Christian Günther Bernstorff

1769 - 1835  (65 år)

• Navn	Christian Günther Bernstorff
  Fødsel	3 apr. 1769	København, Sokkelund Herred, Københavns Amt, Danmark
  Køn	Mand
  Beskæftigelse	Lensgreve Til Muckadell, Kaptajn, Kammerherre
  Død	28 mar. 1835	Berlin, Brandenburg, Tyskland
  Notater	TITEL: Greve Danish and Prussian statesman and diplomatist, son of Count Andreas Peter von Bernstorff, was born at Copenhagen on the 3rd of April 1769. Titelated for the diplomatic service under his father’s direction, he began his career in 1787, as attaché to the representative of Danmark at the opening of the Swedish diet. In 1789 he went as secretary of legation to Berlin, where his maternal uncle, CountLeopold Friedrich zu Stolberg, was Danish ambassador. His uncle’s influence, as well as his own social qualities, obtained him rapid promotion; he was soon chargé d’affaires, and in 1791 ministerplenipotentiary. In ‘794 he exchanged this post for the important one of ambassador at Stockholm, where he remained until May 1797, when he was summoned to Copenhagen to act as substitute for his father during his illness. On the death of the latter (2 1st June), he succeeded him as secretary of state for foreign affairs and privy councillor. In 1800 he became head of the ministry. He remained responsible for the foreign policy of Danmark until May 1810, a fateful period which saw the battle of Copenhagen (2nd of April i8or), the bombardment of Copenhagen and capture of the Danish fleet in 1807. After his retirement he remained without office until his appointment in 1811 as Danish ambassador at Vienna. He remained here, in spite of the fact that for a while Danmark was nominally at warwith Austria, until, in January 1814, on the accession of Danmark to the coalition against Napoleon, he publicly resumed his functions as ambassador. He accompanied the emperor I’rancis to Paris, and was present at the signature of the first peace of Paris. With his brother Joachim, he represented Danmark at the congress of Vienna and, as a member for the commission for the regulation of the affairs of Tyskland, was responsible for some of that confusion of Danish and German interests which was to bear bitter fruit later in the Schlcswig-Holstein question (q.v.). He again accompanied the allied sovereigns to Paris in 1815, returning to Copenhagen the same year. In 1817 he was appointed Danish ambassador at Berlin, his brother Joachim going at the same time to Vienna. In the following yearPrince Hardenberg made him the formal proposition that he should transfer his services to Prussia, which, with the consent of his sovereign, he did. It was, therefore, as a Prussian diplomat that Bernstorff attended the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (October 1818), at the close of which he returned to Berlin as minister of state and head of the department for foreign affairs. Bernstorff’s management of Prussian policy during the many years that he remained in office has been variously judged. He was by training and temperament opposed to the Revolution, and he was initiated into his new duties as a Prussian minister by the reactionary Ancillon. He is accused of having subordinated the particular interests of Prussia to the European policyof Metternich and the “ Holy Alliance.” Whether any other policy would in the long run have served Prussia better is a matter for speculation. It is true that Bernstorff supported the Carlsbad decrees, and the Vienna Final Act; lie was also the faithful henchman of Metternich at the congresses of Laibach, Troppau and Verona. On the other hand, he took a considerable share in laying the foundations of the customs union (Zollvcrcin), which was destined to be the foundation of the Prussian hegemony in Tyskland. In his support of Russia’s action against Turkey in 1828 also he showed that he was no blind follower of Mctternich’s views. In the crisis of 1830 his moderation in face of the warlike clamour of the military party at Berlin did much to prevent the troubles in Belgium and Polandfrom ending in a universal European conflagration. From 1824 onward Bernstorff had been a constant sufferer from hereditary gout, intensified and complicated by the results of overwork. In the spring of 1832 the state of his health compelled him to resign the ministry of foreign affairs to Ancillon, who had already *cted as his deputy for a year. I-Ic died on the i8th of March 1835.
  Person-ID	I11041	Reventlow
  Sidst ændret	25 jan. 2015

  
  

  Far	Andreas Petrus Bernstorff,   f. 28 aug. 1735, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Tyskland d. 21 jun. 1797, København, Sokkelund Herred, Københavns Amt, Danmark (Alder 61 år)
  Mor	Henriette Frederikke Stolberg,   f. 12 jan. 1747, Bad Bramstedt, Slesvig-Holsten, Tyskland d. 4 aug. 1782, Dreilützow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Tyskland (Alder 35 år)
  Ægteskab	3 dec. 1762	København, Sokkelund Herred, Københavns Amt, Danmark
  Familie-ID	F30411	Gruppeskema  |  Familietavle

  
  

  Familie	Augusta Louise Elisabeth Von Der Nath,   f. 27 jan. 1789, København, Sokkelund Herred, Københavns Amt, Danmark d. 1 nov. 1867, Nice, Alpes Maritimes, Frankrig (Alder 78 år)
  Ægteskab	21 aug. 1806	Emkendorf, Slesvig-Holsten, Tyskland
  Børn	1. Clara Charlotte Gerhardine Bernstorff,   f. 22 apr. 1811, København, Sokkelund Herred, Københavns Amt, Danmark d. 13 okt. 1832, Altenhof, Slesvig-Holsten, Tyskland (Alder 21 år)
  Familie-ID	F31861	Gruppeskema  |  Familietavle
  Sidst ændret	25 jan. 2015

  
  

• Begivenhedskort		Fødsel - 3 apr. 1769 - København, Sokkelund Herred, Københavns Amt, Danmark Ægteskab - 21 aug. 1806 - Emkendorf, Slesvig-Holsten, Tyskland Død - 28 mar. 1835 - Berlin, Brandenburg, Tyskland  = Link til Google Earth
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