Metternich, Prince Clemens Lothar Wenzel 1773-1859
Austrian politician

Born in Coblenz, Germany, he studied at Strasbourg and Mainz, was attached to the Austrian embassy at The Hague, and at 28 was Austrian Minister at Dresden, two years later at Berlin, and in 1805 (after Austerlitz) at Paris. In 1807 he concluded the Treaty of Fontainebleau. In 1809 he was appointed Austrian Foreign Minister, and as such negotiated the marriage between Napoleon I and Marie Louise. In 1812-13 he maintained a temporizing policy at first, but at last declared war against France. The Grand Alliance was signed at Teplitz, and he was made a Prince of the Empire. He took a prominent part at the Congress of Vienna, rearranging a German confederation and guarding Austria's interests in Italy. As the main supporter of autocracy and police despotism at home and abroad he was largely responsible for the tension that led to the upheaval of 1848. The French Revolution of that year, which overturned for a time half the thrones of Europe, was felt in Vienna, and the government fell. Metternich fled to England, and in 1851 retired to his castle of Johannesberg on the Rhine. He was a brilliant diplomat and a man of iron nerve and will.

Bibliography: Alan W Palmer, Metternich (1972)