The 1717 Convention of Amsterdam according to French Diplomatic Archives

Authors

  • Isabelle Nathan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2018.3.320

Keywords:

Amsterdam Treaty; Peter the Great; international protocol; international relations of the early 18th century; diplomatic history

Abstract

The Amsterdam Convention, a treaty marking the alliance and mutual guarantees between France, Russia and Prussia and signed in Amsterdam on 15 August 1717, was, over the coming centuries, celebrated in France as the cornerstone of a permanent alliance which would withstand the vicissitudes of the revolutionary and imperial periods. While the impact of the treaty was limited in the short run, it was nevertheless the result of the tsar’s wish to integrate Russia into the new European order determined by the Treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastatt (1714) at the end of the War of Spanish Succession. In proposing this alliance, Peter I wished to detach Sweden from France, his ally from the time of Richelieu, or even take Sweden’s place in a diplomatic game where France needed to find a counterweight to the Holy Roman emperor’s power on the continent. He enlisted Prussia to assuage the misgivings of the regent and his minister Dubois, who were first concerned about preserving the triple alliance formed on 4 January 1717 in The Hague with their erstwhile enemies England and Holland. The analysis of the treaty documents kept in the Archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides valuable data as to the conditions of the first official negotiations between the two countries as well as what set them apart: Peter’s firm ambition to be legally recognised as a sovereign with power equal to that of the European princes. The seal of this triple alliance thus found itself confronted with a ceremonial issue: due to the refusal of the tsar and the Prussian king to give precedence to the other, the treaty did not take the form of three copies of a single text with three signatures on each, but a more complex form of six copies signed by the representatives of only two powers in order to uphold the principle of equality. The file kept in the French Diplomatic Archives thus contains two instruments with identical texts, one signed by France and Prussia, the other by France and Russia: it is this inseparable pair of documents that gave power to the triple alliance. The six articles and three secret articles of the text provided for a “close union” between the three sovereigns and brought their people together through trade advantages as the most privileged nation. However, the instrument still reflects France’s initial reservations, namely that the convention should not challenge the English alliance and France would only commit to acting as a mediator for re-establishing peace in the north (secret articles). It did, however, create favourable conditions for opening permanent embassies in the two countries.

Author Biography

Isabelle Nathan

General Curator of Heritage, Head of the Department of Public Relations, Treaties, and Collections of Archives, Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (Direction of the Archives).

3, rue Suzanne Masson, 93126, Paris, France.

isabelle.nathan@diplomatie.gouv.fr

References

Archives du ministère des Affaires étrangères. Correspondance politique Russie. 112CP. 1660–1896. 312 volumes. Négociations du traité dans les volumes 112CP7 et 11CP8.

Archives du ministère des Affaires étrangères. Traité d’alliance et de garantie réciproque. Amsterdam. 15 août 1717. Traités bilatéraux Russie. TRA17170003.

Bély, L. (1999). La société des princes. Paris, Fayard. 651 p.

Guichen, E. de. (1908). Pierre le Grand et le premier traité francorusse (1682 à 1717). Paris, Perrin. 299 p.

Le Dran, N. L. (N. d.). Les négociations entre la France et le tsar de la grande Russie Pierre Ier (1726). In Archives du ministère des Affaires étrangères. Mémoires et documents. Russie. 43MD4. Fol. 4–284.

Liechtenhan, F.-D. (2015). Pierre le Grand, le premier empereur de toutes les Russies. Paris, Tallandier. 685 p.

Martens, G.-F. (1821). Von Précis du droit des gens de l’Europe, fondé sur les traités et l’usage […] 1821. Gottingue, Dietrich. XL + 608 p.

Mervaud, M. (2012). Pierre le Grand en France : les récits de Voltaire. In Revue des Etudes slaves. T. 83. Fascicule 2–3, pp. 847–870.

Saint-Prest, J.-Y. de. (1725). Histoire des traités de paix et autres négociations du dixseptième siècle, depuis la paix de Vervins jusqu’à la paix de Nimègue. 2 vol. Amsterdam, J.-F. Bernard. 730 + 632 p.

Vianey, B. (2012). Tout autour du voyage de Jean Sauvage en Moscovie en 1586. Moscou, Tezaurus. 503 p.

Published

2018-09-30

How to Cite

Nathan, I. (2018). The 1717 Convention of Amsterdam according to French Diplomatic Archives. Quaestio Rossica, 6(3), 675–684. https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2018.3.320

Issue

Section

Problema voluminis