Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of the French, and Tsar Alexander, the Emperor of Russia, entered into the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807. This treaty created a powerful alliance in which the two mighty nations agreed to support each other in all disputes. In 1808, Napoleon and Alexander confronted England, jointly asking King George I to agree to peace in Europe.
Erfurt, October 12, 1808
To George III, King of England
Sire, the present circumstances of Europe have brought us together in Erfurt. Our first thought is to yield to the wish and to the need of all the peoples, and to seek by a prompt pacification with Your Majesty the most effective remedy for the misfortunes which press on all the nations. We make known our sincere desire to your Majesty by this present letter.
The long and bloody war that has torn the continent apart is over, and cannot be repeated. A lot of changes have taken place in Europe. Many states have been turned upside down. The cause is in the state of turmoil and unhappiness in which the cessation of maritime commerce has placed the greatest peoples. Still greater changes may take place, and all contrary to the policy of the English nation. Peace is therefore both in the interests of the peoples of the continent and in the interests of the peoples of Great Britain.
We come together to pray Your Majesty to listen to the voice of humanity, silencing that of the passions, to seek, with the intention of achieving this, to reconcile all interests, and thereby guarantee all powers that exist, and ensure the happiness of Europe and of this generation at the head of which Providence has placed us.
NAPOLEON. ALEXANDER.
This alliance between Russia and France ensured that Continental Europe would be able to stand up to the indomitable military of England and it’s powerful stranglehold on global trade. The alliance lasted until December of 1810 when Alexander violated the agreement by opening Russian ports to British ships.
For the next two years Napoleon exerted diplomatic pressure to convince Alexander to comply with his treaty obligations in resisting British hegemony. Fearing that Russia was, in fact, getting closer to France’s primary rival, England, Napoleon finally launched an invasion of Russia in 1812. His stated purpose was to prevent Russia from forming an alliance with England and to coerce Alexander into staying true to his word.
Though his ambassador to Russia had assured Napoleon that Alexander was not preparing to attack him, Russia did, in fact, join the 6th Coalition, led by Britain, against Napoleon the following year in 1813.
Napoleon was right. Russia did turn against him and join England as he had foreseen. Unfortunately his effort to force Alexander to honor his treaty obligations did not work. If it had, the 6th Coalition might never have happened.
