Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord French diplomat Date of Birth: 02.02.1754 Country: France

1. Biography of Charles Maurice Talleyrand
2. Early Life and Education
3. The Revolution
4. Political Career and Diplomacy
5. The Restoration and Later Career
6. Talleyrand died in Paris on May 17, 1838.

Biography of Charles Maurice Talleyrand

Charles Maurice Talleyrand (1754–1838) was a French diplomat who served as the Prime Minister of France from July to September 1815. He actively intervened in the course of the July Revolution in 1830, persuading Louis Philippe to accept the crown of France in case the senior line of the Bourbons was overthrown. From 1830 to 1834, he served as Ambassador to Great Britain, contributing to the achievement of the first Entente Cordiale between the two countries.

Early Life and Education

Charles Maurice Talleyrand was born on February 2, 1754, in Paris. He studied at the College d'Arcur in Paris and entered the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, where he studied theology from 1770 to 1773. In 1778, he became a licentiate in theology at the Sorbonne. In 1779, he was ordained as a priest. As the Abbe de Talleyrand, he became a regular visitor of salons, where his passion for card games and love affairs was not considered incompatible with his high spiritual rank. With the help of his uncle's patronage, he was elected as a representative of the French Ecclesiastical Assembly in May 1780. Over the next five years, Talleyrand, together with his colleague Raymond de Boisgelin, the Archbishop of Aix, was responsible for managing the property and finances of the Gallican (French) Church. In 1788, Talleyrand was appointed as the Bishop of Autun.

The Revolution

Even before 1789, Talleyrand leaned towards the positions of the liberal aristocracy, which aimed to transform Bourbon absolutism into a limited constitutional monarchy based on the English model. He was a member of the Committee of Thirty. In April 1789, Talleyrand was elected as a deputy of the First Estate in the Estates-General. In this body, he held moderate positions but soon shifted to more radical positions. On June 26, 1789, he belatedly joined the majority of deputies of the First Estate on the key issue of joint voting with representatives of the Third Estate. Talleyrand proposed to abolish the restrictive instructions to delegates who sought to free themselves from the control of the clergy who elected them. A week later, he was elected to the Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly. He contributed to the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and stated that the management of church lands should be carried out by the state. This statement, "edited" by the Count of Mirabeau, served as the basis for the decree adopted on November 2, 1789, which stated that church lands should become "national property." In July 1790, Talleyrand became one of the few French bishops who took an oath based on the decree on the new civil status of the clergy. He was elected as the administrator of the department that included Paris and resigned from the position of Bishop of Autun. Despite this, in 1791, he agreed to perform the consecration ceremony for the newly elected "constitutional" bishops of Cambrai, Soissons, and Paris. As a result, the papal throne considered him the main culprit of the religious schism and excommunicated him from the church in 1792.

Political Career and Diplomacy

In January 1792, when France was on the brink of war with Austria, Talleyrand appeared in London as an unofficial mediator in negotiations aimed at preventing Britain from joining the coalition against France. In May 1792, the British government confirmed its neutrality, but Talleyrand did not succeed in achieving the Franco-British alliance he had sought throughout his life. In February 1793, England and France were drawn into war, and in 1794, Talleyrand was expelled from England under the terms of the Aliens Act. Talleyrand emigrated to the United States, where he worked towards his return, and on September 4, he was allowed to return to France. In September 1796, Talleyrand arrived in Paris, and on July 18, 1797, thanks to the influence of his friend Madame de Stael, he was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

As Minister, Talleyrand engaged in secret negotiations with Lord Malmesbury to achieve a separate peace with Britain. Official negotiations were interrupted as a result of the anti-royalist coup of the Directory on September 4, 1797. The Era of Napoleon's rule began, and Talleyrand pursued an independent policy towards Italy as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He supported Napoleon's dreams of conquest in the East and the plan for the Egyptian expedition. In July 1799, anticipating the imminent collapse of the Directory, Talleyrand resigned from his post, and in November, he provided assistance to Bonaparte. After the general's return from Egypt, he introduced him to Abbe Sieyes and convinced Count Barras to resign from the Directory. After the coup d'etat on November 9, Talleyrand was appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Supporting Napoleon's desire for supreme power, Talleyrand hoped to end the revolution and wars outside of France. It seemed that the peace with Austria in 1801 (Treaty of Lunéville) and with Britain in 1802 (Treaty of Amiens) provided a solid foundation for France's agreements with the two major powers. Talleyrand considered achieving internal stability in all three countries as a necessary condition for maintaining diplomatic balance in Europe. His involvement in the arrest and execution of the Duke of Enghien, a prince from the Bourbon dynasty, on fabricated charges of conspiring to assassinate the First Consul is not in doubt. After 1805, Talleyrand became convinced that Napoleon's unchecked ambitions, his dynastic foreign policy, and his growing megalomania were drawing France into continuous wars. In August 1807, openly opposing the renewed wars with Austria, Prussia, and Russia in 1805-1806, he resigned from his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Restoration and Later Career

In 1814, after the invasion of France by the forces of the Allies, Talleyrand contributed to the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the representative of Louis XVIII at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), he achieved a diplomatic triumph by challenging the powers of the anti-French alliance during wartime. In January 1815, he formed a secret alliance between France, Great Britain, and Austria to prevent the complete absorption of Poland by Russia and Saxony by Prussia.

Talleyrand briefly served as the Prime Minister of France from July to September 1815. He actively intervened in the course of the July Revolution in 1830, persuading Louis Philippe to accept the crown of France in case the senior line of the Bourbons was overthrown. From 1830 to 1834, he served as Ambassador to Great Britain and contributed to the achievement of the first Entente Cordiale between the two countries. In collaboration with the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, he ensured a peaceful resolution to the issue of Belgian independence.

Talleyrand died in Paris on May 17, 1838.