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Birthday anniversary of Count Karl Nesselrode, Russian statesman and diplomat
2 (13) December, 1780 in Lisbon was born a Russian statesman and diplomat, Count Karl Vasilyevich Nesselrode (Karl Robert von Nesselrode-Eresgofen).
Karl’s father, a native of Saxony, he served successively in the diplomatic offices of Austria, Holland, France, Prussia, and finally entered the Russian service. At the time of his son’s birth, he was the ambassador of Russia in Portugal. Later he was transferred to Berlin, where Karl graduated from high school.
In 1796, Karl Nesselrode arrived to St. Petersburg, served in the Navy, then in the army, but soon resigned.
From 1801 a diplomatic career of Nesselrode began: he served as an officer of the Russian mission in Berlin, Hague, Paris. His political views were formed under a great influence of an Austrian statesman K. Metternich.
In 1811, Karl Nesselrode was appointed Secretary of State of Alexander I. Since the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812 he was with the army, fulfilling diplomatic missions. During the foreign campaign of the Russian Army of 1813-1814, he was in charge of the political correspondence of the camp office, participated in the negotiations between the allies. He took an active part in the Congress of Vienna of 1814-1815 and other diplomatic actions.
In 1816 he was commissioned to direct the foreign college (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), together with Count I. A. Kapodistrias (Nesselrode was in his charge of relations with Western powers, while Kapodistrias - with Eastern ones). In 1822 Kapodistrias was sent into retirement, and Nesselrode became the sole head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In the reign of Emperor Nicholas I Nesselrode retained the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in 1844 he was appointed chancellor of the state of the Russian Empire. He continued to strive for a close approach with Austria, and under his influence Russia took part in suppressing the Hungarian uprising of 1848-1849.
In his note on the political situation in Russia Nesselrode defined his policy as a monarchist and anti-Polish. Imbued with ideas of the Holy Alliance, Nesselrode harbored sincere hatred of any ideas of freedom, both in Europe and Russia, he found that serfdom was equally charitable to landlords and peasants.
One of the biggest diplomatic blunders of Nesselrode was his incorrect prediction of the reaction of leading European countries to a possible war of Russia against Turkey in the early 1850's. Overestimating the Anglo-French conflict, Nesselrode had not understood the politics of Britain and France, which were inciting Russia into conflict with Turkey. As a result, by the beginning of the Crimean War Russia found itself in a complete international isolation.
The Crimean War of 1853-1856 was, in essence, a diplomatic defeat of Nicholas I and Nesselrode. Unsuccessful outcome of the war forced the Count Nesselrode, who had been at the head of Russia's foreign policy for 40 years (1816-1856), to resign.
11 (23) March, 1862 Karl Nesselrode died and was buried in St. Petersburg at the Smolensk Lutheran Cemetery.
Lit.: Тарле Е. В. Крымская война: в 2-х т. М.; Л.: 1941-1944. Т. 1. Гл. 3. Европейская дипломатия и Россия перед вступлением русских войск в Молдавию и Валахию; То же [Электронный ресурс].URL: http://militera.lib.ru/h/tarle3/03.html; Очерки истории Министерства иностранных дел России. 1802-2002. Т. 3: Биографии министров иностранных дел. М., 2002. С. 100-113.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Архив князя Воронцова/ ред.П. И. Бартенев. М., 1895. Кн. 40;
Русские портреты XVIII и XIX столетий. СПб., 1909. Т. 5. Вып. 4.