Biography of Metternich,Metternich: A dandy, womanizer, pompous fop and great diplomat, Metternich
Biography of Metternich
In late 1814, the great powers of Europe gatheredafter the fall of Napoleon to discuss what to do next. At the time, the continent was in ruins. The old order had been exploded as effectivelyas if someone had detonated an atom bomb beneath it. Just as it would in 1945, Europe needed anew roadmap, a blueprint for the future. Designing that blueprint fell to one man:Metternich. The foreign minister of the Austrian Empire,Metternich was a dandy, a womanizer, and a comically pompous fop. He was also one of the greatest diplomatswho ever lived. Under his guidance, post-Napoleon Europe wasforged into a conservative system that would last nearly 100 years. His blueprint ensured the continent’s 19thCentury was far less bloody than either it’s 18th or 20th. Yet Metternich also tried to strangle theforces of nationalism at birth and, in doing so, set the stage for his own destruction. A master strategist to some, a vain buffoonto others, this is the life of Europe’s coachman. Children of the RevolutionThe world Metternich was born into would be unrecognizable to us today. The center of Europe was dominated not byGermany, but by something known as the Holy Roman Empire, a millennia-old collection oftiny states all joined together. It was in one of these tiny states on thewest bank of the Rhine that Metternich was born, on May 15, 1773. Or, to give him his full name: Klemens WenzelNepomuk Lothar, Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg-Beilstein. Although Metternich was from the Germanic Holy Roman Empire, it was France that had the biggest impact onhis early life. Metternich’s home state was right on thebuffer zone with the France of Louis XVI, so the boy grew up speaking better Frenchthan he did German, despite his father being an Austrian envoy. This wasn’t all that unusual. France exerted a powerful pull over continentalEurope in the 18th Century, and it seemed totally natural that Metternich should besent off to the French city of Strasbourg to complete his education in 1788. Unfortunately for the teenage Metternich,France at the end of the 1780s was a ticking timebomb. On July 14, 1789, years of political turmoilin Paris exploded onto the streets. A mob stormed the Bastille armory, lynchingthe garrison commander. It was the opening salvo of the French Revolution. And it was about to consume the entire continent. Despite being the sort of age when wavingthe revolutionary flag might seem appealing, Metternich was disgusted by the unfoldingdrama. For Metternich, any upending of the natural,conservative order of Europe was anathema. He decamped Strasbourg for Mainz post haste. But Metternich was about to learn a very importantlesson: when the cannonball of revolution gets rolling, there’s no escape. In April, 1792, a French army whipped intoa revolutionary frenzy invaded the Holy Roman Empire, burning, pillaging, destroying. By now posted to a diplomatic position inthe Austrian Netherlands (AKA Belgium) alongside his father, Metternich was forced to watchin horror as the French annexed his family’s home state in 1794, leaving them with nothing. Barely had he got his head around this whenthe French overran the Austrian Netherlands and the boy and his father were forced toflee to Vienna. Although the Metternichs were now refugees,they were still people of means, with good connections to Austria’s elite. So Metternich’s exile was less ‘Mosesin the desert’ and more ‘rich playboy sleeping around Vienna’. He even managed to marry Eleonore von Kaunitz,the daughter of Austria’s former chancellor. While Metternich was serially unfaithful toher, the marriage still meant his family going up in the world of Austrian politics. But fate, and France, weren’t done withMetternich. On November 9, 1799, a French army officerstaged a coup in Paris, putting himself in charge of the revolutionary war machine. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte. And he was about to plunge Europe into chaos. The Napoleonic EraFrom Metternich’s perspective, the 19th Century must have felt like settling intoa comfy armchair that suddenly grows teeth and devours you. In 1801, Vienna’s newest man about townwas promoted to ambassador and sent first to Dresden, and then to Berlin. As Napoleon kept conquering, Metternich enjoyedthe Prussian capital’s nightlife, all while gamely trying to persuade his hosts to joinVienna in war against France. For a guy known for his diplomatic acumen,Metternich totally messed up this one. After years of cajoling, the Prussians finallyput their foot down in 1805 and told the Austrian fop “Nein!” This was the moment the geopolitical armchairswallowed the young ambassador whole. On December 2, 1806, the Russian, Holy Roman,and Austrian armies – minus Prussia – all met to battle France at Austerlitz. The Napoleonic army mopped the floor withthem. The Third Coalition lost the battle so badlythe Holy Roman Empire was destroyed. Austria was forced to become allies with France. Would things have gone different if Prussiahad been there? It’s hard to say, but they couldn’t exactlyhave gone worse. Still, Metternich’s catastrophic fail inBerlin didn’t stop him from getting an ambassadorship to Paris under Austria’s now pro-Napoleonleadership. Sadly, Metternich hadn’t learned from hismistakes. On May 2, 1808, an uprising in French-occupiedSpain triggered a crisis in Paris. Egged on by Metternich’s breathless reportsthat Napoleon was losing his grip on power, Vienna took a risky gamble. In 1809, Austria rolled everything on a surpriseattack. Care to guess how this one went? The War of the Fifth Coalition was a monumentalembarrassment for Austria. Napoleon crushed them. Not only that, he imposed one of the mosthumiliating peace treaties in history. Vienna lost a ton of territory, and was forcedto pay Paris a ton of money. For Metternich personally, though, thingsturned out surprisingly well. In the aftermath of the new treaty, he escapedblame. Not only that, he got promoted. On October 8, 1809 Emperor Francis I madeMetternich, then just 36 years old, foreign minister. He would hold the post for 40 years. With Napoleon now basically in charge of Europe,Austria’s new foreign minister was forced to use all his legendary charm to try andplacate Paris. This created some humiliating moments, suchas when Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Austria was forced to send its own army alongin support of the French. While Metternich managed to secure their nominalindependence under Austrian commanders, it was crumbs from Napoleon’s table. Or so it seemed. When Napoleon’s latest adventure unexpectedlyblew up in his face, Austria was able to sign a peace deal with the Russians. Vienna could then sit out the catastrophicFrench retreat across the continent. For his part, Metternich didn’t believethis was really the end of Napoleon. In mid-1813, he tried to broker a peace betweenFrance and Russia and Prussia that would allow Napoleon to stay on the throne. It was only when Napoleon said “non” thatMetternich signed Austria up to the Sixth Coalition. If you recognize the name “the Sixth Coalition”,it’s because these are the guys that actually did it, the ones that rid Europe of its tyrant. On March 31, 1814, the armies of the SixthCoalition captured Paris. With Cossacks marching down the banks of theSeine, Napoleon finally threw in the towel. The Petit Corporal abdicated and was exiledto the island of Elba. Across Europe, cries of victory went up. There was just one teeny, tiny problem. What the heck did everyone do now? The Congress of Vienna #1: Creating the CongressIt’s time for us to take a quick step back in time to something called the Treaty ofUtrecht. Signed in 1713 at the end of the War of SpanishSuccession, the treaty was designed to keep Europe’s superpowers from superkilling eachother by delicately balancing power between them. The French Revolution had exposed the limitsof this century old treaty. Even before Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, everyoneknew a new treaty was needed, one that would insure against another continent-wide war. Unfortunately, all the great powers that hadjust defeated France all wanted different things. We’ll get into the nitty gritty in a minute. Just know for now that everyone in 1814 wasaware a mishandled post-Napoleon peace could be catastrophic. Before the Sixth Coalition had even won, they’dagreed to a congress to hammer all their differences out. Somehow, Metternich convinced them to holdit in Vienna. The Congress of Vienna is one of the mostimportant diplomatic gatherings in history. So, to make sure we can all get our headsaround this extremely important event, we’re gonna take a quick detour now through themain players. Ready for some hardcore learning, guys?! The four key powers at the congress were Austria(obviously), Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain. Since Austria was playing on their home turf,that meant putting Metternich in charge of everything. His goals were to maintain the balance ofpower, by ensuring post-war France didn’t get too weak, and Russia and Prussia didn’tget too strong. Britain meanwhile sent over a guy called ViscountCastlereagh, who broadly agreed with Metternich about not destroying France, and not givingRussia and Prussia everything. Prussia sent a delegation who were led frombehind the scenes by the big boss, Frederick Wilhelm III. Ol’ Freddie’s grand plan was to hobbleFrance and gobble up Saxony for Berlin. Finally, Russia sent the head honcho himself. Tsar Alexander I was the Congress’s wildcard. Not only was he negotiating for Russia personally,he also wanted some odd things like giving the Poles their own country; a big deal sincePrussia and Austria both owned Polish territory. Although the table was designed for four people,there was one last guy in the mix. Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, betterknown as just Talleyrand, was a French diplomat and weasel extraordinaire. He was so adaptable that he’d served underLouis XVI, the French Revolutionary government, and Napoleon. And now he was in Vienna, claiming to representthe recently-restored French monarch, Louis XVIII. Obviously, Prussia and Russia tried to laughTalleyrand out the room. France had just been defeated! There was no seat for him! But Metternich thought differently. Remember, he wanted to make France weakerthan under Napoleon, but not so weak that it created a power vacuum Prussia might exploit. So he teamed up with Castlereagh and got Talleyrandinto the table’s new fifth seat. Those are our players: Metternich for Austria,Castlereagh for Britain, Frederick Wilhelm III for Prussia, Alexander I for Russia, andTalleyrand for France. All of them wanted different things, and allof them held the fate of Europe in their hands. As the entourages of these great men descendedon Vienna in the fall of 1814, the pendulum of history could have swung any one of a trillionways. Luckily for the conservative faction, Metternichhad a plan. The Congress of Vienna #2: Parties and PoliticsThe words “Congress of Vienna” are probably conjuring images of boring dudes in sillyclothes sitting around tables and talking about impenetrable stuff. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. The Congress of Vienna was designed by Metternichto be the social event of the century. There were parties almost every night. Glittering balls held by the glow of candlelight. Excursions to the greatest salons imperialVienna had to offer. The wine flowed freely. There was dancing. Romantic liaisons. Drunken affairs. One source we’ve seen even claims two ofthe top participants nearly got in a duel. All of this debauchery wasn’t derelictionof duty. It was part of Metternich’s plan. Remember, before he was Austrian foreign minister,Metternich was a womanizing party animal in Vienna. This was his territory. He was the master of the quiet conversationover cigars in some smoky club. Of a well placed word on the dancefloor. Of buttering up someone over wine. As the great men of history drank and dancedand seduced their way across the capital, Metternich was working the crowd like a SiliconValley hotshot. He had the perfect allies for his endeavor. Talleyrand was even more of a social butterflythan Metternich was. While they had their differences, the twowere able to deploy a joint charm offensive to make sure Russia and Prussia didn’t demandFrance be carved up. Castlereagh was even better. While he wasn’t a total bro, he was representingBritain, the country with the deepest pockets in the world. And Castlereagh, who saw eye to eye with Metternichon many major issues, wasn’t afraid to splash London’s cash to get what he wanted. By February, 1815, the final shape of thecongress was clearly visible. Alexander’s plan to liberate the Poles hadbeen bought off by offering him a chunk of Poland, while Prussia had agreed to make dowith just three fifths of Saxony. France, meanwhile, was to be pushed back intoits pre-revolutionary borders, smaller but still powerful. The Holy Roman Empire would be replaced with39 states collectively known as the German Confederation, with Austria as its head, naturally. There were other outcomes, too, includinga guarantee of Swiss neutrality, and a commitment to free trade along Europe’s rivers, a clausecherished by Castlereagh. But the big, headline news was the establishmentof the congress system. Spearheaded by Metternich, the new systemwould commit Europe’s great powers to meeting every year or so to discuss events and (hopefully)avoid war. It also committed Europe’s powers to supportingmonarchs and empires over nationalist movements. This was perhaps Metternich’s biggest contributionto world history. Metternich deeply believed that most Europeanswere natural conservatives who preferred order and safety to the madness of revolution. And now everyone was agreeing with him. The Europe that emerged from the congresswasn’t some shiny new thing, but a place governed by king, family, and God. It was everything Metternich had wanted, atleast in the broader sense. But, before he got it, there was one lastnightmare to live through. On March 7, 1814, Metternich was woken byan aide with some terrible news, not just for Metternich, but the entire congress. Napoleon had escaped Elba. Not only that, he was on his way back to France. And the French people were rallying to hiscause. Such news could only mean one thing. It was time for war again. The Age of MetternichWhen the news of Napoleon’s escape reached the congress, panic hit. Within days, Metternich was making plans todepart Vienna. In France, the news caused the restored LouisXVIII to flee the country. It was like waking from a nightmare to findyou’re still dreaming. Europe was almost paralyzed, by the fear thatNapoleon’s return would be even worse than his first reign. Luckily, things didn’t quite work out likethat. The period of Napoleon’s return is knownas the Hundred Days, because that’s roughly how long it lasted. By June 18, 1815, the Seventh Coalition hadforced the Battle of Waterloo. There, the British and the Prussians defeatedthe Petit Corporal once and for all. Back in Vienna, the Congress hadn’t actuallyhad time to disband by the time of Waterloo. Metternich himself was still in the city. Which turned out to be fortunate when Prussiaand Russia demanded France be made to pay for this latest insult. Metternich marshalled all his charm to makesure the Congress’s outcome remained the same as in February. Remarkably, the Hundred Days changed almostnothing. In July, 1815, the Congress of Vienna finallydisbanded. With it went the era of revolution, the eraof Napoleon. In its place came the age of Metternich. It was during this new age, as Europe wascautiously settling into a life without war, that Metternich became known as the Coachmanof Europe. Certainly, he was in the driver’s seat onmany occasions. In 1819, he headed the Carlsbad Conferencethat committed the German Confederation to cracking down hard on freedom of speech, repressingliberal-national movements, and monitoring universities for sedition. He also headed a string of Great Power conferences. So successful were these that Francis I madeMetternich Chancellor of Austria. However, it wasn’t all roses for Europe’snew driver. Metternich wasn’t an idiot. He knew history was turning in favor of nationalmovements, and he hoped to nip them in the bud. Back home, he actually drew up a plan forAustria’s many ethnic groups to get their own parliaments. He hoped giving the Hungarians, Czechs, Italians,and so-on a shred of autonomy would inoculate Austria against further revolution. But Francis shot him down. The emperor was all like “dude, I lovedyour secret police and crushing of free speech, but your later stuff, with all that nationalpride for Hungarians? Not a fan.” Still, Metternich remained a big figure onthe world stage. Even when his Congress system broke down overan argument with Britain about the Greek revolution, people clung to the basic ideas he’d outlinedin Vienna. In fact, by the 1830s, they were clingingharder than ever. On July 27, 1830, a three day rebellion brokeout in France that overthrew the restored royals and replaced them with the July Monarchy. Barely a month later, Belgium exploded ina national uprising against the Netherlands. Just three months after that, the Poles alsowent into rebellion against their Russian overlords. And then 1831 rolled around and an Italianuprising forced the Austrians into armed intervention. For those who’d started to doubt Metternich’ssystem, the multiple revolutions of 1830 – 1831 were a wakeup call. The rulers of Europe clamped down hard onnationalist feeling, which must have left Metternich feeling pretty vindicated. But the revolutions could be seen anotherway, too. A sign that Metternich’s new system wasbuilt not atop firm ground, but a rumbling volcano. It would only be a matter of time before thatvolcano erupted. Decline and… Even as Metternich’s stature grew on theworld stage, he was starting to slip into the twilight of his career at home. In the Viennese court, a dashing new liberalBohemian prince, Franz Anton, Graf von Kolowrat, was suddenly the rising star, making Metternichlook clumsy and slow and reactionary. Metternich’s vanity was so offended by thisthat he started claiming every major policy initiative in Austria as his own, even thebad ones. Not that Metternich made many good policieshimself. Take the issue of succession. Francis I’s eldest son Ferdinand was knownby everyone to be intellectually disabled to the point of being unable to rule. Francis had daughters and he had other sons,all of whom could have succeeded him, but Metternich was such a stickler for old fashioned,eldest son only succession that he actually talked Francis into not passing over Ferdinand. And so it was that, on March 2, 1835, FerdinandI ascended to the Austrian throne. Anyone hoping for a reformist ruler insteadgot a guy who simply couldn’t rule. As the years dragged by, Metternich’s choiceswent from annoying to actively embarrassing. In the late 1830s, he tried to revive hiscongress system, but no other great powers wanted to get involved. Europe may have been shaped by Metternich’ssystem, but it sure as heck didn’t want to be ruled by him. Not that all the things making Metternichunpopular were his fault. The famine that gripped Europe in the 1840s,for example. Or the financial panic that tipped parts ofthe continent into recession. What was Metternich’s fault, though, wasthe secret police network watching everyone at home. Arresting people for dissent, giving themnowhere to air their legitimate grievances. Instead, people had to bottle everything up. Every pang of hunger. Every miserable indignity. It was a recipe ripe for disaster. All it needed was an outside shock to sendeverything crashing down. In 1848, that shock finally came. No Country for One Old ManIf you study 19th Century European history – or, better yet, just watch our videoson the subject – 1848 is the year you’ll keep coming back to, because that’s theyear that everything went bananas. It started on February 23. That day a French government ban on holdingbanquets triggered a revolution that toppled the July Monarchy. The crash with which the king fell was enoughto bring Metternich tumbling down too. By now, Metternich had been in power for nearlyforty years. He was a symbol of everything that was oldand cautious and conservative in Europe. So, when news of the latest French Revolutionreached Vienna, it made everyone hope Austria could change too. Within days of the July Monarchy’s collapse,petitions were circulating through Vienna, demanding liberalization. These petitions weren’t calling for Metternich’shead. They just wanted an end to his system. But since, under that system, the act of signinga petition was illegal, Metternich demanded all the tens of thousands of people who’dput their names down be arrested. You know that old phrase “to shoot yourselfthrough the foot?” This was Metternich accidentally blowing hisown head off. The short version of what happened next isthat Vienna’s poor, liberal students decided to protest the government’s crackdown. On March 13, 1848, a huge crowd gathered inthe city. Metternich demanded the crowd be crushed. The government’s anti-Metternich factioncounselled peace, with the result that it was decided to maybe not crush the crowd,but… I dunno. Squash them? A little? Whatever the correct metaphor, the cavalrywere sent in at exactly the wrong strength. Wrong, because there weren’t enough of themto disperse the crowd, or do anything but spark a panic. The panicked crowd attacked the cavalry, whofought back, killing five students. The firefight triggered a mass insurrectionand the civil guard were called in. Unfortunately, the civil guard took one lookat the unfolding revolution and decided to side with the revolutionaries. With the entire city in revolt, Metternichwas given until 9pm to resign. At first, Metternich refused. But, as the clock ticked down and the situationgot uglier, reality finally dawned on the aging Chancellor. Just before the stroke of nine, Metternichannounced his resignation. The very next day, March 14, 1848, he fledinto exile in London. The age of Metternich was over. The next two years were crazy. As Metternich watched impotently from England,Ferdinand I was overthrown and replaced with Emperor Franz Joseph. The Hungarians and Italians went into rebellion. Prussia’s liberals revolted. When the dust finally settled, though, onething was clear. Somehow, against all the odds, Metternich’ssystem was still standing. Yep, the revolutions of 1848 basically failed. The old order was restored across the continent. Even France simply replaced the July Monarchywith the dictatorship of Napoleon III. In 1851, Metternich was even allowed to returnto Vienna. It was a triumph, of sorts, and the old statesmanwas soon back in the corridors of power. But time was no longer on his side. On June 11, 1859, Metternich’s health gaveout. He passed away in Vienna, aged 86. But while Metternich the man was gone, thesystem he created would stay in place for another 60 years. In various guises, Metternich’s blueprintfor Europe remained until WWI. It also succeeded in its mission to keep thepeace. Between the Congress of Vienna and WWI, thebiggest war fought in mainland Europe was the Franco-Prussian War. Compared to the Napoleonic wars, or WWI andWWII, it was peanuts. For all his faults, Metternich was a man whobuilt something that lasted. He may have been vain, repressive, and sometimesactively stupid, but he was still the man who sat in Europe’s driving seat for decades. For better or for worse, our world would bevery different without him.
In late 1814, the great powers of Europe gatheredafter the fall of Napoleon to discuss what to do next. At the time, the continent was in ruins. The old order had been exploded as effectivelyas if someone had detonated an atom bomb beneath it. Just as it would in 1945, Europe needed anew roadmap, a blueprint for the future. Designing that blueprint fell to one man:Metternich. The foreign minister of the Austrian Empire,Metternich was a dandy, a womanizer, and a comically pompous fop. He was also one of the greatest diplomatswho ever lived. Under his guidance, post-Napoleon Europe wasforged into a conservative system that would last nearly 100 years. His blueprint ensured the continent’s 19thCentury was far less bloody than either it’s 18th or 20th. Yet Metternich also tried to strangle theforces of nationalism at birth and, in doing so, set the stage for his own destruction. A master strategist to some, a vain buffoonto others, this is the life of Europe’s coachman. Children of the RevolutionThe world Metternich was born into would be unrecognizable to us today. The center of Europe was dominated not byGermany, but by something known as the Holy Roman Empire, a millennia-old collection oftiny states all joined together. It was in one of these tiny states on thewest bank of the Rhine that Metternich was born, on May 15, 1773. Or, to give him his full name: Klemens WenzelNepomuk Lothar, Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg-Beilstein. Although Metternich was from the Germanic Holy Roman Empire, it was France that had the biggest impact onhis early life. Metternich’s home state was right on thebuffer zone with the France of Louis XVI, so the boy grew up speaking better Frenchthan he did German, despite his father being an Austrian envoy. This wasn’t all that unusual. France exerted a powerful pull over continentalEurope in the 18th Century, and it seemed totally natural that Metternich should besent off to the French city of Strasbourg to complete his education in 1788. Unfortunately for the teenage Metternich,France at the end of the 1780s was a ticking timebomb. On July 14, 1789, years of political turmoilin Paris exploded onto the streets. A mob stormed the Bastille armory, lynchingthe garrison commander. It was the opening salvo of the French Revolution. And it was about to consume the entire continent. Despite being the sort of age when wavingthe revolutionary flag might seem appealing, Metternich was disgusted by the unfoldingdrama. For Metternich, any upending of the natural,conservative order of Europe was anathema. He decamped Strasbourg for Mainz post haste. But Metternich was about to learn a very importantlesson: when the cannonball of revolution gets rolling, there’s no escape. In April, 1792, a French army whipped intoa revolutionary frenzy invaded the Holy Roman Empire, burning, pillaging, destroying. By now posted to a diplomatic position inthe Austrian Netherlands (AKA Belgium) alongside his father, Metternich was forced to watchin horror as the French annexed his family’s home state in 1794, leaving them with nothing. Barely had he got his head around this whenthe French overran the Austrian Netherlands and the boy and his father were forced toflee to Vienna. Although the Metternichs were now refugees,they were still people of means, with good connections to Austria’s elite. So Metternich’s exile was less ‘Mosesin the desert’ and more ‘rich playboy sleeping around Vienna’. He even managed to marry Eleonore von Kaunitz,the daughter of Austria’s former chancellor. While Metternich was serially unfaithful toher, the marriage still meant his family going up in the world of Austrian politics. But fate, and France, weren’t done withMetternich. On November 9, 1799, a French army officerstaged a coup in Paris, putting himself in charge of the revolutionary war machine. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte. And he was about to plunge Europe into chaos. The Napoleonic EraFrom Metternich’s perspective, the 19th Century must have felt like settling intoa comfy armchair that suddenly grows teeth and devours you. In 1801, Vienna’s newest man about townwas promoted to ambassador and sent first to Dresden, and then to Berlin. As Napoleon kept conquering, Metternich enjoyedthe Prussian capital’s nightlife, all while gamely trying to persuade his hosts to joinVienna in war against France. For a guy known for his diplomatic acumen,Metternich totally messed up this one. After years of cajoling, the Prussians finallyput their foot down in 1805 and told the Austrian fop “Nein!” This was the moment the geopolitical armchairswallowed the young ambassador whole. On December 2, 1806, the Russian, Holy Roman,and Austrian armies – minus Prussia – all met to battle France at Austerlitz. The Napoleonic army mopped the floor withthem. The Third Coalition lost the battle so badlythe Holy Roman Empire was destroyed. Austria was forced to become allies with France. Would things have gone different if Prussiahad been there? It’s hard to say, but they couldn’t exactlyhave gone worse. Still, Metternich’s catastrophic fail inBerlin didn’t stop him from getting an ambassadorship to Paris under Austria’s now pro-Napoleonleadership. Sadly, Metternich hadn’t learned from hismistakes. On May 2, 1808, an uprising in French-occupiedSpain triggered a crisis in Paris. Egged on by Metternich’s breathless reportsthat Napoleon was losing his grip on power, Vienna took a risky gamble. In 1809, Austria rolled everything on a surpriseattack. Care to guess how this one went? The War of the Fifth Coalition was a monumentalembarrassment for Austria. Napoleon crushed them. Not only that, he imposed one of the mosthumiliating peace treaties in history. Vienna lost a ton of territory, and was forcedto pay Paris a ton of money. For Metternich personally, though, thingsturned out surprisingly well. In the aftermath of the new treaty, he escapedblame. Not only that, he got promoted. On October 8, 1809 Emperor Francis I madeMetternich, then just 36 years old, foreign minister. He would hold the post for 40 years. With Napoleon now basically in charge of Europe,Austria’s new foreign minister was forced to use all his legendary charm to try andplacate Paris. This created some humiliating moments, suchas when Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Austria was forced to send its own army alongin support of the French. While Metternich managed to secure their nominalindependence under Austrian commanders, it was crumbs from Napoleon’s table. Or so it seemed. When Napoleon’s latest adventure unexpectedlyblew up in his face, Austria was able to sign a peace deal with the Russians. Vienna could then sit out the catastrophicFrench retreat across the continent. For his part, Metternich didn’t believethis was really the end of Napoleon. In mid-1813, he tried to broker a peace betweenFrance and Russia and Prussia that would allow Napoleon to stay on the throne. It was only when Napoleon said “non” thatMetternich signed Austria up to the Sixth Coalition. If you recognize the name “the Sixth Coalition”,it’s because these are the guys that actually did it, the ones that rid Europe of its tyrant. On March 31, 1814, the armies of the SixthCoalition captured Paris. With Cossacks marching down the banks of theSeine, Napoleon finally threw in the towel. The Petit Corporal abdicated and was exiledto the island of Elba. Across Europe, cries of victory went up. There was just one teeny, tiny problem. What the heck did everyone do now? The Congress of Vienna #1: Creating the CongressIt’s time for us to take a quick step back in time to something called the Treaty ofUtrecht. Signed in 1713 at the end of the War of SpanishSuccession, the treaty was designed to keep Europe’s superpowers from superkilling eachother by delicately balancing power between them. The French Revolution had exposed the limitsof this century old treaty. Even before Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, everyoneknew a new treaty was needed, one that would insure against another continent-wide war. Unfortunately, all the great powers that hadjust defeated France all wanted different things. We’ll get into the nitty gritty in a minute. Just know for now that everyone in 1814 wasaware a mishandled post-Napoleon peace could be catastrophic. Before the Sixth Coalition had even won, they’dagreed to a congress to hammer all their differences out. Somehow, Metternich convinced them to holdit in Vienna. The Congress of Vienna is one of the mostimportant diplomatic gatherings in history. So, to make sure we can all get our headsaround this extremely important event, we’re gonna take a quick detour now through themain players. Ready for some hardcore learning, guys?! The four key powers at the congress were Austria(obviously), Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain. Since Austria was playing on their home turf,that meant putting Metternich in charge of everything. His goals were to maintain the balance ofpower, by ensuring post-war France didn’t get too weak, and Russia and Prussia didn’tget too strong. Britain meanwhile sent over a guy called ViscountCastlereagh, who broadly agreed with Metternich about not destroying France, and not givingRussia and Prussia everything. Prussia sent a delegation who were led frombehind the scenes by the big boss, Frederick Wilhelm III. Ol’ Freddie’s grand plan was to hobbleFrance and gobble up Saxony for Berlin. Finally, Russia sent the head honcho himself. Tsar Alexander I was the Congress’s wildcard. Not only was he negotiating for Russia personally,he also wanted some odd things like giving the Poles their own country; a big deal sincePrussia and Austria both owned Polish territory. Although the table was designed for four people,there was one last guy in the mix. Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, betterknown as just Talleyrand, was a French diplomat and weasel extraordinaire. He was so adaptable that he’d served underLouis XVI, the French Revolutionary government, and Napoleon. And now he was in Vienna, claiming to representthe recently-restored French monarch, Louis XVIII. Obviously, Prussia and Russia tried to laughTalleyrand out the room. France had just been defeated! There was no seat for him! But Metternich thought differently. Remember, he wanted to make France weakerthan under Napoleon, but not so weak that it created a power vacuum Prussia might exploit. So he teamed up with Castlereagh and got Talleyrandinto the table’s new fifth seat. Those are our players: Metternich for Austria,Castlereagh for Britain, Frederick Wilhelm III for Prussia, Alexander I for Russia, andTalleyrand for France. All of them wanted different things, and allof them held the fate of Europe in their hands. As the entourages of these great men descendedon Vienna in the fall of 1814, the pendulum of history could have swung any one of a trillionways. Luckily for the conservative faction, Metternichhad a plan. The Congress of Vienna #2: Parties and PoliticsThe words “Congress of Vienna” are probably conjuring images of boring dudes in sillyclothes sitting around tables and talking about impenetrable stuff. Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. The Congress of Vienna was designed by Metternichto be the social event of the century. There were parties almost every night. Glittering balls held by the glow of candlelight. Excursions to the greatest salons imperialVienna had to offer. The wine flowed freely. There was dancing. Romantic liaisons. Drunken affairs. One source we’ve seen even claims two ofthe top participants nearly got in a duel. All of this debauchery wasn’t derelictionof duty. It was part of Metternich’s plan. Remember, before he was Austrian foreign minister,Metternich was a womanizing party animal in Vienna. This was his territory. He was the master of the quiet conversationover cigars in some smoky club. Of a well placed word on the dancefloor. Of buttering up someone over wine. As the great men of history drank and dancedand seduced their way across the capital, Metternich was working the crowd like a SiliconValley hotshot. He had the perfect allies for his endeavor. Talleyrand was even more of a social butterflythan Metternich was. While they had their differences, the twowere able to deploy a joint charm offensive to make sure Russia and Prussia didn’t demandFrance be carved up. Castlereagh was even better. While he wasn’t a total bro, he was representingBritain, the country with the deepest pockets in the world. And Castlereagh, who saw eye to eye with Metternichon many major issues, wasn’t afraid to splash London’s cash to get what he wanted. By February, 1815, the final shape of thecongress was clearly visible. Alexander’s plan to liberate the Poles hadbeen bought off by offering him a chunk of Poland, while Prussia had agreed to make dowith just three fifths of Saxony. France, meanwhile, was to be pushed back intoits pre-revolutionary borders, smaller but still powerful. The Holy Roman Empire would be replaced with39 states collectively known as the German Confederation, with Austria as its head, naturally. There were other outcomes, too, includinga guarantee of Swiss neutrality, and a commitment to free trade along Europe’s rivers, a clausecherished by Castlereagh. But the big, headline news was the establishmentof the congress system. Spearheaded by Metternich, the new systemwould commit Europe’s great powers to meeting every year or so to discuss events and (hopefully)avoid war. It also committed Europe’s powers to supportingmonarchs and empires over nationalist movements. This was perhaps Metternich’s biggest contributionto world history. Metternich deeply believed that most Europeanswere natural conservatives who preferred order and safety to the madness of revolution. And now everyone was agreeing with him. The Europe that emerged from the congresswasn’t some shiny new thing, but a place governed by king, family, and God. It was everything Metternich had wanted, atleast in the broader sense. But, before he got it, there was one lastnightmare to live through. On March 7, 1814, Metternich was woken byan aide with some terrible news, not just for Metternich, but the entire congress. Napoleon had escaped Elba. Not only that, he was on his way back to France. And the French people were rallying to hiscause. Such news could only mean one thing. It was time for war again. The Age of MetternichWhen the news of Napoleon’s escape reached the congress, panic hit. Within days, Metternich was making plans todepart Vienna. In France, the news caused the restored LouisXVIII to flee the country. It was like waking from a nightmare to findyou’re still dreaming. Europe was almost paralyzed, by the fear thatNapoleon’s return would be even worse than his first reign. Luckily, things didn’t quite work out likethat. The period of Napoleon’s return is knownas the Hundred Days, because that’s roughly how long it lasted. By June 18, 1815, the Seventh Coalition hadforced the Battle of Waterloo. There, the British and the Prussians defeatedthe Petit Corporal once and for all. Back in Vienna, the Congress hadn’t actuallyhad time to disband by the time of Waterloo. Metternich himself was still in the city. Which turned out to be fortunate when Prussiaand Russia demanded France be made to pay for this latest insult. Metternich marshalled all his charm to makesure the Congress’s outcome remained the same as in February. Remarkably, the Hundred Days changed almostnothing. In July, 1815, the Congress of Vienna finallydisbanded. With it went the era of revolution, the eraof Napoleon. In its place came the age of Metternich. It was during this new age, as Europe wascautiously settling into a life without war, that Metternich became known as the Coachmanof Europe. Certainly, he was in the driver’s seat onmany occasions. In 1819, he headed the Carlsbad Conferencethat committed the German Confederation to cracking down hard on freedom of speech, repressingliberal-national movements, and monitoring universities for sedition. He also headed a string of Great Power conferences. So successful were these that Francis I madeMetternich Chancellor of Austria. However, it wasn’t all roses for Europe’snew driver. Metternich wasn’t an idiot. He knew history was turning in favor of nationalmovements, and he hoped to nip them in the bud. Back home, he actually drew up a plan forAustria’s many ethnic groups to get their own parliaments. He hoped giving the Hungarians, Czechs, Italians,and so-on a shred of autonomy would inoculate Austria against further revolution. But Francis shot him down. The emperor was all like “dude, I lovedyour secret police and crushing of free speech, but your later stuff, with all that nationalpride for Hungarians? Not a fan.” Still, Metternich remained a big figure onthe world stage. Even when his Congress system broke down overan argument with Britain about the Greek revolution, people clung to the basic ideas he’d outlinedin Vienna. In fact, by the 1830s, they were clingingharder than ever. On July 27, 1830, a three day rebellion brokeout in France that overthrew the restored royals and replaced them with the July Monarchy. Barely a month later, Belgium exploded ina national uprising against the Netherlands. Just three months after that, the Poles alsowent into rebellion against their Russian overlords. And then 1831 rolled around and an Italianuprising forced the Austrians into armed intervention. For those who’d started to doubt Metternich’ssystem, the multiple revolutions of 1830 – 1831 were a wakeup call. The rulers of Europe clamped down hard onnationalist feeling, which must have left Metternich feeling pretty vindicated. But the revolutions could be seen anotherway, too. A sign that Metternich’s new system wasbuilt not atop firm ground, but a rumbling volcano. It would only be a matter of time before thatvolcano erupted. Decline and… Even as Metternich’s stature grew on theworld stage, he was starting to slip into the twilight of his career at home. In the Viennese court, a dashing new liberalBohemian prince, Franz Anton, Graf von Kolowrat, was suddenly the rising star, making Metternichlook clumsy and slow and reactionary. Metternich’s vanity was so offended by thisthat he started claiming every major policy initiative in Austria as his own, even thebad ones. Not that Metternich made many good policieshimself. Take the issue of succession. Francis I’s eldest son Ferdinand was knownby everyone to be intellectually disabled to the point of being unable to rule. Francis had daughters and he had other sons,all of whom could have succeeded him, but Metternich was such a stickler for old fashioned,eldest son only succession that he actually talked Francis into not passing over Ferdinand. And so it was that, on March 2, 1835, FerdinandI ascended to the Austrian throne. Anyone hoping for a reformist ruler insteadgot a guy who simply couldn’t rule. As the years dragged by, Metternich’s choiceswent from annoying to actively embarrassing. In the late 1830s, he tried to revive hiscongress system, but no other great powers wanted to get involved. Europe may have been shaped by Metternich’ssystem, but it sure as heck didn’t want to be ruled by him. Not that all the things making Metternichunpopular were his fault. The famine that gripped Europe in the 1840s,for example. Or the financial panic that tipped parts ofthe continent into recession. What was Metternich’s fault, though, wasthe secret police network watching everyone at home. Arresting people for dissent, giving themnowhere to air their legitimate grievances. Instead, people had to bottle everything up. Every pang of hunger. Every miserable indignity. It was a recipe ripe for disaster. All it needed was an outside shock to sendeverything crashing down. In 1848, that shock finally came. No Country for One Old ManIf you study 19th Century European history – or, better yet, just watch our videoson the subject – 1848 is the year you’ll keep coming back to, because that’s theyear that everything went bananas. It started on February 23. That day a French government ban on holdingbanquets triggered a revolution that toppled the July Monarchy. The crash with which the king fell was enoughto bring Metternich tumbling down too. By now, Metternich had been in power for nearlyforty years. He was a symbol of everything that was oldand cautious and conservative in Europe. So, when news of the latest French Revolutionreached Vienna, it made everyone hope Austria could change too. Within days of the July Monarchy’s collapse,petitions were circulating through Vienna, demanding liberalization. These petitions weren’t calling for Metternich’shead. They just wanted an end to his system. But since, under that system, the act of signinga petition was illegal, Metternich demanded all the tens of thousands of people who’dput their names down be arrested. You know that old phrase “to shoot yourselfthrough the foot?” This was Metternich accidentally blowing hisown head off. The short version of what happened next isthat Vienna’s poor, liberal students decided to protest the government’s crackdown. On March 13, 1848, a huge crowd gathered inthe city. Metternich demanded the crowd be crushed. The government’s anti-Metternich factioncounselled peace, with the result that it was decided to maybe not crush the crowd,but… I dunno. Squash them? A little? Whatever the correct metaphor, the cavalrywere sent in at exactly the wrong strength. Wrong, because there weren’t enough of themto disperse the crowd, or do anything but spark a panic. The panicked crowd attacked the cavalry, whofought back, killing five students. The firefight triggered a mass insurrectionand the civil guard were called in. Unfortunately, the civil guard took one lookat the unfolding revolution and decided to side with the revolutionaries. With the entire city in revolt, Metternichwas given until 9pm to resign. At first, Metternich refused. But, as the clock ticked down and the situationgot uglier, reality finally dawned on the aging Chancellor. Just before the stroke of nine, Metternichannounced his resignation. The very next day, March 14, 1848, he fledinto exile in London. The age of Metternich was over. The next two years were crazy. As Metternich watched impotently from England,Ferdinand I was overthrown and replaced with Emperor Franz Joseph. The Hungarians and Italians went into rebellion. Prussia’s liberals revolted. When the dust finally settled, though, onething was clear. Somehow, against all the odds, Metternich’ssystem was still standing. Yep, the revolutions of 1848 basically failed. The old order was restored across the continent. Even France simply replaced the July Monarchywith the dictatorship of Napoleon III. In 1851, Metternich was even allowed to returnto Vienna. It was a triumph, of sorts, and the old statesmanwas soon back in the corridors of power. But time was no longer on his side. On June 11, 1859, Metternich’s health gaveout. He passed away in Vienna, aged 86. But while Metternich the man was gone, thesystem he created would stay in place for another 60 years. In various guises, Metternich’s blueprintfor Europe remained until WWI. It also succeeded in its mission to keep thepeace. Between the Congress of Vienna and WWI, thebiggest war fought in mainland Europe was the Franco-Prussian War. Compared to the Napoleonic wars, or WWI andWWII, it was peanuts. For all his faults, Metternich was a man whobuilt something that lasted. He may have been vain, repressive, and sometimesactively stupid, but he was still the man who sat in Europe’s driving seat for decades. For better or for worse, our world would bevery different without him.
Comments
Post a Comment