Chapter Sixteen: The Congress of Tilsit
The year 1807 marked the end of the bulk of the violence related to the Ten Years War. Britain at this point had carried out much of its overseas goals in the Americas and Atlantic, solidifying control of the Spanish cities of New Orleans and Buenos Aires. The Spanish were effectively knocked out of Nootka and Portugal held their ground in the province of Uruguay. The war in Europe was less conclusive on the field, as most of the powers were exhausted from the war and the tides of the war were shifting back and forth. The coalition between France, Naples, and Spain had just edged out Britain, Portugal, and Russia in the Mediterranean/ In Germany, Austria only made significant progress in Silesia once Russia was knocked out of the war through the coup of the Tsar (following a white peace) and even then that wasn’t enough beyond Upper Silesia. Similarly, with Poland, a stalemate was broken with Russian withdrawal, only then leading to Polish advancement with French, Austrian, and Saxon aid. This led the Ottoman Empire to take advantage of the situation, which they did by conquering Crimea and solidifying victory for the French in the Mediterranean by assisting them in Egypt. The date of June 14, 1807, was when an armistice was called for in Europe, led by the Prussians. An armistice was then signed on July 9. Russia, meanwhile, was in the midst of a civil war that would not end until the declaration to the end of all hostilities on October 26 as the former Grand Duke Konstantin was declared as the new Tsar of Russia.
Peace negotiations began in the Prussian city of Tilsit on October 27, 1807, just one day after the Russian civil war ended. Russia did not show up at negotiations until the near the start of spring as the new government was not yet organized to have a diplomat sent over, plus the harsh Russian winters. Prussia wanted to keep Silesia and gain Podlachia, northern Masovia, and Warsaw from Poland. What Prussia got was Lower Silesia and a neutral Poland in the form of the newly-created Duchy of Warsaw consisting of the aforementioned Polish territories plus Western Galicia and southern Masovia. Austria could thus defend Poland’s right to exist as it was led by a neutral Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. Out of this, Russia got Lithuania, with a population of over 1 million people added to the Empire. They were also able to keep Crimea despite the efforts of the Ottomans to try to snag it up. In fairness, the Ottomans put more focus on helping the French in Egypt. The result for the Ottomans was largely status quo antebellum. Austria got Upper Silesia from Prussia while ceding the Walloon section of the Austrian Netherlands to France as a reward for aiding Austria against the Prussians. The Netherlands received Flanders, while the city of Brussels was made independent. Spain gave Naples the island of Sicily, which caused the formation of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. The Spanish Bourbons were to receive Sardinia. Finally, there was the Holy Roman Empire. A fragile institution for centuries, it consisted of mostly German and Italian speaking lands in western and central Europe and was a weak confederation ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs. Going into effect on January 1, 1809, it was to be dissolved and replaced with a somewhat more centralized Confederation of the Rhine to serve as a buffer between France and Prussia.
The matter of the colonies was more complicated. The (British) Royal Navy had the single strongest navy in Europe and the world. They, along with the Portuguese, had triumphed in the Americas over the French and Spanish forces. In the peace treaty, Spain was particularly hard hit. The Spanish were forced to surrender all claims of Nootka Territory, which left only Britain and Russia as contenders for the territory. That dispute would be resolved at a later time. Spanish Louisiana, including New Orleans, was given to the British (with clearly defined boundaries to define British North America and Mexico), as well as Peru south of 40 degrees latitude in South America. The city of Buenos Aires was given back to Spain, while Uruguay was given to Portugal. The British territory of La Plata, south of Peru, was renamed British Patagonia. In the Caribbean Sea, the island of Trinidad was given to Britain. That’s not to say France wasn’t affected. The French, in accordance with the Treaty of Tilsit, were forced to cede the islands of Dominica, Saint Lucia, and the disputed Turks and the Caicos islands to the British. However, the primary goal of the French was to isolate the British from continental Europe. The French got their wish. In exchange for colonies, the British promised, with the exception of Hanover (as it was in personal union with Britain) and Prussia (only to maintain a wartime alliance) not to intervene in continental Europe unless there was a major shift in a balance of power. A League of Armed Neutrality was proposed but scrapped, as Britain was more focused on the rest of the world than Europe.
The East Indies was a different can of worms. The British occupied Chandernagore, Mahe, Karaikal, Pondichéry, and Yanam plus the lodges at Machilipatnam, Kozhikode during the war, but returned it to the French once hostilities ended. The Dutch, Portuguese, and neutral Danes were able to keep their Indian claims. The Dutch, though, joined the war in 1802 with the promise of the Philippines. With the Dutch helping the British and Portuguese in the American theater, and Spain winning in the Meditteranean alongside France, Naples, and the Ottoman Empire, it looked like the Philippines was to be split. The Spanish would get the main island group of Luzon in the North, while the Dutch were to receive Visayas and Mindanao to the South. Finally, there was New Holland to contend with. By 1792, about 3,546 male and 766 female convicts were settled around New Albion, eventually expanding into Van Diemen’s Land in 1803. Sweden, in 1792, had formed a settlement at Israelite Bay for their own convicts. France had claimed the West Coast. And the Dutch Netherlands had an interest in expanding the Dutch East Indies. With this treaty, the British would hold both islands of New Zealand and all of New Holland to the East of 141 degrees plus all lands south of the Murray River. The French were to receive the land West of 124 degrees (or 123.5 degrees to be more precise). In between, the Swedish were given all the land South of 24 degrees, and the Dutch were given the North. The final Treaty of Tilsit was signed on May 2, 1808, and effective that July.
