Eduard Taaffe, Graf von , 1833-95, Austrian premier (1868-70, 1879-93), of Irish descent. A childhood friend of Emperor Francis Joseph, he was twice premier. Taaffe sought by a series of compromises to cope with the tempestuous crises brought about by the conflict of nationalities within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He relied on an alliance of Slav and German conservatives against a liberal and nationalist German opposition. In 1879 he sought to conciliate the Czechs by granting limited recognition to Czech as a national language in Bohemia and Moravia. His efforts to reconcile the nationalities...
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