ABSTRACT
Friedrich Ferdinand Baron Beust, a great artist in diplomacy and policy who enjoys moderate excitements and the game of lesser intrigues, but who fears violent measures and serious involvements where one must put up heavy stakes and make decisions without hesitation. He was rewarded with the title of Chancellor, held only by Kaunitz, Metternich, and Schwarzenberg. More striking was Beust's success in dealing with the problem of the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. He, for his part, certainly had no desire to encourage Napoleon's impetuosity. The Austro-German reconciliation was completed by Beust's meetings with the German emperor and Bismarck in August. Beust can be credited with some success in defending Austro-Hungarian interests in the Balkans; and with achieving the somewhat limited aims he had set himself in Germany, namely, the prevention of any Prussian advance beyond the limits set by the Treaty of Prague.
