Having received news of her, he ordered Lobanov-Rostovsky to go to the French camp to negotiate peace.
Napoleon was in the Prussian town of Tilsit, on the banks of the Neman. On the opposite bank of the same river stood the Russian and the remnants of the Prussian army. Despite the Friedland defeat, Russia could well have continued the fight against France, but it became increasingly obvious that the European allies of the Russians in this and previous wars against the French behaved extremely selfishly. The Austrians did not help Suvorov well in his Italian and especially Swiss campaigns, and preferred to withdraw from the next war of the Third Coalition immediately after the Battle of Austerlitz. Napoleon's main enemy in the West, England, generally preferred not to send armies to the land theater. Taking advantage of its maritime dominance, it seized French colonies, and only sent not very generous subsidies to its continental allies. Prussia turned out to be a very weak and indecisive partner.
Taking all this into account, Alexander I decided to sharply change the course of his foreign policy, breaking off relations with his former unfaithful “friends” and getting closer to his recent enemy, Bonaparte. Napoleon, who was very respectful of Russian power, happily accepted the new diplomatic combination, the essence of which was to Russia and France entered into an alliance for joint domination of the European continent .
On June 25, 1807, the Russian and French sovereigns met on a raft in the middle of the Neman and talked privately for about an hour in a covered pavilion. The next day they met in the city of Tilsit itself. Napoleon proposed that Russia take dominance over the east of Europe, leaving him supreme in the west. After the victory over Prussia, Bonaparte was going to review the intra-German borders and make the majority of German states dependent on himself. Asking Alexander I for consent to this, in exchange he offered Russia to strengthen itself at the expense of Sweden (by taking Finland from it) and Turkey (with which the Russians had recently started another war).
The Treaty of Tilsit was concluded by both emperors on these terms on July 8, 1807. Discussing the details of the treaty, Napoleon hoped to extract many benefits for France through the charming influence of his personality, but soon, not without surprise, he had to recognize the diplomatic skill of the tsar. Alexander, with his gentle smile, soft speech, and kind demeanor, was far from being as accommodating as his new ally would have liked. “This is a real Byzantine Greek!” [that is, a cunning, sophisticated and dexterous person] - Napoleon spoke about him to his entourage. Bonaparte, as they say, was at first inclined to completely destroy Prussia, but Alexander persuaded its king to retain about half of his former possessions. In token of respect for the Russian emperor(en considération de l "empereur de Russie) Napoleon left old Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania and Silesia to the Prussian king. Of the territories taken from Prussia, Napoleon gave the provinces on the left bank of the Elbe to his brother Jerome, and the former Polish provinces to the Saxon king. All established Napoleon in Germany monarchs were recognized by Russia and Prussia.
The main point of the Tilsit Treaty then remained secret: Russia and France pledged to help each other in any war if one of the parties asked for it. Napoleon's main European rival, England, fell into almost complete diplomatic isolation. Russia and France pledged to force the rest of Europe to comply with the anti-British trade continental blockade.
The Tilsit Peace was very beneficial for Russia. Thanks to him, it became possible for Finland to join Russia in war with the Swedes 1808-1809 and the continuation of the fight against the Turks, which later ended with the conquest of Bessarabia and the strengthening of our influence in the Balkans. But the fact that Alexander I concluded the Treaty of Tilsit after a military defeat, reconciling with those who inflicted this defeat, made a painful impression on Russian society, which had become accustomed to continuous victories during the years of Catherine II and Paul. In Russia, many (both then and even now) were inclined to consider this world imposed, forced. The Tilsit Treaty aroused strong patriotic opposition to Alexander in the highest circles of St. Petersburg, although the major benefits it brought to Russia were further expanded during the Erfurt meeting of the two emperors in 1808. The Patriotic War of 1812, which was led, rather, by the intransigence of not Napoleon, but Alexander I, was subsequently viewed in Russia as an event that made amends for the “shameful” Peace of Tilsit. “Tilsit! Now Ross will not blush at this offensive sound,” Pushkin wrote 14 years later. Nowadays, however, A. I. Solzhenitsyn points out more carefully in his work “The Russian Question by the End of the 20th Century”:
... offended by England for its indifference, Alexander rushed into friendship with Napoleon - the Peace of Tilsit (1807). It is impossible not to recognize this step as the most beneficial for Russia at that time - and would adhere to this line of neutral-favorable relations, disdaining the grumbling of the St. Petersburg high salons (however, capable of a new pro-English conspiracy) and landowners who were deprived of grain exports due to the continental blockade (more would remain for Russia). – But even here Alexander did not want to remain inactive. No, the Peace of Tilsit and the outbreak of the Turkish war were not enough for Alexander: in the same 1807 he declared war on England; Napoleon “offered to take Finland” from Sweden - and Alexander entered (1808) Finland and took it away from Sweden - but why? another unbearable burden on Russian shoulders. And he did not want a truce with Turkey at the cost of withdrawing troops from Moldova and Wallachia, again Russian troops in Bucharest. (Napoleon “offered” Russia and Moldavia-Wallachia, and indeed Turkey, to divide together with France, to open the way for Napoleon to India), and after the coup in Constantinople he was even more eager to attack Turkey. – But without all these heated takeovers, why not stick to the Tilsit Peace, which was so beneficial to Russia, stay away from the European dump and become stronger and healthier internally? No matter how Napoleon expanded in Europe (however,
After the defeat of the Fourth Anti-French Coalition, St. Petersburg again had to choose a foreign policy strategy. Several parties formed around Alexander. Thus, his “young friends” - Czartoryski, Novosiltsev, Stroganov, advocated strengthening the alliance with Britain. All their foreign policy projects took into account London's position. Many relatives of the emperor, especially his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, as well as the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs A. Ya. Budberg, the commander-in-chief of the troops in the western direction Bennigsen, believed that it was necessary to maintain and strengthen the alliance with Prussia. Still others, Minister of Commerce N.P. Rumyantsev, Ambassador to Austria A.B. Kurakin and M.M. Speransky, believed that Russia needed to return “free hands” without committing itself to allied relations. They quite reasonably believed that it was necessary to abandon attempts to establish balance in Europe by armed means, spoke out for the need to establish friendly relations with France (fortunately, Paris more than once tried to establish more constructive relations with St. Petersburg) and pursue a tougher policy towards Britain. They saw the main task of the Russian government in commercial and industrial prosperity, and for this they needed peace and a reduction in the role of British goods in Russian trade turnover.
In general, all three parties were for peace with France. But if the “young friends” of the emperor wanted to use the truce for a respite, to strengthen the alliance with Britain and other enemies of Paris in order to continue the fight against the French (besides, they were against a separate agreement between Russia and France, without the participation of Britain), then other groups believed that that it is time to end the protracted war with France; it is more profitable for Russia not to participate in the old conflict between Paris and London. And an alliance with Paris could bring tangible benefits to St. Petersburg.
The problems that arose in Russian-English relations also pushed towards peace with France. Alexander the First's hopes for full-fledged military and financial assistance to Britain did not materialize. Thus, in 1806, London provided Russia with only 300 thousand pounds out of the required 800 thousand. All attempts by Russian diplomacy to achieve payment of the remaining amount were refused. Russia had to finance the war itself. In January 1807, the question arose about extending the new Russian-English trade agreement - the previous one was concluded in 1797 and its validity period expired. In negotiations with the British Ambassador Stuart, Russian Foreign Minister Budberg wanted to change the terms of the agreement in favor of St. Petersburg; the previous agreement gave the British great advantages. Naturally, the British did not want to change the favorable terms, and the negotiations reached a dead end.
As a result, it became obvious that continuing the war with France was very stupid. Prussia was defeated, Austria had no intention of opposing France, England was guided primarily by personal interests rather than common ones, Russia fought with Persia and the Ottoman Empire, the troops suffered a number of failures at the front, a threat of international isolation arose, and there was a negative situation in area of finance. As a result, Alexander I, despite his personal hostility to Napoleon, was forced to make peace with France.
Tilsit
The French emperor also showed readiness for negotiations. After the defeat of the Russian army near Friedland, the French army was inactive and did not cross the borders of Russia. The negotiations went through several stages. First, St. Petersburg announced that it was ready for negotiations if Napoleon accepted the condition of preserving the territorial integrity of Russia. And she proposed to negotiate not separately, but with the participation of all parties to the conflict. Paris did not lay claim to Russian territory; Napoleon himself advocated peace negotiations, but was against the participation of other powers, especially England, in them. On June 9 (21), 1807, a truce was signed. British attempts to prevent Russia from concluding a truce were unsuccessful.
On June 13 (25), two emperors, Alexander and Napoleon, met on the Neman River. The issue of peace was not in doubt; France and Russia were tired of the bloody war. Now it was necessary to agree on the degree of rapprochement between the two great powers (Napoleon wanted a real union, and Alexander wanted to maintain “free hands”) and the size of mutual concessions. These were not negotiations between the defeated side and the triumphant winner. Alexander agreed to sever relations with Britain and recognize changes in Europe, but demanded French non-interference in Russian-Turkish relations and the preservation of Prussian statehood led by Friedrich Wilhelm. Napoleon wanted a real military-political alliance with Russia in order to consolidate French dominance in Western Europe, the successes of military campaigns, making them long-term and to complete the campaign on the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, he needed an alliance with St. Petersburg in order to fight Britain - at a minimum, Russia’s joining the continental blockade, and better yet, the full participation of Russians in the fight against the British.
It was the question of the alliance between Russia and France that caused the most controversy in Tilsit. Alexander was for peace, but did not see a future for an alliance with France. The Russian emperor did not want to fight with England and participate in the continental blockade (to abandon trade relations with Britain), which would damage the country's economy. In addition, the alliance with France increased the possibility of Paris interfering in Russian-Turkish relations.
Alexander initially managed to separate the issue of concluding peace from the problem of creating an alliance of two powers. But then the negotiations became complicated - Napoleon proposed dividing the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire between Russia and France and destroying Prussia. Alexander said that Russia is not interested in the division of Turkish possessions, but offers a compromise - the division of spheres of influence on the Balkan Peninsula, with the participation of Austria. Regarding Prussia, Alexander was adamant - Prussian statehood, albeit in a truncated form, must be preserved. Napoleon made a concession regarding Prussia, but demanded that the Polish regions be separated from it, which Berlin received during the Second and Third Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th century. The French emperor wanted to restore Polish statehood, albeit in a very reduced form and under the protectorate of Paris.
As a result, Alexander realized that Napoleon would not accept Russia's terms regarding Prussia and Turkey, without alliance relations, and agreed to a secret alliance with France. As a result, two treaties were signed: an open peace treaty and a secret agreement.
Terms of the peace agreement
Russia recognized all the conquests of France. Paris achieved recognition by St. Petersburg of Joseph Bonaparte as the King of Naples, Ludwig Bonaparte as the King of the Netherlands, and Jerome Bonaparte as the King of Westphalia. As well as recognition of the Confederation of the Rhine.
Russia agreed that Prussia would lose land on the left bank of the Elbe and areas would be allocated from it to create the Duchy of Warsaw. The city of Gdansk was declared a free treaty. The Bialystok district went to Russia.
Petersburg agreed to become a mediator in the Anglo-French negotiations.
France became a mediator in negotiations between Russia and Turkey.
Russia pledged to transfer the Ionian Islands and the Bay of Cattaro to France.
In addition, the treaty of alliance provided for joint actions of the two powers against any third power hostile to them. St. Petersburg was supposed, if England refused to put up with France, to join the continental blockade. In the event of a joint war with the Ottoman Empire, Paris and St. Petersburg agreed to divide its possessions, except for Istanbul and Rumelia.
It is clear that this agreement was not beneficial to Russia, but at the same time the agreement was not shameful. Thus, the treaty did not prohibit trading with England through neutral countries. And Russia was supposed to enter the war against a third power after the development of a special convention. Until 1812, the parties did not even begin to develop such an agreement. Thus, the question of military cooperation between France and Russia remained open and provided opportunities for maneuver.
Alexander himself believed that this peace treaty and alliance only gave Russia time to resume the fight later. Russia retained its foreign policy independence and gained time to prepare for a new war and search for allies. In addition, the Russian emperor believed that Napoleon's empire should soon face serious internal difficulties. At the same time, there was a change in Alexander’s inner circle - the emperor’s “young friends” were pushed aside, N. Rumyantsev was appointed head of the Foreign Ministry, he was a supporter of rapprochement with France and limiting the role of England. At the same time, the role of M. M. Speransky grew. True, the Russian public, already accustomed to the loud victories of the Russian, was extremely dissatisfied. The feeling of resentment in the capital's circles was so great that even 14 years later, Alexander Pushkin wrote: “Tilsit!.. at this offensive sound / Now Russia will not turn pale.”
Consequences of the Peace of Tilsit for Europe
This peace somewhat stabilized the situation in Europe, which before it had been the scene of a fierce war. Austria maintained neutrality. Prussia was occupied by the French and completely demoralized, surviving as a state only by the good will of Russia. At the same time, various transformations were taking place in a number of countries. Reforms of the administrative system were underway in Russia; Speransky was their developer. In Prussia, the transformation of the system was associated with the name of von Stein. In Austria, I. Stadion and Archduke Charles carried out military reform.
World of Tilsit
Introduction
The treaty concluded between France and Russia in the summer of 1807 in Tilsit can be considered a turning point in the fate of Napoleon Bonaparte. Despite the fact that after 1807 the French Empire would dominate the European continent for a long time, and the Grande Armée would win more than one battle, we would not be much mistaken if we say that it was in the decisions of the Peace of Tilsit that the future defeat of the great Corsican was programmed.
Was this Napoleon's own fault? Or maybe the French emperor was just a toy in the hands of merciless historical predetermination? The answers to such questions, as a rule, contain too much fiction, so historical science never answers them unambiguously.
The purpose of this work is to try once again to discern that point of no return, after which Bonaparte’s policy, at any turn of his military fortunes, becomes doomed to defeat. To achieve this goal, we turned to the two most famous monographs of the Soviet era, dedicated to the life of Napoleon. We are talking about books by E.V. Tarle and A.Z. Manfreda. We also gleaned a lot of information from the work of one of the most authoritative French experts on the Napoleonic era, Jean Tulard, whose book was published relatively recently in the ZhZL series.
To better understand the actions and thoughts of Bonaparte's main opponent - Emperor Alexander - we turned to his biography, written at the dawn of the 20th century by the remarkable domestic historian N.K. Schilder.
Notes from A.P. Eromolova and D.V. Davydov were used in the work in order to more accurately convey the atmosphere of the era, which, of course, was more clearly reflected in the writings of his contemporaries.
We dare to hope that the work will be of interest not only to the author, but also to any potential reader interested in the history of the First French Empire.
1. Defeat of the fourth coalition
The echo of the Battle of Austerlitz had not yet completely faded away when another anti-French alliance began to smell in Europe. As before, England was the soul and main investor of the anti-Napoleonic forces. On the continent, the place of defeated Austria was this time taken by Prussia, which had previously successfully avoided participation in the third coalition.
King Frederick William III, obviously, at some point felt that the same blood flowed in his veins as in the veins of Frederick the Great, otherwise it is difficult to explain the warlike mood that gripped Prussia in 1806. The Prussian nobility suddenly experienced a surge of national enthusiasm, which quickly resulted in the conviction of the invincibility of the Prussian army. The idea that the latter could share the fate of Austrian and Russian was dismissed as untenable. The Austerlitz defeat was interpreted as a consequence of the military futility of the Allies. With such thoughts, it was not far from the conclusion that Bonaparte, as a commander, was nothing of himself and, of course, would not be able to adequately resist the heirs of the Teutonic knights.
However, the warlike fervor blinded the Hohenzollerns so much that it did not even allow them to analyze the defeat of the previous anti-Napoleonic campaign. As a result, the same mistake was made as the Austrians had made the year before. Instead of waiting for the Russians and marching with the latter, already having a significant numerical superiority over the French, the Prussians provoked a conflict with Napoleon even before Bennigsen's army approached the Russian border.
Less than a year had passed since Minister Haugwitz congratulated Bonaparte on his victory over Austria and Russia and accepted Hanover (the hereditary possession of the English kings) from the generous hands of the Emperor, when on October 2, 1806, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Talleyrand was handed a Prussian ultimatum, so arrogant in its its tone and content, that Napoleon did not even read it to the end. Berlin demanded from the Corsican no less than the withdrawal of all French troops from German territory beyond the Rhine. War was inevitable.
Bonaparte remained true to his principle of defeating enemies one by one and did not wait for Friedrich Wilhelm’s army to unite with Russian troops. He came forward and by the tenth of October the first skirmishes had already occurred. And on October 14, 1806, in the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, the fate of the Prussian army was finally decided.
The further continuation of the war was the victorious march of the Great Army through the territory of Prussia and the occupation of Prussian cities and fortresses without any serious resistance. The royal court hastily left Berlin and evacuated to Memel, where it entered into correspondence with the new owner of the Potsdam Palace.
It is unlikely that the French emperor did not know how to be magnanimous, but, one way or another, the peace terms dictated by him to the ambassador of Frederick William were so unacceptable that the king simply had no choice but to beg Alexander I for help. If the latter had not responded to this call, then, most likely, the history of the Prussian kingdom would have ended already at the beginning of the 19th century.
Meanwhile, on November 21, 1806, in Berlin, Bonaparte signed a document that would subsequently determine his entire political strategy. These were decrees on the continental blockade.
After the destruction of the Franco-Spanish fleet by Nelson at Cape Trafalgar in November 1805, Napoleon lost his last chance of capturing the British Isles. Therefore, it is not surprising that his inquisitive mind found another way to defeat the now inaccessible enemy, if not militarily, then at least economically. This method was the continental blockade. Its main drawback was that it absolutely did not work under one condition - if all continental countries of Europe were not involved in it. In other words, we can say that Bonaparte in Berlin unveiled his foreign policy program for several years to come. It consisted in the fact that now all the military and diplomatic efforts of the French state were aimed at involving as many European powers as possible in the economic confrontation with England. Russia, as one of the main trading partners of Foggy Albion, of course, was no exception.
So, up to a certain point, Napoleon needed a war with Russia, since it was simply impossible to imagine that Tsar Alexander would voluntarily accept the conditions of the continental blockade.
The Eastern European winter was not very favorable for the campaign of the Great Army. The heat-loving French were uncomfortable fighting in the snowy Polish forests. Perhaps that is why the start of the military campaign against the Russian army was unsuccessful.
The first battle took place on the Narew River, near the city of Pultusk. The emperor himself did not participate in this battle; the French troops were commanded by Marshal Lannes. After a short battle, the opponents dispersed with heavy losses on both sides, without identifying a clear winner. But everyone attributed the victory to themselves.
The next meeting of the two armies (February 7, 1807) went down in history as the bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic wars. This time Napoleon personally stood at the head of the troops and therefore the responsibility for the fact that he did not snatch victory from the Russians at Preussisch-Eylau lies entirely with him.
The large losses suffered by the Grand Army in this battle somewhat adjusted the emperor's military plans, forcing him to offer much milder peace terms to the Prussian king, but the latter, impressed by the ambiguous outcome of the battle and under the influence of his powerful wife, Queen Louise, rejected Napoleon's offer, concluding a new one an alliance agreement with Alexander I, according to which the monarchs agreed to avoid any negotiations with Bonaparte until the French army was on the other side of the Rhine.
This decision of the Russian and Prussian autocrats extended the war for almost another six months. On June 14, 1807, a decisive battle took place near the city of Friedland, which ended in the complete defeat of the army of General Bennigsen. Russian troops, covered by a rearguard under the command of Prince Bagration, hastily retreated to the Neman (which was then the natural border of the Russian Empire) and crossed it in the area of the small town of Tilsit.
From there, Bagration, on the orders of Bennigsen, sent his adjutant to the French camp to conclude a truce. The latter, having arrived at the location of Marshal Murat's units, was informed that Napoleon did not want a truce, but was offering peace. After this was reported to the Russian Tsar, the infantry general, Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky, was sent to the French, by order of Alexander.
A truce was concluded. Russia and France froze on the eve of the union treaty.
2. Union of Emperors
Ten days after the Battle of Friedland, in the middle of the Niemen, which separated both armies, a raft was built, on which two pavilions were placed. On the morning of June 25, 1807, two barges set sail from opposite banks of the river. In one of them was the French Emperor Napoleon, in the other - the Russian Tsar Alexander.
The future partisan, poet Denis Davydov, who was then in Tilsit as a life hussar staff captain and adjutant of Bagration, after the end of the Napoleonic wars, would write memoirs about this event, which would reflect the admiration that the Russian officers felt towards their winner: “At that moment the enormity of the spectacle triumphed over all the senses. All eyes turned and rushed to the opposite bank of the river to the barge carrying this wonderful man, this unprecedented and unheard-of commander since the times of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, whom he so much surpassed in the variety of talents and the glory of conquering enlightened and educated peoples... I remember that on it there was a ribbon of the Legion of Honor across the shoulder of the uniform, and on his head was that small hat for which the uniform is so famous throughout the world. I was struck by the similarity of his figure with all the printed images of him, then sold everywhere. He even stood with his hands folded on his chest, as he is depicted in the pictures.”
Napoleon arrived at the meeting place a little earlier than Alexander and hurried to meet the latter. The dialogue that took place between them is widely known: “Sire, I hate the English as much as you!” - “In that case, peace is concluded.” After this, the emperors retired to one of the pavilions, leaving the retinues that accompanied them on the raft to get to know each other.
The conversation between the monarchs in private lasted about an hour, but since neither one nor the other left any memories on this matter, one can only guess about the content of their conversation.
After this, the confidants of both emperors were invited inside the pavilion, and a short exchange of pleasantries took place. In particular, Bonaparte extolled the bravery of the Russian soldiers and “praised” Bennigsen in a very original way, noting his “talent” and his “caution.” Since Napoleon met Alexander coming out of the barge, the latter, according to the laws of etiquette, had to see him off. Which is what they did. This ended the first meeting of the future allies.
We would not be much mistaken if we say that this was a meeting of two outstanding flatterers. Both of them tried to charm each other, and Alexander I undoubtedly succeeded in this. It was not so easy for Bonaparte to charm Alexander, despite his European popularity and reputation as the greatest commander of our time. The conditions that, one way or another, Napoleon had to impose on the Russian Tsar were too strong a sobering remedy.
The Prussian king was on the Russian coast at that time. His role at this moment was truly unenviable, since the French emperor, even during the negotiations on a truce with Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky, expressed the idea that the border between France and Russia should run along the Vistula River, in other words, Prussia should have disappeared from the political map Europe. And, of course, Friedrich Wilhelm understood that at that moment the fate of his country was being decided on the raft.
The most amazing thing is that despite such a disastrous situation of the Brandenburg dynasty, Prussian diplomats did not hesitate to develop political projects about the future fate of Prussia in an alliance with Russia and France, with fantastic plans for the reconstruction of Europe, with the division of European Turkey, the annexation of Saxony to Prussia, the return of Hanover to England and Malta, etc. But, as N.K. noted. Schilder, “Napoleon freed Emperor Alexander from the disastrous Prussian service, and Russia again took the path of its previous national policy.”
Nevertheless, it was the preservation of the Hohenzollern state that was one of the mandatory conditions for peace, which Alexander I insisted on and Bonaparte ultimately agreed to. But until the moment when this became completely clear, Friedrich Wilhelm had to drink the cup of shame and humiliation to the bottom.
Napoleon pointedly made it clear that he was negotiating with Alexander, and not with Alexander and Friedrich Wilhelm. The latter was not even invited to the first meeting. In a state of complete panic, the Prussian king decided to use the last weapon available to him - the beauty of his wife Queen Louise, who was urgently discharged to Tilsit. However, neither the latter’s fiery appeals nor her open flirtation with Napoleon tipped the scales on the side of Prussia. Obviously, the kingdom was saved only thanks to the firm position of Tsar Alexander. Bonaparte was too interested in an alliance with him not to yield to him on this point.
In the end, Frederick William got "Old Prussia", Pomerania, Brandenburg and Silesia. In order for the king not to be mistaken about Napoleon’s motives in this matter, the latter included in one of the articles of the Treaty of Tilsit the wording that he, Napoleon, was returning these four provinces only out of respect for the Russian emperor.
It took the French and Russian monarchs less than two weeks to agree on all other issues. At this time, the emperors often dined together and attended military maneuvers. Several times Napoleon visited Alexander without his retinue and they had confidential conversations.
By July 7, 1807, all Russian-French treaties were signed, and on July 9, a treaty was concluded by Prussia. As a result, Alexander recognized the imperial title for Napoleon, the royal titles for his brothers, as well as all the conquests made by France. Russia recognized the Confederation of the Rhine - a commonwealth of German principalities under the patronage of the French emperor. From that part of historical Poland that belonged to Prussia, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was created, dependent on the Saxon king, an ally of Bonaparte. This reflected the ambivalent attitude of the French emperor towards his new ally. It seems that some semblance of a Polish state was created - a headache for the Russian emperor, whose possessions included significant Polish territories - but at the same time, the state was so puppet that Alexander did not even have a reason to make a claim to Napoleon. In addition, the powers agreed on mutual mediation - Russia in the negotiations between France and England, France in the negotiations between Russia and Turkey.
But the main thing that Alexander agreed to and that will play a fatal role in further events is Russia’s participation in the continental blockade against England. If we consider that the Russian economy at that time was predominantly agricultural in nature, and England was the main consumer of agricultural products supplied from Russia, then we can safely say that Napoleon twisted Alexander’s arms. The Russian Tsar also promised to put pressure on Portugal and the Scandinavian countries so that they would close their ports to British ships.
It is unlikely that Bonaparte fully understood the hopelessness of the situation in which he was putting Russia. For him, the Peace of Tilsit was an undoubted political and diplomatic success. France received a great European power as an ally, friendship with which made it possible to hope for an imminent victory over England, since the latter did not have a single ally left on the continent capable of resisting French weapons.
The rays of this success warmed Napoleon on July 27, 1807, when he returned to Paris, greeted with colorful flags, garlands of flowers and night illuminations.
. On the way to war
It is known that not everyone in the immediate circle of the French emperor shared his desire to conclude an alliance with Russia. In particular, Foreign Minister Talleyrand, not daring to openly contradict Napoleon, nevertheless made great efforts to bring France to an alliance with Austria. Even after it became obvious that an alliance with the Habsburgs was unlikely to take place in the foreseeable future, he tried, acting in agreement with the Austrian diplomats Vincent and Stadion, to achieve Austrian mediation in the conflict of powers, which was intended, if not to prevent a rapprochement between France and Russia, then at least delay it. This episode did not escape Bonaparte’s attention and soon served as the reason for Talleyrand’s resignation from the post of minister.
Let us note, however, that the former Bishop of Autun tried to change the foreign policy course of the empire at the end of 1806 - at the beginning of 1807, that is, when the war with Russia was still in full swing. And after Preussisch-Eylau (Bennigsen still believed that he had defeated Napoleon), the outcome of this war was not so clear (the emperor even had to diplomatically involve Turkey in the war with Russia in order to pull part of the Russian troops away from Prussia). Napoleon always considered peace with Russia to be the ultimate goal of this war. Moreover, apparently, even in 1812, Bonaparte did not think about occupying Russia following the example of other European powers (with the removal of the legitimate dynasty and the accession of one of the emperor’s many brothers). France, even at the peak of its geopolitical power, did not have the resources for such an adventure, and Napoleon understood this very well.
This explains why he wanted an alliance with Russia (if you cannot defeat a country, you must become its ally), but does not explain why Talleyrand wanted to avoid this alliance.
The Prince of Benevento was an intelligent and far-sighted politician, and perhaps the situation in which Napoleon found himself by the summer of 1807 did not seem so prosperous to him, and it is unlikely that he shared the enthusiasm of the Parisian crowd.
Indeed, if we consider the conclusion of peace and the return of the army to France as a blessing, then Talleyrand, as one of the people closest to Bonaparte, most likely already knew about his plans for Italy and Portugal. That is, peace was not expected for France in the full sense of the word. Then it was obvious that England would not be satisfied with the Tilsit agreements (if the continental blockade was indeed feasible, then England would face inevitable defeat), which means that there was a high probability of some other anti-Napoleonic combination (even without Russia).
Meanwhile, peace with Russia itself, by definition, could not be strong and durable (as history has confirmed). In addition to the economic considerations already mentioned above (the break with England hit the well-being of Russian landowners), the very fact of the Tilsit Treaty had a very strong impact on the national identity of the Russian nobility, which made up the officer corps of the Russian army. Could Alexander I afford not to listen to the opinion of the social stratum that was his support? Sooner or later, this bad world would definitely slide into one form of war or another. It was just a matter of when it would happen.
In addition, obviously, the king generally considered Tilsit as a temporary measure. According to legend, at the conclusion of the treaty, he told the Prussian royal couple: “Be patient, we will get ours back. He'll break his neck. Despite all my demonstrations and outward actions, in my heart I am your friend and I hope to prove this to you in practice.”
Austria is a completely different matter. It had already been defeated several times by Napoleon. Unlike Russia, the French monarch was quite capable of occupying its territory, dividing it into regions or changing its ruling dynasty. The Habsburgs understood this up to a certain point. Their participation in the fifth coalition was explained by the failures of Napoleonic marshals in Spain. Without this liberation struggle, it is unlikely that Austria would have decided to fight another war with Bonaparte (almost alone).
We dare to assume that Talleyrand considered the alliance with Austria as an attempt to stabilize the situation in Europe with the help of an alliance of two major European powers (Austria and France), without significant concessions due to the conquests of Napoleon, realizing that the latter was unlikely to make such concessions.
Russia, left alone on the continent, would hardly have begun to provoke a conflict with France after Austerlitz and Friedland. And England, accustomed to fighting with money, would not have been able to provide it with real military assistance.
Conclusion
As we noted above, Russia could not fully participate in the continental blockade. And no agreement (even with the greatest commander in the world) would oblige her to do this. A few years later, Napoleon would have to deprive his own brother, Louis Bonaparte, of the Dutch throne and incorporate Holland into France, precisely because this country did not comply with the terms of the blockade. But Holland is not Russia.
In fact, the Tilsit system was unviable from the very beginning. Napoleon, who was undoubtedly the greatest military tactician, was, however, not the best political strategist. He could not prevent the collapse of this house of cards, although he tried (this is what the Erfurt Congress was dedicated to).
Obviously, despairing of resolving this problem diplomatically, he turns to that method of resolving issues that has never failed him until now - to war. But here, too, failure awaited him, since not a single state, even one headed by a genius of war, is able to fight for decades, with virtually no respite. The empire simply did not have enough strength to win. Napoleon realized this too late.
Tilsit Bonaparte defeat peace
Literature
1.Davydov D.V. Poems. War notes. - M.: OLMA-PRESS, 1999. - 643 p.
2.Ermolov A.P. Notes from A.P. Ermolova. 1798? 1826 - M.: Higher. school, 1991 - 463 p.
.Manfred A.Z. Napoleon Bonoparte. - M.: Mysl, 1987. - 735 p.
.Tarle E.V. Napoleon. - M.: AST: AST MOSCOW, 2008. - 413 p.
.Tulard J. Napoleon, or the Myth of the “Savior”. - M.: Young Guard, 2009. - 562 p.
.Shilder N.K. Emperor Alexander the First: his life and reign. T.2 - St. Petersburg: Publishing house A.S. Suvorin. - 1904. - 408 p.
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Between 13 and 25 June 1807, a peace treaty was concluded in Tilsit between Napoleon and Alexander. To sign the treaty, the two emperors met on a raft in the middle of the Neman River.
Participants in peace negotiations
Frederick William III of Prussia and his wife Louise met with Alexander I in 1801 in Memel (now Klaipeda, a city in Lithuania). The Prussian army at this time held defenses along the borders. Apparently, the city did not make an impression on the Russian Tsar. When Frederick William asked the emperor what he liked most about Memel, Alexander replied: “Your wife!”
There is every reason to believe that Alexander did not lie. The emperor was unhappy in his marriage and had with his wife only two children, girls, who died in childhood. In addition, shortly before meeting Frederick of Prussia, Alexander lost his father Paul - he was killed in St. Petersburg. But despite everything, Russia was very important to Friedrich Wilhelm as an ally. Alexander knew about this and therefore allowed himself such insolence.
Contemporaries considered Louise charming and irresistible. In fact, she was a living legend of her time. And it’s not just about the beauty that nature generously endowed her with. She had a strong character and was a truly bright personality. These qualities contrasted sharply with her husband's indecisiveness and uncertainty. One day, seeing the despondency and loss of spirit of the Prussian soldiers, Louise jumped on her horse and headed towards them to inspire them and gather them for battle. One of the officers subsequently commented: “The only representative of Prussia on the battlefield that day was the queen.” In July 1807 she went to Tilsit. Louise was going to use all her abilities to save at least part of Prussia from Napoleon.
One of the conditions for the negotiations in Tilsit was a joint dinner between Napoleon and Louise. The dinner took place a week after the signing of the treaty in 1807, on the bridge. Today this bridge bears the name of Queen Louise. It is believed that this meeting, although not widely publicized, had a great influence on the history of Europe.
"Youth" agreement
The Peace of Tilsit consisted of two significant peace treaties: between France and Russia (July 7) and between France and Prussia (July 9). At the time of peace, Alexander was 29 years old, Friedrich Wilhelm was 36 years old, Louise was 31 years old, and Napoleon was 37 years old. Subsequently, historians will call the Tilsit Peace a “youth” treaty, because the participants in the negotiation process were relatively young for such an important political event.
The treaty signed between Alexander and Napoleon played a key role for Europe. Standing on a raft in the middle of the river, the two emperors agreed on the subsequent division of Europe. True, in contrast to the agreement between Molotov and him in 1939, Napoleon and Alexander smoothed out the clash generated by fundamentally different systems of political governance.
For Napoleon, the Treaty of Tilsit provided a respite from a grueling military campaign that engulfed the entire territory from Paris to Memel in flames.
The Prussian royal family was forced to move the capital from Berlin to Memel (Klaipeda). Prussia was in dire straits. Friedrich Wilhelm even abolished serfdom in 1807, in the hope that at least some of the freed peasants would be able to take up arms.
It was Alexander who asked Napoleon to meet with Louise. Napoleon agreed with great reluctance. Louise wanted to save at least a small part of the Prussian kingdom, which at that time was only 106 years old and was considered the youngest in Europe. To do this, she needed to charm and convince Napoleon, who behaved arrogantly and arrogantly towards the Prussians.
Her emotional requests and pleas had no effect on Napoleon. At first she asked him to preserve the Prussian kingdom, or at least its name. When this failed, she asked to save at least a couple of provinces. Napoleon did not agree to this either. Finally, Louise exploded: “Let me at least leave Magdeburg!” Napoleon refused her.
Later in his letter, he noted that he knew in advance that the Prussian queen would try to manipulate him, and was on guard. Eventually, Napoleon forced the Prussians to halve the size of their army and pay France compensation of 100 million francs.
Louise fell into despair. Now there is no trace left of the former Prussia, and she has become the queen of provincial Memel. Talleyrand, Napoleon's foreign minister, was so moved by Louise's feelings that he tried to console her. He was sincerely outraged by Napoleon's cruel attitude towards the Kingdom of Prussia and later resigned for this reason. Relations between Talleyrand and Napoleon were ruined forever after this.
Subsequent events
Five years later, Napoleon's Grand Army, consisting of 600,000 people, entered Lithuania. For many Lithuanians, Napoleon's invasion was a welcome opportunity to rebel against the Russian Tsar's regime. Between 1807 and 1812, approximately 20,000 Lithuanians volunteered to serve in the army of the Duchy of Warsaw, created as a result of the Tilsit Agreements.
Napoleon entered Lithuania on June 27, 1812 and stayed there for 18 days. Six months later, the Grand Army joined him on December 9th. The army was defeated and was in a deplorable state. Exhausted and sick soldiers filled the streets of Vilnius. Not a trace remained of the former greatness of the French army. It is believed that around 20,000 Napoleon's soldiers died in the Lithuanian capital.
Fate was also not kind to Queen Louise. Of all four participants in the peace negotiations, she was the first to die. Louise died at the age of 34, three years after her breakfast with Napoleon. She could not live to see the complete defeat of the army of the emperor, whom she hated with all her heart. However, Louise's descendants will play a large role in subsequent events. Her daughter Charlotte will become the wife of Tsar Nicholas. After accepting Orthodoxy, Charlotte will receive a new name - Alexandra Feodorovna, and will reign in Russia for 30 years.
Louise's son Wilhelm would become the first Kaiser of a united Germany in 1871, after Prussia's victory over France. This victory for Wilhelm will be revenge for the humiliation of his mother in Tilsit. William chose Versailles for his coronation specifically so that the entire French people could see his triumph.
And Napoleon after the War of the Fourth Coalition - 1807, in which Russia helped Prussia.
Story
The main point of the Tilsit Treaty was not published at that time: Russia and France pledged to help each other in any offensive and defensive war, wherever circumstances required it. This close alliance eliminated Napoleon's only strong rival on the continent; England remained isolated; both powers pledged to use all measures to force the rest of Europe to comply with the continental system. On July 7, 1807, the treaty was signed by both emperors. The Peace of Tilsit elevated Napoleon to the pinnacle of power, and put Emperor Alexander in a difficult position. The feeling of resentment in capital circles was great. “Tilsit!.. (at this offensive sound / Now Russia will not turn pale),” wrote Alexander Pushkin 14 years later. The Patriotic War of 1812 was subsequently looked upon precisely as the event that “made amends” for the Tilsit Peace. In general, the significance of the Peace of Tilsit was very great: from 1807, Napoleon began to rule much more boldly in Europe than before.
Terms of the Peace of Tilsit
- Russia recognized all of Napoleon's conquests.
- Russia's joining the continental blockade against England (secret agreement). Russia must completely abandon trade with its main partner (in particular, the terms of the peace treaty ordered Russia to completely exclude the export of hemp to the UK) and, together with France, influence Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Portugal with the same goals.
- Russia and France pledged to help each other in every offensive and defensive war, wherever circumstances require it. So, during the war with Sweden (1808-1809), with the support of France, Russia acquired Finland. At the same time, assistance to France in its war with Austria in 1809, an auxiliary corps under the terms of peace, was not actually provided by Russia.
- On the territory of the Polish possessions of Prussia it was formed