Treaty of Paris (24 February 1812) facts for kids
The Treaty of Paris was an important agreement signed on February 24, 1812. It was made between Napoleon I of France, the powerful leader of France, and Frederick William III of Prussia, the King of Prussia. This treaty created an alliance between France and Prussia, which meant they would work together. Their main goal was to go against the Russian Empire.
Later that year, on June 24, Prussia joined France in its huge invasion of Russia. However, many people in Prussia did not like this alliance. It soon fell apart when the Prussian soldiers, who were fighting with the French, signed their own separate agreement with Russia. This agreement was called the Convention of Tauroggen and it happened on December 30, 1812. After this, on March 17, 1813, King Frederick William declared war on France. He also shared his famous message, "To My People", which called for his people to fight for their freedom.
Some historians from East Germany believed that this alliance made the king and the rich nobles in Prussia even stronger. But in the end, it was the actions of everyday people that truly helped end the alliance. They disarmed French soldiers who were retreating, collected money and food for Russian prisoners, and even fought with French troops.
Why the Alliance Happened
By 1811, both France and Russia were getting ready for war. Early that year, Russia asked Prussia to form an alliance, but Prussia said no. However, the idea of French soldiers using Prussia as a starting point to invade Russia changed King Frederick William's mind.
In October, a Prussian general named Gerhard von Scharnhorst went to Russia. He told the Russians that Prussia was talking with France about an alliance. He then asked Russia for a military alliance. Secretly, Russia and Prussia signed an agreement. Russia promised to help Prussia if France invaded. But Prussia had to agree not to defend most of its land. Instead, it would make its main stand at the Vistula River.
General Scharnhorst then tried to get the Austrians to join an alliance, but they refused. The Russian leader, Tsar Alexander I, then warned King Frederick William. He said that if his generals did not cooperate fully, Prussia might be destroyed in the coming war.
The Prussian foreign minister, Karl August von Hardenberg, tried to convince the king to openly join Russia. But the king refused. He said it reminded him of past wars that had brought trouble instead of freedom. After the Tsar's warning and Austria's refusal, Hardenberg again suggested an alliance with France. In January 1812, General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher quit his job. He refused to fight for France.
The Treaty and Its Impact
The alliance treaty was signed in Paris on February 24, 1812. Prussia had to let French troops enter its country. It also had to provide the French army, called the Grande Armée, with 20,842 extra soldiers. Prussia also had to give them supplies, including thousands of horses and wagons. This was almost half of the entire Prussian Army. An earlier agreement from 1808 had limited Prussia's army size to 42,000 men.
Prussia was also promised a small amount of land from Russia if they won. With many French troops gathering near the border, King Frederick William approved the treaty on March 5. If he had not, France would have certainly invaded Prussia. A similar alliance between France and Austria, signed in March, was much less demanding for Austria. The Austrians even secretly told the Russians they would try to avoid fighting as much as possible.
After the treaty was approved, more than 300 officers from the Prussian army resigned. This was a quarter of all Prussian officers. Most of them went to live in Russia, and some went to Spain or England. Scharnhorst, who had helped make big changes to the Prussian military, resigned as Chief of the General Staff. He moved to Silesia but remained one of the king's military advisors. His assistants, Carl von Clausewitz, a famous military writer, and Hermann von Boyen, both left for Russia.
General August Neidhardt von Gneisenau was very critical of the king. He said, "We shall receive the fate we deserve. We shall go down in shame." Gneisenau resigned and went to England. The head of the Prussian police, Justus Gruner, joined another Prussian noble, Baron vom Stein, who was living in exile in Prague. Gruner was even put in prison by the Austrians for his own safety. He had been accused of encouraging anti-French feelings in Prussia before the treaty was made public. After the war started, Stein moved from Prague to Russia. All these officers hoped for a successful uprising like the Spanish uprising of 1808. They also hoped for a "sixth coalition" of countries, funded by Britain, to fight Napoleon.
Prussia in the Russian War
At the start of the invasion of Russia, the Prussian soldiers were led by Julius von Grawert. He admired Napoleon. His troops protected the French army's northern side along the Baltic coast. But he soon became sick. His replacement, Hans David von Yorck, was not happy about the alliance with France.
When his French commander, Marshal Jacques MacDonald, told him to make the city of Memel stronger, Yorck refused. He said the treaty did not cover such an action. During the Siege of Riga, Yorck tried to exchange prisoners with Russia. He found out that most of his captured men had joined the Russian–German Legion. This was a unit fighting for Russia, supported by Gneisenau and Stein. Throughout October and November, Yorck received letters from Russia asking him to switch sides. In October, the Austrian foreign minister, Klemens von Metternich, suggested an agreement between Austria and Prussia. This agreement would force the French back behind the Rhine River. But the Prussian government was still committed to the French alliance at that time.
In East Prussia, General Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow started gathering a reserve force. He also stopped troops and supplies from reaching the front lines. New soldiers and horses were brought together in Königsberg, the capital of East Prussia. Supplies were sent to Graudenz. All reserve soldiers and those on leave in East and West Prussia were called back. They formed reserve groups under Colonel August von Thümen.
On December 14, the Grande Armée left Russia. But many in Berlin, including King Frederick William, did not believe Napoleon's defeat was as bad as it truly was. On December 15, the king received a letter from Napoleon. Napoleon asked him to raise more troops for the front. The Prussian government agreed. On December 19, King Joachim Murat of Naples, who had just become the commander of the Grande Armée, set up his headquarters in Königsberg.
On December 24, Frederick William allowed Bülow to create a reserve army along the Vistula River. This was because Yorck could take over East and West Prussia when he returned from Russia. Bülow managed to keep his troops and supplies away from Murat's command. But the French officer in charge of supplies, Comte Daru, noticed that Prussia's recent actions were not helping France.
On December 30, without the king's permission, and surrounded by Russian forces, Yorck signed the armistice of Tauroggen. This agreement stopped the fighting. Many people see Yorck's surrender as the start of Germany's "war of liberation" from Napoleon. However, his government at first did not approve of his actions. As Russian troops entered East Prussia, Berlin demanded that France return lands lost in 1807. They also demanded 90 million francs owed for supplies to continue the alliance. France refused. Prussia was not strong enough to fight France. France had occupied all of Prussia's large forts. They also had 25,000 troops in Berlin under Marshal Pierre Augereau at that time.
On January 6, 1813, the king told Bülow about Yorck's dismissal. Bülow had moved his men from Königsberg towards Neuenburg and Schwetz. The king ordered him not to contact Yorck or join him. On January 8–9, Murat sent letters to Bülow. He demanded that Bülow's reserve army join the French, as the treaty stated. On January 10, Bülow claimed his new soldiers were not ready to fight. He also said his government had ordered him to move west. The next day, a group of reserve soldiers organized by Thümen at Graudenz joined Bülow's force. Together, they moved west towards Neu-Stettin. There, they would join a group of 6,000 soldiers being formed by General Karl Ludwig von Borstell.
On January 12, Bülow's rearguard (the troops at the back) was surrounded at Neuenburg by Cossacks under General Alexander Chernyshov. The Russians only arrested three officers and let the rest go. By the time Bülow learned about this on January 14, the Cossacks were camped in the streets of Osche. There was a tense standoff with the Prussians, who were in barns and stables. When Bülow threatened to attack, Chernyshov released the Prussians. They arrived at Neu-Stettin on January 17.
As people learned how badly Napoleon had been defeated, Berlin tried to bring back Metternich's idea from October. On January 12, Karl Friedrich von dem Knesebeck arrived in Vienna. He was there to negotiate an agreement for Austria and Prussia to remain neutral. This was meant to force France and Russia to make peace. Knesebeck was told to get Austria's approval for a Russian-Prussian agreement. He was also to get Prussia out of the war if Austria was not ready to leave Napoleon at that moment. Metternich did not want to sign anything. But he promised that Austria approved of a truce between Russia and Prussia. On February 4, showing how desperate Berlin was, Friedrich Ancillon, King Frederick William's advisor, suggested that Prussia help France and Russia make peace. In return, France would get control of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Russia would get East Prussia.
On January 21, Frederick William left Berlin and went to Breslau, arriving four days later. This did not stop Napoleon from hoping that the Prussians would stick to their treaty. He hoped they would defend their border from Russia. However, there were signs that the Prussian army was increasingly controlled by rebels. On January 29, Hardenberg promised Napoleon that a new Prussian army group would be formed right away under Bülow's command.
|
