(born May 31, 1750, Essenrode, near Gifhorn, Brunswick—died Nov. 26, 1822, Genoa, Italy) Prussian statesman who preserved the integrity of the Prussian state during the Napoleonic Wars. He won the abiding trust of Frederick William III in 1798 and served as foreign minister (1804–06).
He was forced to withdraw from political life, at Napoleon's behest, after Prussia's collapse in the war of 1806–07 against France. When Prussia was faced with insolvency and could not pay war indemnities in 1810, Napoleon agreed to Hardenberg's reinstatement, and he became prime minister with full powers. He continued the domestic reforms introduced by Karl, imperial baron vom und zum Stein, and liberalized financial, economic, and agricultural policies. In foreign affairs he exchanged Prussia's alliance with France for an alliance with Russia in 1813, and in 1814–15 he represented Prussia at the peace negotiations in Paris and Vienna.
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