During the French Revolutionary War, he fought on the allied side against France and in that period rose through the ranks of the Imperial Army.

During the War of the Sixth Coalition, he was in command of the allied army that decisively defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Leipzig (1813).

Their ancestor Ludovicus de Otingen who was a member of a family that is a relative of the imperial House of Hohenstaufen, who ruled the Holy Roman Empire during the Medieval Age.

Their roots began with the Lords (Princes) of Seinsheim in the Middle Ages and they held land and fiefdoms in Franconia and Bohemia.

Later Emperor Francis I of Austria granted a Prince of Schwarzenberg title specifically for Karl Phillip, for his active military service and contributions during Napoleonic Wars.

Due to his high birth, rank and his family's relationship with the House of Habsburg, he was enlisted in the Austrian army as a lieutenant in 1788 and that same year, he went on to experience war for the first time in his life.

In the French campaign of 1793, Schwarzenberg served in the advanced guard of the army commanded by Prince Josias of Coburg.

[4] During the mid-stages of the war, after taking part in the Austrian victories at the battles of Amberg and Würzburg in 1796, he was raised to the rank of general-major, and, in 1799, he was subsequently promoted to Generalleutnant.

The Austrian left flank was attacked by General Antoine Richepanse's division, leading to a disastrous defeat.

[5] During the retreat, his promptitude and courage saved the right wing of the Austrian army from destruction, and the Archduke Charles of Austria afterwards entrusted him with the command of the rearguard.

[3] In the War of the Third Coalition he held command of a division under Mack and when Napoleon surrounded Ulm in October, Schwarzenberg was one of the band of cavalry under the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este which cut its way through the hostile lines.

At first, Austria did not join the Coalition, instead trying to negotiate a peace treaty with Napoleon, with Klemens von Metternich the Austrian Foreign Minister being sent to personally meet the Emperor of the French.

The allied commanders then came up with an idea to defeat him in battle and Schwarzenberg was a major pioneer of this strategy, which is now known as the Trachenberg Plan.

The capture of the French capital on 31 March after the Battle of Paris resulted in the overthrow of Napoleon and subsequently his abdication at the Treaty of Fontainebleau signed on 11 April.

Thus the twenty year period of instability and conflict in Europe came to an end and the Congress of Vienna was able to complete its work.

This turned out to be successful and led to a period of relative calm and peace between the European nations for half a century.

[2] In the aftermath of the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809), in which Austria suffered a crushing defeat and was forced give up lands in Illyria, Salzburg, and Galicia as recompense, Schwarzenberg participated in the signing of Treaty of Schönbrunn (14 October 1809).

[4] The prince gave a ball in honour of the bride on 1 July 1810, which ended in a fire that killed many of the guests, including his own sister-in-law, wife of his older brother, Joseph.

[10] At the news of his death, the Austrian Empire held three days of mourning for the great general and Victor of Leipzig.