title: The Sword of Truth

text: Three novels of the series, "Chainfire", "Phantom", and "Confessor", were written as a trilogy called the "Chainfire Trilogy", which brings the story arc concerning Jagang's invasion to an end. After recovering from an injury, Richard wakes up to find Kahlan missing and that no one remembers her existence. Richard discovers that the Sisters of the Dark kidnapped Kahlan and cast the Chainfire spell to erase everyone's memories of her, as well as most of Kahlan's memories of herself. However, Richard's mind was protected from the spell by the Sword of Truth. The Sisters use Kahlan to steal the boxes of Orden from the People's Palace in D'Hara, which they intend to use to unleash their master, the Keeper of the Underworld, into the world of the living. Unbeknownst to the Sisters, Jagang still has access to their minds and knows their plans. Meanwhile, Richard, using an alias, is captured by the Imperial Order, who are making their way to the People's Palace in D'Hara. Kahlan, who has also been captured by Jagang, sees Richard, and although she does not remember him, she feels encouraged to fight on and remember her past. After Richard and Kahlan escape from Jagang, they return to the People's Palace, where Richard defeats the Sisters of the Dark and Jagang. To remove the Chainfire spell, Richard must use the magic of Orden. With that power, he not only restores Kahlan's memories and others' memories of her, he also creates an identical world or parallel universe, to which he banishes all people who refuse to cease their assault on individuality and prosperity. Jennsen and the people of Bandakar voluntarily decide to go to this new world devoid of magic because, if they stayed and bred in Richard's world, magic would eventually die out. Richard then closes the gateway and separates the worlds. The series ends with the marriage of Cara and General Meiffert, and Richard's declaration that the traditional D'Haran devotions are no longer necessary, because everyone's life is their own to live.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: In addition to the novels, Goodkind wrote a short story titled "Debt of Bones" for the 1998 anthology "Legends", edited by Robert Silverberg. It was published as a stand-alone novella in 2001. The story takes place in "The Sword of Truth" universe and is set a few decades before the events in the main series, focusing on the creation of the boundaries that separated Westland, the Midlands, and D'Hara in "Wizard's First Rule".


title: The Sword of Truth

text: Set millennia prior to the main "Sword of Truth" series, "" was initially released on July 15, 2012, as an e-book, then in print in July 2015. "The First Confessor" covers a wide variety of information including the Wizards' War, the creation of the Sword of Truth, Confessors, and information about the damage done to magic with the Temple of the Winds. Terry Goodkind's website refers to the book as the "foundation" of the "Sword of Truth" series.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: On April 2, 2010, a video went up on Terry Goodkind's official site and YouTube channel promoting a new Richard and Kahlan novel that was released on August 16, 2011. "The Omen Machin"e takes place immediately after Confessor, beginning on the night of the wedding of General Benjamin Meiffert and the Mord-Sith Cara. A mysterious machine is found underground and it begins to give predictions, most of which are seemingly benign, but Zedd believes the machine must be destroyed until a prediction is given that scares him to death—one which, if true, will tear apart Richard and Kahlan's life as they know it.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: Published on August 20, 2013, "The Third Kingdom" is the second novel in Goodkind's "Richard and Kahlan" series. Following an attack by the mysterious "half people" of the Dark Lands, Richard and Kahlan find themselves abandoned by their friends. Richard sets out on a quest to save his friends and meets the sinister Bishop Hannis Arc.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: The third novel in the "Richard and Kahlan" series, "Severed Souls", was published on August 5, 2014. Following the events of the previous two books, Richard must find a way to cure Kahlan and himself from the Hedge Maid's stain of death. Meanwhile, Hannis Arc and Emperor Sulachan march toward the heart of D'Hara.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: "Warheart" is the fourth and final entry in the "Richard and Kahlan" series, published November 17, 2015.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: Taking place after the events of the four Richard & Kahlan novels, "The Nicci Chronicles" follow further exploits of former Sister of the Dark, Nicci, & former prophet, Nathan Rahl.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: Released January 24, 2017, "Death's Mistress" is the first entry in the "Nicci Chronicles" series and the 18th novel, chronologically, in the "Sword of Truth" universe. Following the events of "Warheart", Nicci decides to take her leave of Richard and Kahlan for a time. Nathan Rahl chooses to accompany her. They go on a mission to the Dark Lands to visit the witch, Red, who tells them of a vague prophecy that she will save the world. Nicci and Nathan's quest takes them across the known world and deep into a forgotten, unmapped region known as the Phantom Coast. Nicci saves a young sailor named Bannon, who joins them on their quest. Nathan begins to lose control of his magic, seemingly because prophecy itself has been eradicated. The trio crosses the Phantom Coast, fights off Viking-like Norukai and vicious sea monsters, stops a mad judge who froze an entire population with a cursed necklace, meets the last dragon left in the Old World, and discovers an ancient archive of arcane magic.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: "Shroud of Eternity", released January 9, 2018, is the second entry in the "Nicci Chronicles" series and is the 19th novel, chronologically, in the "Sword of Truth" universe. Picking up where "Death's Mistress" left off, Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon find Kol Adair, a mountain pass which leads to a field full of petrified soldiers. Nathan recognizes some of the soldiers' insignias, claiming them to be the army of a General Utros, a powerful military commander who served another would-be despot, Emperor Kurgan, 1,500 years prior. The following night, Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon encounter three strange young men who are destroying the statues. The three men lead them into the city of Ildakar which, an ancient city frozen in time. Recently, the shroud of protective magic around the city has begun to fail. Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon introduce themselves to the Ildakarians as official emissaries of Lord Rahl and begin trying to forge an alliance. They soon learn that Ildakar is a society ruled over by the gifted, who enjoy lavish lifestyles and enslave the ungifted. Prelate Verna Sauventreen and General Zimmer, having returned to Tanimura to lead an excavation of the Palace of the Prophets, decide to assist Nicci and Nathan.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: Released December 31, 2018, "Siege of Stone" is the third entry in the "Nicci Chronicles" and is the 20th novel, chronologically, in the "Sword of Truth" universe. After a joining a slave uprising and overthrowing the leader of Ildakar, Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon begin working to rebuild the city. Commander Maxim, husband of the city's defeated leader, goes missing, and shortly thereafter, General Utros's army of stone soldiers awakens and renews its war on Ildakar in the name of an Emperor long dead. The Norukai King, Grieve, also begins planning assaults on Ildakar and the D'haran Empire, hoping to conquer the world.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: "Heart of Black Ice", released January 21, 2020, is the fourth and final entry in the "Nicci Chronicles" and the 21st Novel, chronologically, in the "Sword of Truth" universe. After Nicci travels north to warn the cities of the Old World of the impending attacks, the leadership of Ildakar betray her and her allies, recreating the Shroud of Eternity and leaving them stranded. As the third Sliph, an emphatic supporter of old Emperor Sulachan, realizes that Nicci is her enemy, she decides to strand her alone in the ruins of the city of Orogang, somewhere in the mountains of the Phantom Coast. Bannon is captured and enslaved by the Norukai and the protagonists' army is vastly outnumbered by Utros's stone soldiers. Utros makes a deal with Grieve to unite their forces and declare war on D'hara.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: In 2019, Terry Goodkind began to release novellas following Richard & Kahlan after the events of "Warheart". Richard promises Kahlan that they would help bring about a new Golden Age for their empire. The People's Palace is suddenly attacked by an amphibian race of beings from another dimension who call themselves the Glee. They wish to hunt man for sport and follow the commands of their queen, known only as the Golden Goddess. They can possess humans and disappear at will but are confused and terrified by magic. The Glee believe that they will no longer have to fear magic if they eliminate Richard's bloodline because he is the most powerful wizard alive. Kahlan learns that she is pregnant with Richard Rahl's children—a pair of fraternal twins.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: In July 2006, Goodkind announced on his official website that he had entered into negotiations with "The Evil Dead" and "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi and producer Rob Tapert to bring "The Sword of Truth" to life as a TV live-action weekly series. According to the article, Raimi, Tapert and Joshua Donen planned to begin work on the "Wizard's First Rule" live-action weekly series in May 2008. Raimi & Tapert also wanted Goodkind to remain intimately involved with the project. The show was renamed "Legend of the Seeker" because the producers wanted to be able to continue the series beyond the first book, and they felt the title "Wizard's First Rule" was too restrictive. It premiered on November 1, 2008.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: There are significant differences between the events of the novels and those of the series. In a February 2008 letter addressed to the fans, Terry Goodkind wrote, "The nature of TV syndication requires that each week's episode be a story in itself, meaning that while the TV series will follow the background story of the book, it will not be able to follow the book exactly because there would be parts that would make an incomplete episode." He later confirmed: Sam Raimi and his team want to keep the TV series true to my vision, so rest assured that I am going to be intimately involved in the writing of each of the episodes. If you love the book just the way it is, then enjoy the book for what it is and come to the TV series prepared to enjoy the show for what it is.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: A thread woven through the original series are the 11 "Wizard's Rules", which are practical teachings given to young wizards. The first rule appears in Wizard's First Rule. Further rules are mentioned on occasion, afterwards.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: Throughout the series, various magical creatures & beings were brought up, or made appearances. Some of them were from actual mythology, others were fictionalized by the author & others were based on existing mythology, but with unique twists in the original idea.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: First appearance—The Children of D'hara 1: The Scribbly Man; Last appearance—The Children of D'hara 5: Into Darkness


title: The Sword of Truth

text: First appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Shroud if Eternity; Last appearance—The Nicci Chronicles; Heart of Black Ice


title: The Sword of Truth

text: First appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Death's Mistress; Last appearance—The Nicci Chronicles: Heart of Black Ice


title: The Sword of Truth

text: First appearance—The Children of D'hara 3: Wasteland; Last appearance—The Children of D'hara 4: Witch's Oath


title: The Sword of Truth

text: Various magical relics, artifacts and powers come up throughout the series as well. These are explained below.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: The novel series frequently enters lists of top fantasy novels. In 2011, an NPR poll of 60,000 readers from among 5,000 fantasy novels nominated, found the series as the 62nd most popular fantasy/science fiction novel of all time. The series has an average rating of roughly four stars on Goodreads, with some of the novels having received thousands of reviews.


title: The Sword of Truth

text: The influence of Goodkind's political philosophy in his writing has been noted by reviewers and commentators and has led to divisive reactions about his novels, with some criticizing their Objectivist themes and others praising them. Goodkind himself was open about this influence and was described as an invigorating contrarian who enjoyed stirring up controversy. He has been criticized for writing female characters who adhere to sexist stereotypes and for frequently subjecting them to sexual violence, though he stated his stories were centered on "strong female characters" and once objected to a book cover he considered sexist.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: The 1980 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1979–80 season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 2.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the league's MVP, but midway through Game 5, the Lakers center suffered a severely sprained ankle. He managed to come back in the game in the fourth quarter to lead the Lakers to victory and a 3–2 lead in the best-of-seven series. But the Lakers still had to travel to Philadelphia for Game 6. Abdul-Jabbar was listed as out of Game 6, although 76ers coach Billy Cunningham was quoted as saying "I won't believe he's not playing until their plane lands and he's not on it." As it turned out, Kareem did not make the trip and was listed as doubtful if Game 7 had been needed.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: In Game 6, Magic Johnson played what may have been the greatest game of his career. Playing on the road, Johnson (a 6'9" rookie point guard) started the game at center and eventually played all five positions in a dominating performance. Scoring a game-high 42 points and grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds—and handing out seven assists— Johnson led the Lakers to the NBA crown. The Lakers also received strong performances from Jamaal Wilkes with 37 points and 10 rebounds, and Norm Nixon. Jim Chones played strong defense on 76ers center Darryl Dawkins, while Mark Landsberger provided rebounding off the bench, and little used Brad Holland chipped in eight key points.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Magic Johnson's performance in Game 6 and the series earned him the 1980 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP). What made Johnson's performance even more remarkable was that he was an NBA rookie—and, indeed, one who had left college after only two years, and was only 20 years old. "Jamaal Wilkes had an unbelievable game", said Johnson in 2011. "Everybody talked about my 42 [points], but it was also his [37-point effort]."


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: In Game 4 of the 1980 Finals, Julius Erving executed the legendary Baseline Move, a behind-the-board reverse layup that seemed to defy gravity. Play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger has noted that Erving made such moves almost routinely in his ABA days—but the ABA had no national TV contract in those days. This Game 4 move, played to a national audience in a title game, has probably become Julius Erving's most famous move.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: The last time the Lakers had won the NBA championship was in 1972. In the eight years between championships, the Lakers made the NBA Finals again in 1973 and lost to the New York Knicks in five games. Then Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West retired, and the Lakers missed the playoffs in 1975 and 1976. In between, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was acquired, and the Lakers returned to prominence in 1977, but Kareem couldn't do it alone.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: The Lakers earned the top pick of the 1979 NBA draft (traded as compensation by the New Orleans Jazz after signing Gail Goodrich in 1976) and selected Magic Johnson from Michigan State. It was one of then-owner Jack Kent Cooke's final acts before selling the team to Jerry Buss during that summer. While Magic dazzled in his rookie season, Kareem would enjoy an MVP campaign in the Lakers' 60–22 regular season. The Lakers began the season being coached by Jack McKinney as owner Jerry Buss, who had recently acquired the team, wanted games to be entertaining, and hired the coach to install a running offense. On November 8, 1979, the Lakers were 9–4 after 13 games, when McKinney suffered a near fatal head injury after falling while bicycling. Assistant coach Paul Westhead, who also worked under McKinney at St. Joseph's, was named the interim head coach. However, the length of the recovery and lingering doubts about the complete return of McKinney's mental faculties, combined with the team's level of success under Westhead, ultimately meant that McKinney would never get the chance to return to the job. Westhead continued to use McKinney's offense, a creative and spontaneous offense that came to be known as Showtime, and the team finished the season with a record of 60–22. The Lakers advanced to that year's NBA Finals and McKinney was fired by Buss mid-series on May 13, 1980. After the Lakers won the series for their first of five NBA titles in nine seasons, Buss hired Westhead to permanently replace McKinney.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Behind Johnson's passing, Abdul-Jabbar's post play and Michael Cooper's perimeter shooting and defense, the trio formed the core of the Lakers' Showtime-era teams. The chemistry between the three was evident early on, as the Lakers eliminated the Phoenix Suns and defending champions Seattle SuperSonics in a pair of five-game playoff series to advance to the NBA Finals.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Julius Erving arrived before the 1976–77 season, and with him as the focal point of the offense, the 76ers soon transformed into a title contender. But after losing to the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1977 NBA Finals, the 76ers realized that a fancy and one-on-one style of play will not take them all the way. Thus they hired former player Billy Cunningham as head coach, and in 1978 the team traded for defensive stalwart Bobby Jones and drafted Maurice Cheeks, while letting go players such as George McGinnis and World B. Free.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: In the 1979–80 season the 76ers finished 59–23, two games behind the Boston Celtics in the Atlantic Division. In the playoffs, they eliminated the Washington Bullets in two games, and the Atlanta Hawks in five games. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the 76ers faced NBA Rookie of the Year Award winner Larry Bird and the 61–win Celtics, and owing to the core's three consecutive playoff appearances, the more experienced 76ers were favored to win the series. Proving the prognosticators right, Philadelphia won in five games, preventing the first Celtics–Lakers final since 1969.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: The 76ers were the first of the four Philadelphia professional sports teams to play for their respective sports' championships in the 1980 season. The Flyers lost the Stanley Cup Finals against the New York Islanders in overtime of Game 6, eight days after the 76ers fell to the Lakers in their Game 6. The Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals, themselves in six games, in the World Series. The Eagles lost Super Bowl XV to the Oakland Raiders in January 1981.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Of note, this marked the first of the ten NBA Finals played in the 1980s, all of which featured either the Boston Celtics or the Los Angeles Lakers (three Finals featured both teams).


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, playing on a mission and finally with an effective supporting cast around him, scored 33 points, pulled down 14 rebounds, and had six blocks and five assists on the way to a 109–102 win in the Forum. Norm Nixon had 23 points and Jamaal Wilkes finished with 20 while the Lakers did an excellent job double-teaming Julius Erving. Rookie Magic Johnson contributed 16 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar continued to dominate, with 38 points in Game 2. But, this time, he got very little help as the Laker break never got going.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Julius Erving scored 12 points in the first quarter on his way to 23, beginning the game with a dunk over Abdul-Jabbar. Maurice Cheeks matched Erving's total of 23 points, while Bobby Jones added 13 off the bench. The key was Darryl Dawkins, who had one of his best games of the season by scoring 25 points, many of them on outside shots trying to draw Abdul-Jabbar away from the basket.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: The Sixers led by as much as 20 in the fourth period, but the Lakers roared back, trimming the lead to 105–104 late in the game. Then, Jones popped in a jumper with seven seconds left, and that was enough for a 107–104 Philly win that tied the series at a game apiece.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: With a split in L.A., the Sixers were hoping to take command of the series with the next two games in Philadelphia. The Lakers, however, ended those hopes by taking a 15-point lead in the first quarter. Julius Erving led a short comeback in the second, but a 9–0 run by the Lakers extended their lead to 14 at the half.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once again had a big game with 33 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and three assists as the Lakers cruised to a 111–101 win. Julius Erving scored the only three-pointer of the series (and first in NBA Finals history) in this game.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: This game was a nip-and-tuck affair that was highlighted by Julius Erving's signature "Baseline Move" in the fourth quarter. The Sixers went on to even the series with a 105–102 win. Darryl Dawkins led the Sixers with 26 points and Erving added 23.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Back at the Forum, the Lakers held a two-point lead late in the third quarter when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stepped on Lionel Hollins' foot as he was running upcourt after a Laker basket and twisted his ankle. At that point, Kareem had scored 26 points and was carrying the Lakers, but now he was in the locker room. Magic Johnson then asserted himself by scoring six points and added an assist as Los Angeles moved up by eight at the end of the third.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Abdul-Jabbar then limped back onto the floor. His appearance aroused the Forum regulars and, despite the bad ankle, scored 11 points and had two key blocked shots down the stretch. The Sixers, however, had Julius Erving who scored 11 of the Sixers last 13 points to complete an 8-point comeback, and tie the game at 103–103 with only 43 seconds remaining.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: On the Lakers possession, Darryl Dawkins was trying to front Abdul-Jabbar but to no avail as Magic threw a pass overhead so only Erving stood between Kareem and the basket. Abdul-Jabbar, bad ankle and all, dunked emphatically over Erving and drew the foul with 33 seconds left. He converted the 3-point play to take a 106–103 lead.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: After a timeout, the Sixers put the ball in the hands of Erving, who tried a spectacular, scooping finger-roll, but missed. Magic got the rebound to seemingly seal the win, but the Lakers tried to force the fast-break and ended up turning the ball over, out-of-bounds. However, the Sixers turned the ball right back over by stepping out of bounds on a desperation 3-point attempt. Norm Nixon would finally seal the game at the foul line by making both of his foul shots. The victory gave the Lakers the crucial 3–2 series lead heading back to Philadelphia.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 14 point 4th quarter on a bad ankle capped an overall 40-point performance. After Game 5 Abdul-Jabbar was averaging 33.4 points per game as compared to eventual MVP Magic Johnson's 17.4.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: The Lakers' team doctors declared Abdul-Jabbar and his bad ankle unfit for Game 6 (he wasn't even allowed to make the trip to Philadelphia with the team because of the swelling), so Laker coach Paul Westhead made a bold move by asking Magic Johnson to jump center. Johnson had no problem and was up to the challenge, although he would lose the famous opening tip to Caldwell Jones. Early on, the Sixers seemed unsure how to counter the matchup problem. The Lakers went up 7–0, then 11–4. Finally, the Sixers used their newfound size advantage in the second quarter to take a 52–44 lead. The Lakers countered by collapsing more in the paint and rallied for a 60–60 tie at the half.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Los Angeles opened the third period with a 14–0 run, keyed by Jamaal Wilkes, who had 16 points in the quarter. In the fourth with a little over five minutes left, the Sixers rallied to cut the Laker lead to 103–101. After a timeout, the Lakers went on one last run, with Magic scoring nine points down the stretch on the way to a final 123–107 margin.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Wilkes had a career-high 37 points and added 10 rebounds. Jim Chones effectively shut down the middle in place of Abdul-Jabbar and finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and held Darryl Dawkins to 14 points and a scant four rebounds. Michael Cooper, in a rare start, scored 16 points, and Mark Landsberger contributed 10 boards.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: Magic Johnson scored 42 points, including all 14 of his free-throw attempts. He added 15 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and a block and was elected MVP of the series. "It was amazing, just amazing", said Erving, who led Philly with 27 points.


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: The series-deciding Game 6 became the most notorious example of CBS's practice of showing even the most important NBA games on "tape delay" broadcasts. Because May 16, 1980, was a Friday, the network did not want to preempt its two highest-rated shows, "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Dallas", even though both shows were already in reruns: the 1979–80 TV season had ended early, back in March ("Dukes" and "Dallas" both aired their season finale March 21), in anticipation of a strike that summer by the Screen Actors Guild. So Game 6 was shown at 11:30pm Eastern (10:30pm Central) in all but eight US cities: Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento and Reno, who carried it live; all but Philadelphia are located in the Pacific Time Zone, thus could show the game live at 6 p.m. local time, then carry CBS's prime time lineup, delayed by a few minutes for the ending of the game. In Atlanta, the CBS affiliate didn't show Game 6 at all, bumping it to independent station WATL-TV, who at least carried the contest live. (This is often cited as an example of TV's lack of interest in the NBA in the "pre-Magic and Bird" era.)


title: 1980 NBA Finals

text: The 1980 Finals would mark the last play-by-play assignment for Brent Musburger, who was joined on color commentary by Utah Jazz play-by-play announcer Hot Rod Hundley and Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell. Musburger would remain involved with CBS' NBA coverage until 1989, but his duties for later NBA Finals were as a studio host, though he continued to call play-by-play on various occasions.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: Disintegration is the eighth studio album by English rock band the Cure, released on 2 May 1989 by Fiction Records. The record marks a return to the introspective gothic rock style the band had established in the early 1980s. As he neared the age of 30, vocalist and guitarist Robert Smith had felt an increased pressure to follow up on the band's pop successes with a more enduring work. This, coupled with a distaste for the group's newfound popularity, caused Smith to lapse back into the use of hallucinogenic drugs, the effects of which had a strong influence on the production of the album. The band recorded the album at Hookend Recording Studios in Checkendon, Oxfordshire, with co-producer David M. Allen from late 1988 to early 1989. Following the completion of the mixing, founding member Lol Tolhurst was fired from the band.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: The album became the band's first commercial peak, charting at number three in the United Kingdom and at number 12 in the United States, and producing several hit singles including "Lovesong", which peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It remains the band's highest selling record to date, with more than four million copies sold worldwide. It was greeted with a warm critical reception before later being acclaimed, eventually being placed at number 116 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it the "culmination of all the musical directions the Cure were pursuing over the course of the '80s".


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: The Cure's second album "Seventeen Seconds" (1980) established it as a prominent gothic rock band, which would be followed up by "Faith" (1981), and "Pornography" (1982). Three singles were released during 1982 and 1983 that were a significant divergence in style; essentially, pop hits. "The Love Cats" became the band's first single to infiltrate the top ten in the United Kingdom, peaking at number seven. This shift is attributed to Smith's frustration over the band's labelling as a predictable gothic rock band: "My reaction to all those people ... was to make a demented and calculated song like 'Let's Go to Bed'." Following the return of guitarist Porl Thompson and bassist Simon Gallup and the addition of drummer Boris Williams in 1984, Smith and keyboardist Lol Tolhurst continued to integrate more pop-oriented themes with the release of the group's sixth studio album "The Head on the Door" (1985). With the singles "In-Between Days" and "Close to Me", the band became a viable commercial force in the United States for the first time.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: The band's 1987 double album "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" resulted in further commercial success, with a sold-out world tour booked in its wake. Despite the international success the band was now enjoying, internal friction was increasing due to Tolhurst's increasing alcoholism at the time. Keyboardist Roger O'Donnell (who had recently been touring with The Psychedelic Furs), was soon hired as a second touring keyboardist. As Tolhurst's alcohol consumption increased, the other band members would tease Tolhurst, leading Smith to later comment that his behaviour was similar to that of "some kind of handicapped child being constantly poked with a stick". At the end of the Kissing Tour in support of the album, Smith became uncomfortable with the side effects of being a pop star and moved to Maida Vale (in West London) with fiancée Mary Poole. Regularly taking LSD to cope with his depression, Smith once again felt the band was being misunderstood and sought to return to its dark side with their next record.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: Smith's depression prior to the recording of "Disintegration" gave way to the realization on his 29th birthday that he would turn 30 in one year. This realization was frightening to him, as he felt all the masterpieces in rock and roll had been completed well before the band members reached such an age. Smith consequently began to write music without the rest of the band. The material he had written instantly took a dismal, depressing form, which he credited to "the fact that I was gonna be thirty". The band convened at Boris Williams' home and compared their individual demos that each member recorded, and they rated them '1 to 10', then the group met later at a second session and recorded a total of 32 songs at Williams' house with a 16-track recorder by the end of the summer. Of these 32 songs, 12 would make it onto the final album.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: When the band entered Hook End Manor Studios, their attitude had turned sour towards Tolhurst's escalating alcohol abuse, although Smith insisted that his displeasure was caused by a meltdown in the face of recording the band's career-defining album and reaching 30. Displeased with the swollen egos he believed his bandmates possessed, Smith entered what he considered to be "one of my non-talking modes" deciding "I would be monk-like and not talk to anyone. It was a bit pretentious really, looking back, but I actually wanted an environment that was slightly unpleasant". He sought to abandon the mood present on "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" and the pop singles they had released, and rather recreate the atmosphere of the band's fourth album "Pornography" (1982). Despite the serious subject matter of the album, O'Donnell commented in 2009 that the atmosphere in the studio was still upbeat during the sessions: "I remember very clearly laughing and joking and fooling around in the control room while Robert was singing 'Disintegration', and then all of us trying to be serious when he came in to listen back.[...] It was never a serious atmosphere in the studio, and when you think about the album and how dark it is, I'm sure people think we were sitting around slitting our wrists with candles and chains hanging from the walls."


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: While Tolhurst had contributed to the foundation of the song "Homesick" (according to O'Donnell), his musical contributions to the album were marginal as his alcohol abuse rendered him more or less incapable of recording. The other members, finally, threatened to quit if Tolhurst was not fired before the end of the recording session. When Tolhurst arrived to the mixing of the album, and then became excessively drunk, a shouting match ensued and he left the building furious; three weeks later, Smith decided to terminate his tenure with the band prior to the band's upcoming tour. It was during this period that O'Donnell was asked by Smith to become a full-time member, instead of simply a touring musician. Despite Tolhurst's ejection from the group, Smith told "NME" in April 1989, "He'll probably be back by Christmas. He's getting married, maybe that's his comeback." Tolhurst did in fact briefly reunite with the band in 2011 during the Reflection tour.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: "Disintegration" was Smith's thematic return to a dark and gloomy aesthetic that the Cure had explored in the early 1980s. Smith deliberately sought to record an album that was depressing, as it was a reflection of the despondency he felt at the time. The sound of the album was a shock to the band's American label Elektra Records; the label requested Smith shift the release date back several months. Smith recalled "they thought I was being 'wilfully obscure', which was an actual quote from the letter [Smith received from Elektra]. Ever since then I realised that record companies don't have a fucking clue what The Cure does and what The Cure means." Despite rumours that Smith was one of the only contributors to the record, he confirmed that more than half of the dozen tracks on "Disintegration" had substantial musical input from the rest of the band.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: "Disintegration" is characterized by a significant usage of synthesizers and keyboards, slow, "droning" guitar progressions and Smith's introspective vocals. "Plainsong", the album's opener, "set the mood for "Disintegration" perfectly", according to biographer Jeff Apter, by "unravelling ever so slowly in a shower of synths and guitars, before Smith steps up to the mic, uttering snatches of lyrics ('I'm so cold') as if he were reading from something as sacred as the Dead Sea Scroll." Smith felt the song was a perfect opener for the record, describing it as "very lush, very orchestral". The album's third track, "Closedown", contains layers of keyboard texture complemented with a slow, gloomy guitar line. The track was written by Smith as a means to list his physical and artistic shortcomings. Despite the dark mood present throughout "Disintegration", "Lovesong" was an upbeat track that became a hit in the United States. Ned Raggett of AllMusic noted the difference from other songs: "the Simon Gallup/Boris Williams rhythm section create a tight, serviceable dance groove, while Smith and Porl Thompson add further guitar fills and filigrees as well, adding just enough extra bite to the song. Smith himself delivers the lyric softly, with gentle passion."


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: Much of the album made use of a considerable amount of guitar effects. "Prayers for Rain", a depressing track (Raggett noted: "the phrase 'savage torpor' probably couldn't better be applied anywhere else than to this song") sees Thompson and Smith "treating their work to heavy-duty flanging, delay, backwards-run tapes and more to set the slow, moody crawl of the track." Others, like the title track, are notable for "Smith's commanding lead guitar lines [that are] scaled to epic heights while at the same time buried in the mix, almost as if they're trying to burst from behind the upfront rhythm assault. Roger O'Donnell's keyboards add both extra shade and melody, while Smith's singing is intentionally delivered in a combination of cutting clarity and low resignation, at times further distorted with extra vocal treatments."


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: While the album mainly consists of sombre tracks, "Lovesong", "Pictures of You" and "Lullaby" were equally popular for their accessibility. Smith wanted to create a balance on the album by including songs that would act as an equilibrium with those that were unpleasant. Smith wrote "Lovesong" as a wedding present for Mary Poole. The lyrics had a noticeably different mood than the rest of the record, but Smith felt it was an integral component of the album: "It's an open show of emotion. It's not trying to be clever. It's taken me ten years to reach the point where I feel comfortable singing a very straightforward love song." The lyrics were a notable shift in his ability to reveal affection. In the past, Smith felt it necessary to disguise or mask such a statement. He noted that without "Lovesong", "Disintegration" would have been radically different: "That one song, I think, makes many people think twice. If that song wasn't on the record, it would be very easy to dismiss the album as having a certain mood. But throwing that one in sort of upsets people a bit because they think, 'That doesn't fit'." "Pictures of You", while upbeat, contained poignant lyrics ("Screamed at the make-believe/Screamed at the sky/You finally found all your courage to let it all go") with a "two-chord cascade of synthesizer slabs, interweaving guitar and bass lines, passionate singing and romantic lyrics." "Lullaby" is composed of what Apter calls "sharp stabs" of rhythmic guitar chords with Smith whispering the words. The premise for the song came to Smith after remembering lullabies his father would sing him when he could not sleep: "[My father] would always make them up. There was always a horrible ending. They would be something like 'sleep now, pretty baby or you won't wake up at all.'"


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: "Disintegration" was released on 2 May 1989 and peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart, the highest position the band had placed on the chart at that point. In the UK, the lead single "Lullaby" became the Cure's highest-charting hit in their home country when it reached number five. In the US, due to its appearance in the film "Lost Angels", the band's American label Elektra Records released "Fascination Street" as the first single. The international follow-up single to "Lullaby", "Lovesong", became the Cure's highest-charting hit in the United States, when it reached number two on the "Billboard" charts. The success of "Disintegration" was such that the March 1990 final single "Pictures of You" reached number 24 on the British charts, despite the fact that the album had been released a year earlier. "Disintegration" was certified silver (60,000 copies shipped) in the United Kingdom, and by 1992 had sold more than three million copies worldwide.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: In a contemporary review for "Rolling Stone", music critic Michael Azerrad gave the album three-and-a-half out of five stars and felt that, "while "Disintegration" doesn't break new ground for the band, it successfully refines what the Cure does best". He concluded, "Despite the title, "Disintegration" hangs together beautifully, creating and sustaining a mood of thoroughly self-absorbed gloom. If, as Smith has hinted, the Cure itself is about to disintegrate, this is a worthy summation." "Melody Maker" reviewer Chris Roberts dismissed the claims that "Disintegration" was not a miserable record and, noting the tone of the album and its lack of melody ("You'll be lucky to find a tune on here. Or a gag"), he commented that "The Cure have almost invisibly stopped making pop records". Roberts summarised the album as "challenging and claustrophobic, often poignant, often tedious. It's nearly surprising." "NME" praised "Disintegration" for its tunes, "from the first track 'Plainsong', a swaying, slow narrative, paralysing the listener with sex-poison, to "Disintegration"'s last 'Untitled' Smith's lyrical agony of indecision is remorseless". Reviewer Barbara Ellen noted the large range of emotions in Smith's lyrics, "from deep, loving pink to an ugly, violent maroon and almost back again". Although she found the two extra-tracks superfluous, Ellen hailed "Disintegration" as "a mindblowing and stunningly complete album". "Q" gave the album a three-star rating out of five, mainly comparing it to Joy Division's work. Writer Mat Snow observed: "The Cure have studied well the art of the tragic bass line, the hesitant and melancholy guitar lick, the funereal keyboard coloration". He concluded: ""Disintegration" is thus well-crafted [...], just don't tell me it's original". Robert Christgau of "The Village Voice" gave the album a "C+" grade and felt that Smith attempts to appease a larger audience by broadening "gothic clichés" and "pumping his bad faith and bad relationship into depressing moderato play-loud keyb anthems far more tedious than his endless vamps".


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave "Disintegration" four-and-a-half out of five stars, and applauded the band by saying, "The Cure's gloomy soundscapes have rarely sounded so alluring [and] the songs – from the pulsating, ominous 'Fascination Street' to the eerie, string-laced 'Lullaby' – have rarely been so well-constructed and memorable." Erlewine went on to praise "Disintegration" for being "darkly seductive", and "a hypnotic, mesmerizing record". "Pitchfork" praised the record, admitting ""Disintegration" stands unquestionably as Robert Smith's magnum opus." Writer Chris Ott noted that "scant few albums released in the 1980s can boast an opener as grand as 'Plainsong', the most breathtaking, shimmering anthem the band ever recorded."


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: "Disintegration" has been included in numerous "best of" lists. In 2000 it was voted number 94 in Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums". "Rolling Stone" placed the record at number 326 on its 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", maintaining the ranking in the 2012 update, and raising it to number 116 in the 2020 reboot of the list. The magazine's German counterpart placed "Disintegration" at number 184 on the same list. The album was considered to be the best album of 1989 by "Melody Maker", 17th on "Q" magazine's "40 Best Albums of the '80s", and 38th on "Pitchfork"s "Best Albums of the 80s". The album placed at number 14 in "Entertainment Weekly"'s "New Classics: The 100 Best Albums from 1983 to 2008." In 2012, "Slant Magazine" listed the album at number 15 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s". In a 2001 article in "Rolling Stone", readers selected "Disintegration" as number 9 in the "10 Best Albums of the Eighties". The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". "Paste" named the album at tenth in their list "The 50 Best New Wave Albums."


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: In the "South Park" episode "Mecha-Streisand", Kyle Broflovski called it "the best album ever"; the show's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are fans of the Cure, and had got Smith to voice himself in this episode. The album plays a role in the climax of the 2015 Marvel film "Ant-Man", as "Plainsong" plays when an iPhone's Siri mishears a character saying "I'm going to disintegrate you"; director Peyton Reed said that "It's such an epic song that it transcended the joke", and that "Disintegration" was the second album he ever bought.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: Following completion of "Disintegration", Smith noted that the Cure had "despite my best efforts, actually become everything that I didn't want us to become: a stadium rock band." Furthermore, Smith claimed the album's title was the most appropriate one he could think of: "Most of the relationship with the band outside of the band fell apart. Calling it "Disintegration" was kind of tempting fate, and fate retaliated. The family idea of the group really fell apart too after "Disintegration". It was the end of a golden period."


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: The Prayer Tour began in Europe shortly after the release of the album. The band performed numerous high-profile concerts, including shows in front of more than 40,000 fans over two nights in Paris and their first performances in Eastern Europe. Following the European leg, the band elected to travel to North America for their upcoming US leg by boat, instead of plane. Smith and Gallup shared a fear of flight, and ultimately lamented the upcoming dates, wishing to reduce the number of concerts they booked. The record label and tour promoters strongly disagreed, and even proposed to add several new shows to the itinerary because of the success of "Disintegration" in the US. The first concert in the United States was at New Jersey's Giants Stadium, where 44,000 people attended; 30,000 tickets were purchased on the first day alone. Pixies and Love and Rockets were the special guests on the biggest concerts of that tour, in addition to the support act Shelleyan Orphan which was present on all the dates. The Cure were extremely displeased with the massive turnout; according to O'Donnell: "We had been at sea for five days. The stadium was too big for us to take it all in. We've decided that we don't like playing stadiums that large." Smith recalls that "it was never our intention to become as big as this".


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: The band's show at Los Angeles's Dodger Stadium attracted roughly 50,000 attendees, grossing over US$1.5 million. The band's notably greater popularity in the United States—virtually every concert in the leg was sold out—caused Smith to break down, and threatened the band's future: "It's reached a stage where I personally can't cope with it," he said, "so I've decided this is the last time we're gonna tour." Backstage, there were ongoing feuds between band members owing to the strife caused by Smith. He recalled that towards the end of the tour "I was tearing my hair out ... It was just a difficult tour." Cocaine use was prevalent, and only ended up distancing Smith from his fellow band members.


title: Disintegration (The Cure album)

text: Upon returning to the United Kingdom in early October, Smith wanted nothing more to do with recording, promoting and touring for an album. In 1990, "Lullaby" won Best Music Video of 1989 at the Brit Awards. The Cure also released a live album titled "Entreat" (1991), which compiled songs entirely off "Disintegration" from their performance at Wembley Arena, and despite claims that the Cure would never tour again, Smith accepted an invitation to headline the Glastonbury Festival. O'Donnell, after two years with the group, left to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by the band's guitar technician Perry Bamonte. Smith, who was influenced by the acid house movement that had exploded in London that summer, released a predominantly electronic remix album, "Mixed Up", in 1990.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein (15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternich, was a conservative Austrian statesman and diplomat who was at the center of the European balance of power known as the Concert of Europe for three decades as the Austrian Empire's foreign minister from 1809 and Chancellor from 1821 until the liberal Revolutions of 1848 forced his resignation.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Born into the House of Metternich in 1773 as the son of a diplomat, Metternich received a good education at the universities of Strasbourg and Mainz. Metternich rose through key diplomatic posts, including ambassadorial roles in the Kingdom of Saxony, the Kingdom of Prussia, and especially Napoleonic France. One of his first assignments as Foreign Minister was to engineer a détente with France that included the marriage of Napoleon to the Austrian archduchess Marie Louise. Soon after, he engineered Austria's entry into the War of the Sixth Coalition on the Allied side, signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau that sent Napoleon into exile and led the Austrian delegation at the Congress of Vienna that divided post-Napoleonic Europe amongst the major powers. For his service to the Austrian Empire, he was given the title of Prince in October 1813. Under his guidance, the "Metternich system" of international congresses continued for another decade as Austria aligned itself with Russia and to a lesser extent Prussia. This marked the high point of Austria's diplomatic importance and thereafter Metternich slowly slipped into the periphery of international diplomacy. At home, Metternich held the post of Chancellor of State from 1821 until 1848 under both Francis I and his son Ferdinand I. After a brief exile in London, Brighton, and Brussels that lasted until 1851, he returned to the Viennese court, only this time to offer advice to Ferdinand's successor, Franz Josef. Having outlived his generation of politicians, Metternich died at the age of 86 in 1859.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: A traditional conservative, Metternich was keen to maintain the balance of power, particularly by resisting Russian territorial ambitions in Central Europe and the Ottoman Empire. He disliked liberalism and strove to prevent the breakup of the Austrian Empire, for example, by crushing nationalist revolts in Austrian northern Italy. At home, he pursued a similar policy, using censorship and a wide-ranging spy network to suppress unrest. Metternich has been both praised and heavily criticized for the policies he pursued. His supporters pointed out that he presided over the "Austrian system" when international diplomacy helped prevent major wars in Europe. His qualities as a diplomat were commended, some noting that his achievements were considerable in light of the weakness of his negotiating position. Meanwhile, his detractors argued that he could have done much to secure Austria's future, and he was deemed a stumbling block to reforms in Austria. Metternich was also a supporter of the arts, taking a particular interest in music; He knew some of the most eminent composers in Europe at the time including Haydn, Beethoven, Rossini, Liszt and Strauss.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Klemens Metternich was born into the House of Metternich on 15 May 1773 to Franz Georg Karl Count of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein, a diplomat who had passed from the service of the Archbishopric of Trier to that of the Imperial court, and his wife Countess Maria Beatrix Aloisia von . He was named in honour of Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, the archbishop-elector of Trier and the past employer of his father. He was the eldest son and had one older sister Pauline (1772–1855), wife of Duke Ferdinand of Württemberg. At the time of his birth, the family possessed a ruined keep at Beilstein, a castle at Winneberg, an estate west of Koblenz, and another in Königswart, Bohemia, won during the 17th century. At this time Metternich's father, described as "a boring babbler and chronic liar" by a contemporary, was the Austrian ambassador to the courts of the three Rhenish electors (Trier, Cologne and Mainz). Metternich's education was handled by his mother, heavily influenced by their proximity to France; Metternich spoke French better than German. As a child he went on official visits with his father and, under the direction of Protestant tutor John Frederick Simon, was tutored in academic subjects, swimming, and horsemanship.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: In the summer of 1788, Metternich began studying law at the University of Strasbourg, matriculating on 12 November. While a student he was for some time accommodated by Prince Maximilian of Zweibrücken, the future King of Bavaria. At this time he was described by Simon as "happy, handsome and lovable", though contemporaries would later recount how he had been a liar and a braggart. Metternich left Strasbourg in September 1790 to attend Leopold II's October coronation in Frankfurt, where he performed the largely honorific role of Ceremonial Marshall to the Catholic Bench of the College of the Counts of Westphalia. There, under the wing of his father, he met with the future Francis II and looked at ease among the attendant nobility.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Between the end of 1790 and summer of 1792 Metternich studied law at the University of Mainz, receiving a more conservative education than at Strasbourg, a city unsafe to return to. In the summers he worked with his father, who had been appointed plenipotentiary and effective ruler of the Austrian Netherlands. In March 1792 Francis succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor and was crowned in July, affording Metternich a reprise of his earlier role of Ceremonial Marshall. In the meantime France had declared war on Austria, beginning the War of the First Coalition (1792–7) and making Metternich's further study in Mainz impossible. Now in the employment of his father, he was sent on a special mission to the front. Here he led the interrogation of the French Minister of War the Marquis de Beurnonville and several accompanying National Convention commissioners. Metternich observed the siege and fall of Valenciennes, later looking back on these as substantial lessons about warfare. In early 1794 he was sent to England, ostensibly on official business helping Viscount Desandrouin, by the Treasurer-General of the Austrian Netherlands, to negotiate a loan.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: In England, he met the King on several occasions and dined with a number of influential British politicians, including William Pitt, Charles James Fox and Edmund Burke. He also dined with the renowned composer Joseph Haydn and his impresario Johann Peter Salomon after seeing several of their concerts at Hanover Square. It was at one of these concerts where he recognized his one-time teacher, Andreas Hofmann in the audience who went to spy on England for the French. Metternich was nominated the new Minister Plenipotentiary to the Austrian Netherlands and left England in September 1794. On arrival, he found an exiled and powerless government in a headlong retreat from the latest French advance. In October a revitalised French army swept into Germany and annexed all of the Metternich estates except Königswart. Disappointed, and affected by strong criticism of his father's policies, he joined his parents in Vienna in November. On 27 September 1795 he married Countess Eleonore von , a granddaughter of former Austrian chancellor Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg. The marriage was arranged by Metternich's mother and introduced him to Viennese society. This was undoubtedly part of the motivation for Metternich, who demonstrated less affection for her than she for him. Two conditions were imposed by the father of the bride, Prince Kaunitz: first, the still youthful Eleonore was to continue to live at home; and second, Metternich was forbidden from serving as a diplomat as long as the Prince was still alive. Their daughter Maria was born in January 1797.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: After Metternich's studies in Vienna, the Prince's death in September 1797 allowed Metternich to participate in the Congress of Rastatt. Initially , took him as a secretary while ensuring that, when proceedings officially started in December 1797, he was named the representative of the Catholic Bench of the College of the Counts of Westphalia. A bored Metternich remained at Rastatt in this role until 1799 when the congress was finally wound down. During this period Eleonore had chosen to live with Metternich at Rastatt: and gave birth to sons Francis (February 1798) and, shortly after the end of the Congress, Klemens (June 1799). Much to Metternich's anguish, Klemens died after only a few days, and Francis soon contracted a lung infection from which he would never recover.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: The Holy Roman Empire's defeat in the War of the Second Coalition shook up diplomatic circles, and the promising Metternich was now offered a choice between three ministerial positions: to the Imperial Diet at Regensburg; to the Kingdom of Denmark at Copenhagen; or to the Elector of Saxony at Dresden. He chose Dresden in late January 1801, and his appointment was officially announced in February. Metternich summered in Vienna, where he wrote his "Instructions", a memorandum showing a much greater understanding of statesmanship than his earlier writing. He visited the Königswart estate in the autumn before taking up his new position on 4 November. The subtleties of the memorandum were lost on the Saxon court, which was headed by the retiring Frederick Augustus, a man with little political initiative. Despite the boredom of the court, Metternich enjoyed the light-hearted frivolity of the city and took up a mistress, Princess Katharina Bagration-Mukhranska, who bore him a daughter, Marie-Clementine. In January 1803 Metternich and his wife had a child whom they named Viktor. In Dresden Metternich also made a number of important contacts including Friedrich Gentz, a publicist who would serve Metternich as both confidant and critic for the next thirty years. He also established links with important Polish and French political figures.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: To compensate for the loss of the Metternich's ancestral estates in the Moselle valley when the French Republic annexed the west bank of the Rhine, the Imperial Recess of 1803 brought Metternich's family new estates in Ochsenhausen, the title of Prince, and a seat in the Imperial Diet. In the ensuing diplomatic reshuffle Metternich was appointed ambassador to the Kingdom of Prussia, being notified of this in February 1803 and taking his position in November of that year. He arrived at a critical juncture in European diplomacy, soon growing worried about the territorial ambitions of Napoleon Bonaparte, newly the leader of France. This fear was shared by the Russian court under Alexander I, and the Tsar kept Metternich informed of Russian policy. By autumn of 1804 Vienna decided on action entered into in August 1805 when the Austrian Empire (as the Holy Roman Empire was in the process of becoming) began its involvement in the War of the Third Coalition. Metternich's now almost impossible task was to convince Prussia to join the coalition against Bonaparte. Their eventual agreement was not due to Metternich, however, and after the coalition's defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz, Prussia disregarded the agreement and signed a treaty with the French instead.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: In the ensuing reshuffle in Vienna Count Johann Philipp von Stadion-Warthausen became the Foreign Minister of Austrian Empire, freeing Metternich to assume the post of Ambassador to the Russian Empire. He never made it to Russia, as need had arisen for a new Austrian at the French court. Metternich was approved for the post in June 1806. He enjoyed being in demand and was happy to be sent to France on a generous salary of 90,000 florins a year. After an arduous trip he took up residence in August 1806, being briefed by Baron von Vincent and Engelbert von Floret, whom he would retain as a close adviser for two decades. He met French foreign minister Prince Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord on 5 August and Napoleon himself five days later at Saint-Cloud; soon, the War of the Fourth Coalition drew both Talleyrand and Napoleon eastwards. Metternich's wife and children joined him in October, and he went into society, using his charm to win great eminence there. The presence of Eleonore did not prevent him from a series of affairs that certainly included Napoleon's sister Princess Caroline Murat, Laure Junot, and perhaps many besides.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: After the Treaties of Tilsit of July 1807, Metternich saw that Austria's position in Europe was much more vulnerable but believed the accord between Russia and France would not last. In the meantime he found the new French Foreign Minister, Jean-Baptiste Champagny unaccommodating and struggled to negotiate a satisfactory settlement over the future of several French forts on the River Inn. Over the following months the reach of Austrian policy, and Metternich's own reputation, increased. Metternich pushed for a Russo-Austrian alliance, though Tsar Alexander was too preoccupied with the three other wars he was engaged in to commit. Over time, Metternich came to see an eventual war with France as inevitable.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: In a memorable event, Metternich argued with Napoleon at Napoleon's 39th birthday celebrations in August 1808 over the increasingly obvious preparations for war on both sides. Soon after, Napoleon refused Metternich's attendance at the Congress of Erfurt; Metternich was later glad to hear from Talleyrand that Napoleon's attempts at the Congress to get Russia to invade Austria had proved unsuccessful. In late 1808 Metternich was recalled to Vienna for five weeks of meetings about the possibility of Austria invading France while Napoleon was on campaign in Spain. His memoranda reported that France was not united behind Napoleon, that Russia was unlikely to want to fight Austria, and that France had few reliable troops that could fight in central Europe. Back in Paris, Metternich was overtly apprehensive about his own safety. When Austria declared war on France, Metternich was indeed arrested in retaliation for the arrest of two French diplomats in Vienna, but the effects of this were minimal. He was allowed to leave France under escort for Austria in late May 1809. After Napoleon's capture of Vienna Metternich was conducted to the Austrian capital and exchanged there for the French diplomats.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Now back in Austria, Metternich witnessed first hand the Austrian army's defeat at the Battle of Wagram in 1809. Stadion tendered his resignation as Foreign Minister in the aftermath, and the Emperor immediately offered the post to Metternich. Metternich, worried that Napoleon would seize on this to demand harsher peace terms, instead agreed to become a minister of state (which he did on 8 July) and to lead negotiations with the French on the understanding that he would replace Stadion as Foreign Minister at a later date. During peace talks at Altenburg, Metternich put forward pro-French proposals to save the Austrian monarchy. Napoleon, however, disliked his position on the future of Poland, and Metternich was gradually displaced from the proceedings by Prince Liechtenstein. He soon regained influence, however, on 8 October, as Foreign Minister (and additionally that of Minister of the Imperial Household). In early 1810 Metternich's earlier affair with Junot became public but, because of Eleonore's understanding, the scandal was minimal.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: One of Metternich's first tasks was to push for the marriage of Napoleon to Archduchess Marie Louise rather than to the Tsar's youngest sister Anna Pavlovna. Metternich would later seek to distance himself from the marriage by claiming it was Napoleon's own idea, but this is improbable; in any case, he was happy to claim responsibility at the time. By 7 February Napoleon had agreed and the pair were married by proxy on 11 March. Marie Louise left for France soon after and Metternich followed by a different route and unofficially. The trip was designed, Metternich explained, to transport his family (stranded in France by the outbreak of war) home and to report to the Austrian Emperor about Marie Louise's activities.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Instead, Metternich stayed six months, entrusting his office in Vienna to his father. He set about using the marriage, and flattery, to renegotiate the terms set out at Schönbrunn. The concessions he won were trivial, however: a few trading rights, delay in the payment of the war indemnity, restitution of some estates belonging to Germans in the Austrian service, including the Metternich family's, and the lifting of a 150,000-man limit on the Austrian army. The last was particularly welcomed as a sign of increased Austrian independence, although Austria could no longer afford an army greater than the limit prescribed.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: When Metternich returned to Vienna in October 1810, he was no longer as popular. His influence was limited to foreign affairs, and his attempts to get a full Council of State reintroduced had failed. Convinced that a much weakened Austria should avoid another invasion by France, he rejected the advances of Tsar Alexander and instead concluded an alliance with Napoleon on 14 March 1812. He also supported a period of moderate censorship, aimed at preventing provocation of the French. Requiring that only 30,000 Austrian troops fight alongside the French, the alliance treaty was more generous than the one Prussia had signed a month earlier; this allowed Metternich to give both Britain and Russia assurances that Austria remained committed to curbing Napoleonic ambitions. He accompanied his sovereign for a final meeting with Napoleon at Dresden in May 1812 before Napoleon embarked upon the French invasion of Russia.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: The Dresden meeting revealed that Austria's influence in Europe had reached its lowest point, and Metternich was now bent on re-establishing that influence by using what he considered strong ties with all sides in the war, proposing general peace talks headed by Austria. Over the next three months, he would slowly distance Austria from the French cause, while avoiding alliance with either Prussia or Russia, and remaining open to any proposal that would secure a place for the combined Bonaparte-Habsburg dynasty. This was driven by concern that if Napoleon were defeated, Russia and Prussia would stand to gain too much. Napoleon was intransigent, however, and the fighting (now officially the War of the Sixth Coalition) continued. Austria's alliance with France ended in February 1813, and Austria then moved to a position of armed neutrality.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Metternich was much less keen on turning against France than many of his contemporaries (though not the Emperor), and he favoured his own plans for a general settlement. In November 1813 he offered Napoleon the Frankfurt proposals, which would allow Napoleon to remain Emperor but would reduce France to its "natural frontiers" and undo its control of most of Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Napoleon, expecting to win the war, delayed too long and lost this opportunity; by December the Allies had withdrawn the offer. By early 1814, as they were closing in on Paris, Napoleon agreed to the Frankfurt proposals, too late, and he rejected the new, harsher terms then proposed.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Nevertheless, the Allies were not faring well, and although a statement of general war aims that included many nods to Austria was secured from Russia, Britain remained distrustful and generally unwilling to give up the military initiative she had fought 20 years to establish. Despite this, Francis created the Austrian Foreign Minister Grand-Chancellor of the Order of Maria Theresa, a post which had been vacant since the time of Kaunitz. Metternich increasingly worried that Napoleon's retreat would bring with it disorder that would harm the Habsburgs. A peace had to be concluded soon, he believed. Since Britain could not be coerced, he sent proposals to France and Russia only. These were rejected, though, after the battles of Lützen (2 May) and Bautzen (20–21 May), a French-initiated truce was called. Starting in April Metternich began to "slowly and reluctantly" prepare Austria for war with France; the armistice provided Austria time for fuller complete mobilisation.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: In June Metternich left Vienna to personally handle negotiations at Gitschin in Bohemia. When he arrived he benefitted from the hospitality of Princess Wilhelmine, Duchess of Sagan and began an affair with her that lasted several months. No other mistress ever achieved such influence over Metternich as Wilhelmine, and he would continue to write to her after their separation. Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Hugues-Bernard Maret remained elusive, though Metternich did manage to discuss the state of affairs with the Tsar on 18–19 June at Opotschna. In talks which would later be ratified as the Reichenbach Convention they agreed on general peace demands and set out a process by which Austria could enter the war on the Coalition side. Shortly afterwards Metternich was invited to join Napoleon at Dresden, where he could put the terms directly. Though no reliable record of their meeting on 26 June 1813 exists, it seems it was a stormy but effective meeting. The agreement was finally reached as Metternich was about to leave: peace talks would start in Prague in July and run until 20 August. In agreeing to this Metternich had ignored the Reichenbach Convention, and this angered Austria's Coalition allies. The Conference of Prague would never properly meet since Napoleon gave his representatives Armand Caulaincourt and the Count of Narbonne insufficient powers to negotiate. At the informal discussions held in lieu of the conference, Caulaincourt implied that Napoleon would not negotiate until an allied army threatened France itself. This convinced Metternich, and, after an ultimatum Metternich issued to France went unheeded, Austria declared war on 12 August.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Austria's allies saw the declaration as an admission that Austria's diplomatic ambitions had failed, but Metternich viewed it as one move in a much longer campaign. For the rest of the war he strove to hold the Coalition together and, as such, to curb Russian momentum in Europe. To this end he won an early victory as an Austrian general, the Prince of Schwarzenberg, was confirmed supreme commander of the Coalition forces rather than Tsar Alexander I. He also succeeded in getting the three allied monarchs (Alexander, Francis and Prussia's Frederick William III) to follow him and their armies on campaign. With the Treaties of Teplitz, Metternich allowed Austria to remain uncommitted over the future of France, Italy, and Poland. He was still confined, however, by the British, who were subsidizing Prussia and Russia (in September Metternich requested subsidies for Austria as well). Meanwhile, the Coalition forces took the offensive. On 18 October 1813 Metternich witnessed the successful Battle of Leipzig and, two days later, he was rewarded for his "wise direction" with the rank of prince (). Metternich was delighted when Frankfurt was retaken in early November and, in particular, by the deference the Tsar showed Francis at a ceremony organised there by Metternich. Diplomatically, with the war drawing to a close, he remained determined to prevent the creation of a strong, unified German state, even offering Napoleon generous terms in order to retain him as a counterweight. On 2 December 1813 Napoleon agreed to talk, though these talks were delayed by the need for the participation of a more senior British diplomat, (Viscount Castlereagh).


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Before talks could begin, Coalition armies crossed the Rhine on 22 December. Metternich retired from Frankfurt to Breisgau to celebrate Christmas with his wife's family before travelling to the new Coalition headquarters at Basel in January 1814. Quarrels with Tsar Alexander, particularly over the fate of France intensified in January, prompting Alexander to storm out. He therefore missed the arrival of Castlereagh in mid-January. Metternich and Castlereagh formed a good working relationship and then met with Alexander at Langres. The Tsar remained unaccommodating however, demanding a push into the centre of France; but he was too preoccupied to object to Metternich's other ideas, like a final peace conference in Vienna. Metternich did not attend talks with the French at Chatillon, as he wanted to stay with Alexander. The talks stalled, and, after a brief advance, Coalition forces had to retreat after the Montmirail and Montereau. This relieved Metternich's fears that an overconfident Alexander might act unilaterally.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Metternich continued negotiations with the French envoy Caulaincourt through early to mid March 1814, when victory at the Laon put the Coalition back on the offensive. By this time Metternich was tiring of trying to hold the Coalition together, and even the British-engineered Treaty of Chaumont did not help. In the absence of the Prussians and Russians the Coalition agreed to the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty. Francis rejected a final plea from Napoleon that he would abdicate in favour of his son with Marie Louise as regent, and Paris fell on 30 March. Military manoeuvres had forced Metternich westward to Dijon on 24 March and now, after a deliberate delay, he left for the French capital on 7 April. On 10 April he found a city at peace and, much to his annoyance, largely in the control of Tsar Alexander. The Austrians disliked the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau that Russia had imposed on Napoleon in their absence, but Metternich was reluctant to oppose them and on 11 April signed the treaty. Thereafter he focused on safeguarding Austrian interests in the forthcoming peace; asserting Austria's influence in Germany over that of Prussia; and undoing Russian ascendancy. For these reasons he ensured that the Italian provinces of Lombardy and Venetia, lost to French client states in 1805, were duly re-annexed.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: On the division of formerly French-occupied Poland and Germany, Metternich was more confined by the interests of the Allies. After two failed proposals, advanced by the Prussians, the issue was postponed until after a peace treaty had been signed. Elsewhere, Metternich, like many of his counterparts, was anxious to provide the renewed French monarchy with the resources to suppress the new revolution. The generous Treaty of Paris was signed on 30 May. Now free, Metternich accompanied Tsar Alexander to England; Wilhelmine, who had followed Metternich to Paris, also made the crossing. A triumphant Metternich filled his four weeks with revelry, re-establishing his reputation and that of Austria; he was also awarded an honorary law degree from the University of Oxford. By contrast and to Metternich's pleasure, Alexander was ill-mannered and often insulting. Despite the opportunities, little diplomacy took place; instead, all that was firmly agreed was that proper discussions would take place at Vienna, with a date tentatively set for 15 August. When the Tsar tried to postpone it to October Metternich agreed but effected conditions that prevented Alexander from exercising any advantage due to his de facto control of Poland. Metternich was eventually reunited with his family in Austria in the middle of July 1814, having stopped for a week in France to soothe fears surrounding Napoleon's wife Marie Louise, now the Duchess of Parma. His return to Vienna was celebrated by an occasional cantata that included the line "History holds thee up to posterity as a model among great men".


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: In the autumn of 1814, the heads of the five reigning dynasties and representatives from 216 noble families began gathering in Vienna. Before ministers from the "Big Four" (the Coalition allies of Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia) arrived, Metternich stayed quietly in Baden bei Wien, two hours to the south. When he heard they had reached Vienna he journeyed to meet them and encouraged them to go with him back to Baden. They declined, and four meetings were held in the city itself. In these, the representatives agreed on how the Congress would operate and, to Metternich's delight, named his own aide Friedrich Gentz secretary to the negotiations of the "Big Six" (the Big Four plus France and Spain). When Talleyrand and Spanish representative Don Pedro Labrador learned of these decisions, they were incensed that agreements were negotiated by the Big Four only. Sweden and Portugal were similarly angered by their exclusion from all but the full Congress, especially since Metternich was determined to give the latter as little power as possible. As a result, the Big Six became the Preliminary Committee of the Eight, whose first decision was that the congress itself be postponed to 1 November. In fact, it would soon be postponed again, with only a minor commission beginning work in November. In the meantime, Metternich organised a controversially vast array of entertainments for the delegates including himself.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Leaving Castlereagh to negotiate on Tsar Alexander's behalf, Metternich briefly turned his attention to quelling anti-Habsburg feeling in Italy. Around the same time, he learnt that the Duchess of Sagan was courting the Tsar. Disappointed, and exhausted by social rounds, Metternich let his guard drop, angering Tsar Alexander during negotiations over Poland (then ruled by Napoleon as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw) by implying Austria could match Russia militarily. Despite the blunder, Francis refused to dismiss his foreign minister, and political crisis rocked Vienna throughout November, culminating in a declaration by Tsar Alexander that Russia would not compromise in its claim on Poland as a satellite kingdom. The Coalition rejected this utterly, and the agreement seemed further off than ever. During the stand-off, it seems that Alexander even went as far as to challenge Metternich to a duel. However, Tsar Alexander soon did a rapid "volte face" and agreed to the division of Poland. He also softened in regard to the Germanic Kingdom of Saxony, and for the first time allowed Talleyrand to participate in all Big Four (now Big Five) discussions.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: With the new consensus, the major issues concerning Poland and Germany were settled in the second week of February 1815. Austria gained land in the partition of Poland and prevented the Prussian annexation of Saxony, but was forced to accept Russian dominance in Poland and increasing Prussian influence in Germany. Metternich now focused on getting the various German states to cede historic rights to a new Federal Diet that could stand up to Prussia. He also assisted the Swiss Committee and worked on a myriad of smaller issues, like navigation rights on the Rhine. The beginning of Lent on 8 February brought him more time to devote to these congressional issues as well as private discussions about southern Italy, where Joachim Murat was said to be raising a Neapolitan army. On 7 March Metternich was awakened with the news that Napoleon had escaped from his island prison of Elba and within an hour had met with both the Tsar and the King of Prussia. Metternich wanted no rash change of course, and at first, there was little impact on the Congress. Finally, on 13 March the Big Five declared Napoleon an outlaw and the Allies began preparations for renewed fighting. On 25 March they signed a treaty committing each to send 150,000 men with little sign of their prior divisive stances. After the military commanders left, the Vienna Congress settled down to serious work, fixing the boundaries of an independent Netherlands, formalising proposals for a loose confederation of Swiss cantons, and ratifying earlier agreements over Poland. By late April only two major issues remained, the organisation of a new German federation and the problem of Italy.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: The latter soon began to come to a head. Austria had solidified its control over Lombardy-Venice and extended its protection to provinces nominally under the control of Francis' daughter Marie Louise. On 18 April Metternich announced that Austria was formally at war with Murat's Naples. Austria won the Battle of Tolentino on 3 May and captured Naples less than three weeks later. Metternich then was able to delay a decision on the future of the country until after Vienna. Discussions about Germany would drag on until early June when a joint Austrian-Prussian proposition was ratified. It left most constitutional issues to the new diet; its president would be Emperor Francis himself. Despite criticism from within Austria, Metternich was pleased with the outcome and the degree of control it granted Habsburgs, and, through them, himself. Certainly, Metternich was able to use the diet to his own ends on numerous occasions. The arrangement was similarly popular with most German representatives. A summation treaty was signed on 19 June (the Russians signed a week later), bringing the Vienna Congress officially to an end. Metternich himself had left on 13 June for the front line, prepared for a lengthy war against Napoleon. Napoleon, however, was defeated decisively at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Metternich was soon back with coalition allies in Paris, once more discussing peace terms. After 133 days of negotiations, longer than the turmoil itself, the second Treaty of Paris was concluded on 20 November. Metternich, of the opinion that France should not be dismembered, was happy with the result: France lost only a little land along its eastern borders, seven hundred million French francs, and the artworks it had plundered. It also accepted an army of occupation numbering 150,000. In the meantime a separate treaty, proposed by Alexander and redrafted by Metternich, had been signed on 26 September. This created a new Holy Alliance centered on Russia, Prussia and Austria; it was a document Metternich neither pushed for nor wanted, given its vaguely liberal sentiments. Representatives from most of the European states eventually signed, with the exception of the Pope, the United Kingdom, and the Ottoman Empire. Shortly afterwards, a separate treaty reaffirmed the Quadruple Alliance and established through its sixth article the Congress System of regular diplomatic meetings. With Europe at peace, the Austrian flag now flew over 50% more land than when Metternich had become Foreign Minister.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Metternich now returned to the question of Italy, making his first visit to the country in early December 1815. After visiting Venice, his family joined him in Milan on 18 December. For once it was Metternich playing the liberal, vainly urging Francis to give the region some autonomy. Metternich spent four months in Italy, endlessly busy and suffering chronic inflammation of the eyelids. He tried to control Austrian foreign policy from Milan and when there was a serious disagreement between the Empire and the Kingdom of Bavaria, was heavily criticised for his absence. His enemies could not capitalise on this, however; Stadion was occupied by his work as finance minister and the Empress Maria Ludovika, a fierce critic of Metternich's policies, died in April. The uncharacteristic gap between the views of Metternich and his emperor was eased only by the active compromise of proposals. Metternich returned to Vienna on 28 May 1816 after almost a year's absence. Professionally, the rest of 1816 passed quietly for the tired Minister, who was concerned with fiscal policy and monitoring the spread of liberalism in Germany and nationalism in Italy. Personally, he was shaken in November by the death of Julie Zichy-Festetics. Two years later he wrote that his "life ended there," and his old frivolity took some time to return. The only consolation was July's news that Metternich was to receive new estates along the Rhine at Johannisberg, only from his birthplace at Koblenz.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: In June 1817 Metternich was required to escort the emperor's newlywed daughter Maria Leopoldina to a ship at Livorno. There was delay upon their arrival, and Metternich spent the time travelling around Italy again; he visited Venice, Padua, Ferrara, Pisa, Florence and Lucca. Though alarmed by developments (he noted that many of Francis' concessions were still not in practice), he was optimistic and made another plea for decentralisation on 29 August. After this failed, Metternich decided to broaden his efforts into general administrative reform to avoid the appearance of favouring the Italians over the rest of the Empire. While working on this, he returned to Vienna on 12 September 1817 to be immediately caught up in the organisation of his daughter Maria's marriage to Count Joseph Esterházy just three days later. It proved too much, and Metternich was taken ill. After a delay for recovery, Metternich condensed his proposals for Italy into three documents he submitted to Francis, all dated 27 October 1817. The administration would remain undemocratic, but there would be a new Ministry of Justice and four new chancellors—each with local remits, including one for "Italy". Importantly, the divisions would be regional, not national. In the end, Francis accepted the revised proposals, albeit with several alterations and restrictions.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Metternich's primary focus remained on preserving unity among the Great Powers of Europe and hence his own power as mediator. He was also concerned by liberal-minded Ioannis Kapodistrias' increasing influence over Tsar Alexander and the continual threat of Russia annexing large areas of the declining Ottoman Empire (the so-called "Eastern Question"). As he had earlier envisaged, by April 1818 Britain had drawn up, and Metternich pushed through, proposals to have a Congress at Aachen, then a Prussian frontier town, six months later. Meanwhile, Metternich was advised to go to the spa town of Karlsbad to treat the rheumatic tension in his back. It was a pleasant month-long trip, although it was there he received news of the death of his father at the age of 72. He visited the family estate at Königswart and then Frankfurt in late August to encourage the member states of the German Confederation to agree on procedural issues. He could also now visit Koblenz for the first time in 25 years and his new estate at Johannisberg. Travelling with Emperor Francis, he was warmly greeted by the Catholic towns along the Rhine as he progressed towards Aachen. He had arranged in advance for newspapers to cover the first peacetime congress of its kind. As discussions began, Metternich pushed for the withdrawal of allied troops from France and means for preserving the unity of the European powers. The former was agreed almost immediately, but the latter agreement extended only to maintaining the Quadruple Alliance. Metternich rejected the Tsar's idealistic plans for (among other things) a single European army. His own recommendations to the Prussians for greater controls on freedom of speech was equally hard for other powers such as Britain to support openly.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Metternich travelled with Princess Dorothea von Lieven to Brussels soon after the congress broke up, and although he could not stay more than a few days, the pair exchanged letters for the next eight years. He arrived in Vienna on 11 December 1818 and was finally able to spend considerable time with his children. He entertained the Tsar during the Christmas season and spent twelve weeks monitoring Italy and Germany before setting off with the Emperor on the third trip to Italy. The trip was cut short by the assassination of the conservative German dramatist August von Kotzebue. After a short delay, Metternich decided that if the German governments would not act against this perceived problem, Austria would have to compel them. He called an informal conference in Karlsbad and sounded out Prussian support beforehand by meeting with Frederick William III of Prussia in Teplice in July. Metternich carried the day, using a recent attempt on the life of the Chief Minister of Nassau, Carl Ibell to win agreement for the conservative program now known as the Convention of Teplitz. The Karlsbad conference opened on 6 August and ran for the rest of the month. Metternich overcame any opposition to his proposed "group of anti-revolutionary measures, correct and preemptory", although they were condemned by outsiders. Despite censure Metternich was very pleased with the result, known as the Carlsbad Decrees.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: At the conference in Vienna later in the year, Metternich found himself constrained by the Kings of Württemberg and Bavaria to abandon his plans to reform the German federation. He now regretted having so quickly forced through its original constitution five years before. Nevertheless, he held ground on other issues and the Conference's Final Act was highly reactionary, much as Metternich had envisaged it. He remained in Vienna until the close in May 1820, finding the whole affair a bore. On 6 May he heard of the death of his daughter Klementine from tuberculosis. Journeying on to Prague, he heard that his eldest daughter Maria had also contracted the disease. He was at her bedside in Baden bei Wien when she died on 20 July. This prompted Eleonore and the remaining children to leave for the cleaner air of France. The rest of 1820 was filled with liberal revolts to which Metternich was expected to respond. Ultimately, the Austrian Foreign Minister was torn between following through on his conservative pledge (a policy favoured by the Russians) and keeping out of a country in which Austria had no interest (favoured by the British). He chose "sympathetic inactivity" on Spain but, much to his dismay and surprise, Guglielmo Pepe led a revolt in Naples in early July and forced King Ferdinand I to accept a new constitution. Metternich reluctantly agreed to attend the Russian-initiated Congress of Troppau in October to discuss these events. He need not have worried: the Tsar gave way and accepted a compromise proposal of moderate interventionism. Still worried by Kapodistrias' influence over the Tsar, he laid down his conservative principles in a long memorandum, including an attack on the free press and the initiative of the middle classes.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: The Congress disbanded in the third week of December, and the next step would be a congress at Laibach to discuss intervention with Ferdinand. Metternich found himself able to dominate Laibach more than any other congress, overseeing Ferdinand's rejection of the liberal constitution he had agreed to only months before. Austrian armies left for Naples in February and entered the city in March. The Congress was adjourned but, forewarned or by luck, Metternich kept representatives of the powers close at hand until the revolt was put down. As a result, when similar revolts broke out in Piedmont in the middle of March, Metternich had the Tsar at hand, who agreed to send 90,000 men to the frontier in a show of solidarity. Concerns grew in Vienna that Metternich's policy was too expensive. He responded that Naples and Piedmont would pay for stability; nonetheless, he, too, was clearly worried for the future of Italy. He was relieved when able to create a Court Chancellor and Chancellor of State on 25 May, a post left vacant since the death of Kaunitz in 1794. He was also pleased at the renewed (if fragile) closeness between Austria, Prussia and Russia; however, it had come at the expense of the Anglo-Austrian entente.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: In 1821, while Metternich was still at Laibach with Tsar Alexander, the revolt of Prince Alexander Ypsilantis threatened to bring the Ottoman Empire to the brink of collapse. Wanting a strong Ottoman Empire to counterbalance Russia, Metternich opposed all forms of Greek nationalism. Before Alexander returned to Russia, Metternich secured his agreement not to act unilaterally and would write to the Tsar, again and again, asking him not to intervene. For extra support he met with Viscount Castlereagh (now also Marquis of Londonderry) and King George IV of the United Kingdom in Hanover in October. The warmness of Metternich's welcome was sweetened by his promise to settle in part Austria's financial debts to Britain. The earlier Anglo-Austrian entente was thus restored, and the pair agreed that they would support the Austrian position concerning the Balkans. Metternich went away happy, not least because he had met Dorothea Lieven once more.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: Over Christmas, the Tsar wavered more than Metternich had expected and sent Dmitry Tatishchev to Vienna in February 1822 for talks with Metternich. Metternich soon convinced the "conceited and ambitious" Russian to let him dictate events. In return Austria promised to support Russia in enforcing its treaties with the Ottomans if the other alliance members would do likewise; Metternich was aware this was politically impossible for the British. Metternich's adversary at the Russian court, Kapodistrias, retired from service there; however, by the end of April there was a new threat: Russia now determined to intervene in Spain, action Metternich described as "utter nonsense". He played for time, convincing his ally Castlereagh to come to Vienna for talks before a scheduled congress in Verona, although Castlereagh died by suicide on 12 August. With Castlereagh dead and relations with the British weakening, Metternich had lost a useful ally. The Congress of Verona was a fine social event but diplomatically less successful. Supposedly concerned with Italy, the Congress had to focus on Spain instead. Austria urged non-intervention, but it was the French that carried the day with their proposal for a joint invasion force. Prussia committed men, and the Tsar pledged 150,000. Metternich worried about the difficulties of transporting such numbers to Spain and about French ambitions, but still pledged (if only moral) support for the joint force.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: He lingered in Verona until 18 December, then spending some days in Venice with the Tsar and then by himself in Munich. He returned to Vienna in early January 1823 and remained until September; after Verona, he travelled much less than before, partly because of his new post as Chancellor and partly because of his declining health. He was buoyed by the arrival of his family from Paris in May. He shone once more in Viennese society. Politically, the year was one of disappointments. In March the French crossed the Pyrenees unilaterally, undoing the "moral solidarity" established at Verona. Likewise, Metternich thought the new Pope Leo XII too pro-French, and there was trouble between Austria and several German states over why they had not been included at Verona. Furthermore, Metternich, in discrediting the Russian diplomat Pozzo di Borgo, instead renewed the Tsar's former suspicion of him. Worse came in late September: while accompanying the Emperor to a meeting with Alexander at Czernowitz, an Austrian settlement now in Ukraine, Metternich fell ill with a fever. He could not continue and had to make do with brief talks with the Russian Foreign Minister, Count Karl Robert von Nesselrode-Ehreshoven. At the Czernowitz talks, in Metternich's absence, an impatient Tsar asked for a congress in the then Russian capital Saint Petersburg to discuss the Eastern Question. Metternich, wary of letting the Russians dominate affairs, could only play for time.


title: Klemens von Metternich

text: The Tsar's dual proposal for the St Petersburg meetings, a settlement of the Eastern Question favourable to Russia and limited autonomy for three Greek principalities, was a pairing unpalatable to the other European powers, and potential attendees like British Foreign Secretary George Canning slowly turned away, much to the annoyance of Alexander. Metternich believed for several months afterward that he had gained a unique level of influence over the Tsar. Meanwhile, he renewed the conservative program he had outlined at Karlsbad five years before and sought to further increase Austrian influence over the German Federal Diet. He also informed the press they could no longer publicise the minutes of Diet meetings, only its rulings. In January 1825 he began to worry about his wife Eleonore's health and he reached her sickbed in Paris shortly before her death on 19 March. Mourning sincerely for her, he also took the opportunity to dine with the Paris elite. An aside he made about the Tsar there was reported back and did not enhance his reputation. He left Paris for the last time on 21 April and was joined by the Emperor in Milan after arriving on 7 May. He declined the Pope's invitation to become a cardinal of the church. There was also a short trip to Genoa. Early in July the court dispersed and Metternich visited his daughters Leontine (fourteen) and Hermine (nine) in the quiet town of Bad Ischl. Despite the seclusion, he received constant reports, including those of ominous developments in the Ottoman Empire, where the Greek revolt was rapidly being crushed by Ibrahim Ali of Egypt. He also had to deal with the fallout from St. Petersburg where the Tsar, although unable to convene a full congress, had talked with all the major ambassadors. By mid-May it was clear the allies could not decide on a course of action and, as such, the Holy Alliance was no longer a viable political entity.