Clemens-Ventzel von Metternich was a famous politician and diplomat in Austrian history, and although many people criticized his "orthodoxy" in Europe as conservative and reactionary, it is undeniable that the Austrian Empire and the Habsburgs were able to be saved from the brink of collapse in the early 19th century and made Vienna the center of European politics. How do people do it?
Austria with its life on the line
In July 1809, the Austrian army led by Archduke Karl was defeated by Napoleon at the Battle of Wagram, and the French army took advantage of the victory to capture the Austrian capital Vienna, and the Fifth Coalition was defeated. Emperor Franz I was forced to sign the Treaty of Vienna, an unequal treaty in favour of France, in exchange for a brief peace. At this time, Metternich knew very well that Austria had no strength or opportunity to compete with France on the European continent, and in order to exchange living space, it could only temporarily seek perfection. So he picked up the Habsburg strategy of dominating Europe— the marriage.
Marriage to Napoleon
As early as his time as Austrian ambassador to Paris, Metternich learned that Napoleon's empress Josephine was unable to have children, which prevented Napoleon, who had already established the imperial system, from obtaining a legitimate heir. Coincidentally, not long ago, Russia just rejected Napoleon's proposal to marry him, and Metternich thought that france was now strong and weak, and it was very foolish to rely only on 200,000 Austrian troops to compete with France, so he actively brokered a Franco-Austrian marriage, marrying Franz I's eldest daughter Marie-Louis to Napoleon, and the latter also got a son as he wished.
Metternich's wishful thinking
This marriage succeeded in directing france to Tsarist Russia, but this was not metternich's whole purpose. When he married the princess to Napoleon, he thought about how to maximize Austria's interests from this trap, he stepped up contact with Prussia and Tsarist Russia, and secretly restored the Triple Alliance, so Marie Luis married France far away, in fact, to win the time for Austria's "revival", which was a complete conspiracy. And things did turn out as Metternich had hoped, napoleon led an expedition to Tsarist Russia, which was more than worth the loss, losing most of its troops, while Austria was rested and partially restored its military strength.
In June 1812, Napoleon decided to send an expedition to Tsarist Russia, he ordered Austria to send 30,000 troops to cooperate with the French attack, but let the Austrian army avoid engaging the Russian army; at the same time, secretly contacted Britain, Russia and Prussia, ensuring that as long as he was austrian foreign minister for one day, Austria would not really join forces with Napoleon. Napoleon's 600,000 troops were tossed by Russia's defensive strategy and harsh climate, leaving only 30,000 remnants defeated and retreating. The 30,000 soldiers and horses of the Austrian army were almost intact. This is a full demonstration of Metternich's political wisdom.
Let the invincible Napoleon despair completely
The above events fully prove that Metternich was nothing more than a yin and yang for Napoleon, to buy a respite for Austria, and when the time was right, he would not hesitate to fall on the French emperor. In 1813, Napoleon braved the cold wind to escape from Moscow back to Paris, and before his ass was hot, he received Metternich, a meeting known as "diplomatic Waterloo" that lasted 9 hours, Napoleon was quite dissatisfied with the matchmaker's attitude, and at the end, Napoleon asked Metternich: "What will happen after France and Austria?" The latter replied confidently: "Your Majesty, you lost, and now I am leaving, and I think you have lost." And the Napoleonic Empire, as he predicted, vanished a year later.
End
After Napoleon's utter defeat, the conference to redefine the political order of Europe was scheduled to be held in Vienna, known in history as the "Vienna Peace Conference", which is not without significance, which shows that Vienna has replaced Paris as the center of political negotiations on the European continent, temporarily restoring Austria's position as a great power in Europe. Metternich later became the central figure of the Holy Alliance and the Quadruple Alliance, establishing a regional political system of "orthodoxy" and "balance of power" that won Austria half a century of stability.
Text: Lantai Lingjun