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HAUGWITZ, CHRISTIAN AUGUST HEINRICH K...

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 67 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HAUGWITZ, See also:CHRISTIAN See also:AUGUST HEINRICH KURT, See also:COUNT VON, FREIHERR VON KRAPPITZ (1752-1831) , Prussian statesman, was See also:born on the rlth of See also:June 1752, at Peucke near Ols. He belonged to the Silesian (See also:Protestant) See also:branch of the See also:ancient See also:family of Haugwitz, of which the See also:Catholic branch is established in See also:Moravia. He studied See also:law, spent some See also:time in See also:Italy, returned to See also:settle on his estates in See also:Silesia, and in 1991 was elected by the Silesian estates See also:general director of the See also:province. At the urgent instance of See also:King See also:Frederick See also:William II. he entered the Prussian service, became See also:ambassador at See also:Vienna in 1792 and at the end of the same See also:year a member of the See also:cabinet at See also:Berlin. Haugwitz, who had attended the See also:young See also:emperor See also:Francis II. at his See also:coronation and been See also:present at the conferences held at See also:Mainz to consider the attitude of the See also:German See also:powers towards the Revolution, was opposed to the exaggerated attitude of the See also:French emigres and to any interference in the See also:internal affairs of See also:France. After the See also:war See also:broke out, however, the defiant See also:temper of the See also:Committee of Public Safety made an See also:honourable See also:peace impossible, while the strained relations between See also:Austria and See also:Prussia on the question of territorial " compensations " crippled the See also:power of the See also:Allies to carry the war to a successful conclusion. It was in these circumstances that Haugwitz entered on the negotiations that resulted in the See also:subsidy treaty between See also:Great See also:Britain and Prussia, and Great Britain and See also:Holland, signed at the See also:Hague on the 19th of See also:April 1794. Haugwitz, however, was not the See also:man to See also:direct a strong and aggressive policy; the failure of Prussia to make any effective use of the See also:money supplied broke the See also:patience of See also:Pitt, and in See also:October the denunciation by Great Britain of the Hague treaty broke the last tie that See also:bound Prussia to the See also:Coalition. The See also:separate treaty with France, signed at See also:Basel on the 5th of April 1795, was mainly due to the See also:influence of Haugwitz. His See also:object was now to See also:save the provinces on the See also:left See also:bank of the See also:Rhine from being lost to the See also:Empire. No See also:guarantee of their See also:maintenance had been inserted in the Basel treaty ; but Haugwitz and the king hoped to preserve them by establishing the armed See also:neutrality of See also:North See also:Germany and securing its recognition by the French See also:Republic. This policy was rendered futile by the victories of See also:Napoleon See also:Bonaparte and the virtual See also:conquest of See also:South Germany by the French.

Haugwitz, who had continued to enjoy the confidence of the new king, Frederick William III., recognized this fact, and urged his See also:

master to join the new Coalition'in 1798. But the king clung blindly to the illusion of neutrality, and Haugwitz allowed himself to be made the See also:instrument of a policy of which he increasingly disapproved. It was not till 1803, when the king refused his urgent See also:advice to demand the evacuation of See also:Hanover by the French, that he tendered his resignation. In August 1804 he was definitely replaced by See also:Hardenberg, and retired to his estates. In his retirement Haugwitz was still consulted, and he used all his influence against Hardenberg's policy of a rapprochement with France. His representations had little See also:weight, however, until Napoleon's high-handed See also:action in violating Prussian territory by marching troops through See also:Ansbach, roused the anger of the king. Haugwitz was now once more appointed See also:foreign See also:minister, as Hardenberg's colleague, and it was he who was charged to carry to Napoleon the Prussian See also:ultimatum which was the outcome of the visit of the See also:tsar See also:Alexander I. to Berlin in See also:November. But in this crisis his courage failed him; his nature was one that ever let " I dare not wait upon I will "; he delayed his See also:journey pending some turn in events and to give time for-the mobilization of the See also:duke of See also:Brunswick's See also:army; he was frightened by reports of separate negotiations between Austria and Napoleon, not realizing that a bold See also:declaration by Prussia would nip them in the bud. Napoleon, when at last they met, read him like a See also:book and humoured his See also:diplomatic weakness until the whole issue was decided at See also:Austerlitz. On the 15th of See also:December, instead of delivering an ultimatum, Haugwitz signed at Schonbrunn the treaty which gave Hanover to Prussia in return for Ansbach, See also:Cleves and See also:Neuchatel. The humiliation of Prussia and her minister was, however, not yet See also:complete. In See also:February 1806 Haugwitz went to See also:Paris to ratify the treaty of Schonbrunn and to See also:attempt to secure some modifications in favour of Prussia.

He was received with a See also:

storm of abuse by Napoleon, who insisted on tearing up the treaty and See also:drawing up a fresh one, which doubled the amount of territory to be ceded by Prussia and forced her to a See also:breach with Great Britain by binding her to See also:close the Hanoverian ports to See also:British See also:commerce. The treaty, signed on the 1sth of February, left Prussia wholly isolated in See also:Europe. What followed belongs to the See also:history of Europe rather than to the See also:biography of Haugwitz. He remained, indeed, at the See also:head of the Prussian See also:ministry of foreign affairs, but the course of Prussian policy it was beyond his power to See also:control. The Prussian ultimatum to Napoleon was forced upon him by overwhelming circumstances, and with the See also:battle of See also:Jena, on the 14th of October, his See also:political career came to an end. He accompanied the See also:flight of the king into See also:East Prussia, there took leave of him and retired to his Silesian estates. In 1311 he was appointed See also:Curator of the university of See also:Breslau; in 1820, owing to failing See also:health, he went to live in Italy, where he remained till his See also:death at See also:Venice in 1831. Haugwitz was a man of great intellectual gifts, of dignified presence and a charming address which endeared him to his sovereigns and his colleagues; but as a statesman he failed, not through want of perspicacity, but through lack of will power and a fatal See also:habit of procrastination. During his retirement in Italy he wrote See also:memoirs in See also:justification of his policy, a fragment of which dealing with the See also:episode of the treaty of Schonbrunn was published at Jena in 1837. See J. von Minutoli, Der See also:Graf von Haugwitz and See also:Job von Witzleben (Berlin, 1844) ; L. von See also:Ranke, Hardenberg is. d. Gesch. See also:des preuss. Shales (See also:Leipzig, 1879-1881), See also:note on Haugwitz's memoirs in vol. ii.; Denkninrdigkeiten des Staatskanzlers Frirsten von Hardenberg, ed.

Ranke (5 vols., Leipzig, 1877); A. See also:

Sorel, L'Europe et la Revol. See also:Franc., passim.

End of Article: HAUGWITZ, CHRISTIAN AUGUST HEINRICH KURT, COUNT VON, FREIHERR VON KRAPPITZ (1752-1831)

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