Those who do not know history are doomed to say stupid things about it, I guess. At UnHerd Wolfgang Munchau writes:
The greatest diplomats of all time were a Frenchman and an Austrian. Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was a master of political opportunism, rivalled only by his Habsburg counterpart, Klemens von Metternich. Talleyrand and Metternich were the chief diplomats of global powers. After Napoleon’s defeat, France was a much-diminished country with no military leverage. Talleyrand’s masterstroke consisted of carving out a niche for France by playing everyone off against each other — the British against the Prussians, and the Austrians against the Russians. He did not exactly invent the notion of a balance of power, but he exploited it with unrivalled genius.
Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859) was born into the petty nobility and elevated to prince for his services to the Austrian Empire. He hated liberalism, democracy, and nationalism and was committed to the advancement of empire in Europe. The corresponding figure, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838) had a similar biography and views.
What would Metternich have done done about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? He would have gleefully engineered a division of Ukraine between Russia and Poland. As Mr. Munchau observes, he would have played China and the United States off against each other to the benefit of neither but fostering European imperialistic designs. He would have been delighted with a European Union, so long as it was ruled by an emperor and aristocrats. How he would have felt about the influx of Middle Easterners and Africans into Europe can only be imagined.
I suspect there are plenty of would-be Metternichs in Europe right now but they all belong to the Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) or the corresponding party in France, Rassemblement national (National Rally formerly National Front) or the corresponding parties in the Netherlands, Italy, etc. That’s something that grimly amuses me. I think it’s foolish for any American to seek fellowship with right-wing European parties. European politics is just too different from ours.
