Prussian-Russian Alliance Treaty (1715)
The Prussian-Russian Alliance Treaty (1715) was signed by the monarchs of Tsarist Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia on October 30, 1715 .
Its core provisions were directed against Sweden , against which both states were at war . The state treaty essentially contains provisions on Russian auxiliary troops on the northern German theater of war.
prehistory
Prussia had signed the Treaty of Schwedt with Russia in October 1713 , which promised him possession of Swedish Western Pomerania . Prussia thus moved closer to the anti-Swedish coalition of Russia, Saxony-Poland and Denmark . On June 12, 1714, the two states concluded a new alliance treaty in which both sides guaranteed their conquests in the event of peace with Sweden. On May 1, 1715, Prussia openly entered the war against Sweden.
Contract negotiations
Since the Prussian army had opened the campaign in Pomerania against Sweden in May 1715, Friedrich Wilhelm's envoy at the Russian court, Achenbach, had been instructed to seek the assurance of support from Russian troops. When they finally started moving, they advanced so slowly that their participation in the siege of Stralsund - it began at the beginning of November 1715 and ended with the Swedish surrender on December 22nd - was no longer an option, but in the imminent siege of Wismar the allies wanted to draw in Russian aid. As early as June 1715 in Petersburg, Achenbach presented the draft of an agreement on troop aid, but it was explained to him that it was not customary to receive the draft from foreign representatives and he was offered a Russian draft. The further negotiations with Achenbach, in which the question of who was to provide for the maintenance of the troops was the most important point of difference, did not lead to the goal. In August, the tsar sent his adjutant general Jaguschinski to the north German theater of war, who was supposed to personally conclude the agreement on the provision of auxiliary troops with King Friedrich Wilhelm: it was signed by the king in the camp in front of Stralsund on September 30, 1715, while the tsar on September 30, 1715 October 1715 a. St. gave his signature. A corresponding agreement between Denmark and Russia was signed on September 6, 1715, and an agreement was reached between Kur-Hannover and Russia on October 28, 1715 at Greifswald .
Content of the contract
The contract consisted of eleven individual articles and three separate articles and was written in French.
The draft had the following content: 1. The Tsar promised to have an army corps consisting of at least 26 battalions march to Western Pomerania. 2. He promises that these troops will be under Prussian command, that the king in Prussia can use them for the siege of Stralsund and Rügen. 3. Prince Alexander Danilowitsch Menshikov takes command of these troops and is under Prussian command. 4. The troops should be at Stettin by the end of 1715 at the latest . 5. As soon as Prussia has passed the Oder , it will provide the Russian troops with food for six months free of charge.
Further developments
Sweden lost all possessions in Pomerania by the beginning of 1716. In the Treaty of Amsterdam of August 15, 1717, Prussia, and Russia, together with the Swedish protective power France, confirmed their possession in anticipation of the inevitable defeat of Sweden in the Great Northern War.
literature
Victor Loewe (Hrsg.): Prussian State Treaties from the reign of King Friedrich Wilhelm I (= publications from the Prussian State Archives. Vol. 87, ZDB -ID 503432-2 ). Hirzel, Leipzig 1913.