Alexander Gorchakov

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Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov was born in 1798 to Prince Mikhail Gorchakov and Baroness Elena Ferzen. Educated at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, he had poet Alexander Pushkin as a schoolmate. His many talents and brilliant literary education propelled him into an impressive career as a statesman and made him a prominent figure on the diplomatic Olympus of the 19th century. Throughout his diplomatic career, Prince Gorchakov participated in the Congresses of Tropau, Ljubljana, and Verona (1820-1822), then worked with Russian missions to London, Rome, Berlin, Florence, and Vienna (1822-1841). A significant stage of his service was his stay in German states as a special envoy to the Wurttemberg court (1841-1853) and since 1850 as vice agent at the Allied Council in Frankfurt am Main. Here, he witnessed revolutionary events of 1848-1849 and observed growing tendencies for unifying isolated German lands. In 1854-1856, Prince Gorchakov served as an envoy to the Austrian court, where he experienced Vienna's disloyalty, which had forgotten about Russia's help in suppressing the Hungarian revolt in 1848-1849. In April of 1856, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, replacing Count Nesselrode. That same August, he issued a circular to Russian embassies abroad, stating: "Russia is accused of getting isolated and keeping silence in the face of facts that are neither in harmony with law nor with justice. They say Russia is sulking. Russia is not sulking; she is composing herself." These words, perceived abroad as preparation for war, became a cornerstone of Gorchakov's diplomacy. His main goal was to reject humiliating terms imposed on Russia by the Treaty of Paris in 1856, which prevented Russia from having a military fleet in the Black Sea. Playing skillfully on European superpowers' contradictions and avoiding binding agreements, Prince Gorchakov achieved his objective – using turmoil in European governments caused by the Franco-Prussian war, he sent a circular to foreign capitals on September 19, 1870, notifying them that Russia did not consider itself bound by limiting conditions related to having a military fleet in the Black Sea. All great empires had to agree with Russia's changed geopolitical position. Having restored Russia's niche in European politics, Prince Gorchakov took great care of strengthening peace on the continent – particularly, due to his firm position, it was possible to prevent Germany's aggression in France in 1875. This came as a surprise to Germany and spoiled the game for "iron" Chancellor Otto Bismarck. Even at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, when Russia was forced to renounce many of its achievements in the victorious war against Turkey in 1877-1878, Prince Gorchakov was guided by peaceful aspirations – at the cost of certain concessions, it was possible to keep foreign empires headed by Great Britain from repeating the Crimean coalition hostile to Russia. In his later years due to respectable age and poor health, Prince Gorchakov withdrew from political life. In 1882, he officially retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and conceded his position to Nikolay Girs. He died on February 27 (March 11), 1883, in Baden-Baden, and was buried at the Coastal Monastery of St. Sergius. Chancellor Gorchakov will always remain in Russia's history as an embodiment of how our country can hold internal modernization and preserve its dignity on the foreign political arena. Art, which is still in demand today...