Archduke Charles , Duke of Teschen Archduke Charles of Austria , Duke of Teschen ( Karl Ludwig Johann Josef Lorenz of Austria ; 5 September 1771 – 30 April 1847 ) was an Austria n field - marshal , the third son of emperor Leopold II and his wife Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain . He was also the younger brother of Francis II , Holy Roman Emperor . Despite being epileptic , Charles achieved respect both as a commander and as a reformer of the Austrian army . He was considered one of Napoleon ' s most formidable opponents . 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 tasting defeat at Wattignies 1793 and Fleurus 1794 . In 1796 , as chief of all Austrian forces on the Rhine , Charles out - generaled Jean - Baptiste Jourdan at Amberg and Würzburg , and forced Jean Victor Marie Moreau to withdraw across the Rhine , and followed these victories with others at Zürich , Ostrach , Stockach , and Messkirch in 1799 . He reformed Austria ' s armies to adopt the nation at arms principle ; in 1809 , he went into the War of the Fifth Coalition with confidence and inflicted Napoleon ' s first major setback at Aspern - Essling , before suffering a defeat at the bloody Battle of Wagram . Following Wagram , Charles saw no more significant action in the Napoleonic Wars . As a military strategist , historians compare him to Arthur Wellesley , 1st Duke of Wellington , conservative , cautious , and competent . Charles was a study in contrasts . As a practitioner , he was flawless in executing complex and risky maneuvers of troops in the heat of battle , achieving brilliant victories in the face of almost certain defeat . Yet , as a theoretician , his devotion to ground and caution led his contemporary , Carl von Clausewitz , to criticize his rigidity and adherence to geographic strategy . Regardless , he remains among Austria ' s pantheon of heroes of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars . Youth and early career . Charles was born in Florence , Tuscany . His father , then Grand Duke of Tuscany , generously permitted Charles ' s childless aunt Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria and her husband Albert of Saxe - Teschen to adopt and raise the boy in Vienna . Charles spent his youth in Tuscany , at Vienna and in the Austrian Netherlands , where he began his career of military service in the wars of the French Revolution . He commanded a brigade at the Battle of Jemappes ( 1792 ) , and in the campaign of 1793 distinguished himself at the Action of Aldenhoven and the Battle of Neerwinden . In this year he became " Statthalter " in Belgium and received the army rank of lieutenant field marshal . Shortly thereafter another promotion saw him made " Feldzeugmeister " . In the remainder of the war in the Low Countries he held high commands , and was present at the Battle of Fleurus ( 1794 ) . In 1795 he served on the Rhine , and in the following year was entrusted with chief control of all the Austrian forces on that river . His conduct of the operations against Jourdan and Moreau in 1796 marked him out at once as one of the greatest generals in Europe . At first falling back carefully and avoiding a decision , he finally marched away , leaving a mere screen in front of Moreau . Falling upon Jourdan , he beat him in the battles of Amberg ( August ) and Würzburg ( September ) , and drove him over the Rhine with great loss . He then turned upon Moreau ' s army , which he defeated and forced out of Germany ( Battle of Emmendingen , October ) . Napoleonic Wars . In 1797 he was sent to arrest the victorious march of General Bonaparte in Italy , and he conducted the retreat of the over - matched Austrians with the highest skill . In the campaign of 1799 he once more opposed Jourdan , whom he defeated in the battles of Ostrach and Stockach , following up his success by invading Switzerland and defeating Masséna in the First Battle of Zurich , after which he re - entered Germany and drove the French once more over the Rhine . Ill - health , however , forced him to retire to Bohemia , but he was soon recalled to undertake the task of checking Moreau ' s advance on Vienna . The result of the Battle of Hohenlinden had , however , foredoomed the attempt , and the archduke had to make the armistice of Steyr . His popularity was now such that the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg , which met in 1802 , resolved to erect a statue in his honor and to give him the title of savior of his country , but Charles refused both distinctions . In the short and disastrous war of 1805 Archduke Charles commanded what was intended to be the main army in Italy , but events made Germany the decisive theatre of operations ; Austria sustained defeat on the Danube , and the archduke was defeated by Massena in the Battle of Caldiero . With the conclusion of peace he began his active work of army reorganization , which was first tested on the field in 1809 . In 1806 Francis II ( now Francis I of Austria ) named the Archduke Charles , already a field marshal , as Commander in Chief of the Austrian army and Head of the Council of War . Supported by the prestige of being the only general who had proved capable of defeating the French , he promptly initiated a far - reaching scheme of reform , which replaced the obsolete methods of the 18th century . The chief characteristics of the new order were the adoption of the nation in arms principle and the adoption of French war organization and tactics . The army reforms were not yet completed by the war of 1809 , in which Charles acted as commander in chief , yet even so it proved a far more formidable opponent than the old and was only defeated after a desperate struggle involving Austrian victories and large loss of life on both sides . Its initial successes were neutralized by the reverses of Abensberg , Landshut and Eckmühl but , after the evacuation of Vienna , the archduke won a strong victory at the Battle of Aspern - Essling but soon afterwards lost decisively at the Battle of Wagram . At the end of the campaign the archduke gave up all his military offices . Later life . When Austria joined the ranks of the allies during the War of the Sixth Coalition , Charles was not given a command and the post of commander - in - chief of the allied Grand Army of Bohemia went to the Prince of Schwarzenberg . Charles spent the rest of his life in retirement , except for a short time in 1815 when he was military governor of the Fortress Mainz . In 1822 he succeeded to the duchy of Saxe - Teschen . On 15 September / 17 September 1815 in Weilburg , Charles married Princess Henrietta of Nassau - Weilburg ( 1797 – 1829 ) . She was a daughter of Frederick William of Nassau - Weilburg ( 1768 – 1816 ) and his wife Burgravine Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg . Frederick William was the eldest surviving son of Karl Christian of Nassau - Weilburg and Princess Wilhelmine Carolina of Orange - Nassau . Wilhelmine Carolina was a daughter of William IV , Prince of Orange and Anne , Princess Royal and Princess of Orange . Anne was in turn the eldest daughter of George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach . Charles died at Vienna on 30 April 1847 . He is buried in tomb 122 in the New Vault of the Imperial Crypt in Vienna . An equestrian statue was erected to his memory on the Heldenplatz in Vienna in 1860 . Assessment of his achievements . The caution which the archduke preached so earnestly in his strategic works , he displayed in practice only when the situation seemed to demand it , though his education certainly prejudiced him in favor of the defensive at all costs . He was at the same time capable of forming and executing the most daring offensive strategy , and his tactical skill in the handling of troops , whether in wide turning movements , as at Würzburg and Zürich , or in masses , as at Aspern and Wagram , was certainly equal to that of any leader of his time , with only a few exceptions . His campaign of 1796 is considered almost faultless . That he sustained defeat in 1809 was due in part to the great numerical superiority of the French and their allies , and in part to the condition of his newly reorganized troops . His six weeks ' inaction after the victory of Aspern is , however , open to unfavorable criticism . As a military writer , his position in the evolution of the art of war is very important , and his doctrines had naturally the greatest weight . Nevertheless they cannot but be considered antiquated even in 1806 . Caution and the importance of strategic points are the chief features of his system . The rigidity of his geographical strategy may be gathered from the prescription that this principle is never to be departed from . Again and again he repeats the advice that nothing should be hazarded unless one ' s army is completely secure , a rule which he himself neglected with such brilliant results in 1796 . Strategic points , he says , not the defeat of the enemy ' s army , decide the fate of one ' s own country , and must constantly remain the general ' s main concern , a maxim which was never more remarkably disproved than in the war of 1809 . The editor of the archduke ' s work is able to make but a feeble defense against Clausewitz ' s reproach that Charles attached more value to ground than to the annihilation of the foe . In his tactical writings the same spirit is conspicuous . His reserve in battle is designed to cover a retreat . The baneful influence of these antiquated principles was clearly shown in the maintenance of Königgrätz - Josefstadt in 1866 as a strategic point , which was preferred to the defeat of the separated Prussian armies , and in the strange plans produced in Vienna for the campaign of 1859 , and in the almost unintelligible Battle of Montebello in the same year . The theory and the practice of Archduke Charles form one of the most curious contrasts in military history . In the one he is unreal , in the other he displayed , along with the greatest skill , a vivid activity which made him for long the most formidable opponent of Napoleon . On the battlefield , it is probably fair to say , Charles was comparable in skill and style to Sir Arthur Wellesley , 1st Duke of Wellington - quite conservative and yet exceedingly competent . Wellington is better - known to posterity , because he led one of the two Allied armies at the final decisive victory of the Napoleonic Wars ( the battle of Waterloo in 1815 ) , although Wellington ' s superior reputation is perhaps also because he only once faced Napoleon , whereas Charles was confronted by Napoleon in battle more times than any other commander . On these occasions the reliable and yet unimaginative tactics Charles was fond of were not sufficient , except on one occasion at Aspern - Essling , to defeat the unpredictable Corsican . Nonetheless Charles is a member of a pantheon of famous Napoleonic figures that includes the Emperor himself , Louis - Nicolas Davout , André Masséna , Karl von Schwarzenberg , Mikhail Kutuzov , Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher and the aforementioned Duke of Wellington . He was the 831st Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Austria .