Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg
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.
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Revolution
Upon the outbreak of the 1848 Revolutions, he rushed to the
Austrian 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.
Austrian 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.
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.
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.
evening of Monday, April 5, 1852.
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