TAAFFE, EDUARD FRANZ JOSEPH VON, COUNT [ Viscount Taaffe and baron of Ballymote,.in the peerage of Ireland] (1833-1895), Austrian statesman, was born at Vienna, Feb. 24, 1833, second son of Count Ludwig Patrick Taaffe (i791– 1855), who was minister of justice in 1848 and president of the court of appeal. As a child Taaffe was one of the chosen com panions of the young archduke, afterwards emperor, Francis Joseph. In 1852 he entered the public service; in 1867 he was Statthalter of Upper Austria, and minister of the interior in Beust's administration. In June he became vice-president of the ministry, and at the end of the year he entered the first ministry of the newly organized Austrian portion of the monarchy. For the next three years he took a very important part in the con fused political changes, representing essentially the wishes of the emperor. From Sept. 1868 to Jan. 187o he was president of the cabinet. In 187o Taaffe, with the other members of the cabinet who advocated concessions to federalism, resigned. He returned to office in April, resigned once more, and became Statthalter of Tirol.
On the breakdown of the Liberal Government in 1879 he was again called to office, becoming minister-president in July, and held office until July 1893, when he was defeated on a proposal for the extension of the franchise and resigned, dying at Eller schau, Bohemia, on Nov. 29, 1895. For the history of Taaffe's
administration, see AUSTRIA. Essentially an opportunist, he main tained office for many years by an unprecedented employment of the principle divide et impera. Usually resting on the Slays and clericals, he was accused by the German Liberals of ruining Aus tria; but he united a deep devotion to the emperor with a singular gift for managing men and at least prolonged the life of an impossible system.
By the death of his elder brother Charles (1823-1873), a colonel in the Austrian army, Taaffe succeeded to the Austrian and Irish titles. He married in 1862 Countess Irma Tsaky, by whom he left four daughters and one son, Henry.
See Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexicon Oesterreichs. Memoirs of the Family of Taaffe (Vienna, 1856), privately printed and Taaffe's Political Correspondence issued after his death.