Translated material
1812
Vladimir Abarinov: For Russia, the war of 1812 is an exceptional event, which, along with the Poltava Victoria and the Great Patriotic War, the ideological basis of national statehood, and Napoleon occupies a place between Charles XII and Hitler in the gallery. But for Europe as a whole, Napoleon’s campaign to Russia is only one of the episodes of a whole series of wars of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries. Therefore, the conversation about the causes of Napoleon's invasion of Russia should begin with the causes of these wars, called the Napoleonic, which, in turn, was preceded by the wars of revolutionary France with the European powers. In one of them, a young Bonaparte participated in the rank of captain, and the victory he had won became the beginning of his rapid take -off.
My interlocutor will be historian Oleg Sokolov - perhaps the most authoritative Russian specialist on this topic today, the author of several books on the history of the Napoleonic Wars, awarded for his works of the Order of the Honorary Legion.
Oleg Valerievich, apparently, should begin with the reaction of European monarchs, and above all Catherine II, to the French Revolution. This reaction, given the then means of communication and information, was largely determined by diplomatic representatives. At that time, the Russian ambassador to Paris was a very intelligent and experienced diplomat Ivan Simolin. Here is his first dispatch about the riots in the French capital - dated July 2, 1789.
Last night there was an uprising. The French Guard, connecting with an ink, began to shoot at the detachment of the royal German regiment. The detachment was built on the boulevard under my windows. Two people and two horses were killed.
On the square of Louis XV and in many other quarters there are bloody spectacles. And now, when I write, they shoot under my windows, and I am afraid that this crackling and noise will last all night.
This morning they told me that the night passed restlessly. There was an attack on the main headquarters of the troops, placed against me, in the Richel Palace. There were skirmishes on Italian Boulevard, on the square of Louis XV and on the Champs Elysees. They shot from guns. We must hope that a way to stop these disgrace will be found.
Vladimir Abarinov: Four days later, he sends a new report.
Since the departure of my last dispatch from Monday, which may not be reached, in France there has been a revolution that would be difficult to imagine if it had not occurred before our eyes.
Vladimir Abarinov: In the future, Simolin is expressed as follows: “The cruelty and fading of the French people expressed in this case in the same features that we read with horror in the descriptions of Bartholomew’s night, with the difference, which is currently obsessed with political savagery.” In the next dispatch: “Never my soul was so covered by sadness as now. Paris looks like a tiger lair. " And finally: "A new uprising, the tragic and disastrous consequences of which are innumerable, Paris and Versailles in fear and horror plunged."
Oleg Valerievich, how did Ekaterina perceive these news?
Oleg Sokolov: Catherine's indignation knew no bounds. She in her letters, her diaries simply writes with rage about what is happening in France. She calls the revolutionaries "miserable lawyers", "insignificant people." “Since when,” she wrote, “extravagance, frivolity, disorder, all kinds of extremes are valued above experience, prudence, order and law? Knowing nothing and not understanding anything, can only ask questions when everything that was so dear to a person is crumbling ...” and so on. And finally, she wrote about all the members of the national assembly: “All this bastard was no better than the Marquis of Pugachev, about whom I always said that he knew what a villain he was. Recently, these very lawyers, depending on what they paid more, defended the truth and lies, justice and lawlessness. I would have dispersed people once, and would not do what they do and do what they did.” Thus, there were no limits of her indignation regarding the French revolution. For her, the revolution was completely unacceptable.
Vladimir Abarinov: But she was an avid volterian, corresponded with French enlighteners. And then all the volterman instantly flew away, and even a bust of Voltaire from the Hermitage was put into the closet.
Oleg Sokolov: You see, she was Voltairen, as a supporter of the enlightened monarchy, that is, as a monarch who rules, as she seems to her, in the interests of the people, but in no way no representative institutions were absolutely unacceptable for her. Especially chaos, anarchy. Without a doubt, for an outside observer, what was happening in France ... as it is difficult to be sober at a feast, and in the era of the revolution, it was naturally difficult to be some kind of outside observer. I think that for a person who looked from the side, all this looked rather scary: some people in the streets of the disheveled run, cut, kill, hang. Of course, the Russian ambassador Simolin appropriately reported to the empress and, of course, she perceived accordingly.
Vladimir Abarinov: King Louis XVI and Queen Maria Antoinette, in fact under house arrest, hoped for the intervention of European powers, primarily Austria and Prussia, because the Austrian emperor Leopold was the sibling of the Queen. The key role in this project was to play Russia. Maria Antoinette wrote to Catherine, but received an evasive answer.
Oleg Valerievich, why did Catherine for all her rage, hatred of the revolution refused to enter the coalition?
Oleg Sokolov: This is the most important, most important question. The fact is that Catherine, with all her emotional reaction to the revolution, she was a very pragmatic politician, at least often tried to be such a pragmatic politician as it seemed to her. As a pragmatic politician, firstly, she had two wars in her arms-one war with Sweden that took place at this time, another war with Turkey. So, she has two wars in the north and in the south. In addition, she got involved in a problem related to Poland, with the part of Poland. As a result, her war was in the north, in the south, also in the center. It was very difficult to allocate a large number of troops. This is the first.
She completed all these wars by 1792. True, the Polish section has not yet ended, but she finished the Swedish and Turkish campaign. That's what she wrote to her correspondent to Baron Grimm - to the man to whom she trusted all her thoughts:
I am convinced to send troops to the Rhine. But how to send there? Send a little and contact the packs - the troops will be beaten like others. I can’t send a lot, because from an hour I wait for a break with the Turks, who are called Milord Enley and Decor. (British and French ambassadors in Turkey. - Ed.)
By the way, although Türkiye signed the world with Russia, it was basically ready for a new war, for revenge. Then many historians will say how the English union was important for Russia, a connection with the British. In fact, the British constantly sought to put Russia in wheels or studs, anything. In short, Catherine, knowing all these problems that Russia has, sought, say, to put on other powers to France - let the Austrians fight, let the Prussians, the British fight, but still stay away from this process. That is, she, despite all her ideological hostility to the French revolution, as the politician remained very balanced.
True, in 1796, she began to lean to the idea that she still needed to take an armed participation in this war, but she died in November 96. Therefore, we do not know, in reality, she would move the troops to the aid of the coalition against France. But at least until the 96th year she did not dare to do so.
Vladimir Abarinov: In August 1791, the king of Prussia Friedrich-Wilhelm II and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Leopold II signed the declaration of intention to restore the monarchy in France and called on other monarchs of Europe to join them. This declaration was a formal reason for the war that France declared Austria.
Oleg Valerievich, there is an opinion (in my opinion, you share it) that there was no real military threat to France, the coalition allies did not really want to fight. At the same time, from your book “Austerlitz, Napoleon, Russia and Europe” (you quote the speeches of the French deputies), it seems that France took an aggressive position. These quotes:
The French revolution will be a sacred hearth, the sparks of which will be ignited by all the nations, whose rulers will plan to get closer to it!
War is now a national good, and there is only one disaster that must be afraid - this is that there will be no war!
Send, stupid tyrants of all your stupid slaves, your armies melt, like blocks of ice on the glowing land! .. Let the war with the princes begin, who support the conspirators on our borders. The war to Emperor Leopold, who is eager to strangle our freedom ... Our ambassadors will be guns, bayonets of patriots and a million free people!
Did they want to arrange a world revolution?
Oleg Sokolov: You know, we are present in such a situation - as Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Petrovich argued, I don’t remember. That is, when it begins with nothing, then the word for the word, and everything ultimately ends with a serious conflict. The fact is that initially neither the ideologists of the revolution, nor the European monarchs seriously thought about the war. But, on the one hand, emigrants flee from France, they talk about the horrors of the revolution, scare everyone. And of course, the monarchs must take some actions, at least symbolic. On the other hand, deputies gather, mainly young people, energetic, ambitious. They know that some troops, emigrant formations begin to form on the border. Naturally, these people begin to make thunderous speeches in which they urge this issue to resolve. In response, respectively, declarations. In response - even more speeches and so on. And although no one was going to fight initially, the further, the more they all went in this escalation of declarations.
And ultimately the decisive step was taken by French diplomats on April 20, 1972. But I must say that by this time the situation was such that the war would have been so. That is, they declared war, but they declared a real fact - in fact there was a war, it was almost standing at the threshold. Therefore, the war was initiated not by France and not by the coalition, it arose naturally.
The war of the French revolution with Europe was inevitable. We must emphasize: 20 million people lived in France, at that time it is a huge country, the most populated country in Europe. In the entire Austrian Empire - 24 million, in Prussia - 10 million, in England - 10 million. All educated people in Europe are in French. What is happening in France could not but be reflected throughout Europe. This is not some rebellion in Andorra or San Marino-this is a shock in the largest, strongest power of the continent, with which everyone was connected by one or another bonds-dynastic, economic, primarily intellectual, moral. Therefore, of course, what happened there could not but cause shock. The war between the revolution and old Europe, at least for some time, was inevitable.