August 2, 1799.
Every road in Mödling, the small city south of Vienna, was filled with French Soldiers standing tall and proud, while the city's residents nervously hid in their homes, peeking through gaps in their windows at the streets outside.
This city known as the "City of Music," the birthplace of renowned musicians such as Beethoven and Schubert, had now become the focus of all Europe.
For a brutal war that had affected all of Europe, involved hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides, and caused more than a hundred thousand casualties was about to have its Ceasefire Agreement signed here.
Officials from the participating nations—Prussia, Baden, Bavaria, Milan, Parma, Modena, and others—had long since arrived at the city's largest square. Together with several hundred reporters, they looked toward the southern avenue, waiting for the most important figure to appear.
Tall and imposing soldiers of the French royal Guard Grenadier Battalion rode into the city. The clip-clop of hooves striking the cobblestone streets blended with the band's performance of Glory and Victory, filling the air with solemnity and killing intent.
Inside the white carriage surrounded by Grenadiers, Louis Charles looked listlessly through the window at this unremarkable little city. He could not help recalling the magnificent scene when he and General Surt had accepted the Austrian Army's surrender in Pressburg.
When that flag embroidered with the crest of the Habsburg Family had been placed in his hands, and tens of thousands of Austrian soldiers had marched past him, lowering their heads and throwing down their weapons, he had felt as though he were the God of War descended upon the world!
He had thought the Ceasefire Agreement would be grander, more stirring, but he had never expected it to be so ordinary.
"Dear brother," he finally said, turning