Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583-1634), one of the most famous and
controversial personalities of the Thirty Years War, gained heightened
prominence in the nineteenth century through Schiller's monumental drama Wallenstein
(1798-99). Schiller's own fame, and the complexities he injected into his
dramatic character, made Wallenstein a potent, near-mythical, but also highly
ambivalent figure. This innovative and detailed study tests Schiller's impact
on historians as well as on later literary texts. It traces Wallenstein's part
in the construction of identity in Germany, Austria and Bohemia, examining the
figure's significance in events such as the 'Wars of Liberation' against
France, the 1859 Schiller festival, and the First World War. The broad range of
authors and historians studied includes Franz Grillparzer, Leopold von Ranke,
Ricarda Huch and Alfred Doeblin.