Life of Prince Metternich

Description Life of Prince Metternich

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Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859) first foreign minister, and then chancellor of the Austrian Empire was a great diplomat: crafty, manipulative, and single-minded in his determination to overthrow Napoleon and his revolutionary ideals and to reestablish the European monarchical system. In this short 1888 biography, the British officer, Colonel G. B. Malleson, describes how the charming, aristocratic Metternich devoted countless hours to winning Napoleon's trust and to buying time for his country, until a rearmed Austria, at the head of the Sixth Coalition, was able to defeat the still-formidable Corsican. From 1815 until his downfall amid the revolutions of 1848, Malleson writes of Metternich that he devoted "all his power, all his influence, all his untiring energy, to the forging of new fetters for the human race." (summary by Pamela Nagami)