Alexander von Bach

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Alexander Freiherr von Bach, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , (1849).
Grave of Alexander von Bach and other family members in the Vienna Central Cemetery

Alexander Freiherr von Bach (born January 4, 1813 in Loosdorf , Lower Austria ; † November 12, 1893 in Unterwaltersdorf , Lower Austria) was an Austrian lawyer and politician.

Life

Alexander von Bach was a son of the lawyer Michael Bach ; the conductor and composer Otto Bach and the politician Eduard von Bach were his brothers. He received his first lessons from private tutors . After graduating from high school in Vienna, he studied at the University of Vienna a . a. Law and Cameral Studies . He completed this course with a legal dissertation .

Immediately thereafter, Bach got a job in the Imperial Chamber Procuratorate . When his father died in 1842, he took over his office and continued his business. In 1847 he went on an extensive journey through the Orient with his brother August.

With effect from July 19, 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I confirmed the cabinet under Prime Minister Baron Anton von Doblhoff-Dier , in which Bach acted as Minister of Justice. A Viennese newspaper commented on Bach's appointment as follows:

A man of justice - a man in the right!

The pillersdorf constitution that the temporary prime minister Baron Franz Pillersdorf had been introduced on 25 April of that year, Bach wanted to endorse; but it never came into force.

This very liberal cabinet was overwhelmed and incapable of acting after weeks; it resigned with effect from October 8, 1848. On October 21 of the same year, the new Foreign Minister Prince Felix zu Schwarzenberg (successor to Baron Johann von Wessenberg ) was entrusted with forming a government.

I.a. Count Franz Seraph Stadium became Minister of the Interior and Bach again became Minister of Justice. But when the stadium fell ill after a short time, Bach also temporarily headed its ministry. With effect from July 28, 1849, Bach became Minister of the Interior, Baron Anton von Schmerling Minister of Justice and Graf Stadion Minister without portfolio .

Emperor Franz Joseph I called Bach 1849 curator of two years earlier by his uncle, Emperor Ferdinand I, founded the Imperial Academy . As such, Bach also founded the Austrian Bibliography , which has been published weekly since September 1852. Bach held this office of curator for ten years; he was then appointed as ambassador of his country to the Vatican and remained in Rome until 1867 at this post .

In 1852, Alexander von Bach was commissioned by the young Emperor Franz Joseph I to reorganize Austria in the conservative, centralistic sense and from 1852 was not formally, but de facto the actual head of the government ("Ministry Bach"). An imperial council convened by the emperor was of no importance. The October constitution practically never came into force and was formally suspended on December 31, 1851 by the New Year's Eve patent. With that the emperor ruled absolutely again. Initially very liberal, Bach changed his politics more and more towards clerical absolutism, which culminated in the Concordat of 1855 . Bach played a key role in the creation of this concordat and was the most important representative of the Austrian government in the negotiations with the Holy See .

As a bearer of the Grand Cross of the Austrian-Imperial Leopold Order and in recognition of his services, he was raised to the baron status on April 28, 1854 in Vienna shortly before the appointment of his brother Eduard , with the same coat of arms.

In 1859 there was a war between Austria and Italy, which ended with the Battle of Solferino and as a result Bach had to resign. This phase from 1852 to 1859, in which Bach was the most powerful man in the country alongside the emperor, is also known as Austrian neo-absolutism .

Alexander von Bach found his final resting place in the family grave in Vienna's central cemetery.

reception

Along with Felix zu Schwarzenberg and Karl Friedrich von Kübeck , Bach was the most influential representative of a neo-absolute policy that demanded the Austrian central state , regardless of non-German ethnic groups.

Nevertheless, he saw the need for reforms and, for example, against the resistance of the aristocrats, he freed the peasants from their dependence on landlords . Furthermore, he reformed the financial administration, the education system and ultimately the Austrian state structure itself, as well as providing impetus for the urban expansion of Vienna.

Above all, its destruction of local self-government lasted until the end of the Danube monarchy in 1918.

Honors

  • Grand Cross of the Leopold Order
  • Grand Cross of the Franz Joseph Order
  • Honorary Citizen of Zagreb (1853)
  • Honorary Citizen of Innsbruck (1854)
  • Honorary citizen of Salzburg
  • Honorary Citizen of Budapest . This honorary citizenship, which he received during his lifetime, was withdrawn posthumously in 2011 under the national conservative city leadership.

coat of arms

Coat of arms of the Barons von Bach 1854

1854: The red central shield, with three slanted, toothed, silver bars running through it, lies on a rounded, silver paw cross, which squares the main shield. 1 and 4 in gold, a red lion facing inwards, with a high silver cross in front of it with both front paws. 2 and 3 sheaves of gold in blue (1, 2). Above it rests the baron crown with four crowned helmets. The first, with a red and gold blanket, carries the lion with the cross growing and turning inward; the second, with black and gold covers, an inward-looking, gold-armed, crowned, black eagle; the third, with red and silver covers, four red ostrich feathers, which are marked like the central shield; Above the fourth helmet, with blue and gold covers, hovers above between an open blue flight, the wings of which are each covered with a golden sheaf, also a golden sheaf, so that all three sheaves take the position as in the 2nd and 3rd field . Shield holders are two golden griffins that stand on a golden arabesque ornament, around which a red ribbon with the motto In cruce spes mea in silver lapidary letters is wrapped.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses for the year 1861, Volume 11, Verlag Justus Perthes, Gotha 1860, p. 8
  2. ^ Budapest revised the list of its honorary citizens in Pester Lloyd from March 25, 2011, accessed on April 2, 2011

Web links

Commons : Baron Alexander von Bach  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Bach, Alexander von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bach, Alexander Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian administrative lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 4, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Loosdorf
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1893
Place of death Unterwaltersdorf