Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

OSTERMAN, ANDREI IVANOVICH, COUNT (16...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 357 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

OSTERMAN, ANDREI IVANOVICH, See also:COUNT (1686—1747) , See also:Russian statesman, was See also:born at See also:Bochum in See also:Westphalia, of See also:middle-class parents, his name being originally Heinrich Johann See also:Friedrich Ostermann. He became secretary to See also:Vice-See also:Admiral Cornelis Kruse, who had a See also:standing See also:commission from See also:Peter the See also:Great to pick up promising See also:young men, and in 1767 entered the See also:tsar's service. His knowledge of the See also:principal See also:European See also:languages made him the right See also:hand of Vice-See also:Chancellor See also:Shafirov, whom he materially assisted during the troublesome negotiations which terminated in the See also:peace of the Pruth (1711). Osterman, together with See also:General See also:Bruce, represented See also:Russia at the Aland peace See also:congress of 1718. Shrewdly guessing that See also:Sweden was at exhaustion point, and that See also:Gortz, the See also:Swedish plenipotentiary, was acting ultra vires, he advised Peter to put additional pressure on Sweden to force a peace. In 1721 Osterman concluded the peace of Nystad with Sweden, and was created a See also:baron for his services. In 1723 he was made vice-See also:president of the See also:ministry of See also:foreign affairs for bringing about a very advantageous commercial treaty with See also:Persia. Peter also constantly consulted him in domestic affairs, and he introduced many administrative novelties, e.g. " the table of degrees," and the reconstruction of the See also:College of Foreign Affairs on more See also:modern lines. During the reign of See also:Catherine I. (1725—1727) Osterman's authority still further increased. The conduct of foreign affairs was See also:left entirely in his hands, and he held also the posts of See also:minister of See also:commerce and postmaster-general.

On the See also:

accession of Peter II. Osterman was appointed See also:governor to the young See also:emperor, and on his See also:death (1730) he refused to participate in the See also:attempt of See also:Demetrius See also:Golitsuin and the Dolgorukis to convert Russia into a limited constitutional See also:monarchy. He held aloof till the empress See also:Anne was firmly established on the See also:throne as autocrat. Then he got his See also:reward. His unique knowledge of foreign affairs made him indispensable to the empress and her counsellors, and even as to See also:home affairs his See also:advice was almost invariably357 followed. It was at his See also:suggestion that the See also:cabinet See also:system was introduced into Russia. All the useful reforms introduced between 1730 and 1740 are to be attributed to his initiative. He improved the See also:state of See also:trade, lowered See also:taxation, encouraged See also:industry and promoted See also:education, ameliorated the judicature and materially raised the See also:credit of Russia. As foreign minister he was cautious and circumspect, but when See also:war was necessary he prosecuted it vigorously and left nothing to See also:chance. The successful conclusions of the War of the See also:Polish See also:Succession (1733—1735) and of the war with See also:Turkey (1736—39) were entirely due to his See also:diplomacy. During the brief regency of See also:Anna Leopoldovna (See also:October 1740—See also:December 1741) Osterman stood at the height of his See also:power, and the See also:French See also:ambassador, La Chetardie, reported to his See also:court that " it is not too much to say that he is tsar of all Russia." Osterman's foreign policy was based upon the See also:Austrian See also:alliance. He had, therefore, guaranteed the Pragmatic See also:Sanction with the deliberate intention of defending it.

Hence the determination of See also:

France to remove him at any cost. Russia, as the natural ally of See also:Austria, was very See also:obnoxious to France; indeed it was only the See also:accident of the Russian alliance which, in 1741, seemed to stand between Maria See also:Theresa and See also:absolute ruin. The most obvious method of rendering the Russian alliance unserviceable to the See also:queen of See also:Hungary was by implicating Russia in hostilities with her See also:ancient See also:rival, Sweden, and this was brought about, by French See also:influence and French See also:money, when in See also:August 1741 the Swedish See also:government, on the most frivolous pretexts, declared war against Russia. The dispositions previously made by Osterman enabled him, however, to See also:counter the See also:blow, and all danger from Sweden was over when, See also:early in See also:September, See also:Field-See also:Marshal See also:Lacy routed the Swedish general See also:Wrangel under the walls of the frontier-fortress of Villmanstrand, which was carried by See also:assault. It now became evident to La Chetardie that only a revolution would overthrow Osterman, and this he proposed to promote by elevating to the throne the tsesarevna See also:Elizabeth, who hated the vice-chancellor because, though he owed everything to her See also:father, he had systematically neglected her. Osterman was therefore the first and the most illustrious victim of the coup d'etat of the 6th of December 1741. Accused, among other things, of contributing to the See also:elevation of the empress Anne by his cabals and of suppressing a supposed will of Catherine I. made in favour of her daughter Elizabeth, he threw himself on the clemency of the new empress. He was condemned first to be broken on the See also:wheel and then beheaded; but, reprieved on the See also:scaffold, his See also:sentence was commuted to lifelong banishment, with his whole See also:family, to See also:Berezov in See also:Siberia, where he died six years later. See S. Shubinsky, " Count A. I. Osterman " (Rus.) in Syevernoye Siyanie, vol. ii.

(St See also:

Petersburg, 1863) ; D. Korsakov, From the Lives of Russian Statesmen of the X VIIIth See also:Century (Rus.) (Kazan, 1891) ; A. N. Filippov, " Documents See also:relating to the Cabinet Ministers of the Empress Anne " (Rus.) (St Petersburg, 1898) in the collections of the Russ. Hist. See also:Soc. vol. 104; A. A. Kochubinsky, Count A. I. Osterman and the proposed See also:Partition of Turkey (Rus.) (See also:Odessa, 1889) ; Hon. C.

See also:

Finch, See also:Diplomatic Despatches from Russia, 1740—1742 (St Petersburg, 1893—1894) in the collections of the Russ. Hist. Soc. vols. 85 and 91; R. Nisbet See also:Bain, The Pupils of Peter the Great (See also:London, 1897) ; and The Daughter of Peter the Great (London, 1899), chapters 1-3. (R. N.

End of Article: OSTERMAN, ANDREI IVANOVICH, COUNT (1686—1747)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
OSTEOLOGY (Gr. ovTeov, bone) 		[next]
OSTERODE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries