Assessment of Metternich

How successful was Metternich in dealing with the principal problems of the Austrian Empire in the period 1815-48?

The first thing which needs to be considered in answering this question is the time period as it plays a vital role. During 1812, Napoleon was defeated after two decades of war, and in 1814, France had been completely defeated as the victorious leaders marched through the streets of Paris. After the French defeat, the main objectives of the leaders who were to decide the faith of Europe were to keep peace and order, and to restore rightful leaders to their throne. In their eyes, the main enemy of these aims was the new ideology of liberalism and nationalism. Metternich was one of these foreign statesmen, representing the Austrian Empire.
When discussing the principal problems of the Austrian Empire, it is important to define what they actually are. To liberalists, nationalists and revolutionaries of the time the actual Austrian Empire was the main problem. They did not want to live centralize to a single huge empire, when they believed that they could do better themselves as a nation on their own. Although these were the views of a new ideology, Metternich and other conservatives saw the opposite. If “nations” or states were to become independent then only chaos would arise from this, instead they sought to bring back order, so that wars like the one of Napoleon would not arise again. They saw it as only natural that people would always be drawn towards disorder and chaos, and it was their job to once again in history restore order.
So, the “principal problems” are actually the forces, which according to conservatives, would bring the downfall of the Austrian Empire, thus the revolutions and demonstrations demanding nationalism and liberalism.
Metternich was deeply involved in trying to repress these ideologies, even though he had limited power due to the emperor, his policies made a great impact on how the peoples of the Austrian Empire would regard themselves and others. To some extent Metternich was also able to repress the revolutions for some time, but in the end his policies turned out fatal to the Austrian Empire.

One example of a successful repression of a revolution is Metternich’s anti-revolutionary crusade in Germany starting 1819, when a student killed a journalist with a political motivation. This was Metternich’s chance to strike down:

“All my efforts are directed towards giving the affairs the best possible sequel and to taking as much advantage of it as possible. I shall act vigorously to this end”, Metternich, 9 April 1819 (P. 49 The Great Powers)

Here Metternich was able to bring the revolutionaries to a decline, and so we can say that he was somewhat successful at times to bring down revolutions through means of repression and force.

However, the opposite can also be argued. That Metternich, by being so forceful and repressive, gave more incentives to nationalistic ideologies. One example is in Hungary, where nationalism was growing. As Metternich opposed all of the Hungarian’s proposals of more independence, Lajos Kossuth became a more and more popular figure. He proposed nationalism and dreamed of Hungary as an independent state, completely separate from the Austrian Empire and was also a very popular figure during the 1848 revolutions. So Metternich’s policies also turned against him at times, the repression made a lot of people hate the Austrian Empire and the crown, and so they turned to the nationalistic and liberalistic ideas offered to them by people of the same identity.

To oppose this problem, Metternich tried to give the different states some sort of identity which would separate them from others, such as traditions, language and culture. Although this seemed like an almost nationalistic attempt, he never gave the states any real independent power. The so called “local Diets” were not actually given any real power, but were there more for show to make people satisfied towards the crown and the Empire. Another motive behind this way of actually encouraging some identity within the states was to make them feel closer ties to the crown, but also to separate them from each other. This idea of “divide and rule” was something which both Metternich and the emperor were familiar with, if they could get the different states to look towards each other as rivals, attention would be turned away from the Austrian Empire itself and so the states could be controlled:

“My people are strange to each other and that is all right. They do not get the same sickness at the same time… The one does not understand the other and one hates the other… From their antipathy will be born order and from the mutual hatreds general peace”, Emperor Francis to French ambassador (p. 50 The Great Powers)

At least this was the idea, however, the diets soon became centers for Empirical opposition, and the states turned their attention towards the Empire anyway. This effort was thus a failure, Metternich had deeply underestimated the growing nationalism and his encouragement to satisfy the regions had only strengthened its foothold. This was one of the worst of all failures which inevitably led to the 1848 revolutions.

To some extent Metternich may have delayed the 1848 revolutions, but also, his actions were at sometimes so inaccurate that they actually encouraged the revolutions. His limited power and the ultra-conservative Emperor Francis also played a vital role in the inevitable downfall, but in the end, Metternich’s policies were doomed to fail. The ruthless repression, at times was successfully restoring order, was however also a failure, as it finally brought on more incentives to strengthen the nationalism and with more extreme leading figures, at the top of the revolutionary ideologies.
The attempt to achieve regional contentment and to separate the states from each other was also a failure, as the encouragement of identity only strengthened the growth of nationalism and the revolutionary ideas against the Empire.
Metternich did not succeed in dealing with the principal problems of the Austrian Empire, and finally, his attempts inevitably led to the 1848 revolutions. Although he can be said to be partially responsible, he had only limited power, and furthermore the civilization can be said to have been at a crucial stage at this time, making it impossible to stop the actual development of society.