Suchergebnisse

chapter 1 Charles Whitworth: A Diplomatic Career -- chapter 2 The German Lands: Clerk, Envoy and Prisoner (1696-1704) -- chapter 3 Russia: Trade, Tobacco and Machine-breaking (1705-1712) -- chapter 4 Russia: The First Anglo-Russian Diplomatic Crisis (1705-1712) -- chapter 5 Whitworth on Russia in a Period of Change -- chapter 6 Britain, the Empire, and Prussia: Negotiations South and North (1713-1717) -- chapter 7 The United Provinces: The Quadruple Alliance (1717-1719) -- chapter 8 Prussia: War and Peace in the North (1719-1722) -- chapter 9 Cambrai: Not with a Bang but a Whimper (1722-1725).

"In 1700 the armies of the Russian Tsar Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden met at Narva to fight the first battle of what was to be known as the Great Northern War. Although this first engagement was to result in a humiliating defeat for Peter, it marked the start of a struggle that twenty years later would see Russia emerge as a major power and radically alter the balance of power in Europe. This work examines the changes in the balance of power in Europe in the early eighteenth century as a result of the Great Northern War and the War of the Spanish Succession through the writings and career of Charles Whitworth, the first British Ambassador to Russia, and Minister in The Hague, Berlin, Ratisbon and Cambrai. Whitworth was an acute, witty and indefatigable writer. His long and detailed dispatches and reports comment on Russian, Prussian, Austrian and Dutch domestic and foreign policy, on trading and commercial matters, on leading personalities and events, and on the diplomacy of the Great Northern War and the War of Spanish Succession. He was in Russia from 1705 to 1712 and witnessed the growing military, naval and commercial power of the state and was acutely aware of the potential threat of Russia to British interests. The period of Whitworth's diplomatic career, from 1702-1725, witnessed a dramatic shift in the balance of power in the North, and the nature, and timing, of Whitworth's postings made him uniquely qualified to chart and analyse this development. Drawing on a wide variety of manuscript sources, Dr Hartley has produced a compelling account both of Whitworth and the momentous events taking place in Europe at the beginning of the eighteenth century."--Provided by publisher.

Introduction: Russia at war, 1762-1825 -- The military estate: size and deployment -- The lower ranks: conscription and community -- The officer corps: service and challenge to the state -- The cost: expenditure and income -- The cost: agriculture, industry, and trade -- The impact: conflict with civilians in peace and war -- The state: administration, law, and magic -- The expansion of the state: conflict, assimilation, and identity -- Rulers and armies: warfare, image, culture, and identity -- The military colonies -- Conclusion: militarization and modernization?

Janet M. Hartley, Is Russia part of Europe ? Russian perceptions of Europe in the reign of Alexander I.
This article examines the reign of Alexander I ( 1801 - 1825) as a period of transition in the relationship between Russia and "the West". During his reign Russia's standing as a European power increased markedly and she became a dominant member of the European diplomatic community, playing a role in countries and in events which had no direct bearing on her own security. At the same time, hopes amongst some educated Russians that Alexander would adopt the constitutional, and possibly even the social, structure of Western European countries were not realized. The Decembrist revolt was the result of diverging views of "Europe" and Russia's place in it as perceived by Alexander and some of his subjects.