Treaty of Amsterdam (1717)
In the Treaty of Amsterdam of August 15, 1717 , Prussia , Russia and France mutually confirmed their possessions in anticipation of Sweden's inevitable defeat in the Great Northern War . France assured its neutrality in the final phase of the Great Northern War.
Power political background
In spring 1717 Tsar Peter I went to France via Holland . There Peter tried to complete his military success over Sweden by integrating Russia into the European state system. The Tsar had already expressed his wish to establish contact with France on various occasions. France was a close ally of Sweden and had been at war with Russia since 1700. As a result, France avoided a promise of alliance with Russia. From Peter I's insight into Sweden's function in the early modern state system as part of the French Barrière de l'Est , he drew the conclusion that Russia should take its place alongside Versailles after Sweden's decline in power politics .
In order to be able to exert pressure on England-Hanover , which was following Russian policy with concern because of the occupation of Mecklenburg , and to continue to secure the role of mediator in the Northern War, an agreement with Russia was reached in France towards the end of 1716 ready.
From the Russian point of view, it made sense to make use of the mediation of Prussia, which was in close agreement with Russia and had just concluded a treaty with France that was kept secret from Russia. With France, Prussia had gained a support against Austria and Sweden, so that entry into this alliance was also very desirable by Peter and Prussia could also serve as a hinge for the alliance of the two wing powers.
Contract negotiations
Negotiations were opened in the Hague at the beginning of 1717 with the mediation of the Prussian envoy Friedrich Ernst zu Innhausen and Knyphausen , where the tsar was also staying at the same time. Right from the start, the French did not show any commitment to concluding the deal, because it was at that time that the triple alliance was entered into with the naval powers, with which France adapted itself to the point of view of English politics. Even the presence of the Tsar in Paris in the spring of 1717 did not significantly promote the negotiations, and the French government only agreed to conclude a mere treaty of friendship after having met the Russian demands, above all the guarantee of the Russian conquests and the payment of subsidies , had refused.
The Prussian plenipotentiary Knyphausen stepped into the background the longer the negotiations dragged on, because Prussia was not averse to the French offer to join the triple alliance and therefore did not want to support Russia's demands resolutely. When the French and Russian plenipotentiaries had come to an agreement in June, before the Tsar's departure from Paris, Knyphausen declared that he was not ready to sign the agreement because he had not yet received the necessary instructions from Berlin . On the basis of the examination of the project, which incidentally was presented in Berlin not by Knyphausen, but by the Russian envoy Gabriel Ivanovich Golowkin , who was constantly pushing for completion , the Prussian representative was authorized to sign the contract on July 10th, and at the same time he was instructed by to demand a declaration from the French side that article two of the secondary recession does not violate the agreement that was last stipulated in the Treaty of Szczecin with France. After the French government had agreed to issue this declaration, the plenipotentiaries of the three governments signed the contract on August 15 in Amsterdam , where the tsar was staying.
Content of the contract
The contract was drawn up in French and consists of six articles and three secret articles. Prussia, Russia and France mutually affirm their acquis in anticipation of Sweden's inevitable defeat in the Great Northern War. France assured its neutrality in the final phase of the Great Northern War.
consequences
With this treaty Russia entered the European alliance policy. Peter I had thus achieved an important diplomatic success and consolidated his international prestige. England now also expressed the wish to approach the tsarist empire; In London there was fear of being ousted from Russian trade by the French and of losing all influence over the Baltic region . However, the contract did not acquire any further significance, partly because its provisions were general and non-binding.
literature
- Wolfgang Neugebauer (ed.): Handbook of Prussian history. Volume 3: From the Empire to the 20th century and major topics in the history of Prussia. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2001, ISBN 3-11-014092-6 .
- Valentin Gitermann : History of Russia. Volume 2. European publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1965.