Count Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg (29 June 1815 – 2 June 1881) was a

Prussian 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 e ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or interna ...

and politician. He led the Eulenburg Expedition and secured the Prusso-Japanese Treaty of 24 January 1861, which was similar to other

unequal treaties Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...

that European powers held Eastern Countries to.''Japanese-German Relations, 1895-1945: war, diplomacy and public opinion''
By Christian W. Spang, Rolf-Harald. Wippich, p. 1

Biography

Eulenburg was born in Königsberg. He was the oldest surviving child of Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Eulenburg ( Prassen, 26 December 1787 -

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was ...

, 30 July 1845) and Amalie Julie Eleonore née von Kleist ( Perkuiken, 26 May 1792 -

, 16 November 1830). Eulenburg studied law at the Universities of Königsberg and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

Biography
at

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Ac ...

and worked as a government official in Oppeln then in various ministries in Berlin. In 1852 he entered the

diplomatic service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

as the Prussian Consul-General in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. The expansion of Prussian trade led to the search of commercial partners in

South-East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each s ...

and Eastern Asia and he was chosen to lead an extensive trade mission. Departing in October 1859 he set out for Japan, China and

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. On 24 January 1861, he concluded a Japanese-Prussian Treaty of Amity and Commerce with Muragaki Norimasa of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, which was based on

Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce The was signed on 26 August 1858 by Lord Elgin and the then representatives of the Japanese government (the Tokugawa shogunate), and was ratified between Queen Victoria and the Tycoon of Japan at Yedo on 11 July 1859. The concessions which Jap ...

. In September the same year, he concluded a commercial treaty with the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

Empire, which was similar to the Treaties of Tianjin that

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and France had concluded with China three years earlier. Wilhelm I at Bad Ems

Following his return he was appointed the Interior Minister of Prussia on 8 December 1862. Following the growth in the administrative area of Prussian state in 1864 and 1866, Eulenburg instituted comprehensive administrative reform also in the old provinces. However he was met by opposition by the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

s in the west and the liberals in the east. He accompanied King

Wilhelm I of Prussia William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was th ...

in the negotiations with the French ambassador Count Benedetti at

Bad Ems Bad Ems () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Rhein-Lahn rural district and is well known as a spa on the river Lahn. Bad Ems is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' (administrative community) B ...

prior to the Franco-Prussian War. His plan to reform the municipal administration in Prussia was opposed by

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

and Eulenburg resigned on 30 November 1878 to be succeeded by his first cousin once removed Botho zu Eulenburg.

Family

Eulenburg's parents married at

on 23 October 1811. He was the brother of *Adalbert Graf zu Eulenburg (10 November 1812 - 17 June 1814) *Marie Gräfin zu Eulenburg (13 October 1813 - 10 February 1818) *Eliese Gräfin zu Eulenburg (

, 27 August 1817 - Berlin, 15 June 1853), who died unmarried and without issue, and *Philipp Graf zu Eulenburg (

, 24 April 1820 - Berlin, 5 March 1889), married in Berlin, 22 April 1846 Alexandrine Freiin von Rothkirch und Panthen ( Glogau, 20 June 1824 -

Meran Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier ...

, 11 April 1902), the parents of Prince Philip of Eulenburg. Eulenburg was not married and had no children.

Awards

* Knight of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class, ''1862''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eulenburg, Friedrich Albrecht Von 1815 births 1881 deaths Politicians from Königsberg University of Königsberg alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Prussian diplomats Prussian politicians German expatriates in China Members of the Prussian House of Representatives People associated with the Prussian Navy 19th-century diplomats Interior ministers of Prussia