- Grand Embassy of Peter I
The Grand Embassy ("Великое посольство" in Russian) was a
Russia ndiplomatic mission , sent toWestern Europe in1697 -1698 by Peter the Great.The goal of this mission was to strengthen and broaden the Holy League,
Russia 's alliance with a number ofEurope an countries against theOttoman Empire in its struggle for the northern coastline of theBlack Sea , hire foreign specialists for Russian service, order and acquire military supplies and weapons. Officially, the Grand Embassy was headed by the "grandambassador s"Franz Lefort ,Fedor Golovin andProkopy Voznitsyn . In fact, it was led by Peter the Great, who went along under the name of Peter Mikhailov.Peter I conducted negotiations with
Duke ofCourland and concluded an alliance withKurfürst ofBrandenburg . After unsuccessful negotiations in theNetherlands , the Grand Embassy had to limit itself to acquiring different equipment and hiring foreign specialists. Peter the Great and part of the mission also went toGreat Britain for 3 months, where thetsar conducted negotiations withWilliam III of England , acquainted himself withshipbuilding , visitedshipyard s andartillery plants, and recruited foreign specialists.On the way back to Russia, the Grand Embassy conducted fruitless negotiations in
Vienna with Russia's former allies in the Holy League,Austria nforeign minister and Venetian ambassador, trying to preventAustria 's separate peace treaty with Turkey. An intended visit toVenice was cancelled due to the news about theStreltsy Uprising inMoscow and Peter's hasty return to Russia.The Grand Embassy failed to accomplish its main goal, but it gathered valuable information about the international situation, ascertained the impossibility of strengthening of the anti-Turkish coalition due to the imminent
War of the Spanish Succession , and brought back the plans for gaining access to theBaltic Sea . On his way back to Russia, Peter the Great met withAugustus II of Poland and conducted negotiations with him, which would form the basis for the Russo-Polish alliance againstSweden in theGreat Northern War .See also
References
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