August Friedrich Ferdinand von der Goltz

August Friedrich Ferdinand Graf von der Goltz (July 20, 1765 – January 17, 1832) was Minister for Foreign Affairs of Prussia between 1808 and 1814, the first person to hold that title.^[1][2][3]

Goltz entered the diplomatic service of Prussia in 1787. He help posts in the Prussian Legations at Copenhagen, Mainz, 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 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.^[4][5]

Notes and references

1. Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany since 1919, it forms part of family names.
2. His name is often anglicized in part of fully: Augustus Frederick, Count of Goltz
3. Young, William (2006). German Diplomatic Relations 1871-1945: The Wilhelmstrasse and the Formulation of Foreign Policy, iUniverse, ISBN 0-595-40706-4, ISBN 978-0-595-40706-4. pp. 28,29
4. Memoirs Prince de Talleyrand, Edited, with a preface and notes, by the Dug de Broglie of the French Academy Translated by Raphael Ledos de Beaufort, F. R. Hist. With an introduction by the Honorable Whitelaw Reid American Minister in Paris Volume I. Third St. 24 Bedford ST., Strand 1891. p. 237 Footnote 2
5. Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th edition 1888–1890.