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Ludwig Cobenzl 1753-1809
Austrian Statesman for Absolutism
Johann
Ludwig Joseph Cobenzl was Graf von Cobenzl,
meaning Count of Cobenzl.
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Image Above
Portrait of Count
Ludwig Cobenzl, Ambassador of Austria in Russia
Etching, 22.3 /
14.3 cm
Late 18th century
State Hermitage
Museum |
This count of Cobenzl was born at Brussels.
Ludwig's father was the Austrian
minister Johann Karl Philipp von
Cobenzl, who lived 1712-1770.
Ludwig's famous cousin was
Philipp,
also a Graf von Cobenzl, but born in 1741.
Back to Ludwig.
From 1801, and together with
Colloredo, Cobenzl was
in charge of foreign affairs. This post had been formerly
occupied by the great man
Thugut, who found
himself fired after having frequently lost to revolutionary
France. (Thugut's career became a victim of the
War of the Second Coalition.)
The careers of both men, Colloredo and Cobenzl, ended for
similar reasons after the
Battle of Austerlitz,
which was fought on December 2, 1805, and which spelled
utter disaster for Austria. (These guys had to burn their
office chairs on the altar of the
War of the Third Coalition.)
This time, the calamity was of
such proportion that even
Emperor Francis II had
to quit, which he did on August 6, 1806. It was the end of
the
Holy Roman Empire.
Cobenzl had to endure the nightmare for only less than three
years. He died at Vienna on February 22, 1809.
And here you can read the
correspondence between Cobenzl and Joseph II:
More History
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