Secret you roi

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Secret du roi ( French: secret of the king) was the secret correspondence of the French monarch Louis XV. and Louis XVI. called that they used parallel to their regular diplomatic channels to receive politically explosive information from neighboring European countries. It was an espionage and information network avant la lettre .

The aim of the network was to expand French influence, especially in Eastern and Northern Europe, and to negotiate explosive topics by ignoring the official court diplomacy, which was based on fixed rules and strict etiquette. It was created in the 1740s, probably around 1743, and goes back to the French ambassador at the time in Warsaw, Louis-Adrien Duperron de Castéra (1705–1752). In the 1740s and 1750s it was headed by Louis XV's cousin, the Prince de Conti , and his successor was the envoy to the court of August III. in Poland, Charles-François Comte de Broglie (1719–1781).

The diplomatic objectives of the secret network

Especially since the Aachen Peace of 1748, the "lost peace" after the war, Louis XV. greater interest in his diplomatic service and the country's foreign policy. From that moment on Conti had a say in foreign policy through the king. He publicly criticized the ministers responsible for their failure in the negotiations to conclude peace and developed his own French foreign policy. The aim of his policy was the stabilization of the European order of the Peace of Westphalia, i. H. a policy directed against Austria , England and the rising Russia . An alliance with Turkey, Poland , Sweden and Prussia should balance these three powers. He was particularly interested in Russia, which was rising to a great power and occupied parts of Poland, and in Eastern Europe between the Baltic Sea, Austria and the Balkans, which were under Turkish control. Poland played a special role in its strategy. A kind of defense community, a "confédération défensive", was to be forged against the increasingly expansive Russia, in which Poland was to play the role of a shielding block. If Russia could not be included in French interest politics, it had to be kept within bounds by an alliance. In order to move Sweden, Poland and Turkey to an alliance to contain Russia, but without declaring this as official policy, Louis XV waved. embarked on the path of secret diplomacy.

Literature (selection)

  • Perrault, Gilles. Le secret du roi, Paris: Fayard 1996 (novel).