Klemens von Metternich

Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich was a politician and statesman of Rhenish extraction and one of the most important diplomats of his era, serving as the Austrian Empires Foreign Minister from 1809 and Chancellor from 1821 until the liberal revolutions of 1848 forced his resignation. One of his first tasks was to engineer a dtente with France that included the marriage of Napoleon to the Austrian archduchess Marie Louise. Soon after, he engineered Austrias entry into the War of the Sixth Coalition on the Allied side, signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau that sent Napoleon into exile, and led the Austrian delegation at the Congress of Vienna that divided postNapoleonic Europe amongst the major powers. For his service to the Austrian Empire he was given the title of Prince in October 1813. Under his guidance, the Metternich system of international congresses continued for another decade as Austria aligned herself with Russia and, to a lesser extent, Prussia. This marked the high point

Klemens Metternich was born into the House of Metternich onMay 1773 to Franz George Karl Count MetternichWinneburg zu Beilstein, a diplomat who had passed from the service of the Archbishopric of Trier to that of the Imperial court, and his wife Countess Maria Beatrice Aloisia von Kagenegg . He was named in honour of Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, the archbishopelector of Trier and the past employer of his father. He was the eldest son and had one older sister. At the time of his birth the family possessed a ruined keep at Beilstein, a castle at Winneberg, an estate west of Koblenz, and another in Knigswart, Bohemia, won during the 17th century. At this time Metternichs father, described as a boring babbler and chronic liar by a contemporary, was the Austrian ambassador to the courts of the three Rhenish electors . Metternichs education was handled by his mother, heavily influenced by their proximity to France for many years Metternich considered himself able to communicate b

Source: Wikipedia