THUGUT, JOHANN AMADEUS FRANCIS DE PAULA, BARON (1736-1818), Austrian diplomatist, was born at Linz on May 24, 1736. In 1769 he was appointed chargé d'affaires at Constantinople, and in that capacity secured a grant of money and a promise of the territory of Little Wallachia from the Turks during the negotiations connected with the first par tition of Poland. (See POLAND: History.) In 1771 he was ennobled and appointed internuncio at Constantinople and was actively engaged, under the direction of Prince Kaunitz, in all the diplo macy of Austria in Turkey and Poland until he secured the cession of the Bukovina on May 7, 1775.
After 1775 Thugut travelled in France and Italy, partly on diplomatic service. In 1778 he acted as intermediary in Maria Theresa's negotiations with Frederick the Great. In 1780 he was Austrian envoy in Warsaw, but in 1783 applied for leave and spent four years in Paris, where he invested his savings and be came acquainted with many of the leaders in the Revolution. From 1787 to 1789 he was minister at Naples. In 1790 he was sent by the emperor Joseph II. to Bucharest, nominally as com missioner with the hospodar of Wallachia, but in reality in order that he might open negotiations for peace with the Turks.
In 1792 he was associate diplomatic agent at the headquarters of the allied army which invaded France, and was then appointed "director of the foreign affairs of Austria" (March 25, 1793), becoming chancellor in on the death of Kaunitz.
The selfish policy which Thugut followed (1793-180o) in Austria was bitterly resented by her allies, and although Thugut probably thought that he was only doing his duty, he committed many acts which were more than dubious. After the defeats of Austria in Italy in 1796-97 and the Peace of Campo Formio, it became a fixed object with the French, and with a growing party in Austria who held him responsible for the disasters of the war, to secure Thugut's removal.
The battle of Hohenlinden (Dec. 3, 1800) made his position untenable. He retired from public life, and left Vienna for Pressburg. He afterwards returned to Vienna and lived quietly on a pension of 7,000 florins till his death on May 28, 1818.