MY BELOVED TALLYRAND

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Secondly, much of the book is dialogue but there is no way to judge what is based on fact and what is fiction. Thirdly, even place names are sometimes real, sometimes invented. Talleyrand goes in Paris from the Place de la Concorde which does exist although not known under that name at the time of which the author writes to Place Beau Rivage which definitely never existed as far as I know.

Fourthly, he writes in the foreword that as a result of a few summers in France, he is fluent in the French language. Some examples of his total ignorance of French: He places many events in Talleyrand's life at different times from where they actually happened. The presumed authoress, the "I" in the book, Dorothea of Courland, has been made ten years older than actually and comes from a French noble family rather than the true Baltic nobility. Sixthly, he makes the most horrendous historical errors about things that are quite well-known.

Talking about events in which made Napoleon return from Egypt, the author talks about "Italian sic troups had moved northward " and "Germany sic was bellicose". Johan A Lybeck, Noailhac, France. The past is just like the present only there is less of it. This book approaches Talleyrand from an interesting perspective: The plot must be a story rather than a laundry list of facts however accurate. The very fact that things are not always understood then as they are now by a professor of history to offer a far-fetched example does not detract from the book.

Indeed, it adds, frankly, a soupcon of authenticity. Who knows what then as now is less important than who does the knowing. In this important position, he was instrumental in drafting a general inventory of Church properties in France as of , along with a defence of "inalienable rights of the Church", a stance he was later to deny. In , the influence of Talleyrand's father and family overcame the King's dislike and obtained his appointment as Bishop of Autun. The undoubtedly able Talleyrand, though free-thinking in the Enlightenment mould, appears at the time to have been outwardly respectful of religious observance.

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In the course of the Revolution, however, he was to manifest his cynicism and abandon all orthodox Catholic practice. Shortly after he was ordained as Bishop of Autun, Talleyrand attended the Estates-General of , representing the clergy, the First Estate. During the French Revolution, Talleyrand strongly supported the anti-clericalism of the revolutionaries. He assisted Mirabeau in the appropriation of Church properties.

He participated in the writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and proposed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy that nationalised the Church, and swore in the first four constitutional bishops, even though he had himself resigned as Bishop following his excommunication by Pope Pius VI in Notably, he promoted public education in full spirit of the Enlightenment by preparing a page Report on Public Instruction. It proposed pyramidical structure rising through local, district, and departmental schools, and parts were later adopted.

In , he was sent twice, though unofficially, to Britain to avert war. Besides an initial declaration of neutrality during the first campaigns of , his mission ultimately failed. In September , he left Paris for England just at the beginning of the September massacres , yet declined to defect.

The National Convention issued a warrant for his arrest in December In March , he was forced to leave the country by Pitt 's expulsion order. He then went to the neutral country of the United States where he stayed until his return to France in During his stay, he supported himself by working as a bank agent, involved in commodity trading and real estate speculation.

In , he became Foreign Minister.

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Talleyrand saw a possible political career for Napoleon during the Italian campaigns of to He wrote many letters to Napoleon, and the two became close allies. Talleyrand was against the destruction of the Republic of Venice , but he complimented Napoleon when the Treaty of Campo Formio with Austria was concluded Venice was given to Austria , probably because he wanted to reinforce his alliance with Napoleon. Talleyrand was soon made Foreign Minister by Napoleon, although he rarely agreed with Napoleon's foreign policy.

The Pope released him from the ban of excommunication in the Concordat of , which also revoked the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Talleyrand was instrumental in the completion of the Treaty of Amiens in He wanted Napoleon to keep peace afterwards, as he thought France had reached its maximum expansion. Talleyrand was an integral player in the German mediatization. Many of these rulers gave out bribes in order to secure new lands, and Talleyrand and some of his associates amassed about 10 million francs in the process.

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This was the first blow in the destruction of the Holy Roman Empire. This later was used as the site of imprisonment of the Spanish Royalty in —, after Napoleon's invasion of Spain. Talleyrand held the title until and administered the principality concurrently with his other tasks. Talleyrand was opposed to the harsh treatment of Austria in the Treaty of Pressburg and of Prussia in the Peace of Tilsit in In , after Pressburg, he profited greatly from the reorganization of the German lands, this time into the Confederation of the Rhine.

But Talleyrand was shut out completely from the negotiations at Tilsit. After Queen Louise of Prussia failed in her appeal to Napoleon to spare her nation, she wept and was consoled by Talleyrand. This gave him a good name among the elites of European nations outside France. Having wearied of serving a master in whom he no longer had much confidence, Talleyrand resigned as minister of foreign affairs in , although the Emperor retained him in the Council of State as Vice-Grand Elector of the Empire.

The Tsar's attitude towards Napoleon was one of apprehensive opposition. Talleyrand repaired the confidence of the Russian monarch, who rebuked Napoleon's attempts to form a direct anti-Austrian military alliance. Napoleon had expected Talleyrand to help convince the Tsar to accept his proposals and never discovered that Talleyrand was working at cross-purposes. Talleyrand believed Napoleon would eventually destroy the empire he had worked to build across multiple rulers.

After his resignation in from the ministry, Talleyrand began to accept bribes from hostile powers mainly Austria, but also Russia , to betray Napoleon's secrets. Napoleon had yet to address this matter and the two men knew that without a legitimate heir a struggle for power would erupt in the wake of Napoleon's death. Even Talleyrand, who believed that Napoleon's policies were leading France to ruin, understood the necessity of peaceful transitions of power. Napoleon received word of their actions and deemed them treasonous. This perception caused the famous dressing down of Talleyrand in front of Napoleon's marshals, during which Napoleon famously claimed that he could "break him like a glass, but it's not worth the trouble" and added with a scatological tone that Talleyrand was "shit in a silk stocking", [15] to which the minister coldly retorted, once Napoleon had left, "Pity that so great a man should have been so badly brought up!

Talleyrand opposed the further harsh treatment of Austria in after the War of the Fifth Coalition.

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He was also a critic of the French invasion of Russia in He was invited to resume his former office in late , but Talleyrand could see that power was slipping from Napoleon's hands. On 1 April he led the French Senate in establishing a provisional government in Paris, of which he was elected president. Talleyrand was the chief French negotiator at the Congress of Vienna , and, in that same year, he signed the Treaty of Paris. It was due in part to his skills that the terms of the treaty were remarkably lenient towards France.

As the Congress opened, the right to make decisions was restricted to four countries: Austria, the United Kingdom, Prussia, and Russia.

France and other European countries were invited to attend, but were not allowed to influence the process. Talleyrand promptly became the champion of the small countries and demanded admission into the ranks of the decision-making process. Spain was excluded after a while a result of both the Marquis of Labrador's incompetence as well as the quixotic nature of Spain's agenda , but France Talleyrand was allowed to participate until the end. Russia and Prussia sought to enlarge their territory at the Congress. Russia demanded annexation of Poland already occupied by Russian troops , and this demand was finally satisfied, despite protests by France, Austria and the United Kingdom.

Austria was afraid of future conflicts with Russia or Prussia and the United Kingdom was opposed to their expansion as well — and Talleyrand managed to take advantage of these contradictions within the former anti-French coalition. By this tract, officially a secret treaty of defensive alliance, [16] the three powers agreed to use force if necessary to "repulse aggression" of Russia and Prussia and to protect the "state of security and independence. Talleyrand, having managed to establish a middle position, received some favours from the other countries in exchange for his support: Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1.

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