Christian, count von Haugwitz

Christian, count von Haugwitz (born June 11, 1752, Peuke-bei-Öls, Silesia [now in Poland]—died Feb. 9, 1832, Venice, Austrian Empire [now in Italy]) was a Prussian minister and diplomat, the principal author of Prussian foreign policy from 1792 to 1806, who was held largely responsible for the catastrophic war against Napoleon (1806) that made Prussia a French satellite.

After studying at the universities of Halle and Göttingen, Haugwitz traveled to Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. He eventually joined the Rosicrucians, among whom he made the acquaintance of J.R. von Bischoffwerder, the influential adviser of Frederick William II of Prussia. Bischoffwerder soon opened a diplomatic career for Haugwitz, who was appointed Prussian minister to Vienna in 1791 and became a Prussian cabinet minister the next year. In 1793 Haugwitz negotiated the Second Partition of Poland with Russia without Austria’s knowledge. Opposing war against Revolutionary France, he concluded the separate Peace of Basel (1795), which extricated Prussia from the War of the First Coalition against France.

Haugwitz, who recognized the danger threatening from Napoleon, wanted to make Prussia participate in the War of the Second Coalition against France in 1799, but he could not overcome Frederick William III’s pacific intentions. For a short time in 1804 he withdrew from office; but in the autumn of 1805, during the War of the Third Coalition, he undertook the delivery of a Prussian ultimatum to Napoleon. Inspired by the Russian emperor Alexander I, the ultimatum threatened a declaration of war against France if Napoleon should refuse Prussia’s services as a mediator. In view of Napoleon’s unfavourable military position in November 1805, this diplomatic move might have had far-reaching consequences, but Haugwitz, probably acting under verbal instructions from Frederick William III, delayed the delivery of the ultimatum until Napoleon had won a decisive victory over both Austria and Russia at the Battle of Austerlitz (Dec. 2, 1805). Napoleon then forced Haugwitz to sign the punitive treaties of Schönbrunn (Dec. 15, 1805) and Paris (Feb. 15, 1806), which reduced Prussia to virtually complete dependency on France.

Goaded by outraged patriotic public opinion at home, Haugwitz then steered his unprepared country into the War of the Fourth Coalition against France, in which Prussia suffered disastrous defeats in the battles of Jena and Auerstädt (Oct. 14, 1806). Soon afterward he retired at Karl August von Hardenberg’s instigation and never reentered politics. He subsequently retired to Italy, where he wrote Fragment de mémoires inédits (“Fragment of Unedited Memoires”), published posthumously in 1837.