Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein

Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein (1757–1831) was a Prussian statesman whose revolutionary reforms modernized the Prussian state and inspired German national resurgence against Napoleon. An imperial knight from Nassau educated at Göttingen, Stein distinguished himself in the Westphalian mining administration before King Frederick William III appointed him Minister of Economic Affairs.

Following the disaster of Tilsit in 1807, Stein was appointed Chief Minister on Napoleon's recommendation. Within fourteen months, he transformed Prussian society: issuing the October Edict (1807) that abolished peasant serfdom and allowed free sale of land, and passing the Municipal Ordinance (1808) establishing local democratic self-government. Banned by Napoleon as an 'enemy of France', Stein fled to Russia, where he became Tsar Alexander I's chief political advisor, organizing the German Legion and orchestrating the European coalition that defeated Napoleon.