7/6/2023 0 Comments Metternich by Wolfram SiemannSiemann goes to great lengths to justify Metternich’s reactionary policy and his war on subversion in the 1830s and 1840s, going so far as to argue that Britain and France were just as autocratic as the Habsburg monarchy. He is represented as the principal actor in the coalition that brought down Napoleon and the master operator at the Congress of Vienna, while other players such as Tsar Alexander, Castlereagh and Talleyrand are marginalised. His wisdom and judgment are unquestioned and his achievements over-praised. My only quibble is that Metternich is very much the hero as well as the subject of the book, and its rather reverent tone can jar. A hand-drawn sketch recording where every Italian subversive had gone to ground, from Buenos Aires to Brussels, brings to life his obsession with the threat they posed. It covers every aspect of Metternich’s life with a wealth of detail, and dishes up some delightful gems. No less enlightening is his coverage of Metternich’s education by remarkable tutors at the universities of Strasbourg and Mainz. Siemann’s meticulous account of these negotiations is highly revealing of the gradations in what is usually represented as a monolithic aristocracy, and goes a long way to explain Metternich’s acute sense of order and hierarchy.
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