Skirt vs Trousers

Who today has heard of Žďár near Trutnov, Zahájí near České Budějovice, or Chotusice near Čáslav? Yet, in their time, these were places on the lips of almost all of Europe. On these “fields of glory,” where mass graves lie hidden under the layers of time and where dilapidated memorials sometimes still stand, the future of the continent was decided. It was the same in the battles for Prague, or near Dettingen in Germany, Mollwitz in Silesia, or Fontenoy in Flanders. An anonymous pamphlet author depicted this war as a moment when a host of European rulers descended upon the young Austrian archduchess to tear from her everything she possessed. And so it was. But this “skirt” had no intention of surrendering to the “trousers.” She was determined to hold on to everything she had inherited from her father, Emperor Charles VI. Besides Silesia, this primarily meant Bohemia and Moravia, the homelands of many “nameless” men who fought and died for her, or served her in other ways—like Wenzel Anton, Count of Kaunitz, a product of these very times.