Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg

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On 2 October 1800, Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg was born at Český Krumlov Castle (German: Böhmisch Krumau) in Bohemia. He was the second son of Prince Joseph of Schwarzenberg (1769–1833) and his wife Pauline of Arenberg. 

His mother died in a fire during a ball on the occasion of Napoleon I's wedding to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. One of his brothers was Archbishop Friedrich zu Schwarzenberg.

Revolution

Upon the outbreak of the 1848 Revolutions, he rushed to theAustrian Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia to join Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky defeating the Italian rebel forces of King Charles Albert of Sardinia in Milan. For his role as a close advisor to Radetzky, as well as his status as brother-in-law to Marshal Prince Alfred of Windisch-Grätz, who had suppressed the Czech "Whitsun Riot" in Prague and the Vienna Uprising in October, Schwarzenberg was appointed Austrian minister-president— the sixth within a year—and foreign minister on 21 November 1848. In these offices, which he both held until his premature death, his first step was to secure the replacement of incapacitated Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria by his nephew Francis Joseph. After heir presumptive Archduke Franz Karl had renounced the succession, Ferdinand abdicated in Olomouc on December 2.

Schwarzenberg formed a new government with conservative politicians  like Interior Minister Count Franz von Stadion but also liberal allies like Baron Alexander von Bach, Karl Ludwig von Bruck and Anton von Schmerling as well as the Bohemian federalist Education Minister Count Leopold von Thun und Hohenstein. Learning from Metternich's fate, Schwarzenberg was determined not only to fight, but overcome revolution. Against the perceptions in the Frankfurt Parliament concerning the German question, he advocated the idea of an Austrian-German federation, including all Austrian crown lands in and outside the German Confederation. He delegitimized the Frankfurt assembly by recalling the Austrian delegates and preempted the federalist ideas of the Austrian Kremsier Parliament with the promulgation of the March Constitution in 1849.

Together with the new Emperor, Schwarzenberg called in the Imperial Russian Army to help suppress the Hungarian revolt, and thus give Austria free rein to attempt to thwart Prussia's drive to dominate Germany. He undid democratic reforms and re-established monarchist control in Austria, with the 1849 March Constitution that transformed the Habsburg Empire into a unitary, centralized state. In matters of German dualism, he was able to impose the Punctation of Olmütz on Prussia, forcing it to abandon,
for the moment, its plan of unifying Germany under its own auspices, and to acquiesce in the reformation of the old German Confederation. At the same time his government initiated substantial administrative, juridical, and educational reforms. 

Death

Schwarzenberg died in office at Vienna, suffering a stroke in the early evening of Monday, April 5, 1852.
Location: Wenen, Oostenrijk

Comments

Vallypee said…
Goodness, so many of these people led such full lives but died so young, Kathleen. An interesting post as always. I'm fascinated by how you find all these personalities to write about. Maybe you could do a blog about that?
October 2, 2022 at 10:49 PM
Kathleen Van Lierop said…
Well, that's a good point of view, Vall! Thank you so much for commenting and give me some time to check it out! Best Wishes Kathleen X
October 5, 2022 at 9:55 PM
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