Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust

Hochgeboren Friedrich Ferdinand Graf von Beust
Count Friedrich Beust in 1873
6th (and last) Chairman of the Ministers' Conference of the Austrian Empire
In office 7 February 1867 – 30 December 1867
Monarch	Francis Joseph I
Preceded by	Richard Graf von Belcredi
Succeeded by	Karl Fürst von Auersperg (for Cisleithania) Gyula Andrássy (for Transleithania)
1st Chairman of the Ministers' Council for Common Affairs of Austria-Hungary
In office 30 December 1867 – 8 November 1871
Monarch	Francis Joseph I
Preceded by	himself (for the Austrian Empire)
Succeeded by	Gyula Andrássy
Interior Minister of the Austrian Empire
In office 7 February 1867 – 7 March 1867
Monarch	Francis Joseph I
Preceded by	Richard Graf von Belcredi
Succeeded by	Eduard Graf von Taaffe
1st Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary
In office 30 December 1866 – 8 November 1871
Monarch	Francis Joseph I
Preceded by	himself (as Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire)
Succeeded by	Gyula Andrássy
9th Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire
In office 30 October 1866 – 30 December 1866
Monarch	Francis Joseph I
Preceded by	Alexander Graf von Mensdorff-Pouilly
Succeeded by	himself (as Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary)
Personal details
Born	(1809-01-13)13 January 1809 Dresden
Died	24 October 1886(1886-10-24) (aged 77) Altenberg

Count Friedrich Ferdinand von Beust (German: Friedrich Ferdinand Graf von Beust) (13 January 1809 – 24 October 1886) was a German and Austrian statesman. As opponent of Bismarck, he attempted to conclude a common policy of the German middle states between Austria and Prussia.

Beust was born in Dresden, where his father held office in the Saxon court. He was descended from a noble family which had originally sprung from the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and of which one branch had been for over 300 years settled in Saxony. After studying at Leipzig and Göttingen he entered the Saxon public service.

His initial political career was as a diplomat and politician in Saxony. In 1836 he was made secretary of legation at Berlin, and afterwards held appointments at Paris, Munich, and London.

In March 1848 he was summoned to Dresden to take the office of foreign minister, but in consequence of the outbreak of the revolution was not appointed. In May he was appointed Saxon envoy at Berlin, and in February 1849 was again summoned to Dresden, and this time appointed minister of state and of foreign affairs. He held that office till 1866, when he was summoned by Franz Josef I to the Imperial Court of Austria.

In addition to this he held the ministry of education and public worship from 1849 to 1853, and that of internal affairs in 1853, and in the same year was appointed minister-president. From the time that he entered the ministry he was, however, the leading member of it, and he was chiefly responsible for the events of 1849. By his advice the king rejected the German constitution proclaimed by the Frankfurt Parliament. This led to revolutionary outbreaks in Dresden. The riots were suppressed after four days of fighting by Prussian troops, whose assistance Beust had requested.