Robert Stewart Castlereagh Viscount (2d)

Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, 2d Viscount (1769–1822), Irish born British statesman, creator of the Quadruple Alliance that defeated Napoleon. As secretary for Ireland, he suppressed the 1798 rebellion and forced the Act of Union through the Irish Parliament (1800). He was war minister (1805–6, 1807–9), and as foreign secretary (1812–22), played a major role in the organization of Europe at the Congress of Vienna (1814). Much maligned in his time, he committed suicide.

See also: Vienna, Congress of.