A biography of Archduke Charles
I have had various conversations with publishers over the years about writing a biography of the Archduke. The usual issue tends to be that, Napoleon aside, he was the only period personality to hold military and political responsibilities at the same time, yet 1809 aside, his other campaigns are not that well-known. So, any biography would finish up being either a ‘Campaigns of the Archduke’ or limit the audience by leaving a lot of military material out.
Now, it may be possible to write something on his greatest campaign, 1796 in Germany, and Second Caldiero is the subject of my contribution to Helion’s upcoming essay collection ‘Glory is Fleeting’.
So, I am wondering what readers outside the obvious 1809/Austria audience might find attractive?
This item slipped under the radar, but it illustrates the problem well. It is a new biography of Emperor Francis https://www.amazon.co.uk/Double-Emperor-Times-Francis-Austria/dp/0761870776 It is 280pp, albeit quite a small format I think, but the author says in the Foreword on Google preview that it is very basic and draws on printed secondary material as an introduction