Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Diplomat

• Gender: Male
• Citizenship: France
• Born: Feb 2, 1754
• Died: May 17, 1838

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, prince de Bénévent, then prince de Talleyrand was a French bishop, politician and diplomat. Due to a lame leg, he was not able to start a military career as expected by his family. Instead, he studied theology. In 1780 he became Agent-General of the Clergy and represented the Catholic Church to the French Crown. He worked successfully at the highest level for the regime of Louis XVI, through several governments of the French Revolution and then for Napoleon, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe. Most of them distrusted Talleyrand but, like Napoleon, found him indispensable. The name "Talleyrand" has become a synonym for crafty, cynical diplomacy.

He was Napoleon's chief diplomatic aide in the conquest of Europe. Most of the time, however, he worked for peace so as to consolidate France's gains. He succeeded in obtaining peace with Austria in the 1801 Treaty of Luneville and with Britain in the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. He could not stop the renewal of war in 1803. By 1805 he opposed his emperor's renewed wars against Austria, Prussia, and Russia in 1805 - 1806; he resigned as foreign minister in August 1807 but Napoleon still trusted him.