@alexmilman It is interesting that you haven’t found anything about that date - save the aforementioned Dec 19 document - when the statement that “Russia withdrew from the Continental System in (December) 1810 is something I come across in secondary source after secondary source - from Spark Notes and Wikipedia, to Charles Esdaile.

You’re clearly looking at the primary documents, so if either of us knows what we really know about this it’s you; but it does make me wonder where this idea or misunderstanding (often found in otherwise reputable sources) comes from.
 
@alexmilman It is interesting that you haven’t found anything about that date - save the aforementioned Dec 19 document - when the statement that “Russia withdrew from the Continental System in (December) 1810 is something I come across in secondary source after secondary source - from Spark Notes and Wikipedia, to Charles Esdaile.

You’re clearly looking at the primary documents, so if either of us knows what we really know about this it’s you; but it does make me wonder where this idea or misunderstanding (often found in otherwise reputable sources) comes from.


Actually, date on the document in question is Dec 31: 19 (Russian old calendar) + 12 = 31. But as I said, it was not about withdrawing from the System but about arranging the trade within it (I just glossed over the description of the content but there was nothing about getting out of the System). As another referenced document stated, there are no traces of the British ships in the Russian ports until 1812, increase of the imports/exports happens only in 1812 and official alliance and trade agreement with Britain also belong to that year.

Let’s be logical: in 1810 Alexander simply could not afford an open breaking with Napoleon because there was an ongoing war with the Ottomans and Russian military reform (both structural reorganization and increasing army size) only started. Challenging Napoleon in such situation would be plain foolish. But provide some convenient loopholes was a completely different thing: after all, even Napoleon left some loopholes in his system. What is probably of some interest is the fact that, while withdrawing from a direct trade with Britain, Alexander did not allowed any privileges to the French trade.
 
Top