Klemens Wenzel von Metternich
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Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneberg-Beilstein (May 15, 1773 – June 11, 1859) was an Austrian politician and statesman and perhaps the most important diplomat of his era. He was a major figure on the negotiations leading to the Congress of Vienna and is considered both a paradigm of foreign policy management and a major figure on the development of diplomacy.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Metternich was born on May 15, 1773, in Coblenz, Germany, then part of the Archbishopric of Trier. His father was Franz Georg Karl von Metternich. As a member of a Westphalian noble family he was brought-up in a most traditional environment.
One early example of political insight was his marriage with the granddaughter of the powerful and wealthy Austrian chancellor Count Wenzel von Kaunitz in 1795.[citation needed] Metternich's diplomatic skills soon kick-started his diplomatic career, as he was designated ambassador to Berlin and then, in 1806, to Paris.[citation needed] He is considered the prime practitioner of 19th century diplomatic realism, deeply rooted on the balance of power postulates.
[edit] Minister
In 1809, after Napoleon Bonaparte defeated Austria, Metternich was named Austria's Foreign Minister, replacing Johann Philipp von Stadion.[citation needed]
Following Bonaparte's defeat in Russia in 1812, Metternich turned to a policy of neutrality, mediating between Bonaparte and the Russian and Prussian governments in search of a peace agreement. In June 1813, he famously met with Bonaparte at Dresden and, by his own account, he told the intransigent Emperor that he was lost.[citation needed] After his efforts towards an arrangement failed, Metternich brought Austria into war against France.
Metternich was at the height of his powers, stating "But when will this condition of things cease, in which defeat and victory are alike reasons for continuing these dismal wars? If victorious, you insist upon the fruits of your victory; if defeated, you are determined to rise again."[citation needed] After a series of unsuccessful negotiations, Bonaparte abandoned diplomacy, uttering the words "We shall meet in Vienna."[citation needed] Metternich described those meetings as "the strangest farrago of heterogeneous subjects, characterized now by extreme friendliness, now by the most violent outbursts of fury".[citation needed]
In the spring of 1814, as the war approached its end, Metternich quickly concluded that peace with Bonaparte was impossible and abandoned his ideas of a Bonapartist regency under Marie Louise, the Duchess of Parma.[citation needed] He lent his support to a Bourbon restoration, which brought him closer to Viscount Castlereagh, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, and Richard Le Poer Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty.[citation needed] Around that time, Francis I of Austria promoted Metternich from the rank of count to that of prince.[citation needed]
[edit] Post-Napoleonic Europe
Metternich was the principal negotiator and dominant member at the Congress of Vienna. During the negotiations, Metternich developed a bitter personal enmity with Tsar Alexander I of Russia, due to the Russian plans for Poland--fiercely resisted by Metternich--and by an alleged competition for the affection of the beautiful Wilhelmina von Sagan.[citation needed] Metternich sought to form a coalition with Viscount Castlereagh and Hardenberg, the Prussian chancellor, to oppose Alexander's plans for a constitutional Kingdom of Poland under Russia's rule. This efforts failed because of the unwillingness of Prussians to stand up to Alexander.[citation needed] Metternich then shocked the Prussians by signing an alliance with Castlereagh and Talleyrand, the French envoy, on January 3, 1815, to prevent the annexation of Saxony by Prussia, which was to be her compensation for giving up Polish land to Alexander.[citation needed] While this was successful in saving the King of Saxony, northern areas of the kingdom were ceded in perpetuity to Prussia and Alexander managed to get most of what he wanted in Poland. Austria never regained the land gained in the third partition of Poland.[citation needed]
At the same time, Metternich worked hard in negotiations with Prussia, Hanover, Bavaria and Württemberg to resolve the organization of Germany. The resulting Germanic Confederation (Deutscher Bund) bore much of the stamp of his ideas and was used as a means to achieving other ends, as were other organisations of the period.[citation needed]
Metternich’s most notable achievement in the years following the Congress was turning the Tsar into a protector of the old order (Alexander had seen himself as a protector of liberalism). This led to the Tsar’s decision at the Congress of Troppau, in 1820, when he assented to Metternich’s repression of a Neapolitan rebellion and refused to aid Greek rebels against the Ottoman Empire. [citation needed] This is most aptly demonstrated by Metternich’s subversion of the Holy Alliance, from an institution advocating Christian ideals in politics (which in 1815 was described as a "loud-sounding nothing" by Metternich [citation needed] and "a piece of sublime mysticism and nonsense" by Castlereagh [citation needed]) to an anti-revolutionary institution used as a bastion of conservatism.
Over the succeeding decades, Metternich developed into a reactionary protector of the rights of Kings and Emperors in an era of rising democratic sentiment.[citation needed] He had a free hand in conducting the foreign affairs of the Austrian Empire for some 30 years, especially after the death of Emperor Francis I in 1835, when the mentally challenged Ferdinand I took the throne.[citation needed] However, a number of vital committees were run out of Metternich’s control, and a number of domestic affairs state matters were outside of Metternich’s reach: both Francis and Ferdinand were adamant about their absolute rights and were known to rebuff some of Metternich’s advances, while figures such as the court chancellor Count Kolowrat--who mistrusted Metternich’s politics and birth--took office in positions that opposed Metternich’s power.[citation needed]
Due to the fact that Metternich dominated Austrian politics during the era, and mainly because he best exemplifies the spirit of the Concert of Europe, the period in between the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 and the Liberal Revolutions of 1848 is often referred to as the Age of Metternich.
[edit] Resignation
The Liberal Revolutions of 1848 marked the end of his rule. The people of Vienna demanded his resignation, and he did so on March 13.[citation needed] Metternich and his third wife fled to England, with help of the Rothschild Family. In this period Metternich met young Otto von Bismarck.
The Metternichs returned three years later, and, although never resuming office, he became a close personal advisor to Emperor Franz Joseph.[citation needed] He died in Vienna on June 11, 1859.
[edit] Legacy
Metternich's conservative views regarding the nature of the state were a strong influence on the outcome of the Congress of Vienna. He believed that since people had become well acquainted with old institutions, national revolutions such as those in France and Greece were illegitimate.[citation needed] The Legitimacy Principle played a vital role in the re-installation of ancient states such as the Papal States in Italy, and the resurgence of the Bourbon monarchy in France under Louis XVIII.[citation needed] Through the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819, Metternich introduced police supervision in universities to keep a watch on the activities of professors and students, whom he held responsible for the spread of radical liberal ideas.[citation needed]
Before his resignation, Metternich revealed seemingly liberal positions on a number of issues of state; with regards to censorship, Metternich is known to have said "It is useless to close the gates against ideas. They over-leap them."[citation needed] Yet, he had supported censorship in 1808, according to his memoirs.[citation needed] These opinions seem to stem from pragmatism rather than ideology. [1]
[edit] Kissinger's studies
Considered a brilliant man by his contemporaries, Metternich has earned the admiration of succeeding generations for his brilliant management of foreign policy. Henry Kissinger idolised Metternich, and studied him laboriously. He wrote his Ph.D. dissertation, which was later published in 1957 under the title A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of the Peace 1812-1822, on the European negotiations for achieving a balance of power after Waterloo, praising the role of Metternich in holding together the crumbling Austrian Empire.
[edit] Notes
- Note regarding personal names: Fürst is a title, translated as Prince, not a first or middle name. The female form is Fürstin.
- There is a sparkling wine named after him, Fürst von Metternich Riesling Sekt.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Palmer, A., Metternich: Councillor of Europe. London : Orion, 1997 ed.
- Kissinger, H., "A World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh and the Problems of the Peace 1812-1822". London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999 ed.
[edit] External links
- Metternich on censorship
- Fürst von Metternich sparkling wine
- Reaction and Regeneration: Prince Klemens Von Metternich a National History Day-winning documentary on Metternich
- Castle Kynžvart (Königswart) in Western Bohemia - Metternich's residence with collections, now open to the public
Categories: Articles to be expanded | Articles lacking sources from December 2006 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements | Austrian politicians | Austrian diplomats | People of the Revolutions of 1848 | Austrian nobility | Knights of the Golden Fleece | 1773 births | 1859 deaths
