Secret State Conference

The Secret State Conference was a government similar Council in Austria of Metternich era.

Creation and influence of the Secret State Conference

After the death of Emperor Franz I on March 2, 1835 be mentally retarded son as Ferdinand I took the throne. After the last will of Francis I. the Secret State Conference was constituted as a consultative body to relieve the almost unfit to reign Ferdinand on 12 December 1836. The powers of the State Conference, and in particular the State Chancellor Clemens Wenzel Count Metternich went because of the mental weakness of the emperor far beyond the advisory role also, so you can definitely say that the real power in the Austrian Empire from 1836 to 1848 ran out of the Secret State Conference.

Members of the Secret State Conference

• As chairman Archduke Ludwig ( a brother of Francis I )

• Archduke Franz Karl (brother of Ferdinand I. )

• State Chancellor Clemens Wenzel Count Metternich

• Metternich opponent Franz Anton Graf von Kolowrat Liebsteinsky

End of the Secret State Conference

While Count Metternich was in charge of foreign policy in the state conference, his opponent Count Kolowrat Liebsteinsky held the department of home affairs and finance. While Metternich became a symbol of reaction and oppression ( pre-March ), was Kolowrat Liebsteinsky as liberal.

As part of the Viennese March Revolution on March 13, 1848 Metternich was forced to resign. The upheavals of the Revolution was also the Secret State Conference on victims. Metternich fled to England, while his arch-enemy Kolowrat Liebsteinsky 20 March to 19 April 1848 was the first constitutional prime minister.

• Empire of Austria
• Historical Authority ( Austria )