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Futile Peacemaking: Austria and the Congress of Nemirov (1737)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Karl A. Roider Jr.
Karl A. Roider Jr.
Affiliation:
Louisiana State University
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Extract

The general congress, designed either to end wars or to prevent them, dominated the diplomacy of peacemaking in eighteenthcentury Europe. When writing about these peace conferences historians understandably have focused their attention on those that achieved success. Equally important, however, were those that failed. They revealed, more clearly than the successful congresses, the difficulties governments faced in judging military and diplomatic conditions, the vicissitudes of negotiation, and the frustrations of policy making. One of these futile congresses was the Congress of Nemirov, which was convened in southern Poland in 1737 for the purpose of ending the Austro-Russian-Turkish war begun the year before. Hopefully, examination of the conference from the Austrian point of view will offer insight into the general policy of one of the participants, the results it expected to achieve, the problems its plenipotentiaries encountered both in preparing for and attending the sessions, and the question of why the congress disbanded without resolving the differences between the belligerents.

Type
Eighteenth-Century Relations with the Turks and Serbs
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 1976 , pp. 95 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1976

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References

1 The principal source material for this article was found in the Staatskanzlei documents in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in Vienna, particularly in the file Privat Protocol von Nemirov, in Kriegsaklen, Carton CCCXX1V.

2 The Privy Conference (Konferenzrat) discussed the possible ramifications of the Russian assault on Turkey throughout late 1735 and early 1736. See Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv (Vienna) (hereafter cited as “Staatsarchiv [Vienna]”), Staatskanzlei, Vorträge, Cartons XLII-XLI1I.

3 From St. Petersburg Vienna received only unofficial hints about Russia's war aims. In February, 1736, the Austrian ambassador, Count Heinrich Ostein, reported that the Russians desired only the fortress of Azov at the mouth of the Don River and minor border rectifications, but in June he announced that they wanted to restore the Russo-Turkish frontiers as they had existed in 1700, to annex the Crimea, and to establish some kind of protectorate over the Ottoman provinces of Moldavia and Walachia. Ostein to Emperor Charles VI, February 12, 1736, and June 26, 1736, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Russiand, Neuere Akten II, Cartons XIII and XIV.

4 Imperial resolution, June 17, 1736, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei, Carton XVII.

5 Ostein to Emperor Charles VI, July 21, 1736, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei Russiand, Neuere Akten II, Carton XIV.

6 Imperial resolution, August 7, 1736, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei, Carton CCX1II.

7 An explanation of the position taken by the Privy Conference is given in Bartenstein to Emperor Charles VI, September 12, 1736, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Vorträge, Carton XLIV.

8 See Talman's letters to the Aulic War Council, October-November, 1736, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei, Carton CCXIII.

9 Talman to Aulic War Council, January 2, 1737, Ibid., Carton CCXIV.

10 Ostein to Emperor Charles VI, December 18, 1736, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Russland, Neuere Akten II, Carton XIV.

11 Bartenstein to Emperor Charles VI, January 15, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Vonräge, Carton XLV; instructions to Talman, January 15, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei, Carton CCXIV.

12 Representing the Ottoman empire were the Reis Effendi Mustapha; the comptroller of finances, Emini Mohammed Effendi; and the secretary of the feudal cavalry (Spahis) Mohammed Said Effendi, who had also served as a special envoy and secretary of the legation in Moscow. From Russia came the aged Baron Peter Shafirov, senator, vice-chancellor, and principal negotiator at the talks leading to the Peace of Pruth in 1711; Prince Artemus Volinsky, a veteran of Persian affairs; and, as head of the delegation, Count Ivan Nepluyev, erstwhile minister to Turkey.

13 Instructions to Talman, January 15, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei. Carton CCX1V.

14 Talman to Königsegg, February 14, 1737, Ibid.

15 Ostermann to Ostein, March 9–20, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Russland. Neuere Aklen II, Carton XV.

16 Talman to Ostein, February 23, 1737, Ibid.

17 Talman and the Turkish delegates reached Soroki before Ostein and the Russians had left St. Petersburg.

18 Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Kriegsakten, Carton CCCXX1V, Privat Protocol von Nemirov.

19 On July 9, 1737, the Privy Conference first broached the subject of war aims but postponed any decision until some military action occurred. Conference Protocol, July 9, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Vonräge, Carton XLV1I.

20 Emperor Charles VI. to Talman and Ostein, August 1, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei, Carton CCXVI. The two plenipotentiaries were informed that the government was sending 6,000 ducats, 12 bags of watches, and 8 bolts each of red, green, and yellow fabric for them to use to bribe the Turks to accept these provisions.

21 Bell, John, Travels from St. Petersburgh in Russia to Various Parts of Asia (Edinburgh: John Murray, 1806), p. 582Google Scholar.

22 Rondeau, to Harrington, , August 13–24, 1737, Sbornik russkago istoricheskago obshchestva [Collections of the Russian Historical Society], Vol. LXXX (St. Petersburg: M. Aleksandrov, 1892), p. 190Google Scholar.

23 Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staalskanzlei, Kriegsakten, Carton CCCXXIV, Privat Protocol von Nemirov.

24 Ibid.

25 Talman and Ostein to Aulic War Council, August 4 and 5, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staalskanzlei, Türkei, Carton CCXVI. See also von Manstein, Christoph Hermann, Contemporary Memoirs of Russia, 1727–1744 (London: Frank Cass & Co., 1968), p. 159. Reprint of the 1856 edition.Google Scholar

26 Talman and Ostein to Aulic War Council, August 5, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei, Carton CCXV1. In his report Barenklau noted that the Russian troops showed great courage, “but as to the generals, all of them, without exception, were only fit to be captains of grenadiers.” The Russian delegates sent a copy of this report to Ostermann, who, in turn, dispatched it to Münnich. After reading it, the field marshal reproached Barenklau and demanded his recall. The government in Vienna dutifully complied, and Barenklau left Russia at the end of 1737, Manstein, Contemporary Memoirs of Russia, pp. 195–196.

27 Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Kriegsakten, Carton CCCXX1V, Privat Protocol von Nemirov.

28 Ostein and Talman to Emperor Charles VI, August 20, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei, Carton CCXVI.

29 Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei. Kriegsakien, Carton CCCXXIV, Privat Protocol von Nemirov.

30 Ibid.

31 Talman to Aulic War Council, September 6, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei, Carton CCXVI. The Austrians informed the Turkish delegates that if the instructions did not arrive by October 15, they would consider the conference dissolved because of Turkish bad faith.

32 This strategy was adopted at a meeting of the Privy Conference in October, 1736, and reconfirmed the next January. Conference Protocols, October 26, 1736, and January 18, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staalskanzlei, Vorträge, Carton XLV.

33 For an account of this battle, see von Angeli, Major von Moriz, “Der Krieg mit der Pforte 1736 bis 1739,” Mitteilungen des k. k. Kriegsarchivs, 1881, pp. 298–306Google Scholar.

34 Ibid., pp. 315–316.

35 The best accounts of the Austrian war effort are Angeli, , “Der Krieg mit der Pforte;” de Keralio, M. [Louis Félix], Histoire de la guerre des russes el des impériaux contre les turcs (Paris: Debure, 1780)Google Scholar; and Mrde Schmettau, le comte, Mémoires secrets de la guerre de Hongrie (Frankfurt: n. p., 1786)Google Scholar.

36 Talman and Ostein to Aulic War Council, September 27, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Russland, Neuere Akten II, Carton CXXX1V.

37 Ostein to Sinzendorf, September 17, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Tiirkei, Carton CCXVI.

38 Ostein and Talman to Aulic War Council, September 12, 1737, Ibid.

39 0stein and Talman to Aulic War Council, September 27, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Slaalskanzlei, Russland, Seuere Aklen II, Carton CXXXIV; Ostein and Talman to Aulic War Council, October 8, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Slaalskanzlei Tükei, Carton CCXV1I.

40 Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Kriegsakten, Carton CCCXXIV, Privat Protocol von Nemirov.

41 Talman and Ostein to Aulic War Council, October 17, 1737, Staatsarchiv (Vienna), Staatskanzlei, Türkei, Carton CCXVI1. Talman commented that the Turkish servants departed with tents and baggage before the concluding session of October 15.