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THULE

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 897 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THULE , the See also:

Greek and See also:Roman name for the most northerly known See also:land in the See also:north See also:Atlantic. The first to use the name was the Greek navigator See also:Pytheas (about 300 B.C. probably). He calls it the most northerly of the See also:British Isles and says that he reached it after six days' See also:sail from See also:Britain: it was inhabited, but produced little; See also:corn See also:grew there sparingly and ripened See also:ill; in summer the nights were See also:long and See also:bright. This See also:account of his travels is lost See also:save for fragments, and the few surviving fragment{ service at See also:Constantinople, by means which would probably not See also:bear investigation, were invested in See also:France. See also:Thugut became acquainted with many of the leaders in the Revolution. From 1787 to 1789 he was See also:minister at See also:Naples, and showed See also:great tact in managing the See also:queen, Maria Carolina, a daughter of Maria See also:Theresa. In 1790 he was sent by the See also:emperor See also:Joseph II. to See also:Bucharest, nominally as See also:commissioner with the See also:hospodar of Wallachia, but in reality in See also:order that he might open negotiations for See also:peace with the See also:Turks. Until 1792 he was much in France and See also:Belgium, partly as a See also:diplomatic See also:agent, but largely because he was anxious to See also:rescue his investments, which were ultimately lost. His See also:personal grievances may have had some See also:share in creating the hatred of the Revolution and the See also:Jacobins, for which he was afterwards famous. In 1792 he was associated with See also:Mercy Argenteau, formerly See also:Austrian See also:ambassador in France, as diplomatic agent at the headquarters of the allied See also:army. The mismanagement of the invasion of France excited his anger. He came back to See also:Vienna to See also:report the facts to See also:Francis II., to whom he presented a statement on the 27th of See also:December.

On the 19th of See also:

January 1793 he was appointed armee-diplomat at See also:head-quarters, largely, it is said, by the intrigues of See also:Philip Cobenzl and Spielmann, who wished to have him out of the way. But he never went, for at this See also:time See also:Russia and See also:Prussia annexed large parts of See also:Poland. See also:Austria, entangled in the See also:war with France, was See also:left empty-handed (see POLAND: See also:History). The emperor, dissatisfied with the ministers who had not prevented this misfortune, dismissed them, and after some delay Thugut was named " director of the See also:foreign affairs of Austria " on the 25th of See also:March 1793. When See also:Prince Kaunitz died in the following See also:year Thugut was appointed to " See also:discharge the duties of the See also:office of See also:house, See also:court, and See also:state See also:chancellor." His promotion to the foremost See also:place in the Austrian See also:administration met with much opposition, and is known to have been largely due to the empress Maria Theresa of Naples. The Austrian See also:government was by tradition very aristocratic. The empress Maria Theresa, See also:mother of Francis II., though she valued the services of Thugut, had consented with reluctance to make him See also:commander of the order of St See also:Stephen, and had only yielded to the urgent See also:requests of Kaunitz and of her son Joseph II. She thought the promotion excessive for a See also:man of his plebeian origin. The nobles, who thought that the great offices of state should go to themselves, were of the same See also:opinion. Thugut, who had a large fund of vanity, resented their insolence, and did nothing to disarm their hostility. He was unmarried, and he avoided all society. In the discharge of his duties he took counsel with nobody.

All the confidential See also:

work of his See also:department was done by himself with the help of two clerks he could See also:trust, and he took all important papers directly to the emperor, keeping no copies in his own office. He had his own experience to See also:teach him how easy it was to bribe the officials of Austria. The nobles, who regarded themselves with See also:good cause as the supporters of the See also:Crown, and who expected to be consulted, resented his indifference and secrecy as the arrogance of an upstart. They were his See also:constant enemies and critics. A few of them who admired his abilities supported him on personal grounds, but with these exceptions Thugut had no See also:friends in Austria. Out of it, he was commonly regarded as the representative of all that was most unscrupulous and self-seeking in the methods of the Austrian government. He had inherited from his See also:master Prince Kaunitz the See also:firm conviction that Prussia was the worst enemy of Austria. From him, too, he had learnt that the first See also:duty of an Austrian minister was to be an increaser of the See also:empire, even at the expense of See also:allies, and that excuses for See also:annexation were to be made when they could not be found. His hatred of France, and of the Revolution, was no doubt sincere. But while prepared to defend See also:Europe from See also:French aggression, it was with the implied intention that Austria should be rewarded for her exertions by increases of territory, and should be made the See also:absolute See also:mistress of See also:Germany. The history of his policy from 1793 to 1800 is the history of Europe.

End of Article: THULE

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THUMMEL, MORITZ AUGUST VON (1738-1817)

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