The first Treaty of Paris (30 May 1814) recognised Louis XVIII as king of France, reduced France to its frontiers of 1792, restored Malta to Great Britain and stipulated French recognition of the terms of Chaumont. The second Treaty of Paris (20 November 1815) - after Napoleon's return and the battle of Waterloo (18 June) - reduced France to the borders of 1790, assessed an indemnity of 700,000,000 francs and provided an allied army of occupation of 150,000 men supported by France for a period of three to five years.
The treaties of Vienna (9 June 1815) largely ratified the provisions of the preceding treaties with one large exception. By this date, however, Alexander had succumbed, contrary to the stipulations of Kalisch and Toeplitz, to Czartoryski's blandishments on the future of Poland. His wish to restore the Kingdom of Poland under his own auspices and to compensate Prussia for its consequent Polish sacrifices in the Kingdom of Saxony nearly provoked a war with Austria, Britain and France. Alexander compromised, chiefly at the expense of Prussia in Saxony, and peace was made.
Conclusion
One of the grand ironies of the history of Russian foreign policy related here is that foreign-born Catherine exerted herselfin foreign affairs for strictly Russian interests, while native-born Paul and Alexander extended Russian protection to the interests of the continent as a whole. This fact is a product of the revolution in foreign-policy outlook that took place in Russia in the 1790s.[119]
In the murky record of Russian foreign-policy programmes and ideas, it is sometimes customary to identify two relatively distinct camps or lobbies. One is known variously as Russian, national, or Eastern; the other, as German, European, or Western.[120] These terms are so poorly documented, especially before the latter part ofthe nineteenth century, as to make generalisation about them a bit hazardous. Somehow, however, the first party is semi-isolationist. It is sometimes associated with the term svoboda ruk - carte-blanche more or less.[121] Catherine's policy, whether in the heyday of Panin or in that of the Greek Project, while first in alliance with Prussia and later with Austria, appears to have used these alliances to divide central Europe, and sometimes all of Europe, against itself in order to leave Russia a free hand in imperial enterprise. Her heavily European involvement in the Armed Neutrality of 1780 served this purpose. The policy of Paul and Alexander, on the other hand, one of congress and concert, was distinctly Europhile. They wished to make of Russia the arbiter of the peace of Europe. Some day we may understand these categories, and the way in which they expressed Russian interests, better than we do today. For the moment, they must remain merely intriguing.
If the European extensions of the foreign policy of Paul and Alexander had more benign consequences for the continent than West Europeans realised,[122]their consequences for Russia were less fortunate. As Russian foreign policy adopted a distinctly Europhile outlook, domestic policy just as distinctly repudiated it. Thus the burden of foreign policy increased, while the strength of the empire that supported it succumbed to obsolescence such as to be in the long run unequal to the challenge of supporting the ambitiously conservative task of preserving social and political peace on a continent in the throes of the multiple revolutions of the nineteenth century. The long-term consequences were seen in the First World War. The policy that was good for Europe in 1815 also raised Russia to the pinnacle of its imperial power, but it was in the long run fatal for the empire.
The imperial army
WILLIAM c. FULLER, JR
It is difficult to exaggerate the centrality of the army to the history of the Russian Empire. After all, it was due to the army that the empire came into existence in the first place. It was the army that conquered the territories of the empire, defended them, policed them and maintained internal security all at the same time. It was the army that transformed Russia into a great power, for it was the army that built the Russian state.
Yet if the army built the state, the state also built the army, and there was a symbiotic relationship between these two processes. By any reckoning the creation of a strong army was an extraordinary achievement, for in the middle of the seventeenth century Russia did not enjoy many advantages when it came to the generation of military power. To be sure, comprising over 15 million square kilometres in the 1680s, Muscovy was extensive in land area, but the population of the country, probably less than 7 million persons, was relatively small, and widely dispersed. Distances were vast, roads were execrable, the climate was insalubrious and much of the soil was of poor agricultural quality. Total state income amounted to a paltry 1.2 million roubles per annum and the country as a whole was undergoverned.[123] Industry was underdeveloped, and Muscovy had to import both iron and firearms.[124]Still worse, Russia lacked any natural, defensible frontiers and was hemmed in from the south, west and north by formidable enemies - the Ottoman Empire, the Khanate of the Crimea, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Sweden.
In view of its numerous weaknesses and vulnerabilities, it is not surprising that Muscovy generally fared poorly in military confrontations with its neighbours during the seventeenth century, enduring defeat after defeat at the hands of the Swedes, Poles and Tatars. Of course, Russia did manage some successful expansion in this period, such as the acquisition of left-bank Ukraine by the terms of the Truce of Andrusovo (1667). However, this gain owed more to the Cossack rebellions and Swedish invasion that had crippled Poland than it did to any conspicuous Russian military prowess. While Russia did engage in military modernisation during the century, for example by augmenting the traditional cavalry levy with Western-style infantry units, the problem was that the state was capable of mobilising for discrete campaigns only and lacked the resources and stamina necessary for protracted war.
Slightly more than 140 years later, towards the end of the reign of Alexander I, the picture was completely different, for a succession of impressive military victories had resulted in the dramatic expansion in the political influence, population and size of the Russian state. In 1825 Russia's standing army of 750,000 men was the largest in the Western world. By that point Russia's land area had grown to 18.5 million square miles, and her population to 40 million. A full third of that population growth was directly attributable to conquest and annexation.
Understanding Russian military success, 1700-1825
The key element in Russia's transition from military debility to military capability was learning how better to mobilise both material resources and, even more importantly, human beings in the service of the army. This involved a frightening intensification of the coercive exploitation of all classes of people in Russia society from top to bottom. It was Peter the Great who was responsible for inaugurating the change. In 1700 in combination with Saxon and Danish allies, Peter launched what he thought would be a short and easy war against Sweden. In September of that same year, however, King Charles XII of Sweden annihilated Peter's army at Narva, capturing almost its entire artillery park. Over twenty years of war between Russia and Sweden ensued.
119
One of the most striking documents on the virtues ofRussian foreign policy as well as the continuity of it between 1796 and 1856 was the long instruction for Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich composed in 1838 by Nesselrode's assistant, Baron E. P. von Brunnow, an assistant to Foreign Minister Karl Nesselrode, 'Aperfu des principales transactions du Cabinet de Russie sous les regnes de Catherine II, Paul I et Alexander I.'
120
For a brief exposition, see Alfred J. Rieber, 'Persistent Factors in Russian Foreign Policy', in Ragsdale and Ponomarev,
121
The most prominent use of the term
122
This is the argument of Paul W Schroeder,
123
A. A. Novosel'skii and N. V Ustiugov (eds.),
124
Richard Hellie,