Metternich

Metternich has long been regarded as the epitome of reaction, a backward-looking enemy of all liberal and national forces. Wolfram Siemann paints a fundamentally new picture of the statesman in his magnificent biography, who shaped the fate of Europe for four decades. Metternich's thinking was more modern, his diagnoses more insightful, and his actions more forward-looking than previously acknowledged. "A man like me doesn't give a damn about the lives of a million people!" Napoleon declared to his adversary Metternich in 1813. Clemens Prince of Metternich (1773-1859) experienced the more than twenty years of wars in Europe as a collapse of civilization. Almost prophetically, he foresaw that the nations' desire for freedom would lead to an even bloodier catastrophe. Metternich's peace order of 1815 can only be understood against this backdrop.