 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Congress of Erfurt" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Congress of Erfurt Fürstenkongress Erfurt (German) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Host country | First French Empire |
| Date | 27 September – 14 October 1808 (1808-09-27 –1808-10-14) |
| Venues | Kurmainzische Statthalterei [de],Principality of Erfurt |
| Participants | |
| Follows | Treaties of Tilsit |
TheCongress of Erfurt was the meeting betweenNapoleon,Emperor of the French, andAlexander I,Emperor of All Russia, from Tuesday 27 September to Friday 14 October 1808 intended to reaffirm the alliance concluded the previous year with theTreaties of Tilsit which followed the end of theWar of the Fourth Coalition.[1]
At Tilsit, Napoleon had made an admirer of Alexander, but by the time of the meeting atErfurt anti-French sentiment at the Russian court was beginning to threaten the newly forged alliance. Napoleon and his foreign ministerJean-Baptiste Nompère de Champagny sought to strengthen the alliance once more in order to settle affairs inSpain and prepare for the expected war withAustria. Working at cross-purposes to Napoleon wasCharles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord who had by this time come to the conclusion that Napoleon was leading France to destruction, and who secretly advised Alexander to resist Napoleon's demands.
The city of Erfurt was under the direct control of the Emperor of the French at this time as thePrincipality of Erfurt. Napoleon attempted to awe Alexander with the glories of theFrench Empire. The meeting became a great conference involving an array of kings, princes, dukes, barons and notables from all over Europe. Among the attendees wasTalma and the entireComédie-Française, who presented sixteen French tragedies over the course of the Congress.Goethe was courted by Napoleon himself and the twenty-year-oldArthur Schopenhauer arrived in Goethe's train and cast a cynical eye over the proceedings.
Out of the meetings came an agreement, the Erfurt Convention, in fourteen articles, calling upon Britain to cease its war against France, recognizing the Russian conquest ofFinland fromSweden, and stating that in case of war with Austria, Russia should aid France "to the best of its ability." The two emperors departed for their homelands on 14 October. Six months later theexpected war with Austria began, and Alexander barely lived up to his agreement, aiding France as little as possible. By 1810 both emperors were considering war with one another. Erfurt was the last meeting between the two leaders.
By 1812 Russia no longer complied with Napoleon'sContinental System of economic warfare against theUnited Kingdom and anti-French sentiment in the Russian court had reached a new height. Russian defence spending had increased and troops were deployed to the border in preparation for an invasion ofPoland. Napoleon pre-empted this by attacking first and with greater force.
From the beginning at Tilsit few onlookers believed these two European powers could peacefully exist side by side, with the GrandDuchy of Warsaw a Frenchsatellite state neighbouring Russia. Erfurt may have delayed the eventual outbreak of war, but it was likely the two powers would ultimately come into conflict.[citation needed]
The congress is an event referred to byLeo Tolstoy in hisWar and Peace (Book Two Part Three Chapter 1).[2]: 240, 246
