Metternich: Strategist and Visionary

Description

A compelling new biography that recasts the most important European statesman of the first half of the nineteenth century, famous for his alleged archconservatism, as a friend of realpolitik and reform, pursuing international peace. Metternich has a reputation as the epitome of reactionary conservatism. Historians treat him as the archenemy of progress, a ruthless aristocrat who used his power as the dominant European statesman of the first half of the nineteenth century to stifle liberalism, suppress national independence, and oppose the dreams of social change that inspired the revolutionaries of 1848. Wolfram Siemann paints a fundamentally new image of the man who shaped Europe for over four decades. He reveals Metternich as more modern and his career much more forward-looking than we have ever recognized. Clemens von Metternich emerged from the horrors of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, Siemann shows, committed above all to the preservation of peace. That often required him, as the Austrian Empire’s foreign minister and chancellor, to back authority. He was, as Henry Kissinger has observed, the father of realpolitik. But short of compromising on his overarching goal Metternich aimed to accommodate liberalism and nationalism as much as possible. Siemann draws on previously unexamined archives to bring this multilayered and dazzling man to life. We meet him as a tradition-conscious imperial count, an early industrial entrepreneur, an admirer of Britain’s liberal constitution, a failing reformer in a fragile multiethnic state, and a man prone to sometimes scandalous relations with glamorous women. Hailed on its German publication as a masterpiece of historical writing, Metternich will endure as an essential guide to nineteenth-century Europe, indispensable for understanding the forces of revolution, reaction, and moderation that shaped the modern world. Contents A Note on the Frontispiece Translator’s Note Preface to the English-Language Edition Introduction A Life in Seven Stages Metternich’s Biographers across the Generations The Risks and Limitations of Srbik’s Biography of Metternich 1. Origins: Family Ties and the Rise of the Metternichs The Ministerial Metternichs The Lords of Königswart The Barons of Winneburg and Beilstein The Counts as Members of the Imperial Diet The Highest Floor: The Princes in the Bel Étage 2. Metternich’s Generation: Ancien Régime and Enlightenment, 1773–1792 Parental Home, Childhood, and Education Studies in Strasbourg and Mainz: Formation of a Political and Historical View of the World 3. A Double Crisis: Empire and Revolution, 1789–1801 Fin de Siècle: The Imperial Elections of 1790 and 1792 1789: The Rupture of the French Revolution Brussels and the Austrian Netherlands The Journey to Great Britain: The Final Piece to the Young Metternich’s Political Universe Collapse and Flight in 1794 A New Beginning: Vienna, Königswart, and Austerlitz Time of Transition: The Diplomat in Waiting, 1796–1801 4. Between Peace and War: Life as an Ambassador, 1801–1806 Dresden, 1801–1803: The Minister at His “Observation Post" Berlin, 1803–1806: The Ambassador on the Grand Diplomatic Stage The Peace of Pressburg and the Beginning of the End for the Holy Roman Empire 5. World War: Outset and Intensification, 1806–1812 Ambassador in Paris, 1806–1809: In the “Lion’s Den" Ambassador on Borrowed Time and Napoleon’s Captive under House Arrest The Interim Minister: Sidelined by Napoleon The Minister in Charge of the New Direction: A Defensive Strategy in Domestic Policy and Matchmaking Abroad, 1809–1810 The Foreign Minister on Tour: 181 Days with Napoleon Domestic and International Consolidation, 1810–1812 6. World War: Climax and Crisis, 1813 Metternich Discreetly Assembles the Forces The Tactical Path to an “Armed Mediation" Austria Joins the War: The Quadruple Alliance 7. World War: Catastrophe and Resolution, 1814 The Final Battle against Napoleon and the Prefiguration of the Vienna Order Metternich’s Second Voyage to England and Preparations for the Congress of Vienna Metternich, the War, and Violence in Politics 8. The End of an Era and a New Beginning for Europe: The Congress of Vienna, 1814–1815 The Initial Situation: The Experience of War and a Legal Vacuum The “Cosmopolitans”: Instigating a New Law Based on Imperial Legal Orders A Master Plan? Metternich between Realpolitik, Strategy, and Vision The Congress on the Brink: Crises Test the Principle of Balance The End of the Holy Roman Empire: The Habsburg Empire and the German Question “Germany—United by Federal Ties”: Metternich’s Part in the Foundation of the German Confederation “The Congress Dances”—Especially in Metternich’s House 9. Connoisseur of Women and Head of the Entail Iconography and Historical Specificity of Love Love and Politics: At the Courts of Dresden, Berlin, and Paris Wilhelmine von Sagan and the Confusion of Feelings Dorothea von Lieven: “The Nearness of the Beloved"? Wives and Children: Family Ties and Tribulations 10. The Construction of a New Beginning: Reform and Reconstruction, 1815–1818 Metternich’s Ideas and Policies on the Nationality Question: The Case of Italy Journeys to Italy, a Happy, Ungovernable Country Metternich’s Plan for a Reorganization of the Monarchy Habsburg and the German Confederation: An Affirmation for Metternich and Prussia, 1817–1818 11. Defensive Security Policies: Averting Threats under the Vienna System, 1815–1829 Napoleon’s “Hundred Days”: Activating the European Security System Fault Lines in the Societies of Europe after 1815 Metternich and British Security Policies, 1817–1820: Pretext or Defense against a Revolution? The Radicalization of the German National Movement: The Wartburg Festival and Sand’s Assassination of Kotzebue Metternich’s Hesitant Reactions: The Press, the Professors, and the Students From Teplitz to Carlsbad: The Conferences on Domestic Security, 1819–1820 Metternich’s Suggestions for the Development and Extension of the German Federal Constitution: The Final Act of the German Confederation, May 15, 1820 Terrorism and Security Policies as a European Problem: England, France, and Metternich The Double-Edged Sword of Intervention and the Concert of Europe The Concert of Europe and the Defensive Security Policies of the 1820s 12. The Economist: Metternich as a Capitalist with a Social Conscience Managing Financial Crises Metternich as Agrarian Economist: Farmer, Vintner, Forester Factory Owner and Industrial Entrepreneur 13. The Spring of Nations amid Poverty, 1830–1847 The July Revolution in 1830 and Metternich’s International Crisis Management A Revolution in Communication, the Spring of Nations, State Security Tolerated Revolutions after 1830 From the Orient to the Rhine: The Concert of the Major Powers as a Challenge Metternich and Customs Policies 14. The Organization of Rule: Power Centers, Networks, Interests, Intrigues The Master of the State Chancellery Constrained by Emperor Franz’s “Personal Regime" Emperor Franz’s Legacy: A System “Headed by a Half-Wit Who Represents the Crown" Crisis Instead of Reform: Metternich versus Kolowrat Lobbyism, the Power Politics of the Imperial Family, the Estates 15. Revolution, Escape, Exile, 1848–1851 Revolution 1848: “Sheet Lightning,” Outbreak, and Escape Metternich’s English Self: In Exile, 1848–1849 Brussels 1849–1851: Metternich’s Look Back at a Liberal Economic Policy That Was Not to Be 16. At the Observatory: Twilight Years in Vienna, 1851–1859 Epilogue: Metternich as a Postmodern Character in Early Modernity Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Illustration Credits Index