Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg
Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg | |
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State Chancellor of the Habsburg monarchy | |
In office 13 May 1753 – 19 August 1792 | |
Monarchs | Maria Theresa (1753–1780) Joseph II (1780–1790) Leopold II (1790–1792) Francis II (1792) |
Preceded by | Count Anton Corfiz Ulfeldt |
Succeeded by | Philipp von Cobenzl |
Personal details | |
Born | Vienna, Austria, Holy Roman Empire | 2 February 1711
Died | 27 June 1794 Vienna, Austria | (aged 83)
Parents |
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Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (German: Wenzel Anton Reichsfürst von Kaunitz-Rietberg, Czech: Václav Antonín z Kounic a Rietbergu; 2 February 1711 – 27 June 1794) was an Austrian and Czech diplomat and statesman in the Habsburg monarchy. A proponent of enlightened absolutism, he held the office of State Chancellor for about four decades and was responsible for the foreign policies during the reigns of Maria Theresa, Joseph II, and Leopold II. In 1764, he was elevated to the noble rank of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (Reichfürst).
Family
Kaunitz was born in Vienna, Austria, one of 19 children[1] of Maximilian Ulrich, third Count of Kaunitz (1679–1746), and his consort Marie Ernestine, née Countess of East Frisia and Rietberg (1687–1758), an heiress of the Cirksena dynasty. The Kaunitz family (Kounicové) belonged to the old Czech nobility and, like the related Martinic dynasty, derived its lineage from the medieval Vršovci clan in the Kingdom of Bohemia. First mentioned in the 14th century, they originally lived in the Silesian duchy of Troppau, but in 1509, they moved to Slavkov (Austerlitz) Castle near Brno.
Wenzel Anton's grandfather, Dominik Andreas von Kaunitz (1655–1705), served as a Habsburg
Wenzel Anton himself married Countess Maria Ernestine von Starhemberg (1717–1749), a granddaughter of Imperial Chamber president Count Gundaker Thomas von Starhemberg (1663–1745), on 6 May 1736. Four sons were born of the marriage,[2] among them the Austrian general Count Franz Wenzel von Kaunitz-Rietberg (1742–1825). Wenzel Anton's granddaughter Eleonora (daughter of his eldest son, Ernest) married a successor in the office of State Chancellor, Prince Klemens von Metternich.
Early life
As the second son, it was at first intended that Wenzel Anton should become a clergyman, and at thirteen he held a
Back in Vienna, he was appointed a member of the Imperial Aulic Council in 1735. At the
In October 1744, he was appointed
In 1746, however, he was forced to leave
From 1749, Kaunitz served as a
State Chancellor
Kaunitz's most important and influential office was that of State Chancellor and minister of foreign affairs, which he held from 1753 to 1792 and where he had Empress Maria Theresa's full trust—against the opposition of her husband, Francis Stephen. He had reluctantly accepted his appointment and demanded complete freedom to re-organise the foreign office on
The Diplomatic Revolution of 1756
Kaunitz was the mastermind of the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, which involved the dramatic shakeup of traditional military alliances in Europe. Austria went from an ally of Britain to an ally of France and Russia. Prussia became an ally of Britain, along with Hanover. The result was the basic lineup of forces in the Seven Years' War.[6][7]
Seven Years' War
Once he was State Chancellor, Kaunitz pursued his policies seeking rapprochement with France. Upon the outbreak of the
Thus began the
From about 1760, gradual exhaustion of all forces became obvious, and Kaunitz reacted by depriving his long-time foe Court Chancellor Count
Josephinism
The State Chancellor was a liberal patron of education and art,[9] a notable collector, one of the founders of the Royal Academy in Brussels, and sponsor of Christoph Willibald Gluck. He worked towards the goal of subjecting the Catholic Church to the state, most notably against tax exemption and the traditional institution of mortmain ownership of real estates. Kaunitz followed the thoughts of Jansenism and the Age of Enlightenment; among his aims was also the better education of the commoners.
Although Maria Theresa's son and heir, Emperor Joseph II generally shared such ideas, his reforms moved too fast and too thoroughly for Kaunitz. The ongoing disputes between the two men led to several resignation requests by the state chancellor. Kaunitz advocated a reconciliation with the former enemy Prussia; he accompanied Joseph II when he met Frederick II two times in 1769 and 1770. The Prussian king was annoyed by Kaunitz' arrogance and patronising manners, nevertheless the approach realised in the First Partition of Poland in 1772, backed by both Kaunitz and Joseph II against the concerns of Maria Theresa ("good faith is lost for all time").
In 1777, Joseph's hasty military action led to the War of the Bavarian Succession. When the Austrian position became untenable, Kaunitz carried the peace negotiations on his own initiative; by the 1779 Treaty of Teschen, he won the Bavarian Innviertel region for Austria. In Imperial matters, he was able to dominate the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg; in 1780 he was also successful in placing the Habsburg Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, Joseph's younger brother, as a coadjutor bishop in the Electorate of Cologne and the Prince-Bishopric of Münster.
Kaunitz worked around the objections of Joseph II to initiate the Austro-Turkish War of 1788–1791. The goal was to humiliate Austria's old enemy, Prussia. However, it misfired: it proved a costly military operation to help Russia, but it did not achieve any anti-Prussian objective. After Joseph II's death, Leopold II became emperor; the war was ended and Kaunitz's power collapsed.[10] The renunciation of Kaunitz' balancing policies led to a serious deterioration of Austria's domestic and international affairs. Meanwhile, Prussia established the Protestant Fürstenbund league, and the Brabant Revolution broke out in the Austrian Netherlands.
Resignation and death
Joseph II's successor, Leopold II, blamed Kaunitz for the failure and decisively restricted his competences. Kaunitz rejected further rapprochement with Prussia against
Kaunitz finally resigned his office upon the accession of Emperor Francis II in July 1792. Kaunitz died in 1794 at his city palace in Vienna and was buried in his family vault beneath the Chapel of St. John the Baptist in Slavkov cemetery.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Notes
Further readingWikimedia Commons has media related to Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg. |