Johann Amadeus Francis de Paula, Baron of Thugut

Johann Amadeus Francis de Paula Baron Thugut ( born March 8, 1736, in Linz, † May 29, 1818 in Vienna ) was an Austrian statesman.

Life

Thugut, who came from middle-class family, worked as a translator in the Austrian State Chancellery before his own diplomatic tasks are delegated. The Chief Minister Wenzel Anton Kaunitz furthered his career. 1769 Thugut was first to the charge d'affaires, appointed two years later to Internuncio Austria to the Ottoman Empire. His greatest achievement in this role was the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, 1775, in the Bukovina Austria acquired. 1777/78 he led the War of Bavarian Succession negotiations with the Prussian side, but without achieving results.

1793 Thugut was appointed Foreign Minister and a year later, despite hostility from the noble court party to succeed Kaunitz '. In this position he acted as a staunch opponent of Prussia and Austria secured in the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 territory gains. Thugut was one of the key engines for the formation of the coalition against revolutionary France, but even he could not prevent the triumphal march of Napoleon. Against the wishes of Archduke Charles, he rejected two offers of peace Napoleon. 1801 took over Thugut personal responsibility for the continuing military defeats and significant territorial losses for Austria and stepped back.

In 1877 (2nd district) was the Thugutstrasse named after him in Vienna Leopoldstadt.