Konstantin von Neurath

Born to Swabian nobility in 1873, Konstantin von Neurath entered diplomatic service in 1901 and earned the Iron Cross during World War I. He climbed through postings in Copenhagen, Rome, and London before Franz von Papen made him Foreign Minister in 1932. When Hitler took power the following year, Neurath remained at his desk, playing a key role in dismantling the Treaty of Versailles and enabling territorial expansion - often objecting on tactical grounds rather than principle. By 1938 Hitler replaced him with the more fervent Joachim von Ribbentrop. Neurath became Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939, a title stripped of real power by September 1941. At Nuremberg he drew fifteen years for compliance; released in 1954, he died on his family estate two years later.