Klemens von Metternich

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Klemens von Metternich : biography

15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859

Metternich had long predicted a new crisis in the east, and when the Second Turko-Egyptian War broke out in 1839 he was anxious to use it to re-establish Austria’s diplomatic credentials. He quickly brought representatives together in Vienna, from where they issued a communiqué to Constantinople pledging support on 27 July. However, Tsar Nicholas sent Metternich a message from St Petersburg rejecting the idea that Vienna should become the centre of diplomacy. Metternich worked so furiously trying to keep his plans alive that he fell ill, spending the next five weeks taking time out at Johannisberg. The Austrians lost the initiative and Metternich had to accept that London would be the new centre of negotiations over the Eastern Question. It was not the only climbdown: just three weeks after its creation Metternich’s European League of Great Powers (the result of his diplomatic initiative following aggressive moves by French Prime Minister Adolphe Thiers) it had become a mere curiosity; likewise, little was heard of his proposals to hold a congress in Germany. A separate proposal to strengthen the influence of the ambassadors stationed in Vienna was also rejected. These rejections would set the tone for the rest of Metternich’s chancellorship. Metternich’s illness had, it seemed to others, broken his love of being in office. Over the next decade his wife Melanie prepared quietly for the moment when he would either retire or die in office. Metternich’s work during the early 1840s would be dominated once more by Hungary and, more generally, by questions of national identity within the diverse Austrian Empire. Here, Metternich "showed [moments of] acute perception". His Hungarian proposals came far too late, however, as the hard-liner Lajos Kossuth had already established a strong brand of Hungarian nationalism. His support for other nationalities was patchy, since he only had a problem with those that suggested the breakup of the Empire.

At the Conference of State Metternich lost his principal ally, Karel Clam-Martinic, in 1840, which did nothing to help the growing state of paralysis at the heart of Austrian government. Metternich now struggled to enforce even the level of censorship he desired, a matter clearly within his remit. Fortunately there were no major challenges to the regime from outside its borders. Italy was quiet and neither Metternich’s attempt to lecture the new Prussian king, Frederick William IV, nor the boredom of the new British Queen Victoria at their first meeting posed immediate problems. Far more worrying was the behaviour of Tsar Nicholas, whose estimation of the Habsburg dynasty and of Austria was low. After an impromptu tour of Italy in 1845 the Tsar unexpectedly stopped in Vienna on his way back to Russia. Already in a bad mood he was an awkward guest, though in-between criticism of Austria he did reassure Metternich that Russia was not about to invade the Ottoman Empire once again. Two months later their countries were required to work together over the Galician slaughter and a declaration of independence from Krakow. Metternich authorised the occupation of the city and the use of troops to restore order in surrounding areas, keen to rescind the pseudo-independence that had been granted to Krakow in 1815. After months of negotiations with the Prussians and Russians, Austria annexed the city in November 1846. Metternich regarded it as a personal victory but, in hindsight, it was a move of dubious utility: not only were the Polish dissidents now officially part of Austria, the Europe-wide Polish dissident movement were now hell-bent on destroying the "Metternich system" that had overridden the rights enshrined in 1815. Britain and France appeared similarly outraged, though Metternich did not heed their calls for his resignation. For the next two years Ferdinand would not be able to abdicate in favour of his son without a regency; in the interim Metternich believed Austria would need him to hold government together.

Revolution

Though Metternich was tiring in his old age, the memoranda kept pouring forth from his chancellery. Despite this he largely missed the building crisis. The new Pope Pius IX was attracting a reputation as a liberal nationalist to oppose Metternich and Austria; at the same time, the Empire was experiencing unemployment and rising prices as a result of poor harvests. Metternich was suitably bemused at the outcry from Italians, the Pope and Palmerston when he ordered the occupation of Papal-controlled Ferrara in the summer of 1847. It would prove to be just the beginning. Despite securing French agreement for the first time in many years from François Guizot over the Swiss Civil War, they were forced into backing breakaway cantons. The pair proposed a conference, but soon there was no need: the government had crushed the revolt. It was a major blow to Metternich’s prestige, and his opponents in Vienna would seize upon the whole affair as evidence of his incompetence. In January 1848 Metternich predicted trouble in Italy during the year ahead.Sicily erupted in revolution only a fortnight later, but it was Rome that he pinpointed as the epicentre of the trouble that lay ahead . He responded to this growing threat by dispatching an envoy, Karl Ludwig von Ficquelmont to Italy; by resurrecting his 1817 plans for an Italian chancellery and by pre-arranging various contingency plans with the French. In late February Austrian Field Marshal Joseph Radetsky placed the Austrian holding in Italy (Lombardy-Venetia) in a state of martial law as disturbances spread. Despite this and hearing of renewed revolution in France, Metternich was not about to be drawn into overhasty action; he still considered domestic revolution unlikely. Nonetheless, he was described by a Saxon diplomat as, in the words of biographer Musulin, "having shrunk to a shadow of his former self".