Metternich - his name represents the era of restoration, the monarchical principle, and the attempt to curb the liberal and national forces of the 19th century. However, the prince, who was one of the dominant figures in Europe for nearly four decades, was more than just a reactionary. Wolfram Siemann demonstrates that the adversary of Napoleon and the architect of the European peace order after the Congress of Vienna in 1815 must be understood more in the context of his time and was, in many ways, more modern than the prevailing image of him suggests.