Metternich, Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Fürst von

Japanese: メッテルニヒ（英語表記）Metternich， Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar， Fürst von

Born: May 15, 1773 in Koblenz
Died June 11, 1859. Vienna Austrian politician and diplomat. Born to a diplomat, he studied diplomacy and law at the universities of Strasbourg and Mainz. He witnessed the French revolutionary army in Mainz and developed a lifelong reactionary ideology through his conversations with exiled aristocrats. In 1795, he married the daughter of former chancellor W. Kaunitz, and became eligible to hold high-ranking government positions. In 1798, he represented Westphalia at the Rastatt Congress. He was minister to Saxony in 1801, minister to Berlin from 1803 to 1805, and ambassador to Paris in 1806. In October 1809, he became foreign minister, and worked to rebuild Austria after its defeat in the war against France. He also led the European War of Liberation against Napoleon I to victory in 1813, using his skilled diplomatic skills and political tactics. He presided over the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815, and in 1815 established the Holy Alliance and the Quadruple Alliance. He focused on maintaining peace based on the balance of power among the great powers, and by skillfully suppressing the expansion of Russian and Prussian power, he built the so-called Vienna System. His international fame reached its peak at the conferences of the great powers held in Aix-la-Chapelle (1818), Leibach (1821), and Verona (1822). In 1821, he became Chancellor. However, when Britain abandoned its policy of interference in revolutions in other countries, his influence in Western Europe also began to decline. In order to maintain the status quo in Austria, a multi-ethnic state that had been rapidly collapsing since 1826, he tried to suppress liberal and nationalist movements both in Germany and abroad, but failed to interfere in the independence movements of Latin America and Greece, and became the target of public hatred as a symbol of oppression and reaction. As a result of the March Revolution in 1848, he was overthrown and went into exile in Britain, returning to Germany in 1851. He was unable to return to politics.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

[生]1773.5.15. コブレンツ
[没]1859.6.11. ウィーン
オーストリアの政治家，外交官。外交官の子として生れ，シュトラスブルク，マインツの大学で外交と法律を学んだ。マインツでフランス革命軍を目撃，亡命貴族たちとの対話を通して，その生涯の反動思想をはぐくんだ。 1795年前宰相 W.カウニッツの娘と結婚，高位の官職につく資格を得，98年ウェストファリア代表としてラシュタット会議に出席。 1801年ザクセン駐在公使，03～05年ベルリン駐在公使，06年パリ駐在大使を経て，09年 10月外相となり，対フランス戦に敗れたオーストリアの再建をはかるとともに，老練な外交手腕と権謀術策を用いて 13年に始るナポレオン1世に対するヨーロッパの解放戦争を勝利に導いた。 14～15年ウィーン会議を主宰し，15年神聖同盟，四国同盟などを成立させ，列強の力の均衡に基づく平和維持に主眼をおき，ロシアとプロシアの勢力拡大を巧妙に押えて，いわゆるウィーン体制を築き上げ，エクスラシャペル (1818) ，ライバハ (21) ，ベロナ (22) などの列強会議において，彼の国際的名声は絶頂に達した。 21年宰相に就任。しかしイギリスが他国の革命に対する干渉政策を放棄したとき，西ヨーロッパに対する彼の影響力も衰えはじめた。 26年以降急速に崩壊の一途をたどる多民族国家オーストリアの現状維持のため，ドイツ内外の自由主義・国民主義運動の抑圧に努めたが，ラテンアメリカ諸国の独立やギリシア独立運動への干渉に失敗，抑圧と反動のシンボルとして民衆の憎悪の的となり，48年の三月革命の結果失脚してイギリスに亡命，51年帰国。政界への復帰はならなかった。

出典　ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典について　情報

<<: Lloyd Appleton Metzler

>>: Mezzogiorno