Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century

Footnotes from MECW

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24 This letter, as well as other reports from British diplomats in Russia in 1736-39, was published, with the permission of the British Government, in full in Sbornik imperatorskogo rasshogo istoricheskogo obshchestvti (Records of the imperial Russian Historical Society), St. Petersburg, 1892, Vol. 80, pp. 13-19, from the original in the Public Record Office of Great Britain.

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25 Marx is referring to the mediation offered by Britain and Holland in the Russo-Turkish war of 1735-39; it was rejected by Russia.

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26 An allusion to the Union of Kalmar (1397-1523) — it personal union of Denmark, Norway (with Iceland) and Sweden (with Finland) tinder Danish kings. In the fifteenth century Sweden virtually withdrew from the union. Christian II of Denmark made an attempt to restore his rule over Sweden by staging a massacre in Stockholm in November 1520 (this came to be called “the blood-bath of Stockholm”). This caused a popular uprising led by Gustavus Eriksson (Gustavus Vasa) and as a result Sweden was restored as a state.

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27 Marx is referring to a plan, drawn up by Russian diplomats in the 1760s, to unite the North-European states of Russia, Prussia, England, Denmark, Sweden and Poland. It came to be known as “the grand scheme uniting the Powers of the North” or the Northern Alliance, and was to be directed against France and Austria. Despite a number of treaties concluded by Russia (a defensive treaty with Prussia, 1764; a defensive treaty with Denmark, 1765; and a trade agreement with Great Britain, 1766), the project was not implemented because Prussia and England opposed it and Russia’s foreign policy underwent some changes after the Russo-Turkish war of 1768-74.

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28 Presumably a reference to the preparation of the Russo-Prussian Treaty of Alliance which Peter III and Frederick II concluded on April 24 (May 5), 1762 during the Seven Years’ War (1756-63). Frederick II received back all of his lands which had been conquered by Russian troops. Sir George Macartney’s information was inaccurate: at that time Count Alexei Bestuzhev-Ryumin was relieved of his diplomatic duties.

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29 Marx is quoting the words of Horace Walpole and the statements by the Earl of Sandwich and William Pitt the Younger mentioned below according to T. S. Hughes’ The History of England, from the Accession of George III, 1760, to the Accession of Queen Victoria, 1837 Third edition. London, 1846, Vol. 1, p. 183; Vol. If, pp. 146, 261; Vol. III, p. 124.

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30 This letter was published in Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury; containing an account of his missions to the courts of Madrid, Frederick the Great, Catherine the Second, and the Hague, and his special missions to Berlin, Brunswick, and the French Republic. Edited by his grandson, the Third Earl. Vol. I, London, 1844, pp. 528-35.

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31 Sir James Harris writes about the moods prevailing at the Russian Court, in which the British Government was much interested since it intended to win Russia’s support in the war against the North-American colonies (1775-83).

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32 The Peace of Teshen concluded between Austria and Prussia on May 13, 1779 ended the war of the Bavarian succession. The war had been caused by the claims of the German states to various parts of Bavaria after the death of the childless Bavarian Elector Maximilian Joseph, and also by the struggle between Austria and Prussia for domination over Germany. Under this treaty and the adjoining conventions, Prussia and Austria obtained some territories of Bavaria, while Saxony received money compensation. The Elector of the Palatinate became Elector of Bavaria. The Peace of Teshen confirmed a series of peace treaties which had previously been concluded by the Germ-,in states. At first Russia and France acted as mediators between the warring countries, and in a special article of the treaty they were declared guarantor-powers.

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33 Harris presumably means the document on Spain’s declaration of war on Britain in June 1779.

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34 The declaration of armed neutrality announced by Catherine II on February 28 (March 11), 1780, was directed against Britain during her war against the insurgent North-American colonies (1775-83). It proclaimed the right of neutral powers to trade freely with the belligerent countries and a series of other principles guaranteeing security to merchant shipping. The Declaration was joined in 1780-83 by Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Prussia, Austria, Portugal and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

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35 In March 1781 the British Government offered Russia the Island of Minorca, an important strategic base in the Mediterranean, on the condition that Russia gave up her armed neutrality (see Note 34) and supported Britain in her war against the North-American colonies. This offer was rejected.

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36 This refers to the negotiations which ended with the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty on September 3, 1783 between Britain and the USA with its allies-France, Spain and the Netherlands. According to this treaty, Britain recognised the USA’s independence.

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37 On the initiative of Prussia, a convention on preliminary terms of partition of Poland was signed in St. Petersburg on 6 (17) February, 1772. Soon Austria also joined it. The partition undermined the national independence of Poland, which was undergoing a profound social and political crisis.

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38 This refers to the aggravation of Russo-Swedish relations after the l772 coup d'état of Gustavus III. Having abolished the 1719 Constitution and the power of the aristocratic oligarchy, who had enjoyed the support of Britain and Russia, Gustavus virtually restored absolutism in Sweden. Russia as a guarantor of Sweden’s statehood under the Peace of Nystad (1721), feared the growing influence of France which was financing Gustavus III.

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39 The Kwhuk-Kainarji peace treaty ended the Russo-Turkish war of 1768-74. Russia obtained part of the Black Sea shore between the South Bug and the Dnieper with the fortress of Kinburn; she also gained Azoi,, Kerch and Yenikale and compelled Turkey to recognise the independence of the Crimea. Russian merchant ships won free passage through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. In conformity with the treaty the Sultan also undertook to grant certain privileges to the Greek Orthodox Church.

<"40">

40 The reference is to George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1760-1820), and a group of Tories supporting hint. George III belonged to the Hanover royal family which held the British throne under the provisions of the Act of Settlement (1701); up to 1815 the British kings of the Hanover dynasty were also the Electors of Hanover, and up to 1837 Kings of Hanover.

<"41">

41 Marx draws a parallel here between the 18th-century events and the actions of the British Admiralty in 1854 when an attempt was made to raise a blockade of the Russian harbours t)ii the Black Sea at the beginning of the Crimean war (1853-56). James Graham’s statement, report about his dispatch of April 3, 1854 and Admiral James Dundas’ replies are cited by Marx according to the material of the John Arthur Roebuck commission appointed to investigate the state of the British Army in the Crimea (“State of the Army before Sebastopol”, The No. 22054, May 15, 1855).

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42 Marx quotes George III’s speech on October 26, 1775, the words of Lord Cavendish and North’s statement mentioned below from T. S. Hughes’ The History of England, Vol. If, pp. 191, 113.

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43 Marx is referring to the Versailles Peace Treaty (see Note 36).

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44 A reference to the retirement of Rockingham’s ministry after. his death on July 1, 1782.

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45 Marx quotes Burke front T. S. Hughes’ The History of England..., Vol. III, pp. 148-49.

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46 The Shelburne ministry (1782-83) succeeded Rockingham’s ministry (see Note 44).

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47 [Ph. H.] Mahon, History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Vol. I, London, 1839, p. 341.

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48 The reference is to the French Revolution.

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49 A reference to Russia’s secession from the second anti-French coalition in 1800.

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50 Marx is referring to the diplomatic correspondence between Pozzo di Borgo, the Russian ambassador to France, and the Russian Chancellor Count Nesselrode; Marx got acquainted with it from a collection of diplomatic documents and material entitled The Portfolio; or a Collection of State Papers edited by David Urquhart and published in London from 1835 to 1837, and also from Recueil des documents relatifs à la Russie pour la plupart secrets et inédits utiles à consulter dons la crise actuelle, Paris, 1854.

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51 A reference to the treaties on the partition of the Spanish possessions in Europe and elsewhere concluded by France with Britain, the Netherlands and Austria in 1698 and 1700 in anticipation of the death of the childless King of Spain, Charles II of Habsburg.

On October 2, 1700, Charles If made a will by which the Spanish crown was to go to Philip of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV of France, provided Philip renounced his right to the French crown. Despite this, in February 1701 Louis XIV made Philip of Anjou, who in 1700 became King of Spain under the name of Philip V, his heir, which led to the War of the-Spanish Succession (1701-1 4). In, this war, Britain, Austria, the Netherlands and some other countries fought against France and Spain. France’s failures in the war resulted in the realignment of forces in Europe.

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52 Presumably Marx means here the annexation of Cracow by Austria after the 1846 insurrection.

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53 After the rout of the Swedish army at Poltava, Charles XII fled to Turkey and settled in Bendery where he stayed till 1713. Marx used the Latin text of the manifesto (Carolus, Espèce de Manifeste du Roi de Suède conire le Roi Auguste) published in Lamberty, Mémoires pour servir à 1'histoire du XVIII siécle, contenant les négociations, traitez, resolutions et autres documents authentiques concernant lea affaires d'état, Tome sixième, La Haye, 1728, pp. 434-36.

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54 The Glorious revolution-the name given in English historiography to the coup d'état of 1688 which overthrew the Stuarts and established a constitutional monarchy, with William III of Orange at its h cad (from 1689), which was based on a compromise between the landed aristocracy and the big bourgeoisie.

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55 The Peace Treaty of Travendahl signed on August 18, 1700, ended the war between Denmark and the duchy of Holstein. It was concluded under military pressure from England, Holland and Sweden. Denmark was forced to recognise the independence of Holstein and withdraw from the anti-Swedish coalition.

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56 Marx is presumably referring to the fact that during the Northern War (1700-21) an abortive attempt was made in 1716 to unite the Danish and Russian naval forces.

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57 An inaccuracy in the text: Count Gyllenborg calls himself the author of the pamphlet not in the letter to Baron Görtz of January 12 (23), 1717 but in a letter to his brother of October 16 (27), 1716. Marx quotes Gyllenborg’s letter from Letters which passed between Count Gyllenborg, the barons Görtz, Sparre, and others; relating to the Design of Raising a Rebellion in His Majesty’s Dominions, to be supported by a Force from Sweden. London, 1717.

The Court of St. James’s called so after St. James’s Palace in London, the residence of British kings until the beginning of the nineteenth century.

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58 The reference is to the decisions reached at a conference held by Peter 1 and Danish and Saxon ministers on October 22, 1711 in the town of Crossen (Krossen), Brandenburg. The conference drew up plans for immediate military-diplomatic action by the Allies against Sweden.

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59 Rix dollar — continental silver coin in the sixteenth-nineteenth centuries.

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60 This passage in The Free Press of September 20, 1856 was preceded by the following editorial note: “Our readers may, perhaps, require to be reminded that the following is a quotation from a pamphlet published in London, in 1716, and entitled the ‘Northern Crisis’. Our last number contained the recital (copied from “The Northern Crisis”) of the Danish Minister’s reasons for delaying the descent upon Schonen.”

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61 That is, the War of the Spanish Succession (see Note 51).

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62 This refers to an episode in the first stage of the Northern War (1700-21) — the defeat of the Russian troops at Narva on November 30, 1700.

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63 A reference to the Peace Treaty of Altranstadt concluded on September 24, 1706 between Augustus If, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and Charles XII of Sweden. Under the provisions of the treaty, Augustus If was to abdicate from the Polish throne in favour of Stanislaus Leszczynsk and annul the union with Russia.

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64 See Note 55.

<"65">

65 This sentence opens the next instalment in The Free Press on October 4, 1856.

The editors of the newspaper preceded it with the following comment: “We beg to remind our readers that the following is part of a pamphlet written in-, and entitled the ‘Northern Crisis’, and that it is a continuation of ‘Important Reflections’ on the Danish Minister’s ‘Reasons for delaying the descent upon Schonen'”.

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66 This refers to a 9,000-strong Russian detachment summoned by the Grand Duke Karl Leopold to Mecklenburg in 1716. The Duke was married to Peter I’s niece Yekaterina Ivanovna. The same year the detachment was withdrawn from the duchy.

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67 A reference to what is known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation founded in 9(52 when Otto I, the German King, was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. By the eighteenth century the Empire, ruled by sovereigns from the Habsburg dynasty, lost its political influence: it ceased to exist on August 6, 1806.

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68 A reference to the war waged by Austria and her ally, the Venetian Republic, against Turkey in 1716-18.

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69 Augustus II, the Elector of Saxony (1694-1733) and King of Poland (1697-1706 and 1709-33), adopted the Catholic faith to facilitate his election to the Polish throne.

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70 Marx means the pamphlet: [G. Mackenzie,] Truth is but Truth, as it is Timed! Or, our Ministry’s present Measures against the Moscovite vindicated by Plain and Obvious Reasons, Trying to Prove, etc., London, 1719.

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71 On August 2, 1718 Britain, Austria and France concluded an alliance against Spain with a view to retaining the provisions of the Peace Treaty of Utrecht, which confirmed the results of the War of the Spanish Succession (see notes 51 and 236). On August 22 of that year the British fleet attacked and destroyed the Spanish fleet near the Cape of Passaro (Sicily).

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72 Marx took the data for his calculations from A. Anderson, An Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce, from the earliest accounts. Containing an history of great commercial interests of the British Empire, Vols. I, III, IV, London, 1787, 1789.

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73 The Balance of Trade doctrine — one of the tenets of mercantilism. According to it a country’s prosperity depends totally on the constant inflow of bullion from abroad, and to secure. this it is necessary to attain a favourable balance of foreign trade.

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74 Marx has in mind the book: S. Puffendorf, De Rebus gestis Friderici Wilhelmi Magni, Electoris Brandenburgici, commentariorum Libri novendecim. Berolini, 1695.

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75 The Russian or Muscovy Company (its real name: Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of Lands, Countries, Isles, not before known or frequented by any English) — an English trade company founded in the mid-sixteenth century which enjoyed some privileges from the Russian Government. However, the Company’s intentions to get hold of the Russian market and also its plans to seize the North of Russia and the Volga route in 1612 during the period of the Polish and Swedish intervention caused dissatisfaction on the part of the Russian Government and merchants. The result of it was that in 1649 the Company virtually ceased to exist. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, during the War of the Spanish Succession (see Note 51), the Company was re-established as England was in great need of shipbuilding materials.

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76 The publication date of these petitions is not known.

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77 This refers to the fact Marx wrote about as early as June 1854 in his article “The Formation of a Special Ministry of War in Britain. — The War on the Danube. — The Economic Situation": “For the measure announced by Sir J. Graham in last Monday’s House of Commons, viz.: The non-blockade of the port of Archangel, The Morning Herald accounts in the following laconic paragraph: ‘There is a house at Archangel which bears the name of the Chancellor of the Exchequer'”.

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78 See Note 54.

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79 Marx has in mind the Polish emigrant to the USA and contributor to the New-York Daily Tribune Adam Gurowski, the French historian and writer Elias Regnault and the German philosopher and journalist Bruno Bauer, who wrote a great deal on the Eastern question and European foreign policy during the Crimean war.

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80 The fortress of Kars was captured by Russian troops during the Crimean war in November 1855. See K. Marx’s series of articles “The Fall of Kars”.

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81 The Suez Canal was built from 1859 to 1869. Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French diplomat and engineer, obtained a concession for the building and exploitation of it on November 30, 1854. The British Government was against the project at first, fearing the expansion of French influence in Egypt and the Middle East.

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82 The town of Narva was captured by the Russian troops in 1558 during the Livonian War (1558-83) fought by Russia against the Livonian Confederation, the Polish-Lithuanian state and Sweden.

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83 The Treaty of Ryswick of 1697 ended the war between France and the Augsburg League (the Netherlands, England, Spain, the German Emperor and several German princes) which lasted from 1688. It confirmed the slightly changed pre-war state boundaries. France was obliged to recognise the 1688 coup d'état in England (see Note 54).

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84 Marx has drawn on the anonymous pamphlet Reasons for the present conduct of Sweden in relation to the trade in the Baltic set forth in a letter from a gentleman at Dantzick, to his friend at Amsterdam. Translated from the French original published in Holland; and now submitted to the consideration of all just and impartial Britons, London, 1715.

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85 This is the nickname of the British statesman Robert Walpole, who habitually employed bribery to have his supporters elected to Parliament.

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86 This pamphlet, which contains the text of the treaty and comments to it (“queries”), was published, as Marx supposed, in 1720. The author of the queries is unknown.

The Publishers express their gratitude to the British Museum Library for kindly granting them photocopies of this document and Truth is but Truth, the pamphlet Marx used in writing Chapter V.

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87 A reference to the war of the Spanish Succession (see Note 51).

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88 The Treaty of Westphalia signed in 1648, ended the Thirty Years’ War. Sweden gained a considerable part of East Pomerania and also the Isle of Rügen, the port of Wismar and the bishoprics of Bremen and Verden, and became a member of the Holy Roman Empire (see Note 67).

The Peace Treaty of Roskilde ended the 1657-58 war between Denmark and Sweden. Denmark ceded her possessions in the South of the Scandinavian peninsular, the fief of Trondheim in Norway and several islands in the Baltic Sea. Be-sides, Denmark pledged to open negotiations with the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on relieving him of her suzerainty, to annul the alliances and treaties directed against Sweden and to free Sweden from payment of the Sound duties.

The Copenhagen Peace Treaty ended the 1658-60 war between Denmark and Sweden. The war, provoked by differences connected with the implementation of the Treaty of Roskilde, was launched by Sweden with a view to completely abolishing Denmark’s independence. Under the Copenhagen Treaty, the Isle of Bornholm and the fief of Trondheim were returned to Denmark.

The Peace Treaty of Lunden ended the 1675-79 war between Denmark and Sweden. Denmark gave up her possessions in Skane which went to Sweden.

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89 See Note 55.

<"90">

90 The great Battle of Poltava (the Ukraine) was fought between Russian and Swedish troops on July 8, 1709, in the course of the Northern War (1700-21).

The Russian troops commanded by Peter I won a decisive victory over Charles XII.

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91 This refers to the Act of Settlement of June 12, 1701 which fixed the succession to the throne on the Hanover royal family (see Note 40) and deprived the Stuarts of the right of succeeding to the English throne.

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92 The reference is to the “glorious revolution” (see Note 54).

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93 In this chapter Marx tried to outline Russia’s historical development from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries from the perspective of her role in international affairs, and attempted to reveal the historical roots of the foreign policy of Russian Tsarism in the nineteenth century. Marx did not intend to give a comprehensive analysis of Russian history and restricted himself to making “some preliminary remarks on the general history of Russian politics” (see p. 74). Marx’s main source was History of Russia and of Peter the Great (London, 1829), an English translation of a very unreliable book by the French aristocrat Philippe Paul Ségur. For comments on Marx’s other sources see pp. XXI and XXII.

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94 Oleg, Prince of Kiev, raided Constantinople in 911. His successor Igor made war on Byzantium on two occasions, in 941 and 944, which resulted in the conclusion of a trade agreement in 944.

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95 Anna, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Romanus II, was married to Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kiev (who after baptism adopted the name of Vasily) in 987, after her father’s death, by her brother, the Byzantine Emperor Basil II (976-1025). The name of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich is connected with the adoption of Christianity in Kiev Russia (988-989) and the latter’s growing might.

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96 Presumably Marx is hinting at the so-called “Will of Peter the Great"-a spurious document, different versions of which were repeatedly published in Western Europe in the nineteenth century. Historians have since proved irrefutably that the “Will” was a complete forgery.

<"97">

97 An inaccuracy in Marx’s text. The third prince of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality was Andrei Bogolyubsky’s brother, Vsevolod Bolshoye Gnezdo (1176-1212), during whose reign the territory of the principality was extended and its political ,and cultural significance grew considerably.

<"98">

98 The Tartar-Mongol yoke in Russia ended in 1480 as a result of the long and heroic struggle by the Russian people.

<"99">

99 Marx presumably means the rise of the Moscow Principality in the fourteenth century and the victories of the Russian troops under Dmitry Donskoi over the Golden Horde (battles on the Vozha River in 1378 and on Kulikovo Field in 1380). Later, in his Chronological Notes (1882), Marx wrote in particular: “September 8, 1380 — Battle on the broad field of Kulikovo; Dmitry’s complete victory; 200,000 said to he killed on both sides.”

<"100">

100 An inaccuracy in Marx’s text: Yury Danilovich, the elder brother of Ivan I Danilovich Kalita, bore the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1317; his brother inherited it in 1328.

<"101">

101 The reference is to a branch of the Rurik dynasty, the princes of the Principality of Tver which existed in Russia in the thirteenth-fifteenth centuries. In the struggle for power with Prince Yury Danilovich of Moscow (see Note 100), Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver (1271-1318) was defeated and killed in the camp of Uzbek Khan.

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102 The episcopal scat of the primate was finally transferred to Moscow in 1328.

<"103">

103 In 1492 Ivan III sent a deed to Sultan Bajazet If containing a protest against the harassment of Russian merchants in the Turkish possessions.. Having received no answer from the Sultan (his envoy was detained in Lithuania), Ivan III sent his own man, ambassador Mikhail Pleshcheyev, to Turkey with instructions to confirm the claims contained in the 1492 deed and to “stand on his feet not knees” during the audience. Pleshcheyev’s mission was successful. Sultan Bajazet II promised not to put obstacles in the way of Russian merchants within the Ottoman Empire.

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104 The Golden Horde practically ceased to exist in the second quarter o t e fifteenth century due to internecine strife and the liberation movement of the subject peoples, especially the Russian people (see notes 99 and 109). It was succeeded by a Tartar state; the Big Horde, which sprang up on the lower reaches of the Volga; the Nogai (Nogay) Horde, which occupied the territory from the Volga to the li-tysh River, virtually separated front the Golden Horde, at the end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century; the final separation took place in 1426-40.

<"105">

105 Tiniour (Tamerlane) dealt crushing blows to the Golden Horde in his three big campaigns (1389, 1391, 1394-95).

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106 Marx means the free Cossack communities formed on the southern and south-eastern outskirts of the Moscow state in the second half of the fifteenth century by the peasants who had fled from the landowners, an(] the townsmen. They were used for defence purposes.

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107 The Crimean Khanate separated from the Golden Horde in 1443 as a result of a prolonged struggle; in 1475 it became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.

<"108">

108 Ivan III ceased paying tribute to the Big Horde (see Note 104) in 1476.

<"109">

109 The disintegration of the Golden Horde (see Note 104) and especially the heroic struggle of the Russian people were the principal factors which led to the liberation of the Grand Principality of Moscow from the Tartar-Mongol yoke. The events which culminated this struggle are presented by Marx inaccurately. Khan Akhmat launched two campaigns against Moscow: in 1472 and in 1480. In 1472 he captured the town of Aleksin but was forced to retreat before the Russians. In 1480 Khan Akhmat’s troops were confronted by strong Russian detachments on the River Ugra (known as “Standing on the Ugra”). Khan Akhmat was forced to retreat in October and November and on January 6, 1481 he was killed by the Nogay Khan Ivak. The “Standing on the Ugra” put an end to the 240-year Tartar-Mongol yoke over Russia.

The Crimean Khan Mengli-Ghirai defeated the Big Horde, but much later, in 1502.

<"110">

110 In 1459. the Vyatka territory was subordinated to Moscow though it had enjoyed certain autonomy. The reign of Ivan III in the second half of the fifteenth century was marked by the growing separatist movement of the Vyatka boyars and merchants. However, in 1485-86 the movement was suppressed and in 1489 the Vyatka territory was incorporated into the Grand Principality of Moscow.

<"111">

111 The feudal republic of Pskov existed as an independent state from 1348 to 1510.

<"112">

112 A reference to the victory of the Moscow army over the Novgorodians on the bank,, of the River Shelon in 1471. This victory predetermined the abolition of political independence for the Novgorod feudal republic, which existed ever since the twelfth century.

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113 After 1475 despite the old statutes legal proceedings on the complaints of the Novgorodians were not taken in their native city but in Moscow.

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114 The final incorporation of Novgorod in the Grand Principality of Moscow took place in 1478.

<"115">

115 The reference is to a kind of a republic formed by the Ukrainian Cossacks (Zaporozhye Sech) in the mid-sixteenth century. It was defeated by Peter I in 1709 and finally abolished by Catherine II in 1775.

<"116">

116 The last independent Prince of Tver, Mikhail Borisovich, was married to the granddaughter of the Lithuanian Prince Casimir. Trying to throw off the growing dependence on Moscow, he entered into an alliance with Lithuania. However, Ivan III succeeded in breaking Tver’s resistance and in 1485 Tver was finally annexed to Moscow. So ended the struggle of the Tver and Moscow princes for supremacy in Russia (see Note 101).

<"117">

117 An inaccuracy in the text. Ivan III had four brothers, whose appanages were annexed to the possessions of the Grand Prince at different times. One of his brothers, Andrei Bolshoi, died in confinement.

<"118">

118 After Casimir’s death in 1492, his son Jan Albrecht succeeded to the Polish throne, and another son, Alexander, to the Lithuanian throne.

<"119">

119 Elena Ivanovna. the daughter of Ivan III and Sophia Palaeologus, was married to the Lithuanian Grand Prince Alexander on the initiative of and pressure from the Lithuanian nobles who hoped by this means to win concessions from Ivan III.

<"120">

120 As a result of the wars waged by Ivan III against the Grand Principality of Lithuania (1487-94 and 1500-03) western Russian towns (Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky, Gomel, Bryansk) and the lands adjoining them were appended to Moscow. Smolensk was incorporated into Russia in 1514, after Ivan III’s death.

<"121">

121 The facts are inaccurate here. In an attempt to save the Byzantine Empire from the Turkish invasion the representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church entered into union with the Catholic Church at the Council of Florence in 1439. Under the terms of the Union of Florence the Eastern Orthodox Church acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope and accepted the Catholic dogmas, while retaining its own rites. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, Thomas, the brother of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palacologus, and his family, fled to Rome.

Pope Paul If, by planning to marry ‘l'homas’s daughter Sophia (Zoë) Palaeologus to Ivan Ill, and basing himself on the decisions of the Union of Florence, hoped to consolidate his power over the Russian Orthodox Church.

Ivan III married Sophia Palacologus on November 12, 1472, under Pope Sixtus IV. Ivan III used this marriage to enhance Russia’s prestige in international affairs and his own authority as a Grand Prince in Russia.

<"122">

122 In this chapter, Marx drew on one of Engels’ articles about Pan-Slavism, written for the New-York Daily Tribune in 1856, but never published. The manuscripts of these articles, which the editors of the newspaper returned to Marx, have not been traced. Soon after the Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century had been published, Marx wrote to Engels on April 9, 1857: “In the last one I used the text of one of your articles, in which you speak of Peter I” .

<"123">

123 This refers to the Russo-Turkish Wars of 1686-99 and 1710-13 and Peter I’s campaign to the Persian possessions near the Caspian Sea in 1722-23.

<"124">

124 Peter I assumed the title of Emperor in 1721.

<"125">

125 An ironic allusion to the actions of the English fleet commanded by Charles. Napier (1854) and Richard Dundas (1855) during the Crimean war (1853-56).

<"126">

126 The Peace Treaty of Stolbowa was concluded between Russia and Sweden with Britain’s mediation in 1617, after the failure of the intervention of Poland and Sweden in Russia at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Sweden returned several Russian towns to Russia, but retained the territories in Karelia and the Baltic lands, and thus cut off Russia from the Baltic Sea. The treaty envisaged the resumption of trade between Russia and Sweden. The state boundaries established by this treaty were intact till the Northern War (1700-21).

<"127">

127 See Note 88.

<"128">

128 See Note 55.

<"129">

129 A reference to the treaty of 1711, signed during the Russo-Turkish war of 1710-13.