Klemens von Metternich
1773 – 1859 Austrian Foreign minister, chancellor
Austrian statesman who orchestrated the coalition against Napoleon and shaped the conservative order that followed at Vienna.
- Religion
- Roman Catholic
- Affiliations
- Austrian Empire
Klemens von Metternich was the Austrian foreign minister and chancellor who guided the alliance that finally defeated Napoleon. He arranged Napoleon's marriage to the Austrian archduchess Marie Louise, then swung Austria into the coalition that brought him down. At the Congress of Vienna he was the chief architect of a conservative European settlement meant to restrain revolution and preserve the balance of power. The system he built dominated European politics until the revolutions of 1848 swept him from office.
Connections
- associate of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand — Fellow architect of the Vienna settlement.
- ally of Louis XVIII — The restored French king his settlement supported.
- rival of Napoleon Bonaparte — The Austrian statesman who built the coalitions against him.
- rival of Napoleon Bonaparte — The emperor he first appeased, then helped destroy.
In the timeline
- 1810 Marriage of Napoleon and Marie Louise the minister who arranged the match
- 1814 – 1815 Congress of Vienna the chief architect of the settlement
- 1815 Holy Alliance a shaper of the postwar order
- 1815 Concert of Europe the builder of the conservative order