Friedrich von Beust

Austrian politician

• Born: January 13, 1809
• Birthplace: Dresden, Saxony (now in Germany)
• Died: October 24, 1886
• Place of death: Altenberg Castle, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Austria)

Beust played a leading role from his position in the Saxon government in suppressing the revolutions of 1848 in the German states and in formulating reactionary policies adopted by the governments of those states over the following two decades. First in the Saxon government, then in the Austrian, he was Otto von Bismarck’s most formidable opponent during the Prussian chancellor’s attempt to unify the small German states under the leadership of Prussia. Beust was also the architect of the 1868 political settlement that created the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Early Life

Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust (bewst) was the scion of an aristocratic Saxon family whose members had served the Saxon monarchy for more than three centuries by the time he was born in Dresden on January 13, 1809. His father, an officer in the Saxon court, married the daughter of a Saxon government official just prior to the Napoleonic Wars, which formed the backdrop to Beust’s early life.

When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, the diplomats representing all the nations of Europe gathered in Vienna to establish a new political order in Europe, or, more accurately, to restore insofar as possible the old order that had been destroyed by the French Revolution and Napoleon I. Although there was widespread popular support in the German states for the creation of a nation that would include all German-speaking people, nationalist hopes were frustrated through the machinations of the Austrian representative at the Congress of Vienna, Metternich. The German universities remained hotbeds of support for the unification of the small German states under a liberal, constitutional government until 1819, when Metternich persuaded the leaders of all the German states to suppress the Burchenschaften, the student fraternities in the universities that had been among the most enthusiastic and sometimes violent organizations calling for the unification of Germany. By the time Beust entered the University of Leipzig, the voices of liberalism and nationalism had been legally silenced on German campuses.

Beust’s parents determined that he should pursue the traditional career of his family and sent him to the Universities of Leipzig and Göttingen to study law and government. Accordingly, he entered the University of Leipzig in 1826, when the repressive policies imposed on the German states by Metternich in 1819 were effectively stifling liberal and nationalist ideas. The professors who lectured in Beust’s classes were largely champions of the status quo and critical of liberalism and nationalism. His own opposition to those two powerful forces of the nineteenth century formed during his university years and determined the course of his life.

After completing his studies, Beust entered the Saxon bureaucracy in 1830 and married a Bavarian heiress chosen for him by his parents. He served in various diplomatic capacities in Berlin, Paris, Munich, and London, where he gained a reputation as a capable spokesman for conservatism before assuming the post of Saxon foreign minister in 1849.

Life’s Work

Beust immediately became the most influential member of the Saxon ministry and was primarily responsible for its reactionary policies in 1849. On Beust’s advice, the Saxon king rejected the constitution proclaimed by the Frankfurt Parliament. The parliament, comprising elected representatives from all the German states, came into being as a result of the revolutions of 1848 , which convulsed most of Europe. In 1849, it attempted to promulgate a constitution that would have established a union of all the German states. The government of the new nation would have been a constitutional monarchy with a parliament elected by universal manhood suffrage.

The rejection of the Frankfurt constitution in Saxony led to the outbreak of revolution in the capital city of Dresden. Beust’s first act as foreign minister was to request military assistance from Prussia to suppress the revolutionaries, who included among their numbers Mikhail Bakunin and Richard Wagner . Both men gained considerable prominence in later years and were among Beust’s most outspoken critics. The assistance was quickly forthcoming. Consequently, Beust fell into disrepute with German liberals and nationalists but became the hero of conservatives and reactionaries throughout the German states.

Upon the successful suppression of the revolt, Beust assumed the ministry of education and public worship in addition to his duties as foreign minister. For the next decade and a half, he was the dominant force in the Saxon government. He reorganized the police and used them to crush resistance to the monarchy, including especially student demonstrations at the university. The next year, he overthrew the liberal constitution adopted in Saxony in 1848 and restored the full powers and prerogatives of the monarchy. In 1851, he sided with Austria in that country’s successful effort diplomatically to defeat an effort by Frederick William IV of Prussia to unify the small German states under Prussian leadership. In 1853, Beust assumed the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the post of Minister-President of Saxony in addition to his other duties, making him by far the most powerful individual in the country.

With the domestic situation well in hand, Beust devoted most of his attention to foreign affairs after 1853. He became the leader of the aristocratic faction in the German states that opposed a political or economic unification of Germany. He took the lead in proposing at the Bamberg Conference in 1854 that the small German states should form a closer union among themselves to make them better able to resist pressure from the two great monarchies, Austria and Prussia. Largely through Beust’s efforts, the unification of Germany was delayed for yet another decade.

In 1864, Beust’s policies led him into a direct conflict with the chancellor of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck, who was intent on territorially aggrandizing the state of Prussia at the expense of the small German states. At Bismarck’s urging, the Prussian press began vitriolic denunciations of Beust in that year, condemning him as a “particularist” (one who wished to preserve the independence of the small states within the Germanic Confederation). When Bismarck’s policies of expansion led to war with Austria in 1866, Beust persuaded the Saxon king to side with the Austrians. Beust tried to rescue a disastrous situation after the Austrian defeat at Hradec Kralové by traveling to France and seeking aid from Napoleon III, but his mission failed. He then resigned his post when Bismarck refused to negotiate with him at the ensuing peace conference. It appeared that Beust’s public career was over, but events proved otherwise.

Unexpectedly, Austrian emperor Francis Joseph asked Beust to assume the duties of Austrian foreign minister in December, 1866 (he became minister-president of Austria the following year). The Hungarians had used the opportunity presented by Austria’s defeat at the hands of Prussia to pursue their ancient dream of independence. Beust’s primary responsibility when he assumed his new post was somehow to pacify the Hungarians and preserve the empire intact. The result of Beust’s efforts was the creation of the so-called dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary that in effect granted the Hungarians control of their own domestic affairs but left their foreign policy in the hands of the Habsburg monarchy.

In 1868, Beust was appointed chancellor of the empire and awarded the title of count. He continued to direct the foreign policy of his adopted empire. Initially, he remained adamantly opposed to Bismarck’s ambitions and consequently sought close relations with France. Even after the defeat of the French at the hands of Prussia in 1870-1871 and the proclamation by Bismarck of the German Empire, Beust was unwilling to accept the idea of a unified Germany. When it became obvious that there was nothing he could do to reverse the decision of the war, Beust reluctantly sought a détente with Bismarck, who accepted eagerly, because it meant Austrian recognition of the new German Empire. In July, 1871, Beust announced the agreement to his governments and consummated it with a personal meeting with Bismarck at Gastein the next month.

Later that year, Beust managed to dissuade Franz Joseph from instating a plan to grant greater local autonomy to the various ethnic groups within the empire. Very shortly thereafter, he was relieved of his post as chancellor without explanation. He requested and received appointment as Austrian ambassador to England, in which capacity he served for seven years. In 1878, he was transferred to Paris, where he retired from public life four years later. Beust died at his Altenberg villa, near Vienna, on October 24, 1886.

Significance

Friedrich von Beust was a leading spokesperson for those aristocratic elements in the Germanic Confederation that successfully prevented the democratic unification of the German states in 1848-1849. He was also instrumental in preventing a more authoritarian but still peaceful unification in 1851. Taken together, his successes prepared the way for the creation of the German Empire by force of arms completed under Bismarck’s leadership and the distinctly Prussian and militarist nature of the new state that resulted. In addition, the delaying tactics adopted by Beust and those he represented against the installation of representative, constitutional government exacerbated the class conflicts that convulsed the German states throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and contributed both to the coming of World War I and to the eventual triumph of National Socialism in the first half of the twentieth century.

The opposition of Beust and those he represented to pluralism in the Austrian Empire also had disastrous consequences long after Beust died. The struggle of the various ethnic groups within and without the empire for autonomy or self-determination led directly to the events at Sarajevo in June of 1914 that sparked the outbreak of World War I, with calamitous results for all nations involved. Beust alone did not bring about the apocalyptic events of the first half of the twentieth century. He was, however, a clever and effective champion of the policies that led directly to the catastrophic events that befell the generations of Germans that came after him.

An ancient proverb holds that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Beust’s intentions from his own perspective were good. He intended to preserve intact the institutions of pre-1848 Europe and to crush the twin threats of liberalism and nationalism that would destroy those institutions. His very success paved the road to the modern hell of total war.

Bibliography

Beust, Friedrich von. Memoirs of Friedrich Ferdinand, Count von Beust. Translated by Henry de Worms. 2 vols. London: Remington, 1887. Beust’s memoirs offer a wealth of information about the man and his policies but must be used with great caution because of Beust’s tendencies toward self-glorification and magnification of his own importance in the unfolding of historical events.

Ellis, William Ashton. 1849. London: Remington, 1892. This is the only book-length treatment of the Saxon revolution available in English. Ellis is very critical of Beust’s role in the events of 1849, describing him as the chief culprit in the crushing of liberal democracy in Saxony.

Greenville, J. A. S. Europe Reshaped, 1848-1878. 2d ed. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2000. Beust is mentioned several times in this book, and receives special attention in chapter 17, which examines the unification of Germany.

Kann, Robert A. The Multinational Empire: Nationalism and National Reform in the Habsburg Monarchy 1848-1918. 2 vols. New York: Columbia University Press, 1950. Kann’s book is the most complete account of Beust’s career in the Austrian government. Kann treats Beust kindly and is especially complimentary concerning Beust’s role in the formation of the dual monarchy.

May, Arthur J. The Hapsburg Monarchy, 1867-1914. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1951. May offers a balanced account of Beust’s career in the Austrian government. Beust emerges from May’s pages as an egotistical but competent statesman.

Palmer, Alan. Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph. New York: Grove Press, 1995. This biography of Francis Joseph contains information about the emperor’s relationship with Beust and Beust’s career in the Austrian government.

Taylor, A. J. P. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1809-1918: A History of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary. Rev. ed. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1948. An outstanding account of Beust’s foreign and domestic policies during his career in the Austrian government, including his duel with Bismarck.