Nesselrode and the Russian rapprochement with Britain, 1836-1844
By: Harold N. Ingle.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 1976
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 196
Subjects: Nesselrode, Karl Robert, Graf von, 1780-1862; Russia -- Foreign relations -- Great Britain; Great Britain -- Foreign relations -- Russia
Description: Count Karl Nesselrode, Russian foreign minister 1816-1856, was a controversial figure in the government of Nicholas I. The rapprochement with Britain, perhaps his finest achievement, was opposed at every step by Russians who regarded Britain as a rival. It was later condemned by tsarist historians as an example of the "cosmopolitan diplomacy" that weakened their country in competition with the Western powers. Soviet historians have followed their lead, asserting that it was against national interests. But Nesselrode did avoid war in a series of dangerous confrontations in Asia and the Near East, outmaneuvering opponents who wanted to meet Britain head-on, and he managed to extricate Russia from diplomatic isolation at the same time. Finally, he advanced bipartisanship in an agreement on the Eastern Question that led to the renewal of the European concert. He was working to extend the areas of cooperation, particularly by promoting freer trade and commerce, when his opponents more effectively countered his influence in the mid-1840s. - Jacket flap.
Notes: Bibliography: p. [173]-190.
Includes index.
Table of contents: title: Preliminary notes. A German in Russian service; title: The danger of war. The bipolar configuration of power; title: The Vixen Affair; title: Confrontation in Asia; title: Confrontation in the Near East; title: Retreat from the brink; title: The quest for harmony. Status quo as modus vivendi; title: The overture to Britain; title: The renewal of the European system; title: The foundation of a new order