For ten years, from 1812 onward, Gentz was in close touch with all the great affairs of European history, the assistant, confidant and adviser of Metternich. He accompanied the chancellor on all his journeys and was present at all the conferences that preceded and followed the war. No political secrets were hidden from him, and his hand drafted all important diplomatic documents. He was secretary to the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) and to all the congresses and conferences that followed until the Conference of Verona (1822); his vast knowledge of men and affairs made him a power. He was under no illusion as to their achievements, and his memoir on the work of the congress of Vienna is at once an incisive piece of criticism and a monument of his own disillusionment.