Karl Nesselrode
Encyclopedia
Baltic-German Count Karl Robert Nesselrode, also known as Charles de Nesselrode, (Lisbon
, Portugal
, December 14, 1780 - Saint Petersburg
, March 23, 1862; ru.
Карл Васильевич Нессельроде, Karl Vasilyevich Nesselrode) was a Russia
n diplomat and a leading European conservative statesman of the Holy Alliance
. His autobiography was published posthumously in 1866.
He was born in Lisbon
, Portugal
where his father (d. 1810), a count of the Holy Roman Empire
, was the ambassador of the Russian tsar
. In deference to his mother's Protestantism
he was baptized in the chapel of the British Embassy, thus becoming a member of the Church of England
. Nesselrode's Germanic roots were emphasized by his education in a Berlin
gymnasium, his father having been appointed ambassador to the Prussian court about 1787.
At the age of 16 he entered the Russian Navy where, with his father's influence, he secured the position of naval aide-de-camp
to Tsar Paul.
He then moved to the army, and entered diplomatic service under Paul I's son and successor, Tsar Alexander I
. He was attached to the Russian embassy at Berlin, and transferred thence to the Hague.
In August 1806, Nesselrode received a commission to travel in southern Germany to report on the French troops there; he was then attached as diplomatic secretary to Generals Kamenski
, Buxhoewden
and Bennigsen
in succession.
He was present at the inconclusive Battle of Eylau
in January 1807, fought by Count Von Bennigsen and assisted at the negotiations of the Peace of Tilsit, (July 1807), whereby Spanish Bonapartist Diego Fernandez de Velasco, (deceased in Paris in the exile in 1811), 13th Duke of Frías, congratulated and seated at table with Napoleon I
.
Nesselrode became State Secretary in 1814 and was the head of Russia's official delegation to Congress of Vienna
, but for the most part Alexander I acted as his own foreign minister. In 1816, Nesselrode became Russian foreign minister, sharing influence with Count Ioannis Kapodistrias
until the latter's retirement in 1822.
For forty years, Nesselrode guided Russian policy and was a leading European conservative statesman of the Holy Alliance
. Between 1845 and 1856, he served as Chancellor. As Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1824, he was a plenipotentiary
during negotiations with the United States in defining the boundary between Russian America and the American claims known as the Oregon Country
, which was resolved with the Russo-American Treaty of 1824, and a parallel treaty with Britain concerning British claims which overlapped on those of the US. A century later in 1924, Mount Nesselrode
in the Boundary Ranges
of the Alaska
-British Columbia
boundary was named for him.
In 1849 Nesselrode sent Russian troops to aid Austria
in putting down the Hungarian revolution led by Lajos Kossuth
.
One frequently overlooked facet of his activity involved Nesselrode's attempts to penetrate Japan's self-isolation
. In 1853 he dispatched Yevfimy Putyatin
with a letter to the Shogun
; Putyatin returned to St. Petersburg with the favorable Treaty of Shimoda
.
Nesselrode's efforts to expand Russia's influence in the Balkans
and Mediterranean led to conflicts with Turkey
, Britain
, the then Kingdom of Sardinia
, the then Duchy of Savoy
and France
, allied in the Crimean War
(1853–1856). Britain and France were concerned by Russia's growing influence and were determined to support Turkey and so restrict Russia.
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, December 14, 1780 - Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, March 23, 1862; ru.
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
Карл Васильевич Нессельроде, Karl Vasilyevich Nesselrode) was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n diplomat and a leading European conservative statesman of the Holy Alliance
Holy Alliance
The Holy Alliance was a coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 at the behest of Czar Alexander I of Russia, signed by the three powers in Paris on September 26, 1815, in the Congress of Vienna after the defeat of Napoleon.Ostensibly it was to instill the Christian values of...
. His autobiography was published posthumously in 1866.
He was born in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
where his father (d. 1810), a count of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
, was the ambassador of the Russian tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
. In deference to his mother's Protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
he was baptized in the chapel of the British Embassy, thus becoming a member of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. Nesselrode's Germanic roots were emphasized by his education in a Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
gymnasium, his father having been appointed ambassador to the Prussian court about 1787.
At the age of 16 he entered the Russian Navy where, with his father's influence, he secured the position of naval aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to Tsar Paul.
He then moved to the army, and entered diplomatic service under Paul I's son and successor, Tsar Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
. He was attached to the Russian embassy at Berlin, and transferred thence to the Hague.
In August 1806, Nesselrode received a commission to travel in southern Germany to report on the French troops there; he was then attached as diplomatic secretary to Generals Kamenski
Mikhail Kamensky
Count Mikhail Fedotovich Kamensky was a Russian Field Marshal prominent in the Catherinian wars and the Napoleonic campaigns....
, Buxhoewden
Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden
Friedrich Wilhelm Count von Buxhoevden was a Russian Infantry General and a government official. Buxhoeveden commanded the Russian armies during the Finnish War....
and Bennigsen
Levin August, Count von Bennigsen
Levin August Gottlieb Theophil , Count von Bennigsen was a German general in the service of the Russian Empire....
in succession.
He was present at the inconclusive Battle of Eylau
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
in January 1807, fought by Count Von Bennigsen and assisted at the negotiations of the Peace of Tilsit, (July 1807), whereby Spanish Bonapartist Diego Fernandez de Velasco, (deceased in Paris in the exile in 1811), 13th Duke of Frías, congratulated and seated at table with Napoleon I
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
.
Nesselrode became State Secretary in 1814 and was the head of Russia's official delegation to Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, but for the most part Alexander I acted as his own foreign minister. In 1816, Nesselrode became Russian foreign minister, sharing influence with Count Ioannis Kapodistrias
Ioannis Kapodistrias
Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias |Academy of Athens]] Critical Observations about the 6th-Grade History Textbook"): "3.2.7. Σελ. 40: Δεν αναφέρεται ότι ο Καποδίστριας ήταν Κερκυραίος ευγενής." "...δύο ιστορικούς της Aκαδημίας κ.κ...
until the latter's retirement in 1822.
For forty years, Nesselrode guided Russian policy and was a leading European conservative statesman of the Holy Alliance
Holy Alliance
The Holy Alliance was a coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 at the behest of Czar Alexander I of Russia, signed by the three powers in Paris on September 26, 1815, in the Congress of Vienna after the defeat of Napoleon.Ostensibly it was to instill the Christian values of...
. Between 1845 and 1856, he served as Chancellor. As Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1824, he was a plenipotentiary
Plenipotentiary
The word plenipotentiary has two meanings. As a noun, it refers to a person who has "full powers." In particular, the term commonly refers to a diplomat fully authorized to represent his government as a prerogative...
during negotiations with the United States in defining the boundary between Russian America and the American claims known as the Oregon Country
Oregon Country
The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed ownership region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from...
, which was resolved with the Russo-American Treaty of 1824, and a parallel treaty with Britain concerning British claims which overlapped on those of the US. A century later in 1924, Mount Nesselrode
Mount Nesselrode
Mount Nesselrode, also known as Boundary Peak 98, 2,474 metres prominence: , is a peak in the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains, located on and in part defining the border between British Columbia, Canada and Alaska, United States...
in the Boundary Ranges
Boundary Ranges
The Boundary Ranges, also known in the singular and as the Alaska Boundary Range, are the largest and most northerly subrange of the Coast Mountains...
of the Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
-British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
boundary was named for him.
In 1849 Nesselrode sent Russian troops to aid Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in putting down the Hungarian revolution led by Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Regent-President of Hungary in 1849. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in the United Kingdom and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe.-Family:Lajos...
.
One frequently overlooked facet of his activity involved Nesselrode's attempts to penetrate Japan's self-isolation
Sakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
. In 1853 he dispatched Yevfimy Putyatin
Yevfimy Putyatin
Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin was a Russian admiral noted for his diplomatic missions to Japan and China which resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Shimoda in 1855.-Early life:...
with a letter to the Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
; Putyatin returned to St. Petersburg with the favorable Treaty of Shimoda
Treaty of Shimoda
The Treaty of Shimoda of 1855, formally Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Japan and Russia , was signed between the Russian Vice-Admiral Euphimy Vasil'evich Putiatin and Toshiakira Kawaji of Japan in the city of Shimoda, Izu Province, Japan, on February 7, 1855...
.
Nesselrode's efforts to expand Russia's influence in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and Mediterranean led to conflicts with Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the then Kingdom of Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, the then Duchy of Savoy
Duchy of Savoy
From 1416 to 1847, the House of Savoy ruled the eponymous Duchy of Savoy . The Duchy was a state in the northern part of the Italian Peninsula, with some territories that are now in France. It was a continuation of the County of Savoy...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, allied in the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
(1853–1856). Britain and France were concerned by Russia's growing influence and were determined to support Turkey and so restrict Russia.
Further reading
- Maria Kalergi, Listy do Adama Potockiego, ed. by Halina Kenarowa, translated from French by Halina Kenarowa and Róża Drojecka, Warszawa, 1986.