Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev

Study for the portrait of Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatjew v. Boris Michailowitsch Kustodijew

Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev ( Russian Николай Павлович Игнатьев ) (born January 17, ^jul. / 29. January  1832 ^greg. In St. Petersburg ; † June 20 ^{. Jul} / 3. July  1908 ^{. Greg} in Krupoderinzy , Berditschewski Ujesd, Kiev Governorate ) was a general in the Russian army and Russian diplomat .

Life

His grandfather came from the old Georgian noble family of Ignatishvili.

Ignatjew was first educated in the page corps , then entered the guard and later took part in the Crimean War, before becoming a military attaché in London and Paris in 1856 . He was then assigned to the governor of Eastern Siberia , General Murayev , as a diplomatic adviser. Here he obtained from China in the Treaty of Aigun on May 28, 1858, the cession of the area on the Amur , which was contested again in the 1960s during the Sino-Soviet quarrel . Ignatiev also concluded advantageous trade agreements with Khiva and Bukhara .

For a short time he was appointed envoy in Beijing and there, too, concluded a favorable trade agreement with the German Empire (1860). He returned in 1863 and was appointed director of the Asian Department and in 1864 the Russian envoy to Constantinople .

His favoring of the uprising in Crete in 1866 resulted in the rejection of a Greek participation in the settlement. In addition, in the bitter church dispute between Greece and Bulgaria, he took a decisive side for the Bulgarians . Both of these led the Greeks to turn away from Russia for a long time . As a result, his administration became momentous in the history of Russian policy on the Orient.

In 1875 and 1876 Ignatjew strove to again favor the interests of the Bosnians and Bulgarians and to fight the politics of the Ottoman Empire under Midhat Pasha . After the Conference of the Great Powers in December 1876 and January 1877, he was temporarily recalled and during this time made a tour of the courts of Europe in order to get the European powers pro-Russia in their dispute with the Ottoman Empire. His activities in this regard culminated in the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. The Treaty of San Stefano (March 3, 1878), which was later substantially modified by the Berlin Congress , was also mainly the work of Ignatiev.

Immediately after the accession of Tsar Alexander III. Ignatiev was appointed Minister of Domains and Minister of the Interior on May 1, 1881 . He tried to use his new position in the interests of the national party. However, his indifference to the attacks on the Jews earned him the criticism of Mikhail Katkov , which in June 1882, immediately after the May Laws came into force , finally led to Ignatiev's dismissal. From 1888 he was president of the Slavic Charities. His nephew Alexei Alexejewitsch Ignatjew also embarked on a military and diplomatic career.

Count Nikolai Pawlowitsch Ignatjew died on June 20 / July 3, 1908 in his manor in Krupoderinzy (at that time in Berditschewski Ujesd of the Kiev governorate). The count's remains were also buried there.

His great-grandson is the Canadian politician and historian Michael Ignatieff .

Geopolitical views

Count Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatjew was an opponent of European conferences and congresses because, in his opinion, anti-Russian views always prevailed in them. He saw old Austria as a natural ally, but the dualistic Austria-Hungary, on the other hand, as a natural adversary, against whom the struggle for life and death was inevitable. Count Ignatiev condemned Andrássy's cynical and cheeky behavior towards Russia . The Count accused the Foreign Minister, Prince Gorchakov, of his belief in the European concert and instead advised the establishment of a strong fleet . Russia, so Count Ignatjew, feels tight in the Black Sea and must secure control over Constantinople . He named the Poles, with their Catholic fanaticism , loyalty to the West and hatred of the Orthodox , and the Magyars who rule Vienna (cf. Andrássy ) as the main obstacle to Slavic unity . What the Count feared most was a Hungarian- Romanian- Slavic confederation under the leadership of the West and a strong Austro-Hungarian influence on the Serbs and Bulgarians and the strengthening of the Poles . After the collapse of the Turkish Empire , an alliance like the North German Confederation 1868–81 with the participation of Russia and with Constantinople as the capital would be most favorable to Russian interests. With reference to Romania, the Count said that it is obligatory for us to distrust him , that Romanian interests run counter to Slavic interests, and proposes, in order to satisfy the ambitions of Austria-Hungary, not to cede Bosnia and Herzegovina under any circumstances , but Wallachia as well the river Seret as a border.

The count was concerned about the future of the Orthodox peoples on the Balkan Peninsula. Social development, the spread of education and the awakening of material interest drive them , according to Count Nikolai Ignatjew, to rapprochement and acquaintance with the West . He feared that the ideas of progress would penetrate the masses and change the former type of people . The Count regretted that the spirit of the youths is not turned to us but to the West . Catholic propaganda, Polish immigrants and the recently all too widespread Masonic lodges , according to the count, ensured that the Balkan peoples turned away from Russia.

Commemoration

Several places in Bulgaria are named after Count Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev, including: Graf Ignatiev Street, one of the main streets in Sofia , the village of Graf Ignatiewo in the municipality of Maritsa and the village of Ignatiewo in the Varna region . He is also the namesake for Mount Ignatiev in Antarctica.

literature

• Н. П. Игнатиев, Записки (1875–1878) , издателство на Отечествения фронт, София, 1986 (Bulgarian)

Individual evidence

1. ^ David Marshall Lang, The last years of the Georgian monarchy 1658-1832, Columbia University, Russian Institute Studies, 1957, p. 67.
2. ↑ «Правительственный Вѣстникъ». 25 июня (8 июля) 1908, № 138, стр. 2
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Н. П. Игнатиев, Записки (1875–1878) , издателство на Отечествения фронт, София, 1986 (Bulgarian), pp. 49–50, 52, 54, 58, 63, 69, 118

Web links

Commons : Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Mikhail Tarielowitsch Loris-Melikow	Minister of the Interior of Russia 1881–1882	Dmitri Andreevich Tolstoy