!!!Metternich, Clemens Wenzel Lothar Graf

b. Coblenz (Germany), May 15, 1773, 
d. Vienna, June 11, 1859, statesman; father of Prince Richard 
Klemens  Metternich, grandfather of Princess Pauline  Metternich. Left 
his home in the Rhine-Moselle region before the French revolutionary 
forces, became an Austrian diplomat like his father Franz Georg Karl 
(1746-1818), 1795 married Countess Eleonore Kaunitz (1775-1825), 
granddaughter of the state chancellor Count W. A.  Kaunitz, which 
connected him to the high nobility.1801 envoy to Dresden, 1803 to 
Berlin, 1806 after the peace of  Bratislava at Napoleon´s 
request in Paris (with little success), where he led a life of 
pleasure. From Oct. 8, 1809 Foreign Minister, arranged marriage 
between the Archduchess  Marie Louise and Napoleon. Later M. changed 
his policy; Austria avoided approaches to France, in 1812 however, he 
had to provide an independent contingent against Russia, adhered to 
neutrality and on Aug. 13, 1813 joined the allies ( Napoleonic Wars ). 
M. secured the positions of the South German states of the 
Confederation of the Rhine and won them as allies against Prussia. He 
rejected the re-establishment of the Roman empire in Germany and 
convinced England of the danger of Russia. The climax of his work was 
the  Congress of Vienna from September 1814 until June 1815, where he 
combined sophisticated social skills with diplomacy. M. insisted on 
the participation of France in negotiations, succeeded in establishing 
the  Deutscher Bund  and securing Austrian influence in Italy. With 
moderation and balance he established a long-lasting European order. 
As an advocate of the European balance of power he supported the  Holy 
Alliance; however, like Emperor Franz I. ( Franz II (I)), he 
increasingly became an opponent of popular movements.

\\
During the following years his most important concern was to maintain 
the conditions of 1815 (congresses of Aachen 1818, Carlsbad 1819, 
Troppau 1820, Ljubljana 1821, Verona 1822). M. misjudged national 
movements and liberal ideas: he thought they could be suppressed by 
solidarity amongst the monarchs. After 1822 he suppressed 
national/liberal movements in Naples and North Italy, which caused him 
to lose support, notwithstanding the successful administration of the  
Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. In 1821 M. became State Chancellor, a title 
which had not been appointed since Kaunitz.

\\
After England and France dissociated themselves, Austria, Prussia and 
Russia united in 1833 under the "Alliance of the three black eagles", 
which suppressed the insurrection in Kraków in 1846. As a 
result of M.´s policy Austria was not part of any customs union 
and so lost its leading position in trade and business.

\\
From 1826 M. largely lost his strong influence due to the Minister of 
State and head of the cabinet conferences F. A. Count  
Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky. He was unable to enforce even the idea of a 
government with ministries and was confined to foreign affairs at the 
conference of state in 1836. As a result of the rigour of his interior 
politics his opponent Kolowrat was considered a liberal, while M. 
became a hated symbol of repression and reaction ( Vormaerz). On March 
13, 1848 he was the first to be forced to resign from his office as a 
result of the Vienna  March Revolution; he escaped to England and in 
1849 went to Brussels. In 1851, M. returned to his palace in Vienna in 
an unofficial capacity and was only rarely asked for advice. M. was 
the most significant statesman in Austria in the 19th century, his 
image, distorted by liberalism, has been reappraised since the work of 
H. von  Srbik.

\\
Apart from his villa, built in 1815 (demolished in 1873), he had a 
palace built in Rennweg in Vienna in 1846/47 (J. J. Romano and A. 
Schwendenwein), which has housed the Italian Embassy since 1908.

!Literature
H. v. Srbik, M., der Staatsmann und der Mensch, 
3 vols., 1925-1954, %%sup 3/%1954-1960; F. Herre, M., Staatsmann 
des Friedens, 1983; Die Aera M., exhibition catalogue, Vienna 1984; 
J. v. d. Heide, K. M., 1988; G. Kugler, Staatskanzler 
M. und seine Gaeste, 1991; OeBL; NOeB; NDB.



%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Metternich,_Clemens_Wenzel_Lothar_Graf|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]