimed Austria the sole and true victor of the war and proudly remembered massive contribution of Czech soldiers in Austrian uniform. During the following decades, Schwarzenberg has been effectively removed from Czech history, with the only exception of some military historiography. His Czech subordinates were meanwhile given as yet another example of the nation's bravery - in "foreign uniforms", however.