August Friedrich Ferdinand Graf von der Goltz (July 20, 1765 – January 17, 1832) was

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

between 1808 and 1814, the first person to hold that title.

Biography

Born into the

Von der Goltz Von der Goltz is the name of an old and influential German noble family whose members occupied many important positions in the Kingdom of Prussia and later in the German Empire. History The family can trace their lineage from East Brandenburg ...

noble family, August was the son of Count Carl Friedrich von der Goltz (1727-1805) and his wife, Anna Maria Karolina von Rummel (1735–1809). He entered the diplomatic service of Prussia in 1787. He help posts in the Prussian Legations at Copenhagen,

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

, Stockholm, and St Petersburg. In 1807 at the Peace of Tilsit when Napoleon refused to negotiate with Karl August von Hardenberg and demanded his retirement, Goltz signed the treaty in place of Hardenberg and the next year became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Goltz represented Prussia at the

Congress of Erfurt The Congress of Erfurt was the meeting between Napoleon, Emperor of the French, and Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia, from Tuesday 27 September to Friday 14 October 1808 intended to reaffirm the alliance concluded the previous year with the ...

in 1808. He was head of the Corporate Governance in Berlin and after the Paris Peace of 1814 he became '' Oberhofmarschal'' to the Prussian court, in 1816 the courts representative to the Bundestag, in 1817 member of council of state. In 1824 he left the Bundestag and was reappointed ''Oberhofmarschal''.

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon ' or ' was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the '. Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing house in 1826, intended t ...

, 4th edition 1888–1890.

Notes and references

1765 births 1832 deaths Counts of Germany Prussian diplomats Prussian politicians Politicians from Dresden People from the Electorate of Saxony Foreign ministers of Prussia {{Germany-diplomat-stub