Gyula Andrássy the Elder

Count Gyula Andrássy the Elder (1823–1890) was a Hungarian statesman and a leading participant in the political transformation of the Austrian Empire into Austria-Hungary. He was born on 8 March 1823 in Oláhpatak (now Vlachovo, Slovakia). He took part in the Hungarian revolutionary movement of 1848–1849, spent years in exile after its defeat, and subsequently returned to Hungary.

Andrássy was involved in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and became the first Hungarian prime minister under the Dual Monarchy, serving until 1871. During Franz Joseph I's coronation as King of Hungary on 8 June 1867, Andrássy participated with Archbishop János Simor in the placing of the Holy Crown on the monarch's head.

From 1871 to 1879 Andrássy served as Austro-Hungarian foreign minister. His diplomacy included European negotiations concerning the Balkans and the conclusion of the Austro-German Alliance in 1879. He died in Volosko on 18 February 1890.