Historians treat him as the archenemy of progress, a ruthless aristocrat who used his power as the dominant European statesman of the first half of the nineteenth century to stifle liberalism, suppress national independence, and oppose the dreams of social change that inspired the revolutionaries of 1848. Metternich has a reputation as the epitome of reactionary conservatism. “Succeed in forcing readers to wonder whether Metternich’s efforts to defend an essentially conservative order against populists and terrorists are so different from the struggles that liberal democracies face today.”-Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign AffairsĪ compelling new biography that recasts the most important European statesman of the first half of the nineteenth century, famous for his alleged archconservatism, as a friend of realpolitik and reform, pursuing international peace. “Brilliantly refreshes our understanding of Metternich and his era… was an intellectual in politics of a kind now rare.”-Christopher Clark, London Review of Books “A superb biographical portrait and work of historical analysis…Let us hope that it will serve if not as a manual then at least as an inspiration-good statesmanship is needed more than ever.”-Brendan Simms, Wall Street Journal
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