Andrey Ivanovich Ostermann (1686-1747)

Count Andrei Ivanovich Osterman (June 9, 1686 - May 31, 1747) was a German-born Russian statesman who came to prominence under Tsar Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great) and served until the accession of the Tsesarevna Elizabeth. His foreign policy was based upon the Austrian alliance. General Admiral (1740; dismissed 1741). Count Andrei Ostermann This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Count Andrei Ostermann This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... 1686 (MDCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 151st day of the year (152nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1747 (MDCCXLVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... Peter the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov (Russian: Пётр I Алексеевич Pyotr I Alekse`yevich, Пётр Великий Pyotr Veli`kiy) (9 June 1672 – 8 February 1725 [30 May 1672–28 January 1725 O.S.][1]) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his... Charles van Loo. ... Third Reich In the German Kriegsmarine, of the Second World War, General Admiral (in German: Generaladmiral) was a rank considered senior to an Admiral, but junior to a Grand Admiral. ... Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... // Events April 10 - Austrian army attack troops of Frederick the Great at Mollwitz August 10 - Raja of Travancore defeats Dutch East India Company naval expedition at Battle of Colachel December 19 - Vitus Bering dies in his expedition east of Siberia December 25 - Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale Celsius...

Early career

Born at Bochum in Westphalia, of middle-class parents, his original name was Heinrich Johann Friedrich Ostermann. Osterman became secretary to Vice-Admiral Cornelis Kruse, who had a standing commission from Peter the Great to pick up promising young men, and soon thereafter entered the tsar's service. The young man's knowledge of the principal European languages made him the right hand of Vice-Chancellor Shafirov, whom he materially assisted during the troublesome negotiations which terminated in the peace of the Pruth (1711). Osterman, together with General Bruce, represented Russia at the Åland peace congress of 1718. Shrewdly guessing that Sweden was at exhaustion point, and that Heinrich von Görtz, the Swedish plenipotentiary, was acting ultra vires, he advised Peter to put additional pressure on Sweden to force a peace. Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... For other places named Westphalia, see Westphalia (disambiguation). ... Admiral Cornelius Cruys Cornelis Cruys (Russian: ) (1655-1727) was a Vice Admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy and the first commander of the Russian Baltic Fleet. ... Peter the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov (Russian: Пётр I Алексеевич Pyotr I Alekse`yevich, Пётр Великий Pyotr Veli`kiy) (9 June 1672 – 8 February 1725 [30 May 1672–28 January 1725 O.S.][1]) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his... Tsar (Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian цар, Russian  , in scientific transliteration respectively car and car ), occasionally spelled Czar or Tzar and sometimes Csar or Zar in English, is a Slavonic term designating certain monarchs. ... Baron Peter Pavlovich Shafirov (1670 - 1739), Russian statesman, one of the ablest coadjutors of Peter the Great, was of obscure, and in all probability of Jewish, extraction. ... “Aland” redirects here. ... Year 1718 (MDCCXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... Georg Heinrich von Görtz, Baron of Schlitz (1668-1719), diplomat in Swedish service, was born in Holstein and educated at Jena. ...

Diplomacy

In 1721 Osterman concluded the Peace of Nystad with Sweden, and was created a baron for his services. In 1723 he was made vice-president of the ministry of foreign affairs for bringing about a very advantageous commercial treaty with Persia. Peter also constantly consulted him in domestic affairs, and he introduced many administrative novelties, e.g. "the Table of Ranks," and the reconstruction of the College of Foreign Affairs on more modern lines. Year 1721 (MDCCXXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Treaty of Nystad (1721), signed at the present-day Finnish town of Uusikaupunki (Swedish Nystad), ended the Great Northern War, in which Russia received the territories of Estonia, Livonia and Ingria, as well as much of Karelia and Tsar Peter I of Russia replaced King Frederick I of Sweden... Persia redirects here. ... Table of Ranks (Табель о рангах; Tabel o rangakh) was a formal list of positions and ranks in military, government, and court of the Imperial Russia. ...

During the reign of Catherine I of Russia (1725-1727) Osterman's authority still further increased. The conduct of foreign affairs was left entirely in his hands, and he held also the posts of minister of commerce and postmaster-general. On the accession of Peter II of Russia Osterman was appointed governor to the young emperor, and on his death (1730) he refused to participate in the attempt of Demetrius Galitzne and the Dolgorukovs to convert Russia into a limited constitutional monarchy. He held aloof till the empress Anne was firmly established on the throne as autocrat. Then he got his reward. His unique knowledge of foreign affairs made him indispensable to the empress and her counsellors, and even as to home affairs his advice was almost invariably followed. It was at his suggestion that the cabinet system was introduced into Russia. Catherine I (In Russian: Екатерина I Алексеевна) (April 15, 1684 – May 17, 1727), the second wife of Peter the Great, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death. ... Peter II (Russian: Пётр II Алексеевич or Pyotr II Alekseyevich) (October 23, 1715 – January 29, 1730) was Emperor of Russia from 1727 until his death. ... Peter I permitted the Galitzines to take an emblem of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as their coat of arms The Galitzines, more correctly the Golitsyns (Russian: Голицын), are one of the largest and noblest princely houses of Russia. ... Dolgoroukov (Долгоруков) is the name of a princely Russian family of Rurikid stock. ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A constitutional monarchy is a form of government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges an elected or hereditary monarch as head of state, as opposed to an absolute monarchy, where the monarch is not bound by a... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      An autocracy is a form of government in which the political power is held by a single person. ...

All the useful reforms introduced between 1730 and 1740 are to be attributed to his initiative. He improved the state of trade, lowered taxation, encouraged industry and promoted education, ameliorated the judicature and materially raised the credit of Russia. As foreign minister he was cautious and circumspect, but when war was necessary he prosecuted it vigorously and left nothing to chance. The successful conclusions of the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1735) and of the war with Turkey (1736-39) were entirely due to his diplomacy.

Vice-chancellor of all Russia

During the brief regency of Anna Leopoldovna (October 1740-December 1741) Osterman stood at the height of his power, and the French ambassador, Marquis de La Chetardie, reported to his court that "it is not too much to say that he is tsar of all Russia" Osterman's foreign policy was based upon the Austrian alliance. He had, therefore, guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction with the deliberate intention of defending it. Hence the determination of France to remove him at any cost. Russia, as the natural ally of Austria, was very obnoxious to France; indeed it was only the accident of the Russian alliance which, in 1741, seemed to stand between Maria Theresa of Austria and absolute ruin. The most obvious method of rendering the Russian alliance unserviceable to the queen of Hungary was by implicating Russia in hostilities with her ancient rival, Sweden, and this was brought about, by French influence and French money, when in August 1741 the Swedish government, on the most frivolous pretexts, declared war against Russia. The dispositions previously made by Osterman enabled him, however, to counter the blow, and all danger from Sweden was over when, early in September, Field-Marshal Lacy routed the Swedish general von Wrangel under the walls of the frontier-fortress of Villmanstrand, which was carried by assault. H.I.M. Ivan, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, with his mother Anna Leopoldovna Ivan VI of Russia (Иоанн Антонович), (August 23, 1740 - July 16, 1764), reigned as Emperor of Russia 1740 - 1741, was the son of Prince Antony Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg and of the princess Anna Leopoldovna... Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie (3 October 1705 — 1 January 1759) was a French diplomat who engineered the coup detat that brought Elizaveta Petrovna to the Russian throne in 1741. ... // Events April 10 - Austrian army attack troops of Frederick the Great at Mollwitz August 10 - Raja of Travancore defeats Dutch East India Company naval expedition at Battle of Colachel December 19 - Vitus Bering dies in his expedition east of Siberia December 25 - Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale Celsius... Not to be confused with Maria Theresa of Austria (1816-1867). ... Count Peter von Lacy, or Pyotr Petrovich Lacy (Russian: Пётр Петрович Ласси), as he was known in Russia (1678–1751), was one of the most successful Russian imperial commanders before Rumyantsev and Suvorov. ... Lappeenranta (Villmanstrand in Swedish) is a city and municipality that resides on the shore of the lake Saimaa in South-Eastern Finland, about 30 km from the Russian border. ...

Downfall

It now became evident to La Chetardie that only a revolution would overthrow Osterman, and this he proposed to promote by elevating to the throne the tsesarevna Elizabeth, who hated the vice-chancellor because, though he owed everything to her father, he had systematically neglected her. Osterman was therefore the first and the most illustrious victim of the coup d'etat of December 6, 1741. Accused, among other things, of contributing to the elevation of the empress Anne by his cabals and of suppressing a supposed will of Catherine I made in favour of her daughter Elizabeth of Russia, he threw himself on the clemency of the new empress. He was condemned first to be broken on the wheel and then beheaded; but, reprieved on the scaffold, his sentence was commuted to lifelong banishment, with his whole family, to Berezov in Siberia, where he died six years later, in 1747. is the 340th day of the year (341st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events April 10 - Austrian army attack troops of Frederick the Great at Mollwitz August 10 - Raja of Travancore defeats Dutch East India Company naval expedition at Battle of Colachel December 19 - Vitus Bering dies in his expedition east of Siberia December 25 - Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale Celsius... Charles van Loo. ... Menshikov and his family in Berezov, by Vasily Surikov. ... Year 1747 (MDCCXLVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Osterman's children returned to the court during the reign of Catherine the Great. His elder son, count Feodor Andreevich (1723-1804), was the senator and governor of Moscow (1773). Another son, Ivan Andreevich (1725-1811), was the Russian ambassador in Stockholm and then, for 16 years, the Chancellor of the Russian Empire (1781-97). After his death the Osterman titles and estates passed to his nephew, Alexander Ivanovich Tolstoy, chancellor of the Russian military orders. Catherine II (Екатерина II Алексеевна: Yekaterína II Alekséyevna, April 21, 1729 - November 6, 1796), born Sophie Augusta Fredericka, known as Catherine the Great, reigned as empress of Russia from... A senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. ... For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ... Count Ivan Andreyevich Osterman (Russian: Иван Андреевич Остерман) (1725 - 1811) was a Russian statesman, son of Andrei Osterman. ... For other uses, see Stockholm (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Chancellor (disambiguation). ... The subject of this article was previously also known as Russia. ... Alexander Ivanovich Count Ostermann-Tolstoy (1772 – 12 February 1857) was a Russian nobleman and soldier in the era of the French Revolutionary Wars. ...

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Heinrich Johann Friedrich Ostermann

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.