POLITICAL AND LEGAL VIEWS OF CLEMENS VON METTERNICH – AUSTRIAN STATESMAN AND DIPLOMAT OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Abstract

The article examines the main aspects of the political, legal and diplomatic activities of the Austrian statesman Clemens von Metternich. The fundamental legal views and principles of Metternich are characterized, and on this basis the conclusion is made that they were closely related to his political philosophy of conservatism and the desire to preserve the traditional monarchical order in Europe after the upheavals of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. The main stages of studying the figure of Metternich and his activities through the prism of the historical political processes of that time are analyzed, the dominant approaches and trends of modern research in historiography on the political and legal activities of Clemens von Metternich are identified. In the historiography of the study of the outlined topic, the main aspects are highlighted into directions, in particular, this is the classical historiography of the 19th century, the traditional historiography of the 20th century, the revisionist wave of the second half of the 20th century, modern historiography is represented by the latest research (the end of the 20th – the 21st centuries). The main directions of modern research and approaches to the study of Metternich as an outstanding political figure and diplomat of 19th-century Austria are described. It is concluded that the evolution of Metternich’s historiography indicates a transition from political moralization to an analytical understanding of his political role. The key role of Clemens Wenzel von Metternich in the organization and work of the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) is examined, which aimed to restore political order in Europe after the defeat of Napoleon. It is concluded that Metternich’s role in the Congress of Vienna was decisive, since he became the architect of post-Napoleonic Europe, creating a political order that ensured relative peace on the continent for almost forty years. It is summarized that Clemens Metternich, from the first years of his political activity, established himself as a skillful and far-sighted diplomat, and Metternich achieved his greatest successes in foreign policy, this was his calling and the pinnacle of his diplomatic career.