Hardenberg, KARL AUGUST, PRINCE VON, a Prussian statesman, was born at Essenroda, in Hanover, May 31, 1750. After labouring for twelve years (1770-82) in the service of Hanover and eight in the service of Brunswick, Hardenberg chanced to attract the attention of Frederick-William II. of Prussia. On his recommendation he was nominated administrator of the principality of Ansbach and Baireuth, and after the union of this latter to Prussia in 1791 was appointed a Prussian minister of state and a member of the cabinet ministry. In this capacity his chief work was the negotiation of peace between Prussia and the French Republic at Basel in 1795. On the accession of Frederick-William III. in 1797,
Hardenberg was entrusted with the management of important branches of internal affairs, and in 1803 became first Prussian minister. The principal aim of his policy was to preserve neutrality in the war between France and England; but in 1806, when Prussia was coerced by Napoleon into becoming his ally, Hardenberg was dismissed. In 1810, however, he was appointed chancellor of state in succession to Stein (q.v.); and although Prussia was at this period in a deplorable condition, humbled in the very dust before France, Hardenberg addressed himself to the task of completing the internal reforms begun by his predecessor. In the war of liberation he took a prominent part, and saw his efforts crowned by the treaty of Paris, June 1814. Soon after he was raised to the rank of prince. He accompanied the allied sovereigns to London, took part in the proceedings of the congress at Vienna, and in the treaties of Paris (1815). In 1817 he reorganised the council of state, of which he was appointed president. He was also present at the congresses of Aix-la-Chapelle, Carlsbad, Vienna, Lanbach, and Verona; and drew up the new Prussian system of imposts. During a tour through the north of Italy he was taken ill at Pavia, and died at Genoa, 26th November 1822. To Hardenberg Prussia is mainly indebted for the improvements in her army system, the abolition of serfdom, of the privileges of the nobles, and of a multitude of trade corporations, the encouragement of municipal institutions, and the reform of her educational system. Yet in his later years he was unable to overcome the reactionary tendencies of the king; all he could do was to moderate them and prevent them running to excess. See Ranke's Denkwürdigkeiten des Fürsten von Hardenberg (5 vols. 1877), which includes Hardenberg's own memoirs.