Early life
Klemens Metternich was born into the House of Metternich on 15 May 1773 to Franz Georg Karl Count of Metternich- Winneburg zu Beilstein, a diplomat who had passed from the service of theMarriage and the Congress of Rastatt
In England, he met the King on several occasions and dined with a number of influential British politicians, including William Pitt,Ambassador
Dresden and Berlin
The Holy Roman Empire's defeat in theParis
In the ensuing reshuffle in Vienna Count Johann Philipp von Stadion-Warthausen became the Foreign Minister of Austrian Empire, freeing Metternich to assume the post of Ambassador to the Russian Empire. He never made it to Russia, as need had arisen for a new Austrian at the French court. Metternich was approved for the post in June 1806.There is some confusion over why Metternich was selected. Napoleon said he wanted "a Kaunitz", and whether he literally meant someone from the or merely someone in the style of the Prince of Kaunitz, who had been ambassador to France from 1750 until 1753, this worked in favour of Metternich, the husband of a Kaunitz . He enjoyed being in demand and was happy to be sent to France on a generous salary of 90,000 florins a year. After an arduous trip he took up residence in August 1806, being briefed by Baron von Vincent and Engelbert von Floret, whom he would retain as a close adviser for two decades. He met French foreign minister PrinceForeign Minister
Détente with France
Now back in Austria, Metternich witnessed first hand the Austrian army's defeat at theAs France's ally
When Metternich returned to Vienna in October 1810, he was no longer as popular. His influence was limited to foreign affairs, and his attempts to get a fullAs a neutral
Metternich was much less keen on turning against France than many of his contemporaries (though not the Emperor), and he favoured his own plans for a general settlement. In November 1813 he offered Napoleon the Frankfurt proposals, which would allow Napoleon to remain Emperor but would reduce France to its "natural frontiers" and undo its control of most of Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Napoleon, expecting to win the war, delayed too long and lost this opportunity; by December the Allies had withdrawn the offer. By early 1814, as they were closing in on Paris, Napoleon agreed to the Frankfurt proposals, too late, and he rejected the new, harsher terms then proposed. Nevertheless, the Allies were not faring well, and although a statement of general war aims that included many nods to Austria was secured from Russia, Britain remained distrustful and generally unwilling to give up the military initiative she had fought 20 years to establish. Despite this, Francis created the Austrian Foreign Minister Grand-Chancellor of the Order of Maria Theresa, a post which had been vacant since the time of Kaunitz. Metternich increasingly worried that Napoleon's retreat would bring with it disorder that would harm the Habsburgs. A peace had to be concluded soon, he believed. Since Britain could not be coerced, he sent proposals to France and Russia only. These were rejected, though, after the battles of Lützen (2 May) andAs a coalition partner
Austria's allies saw the declaration as an admission that Austria's diplomatic ambitions had failed, but Metternich viewed it as one move in a much longer campaign. For the rest of the war he strove to hold the Coalition together and, as such, to curb Russian momentum in Europe. To this end he won an early victory as an Austrian general, the Prince of Schwarzenberg, was confirmed supreme commander of the Coalition forces rather thanCongress of Vienna
In the autumn of 1814, the heads of the five reigning dynasties and representatives from 216 noble families began gathering in Vienna. Before ministers from the "Big Four" (the Coalition allies of Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia) arrived, Metternich stayed quietly inParis and Italy
Metternich was soon back with coalition allies in Paris, once more discussing peace terms. After 133 days of negotiations, longer than the turmoil itself, the second Treaty of Paris was concluded on 20 November. Metternich, of the opinion that France should not be dismembered, was happy with the result: France lost only a little land along its eastern borders, seven hundred millionAachen, Teplice, Karlsbad, Troppau and Laibach
Metternich's primary focus remained on preserving unity among the Great Powers of Europe and hence his own power as mediator. He was also concerned by liberal-mindedChancellor
Hanover, Verona, and Czernowitz
In 1821, while Metternich was still at Laibach with Tsar Alexander, the revolt of PrinceHungarian Diets, Alexander I's death, and problems in Italy
In the early 1820s, Metternich had advised Francis that convening the Hungarian Diet would help get approval for financial reform. In fact, the Diet of 1825 to 1827 saw 300 sessions filled with criticism of how the Empire had eroded the historic rights of theEastern Question revisited and peace in Europe
In 1831 Egypt invaded the Ottoman Empire. There were fears of the Empire's total collapse, by which Austria stood to gain little. Metternich therefore proposed multilateral support for the Ottomans and a Viennese Congress to sort out details, but the French were evasive and the British refused to support any congress held in Vienna. By the summer of 1833 Anglo-Austrian relations had hit a new low. With Russia Metternich was more confident of exerting influence. He was mistaken, however, and left to observe from afar Russian intervention in the region (culminating in the Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi). He still arranged to meet with the King of Prussia at Teplitz and accompany Francis to meet Tsar Nicholas at Münchengrätz in September 1833. The former meeting went well: Metternich still felt able to dominate the Prussians, despite their rising economic prominence in Europe. The latter was more strained but, as Nicholas warmed, three Münchengrätz Agreements were reached that shaped a new conservative league to uphold the existing order in Turkey, Poland, and elsewhere. Metternich left happy; his sole disappointment was having to commit to being tougher on Polish nationalists. Almost immediately, he heard of the creation of the Quadruple Alliance of 1834 between Britain, France, Spain and Portugal. This alliance of liberals was such an affront to Austrian values that Palmerston wrote he "should like to see Metternich's face when he reads our treaty". It did indeed draw bitter condemnation, mostly because it provided the occasion for an outbreak of war. Metternich tried two tacks: to intrigue for the removal of the British Foreign Secretary and to attempt (vainly) to build up cross-power bloc agreements. Palmerston did indeed leave office in November, but only temporarily and not by any of Metternich's attempts. Large-scale war, however, had been avoided and the Quadruple Alliance was beginning to disintegrate. On 2 March 1835 Emperor Francis died, succeeded by his epileptic son Ferdinand I. Despite the widespread opinion that Ferdinand was a "ghost of a monarch", Metternich valued legitimacy highly and worked to keep the government running. He soon accompanied Ferdinand on his first meeting with Tsar Nicholas and the King of Prussia, again at Teplitz. Ferdinand was overwhelmed, especially as the delegations paraded into Prague. Overall, however, it was an untroubled meeting. The next few years passed relatively peacefully for Metternich: diplomatic incident was limited to the occasional angry exchange with Palmerston and Metternich's failure to be a mediator between the British and Russians over theirRevolution
Though Metternich was tiring, memoranda kept pouring forth from his chancellery. Despite this, he did not foresee the building crisis. The new PopeExile, return, and death
After an anxious journey of nine days during which they were honoured in some towns and refused entry to others, Metternich, his wife, and son Richard arrived in the Dutch city ofHistorians' assessment
Historians agree on Metternich's skill as a diplomat and his dedication to conservatism. According to Arthur May, he believed that:the mass of Europeans yearned for security, quiet, and peace, and regarded liberal abstractions as repugnant or were utterly indifferent to them. The best of all patterns of government, he insisted, was autocratic absolutism, upheld by a loyal army, by a submissive, decently efficient bureaucracy and police machine, and by trustworthy churchmen.Particularly during the remainder of the nineteenth century, Metternich was heavily criticised, decried as the man who prevented Austria and the rest of central Europe from "developing along normal liberal and constitutional lines". Had Metternich not stood in the way of "progress", Austria might have reformed, dealt better with its problems of nationality, and the
Issue
Metternich's children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are (names are untranslated):Honours and arms
Honours
Arms
Other honours
In 1823, botanistSee also
* Metternich StelaNotes
References
Bibliography
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *Primary Sources
* Walker, Mack, edFurther reading
* * Šedivý, Miroslav. ''Metternich, the Great Powers and the Eastern Question'' (Pilsen: University of West Bohemia Press, 2013) major scholarly study 1032pp * Siemann, Wolfram. ''Metternich: Strategist and Visionary'' (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2019). A major scholarly work presenting Metternich as a thwarted innovator in the national industrial policy.External links
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