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BERNSTORFF, CHRISTIAN GUNTHER, COUNT ...
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See also:BERNSTORFF, See also:CHRISTIAN See also:GUNTHER, See also:COUNT VON (1769-1835) , Danish and Prussian statesman and diplomatist, son of Count Andreas See also:Peter von Bernstorff, was See also:born at See also:Copenhagen on the 3rd of See also:April 1769. Educated for the See also:diplomatic service under his See also:father's direction, he began his career in 1787, as attache to the representative of See also:Denmark at the opening of the See also:Swedish See also:diet. In 1789 he went as secretary of See also:legation to See also:Berlin, where his maternal See also:uncle, Count See also:Leopold See also:Friedrich zu See also:Stolberg, was Danish See also:ambassador. His uncle's See also:influence, as well as his own social qualities, obtained him rapid promotion; he was soon See also:charge d'affaires, and in 1791 See also:minister plenipotentiary. In 1794 he exchanged this See also:post for the important one of ambassador at See also:Stockholm, where he remained until May 1797, when he was summoned to Copenhagen to See also:act as substitute for his father during his illness. On the See also:death of the latter (21st See also:June), he succeeded him as secretary of See also:state for See also:foreign affairs and privy councillor. In ',goo he became See also:head of the See also:ministry. He remained responsible for the foreign policy of Denmark until May 181o, a fateful See also:period which saw the See also:battle of Copenhagen (2nd of April 18o1), the See also:bombardment of Copenhagen and See also:capture of the Danish See also:fleet in 1807. After his retirement he remained without See also:office until his See also:appointment in 1811 as Danish ambassador at See also:Vienna. He remained here, in spite of the fact that for a while Denmark was nominally at See also:war with See also:Austria, until, in See also:January 1814, on the See also:accession of Denmark to the See also:coalition against See also:Napoleon, he publicly resumed his functions as ambassador. He accompanied the See also:emperor See also:Francis to See also:Paris, and was See also:present at the See also:signature of the first See also:peace of Paris. With his See also:brother See also:Joachim, he represented Denmark at the See also:congress of Vienna and, as a member for the See also:commission for the regulation of the affairs of See also:Germany, was responsible for some of that confusion of Danish and See also:German interests which was to See also:bear See also:bitter See also:fruit later in the See also:Schleswig-See also:Holstein question (q.v.). He again accompanied the allied sovereigns to Paris in 1815, returning to Copenhagen the same See also:year. In 1817 he was appointed Danish ambassador at Berlin, his brother Joachim going at the same See also:time to Vienna. In the following year See also:Prince See also:Hardenberg made him the formal proposition that he should See also:transfer his services to See also:Prussia, which, with the consent of his See also:sovereign, he did. It was, therefore, as a Prussian diplomat that Bernstorff attended the congress of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle (See also:October 1818), at the See also:close of which he returned to Berlin as minister of state and head of the See also:department for foreign affairs. Bernstorff's management of Prussian policy during the many years that he remained in office has been variously judged. He was by training and temperament opposed to the Revolution, and he was initiated into his new duties as a Prussian minister by the reactionary See also:Ancillon. He is accused of having subordinated the particular interests of Prussia to the See also:European policy of Metternich and the " See also:Holy See also:Alliance." Whether any other policy would in the See also:long run have served Prussia better is a See also:matter for See also:speculation. It is true that Bernstorff supported the See also:Carlsbad decrees, and the Vienna Final Act; Ile was also the faithful henchman of Metternich at the congresses of See also:Laibach, See also:Troppau and See also:Verona. On the other See also:hand, he took a considerable See also:share in laying the See also:foundations of the customs See also:union (Zollvercin), which was destined to be the See also:foundation of the Prussian See also:hegemony in Germany. In his support of See also:Russia's See also:action against See also:Turkey in 1828 also he showed that he was no See also:blind follower of Mctternich's views. In the crisis of 1830 his moderation in See also:face of the warlike clamour of the military party at Berlin did much to prevent the troubles in See also:Belgium and See also:Poland from ending in a universal European conflagration. From 1824 onward Bernstorff had been a See also:constant sufferer from hereditary See also:gout, intensified and complicated by the results of overwork. In the See also:spring of 1832 the state of his See also:health compelled him to resign the ministry of foreign affairs to Ancillon, who had already acted as his See also:deputy for a year. He died on the 18th of See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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