author
Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Bernhard
1792–1862
A German prince who made his name as a soldier, he fought against Napoleon and later served the Dutch crown at Quatre Bras, Waterloo, and in the East Indies. His life joins court history, European warfare, and travel writing in one unusually wide-ranging story.
1 Audiobook
Travels Through North America, During the Years 1825 and 1826. v. 1-2
by Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Bernhard
About the author
Born in Weimar on May 30, 1792, he was Prince Carl Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, a son of Grand Duke Karl August. Although he came from a ruling house, he is remembered less for court life than for a long military career that took him across Europe.
As a young man he served in the wars against Napoleon. After 1815 he entered Dutch service, became a colonel, and fought at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, where he commanded a brigade in the 2nd Dutch Division. He later rose to prominent command in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, giving his career an international reach unusual even for a 19th-century prince.
Bernhard also left a literary record of his travels. Alongside his reputation as a soldier, he is associated with travel writing and observation, which helps explain why he still appears in both military history and broader accounts of European noble life. He died on July 31, 1862, at Bad Liebenstein.