The tragedy “The rise and fall of King Ottokar” (König Ottokars Glück und Ende) by Franz Grillparzer has been (mis)understood for a long time as a patriotic festival production. Nevertheless, the question of how Grillparzer does present the course of history is as fascinating as the question for the justifiability of this (mis)understanding. Both rivaling male protagonists, that is, Ottokar of Bohemia (Ottokar von Böhmen) and Rudolf of Habsburg (Rudolf von Habsburg) may be seen as representatives of two different historical eras. While Rudolf proclaims a new era and at once places himself at its center, Ottokar stays committed to the declining world and dies near the periphery of a modern epoch whose requirements he does not recognize early enough.