François de Tott

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François Baron de Tott (Hungarian Báró Tóth Ferenc ; born August 17, 1733 in Chamigny , † September 24, 1793 in Bad Tatzmannsdorf ) was a French diplomat and military of Hungarian origin. From 1769 to 1775 he rendered important services to the Ottoman government as a military advisor and later wrote sensational memoirs about his experiences and observations in the Orient, in which he was the first to hear much of the often erroneous and unreliable news about the countries there that had circulated in Europe up to that point corrected.

Life

Early years

François de Tott's father was a Hungarian nobleman who, as a follower of Rákóczi , had to leave his homeland and came to France in the wake of the high Hungarian military leader Bercsényi ( Bercheny in French ), for whom he subsequently served in military and diplomatic services in the Ottoman Empire performed. François de Tott himself grew up in France, entered the Bercheny hussar regiment as a young lad, was wounded in the battle of Lauffeldt in July 1747 and achieved the degree of captain.

In April 1755, Tott accompanied his father to Turkey, when he was added to the entourage of Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, who was leaving as envoy to Constantinople . In the same year he married Marie Rambaud, who came from an important Lyon merchant family who had settled in Constantinople in the 18th century. From this marriage he had two daughters, Sophie (* 1758, † 1848), the painter was, and Marie-Françoise (* 1770, † 1854), dedicated to the French politicians and military François Armand Frédéric, duc de La Rochefoucauld married .

Even after his father's death (September 1757), Tott remained during the government of Mustafa III. at the French embassy, ​​where he got a job from Vergennes. During an eight-year stay in Constantinople, he acquired an excellent knowledge of the Turkish language, customs and institutions. In April 1763 he returned to France.

Diplomatic and military advisory work in the Crimea and in the Ottoman Empire

The insight that Tott had gained into oriental conditions prompted him to present the Duke of Choiseul in 1766 with proposals for a trade treaty with the Khan of the Crimean Tatars and for the opening of the Black Sea to the French fleet. His plans met with approval and he was himself sent to Bakhchysarai as resident in 1767 as the successor to the sick French consul of the Crimea , Fornetti, to carry them out . He traveled via Poland , where he learned of the death of Khan Arslan Giray , which could complicate his mission as the new Khan Maqsud Giray did not seem inclined to maintain Arslan's political course. Tott left Warsaw on September 15, 1767 and arrived in Bakhchysarai, the Khan's residence, on the following October 17. He described his interesting observations on Polish and Turkish state affairs, and gained great weight with the Khan.

Due to his influence, Tott contributed significantly to the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–74) desired by the Duke of Choiseul . However, he found Maqsud Giray still not sufficiently accommodating and was possibly involved in his removal and the reinstatement of Qırım Giray (November 1768), the latter he accompanied on the campaign of 1768/69. Qırım Giray died in March 1769, and was succeeded by Devlet IV Giray , who forbade Baron de Tott to return to the Crimea.

Thereupon Tott went back to Constantinople and rendered the Sublime Porte important services by improving the piece foundry, the artillery and the pontoon bridges. He was also entrusted with the fortification and defense of the Dardanelles when a Russian fleet commanded by Admiral Orlov threatened Constantinople after the destruction of the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Cesme (July 1770). Tott proposed, among other things, the construction of six coastal batteries equipped with 50 cannons on the European side of the strait and five such batteries on the Asian side. His plans were implemented and Orlov's ships were prevented from entering the Dardanelles.

At the beginning of 1771, Tott foresaw that the Russian offensive would now shift to the Crimea and Ochakov and presented measures to secure the Turkish border there. For the war of 1771, he had already had 150 cannons made and, in test attempts, achieved that the gunners could fire three rounds per minute, the speed astonished the Ottomans. Tott also taught the gunners how to throw bombs and in 1772 supervised the construction of a new modern gun foundry in Constantinople. 1773-75 he was entrusted with the repair of older and the construction of new fortresses along the Bosporus . At that time he also developed plans for the construction of new ships and supervised their execution. Many of the improvements he suggested in the Turkish military system then bore fruit during the reign of Abdülhamid I (1774–89).

Through his services Tott had earned the respect and trust of the Ottomans, and on the express recommendation of the Sublime Porte, Louis XV raised him . in July 1773 to the rank of Brigadier des Armées . Regardless of this, he had to endure some disagreements, among other things due to the skepticism of the Ottomans towards European technology, and for example the work associated with the construction of the new fortresses on the Bosporus was poorly carried out. This prompted Tott to return to France in 1776. The Turks presented him with a number of awards on his departure; when he said goodbye to the grand vizier, for example, the latter gave him a fur coat.

Inspection trip to the Levant and North Africa

A few months after his return home, Tott received an order from the Ministry of the Navy to inspect the French consulates in the trading centers of the Levant and North Africa. At Buffon's request , he was accompanied on this mission by the naturalist Sonnini , who wanted to study natural history. In the spring of 1777 Tott and his entourage left Toulon and successively visited Chania , Aleppo , Alexandria , Cairo , Larnaka , Smyrna , Thessaloniki , the Cyclades and Tunis . After a 17-month inspection trip, Tott returned to Paris , which ended his diplomatic career. On his last mission he had also had the secret assignment of exploring the possibilities of a possible French expedition to Egypt that he had propagated, but the Count of Vergennes, who was foreign minister at the time, rejected this idea, and only Napoleon Bonaparte carried out this undertaking in 1798.

Drafting the memoir

Tott, who had received two pensions from the Ministry of Commerce and Foreign Affairs and was appointed Maréchal de camp in 1781 , set out to document the results of his experiences, services and research in the Orient in his esteemed Mémoires sur les Turcs et les Tatares (4 vols., Amsterdam 1784). In the first volume he describes Constantinople, the Turkish society of that time and its political system and adheres to the theory of oriental despotism . Then in the following volume he devotes himself to the description of the everyday life of the Crimean Tatars before their submission by the Russians, his stay there, and the flora and fauna of this country. In the third volume he describes his exaggerated role as a military advisor to the Ottoman government (1769–74) during their struggle against Catherine the Great and, apart from exaggerating its importance, provides essentially reliable historical information. Finally, in the fourth volume, he gives an overview of his last diplomatic trip, describes Egypt in particular, for example the remains of the ancient buildings of the Nile country, and already recommends the construction of the Suez Canal .

Tott's work was a great success. It caused a stir and was sometimes attacked. The first edition was followed by four more French editions over the next two years. On the occasion of the first edition, a criticism of Peyssonnel appeared ( Lettre de M. de Peyssonnel, contenant quelques observations relatives aux mémoires qui ont paru sous le nom de M. le baron de Tott , Amsterdam 1785), but this letter was a reply from the French dragoman Pierre Jean Ruffin resulted in. The two-volume Parisian quarto edition of the Mémoires from 1785 contains this answer to Peyssonel's letter. The young Napoleon was one of the readers of the work, and it provided material for Raspe's Münchhausen book , among other things .

Translations of Tott's memoirs were soon made. The first German translation appeared under the title Oddities and Messages from the Turks and Tatars. With annotations (3 vol., Elbing 1786), then one with Peyssonnel's improvements and additions (2 vols., Nuremberg 1787/88). There were also translations into English (2 vols., 1785), into Danish by Morten Hallager (2 vols., Copenhagen 1785), into Dutch by Ysbrand Van Hammelsveld (Amsterdam 1789) and into Swedish (Uppsala 1800).

Exile and death

In 1786 or 1787 Tott was appointed commandant of Douai and held this post at the outbreak of the French Revolution (1789). But when in 1790 he tried to thwart a plan drawn up by the Douais garrison of four regiments, whose soldiers were filled with the new ideas, they rose up against him, their commander, accused him of being an aristocrat and threatened to take him on the next Hanging up a lantern. Tott escaped this fate and came to Paris. From there he went to Switzerland and stayed there for a year. Then he went to Vienna , where he had to be pardoned as the son of a follower of Ragoczy. He then lived very secluded in Hungary on the estate of an old family friend, Count Tivadar Batthyány. In 1793 Tott, who had also worked as a draftsman and musician, died at the age of 60 in Bad Tatzmannsdorf.

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personal data
SURNAME Tott, François de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French diplomat and military
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1733
PLACE OF BIRTH Chamigny
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 1793
Place of death Bad Tatzmannsdorf