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Klemens von Metternich (May 15, 1773 — June 11, 1859), Austrian politician, statesman |
World Biographical Encyclopedia
Lettres Du Prince de Metternich a la Comtesse de Lieven, 1818-1819: Publiees, Avec Une Introduction, Une Conclusion Et Des Notes (Classic Reprint) (French Edition)
(Excerpt from Lettres du Prince de Metternich A la Comtess...)
Excerpt from Lettres du Prince de Metternich A la Comtesse de Lieven, 1818-1819: Publiees, Avec une Introduction, une Conclusion Et des Notes
M. Jean Hanoteau possede les lettres que Metter nich adressait a Mme de Lieven en 1818 et en et il les publie. Elles sont interessantes. Metternich manie aisement la langue francaise. Pourtant, il n'ecrit pas avec beaucoup de correction et Sa facon de s'exprimer. Est frequemment obscure. Ll est et demeure Allemand. De la son Gemut, car il a du Gemut et il se pique d'en avoir le Gemut, dit-il, voila a le premier don du Createur n il ajoute qu'il est porte au reve et a la melancolie, a la we/zmutige Stimmung, que son bonheur ne residera jamais que dans son coeur. De la, dans ses lettres, je ne sais quoi de nebuleux et d'abstrait. Il philosophise; il s'efforce de prouver a son amie qu'ils sont u deux etres par faitement homogenes n il lui apprend que notre etre se compose de deux essences, le corps et l'ame, et que l' ame a besoin d'organes qui forment le systeme nerveux; il disserte pesamment Sur le coeur humain.
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(Throughout Prince Metternich's glittering and successful ...)
Throughout Prince Metternich's glittering and successful career he sought to free Europe from the forces unleashed by the French Revolution. He was an enemy of change, despised by republicans and feared by radicals. Metternich's acute skill for diplomacy was instrumental in creating alliances to reverse dangerous republicanism and restore Europe's legitimate monarchies to their thrones.
This fascinating autobiography covers Metternich's early years from his school days in Strasbourg and his meteoric rise in the service of Austria to the defeat of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Metternich was at the heart of Europe's diplomatic community and he paints revealing portraits of such key figures as Napoleon, Czar Alexander, Talleyrand and the Bourbons. He also reveals much about the political life of a continent convulsed by the French Revolution and by the ambition of the Emperor Napoleon.
Metternich's observant eye and sharp intellect reveal themselves in a book which is crucial to an understanding of the man who played such a significant role in reshaping Europe.
Klemens von Metternich was a German-Austrian politician and diplomat, suppressed nationalistic and democratic trends in Central Europe.
Background
Klemens Metternich was born in Koblenz, Germany on 15 May 1773 to Franz George Karl Count Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein and his wife Countess Maria Beatrice Aloisia von Kageneck.
The French Revolution of 1789 and its consequences were referred to by Metternich as the "hateful time." Metternich's family was directly affected by both the Revolution and the fighting. His father, a count who held hereditary lands in western Germany near France, was main minister in the Netherlands - which at that time was an Austrian possession. Metternich's childhood in the western German city of Koblenz, a quiet town of about 12, 000, brought him into contact with French culture.
Education
After an early education by a series of private tutors, Metternich chose to attend the university at Strasbourg, a city which at various times has been part of either France or Germany. Between the end of 1790 and summer of 1792 Metternich studied law at the University of Mainz, receiving a more conservative education than at Strasbourg.
Career
His marriage in 1795 to Eleonore von Kaunitz gave him access to the highest social and political circles in the Austrian Empire. His wife's contacts and knowledge were important for an ambitious man who had never before lived in Austria's capital city. After serving as Austrian ambassador to Berlin and Dresden, Metternich was appointed ambassador to France in 1806. In April of 1809, he appealed to the French emperor's vanity (and cemented a temporary French-Austrian alliance) by marrying Napoleon to Marie Louise, daughter of the Austrian emperor Francis I.
While in Paris, Metternich began to acquire his lifelong reputation as a man who had "success with the ladies." But diplomatic success did not come as easily. He sent such optimistic reports back to Vienna, that the Austrian government went to war against France and lost. Yet when Metternich gained favorable peace terms from Napoleon, he was rewarded by being appointed the Austrian minister of foreign affairs in October 1809. In 1813, he was given the hereditary title of prince.
The year 1815 saw Metternich at the peak of his power and popularity in Austria. In 1810, Napoleon had been master of much of Europe, and Austria had been a virtual puppet of French foreign policy; five years later, Metternich had become a key leader in the coalition of countries which defeated the French emperor twice.
When the victorious countries agreed to hold a diplomatic conference at Vienna (the Congress of Vienna), Metternich saw it as a personal triumph. At the congress, Metternich's mastery of diplomatic maneuvering earned him the title of "the coachman of Europe." More than any other single leader, he seemed to determine the future direction of the Continent. Metternich's main goal at the congress was to promote the idea of the "Concert of Europe". Together with the British representative, Castlereagh, Metternich successfully worked to create a permanent alliance among the victors, envisioning grouped power that would "balance out" the ambitious or aggressive actions of any one country on the Continent. Although the Quadruple Alliance halted only a few revolutions, and Metternich was disappointed when Britain left the alliance in 1822, the "balance of power" system remained in place throughout the rest of the century. No overall European war on the scale of the Napoleonic Wars occurred until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. So influential was Metternich's diplomacy that the era from 1815 to 1848 is often referred to as the "Age of Metternich."
What Metternich feared most was that the liberal and national ideas would tear apart the multinational Habsburg Empire, causing each nationality under Habsburg rule to go its own way and establish its own separate government. In the 18th century, the Austrian emperor Joseph II had decided that the way to unify the Empire was to centralize the administrative part of the government and standardize the law. Metternich disagreed, saying that the best way to discourage independence movements was to allow each section of the Empire to have its own distinctive rules and laws. Yet Metternich's ideas regarding Austria were rejected. Although he was appointed Austrian state chancellor in 1821, his influence was restricted to foreign affairs by Count Kolowrat, the minister of state, who had the ear of the new emperor, the mentally retarded Ferdinand. If it were not for Metternich's skills in diplomacy, his career would have been regarded as a virtual failure.
When ultimately unsuccessful revolutions broke out in the Austrian Empire in 1848, Metternich became the target of angry mobs. Forced to resign, he went into exile in England before returning to Vienna in 1858.
Metternich died in Vienna on 11 June 1859, aged 86, and the last great figure of his generation.
Achievements
Metternich was famous as the engineer of Austria's entry into the War of the Sixth Coalition on the Allied side, he also signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau that sent Napoleon into exile, and led the Austrian delegation at the Congress of Vienna that divided post-Napoleonic Europe amongst the major powers. He presided over the "Age of Metternich", when international diplomacy helped prevent major wars in Europe. Under his guidance, the "Metternich system" marked the high point of Austria's diplomatic importance.
(Throughout Prince Metternich's glittering and successful ...)
Politics
Metternich wanted to discourage any Russian interest in expanding into Europe. He also was determined to frustrate Austria's main rival in Germany, Prussia.
Metternich saw nationalism and liberalism as serious threats to the survival of the Austrian Empire and tried to suppress both. Metternich saw liberalism as a child of the French Revolution of 1789. His real aim, he said, was to avoid the chaos that he believed would follow in the wake of the major political changes demanded by European revolutionaries.
Views
He believed that since Austria was at the center of the European Continent, it was the logical place to "lay the foundations for a new European order. " "I have, " he wrote, "for a long time regarded Europe (rather than just Austria) as my homeland."
He was sure, that if all the great powers acted together or in "European concert," they would be able to prevent the outbreak of any large European war like the Napoleonic Wars. They might also be able to see that the foundations of a lasting peace are secured as much as possible.
Quotations:
"The word 'freedom' means for me not a point of departure but a genuine point of arrival. The point of departure is defined by the word 'order. ' Freedom cannot exist without the concept of order. "
"The events which can not be prevented, must be directed. "
"Ten million ignorances do not constitute one knowledge. "
"Everything changes but me. " He added that, "I am not one of those who think that the movement is the purpose of life."
Personality
He was tall, handsome, sociable, and poised.
Quotes from others about the person
One observer described him as "not a genius but a great talent; cold, calm, imperturbable, and a supreme calculator. "
Connections
On 27 September 1795 he married Countess Eleonore von Kaunitz, a granddaughter of former Austrian chancellor Wenzel Kaunitz. He would later remarry, wedding Baroness Antoinette Leykam in 1827 and, after her death in 1829, Countess Melanie Zichy-Ferraris in 1831.
Spouse:
Countess Eleonore von Kaunitz
Spouse:
Baroness Antoinette Leykam
Spouse:
Countess Melanie Zichy-Ferraris
Daughter:
Klementine Marie Melanie Sofie Leontine Crescentia
She was born on 27 June 1870 and died on 25 October 1963, unmarried; she adopted Prince Franz Albrecht of Hohenlohe (born 1920; son of her niece Elisabeth), who assumed the title of Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst-Metternich-Sándor.
Daughter:
Sophie Marie Antoinette Leontine Melanie Julie
She was born on 17 May 1857 and died on 11 January 1941, married 24 April 1878 to Prince Franz-Albrecht of Oettingen-Oettingen in Oettingen-Spielberg.
Daughter:
Hermine Gabriele (Henrietta) Marie Eleonore Leopoldine
She was born on 1 September 1815 and died on December 1890, unmarried.
Daughter:
Antoinette Pascalina
She was born on 20 April 1862 and died on 5 August 1890, married on 11 July 1885 to Count Georg Wilhelm von Waldstein. No issue.
Daughter:
Melanie Metternich-Zichy
She married Count József Zichy de Zich et Vásonkeő (1814–1897), brother of Antónia Zichy, on 20 November 1853.
Daughter:
Maria Leopoldina
She married on 15 September 1817 to Count Jozsef Esterházy de Galántha. No issue.
Daughter:
Marie-Clementine Bagration
She was illegitimate daughter of Prince Klemens von Metternich with Princess Catherine Bagration.
Daughter:
Leontine Adelheid Maria Pauline
She was born on 18 June 1811 and died on 16 November 1861, married on 8 February 1835 to Count Moric Sándor de Szlavnicza. They had one daughter.
Son:
Lothar Stephan August Klemens Maria
He was born on 13 September 1837 and died on 2 October 1904, married firstly on 21 April 1868 to Karoline Anna Rosalie Johanna Reittner, and secondly on 5 June 1900 to Countess Františka Mittrowsky von Mittrowitz. No issue in both marriages.
Son:
Paul Klemens Lothar, 3rd Prince Metternich
He was born on 14 October 1834 and died on 6 February 1906, married on 9 May 1868 to his cousin Countess Melania Zichy-Ferraris de Zich und Vásonykeö.
Son:
Richard von Metternich
He was an Austrian diplomat and the eldest surviving son of the illustrious diplomat Prince Klemens von Metternich.
Son:
Franz Karl Viktor Ernst Lothar Clemens Joseph Anton Adam
He was born on 12 January 1803 and died on 30 November 1829; he had one illegitimate son with Claire Clemence Henriette Claudine de Maillé de La Tour-Landry, daughter of the 2nd Duc de Maillé:
