Count Clemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich
Foreign minister of Austria
* 15. May 1773, † 11. Jun 1859
At the Congress of Vienna Prince Metternich saw himself as the ‘coachman of Europe’. In 1821he became chancellor and thus the most powerful man in the Habsburg Empire. He was successful in building up political networks that stretched across Europe. As a proponent of the Absolutist system, the ‘brilliant and genial Metternich’ advocated a return to the pre-revolutionary order. The revolution of 1848 forced him to flee to England.
