WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 Welcome back to another Deep Dive. Today we are 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:05.419 dusting off some of the really heavy leather 00:00:05.419 --> 00:00:07.980 -bound history books to talk about a man who, 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:10.759 well, he's been called just about everything 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:12.259 in the dictionary. Oh, absolutely. Everything 00:00:12.259 --> 00:00:15.160 from a visionary genius to a repressive tyrant. 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:19.760 A master manipulator, and this one is maybe the 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:22.440 most cutting of all, a bit of a bore, but... 00:00:22.589 --> 00:00:24.510 As is usually the case when you actually peel 00:00:24.510 --> 00:00:27.230 back the layers of history, this guy's life is 00:00:27.230 --> 00:00:29.550 anything but boring. It really isn't. It's a 00:00:29.550 --> 00:00:31.870 massive study in contradiction. In fact, I'd 00:00:31.870 --> 00:00:33.409 argue he's one of the most complex characters 00:00:33.409 --> 00:00:36.289 we've ever covered. We are talking about Clemens 00:00:36.289 --> 00:00:38.750 von Metternich. Now, I know if that name just 00:00:38.750 --> 00:00:42.310 conjures up images of dusty treaties and guys 00:00:42.310 --> 00:00:44.909 in powdered wigs, just stick with us. Because 00:00:44.909 --> 00:00:46.789 this is the man who is known as the Coachman 00:00:46.789 --> 00:00:49.219 of Europe. That's such a heavy title. It is right. 00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:51.759 He literally drove the continent's politics for 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:55.299 30 years. And it's not an exaggeration to say 00:00:55.299 --> 00:00:58.479 he is arguably the most important diplomat of 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:01.560 the 19th century. Maybe even. Maybe even the 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:03.740 most important diplomat since the concept of 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:06.939 diplomacy was invented. He orchestrated the peace 00:01:06.939 --> 00:01:09.859 of an entire continent after the absolute chaos 00:01:09.859 --> 00:01:12.719 of the Napoleonic Wars. But here's the paradox. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:14.859 And this is what I really want to unpack today. 00:01:15.019 --> 00:01:18.560 You have this figure who. Historians, you know, 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:20.700 famous ones like A .J .P. Taylor, have described 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:23.560 as the most boring man in European history. Right. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:26.000 They pan him as the stumbling block to progress, 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:28.299 the guy who just wanted to freeze time and stop 00:01:28.299 --> 00:01:30.420 anything new from happening. And yet this supposedly 00:01:30.420 --> 00:01:33.859 boring man was a legendary diplomat who bedded 00:01:33.859 --> 00:01:36.920 princesses, completely outwitted Napoleon, which, 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.319 let's be clear, was almost impossible to do. 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:41.680 Almost. And he created a geopolitical system 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:45.140 that prevented a major Europe -wide war for almost 00:01:45.140 --> 00:01:47.859 a century. For 100 years, basically. Exactly. 00:01:48.060 --> 00:01:50.260 It's like calling James Bond boring because he 00:01:50.260 --> 00:01:53.040 has to fill out paperwork. So our mission for 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:56.299 this deep dive is pretty clear. We need to figure 00:01:56.299 --> 00:02:00.060 out who the real Metternich was. Was he the ultimate 00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:02.060 peacekeeper who saved Europe from destroying 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:04.819 itself? Or was he just a paranoid control freak 00:02:04.819 --> 00:02:07.000 who crushed freedom because he was terrified 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.699 of change? And to understand that, we have to 00:02:09.699 --> 00:02:11.860 look at his system. We have to look at his absolute 00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:14.340 obsession with order. But most importantly, and 00:02:14.340 --> 00:02:16.120 I think this is where we have to start, we have 00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:18.039 to look at where that obsession came from. Because 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:20.800 people aren't born wanting to police an entire 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:23.520 continent. That's a learned behavior. So let's 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:26.039 dive into the sources. We've got a stack of biographical 00:02:26.039 --> 00:02:28.439 accounts, historical analyses, and records that 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:30.439 paint a really detailed picture of his life. 00:02:30.939 --> 00:02:34.039 Let's start at the very beginning. Who creates? 00:02:34.590 --> 00:02:37.210 a Clemens von Metternich. Well, he was born in 00:02:37.210 --> 00:02:40.310 1773 in Koblenz. And the context here is key. 00:02:40.569 --> 00:02:42.889 This is the era of the Holy Roman Empire. It's 00:02:42.889 --> 00:02:45.370 a messy, complicated patchwork of states. He's 00:02:45.370 --> 00:02:47.310 born into the House of Metternich, which is old, 00:02:47.409 --> 00:02:49.750 aristocratic, Rhenish nobility. I mean, these 00:02:49.750 --> 00:02:51.490 people have been running things for centuries. 00:02:51.830 --> 00:02:53.909 And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, 00:02:54.030 --> 00:02:57.110 right? His dad, Franz Korkarl, was a diplomat, 00:02:57.110 --> 00:03:00.150 too. But the descriptions of his father in the 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:03.129 source material are absolutely hilarious. They're 00:03:03.129 --> 00:03:06.370 brutal. Brutal. One contemporary called him a 00:03:06.370 --> 00:03:09.669 boring babbler and chronic liar. Which, you have 00:03:09.669 --> 00:03:12.409 to admit, sets a pretty low bar for Clemens. 00:03:12.729 --> 00:03:15.150 Right. I mean, talk about overcoming your genetics. 00:03:15.370 --> 00:03:19.050 Or maybe, maybe utilizing them. If your dad is 00:03:19.050 --> 00:03:20.930 a chronic liar, maybe you learn a thing or two 00:03:20.930 --> 00:03:23.150 about bending the truth early on. That has to 00:03:23.150 --> 00:03:25.530 come in handy in high -stakes diplomacy. It certainly 00:03:25.530 --> 00:03:28.189 helps to know how to bluff. But Clemens had something 00:03:28.189 --> 00:03:30.870 his father didn't seem to have, a truly first 00:03:30.870 --> 00:03:33.169 -rate education. He studied at the universities 00:03:33.169 --> 00:03:36.129 of Strasbourg and Mainz. But there are some really 00:03:36.129 --> 00:03:38.009 interesting details about his upbringing that 00:03:38.009 --> 00:03:41.210 stood out to me, specifically his tutor. Yes, 00:03:41.270 --> 00:03:43.689 this caught my eye immediately. He was a Catholic 00:03:43.689 --> 00:03:46.110 noble, obviously, but he had a Protestant tutor, 00:03:46.449 --> 00:03:49.409 John Frederick Simon. And this guy wasn't just 00:03:49.409 --> 00:03:51.550 teaching him Latin and Greek. No, not at all. 00:03:51.669 --> 00:03:53.919 He taught him swimming and horsemanship. it's 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:56.960 a very specific kind of pedagogy it sounds like 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:59.620 he was being prepped to be a well -rounded physical 00:03:59.620 --> 00:04:03.039 specimen not just a bookworm in the 18th century 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:06.340 that enlightenment idea of the healthy body and 00:04:06.340 --> 00:04:09.270 the healthy mind was taking root He needed to 00:04:09.270 --> 00:04:11.449 be able to ride a horse as well as he could ride 00:04:11.449 --> 00:04:13.729 a treaty. And he was socially connected from 00:04:13.729 --> 00:04:16.310 day one. I read that he actually roomed with 00:04:16.310 --> 00:04:18.189 the future king of Bavaria while he was a student. 00:04:18.250 --> 00:04:20.689 He did. So from the time he was a teenager, he 00:04:20.689 --> 00:04:23.290 is embedded in the highest echelons of power. 00:04:23.829 --> 00:04:26.730 He isn't looking at power from the outside. He's 00:04:26.730 --> 00:04:29.189 sleeping in the same dorm room as it. He understands 00:04:29.189 --> 00:04:31.670 how princes think because he's living with them. 00:04:31.870 --> 00:04:34.810 But then history intervenes. And this is the 00:04:34.810 --> 00:04:37.350 moment that I think defines his entire psychology. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:39.920 The turning point. The French Revolution. You 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:42.100 cannot overstate this, right? He's a young man. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:44.399 He's living the high life. He's got his whole 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:46.680 future ahead of him as this powerful aristocrat. 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.959 And then 1789 hits. And he witnessed the revolution 00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:53.019 firsthand. And for Metternich, you have to understand, 00:04:53.139 --> 00:04:55.199 this wasn't just some political event he read 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:57.839 about in the newspapers. It was a personal catastrophe. 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:01.480 The French Revolutionary armies didn't just stay 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:04.600 in France. They swept into the Rhineland. And 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:07.750 they annexed the Metternich family estates. in 00:05:07.750 --> 00:05:09.750 the moselle valley so they literally took his 00:05:09.750 --> 00:05:12.350 home they took his home they cut off his income 00:05:12.350 --> 00:05:15.730 they erased his heritage he saw the revolution 00:05:15.730 --> 00:05:18.410 not as this glorious uprising of the people singing 00:05:18.410 --> 00:05:22.129 songs of liberty but as a destructive mob that 00:05:22.129 --> 00:05:25.550 stole property and created absolute chaos that 00:05:25.550 --> 00:05:28.649 explains so much about his later policies when 00:05:28.649 --> 00:05:31.829 we talk about him hating liberalism Later in 00:05:31.829 --> 00:05:34.110 this deep dive, it's not because he read some 00:05:34.110 --> 00:05:36.829 philosophical book and, you know, politely disagreed 00:05:36.829 --> 00:05:39.569 with the arguments. It's because liberalism in 00:05:39.569 --> 00:05:42.410 his eyes meant a French soldier showing up at 00:05:42.410 --> 00:05:44.430 your door and taking your castle. Precisely. 00:05:44.430 --> 00:05:47.529 It fueled a lifelong trauma. He equated revolution 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:50.189 with theft and disorder. He wasn't just theoretically 00:05:50.189 --> 00:05:52.009 conservative. He was defensively conservative. 00:05:52.470 --> 00:05:55.089 He felt that if you give the mob an inch, they 00:05:55.089 --> 00:05:57.389 will take everything you own. He also saw the 00:05:57.389 --> 00:06:00.000 ugly side of war early on, didn't he? He wasn't 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:01.899 just sitting in a palace the whole time. No, 00:06:02.060 --> 00:06:05.279 he was at the siege of Valenciennes. He saw the 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:07.740 interrogation of French ministers. He was close 00:06:07.740 --> 00:06:09.959 to the front lines. And that taught him that 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:13.920 war is unpredictable, messy, and ruinous. This 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:17.019 is a key pillar of his later philosophy. War 00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:19.360 is bad for business and it's bad for the survival 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:22.720 of empires. He wanted to win by talking, not 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:24.740 by shooting, because he knew what shooting looked 00:06:24.740 --> 00:06:27.120 like. So the family loses their estates. They 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:29.180 have to retreat to Vienna and Clemens needs a 00:06:29.180 --> 00:06:32.009 job. or at least a way to climb back up the ladder. 00:06:32.250 --> 00:06:34.790 And in 18th century Austria, if you want to get 00:06:34.790 --> 00:06:37.149 ahead, how do you do that? You marry well. You 00:06:37.149 --> 00:06:39.569 marry very, very well. Enter Countess Eleanor 00:06:39.569 --> 00:06:42.129 von Kaunitz -Rietberg. This was a massive coup 00:06:42.129 --> 00:06:44.250 for him. You have to remember the name Kaunitz. 00:06:44.430 --> 00:06:46.569 She was the granddaughter of the famous Austrian 00:06:46.569 --> 00:06:49.029 Chancellor Kaunitz, who had served Maria Theresa. 00:06:49.290 --> 00:06:51.949 It was the golden ticket into the absolute inner 00:06:51.949 --> 00:06:54.449 circle of Viennese society. But reading about 00:06:54.449 --> 00:06:56.800 the marriage... It doesn't exactly sound like 00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:59.259 a fairy tale romance. It sounds much more like 00:06:59.259 --> 00:07:01.750 a corporate merger. It was purely a business 00:07:01.750 --> 00:07:04.350 transaction for him. The sources are pretty clear 00:07:04.350 --> 00:07:06.709 that he showed way less affection for her than 00:07:06.709 --> 00:07:09.009 she did for him. It was an arranged marriage. 00:07:09.569 --> 00:07:12.250 Eleanor bore the children. Metternich bore the 00:07:12.250 --> 00:07:15.050 title. And there were strings attached. I laughed 00:07:15.050 --> 00:07:17.589 when I read this. Her father, Prince Connitz, 00:07:17.750 --> 00:07:20.410 actually had a condition that Metternich couldn't 00:07:20.410 --> 00:07:22.470 serve as a diplomat as long as the prince was 00:07:22.470 --> 00:07:24.949 still alive. Which is such a weird power move 00:07:24.949 --> 00:07:27.439 by the father -in -law. Isn't it? You can marry 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:29.300 my daughter, you can have the prestige of my 00:07:29.300 --> 00:07:31.259 name, but you cannot have a job until I die. 00:07:31.980 --> 00:07:34.800 It delayed his career slightly, but eventually 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:37.420 the prince passed away and the doors opened. 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:39.959 And once those doors open, we see the other side 00:07:39.959 --> 00:07:43.019 of Metternich emerge. The coachman starts his 00:07:43.019 --> 00:07:46.019 ride. He gets sent to Dresden as a diplomat in 00:07:46.019 --> 00:07:49.300 1801. Dresden. And it was described at the time 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:52.319 as a very boring court. Not a lot of high stakes 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.680 politics happening there. Which seems to be Metternich's 00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:56.459 kryptonite. If he's bored, he gets into trouble. 00:07:56.860 --> 00:08:00.839 Or he finds entertainment. In Dresden, he took 00:08:00.839 --> 00:08:05.240 a mistress, Princess Katharina Bagration. She 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.680 was a Russian princess, very glamorous, very 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:10.019 wild. She even bore him a daughter. This becomes 00:08:10.019 --> 00:08:12.379 a pattern, doesn't it? Throughout his life, he's 00:08:12.379 --> 00:08:14.980 balancing high -level statecraft with a very 00:08:14.980 --> 00:08:18.860 active, very complex love life. It does. But 00:08:18.860 --> 00:08:21.019 we shouldn't dismiss Dresden just as a place 00:08:21.019 --> 00:08:23.839 for affairs. This is also where he met Friedrich 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:27.060 Gens. Ah, Gens. Yeah, Gens was a publicist, a 00:08:27.060 --> 00:08:30.019 writer, a brilliant thinker. He became Metternich's 00:08:30.019 --> 00:08:32.580 lifelong confidant and intellectual sparring 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:35.039 partner. So amidst the affairs, he was building 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.059 his brain trust. He was finding the people who 00:08:37.059 --> 00:08:39.220 would help him articulate his system. Then he 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:41.470 gets sent to Berlin. And this is where the stakes 00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:44.529 get real. His job is to convince Prussia to join 00:08:44.529 --> 00:08:47.309 the coalition against Napoleon. Napoleon is rising. 00:08:47.370 --> 00:08:49.490 He's threatening everyone. And Austria needs 00:08:49.490 --> 00:08:51.990 friends. And Metternich fails. Completely. Pretty 00:08:51.990 --> 00:08:54.009 much. He tries everything. He uses his charm. 00:08:54.070 --> 00:08:56.429 He uses his logic. But Prussia, well, Prussia's 00:08:56.429 --> 00:08:58.549 indecisive. They end up signing a treaty with 00:08:58.549 --> 00:09:01.549 France instead. Ouch. That has to hurt the ego. 00:09:01.769 --> 00:09:05.490 It did. But this failure is crucial for his development. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.580 It taught him that alliances are fragile. You 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:11.100 can't rely on promises. You can't rely on honor. 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:14.519 You have to rely on cold, hard interests. And 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:16.799 it taught him that Prussia was unreliable, something 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:18.879 he would remember at the Congress of Vienna years 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:21.639 later. So up to this point, he's learned that 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:25.220 revolution is theft, war is chaos, and allies 00:09:25.220 --> 00:09:28.279 are flaky. He's building quite the cynical worldview. 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:30.860 I'd call it realist. He's stripping away the 00:09:30.860 --> 00:09:33.460 romance of politics. And he needed that realism 00:09:33.460 --> 00:09:35.559 because his next assignment was the toughest 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:38.919 gig in Europe. In 1806, he was appointed ambassador 00:09:38.919 --> 00:09:42.539 to France. Into the lion's den, Paris, the heart 00:09:42.539 --> 00:09:44.720 of the enemy. And ironically, Napoleon requested 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:47.080 him, or at least Napoleon requested a Konitz 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:49.600 because of that famous family name, and Metternich 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:51.799 fit the bill. Napoleon wanted someone from the 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:55.059 old aristocracy to validate his new empire. And 00:09:55.059 --> 00:09:57.259 Metternich lived it up. The sources say he had 00:09:57.259 --> 00:10:00.179 a generous salary, something like 90 ,000 florins, 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:02.809 and he spent it. He was the life of the party. 00:10:02.929 --> 00:10:04.629 And of course, he had an affair with the wife 00:10:04.629 --> 00:10:06.950 of one of Napoleon's generals, Madame Junot. 00:10:07.049 --> 00:10:10.250 He was networking in the most intimate way possible. 00:10:10.409 --> 00:10:12.710 That's one word for it. But this is where he 00:10:12.710 --> 00:10:15.049 really takes the measure of Napoleon. He's seeing 00:10:15.049 --> 00:10:17.490 the emperor up close. And there's this famous 00:10:17.490 --> 00:10:19.769 story about Napoleon's 39th birthday that I think 00:10:19.769 --> 00:10:22.370 really shows Metternich's steel. Oh, yeah. August 00:10:22.370 --> 00:10:25.389 1808. Tensions are rising between Austria and 00:10:25.389 --> 00:10:27.690 France. Napoleon is holding a public reception. 00:10:27.929 --> 00:10:30.870 The entire diplomatic corps is there. And Napoleon 00:10:30.870 --> 00:10:33.590 essentially corners Metternich and just starts 00:10:33.590 --> 00:10:36.389 shouting at him. In public? In public. He's screaming 00:10:36.389 --> 00:10:38.990 about war preparations, trying to bully him in 00:10:38.990 --> 00:10:41.149 front of everyone. Most people would wither. 00:10:41.169 --> 00:10:43.210 Napoleon is the master of Europe at this point. 00:10:43.289 --> 00:10:46.549 He's terrifying. Metternich stood his ground. 00:10:46.789 --> 00:10:50.700 He didn't flinch. He answered calmly. And that 00:10:50.700 --> 00:10:52.860 earned him a certain level of respect from Napoleon. 00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:55.720 But it also confirmed to Metternich that war 00:10:55.720 --> 00:10:58.059 was coming and that Austria was in deep, deep 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:00.740 trouble. He realized that the house of Hohenzollern 00:11:00.740 --> 00:11:03.720 in Prussia was sidelined. Russia was unreliable 00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:06.460 and Austria was vulnerable. He actually advised 00:11:06.460 --> 00:11:09.679 Vienna to delay the war, didn't he? He did. He 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:12.399 wrote back to Vienna and said, wait. And his 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:14.779 argument was fascinating. He said that Napoleon 00:11:14.779 --> 00:11:17.389 had no successor. If he died, the whole French 00:11:17.389 --> 00:11:19.750 Empire would crumble. So the best strategy was 00:11:19.750 --> 00:11:22.350 just to wait him out. Time was on Austria's side. 00:11:22.509 --> 00:11:25.710 But Vienna didn't listen. No. The war party in 00:11:25.710 --> 00:11:28.629 Vienna wanted glory. They went to war in 1809. 00:11:28.870 --> 00:11:31.210 And that leads us to the Battle of Wagram. Which 00:11:31.210 --> 00:11:33.730 was a disaster for Austria. A crushing defeat. 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:37.570 Napoleon occupies Vienna. It's humiliating. So 00:11:37.570 --> 00:11:39.090 the foreign minister at the time, a guy named 00:11:39.090 --> 00:11:42.289 Stadion, resigns in disgrace. And who picks up 00:11:42.289 --> 00:11:44.850 the pieces? Metternich. He takes over in October 00:11:44.850 --> 00:11:47.970 1809. He is now the foreign minister of a beaten, 00:11:48.149 --> 00:11:51.110 bankrupt, and humiliated empire. And this is 00:11:51.110 --> 00:11:53.509 where the real chess match begins. This is where 00:11:53.509 --> 00:11:56.610 he earns his paycheck. He has a weak hand. He 00:11:56.610 --> 00:11:59.730 has almost no cards to play. His army is shattered. 00:11:59.870 --> 00:12:01.870 His treasury is empty. So what does he do? He 00:12:01.870 --> 00:12:04.669 sells a princess. The marriage deal. It is one 00:12:04.669 --> 00:12:06.889 of the most cynical and brilliant moves in diplomatic 00:12:06.889 --> 00:12:09.379 history. He orchestrates the marriage between 00:12:09.379 --> 00:12:11.720 the archduchess Marie Louise. The daughter of 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:14.840 the Austrian emperor. Exactly. The emperor's 00:12:14.840 --> 00:12:19.320 own daughter marrying her to Napoleon. This is 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:21.759 wild to think about. Napoleon, the revolutionary, 00:12:22.019 --> 00:12:25.720 the ogre, the usurper, marrying into the Habsburgs, 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:28.340 the oldest, most prestigious royal house in Europe. 00:12:28.580 --> 00:12:31.120 And Metternich set it up. Metternich later claimed 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.039 it was Napoleon's idea, you know, to distance 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:35.279 himself from it because it was quite controversial. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:38.570 But at the time. He was all for it. He saw it 00:12:38.570 --> 00:12:41.330 as the only way to buy Austria's survival. It 00:12:41.330 --> 00:12:44.370 created a dynastic link. It made Napoleon the 00:12:44.370 --> 00:12:46.929 emperor's son in law. It's much harder to destroy 00:12:46.929 --> 00:12:49.169 your father in law's empire than a stranger's. 00:12:49.250 --> 00:12:51.470 He even stayed in Paris for six months after 00:12:51.470 --> 00:12:54.429 the wedding to renegotiate terms. Using the marriage 00:12:54.429 --> 00:12:56.850 as leverage. He's practically holding the honeymoon 00:12:56.850 --> 00:12:59.330 hostage. He managed to get some trading rights, 00:12:59.429 --> 00:13:01.750 delayed some war payments. It wasn't a total 00:13:01.750 --> 00:13:04.129 victory. I mean, Austria was still a vassal state, 00:13:04.210 --> 00:13:06.649 essentially, but it kept the heart of the empire 00:13:06.649 --> 00:13:11.350 beating. But then the pivot. 1812. Napoleon decides 00:13:11.350 --> 00:13:13.809 to invade Russia. This is the beginning of the 00:13:13.809 --> 00:13:16.230 end, though nobody knows it yet. And he forces 00:13:16.230 --> 00:13:18.690 Austria to be his ally. This puts Metternich 00:13:18.690 --> 00:13:22.350 in a terrible position. If he refuses, Napoleon 00:13:22.350 --> 00:13:25.929 invades Austria. If he agrees, he's at war with 00:13:25.929 --> 00:13:28.850 Russia, a potential future ally. So he pulls 00:13:28.850 --> 00:13:31.169 off a masterstroke of duplicity. What does he 00:13:31.169 --> 00:13:34.429 do? He agrees to send troops. He sends 30 ,000 00:13:34.429 --> 00:13:37.970 Austrian soldiers to support Napoleon. But secretly, 00:13:38.309 --> 00:13:40.710 through back channels, he tells Russia and Britain, 00:13:40.909 --> 00:13:43.350 look. We're just playing along. These troops 00:13:43.350 --> 00:13:44.950 are going to stay on the periphery. They aren't 00:13:44.950 --> 00:13:46.590 going to fight hard. Don't take it personally. 00:13:46.970 --> 00:13:49.789 That is incredibly risky. If Napoleon found out 00:13:49.789 --> 00:13:51.950 he was winking at the enemy while sending troops. 00:13:52.250 --> 00:13:54.090 Metternich would have been finished, executed 00:13:54.090 --> 00:13:56.009 probably, but he played in the middle perfectly. 00:13:56.330 --> 00:13:58.789 He let Napoleon march into the Russian winter 00:13:58.789 --> 00:14:01.250 and destroy his own army. And when Napoleon comes 00:14:01.250 --> 00:14:03.669 limping back, broken and defeated, Metternich 00:14:03.669 --> 00:14:07.169 is waiting. The Dresden meeting in 1813. This 00:14:07.169 --> 00:14:09.330 scene is like the climax of a movie. It was a 00:14:09.330 --> 00:14:12.259 nine -hour meeting. Just Metternich and Napoleon, 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:14.919 nine hours locked in a room. Can you imagine 00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:16.899 the tension? The power dynamic is completely 00:14:16.899 --> 00:14:20.120 flipped. It was stormy. Metternich essentially 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:22.799 told the emperor that his time was up. He told 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:24.820 him that he had lost hundreds of thousands of 00:14:24.820 --> 00:14:27.519 men, that Europe was united against him, and 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:30.080 he couldn't keep fighting the whole world. And 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:33.200 how did Napoleon react? He's not used to being 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:35.600 talked down to. Napoleon was furious. He was 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:39.200 pacing, shouting. He reportedly threw his famous 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:41.559 hat on the floor waiting for Metternich to pick 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:43.360 it up, which was standard court etiquette. You 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:45.940 bow, you pick up the emperor's hat. Metternich 00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:48.419 didn't pick it up. He just looked at it. That 00:14:48.419 --> 00:14:50.399 is a power move. I'm not your servant anymore. 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:53.600 Exactly. It signaled that the days of Austrian 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:56.740 subservience were over. Metternich left that 00:14:56.740 --> 00:14:58.980 meeting and brought Austria into the coalition 00:14:58.980 --> 00:15:01.649 against Napoleon. the War of the Sixth Coalition. 00:15:01.990 --> 00:15:05.110 But he didn't just join. He took charge. This 00:15:05.110 --> 00:15:07.350 is what impresses me. Austria was the weakest 00:15:07.350 --> 00:15:09.929 of the great powers militarily, but Metternich 00:15:09.929 --> 00:15:12.129 ends up running the show. He ensured that an 00:15:12.129 --> 00:15:15.070 Austrian general, Schwarzenberg, led the Allied 00:15:15.070 --> 00:15:18.409 armies, not the Tsar of Russia. This was crucial 00:15:18.409 --> 00:15:20.830 because Metternich didn't trust the Tsar, Alexander 00:15:20.830 --> 00:15:24.110 III. He thought Alexander was erratic and potentially 00:15:24.110 --> 00:15:26.909 dangerous. He wanted the war to be fought on 00:15:26.909 --> 00:15:30.240 Austrian terms, not Russian ones. So he's fighting 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:32.720 Napoleon, but he's also managing his allies to 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.019 make sure Russia doesn't get too powerful. He's 00:15:35.019 --> 00:15:36.899 playing 4D chess while everyone else is playing 00:15:36.899 --> 00:15:39.799 checkers. Always the balance of power. And he 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:43.080 succeeded. After the Battle of Leipzig, Napoleon 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:46.019 is on the run. Metternich is awarded the title 00:15:46.019 --> 00:15:49.139 of Prince First von Metternich. He has reached 00:15:49.139 --> 00:15:51.419 the pinnacle. And in classic Metternich fashion, 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:53.679 while he was negotiating the fate of Europe, 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:56.179 he was also carrying on another high -profile 00:15:56.179 --> 00:15:59.000 affair. With the Duchess of Sagan, Princess Villemin, 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:01.820 the sources say she had more influence over him 00:16:01.820 --> 00:16:04.460 than any other mistress. He was literally writing 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:06.860 love letters to her during the negotiations that 00:16:06.860 --> 00:16:09.100 would determine the future of France. He'd write 00:16:09.100 --> 00:16:11.240 a clause about borders, then write a paragraph 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:14.240 about his broken heart. Prioritizing. So Napoleon 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:17.320 is finally defeated. He's sent to Elba. And now 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:19.879 the victors gather to divide the spoils. The 00:16:19.879 --> 00:16:23.460 Congress of Vienna, 1814. This is Metternich's 00:16:23.460 --> 00:16:26.159 masterpiece. This is what he is famous for. The 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:29.840 heads of state and 216 noble families descend 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:32.759 on Vienna. It is the biggest gathering of power 00:16:32.759 --> 00:16:35.080 in European history up to that point. And Metternich 00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:37.840 is the host with the most. He organized everything. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.620 He knew that if you want to control people, you 00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:43.000 have to control their environment. He organized 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:46.220 vast entertainments, mask balls, fireworks displays, 00:16:46.659 --> 00:16:48.940 sleigh rides. The famous quote from the time 00:16:48.940 --> 00:16:53.139 is, the Congress does not walk. It dances. It 00:16:53.139 --> 00:16:56.100 was a tactic, a deliberate strategy. Keep the 00:16:56.100 --> 00:16:58.059 delegates, the lesser princes, and the hangers 00:16:58.059 --> 00:17:00.159 -on busy with champagne and dancing so they don't 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:02.399 ask difficult questions. Meanwhile, he and the 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:04.640 big four, Austria, Britain, Prussia, Russia, 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:07.079 did the real work in the back rooms. But even 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:09.000 in the back rooms, it wasn't all smooth sailing. 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:12.099 There was a huge crisis over Poland. A massive 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:14.599 crisis. It nearly blew up the peace before it 00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:17.920 started. Russia wanted to annex all of Poland. 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:21.059 Prussia wanted to annex all of Saxony. Metternich 00:17:21.059 --> 00:17:23.180 saw this as a disaster. It would make Russia 00:17:23.180 --> 00:17:25.700 too strong and Prussia too dominant in Germany. 00:17:25.859 --> 00:17:28.539 It upset the balance. It got heated. I read that 00:17:28.539 --> 00:17:31.660 the Tsar of Russia, Alexander I, actually challenged 00:17:31.660 --> 00:17:34.650 Metternich to a duel. Can you imagine the emperor 00:17:34.650 --> 00:17:36.589 of Russia and the foreign minister of Austria 00:17:36.589 --> 00:17:38.670 shooting at each other in a field? It shows how 00:17:38.670 --> 00:17:41.150 personal these politics were. But Metternich 00:17:41.150 --> 00:17:44.029 held firm. He refused to back down. He managed 00:17:44.029 --> 00:17:46.289 to check Russian power and prevent Prussia from 00:17:46.289 --> 00:17:49.490 swallowing Saxony whole. He forged a secret alliance 00:17:49.490 --> 00:17:51.690 with Britain and France to pressure Russia. And 00:17:51.690 --> 00:17:53.930 speaking of France, Talleyrand, the French diplomat, 00:17:53.990 --> 00:17:55.849 managed to wheedle his way into the inner circle, 00:17:56.009 --> 00:17:58.210 turning the big four into the big five. Which 00:17:58.210 --> 00:18:00.390 Metternich eventually allowed because he realized 00:18:00.390 --> 00:18:03.750 he needed France. A strong... France, but not 00:18:03.750 --> 00:18:06.750 a Napoleonic France, was necessary to balance 00:18:06.750 --> 00:18:08.829 out Russia. It was all about the equilibrium. 00:18:09.150 --> 00:18:11.470 No one power could be allowed to dominate. But 00:18:11.470 --> 00:18:15.789 then the nightmare scenario. March 1815. Metternich 00:18:15.789 --> 00:18:18.390 is sleeping. He is woken up at 6 a .m. by a courier. 00:18:18.609 --> 00:18:21.369 Napoleon has escaped Elba. That must have been 00:18:21.369 --> 00:18:24.269 a terrifying wake -up call. The monster is loose. 00:18:24.569 --> 00:18:27.829 But in a strange twist, it actually helped Metternich. 00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:30.279 The Allies had been bickering, almost fighting 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:33.440 each other over Poland and Saxony. Within hours 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:36.099 of the news of Napoleon's escape, they reunited. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.940 The common enemy brought them back together. 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:42.069 The Hundred Days Napoleon tries to make a comeback, 00:18:42.250 --> 00:18:44.789 gathers an army, but he's finally defeated at 00:18:44.789 --> 00:18:47.509 Waterloo. And this solidified what became known 00:18:47.509 --> 00:18:50.710 as the Concert of Europe. The idea that the great 00:18:50.710 --> 00:18:53.589 powers shouldn't just fight for territory. They 00:18:53.589 --> 00:18:56.309 should work together to maintain stability. They 00:18:56.309 --> 00:18:58.710 should meet regularly to solve problems before 00:18:58.710 --> 00:19:01.089 they become wars. This brings us to the Metternich 00:19:01.089 --> 00:19:03.509 system. We hear this term a lot. Let's really 00:19:03.509 --> 00:19:05.589 define this for the listener. What was the philosophy 00:19:05.589 --> 00:19:08.950 here? Stability above all else. Peace through 00:19:08.950 --> 00:19:11.799 order. Metternich believed that freedom without 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:14.339 order was just chaos. He had seen the French 00:19:14.339 --> 00:19:16.859 Revolution. He didn't want to repeat. He believed 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:18.920 that monarchs were the only legitimate source 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:21.240 of power. So he hated two things specifically, 00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:24.660 liberalism and nationalism. Correct. Liberalism 00:19:24.660 --> 00:19:28.440 meant... constitutions, free press, parliaments, 00:19:28.619 --> 00:19:30.700 things that challenged the absolute power of 00:19:30.700 --> 00:19:32.680 monarchs. He thought these were slippery slopes 00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:35.079 to the guillotine. And nationalism. Nationalism 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:36.900 was even more dangerous for Austria. You have 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:39.180 to look at the map. The Austrian Empire was a 00:19:39.180 --> 00:19:42.380 multi -ethnic patchwork. You had Germans, Hungarians, 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:45.819 Czechs, Italians, Poles, Croats, all living under 00:19:45.819 --> 00:19:48.660 one emperor. If they all started believing in 00:19:48.660 --> 00:19:51.380 nationalism, the idea that every people deserves 00:19:51.380 --> 00:19:54.160 their own state, the Austrian Empire would dissolve 00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:56.700 instantly. would cease to exist. So he becomes 00:19:56.700 --> 00:19:58.619 the policeman of Europe. He has to stop these 00:19:58.619 --> 00:20:01.160 ideas from spreading. Exactly. He sets up a surveillance 00:20:01.160 --> 00:20:03.799 gate. He was obsessed with information. He opened 00:20:03.799 --> 00:20:06.319 letters. He had spies everywhere. He once said 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:08.480 the greatest evil and therefore the most immediate 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.160 is the press. You really hated journalists. He 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:14.000 viewed ideas as viruses. If you let them spread, 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:16.440 they infect the population. So you have to quarantine 00:20:16.440 --> 00:20:18.519 them. You have to stop the infection at the source. 00:20:18.740 --> 00:20:21.559 And he had tools for this. The Carlsbad Decrees 00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:25.180 in 1819. This is a major moment in his repression. 00:20:25.299 --> 00:20:28.000 This was triggered by the assassination of a 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.660 conservative playwright, August von Kotzebue. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:34.549 He was killed by a radical student. Metternich 00:20:34.549 --> 00:20:37.769 used this murder as a pretext, a perfect excuse 00:20:37.769 --> 00:20:40.690 to clamp down on all German universities. It's 00:20:40.690 --> 00:20:43.029 the classic, never let a good crisis go to waste. 00:20:43.230 --> 00:20:46.369 He banned student fraternities, he fired liberal 00:20:46.369 --> 00:20:49.369 professors, and he installed censors in the press 00:20:49.369 --> 00:20:51.930 across the German Confederation. He basically 00:20:51.930 --> 00:20:55.250 put the entire German intellectual world on lockdown. 00:20:56.059 --> 00:20:58.259 He also used the Congress system, these regular 00:20:58.259 --> 00:21:01.160 meetings of the great powers, to authorize military 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:03.119 intervention. This is what makes him different 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:05.920 from just a normal diplomat. He sent armies into 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:09.210 other countries to stop revolutions. When revolts 00:21:09.210 --> 00:21:11.990 broke out in Naples, in Spain, or in Piedmont, 00:21:12.230 --> 00:21:13.910 Metternich argued that these weren't internal 00:21:13.910 --> 00:21:16.369 matters, they were threats to the system. So 00:21:16.369 --> 00:21:18.569 he sent Austrian troops to crush them. He was 00:21:18.569 --> 00:21:20.569 the fireman of Europe, rushing around, putting 00:21:20.569 --> 00:21:22.750 out these liberal fires wherever they sparked. 00:21:22.910 --> 00:21:24.769 But it worked. We have to acknowledge that. For 00:21:24.769 --> 00:21:26.910 decades, there was no major war between the great 00:21:26.910 --> 00:21:29.509 powers. The system held. But there were cracks. 00:21:29.829 --> 00:21:33.309 The Eastern question. This is where things get 00:21:33.309 --> 00:21:35.450 tricky for him. The Greek War of Independence 00:21:35.450 --> 00:21:38.690 in the 1820s. This was a nightmare for Metternich. 00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:41.869 Europe loved the Greeks. Lord Byron went there 00:21:41.869 --> 00:21:44.009 to fight. Everyone was pro -Greek democracy, 00:21:44.369 --> 00:21:46.869 seeing them as the descendants of Plato and Aristotle 00:21:46.869 --> 00:21:49.970 fighting the barbaric Turks. But Metternich opposed 00:21:49.970 --> 00:21:52.990 it. Why? Because the Greeks were rebelling against 00:21:52.990 --> 00:21:55.109 their legitimate sovereign, the Ottoman Sultan. 00:21:55.750 --> 00:21:57.630 Metternich didn't like the Turks particularly, 00:21:57.950 --> 00:22:01.269 but he liked legitimacy. If you allow the Greeks 00:22:01.269 --> 00:22:04.819 to rebel, who's next? the Hungarians, the Italians. 00:22:05.140 --> 00:22:07.980 Plus, he feared that if the Ottoman Empire collapsed, 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.460 Russia would swoop in and take everything. He 00:22:11.460 --> 00:22:13.759 valued the balance of power over the romantic 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:16.539 idea of Greek freedom. It shows how committed 00:22:16.539 --> 00:22:18.819 he was to his principles, even when they were 00:22:18.819 --> 00:22:21.539 incredibly unpopular. He was willing to be the 00:22:21.539 --> 00:22:24.420 bad guy if it meant keeping the map stable. Unpopular 00:22:24.420 --> 00:22:26.940 is an understatement. By the 1830s, he was becoming 00:22:26.940 --> 00:22:30.019 a relic, a dinosaur. Let's talk about his personal 00:22:30.019 --> 00:22:31.759 life during this time because it's actually quite 00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:34.640 tragic. We think of him as this cold marble figure, 00:22:34.779 --> 00:22:38.599 but he suffered immense loss. He did. His personal 00:22:38.599 --> 00:22:41.819 life was filled with grief. His first wife, Eleanor, 00:22:41.880 --> 00:22:45.460 died in 1825. He remarried to Antoinette, who 00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:48.279 was much younger. She died in 1829, just five 00:22:48.279 --> 00:22:50.259 days after childbirth. That is heartbreaking. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:53.680 And his children. His son, Victor, whom he adored, 00:22:53.720 --> 00:22:56.400 died of tuberculosis. His daughter, Clementine, 00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:59.039 died. He lost family member after family member. 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:01.640 The man who controlled Europe couldn't save his 00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:04.599 own family. By the 1830s, the sources describe 00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:07.619 him as gray, drawn. He's complaining about everything. 00:23:07.700 --> 00:23:09.720 He sounds like a grumpy old man yelling at clouds. 00:23:10.019 --> 00:23:12.539 He had a new rival in Britain, Lord Palmerston. 00:23:13.019 --> 00:23:15.359 Palmerston was a liberal interventionist, the 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:18.119 opposite of Metternich. Metternich famously wrote, 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:20.940 Pomerson is wrong about everything. He felt like 00:23:20.940 --> 00:23:22.819 the world was moving away from him. He was feeling 00:23:22.819 --> 00:23:25.400 isolated. And at home, things were stagnating. 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:29.000 Emperor Francis, his patron, died in 1835. And 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:31.700 who succeeded him? Ferdinand I. And this is a 00:23:31.700 --> 00:23:34.140 tragedy for the Austrian Empire. Ferdinand was 00:23:34.140 --> 00:23:36.259 severely mentally and physically disabled. He 00:23:36.259 --> 00:23:37.920 couldn't really rule. There are stories of him 00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:40.000 being unable to sign his own name or make basic 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:42.359 decisions. So a council was set up to rule in 00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:45.000 his place. But this meant... Metternich lost 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.960 his absolute influence. He had to share power 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:51.240 with his rival, Count Collorat. And they hated 00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:53.299 each other. They deadlocked the government. So 00:23:53.299 --> 00:23:55.779 you have a paralyzed government, a rotting system, 00:23:55.980 --> 00:23:59.339 censorship everywhere. And underneath, the pressure 00:23:59.339 --> 00:24:02.220 is building. The economy was struggling. And 00:24:02.220 --> 00:24:05.160 that thing he feared most, nationalism, was boiling 00:24:05.160 --> 00:24:07.720 over. especially in Hungary. Metternich knew 00:24:07.720 --> 00:24:10.500 it. He wasn't blind. When the 1830 revolution 00:24:10.500 --> 00:24:12.519 happened in France, he said, my whole life's 00:24:12.519 --> 00:24:15.160 work is destroyed. He saw the writing on the 00:24:15.160 --> 00:24:17.400 wall. He knew the dam was going to break. And 00:24:17.400 --> 00:24:20.980 break it did. 1848. The year of revolutions, 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:24.160 it swept across Europe like a wildfire. France, 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:27.000 Germany, Italy. Governments were falling left 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:29.559 and right. And finally, it reached Vienna. March 00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:33.140 13th, 1848. The mob gathers. And they aren't 00:24:33.140 --> 00:24:35.720 just asking for lower taxes. No, they were demanding 00:24:35.720 --> 00:24:38.440 Metternich's resignation. He was the symbol of 00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:40.920 everything they hated. The censorship, the police 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:43.059 state, the stagnation. There's this dramatic 00:24:43.059 --> 00:24:45.220 scene where the crowd is cheering the emperor, 00:24:45.420 --> 00:24:47.180 because they still respect the monarchy, but 00:24:47.180 --> 00:24:49.259 they are screaming for Metternich's head. He 00:24:49.259 --> 00:24:52.079 became the scapegoat. The imperial family realized 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:54.140 that to save themselves, they had to sacrifice 00:24:54.140 --> 00:24:56.579 him. He hid in the chancellery while the mob 00:24:56.579 --> 00:24:59.319 raged outside. And finally, realizing he had 00:24:59.319 --> 00:25:01.480 no support left, not even from the archdukes, 00:25:01.539 --> 00:25:04.279 he resigned. His quote from that moment is devastating. 00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:07.960 I am no longer anybody. I have nothing more to 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:11.259 do. The fall of a titan. 30 years of dominance 00:25:11.259 --> 00:25:14.119 ended in an afternoon. And the escape. This is 00:25:14.119 --> 00:25:16.900 like a spy novel. He has to flee Vienna. It was 00:25:16.900 --> 00:25:19.000 humiliating. He had to leave in a laundry cart 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:21.640 to avoid being recognized and torn apart by the 00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:24.019 mob. He had a little cash in his pocket and his 00:25:24.019 --> 00:25:26.480 wife, Melanie. He travels across a Europe that 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:29.279 is in flames, fleeing the very revolutions he 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:31.519 tried to stop. He eventually makes it to England. 00:25:31.740 --> 00:25:34.410 Exile. He ends up living in London and Brighton. 00:25:34.589 --> 00:25:37.170 It's ironic he found safety in the most liberal 00:25:37.170 --> 00:25:39.730 country in Europe, the country he often criticized. 00:25:39.970 --> 00:25:42.430 And he was broke. His assets in Austria were 00:25:42.430 --> 00:25:45.730 frozen. He had to rely on loans to survive. But 00:25:45.730 --> 00:25:48.049 amazingly, he was still a celebrity. He hung 00:25:48.049 --> 00:25:49.890 out with the Duke of Wellington and Disraeli. 00:25:50.210 --> 00:25:53.819 People wanted to meet the grand old man. of europe 00:25:53.819 --> 00:25:56.259 but he was yesterday's man he was a museum piece 00:25:56.259 --> 00:25:59.799 he eventually returned to vienna in 1851 once 00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:02.140 the revolutions were crushed and the young emperor 00:26:02.140 --> 00:26:04.259 franz joseph was in charge but he didn't get 00:26:04.259 --> 00:26:07.769 his job back no he was a living monument He gave 00:26:07.769 --> 00:26:10.109 advice, he wrote memos, but they often ignored 00:26:10.109 --> 00:26:12.970 him. The world had changed. Real politic was 00:26:12.970 --> 00:26:15.529 shifting towards blood and iron, towards Bismarck, 00:26:15.549 --> 00:26:18.630 not Metternich's congresses. He died in 1859 00:26:18.630 --> 00:26:21.450 at the age of 86, the last of his generation. 00:26:21.730 --> 00:26:23.930 He outlived Napoleon, he outlived the Tsar, he 00:26:23.930 --> 00:26:26.470 outlived his rivals. He saw the world born in 00:26:26.470 --> 00:26:28.289 the French Revolution and he lived to see the 00:26:28.289 --> 00:26:30.390 Industrial Age. So let's go back to our mission. 00:26:30.829 --> 00:26:33.150 How do we assess Clemens von Metternich now that 00:26:33.150 --> 00:26:34.750 we've looked at the whole picture? It depends 00:26:34.750 --> 00:26:37.289 entirely on what you value. If you value liberty, 00:26:37.490 --> 00:26:39.849 national self -determination, democracy and the 00:26:39.849 --> 00:26:42.549 freedom of the press, he is the villain. Plain 00:26:42.549 --> 00:26:44.890 and simple. He held back progress. He created 00:26:44.890 --> 00:26:47.930 a police state. He jailed intellectuals. A .J 00:26:47.930 --> 00:26:50.569 .P. Taylor called him boring and a stumbling 00:26:50.569 --> 00:26:52.950 block. And from a liberal perspective, he was. 00:26:53.109 --> 00:26:57.170 And some argue. That by delaying reform, he just 00:26:57.170 --> 00:27:00.410 made the inevitable explosion worse. Like if 00:27:00.410 --> 00:27:02.690 you seal the lid on the pressure cooker, eventually 00:27:02.690 --> 00:27:05.410 it blows up harder, maybe leading to the carnage 00:27:05.410 --> 00:27:07.910 of World War I. If he had allowed slow reform, 00:27:08.289 --> 00:27:10.529 maybe Europe would have evolved peacefully. That's 00:27:10.529 --> 00:27:12.950 a very valid criticism. He froze the pipes and 00:27:12.950 --> 00:27:15.650 eventually they burst. But look at the other 00:27:15.650 --> 00:27:19.009 side. He gave Europe the age of Metternich. Decades 00:27:19.009 --> 00:27:21.230 of peace. He prevented a major war. He saved 00:27:21.230 --> 00:27:24.720 lives. He took a week. bankrupt Austria and kept 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:27.640 it as a great power for 30 years purely through 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:29.859 diplomatic skill. There's this smokescreen theory, 00:27:30.019 --> 00:27:31.960 right? Yes, and I think this is the most compelling 00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:35.059 argument for his genius. The idea is that Metternich 00:27:35.059 --> 00:27:38.240 knew Austria was weak. He knew the army was underfunded 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:40.680 and the state was fragile. He knew he couldn't 00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:43.960 win a fight, so he used diplomacy, balls, treaties, 00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:46.700 bluffs, and pageantry as smokescreen to hide 00:27:46.700 --> 00:27:49.099 the cracks. He faked it for 30 years. He made 00:27:49.099 --> 00:27:51.579 Europe believe Austria was strong so no one attacked. 00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:54.279 He kept the wolves at bay with nothing but words 00:27:54.279 --> 00:27:56.880 and personality. It is impressive, even if you 00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:59.440 hate his politics. It's a high wire act that 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:02.519 lasted three decades. And it raises that final 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:05.599 provocative question for us today. Metternich 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:08.119 believed that freedom without order is chaos. 00:28:08.579 --> 00:28:11.359 We live in a world now that is struggling with 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:13.799 information overload, political polarization 00:28:13.799 --> 00:28:17.640 and rapid change. We see disruption everywhere. 00:28:18.019 --> 00:28:20.970 We do. We value disruption. But we also fear 00:28:20.970 --> 00:28:24.349 the chaos it brings. Exactly. Was he entirely 00:28:24.349 --> 00:28:27.430 wrong to fear the masses? Was he wrong to prioritize 00:28:27.430 --> 00:28:30.170 stability over everything else? Or was he just 00:28:30.170 --> 00:28:32.349 a man who saw the abyss of the French Revolution 00:28:32.349 --> 00:28:34.789 and decided he would do anything to stop the 00:28:34.789 --> 00:28:36.809 world from falling into it again? It's the eternal 00:28:36.809 --> 00:28:39.779 tradeoff. The cost of peace versus the cost of 00:28:39.779 --> 00:28:42.299 liberty. Metternich made his choice. And he forced 00:28:42.299 --> 00:28:44.880 Europe to live with it for a generation. A fascinating 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:47.819 deep dive into a man who is anything but boring. 00:28:47.900 --> 00:28:49.720 Thanks for helping us unpack The Coachman of 00:28:49.720 --> 00:28:51.720 Europe. Always a pleasure. And to our listeners, 00:28:51.859 --> 00:28:53.299 thanks for tuning in. See you next time.