author
Fürst von Clemens Wenzel Lothar Metternich
1773–1859
A master diplomat at the heart of post-Napoleonic Europe, he helped shape the settlement of the Congress of Vienna and became one of the best-known defenders of political order in the 19th century. His long career made him a symbol of conservative statecraft, admired by some and deeply criticized by others.
1 Audiobook
Lettres du prince de Metternich à la comtesse de Lieven, 1818-1819
by Fürst von Clemens Wenzel Lothar Metternich
About the author
Born in 1773 in Coblenz, Klemens von Metternich grew up in an aristocratic family and entered Austrian diplomatic service at a time of revolution and war in Europe. He served in important posts in Saxony, Berlin, and Paris before rising to become Austria’s foreign minister in 1809.
Metternich is best remembered for his leading role in the defeat of Napoleon and in the Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815, where he helped design a new European balance of power. From 1821 he also served as Austrian chancellor, and for decades he stood at the center of international diplomacy, trying to preserve stability and prevent another continent-wide upheaval.
His name is closely tied to conservatism and to efforts to suppress revolutionary and nationalist movements within Europe. That made him one of the most influential statesmen of his age, but also one of the most controversial. The revolutions of 1848 forced him from power, though his reputation as a defining architect of 19th-century diplomacy has endured.