Treaties of Tilsit
Following his crushing victory at Friedland on 14 June 1807 and the fall of Konigsberg, Napoleon proposed a meeting with Tsar Alexander I on a raft moored in the middle of the Niemen River at Tilsit — a theatrical staging designed to remove Alexander from the influence of his court while conducting negotiations as between equals. The two emperors met for nearly two weeks. The peace treaty was extensive. Russia agreed to join Napoleon's Continental System against Britain, recognised the Duchy of Warsaw carved from Prussian Poland, and accepted French hegemony over western Europe. Prussia was stripped of roughly half its territory: all lands west of the Elbe went to the new Kingdom of Westphalia (given to Napoleon's brother Jerome), and the Polish lands became the Duchy of Warsaw. Prussia was left with 40,000 troops by treaty and a crushing indemnity. A secret Franco-Russian accord divided the Ottoman Empire's future into spheres of influence and agreed on the eventual partition of the Baltic states. Tilsit marked the zenith of Napoleonic power — France dominant from the Pyrenees to the borders of Russia, with Russia its nominal partner in managing the Continent. The partnership lasted three years before Russian economic interests and imperial pride broke it.
- Year: 1807 CE
- Category: Diplomatic
