Louis Decazes

Louis Decazes, around 1877, by Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, called Nadar , Musée d'Orsay , Paris

Louis Charles Élie Amanieu Decazes , 2nd Duke Decazes and 2nd Duke of Glücksberg (born May 29, 1819 in Paris , † September 16, 1886 in the Château de La Grave (Bonzac), Gironde department ) was a French diplomat and politician . From November 1873 to November 1877 he was Foreign Minister.

Life

Louis Charles Élie Amanieu Decazes was the eldest son of Duke Élie Decazes and his second wife Wilhelmine de Beaupoil de Saint-Aulaire. He embarked on a diplomatic career and was the French charge d'affaires in London in 1841 and in Madrid in 1843 , then there in 1846 and in Lisbon in 1847 . After the February Revolution of 1848, he retired into private life like his father. Under Napoleon III. he dealt with commercial and agricultural enterprises. In August 1863 he married the Austrian Countess Séverine Rosalie von Löwenthal (1845-1911), with whom he had their son Jean (1864-1912) and the daughter Wilhelmine Egédie Octavie (1865-1917) had.

In February 1871, Decazes came to Parliament. At that time he accepted a mandate for the National Assembly in the Gironde department , in which he joined the right-wing center and was one of the leaders of the monarchists. In September 1873 he went to London as ambassador and on November 26, 1873, he became Foreign Minister when the Broglie Ministry was reorganized. He also held this position in the following cabinets under the presidency of Mac-Mahon , because the latter did not want a frequent change in the Foreign Office for political reasons. Outwardly, Decazes maintained good relations with the other European powers, including Germany . Secretly, however, he operated a rapprochement with Russia in order to bring about a coalition against the German Reich. In the runoff elections of March 5, 1876, Decazes was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the 8th arrondissement of Paris . The Liberals resented the fact that he remained foreign minister even after the reactionary coup on May 16, 1877. He belonged to the reactionary Ministry of Broglie- Fourtou until its overthrow in November 1877.

In the elections of October 14, 1877, Decazes was re-elected in the Arrondissement of Puget-Théniers , but his election was canceled on December 17, 1877 by the new chamber because of irregularities. He was also unsuccessful in his candidacy for the Senate , whereupon he withdrew back into private life. Decazes, who had been appointed Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor on July 18, 1876 , died on the night of September 16 to 17, 1886 at the age of 67 in his castle La Grave in the Gironde department.

literature

• Louis Decazes . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 4, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 599.