The statue of Eugene of Savoy was created to commemorate the Habsburg prince Eugene of Savoy, one of the most successful military leaders in modern European history, as he rose to the highest positions of state at the imperial court in Vienna. Eugene was born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, and grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV, who refused him to serve in the French army. Eugene moved to Austria and transferred his allegiance to the Habsburg Kingdom, thus securing his European fame with a decisive victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Zinta in 1697. Not only did he break the Ottomans by liberating Central Europe after a century and a half of their rule, but he also helped save the Habsburg Empire from the French invasion.