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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2017
Three times in the History of Europe the armed forces of Russia have appeared west of the Rhine. In 1799 a Russian expeditionary army arrived in Holland and participated with the British in an unsuccessful, hence forgotten, invasion of the Netherlands. From December 1813 to November 1818, with a relatively short intermission of one year, Russian armies fought in France during the final act of the Napoleonic drama and later contributed to a quadripartite occupation. Finally, in 1915–17 small Russian units were sent to the Western Front in the form of a token force to manifest Allied unity. Never did these events possess a significance beyond that of historical episodes: yet the appearance of the Russian soldier in Western Europe was generally connected with characteristic circumstances which may be of some interest to the student of Russo-European relations.
1 On a Bolshevik view of the 1797 mutinies cf. M. Kogan, “Vosstanie Britanskogo voennogo flota v 1797 godu,” Borba klassov (1936), pp. 51–59; also Vanag, N. N., K voprosu o roll tsarskoj Rossii na meždunarodnoj arene v konce 18 i 19 veke (Moscow, 1935), pp. 49–67.Google Scholar
2 Eden to Grenville, May 23, 1798.
3 French royalists repaired to Russia in great numbers after 1798 and Louis XVIII lived for a time in Mittau. The renegade Dumouriez also visited Russia during these years. Cf. P. de Barante, “Notes du Comte Armand de Saint-Priest sur le séjour du roi Louis XVIII à Mittau 1798–1800,” Revue d'histoire diplomatique (1934), pp. 21–46; also Pingaud, L., Les Français en Russie et les Russes en France (Paris, 1886).Google Scholar
4 On Dutch-Russian relations cf. Vreede, Geschiedenis der diplomatie van de Bataajsche Republiek, August 1799-May 180; (Utrecht, 1864), Vol. I. (“Schon het Hof van Rusland, na de Omwenteling van 1795 geen Hollandsch Minister gedoogde, werd Meerman op het gewone Lever, den Keizer voorgesteld door den Baron Hogguer, die in dergelijke gevallen nog volkomen in zijne vorige waardigheid erkend werd.” [p. 5]); also Colenbrander, Gedenkschriften der algemeene geschiedenis van Nederland 1798–1801; a Russian view on the campaign, Miljutin, D. A., Voina Rossii s Franciej 1799 goda (St. Petersburg, 1853).Google Scholar
5 Grenville to Whitworth, August 27, 1798.
6 Hansard, Vol. XXXIV (December 3, 1798-March 31, 1800), col. 1043.
7 Ibid., col. 1060.
8 Fortescue, J. W., A History of the British Army (London, 1906), IV, 641 Google Scholar, et passim.
9 Baltischport in German; Baltiiskij Port in Russian; Paldiski in Estonian.
10 Abercrombie to Huskisson, August 1, 1799.
11 Fortescue, op. cit., p. 647.
12 Fortescue, op. cit., pp. 665–67. Russian sources mention only a Brigadier-Major Strukov, while Fortescue speaks of Schutorff.
13 Ibid., p. 673 ff.
14 “Recollections of the British Army,” Colburn's Military Magazine (February, 1836).
15 Fortescue, op. eit., p. 681.
16 Cf. for example Fitchett, W. H., How England Saved Europe (London, 1900), II, 21.Google Scholar
17 Hansard, Vol. XXXIV, col. 1194.
18 They were commanded first by the Russian ambassador to Britain and later by a French é;migré in Russian service.
19 Hansard, Vol. XXIV, col. 1204.
20 Ibid., cols. 1243 ff.
21 Guizot, , The History of France from 1789 to 1848 (London, 1881), VIII, 73.Google Scholar
22 On the aspect of Russian behavior in a previous campaign cf. an interesting article and an interesting monograph: J. Blees, “Ryska truppernas rekvisitioner och utskrivningar samt en ligt konventionerna ö;vertagna fö;rrad i kronans magasin i Västerborten år 1809,” Norrlands fö;rsvar (1935), pp. 47–64; and Fasanari, Raffaele, L'Armata russa del generate Suvorov attraverso Verona (1799–1800), (Verona, 1952)Google Scholar; also D. Fedotoff White, “The Russian Navy in Trieste,” The American Slavic and East European Review (December, 1947).
23 Napoleon to Caulaincourt, February 2, 1814.
24 Unlike Razumowsky, Nesselrode was rather cautious. Cf. his papers, Lettres et papiers du Chancelier Comte de Nesselrode (Paris, 1907), Vol. V.
25 Castlereagh to Liverpool, February 16, 1814.
26 French descriptions of the Russians in 1814 greatly vary in interpretation. Russophile French writers at the end of the last century indicate their willingness to overlook Russian antics and atrocities; cf., for example, Pingaud, L., Les Français en Russie et les Russes en France (Paris, 1886), p. 390 Google Scholar: “Les excès commis furent l'oeuvre des Cosaques irréguliers, hôtes incommodes et naïivement féroces, qui furent encore plus ridiculisés que maudits par leurs victimes.” Contemporary pamphlets and descriptions, Bérault, , Alexandre àBar-sur-Aube (Bar-sur-Aube, 1816)Google Scholar; Dumas, M. C., Les Cosaques à Montdidier, épisode de I'invasion de 1814 (Paris, 1862)Google Scholar, as well as other French writers, Barbat, Pougiat, Fleury express more indignation.
27 Memoirs of the Count de Rochechouart in France, in Southern Russia, the Napoleonic Wars, 1812–15 and as Commandant of Paris, etc., Frances Jackson translator (New York, 1920), p. 268 ff.
28 L'Attaque de Paris par les troupes alliées … L'Extrait du journal de campagne de I'armeé russe traduit en français (Paris, 1814). Prominent Russian generals who entered Paris included Korff, Sacken, Vassilcikov, Vincingerode, Bakhmetiev, Olsuflev.
29 Rochechouart, op. cit., p. 281.
30 Ibid., pp. 311—12. But the French also renamed the Pont d'Austerlitz—it became Pont du Jardin des Plantes.
31 Polovtsoff, A., ed., Correspondence diplomatique des ambassadeurs et ministres de Russie en France et de France en Russie avec leurs gouvernments de 1814–30 (St. Petersburg, 1907).Google Scholar
32 The article by V. Novitzky, “La situation militaire de la Russie et des pays d'entente pendant la guerre mondiale de 1914–18,” Les Alliés contre la Russie (Paris, 1921), pp. 149–50, a symposium. It is interesting to notice that the historical atlas used for the upper grades of Russian high schools, Atlas istorii SSSR (Moscow, 1950), III, 11, however general and sketchy, nevertheless marks the presence of the Russian brigades in France at Marseille: “Vysadka russkikh vojssk v 1916 g,” and at La Courmine: “Vosstanie russkikh brigad v 1917 g.“
33 Mermeix, , Nivelle, et Painlevé, La deiuième crise dn commandement (Paris, 1919), p. 52 Google Scholar: ”… la force russe ne s'etait pas encore decomposee.” Yet there was a minor mutiny among the disembarking troops at Marseille.
34 Nivelle to Painlevé, February 28, 1917: “L'activité des meneurs sur les contingents alliés…. Les soldats russes demandent … de leur faire parvenir par des voies detournees le journal révolutionnaire Načalo.“
35 Mermeix, op. cit., p. 85, ”… les colporteurs de nouvelles signalaient la destruction d'au moins la moitié des régiments russes qui s'étaient engagés devant Brimont. lis ne disaient pas (peut-être ne le savaient-ils pas encore) que ces régiments avaient délibéré avant de marcher à l'assaut et que, probablement, la minorité avait mieux aimé se laisser faire prisonniére que se battre!“
36 The later violently anti-Bolshevik record of Jean Ybarnégaray (he was with the first 1940 Cabinet of Pétain, fervent supporter of the Armistice in the Bordeaux days, in 1948 acquitted of collaboration charges) may date back to his experiences in these weeks of April-May, 1917.
37 Mermeix, op. cit., XIX, 210–14, “Les soldats russes murines en France.“