Napoleon and the Art of Diplomacy by William Nester

Author:William Nester
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Savas Beatie
Published: 2012-01-19T05:00:00+00:00

Tilsit

With the imperial guards of the two rulers lining their respective shores of the Niemen River, Napoleon and Alexander embraced on a large raft anchored midstream on June 25. Each was accompanied by a retinue of his closest aides and generals, all dressed immaculately, their uniforms bedecked with glittering medals and their hats with fluttering plumes. The monarchs spoke animatedly for two hours. The emperor's diplomatic powers were at their height. Soon he had beguiled a tsar bitter at his latest defeat and fearful of his realm's fate to trust, admire, and follow him. It was all, as Alexander later put it, “like a dream.” He was especially struck by Napoleon's ability always to be “in the midst of the greatest excitement” with “a calm, cool head; all his rages are for others and most often they are only calculated.”71

Having conquered the tsar's heart and mind, the emperor's next step was to harness him into lockstep against a common enemy, Britain. He soon had Alexander exclaiming that “I hate the English no less than you do and I shall second you in everything you undertake against them.” Napoleon could not have scripted those words better himself. To that he replied, then “everything can be settled and peace is made.”72

The terms Napoleon offered were relatively light. Under the Treaty of Tilsit, signed on July 7, Alexander agreed to yield Cattaro and the Ionian Islands to France; withdraw from Wallachia and Moldavia; recognize Napoleon's radical reorganization of Europe from the North to the Tyrrhenian Seas, including the annexations to France, the thrones of Joseph in Naples, Louis in Holland, Murat in Berg, and eventually Jerome in Westphalia, the Rhine Confederation, the Duchy of Warsaw, and French occupation of the duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Saxe-Coburg, and Oldenburg; and finally, to expel Louis XVIII and his court from Mittau. As usual, the emperor tossed the vanquished a token concession; in this case, Alexander could take the Polish province of Bialystok.73

Those provisions were all publicly displayed. Secretly the emperor and tsar pledged to help each other resolve their respective wars with Britain and Turkey. They would first try diplomacy by offering to act as mediators in the other's war. If by November 1 that peace offensive had failed, the tsar was to break diplomatic relations with London and join the Continental System, and the emperor would do the same with Istanbul. They also built into their treaty the recognition of each other's future planned conquests, Sicily for France and Finland for Russia.

Napoleon made a series of gestures to honor and influence the tsar. He had his Imperial Guard throw a dinner for Alexander's Imperial Guard; the banquet and toasts ended with the French and Russians exchanging uniforms! Another day, after reviewing a parade of Alexander and his Guard, Napoleon pinned his own Legion of Honor on the soldier the tsar considered his bravest.

In contrast to his gentle treatment of Alexander, Napoleon intended to punish Frederick William harshly for starting a war against France and refusing to accept defeat until he had no other choice.

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