Russian Influence at Luneville

Abstract

When Bonaparte became First Consul of the French Republic on 18 Brumaire, the French had just suffered perhaps their worst year of the revolutionary wars. The new government was beset by many problems, probably the most important of which was the issue of war and peace. The Austrians remained in control of Italy and in contention in Switzerland. Bonaparte's first significant d6marche in international affairs was his famous Christmas peace appeal to the governments of Austria and England. His appeal was rebuffed, an action for which the two cabinets had excellent reasons of their own,1 and the war continued. In the meantime Paul I of Russia had recoiled from the acquisitive depredations of his allies of the Second Coalition,2 the Austrians in Italy and the English on the seas. In October, 1799, he had announced his withdrawal from the war, and the ensuing signs of his hostility to the Coalition powers suggested to Bonaparte and Talleyrand that they might make use of Russia's new disposition.3 They made a series of overtures to Paul and liberated, without exchange, about six thousand Russian prisoners taken in the recent Italian, Swiss, and Dutch campaigns. Paul responded warmly, declaring that he would welcome cooperation and an alliance with France on the condition of the integrity of the dominions of Sardinia, Naples, Bavaria, and Wiirttemberg.4