This is more than a biography - it is a key to 19th century Europe. Christopher Clark

Metternich is traditionally seen as the epitome of reaction, a backward-looking enemy of all liberal and national forces. Historian Wolfram Siemann presents a fundamentally new image of the statesman who shaped Europe's fate for four decades in his magnificent biography. How Metternich acted during the key moments of this era and what motives drove him in the long term are presented by Wolfram Siemann for the first time with precision and clarity, based on new sources. Metternich's thinking was more modern, his diagnoses more insightful, and his actions more forward-looking than has long been acknowledged.

A groundbreaking biography. Alexander Cammann, Die Zeit A masterpiece. Jörg Himmelreich, Neue Zürcher Zeitung.