Archduke Charles, third son of Emperor Leopold II and younger brother of Emperor Francis II, passed away on 30 April 1847.
In Austrian national memory, he is remembered as a military hero of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the most talented military commanders of his time and was undoubtedly the most distinguished among the Habsburgs. Widely admired by his contemporaries, Archduke Charles led numerous battles over the course of his career, achieving varying degrees of success. Yet it was he who inflicted upon Napoleon his first major defeat at Aspern, compelling the French Emperor to regard him for years as one of his most formidable rivals on the European battlefields.
Archduke Charles was also known as a military theorist, although his doctrinal writings stood in curious contrast to his practical art of war. While his speculative ideas were rightly criticised as excessively cautious and anachronistic, in actual warfare he proved to be a commander of remarkable skill and decisiveness.
An equestrian monument to Archduke Charles stands on the Heldenplatz in Vienna.
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