After the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit (June 13/25, 1807) and the rapprochement between Emperor Alexander I and Napoleon, relations between English and Russian. governments became very tense, and after the unexpected attack of the British on Copenhagen and the forcible capture of the Danish fleet, they turned into open hostility. Diplomatic relations were interrupted. Russia embarked on the continental system (see this next). Alexander I, based on the treatises concluded between Russia and Sweden in 1790 and 1800, demanded from the latter that her ports be closed to the British, and learning that she had made an alliance with England, declared war on her. As a result of this state of affairs, part of the Russian fleet located in the Mediterranean Sea (see Adriatic expedition) found itself in a very difficult situation. At the conclusion of the Treaty of Tilsit, its head, Vice-Admiral Senyavin, was ordered to return to Russia with the forces entrusted to him, and to avoid meeting with the British. Leaving part of his ships near Corfu, Senyavin headed for Gibraltar with the main forces. Since at that time (at the beginning of October 1807) there had not yet been a clear break, the English. the authorities received Senyavin amiably, however, evaded assistance in meeting various needs. Then, upon entering the Atlantic Ocean, Senyavin 28 Oct. endured a strong storm and was forced to enter the mouth of the river to correct the ships. Togo. At this time, Lisbon, near which the Russian ships stopped, was threatened by the French from a dry path. troops, and the arrival of the English was also expected here. squadron, under whose auspices the Portuguese royal family was to move to Brazil. Upon the arrival of the aforementioned squadron, Senyavin found himself locked up in the port of Lisbon, where the British, however, did not attack him. Finally, already in August 1808, when the affairs of the French on the Iberian Peninsula took a bad turn and all hope for a successful outcome from the painful situation was lost for Senyavin, he concluded a condition with the British, according to which: 1) the Russian squadron was given up for preservation English to the government, which undertook to return it six months after the conclusion of peace with Russia in the same condition in which it was received; 2) Senyavin himself and the crews of his ships were to return to Russia at the expense of England; 3) the flags on Russian ships were not allowed to be lowered until the admiral and the captains left the ships with proper honors. In September 1809, the crews of the Russian squadron returned to Russia; from the fleet surrendered to the British in Lisbon, only 2 ships of the line arrived in 1813. to Kronstadt; for all the rest of the ships that have become unusable, paid for as for new ones. During the wintering of Senyavin in Lisbon, one Russian frigate was caught by the English. squadron at Palermo and was saved only by the fact that the Sicilian government allowed to raise its flag on it. Another frigate, sent back in 1807 to the Mediterranean and stopped at Portsmouth, was captured there by the British. There were more serious clashes in the Baltic Sea. There, in 1808, the British sent a fleet to assist Sweden, which was at that time at war with Russia. On June 11, one of the frigates of this fleet attacked between Sveaborg and Revel the Russian boat of Lieutenant Nevelsky, which, after desperate resistance, with almost all of its crew killed or wounded, was forced to surrender. In the first half of July, the Russian ship "Vsevolod" was attacked by the British, taken and burned. In July 1809, the British managed to capture 3 Russian gunboats after a fierce battle. The actions of the British on the White Sea were limited to an attack on the city of Kola and the ruin of fishing shelters on the Murmansk coast. Since 1811, hostile relations between Russia and England began to subside and completely ceased with the signing of a peace treaty in Orebro on July 16, 1812.
The revolutionary events in France at the end of the 18th century forced the majority of European powers to unite. The first four anti-French coalitions for 15 years actively involved the British and Russian empires. A wedge was driven into their military fraternity by the Peace of Tilsit between Russia and France, concluded as a result of the campaign of 1806-1807.
During a meeting of two emperors on a raft in the middle of the Neman at the end of June 1807, Alexander I, wanting to please Napoleon, said: “I, just like you, hate the British and am ready to support you in everything you do against them.” Napoleon succumbed to this trick: "In this case, we can agree, and peace will be concluded." Under the terms of the Tilsit peace, Russia joined the continental blockade of England, started by Napoleon a year ago. Russian ports were closed to English ships, and the import of British goods and the shipment of goods to Great Britain were prohibited. The customs war was an event that made a lot of noise in Europe and sounded much louder than foreign economic sanctions.
Meeting of Alexander and Napoleon in Tilsit. (Pinterest)
In early September, the British Ambassador Jackson appeared to the Danish Prince Regent Frederick and stated that his country knew for sure that Denmark was going to join the continental blockade. In order to prevent this, Jackson demanded that the entire Danish fleet be placed under British control and that the British army be allowed to occupy the island of Zeeland, on which Copenhagen is located. The ambassador's words were reinforced by the view from the palace window: the English fleet of 25 ships of the line, 40 frigates and 380 transports with 20,000 troops on board loomed on the horizon.
Despite these arguments, the Prince refused to grant London's claims. Then on September 7, the British began a six-day bombardment of Copenhagen. Half of the city burned down, more than two thousand inhabitants became victims of the fire. After the landing of the British troops, the aged commander of the Danish army, General Peyman, announced his surrender. The aggressors took away the entire surviving Danish fleet, burned down the shipyards and the naval arsenal. Nevertheless, Frederick refused to approve the surrender, and put Peyman on trial.
The events in Copenhagen alarmed Europe. Napoleon was furious. Russia was also indignant: Denmark had been its faithful ally for more than a hundred years, and the Romanov family was related to the Danish dynasty. In addition, the predatory attack of the British turned out to be useless: the wounded, but not broken, Denmark joined the continental blockade. Only after that, on November 4, England formally declared war on her. Petersburg broke off diplomatic relations with London three days later.
The first casualty of the war with England was the Mediterranean squadron of Admiral Dmitry Senyavin. In 1804-1806, the main forces of the Baltic fleet were sent to the Adriatic and Aegean Seas, where they successfully fought the French and Turks and liberated the Ionian Islands. The Russian fleet blockaded Constantinople, and a real threat of surrender loomed over the capital of the Ottoman Empire. But Turkey has long been on friendly terms with France, and after the conclusion of the Tilsit peace, Russian Mediterranean victories ended. Senyavin received an order from Alexander I to return Tenedos to the Turks, and transfer the Ionian and Dalmatian Islands to France. Dejected Russian sailors returned to the Baltic.
On the way home on October 30, the main forces of the Russian squadron entered neutral Lisbon. A few days later, its port was blocked by the English fleet. At the same time, French troops were advancing from Spain to the Portuguese capital. The frightened king of Portugal, John VI, fled to Brazil, where he sat out for several years. Senyavin's squadron found itself between two fires. Alexander I ordered the admiral to carry out all orders, "which will be sent from His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon." However, Dmitry Nikolaevich could not stand Bonaparte and did not want to risk the lives of Russian sailors for the sake of the interests of the Corsican upstart. He declared ten Russian battleships and three frigates neutral. In this status, Senyavin's squadron spent almost a year in the port of Lisbon.
Dmitry Nikolaevich Senyavin. (Pinterest)
Meanwhile, the troops of the Duke of Wellington completely liberated the territory of Portugal from the French. In August 1808, the Russian squadron was in real danger of being captured by the British. Senyavin turned out to be an excellent diplomat. In the event of an attack on his ships, he promised to blow them up, destroying half of Lisbon in the process. Negotiations began, as a result of which the Russian squadron, with the exception of the battleships Rafail and Yaroslav, which remained in Lisbon for repairs, moved to England. The British promised to consider the Senyavin ships not as prisoners, but “as if they were pledged” and to return them safe and sound to Russia six months after the end of the war. The fleet was moving, although under English escort, but with St. Andrew's flags raised. Moreover, Senyavin, as a senior officer, took command of the combined Anglo-Russian squadron and himself brought it to Portsmouth on September 27, 1808.
Russian sailors "stayed" in England for almost a year. Despite the agreements, the British, under various pretexts, delayed their return home. Only on August 5, 1809, the transport crews were sent to Riga. The ships themselves returned to Kronstadt in 1813. Senyavin saved the squadron and subordinates, but did not escape the wrath of the emperor. Alexander, outraged by the admiral's refusal to obey Napoleon in everything, actually demoted Senyavin in his position and kept him in disgrace until his death.
Russian losses were not limited to the loss, albeit temporary, of Senyavin's squadron. Back in November 1807, in the English Channel, the British captured the frigate "Hurry" and the transport "Wilhelmina", which were carrying money for the Mediterranean squadron. The frigate "Venus" hid from the British in Palermo, and was transferred to the custody of the Neapolitan king. The remnants of the Mediterranean fleet did not dare to leave the ports of Venice, Trieste and Toulon: the British dominated the sea. The ships remained in the harbors controlled by the French, and their crews returned to Russia by dry land.
Sloop Diana. (Pinterest)
The British got Russians even in South Africa. On May 3, 1808, the scientific sloop Diana was detained in Simonstown, heading for Kamchatka, under the command of Vasily Golovnin. The English admirals clearly did not know what to do with the Russians who had swum so far. They did not declare them prisoners, because otherwise the sailors would have to be fed. Apparently, the British hoped that the unguarded "Diana" would escape from Africa and the problem would be solved by itself, but the disciplined Golovnin decided to escape only a year later. On May 28, 1809, the starving crew hoisted the sails on the Diana and left Simonstown.
All these clashes have so far been without casualties. Ship cannons spoke only in the Baltic. In 1808, Russia also started a war with Sweden, whose fleet was supported by Great Britain. In July 1808, the English battleships Centaurus and Implacable attacked the damaged 74-gun Russian Vsevolod. His crew resisted fiercely and, to prevent capture, ran the ship aground. The British boarded the banked Vsevolod, destroying almost all of its crew in battle. Realizing the impossibility of refloating the trophy, the British set fire to the Russian battleship and withdrew, sinking three more gunboats along the way.
"Vsevolod" after the battle with the English squadron. (Pinterest)
On July 11, 1808, the 14-gun boat "Experience" under the command of Lieutenant Gavriil Nevelsky, observing the English cruisers in the Gulf of Finland, collided with the English 50-gun frigate "Salset" near Nargen Island. While there was a calm, "Experience" on the oars tried to escape from persecution, but as soon as the wind blew, the frigate overtook the Russian boat. Nevelskoy refused to surrender. An unequal four-hour battle ensued. Only after most of the Russian sailors were killed and all the survivors, including Nevelsky, were seriously wounded, did the damaged Experience cease resistance. As a sign of respect for the courage of the Russians, the British released the captured crew of the "Experience". In St. Petersburg, Nevelskoy, seriously wounded in the jaw, received an annual salary as a reward.
In the late spring of 1809, as soon as the Baltic Sea cleared of ice, English frigates began to call in the Gulf of Finland. Kronstadt was preparing for the defense, strengthening both fairways. They arranged several new batteries, mainly on artificial islands. In addition, several old ships were turned into blocks - floating batteries, placing them between the island of Kotlin and Lisyy Nos. The English ships did not dare to approach such fortifications.
In June-July 1809, the fighting was carried out mainly on the southern coast of Finland, controlled by that time by Russian troops. English troops landed near Parkalaud near Sveaborg, but this attempt to transfer the war from sea to land ended in failure. The fight continued in the Finnish skerries, where small English ships attacked Russian transports that supplied the army with provisions and ammunition. The largest battle took place on July 17, when six rowboats and two gunboats were attacked by twenty English rowboats. In this battle, the Russians lost two officers and 63 sailors. 106 people were taken prisoner. English losses were more modest: two officers and 37 lower ranks. Not a single, even the smallest, Russian ship became a British trophy: after fierce skirmishes, all of them were so damaged that they had to be burned.
On September 17, 1809, peace was concluded between Russia and Sweden. In this regard, ten British battleships and 17 other ships left the Baltic Sea. There was no more fighting there. From now on, English ships approached the Russian shores only in the north. Arkhangelsk was well fortified, and the British did not dare to attack it. They limited themselves to ruining small fishing villages and attacking merchant ships in the White and Barents Seas. True, even these raider attacks did not always go smoothly.
Commemorative plaque in honor of the signing of the Treaty of Örebrus. (Pinterest)
In July 1810, the Russian merchant ship Euplus II left Arkhangelsk for Denmark with a cargo of rye on board. On August 19, off the coast of Norway, the ship was attacked by an English brig. The British declared the Euplus captured, and landed a captured crew on board. Skipper Matvey Gerasimov pretended to submit and did not contradict the raiders in anything, lulling their vigilance. On the night of August 23, when a storm broke out and the enemy brig was carried further out to sea, the Arkhangelsk sailors under the command of Gerasimov killed three Englishmen on deck, boarded up the cabin in which the rest of the raiders were sleeping, and turned the Euplus to their native shores. On the way, they called at the Norwegian port of Vardguz, handed over the British prisoners to the Danish authorities, and returned home safely. At the end of the year, Matvey Gerasimov became one of the first civilians to be awarded the insignia of the Order of St. George.
Apart from such minor incidents, there were no hostilities between the warring parties in 1810-1812. The sluggish Anglo-Russian war was ended by the same Napoleon who unleashed it five years ago. Immediately after the start of the invasion of his troops into Russia, peace negotiations began between London and St. Petersburg in the Swedish city of Örebro. They ended on July 28, 1812 with the signing of the treaty. Both empires proclaimed harmony and friendship, and in trade - the principle of mutual most favored nation. This treaty was in force for more than forty years - until the Crimean War.
It is interesting that in 1918 England attacked Russia for “democratization” purposes not for the first time. You all must have heard a little about the so-called "Crimean War", actually started in 1853. This war is presented to the Russian people as a local conflict between Russia and Turkey, in which England was on the sidelines. So, just so you know, this is a blatant lie. There are full and numerous accounts in English literature of this all-out aggression by the only superpower of the 19th century, the Great British Empire, against Russia. The "Crimean War" was a deployed, with all the might of the huge British Empire, "on which the sun never set", a direct attack on Russia not only by the British Empire, but also by its allies - France and Turkey, like Bulgaria and Ukraine are now "helping "US to attack Iraq. It’s just that back then the United States itself was on the eve of its “Civil War” and could not provide assistance to kindred England. This British attack on Russia was no less massive than the then recent Napoleonic campaign against Russia, or the attack of German troops on June 22, 1941, or "Dee-day", "Day of Landing" of the Anglo-American allies against Germany in 1944.
Quote from The Destruction of Lord Raglan by Christopher Hibbert Christopher Hibbert "The Destruction of Lord Raglan" 1990http :// www. amazon. com/ Destruction-Lord-Raglan- Wordsworth-Military/dp/1840222093):
“In March 1854, the British army of 30,000 people landed in the Crimea. The Times described this army as "The finest army that ever sailed from English shores." Lord Raglan, a veteran of the battle of Waterloo 40 years earlier, commanded this select army of mercenaries, gathered from all over the world.
The English "blitzkrieg" and "Drang nah Osten" took place not only in the Crimea. England took Russia in pincers. The British Empire, which could strike only from the sea, but not like France or Germany from land, struck not only from the south, from the Black Sea, but to the Crimea; but also in the north, from the Baltic Sea - by the direct capture of the Russian capital of St. Petersburg. Quote from Peter Gibbs' book "The Crimean Mistake" ( PeterGibbs “With rimeanBlunder ". 1960): "At the beginning of 1854, even BEFORE England officially declared war on Russia, (that is, without declaring war - treacherously) the English fleet under the command of Sir Charles Napier (SirCharlesNapier) attacked Petersburg" . A full-scale landing operation was carried out similar to the opening of a second front in World War II.
In the wiki, the blitzkrieg of England against Petersburg is buried in this article about Admiral Napier. The English coalition included the French squadron sent by Napoleon III under the command of Admiral Parseaval-Deschen ( Parseval-Deschenes ) and Admiral Peno ( FrenchFleetunderAdmiralPenaud ), and the Marine Corps under the command of General General Barraguayd' Hilliers who lost his arm near Borodino.(Oliver Warner “The See and the sword” (The Baltic 1630-1945) NY 1965. In addition, the coalition included the troops of the Scandinavian countries: the Danes, the Dutch, the Swedes, and in general all the rabble from all over Europe. This wiki article describes the Baltic War http ://en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Charles_ John_ Napier# Baltic_ Campaign.
She reports that "Admiral Napier successfully blocked all Russian ports in the Baltic, in such a way that not a single Russian ship could even leave the ports, and carried out constant shelling."
However, Russian troops defended Petersburg. Why? You need to know the strategic position of St. Petersburg. Petersburg is not located directly on the Baltic Sea, otherwise the British would have taken it. Petersburg stands up the Neva, which flows into the narrow Gulf of Finland. The English fleet, in order to enter the Neva and capture Petersburg, had to pass by the fortress of Sveaborg and the fortress of Kronstadt. In addition, there were other Russian fortresses located on the islands of the Gulf of Finland. The main islands covering the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia were the Åland Islands and their main fortress, Bomarsund. The British could not capture Petersburg only because they could not pass the fortresses covering Petersburg. The fortresses of Sveaborg and Kronstadt really turned out to be impregnable for the British. The English coalition, after a fierce siege and the landing of the marines, in August 1854 managed to storm only the fortress of Bomarsund ( Bomarsund)http ://en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Bomarsund,_% C3%85 land .
The following year, the British coalition, even then without the United States, which then stood on the verge of its own Civil War, under the command of the now commander-in-chief Sir Richard Dundas ( SirRichardDundashttp ://en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Richard_ Saunders_ Dundas)launched a fierce assault on the fortress of Sveaborg. However, the Russian defenders of the Sveaborg fortress withstood the fiercest siege of the entire power of the elite forces of the then superpower - the British Empire, over which the sun never set ( RuleBritania !), and at the disposal of which there were resources of almost the whole world. The Russian defenders of the fortress of Sveaborg did not surrender the fortress to the western enemy.
I almost said that the defenders of the fortress of Sveaborg covered themselves with unfading glory. However, someone wanted to forget this “Petersburg war” of England against Russia in such a way that if someone else heard something about the “Crimean War”, then about the siege of St. Petersburg and the St. Petersburg war of England against Russia, on the scale of the "World" aggression of the 19th century, in general, for some reason, modern "education" is silent, and apparently not casually. For some reason, even official, allegedly Russian historiography mentions this full-scale aggression of the British coalition against Russia, which was similar to the aggression of the American coalition against Iraq, as some insignificant episode. While this aggression was even more threatening in terms of consequences, and no less dangerous than the Napoleonic campaign against Russia before that. As you can see for yourself, in the 19th century, as well as in the 20th century, Russia repulsed two full-scale aggressions of the Western coalition, that is, it practically won the then two world wars of the West against its own state. These Russian fortresses that defended St. Petersburg turned out to be too tough for the vaunted English fleet. "Dee Day" - "Landing Day" of the 19th century for the British failed. Otherwise, Russia, like India, would have become a British colony in the 19th century.
However, the transformation of Russia into a Western colony, already as a colony of the new superpower - the United States, will occur later - as a result of the so-called "Civil War and Intervention of 1918-1921" and again in 1991. And the main role in turning Russia into a raw materials appendage of the West, in the 20th century, will already be played by internal forces within Russia itself, relying on the richest and most powerful force in the world - American and English crypto-Jewishness.
Thus, in the brilliant victory of Russian weapons over the British armed forces near Petersburg, carefully hidden from the Russian people, the Russian army gave a strong rebuff to the British, and they had to, burying their offense, get out. This brilliant victory of Russian weapons is so hidden from the Russian people, in such a way that, apparently, it was not by chance that for some reason the medals "For the Defense of St. Petersburg" were not established. But think about the total control over Russian history by dark forces, when even at universities students are still taught that Russia was defeated in the Crimean War?! And this at a time when in the Crimean War Russia did not lose Petersburg and Crimea, but actually the whole of Russia, repulsed the attack of the most powerful army of the 19th century, can be compared with the United States of the century, ”- the British Empire. What can not be perverted in order to belittle the role in the history of Russia of its most powerful sovereign - Nicholas the First and again twist history.
In the Crimea, the Russians did not manage to repel the English aggressor so easily. It took the Russians two years to drive the most select army of the British out of the Crimea. Otherwise, at least Crimea, as well as the Spanish Gibraltar, or the Argentine Falkland Islands, or Hong Kong, would now be English.
Having suffered a military defeat, the British went the other way. On their instructions, as in the case of Emperor Paul the First, Emperor Nicholas the First, without a doubt the Greatest Russian Emperor, was poisoned by traitors. Why there is not a single monument to Nicholas the First who defended Russia from the large-scale aggression of the Great British Empire? What can be called a sovereign who repelled the full-scale aggression of the Great British Empire? Definitely - only the Great Sovereign. Compare that the USSR, unable to immediately repulse Germany, expelled the Germans from their land for five years, and the Germans badly battered St. Petersburg. How correspondingly stronger was Nikolayev's Russia that she quickly threw the strongest power of that time over the threshold! Please note that Tsar Nicholas I was liquidated in 1855. After that, England managed to retreat from Russia, saving its face, and telling the West the usual English tales about its great "liberation mission". If Nicholas the First had not repelled this English aggression, moreover, effectively and quickly, then Russia would already have been reduced to the position of India, that is, a raw material appendage of the British Empire. But this moment the Anglo-Americans had to wait until 1918.
The complex tripartite relations between Russia, England and France in the first half of the 19th century led first to a war between the Russians and the British, in which St. Petersburg was supported by Paris. And a few years later the situation changed dramatically - and now France was at war with Russia, and the British were allies of the Russians. True, St. Petersburg did not wait for real help from London.
Consequences of the continental blockade
After Russia, having signed the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, joined France and declared a continental blockade of England, relations between the British and Russians were severed. Obliged under this shameful treaty to assist the French in all wars, Russia could not stand aside when such a conflict arose between England and Denmark - the British attacked a country that also supported the anti-English continental blockade. The war between Russia and Britain resulted in a series of local skirmishes, the parties did not wage frontal battles against each other. One of the landmark campaigns of this period was the Russo-Swedish War (the Swedes took the side of Britain) of 1808-1809. Sweden lost it, and Russia eventually grew into Finland.
Confrontation Senyavin
A landmark event of the Russian-English war was the "great standing" in the capital of Portugal, Lisbon, the squadron of Admiral Dmitry Senyavin. Ten warships under the command of Dmitry Nikolaevich since November 1807 were in the port of Lisbon, where the ships entered, thoroughly battered by the storm. The squadron was heading to the Baltic Sea. By that time, Napoleon had occupied Portugal, access to the sea, in turn, was blocked by the British. Mindful of the conditions of the Tilsit peace, the French for several months unsuccessfully persuaded the Russian sailors to come out on their side. The Russian Emperor Alexander I also ordered Senyavin to take into account Napoleonic interests, although he did not want an escalation of the conflict with the British. Napoleon tried in various ways to influence Senyavin. But the subtle diplomacy of the Russian admiral prevailed every time. In August 1808, when the threat of the occupation of Lisbon by the British increased, the French turned to Senyavin for help for the last time. And he turned them down again. After the occupation of the capital of Portugal by the British, they already began to persuade the Russian admiral to their side. Being at war with Russia, England could easily capture our sailors, and take the fleet for itself as war trophies. Just like that, without a fight, Admiral Senyavin was not going to give up. A series of lengthy diplomatic negotiations began again. In the end, Dmitry Nikolayevich achieved a neutral and, in his own way, unprecedented decision: all 10 ships of the squadron go to England, but this is not a prisoner; until London and Petersburg make peace, the flotilla is in Britain. The crews of Russian ships were able to return back to Russia only a year later. And England returned the ships themselves only in 1813. Senyavin, upon returning to his homeland, despite his former military merits, fell into disgrace.
Fighting in the Baltic and in the East
The English fleet, together with the Swedish allies, tried to inflict damage on the Russian Empire in the Baltic Sea, shelling coastal facilities and attacking military and merchant ships. Petersburg seriously strengthened its defenses from the sea. When Sweden was defeated in the Russo-Swedish War, the British fleet withdrew from the Baltic. From 1810 to 1811, Britain and Russia did not conduct active hostilities between themselves. The British were interested in Turkey and Persia, and in principle the possibility of Russian expansion in the South and East. Numerous attempts by the British to oust Russia from Transcaucasia were unsuccessful. As well as the intrigues of the British, aimed at encouraging the Russians to leave the Balkans. Turkey and Russia sought to conclude a peace treaty, while the British were interested in continuing the war between these states. In the end, the peace treaty was signed.
Why did this war end with Napoleon's attack on Russia
For England, this strange war with Russia was futile, and in July 1812 the countries concluded a peace treaty. By that time, Napoleon's army had been advancing on Russian territory for several weeks. Earlier, Bonaparte failed to negotiate with the British on the conclusion of peace, the recognition of the colonial rule of Britain in exchange for the withdrawal of British troops from Spain and Portugal. The British did not agree to recognize the dominant role of France among other European states. Napoleon, to whom the Peace of Tilsit untied his hands to conquer all of Europe, lacked only "crush Russia", as he himself admitted a year before the start of the semi-annual Patriotic War of 1812. The Russian-British peace treaty was at the same time allied in the struggle against France. England, like the United States in the Great Patriotic War, took a wait-and-see attitude and the Russian Empire did not wait for significant military and economic assistance from the British. Britain hoped that a protracted military campaign would exhaust the forces of both sides, and then she, England, would become the first contender for dominance in Europe.
| Russia Denmark |
United Kingdom Sweden |
| 800 | 120 |
Anglo-Russian war of 1807-1812- armed conflict between the Russian and British empires during the Napoleonic wars.
Causes of the war
After Russia suffered a military defeat in the campaign against France in 1807, she was forced to start peace negotiations. In Tilsit (June 25, 1807) a meeting of the Russian and French emperors Alexander I and Napoleon I took place. At the meeting, Alexander I was the first to speak: "I, just like you, hate the British and am ready to support you in everything you do against them." "In this case," Napoleon I replied, "we will be able to agree, and peace will be concluded."
Between Prussia and the Russian Empire on the one hand and the French Empire on the other, the Treaty of Tilsit was signed, according to which Russia joined the Continental blockade against Great Britain. This blockade hit the economies of both Russia and the United Kingdom.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the British fleet inflicted great damage on Denmark and forced it, thereby, to take the side of Napoleon I. Having concluded an alliance with France, Denmark was preparing to declare a continental blockade to Great Britain. But on August 16, the British landed their troops in Denmark. The Anglo-Danish War began. On November 7, British troops took Copenhagen. Denmark has long been an ally of Russia in the Baltic Sea, and the capture of Copenhagen caused strong discontent in St. Petersburg.
Alexander I, based on treatises concluded between Russia and Sweden in the 1800s, demanded from the latter that her ports be closed to the British, and upon learning that she had entered into an alliance with Great Britain, declared war on her. In February, Russian troops entered Finland, thus starting the last Russian-Swedish war (1808-1809). Sweden was soon defeated by Russia, after which it concluded a peace treaty with Russia and joined the Continental blockade. Finland, as a result, became part of the Russian Empire.
Statistics of the Anglo-Russian War
| Warring countries | Population (as of 1807) | Soldiers mobilized | Soldiers killed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russian empire | 39 675 100 | 24 000 | 800 |
| british empire | 11 520 000 | 20 000 | 120 |
| TOTAL | 51 175 100 | 44 000 | 920 |
fighting
Both the British and the Russians fought in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Barents and Baltic Seas. But these battles were not large-scale and were, rather, in the nature of separate military clashes of small forces from each side.
After a peace treaty was concluded between Sweden and Russia, Great Britain stopped hostilities against Russia in the Baltic Sea, and in and years. there was no hostilities between the United Kingdom and Russia at all.
End of the war
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Notes
Links
- Chronos.. Retrieved April 15, 2008. .
Literature
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- Mernikov A.G., Spektor A.A. World history of wars. - Minsk, 2005. - 317 - 319 p.
- Troya A. Alexander I. - M ., 2008. - 163 p.
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An excerpt characterizing the Anglo-Russian war
"Let's go to dinner," he said with a sigh, getting up and heading for the door.They entered the elegant, newly decorated dining room. Everything, from napkins to silver, faience and crystal, bore that special imprint of novelty that happens in the household of young spouses. In the middle of dinner, Prince Andrei leaned on his elbows and, like a man who has long had something in his heart and suddenly decides to speak out, with an expression of nervous irritation in which Pierre had never seen his friend before, he began to say:
“Never, never marry, my friend; here is my advice to you: do not marry until you tell yourself that you have done everything you could, and until you stop loving the woman you have chosen, until you see her clearly; otherwise you will make a cruel and irreparable mistake. Marry an old man, worthless ... Otherwise, everything that is good and lofty in you will be lost. Everything is wasted on trifles. Yes Yes Yes! Don't look at me with such surprise. If you expect anything from yourself ahead, then at every step you will feel that everything is over for you, everything is closed, except for the drawing room, where you will stand on the same board with the court lackey and the idiot ... Yes, what! ...
He waved his hand vigorously.
Pierre took off his glasses, which made his face change, showing even more kindness, and looked in surprise at his friend.
“My wife,” continued Prince Andrei, “is a wonderful woman. This is one of those rare women with whom you can be dead for your honor; but, my God, what would I not give now not to be married! This I tell you alone and first, because I love you.
Prince Andrei, saying this, was even less like than before, that Bolkonsky, who was sitting lounging in Anna Pavlovna's armchair and squinting through his teeth, uttering French phrases. His dry face kept trembling with the nervous animation of every muscle; eyes, in which the fire of life had previously seemed extinguished, now shone with a radiant, bright brilliance. It was evident that the more lifeless he seemed at ordinary times, the more energetic he was in those moments of almost painful irritation.
“You don’t understand why I say this,” he continued. “It's a whole life story. You say Bonaparte and his career,” he said, although Pierre did not talk about Bonaparte. – You are talking to Bonaparte; but Bonaparte, when he worked, went step by step towards the goal, he was free, he had nothing but his goal - and he reached it. But bind yourself to a woman, and like a chained convict, you lose all freedom. And everything that is in you of hope and strength, everything only weighs you down and torments you with repentance. Drawing rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, insignificance - this is a vicious circle from which I cannot get out. I am now going to war, to the greatest war that has ever been, and I know nothing and am no good. Je suis tres aimable et tres caustique, [I am very sweet and very eater,] continued Prince Andrei, “and Anna Pavlovna is listening to me. And this stupid society, without which my wife cannot live, and these women ... If only you could know what it is toutes les femmes distinguees [all these women of good society] and women in general! My father is right. Selfishness, vanity, stupidity, insignificance in everything - these are women when everything is shown as they are. You look at them in the light, it seems that there is something, but nothing, nothing, nothing! Yes, don’t marry, my soul, don’t marry, ”Prince Andrei finished.
“It’s funny to me,” said Pierre, “that you yourself, you consider yourself incapable, your life a spoiled life. You have everything, everything is ahead. And you…
He did not say that you were, but his tone already showed how highly he appreciated his friend and how much he expected from him in the future.
"How can he say that!" thought Pierre. Pierre considered Prince Andrei the model of all perfections precisely because Prince Andrei combined to the highest degree all those qualities that Pierre did not have and which can be most closely expressed by the concept of willpower. Pierre was always amazed at Prince Andrei's ability to deal calmly with all kinds of people, his extraordinary memory, erudition (he read everything, knew everything, had an idea about everything), and most of all his ability to work and study. If Pierre was often struck by the lack of the ability of dreamy philosophizing in Andrei (which Pierre was especially prone to), then he saw this not as a flaw, but as a strength.
In the best, friendly, and simple relations, flattery or praise is necessary, as grease is necessary for wheels to keep them moving.
- Je suis un homme fini, [I am a finished man,] - said Prince Andrei. - What to say about me? Let's talk about you," he said after a pause and smiled at his comforting thoughts.
This smile was immediately reflected on Pierre's face.
- And what to say about me? - said Pierre, spreading his mouth into a carefree, cheerful smile. – What am I? Je suis un batard [I am an illegitimate son!] - And he suddenly blushed crimson. It was evident that he made a great effort to say this. - Sans nom, sans fortune ... [No name, no fortune ...] And well, right ... - But he did not say that he was right. - I'm free for now, and I'm fine. I just don't know what to start with. I wanted to seriously consult with you.
Prince Andrew looked at him with kind eyes. But in his look, friendly, affectionate, all the same, the consciousness of his superiority was expressed.
“You are dear to me, especially because you are the only living person among our entire world. You feel good. Choose what you want; it does not matter. You will be good everywhere, but one thing: stop going to these Kuragins, to lead this life. So it doesn’t suit you: all these revels, and hussars, and that’s all ...
“Que voulez vous, mon cher,” said Pierre, shrugging his shoulders, “les femmes, mon cher, les femmes!” [What do you want, my dear, women, my dear, women!]
“I don’t understand,” Andrei answered. - Les femmes comme il faut, [Decent women,] is another matter; but les femmes Kuragin, les femmes et le vin, [Kuragin's women, women and wine,] I don't understand!
Pierre lived with Prince Vasily Kuragin and participated in the wild life of his son Anatole, the same one who was going to be married to the sister of Prince Andrei for correction.
“You know what,” said Pierre, as if he had an unexpectedly happy thought, “seriously, I have been thinking about this for a long time. With this life, I can neither decide nor think about anything. Headache, no money. Today he called me, I will not go.
“Give me your word of honor that you won’t ride?”
- Honestly!
It was already two o'clock in the morning when Pierre went out from his friend. The night was a June, Petersburg, duskless night. Pierre got into a cab with the intention of driving home. But the closer he drove, the more he felt the impossibility of falling asleep that night, which was more like evening or morning. Far away it was visible along the empty streets. Dear Pierre remembered that Anatole Kuragin was supposed to have a usual gambling society that evening, after which there was usually a drinking bout, ending in one of Pierre's favorite amusements.
"It would be nice to go to Kuragin," he thought.
But at once he remembered his word of honor given to Prince Andrei not to visit Kuragin. But immediately, as happens with people who are called spineless, he so passionately wanted to once again experience this dissolute life so familiar to him that he decided to go. And immediately the thought occurred to him that this word meant nothing, because even before Prince Andrei, he also gave Prince Anatole the word to be with him; finally, he thought that all these words of honor were such conditional things that had no definite meaning, especially if one realized that perhaps tomorrow either he would die or something so unusual would happen to him that there would be no more honest , nor dishonorable. This kind of reasoning, destroying all his decisions and assumptions, often came to Pierre. He went to Kuragin.
