Klemens Wenzel von Metternich
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Klemens Wenzel von Metternich |
Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneberg-Beilstein (
May 15,
1773 –
June 11,
1859) (sometimes rendered in English as
Prince Klemens Metternich, or in some books,
Clement Wenceslaus von Metternich) was an
Austrian politician and statesman and perhaps the most important
diplomat of his era.
Name
The name Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar von Metternich-Winneberg-Beilstein reflects the impressive social aspirations that defined the lives of both Metternich and his father. "Klemens" and "Wencelas" refer to the elector of
Trier under whom Metternich's father served, while "Lothar" refers to a former ruler of that same place of Metternich's house. "Winneberg" and "Beilstein" both refer to ancient keeps in the possession of the family.
Early life
Metternich was born in
Coblenz,
Germany, then part of the
Archbishopric of Trier, the son of Franz Georg Karl von Metternich. A member of a
Westphalian noble family he was brought up in a deeply traditional environment. This experience may have deeply affected Metternich's politics.
In
1790, his father introduced him to the heir to
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor's throne. In
1792, Metternich fled the French invasion. One of his earliest diplomatic coups was to marry the granddaughter of the powerful and wealthy Austrian chancellor
Count Wenzel von Kaunitz in
1795. Metternich's diplomatic skills soon won him posts as ambassador to
Berlin, then in
1806 to
Paris. He is considered the prime practitioner of 19th century diplomatic realism.
Minister
Following Austria's disastrous defeat by
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1809, Metternich was made Austria's
Foreign Minister, replacing
Johann Philipp von Stadion.
Following Napoleon's defeat in Russia in 1812, Metternich turned to a policy of neutrality and attempted to mediate a peace between Napoleon and his Russian and Prussian enemies. In June 1813, he famously met with Napoleon at
Dresden, and by his own account, he afterwards told the intransigent Emperor that he was lost. Soon after, mediation having failed, Metternich brought Austria into the war against France. Metternich perhaps was now at the height of his juvenile 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." After a series of unsuccessful negotiations that Metternich described as "…the strangest farrago of heterogeneous subjects, characterized now by extreme friendliness, now by the most violent outbursts of fury" the
Emperor of the French left with the words "We shall meet in Vienna."
As the war approached its end in the spring of 1814, Metternich quickly concluded that no peace with Napoleon was possible and abandoned his ideas of a
Bonapartist regency under
Marie Louise. He then lent his support to a Bourbon restoration, which brought him closer to
Castlereagh, the British
Foreign Secretary,
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and
Richard Le Poer Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty. At this time,
Francis I of Austria elevated Metternich from the rank of count to that of prince.
Post-Napoleonic Europe
Metternich was a principal negotiator and dominant member at the
Congress of Vienna. He also became one of the main supporters of legitimacy and intervention. During this period, Metternich developed a bitter personal enmity with Tsar
Alexander I of Russia, whose Polish plans Metternich deeply feared and who competed with the womanizing Metternich for the affections of the beautiful
Wilhelmina von Sagan. Metternich's attempts to form a united front with
Viscount Castlereagh and
Hardenberg, the Prussian chancellor, to oppose Alexander's plans for a constitutional Kingdom of Poland under his own rule, came to nothing due to Prussia's unwillingness to stand up to Alexander. Metternich then shocked the Prussians by signing an alliance with Castlereagh and
Talleyrand, the French envoy, on January 3, 1815, to prevent Prussian annexation of
Saxony, which was to be Prussia's compensation for giving up Polish land to Alexander. This however may safely be attributed to the skillfulness of Talleyrand as a diplomat, matched only by Metternich himself. 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 â€" Austria never regained the land gained in the
third partition of Poland.
At the same time, Metternich worked hard in negotiations with Prussia,
Hanover,
Bavaria, and
Württemberg to resolve the organization of Germany, and the
Germanic Confederation (
Deutscher Bund) that resulted bore much of the stamp of Metternich's ideas and was used like many other organisations of the period by Metternich as another means to achieving his ends.
Metternich's most notable achievement in the years that followed the Congress was his conversion of the Tsar, who had seen himself as a protector of liberalism, to the protection of the old order, which culminated with the Tsar's decision at the
Congress of Troppau in 1820, when the Tsar assented to Metternich's suppression of a Neapolitan rebellion and refused to aid Greek rebels against the
Ottoman Empire. This is most aptly demonstrated by Metternich's subversion of the
Holy Alliance from an institution advocating
Christian ideals in politics (which was described in 1815 variously as a "loud-sounding nothing" by Metternich and "a piece of sublime mysticism and nonsense" by Castlereagh) to an anti-revolutionary institution used as a bastion of
conservatism.
Over the succeeding decades, Metternich came to be seen as a
reactionary protector of the rights of
Kings and
Emperors in this era of rising democratic sentiment. He had a free hand in conducting the
Austrian Empire's foreign affairs for some 30 years, especially after Emperor Francis's death in 1835, when his feeble-minded son
Ferdinand took the throne. However, a number of vital committees were run away from Metternich's control, and a number of matters of state business within the confines of domestic affairs were outside of Metternich's reach; Francis I and Ferdinand I both were adamant about their absolute rights and were known to rebuff Metternich's advances, while figures such as the court chancellor Count Kolowrat who mistrusted Metternich's politics and birth took office in positions to oppose Metternich's power.
Due to the fact that Metternich dominated Austrian politics during the era, and because he perhaps best exemplifies the reactionary spirit of the
Concert of Europe, the period in between the final defeat of
Napoleon at
Waterloo in 1815 and the
Revolutions of 1848 is often referred to as the
Age of Metternich.
Resignation
The
Revolutions of 1848, however, marked the end of his rule. Mobs in
Vienna demanded that he resign, and he did so on
March 13. Metternich and his third wife had to flee to
England with the help of the
Rothschild Family and it is in this period that Metternich met his future equivalent, a young
Otto von Bismarck. They returned three years later, and Metternich, although never resuming office, became a close personal advisor to Emperor
Franz Joseph. He died in Vienna.
Metternich's conservative views regarding the nature of the state influenced the outcome of the Congress of Vienna. He believed that since the people have become acquainted with the old institutions, national revolutions such as those in France and Greece are illegitimate. The
Legitimacy Principle played a vital role in the reinstallation of ancient states such as the
Papal States in
Italy, and the resurgence of the Bourbon monarchy in France under
Louis XVIII. Through the
Carlsbad Decrees of 1819, Metternich introduced policing in universities to keep a watch on the activities of professors and students, whom he held responsible for the spread of radical liberal ideas.
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 overleap them." and yet supported the concept in 1808 in his memoirs. These opinions seem to stem from pragmatism rather than ideology.[
1]
Considered a brilliant man by 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, on Metternich's achievements in holding together the crumbling
Austrian Empire.
* There is a
sparkling wine named after him,
Fürst von Metternich Riesling Sekt.
*
Age of Metternich*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 and Nicholson, 1999 ed.
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Metternich on censorship#
Fürst von Metternich sparkling wine#
Reaction and Regeneration: Prince Klemens Von Metternich a
National History Day-winning documentary on Metternich
