Prince Eugen in bivouac

With the Dragoons. ?Prince Eugenius, the noble knight...?.
Austria, 1717.
(A composition of pewter figures based on the soldiers? song by Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe ? (* 30 November 1796 in Löbejün; ? 20 April 1869 in Kiel) ? a German composer.
This popular soldiers? song celebrates the recapture of the city and fortress of Belgrade (1717), Prince Eugene?s greatest victory over the Turks.
The Ottoman Turks had been advancing inexorably from Asia Minor since the 13th century, had conquered large parts of south-eastern Europe and finally stood before Vienna in 1683. An army comprising contingents from many European nations, led by the Polish King Jan III Sobieski (1629?1696), defeated the Ottomans and halted their further advance. The young Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663?1736) had by then entered Austrian service as a colonel and took part in that battle on the Kahlenberg on 12 September 1683. Ten years later, he was a field marshal and the most prominent military commander in Europe. He defeated the Turks at Zenta (1697) and thus secured the Treaty of Carlowitz (1699).
In his second war against the Turks (1714?1718), he defeated the Ottomans at Peterwardein (1716) and at Belgrade (1717). After his 70,000-strong force had crossed the Danube, the Prince began the siege of Belgrade. In the early hours of 16 August 1717, Eugene?s troops descended ?like a storm? upon the Turkish camp to the east of the city. Within three hours, Halil Pasha?s vast army of 200,000 men had been utterly routed. Two days later, Belgrade fell.
Our series transports the viewer back to the atmosphere of that era, as it still resonates today in the song of Prince Eugene. One can almost hear the muffled rumbling of charging squadrons, the bright blare of the cavalry bugles and the roar of the kettledrums.