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RICHELIEU, ARMAND EMMANUEL SOPHIE SEP...

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 303 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RICHELIEU, ARMAND See also:EMMANUEL SOPHIE SEPTEMANIE DU PLESSIS , Due DE (1766-1822), See also:French statesman, was See also:born in See also:Paris on the 25th of See also:September 1766, the son of See also:Louis See also:Antoine du Plessis, duc de Fronsac and See also:grandson of the See also:marshal de Richelieu (1696-1788). The See also:comte de See also:Chinon, as the See also:heir to the Richelieu honours was called, was married at fifteen to Rosalie de Rochechouart, a deformed See also:child of twelve, with whom his relations were never more than formal. After two years of See also:foreign travel he entered the See also:Queen's dragoons and next See also:year received, a See also:place at See also:court, where he had a reputation for Puritan austerity. He See also:left Paris in 1790 for See also:Vienna, and in See also:company with his friend See also:Prince See also:Charles de Ligne joined the See also:Russian See also:army as a volunteer, reaching the Russian See also:head-quarters at See also:Bender on the 21st of See also:November. He was See also:present at the See also:capture of See also:Ismailia and received from the empress See also:Catherine the See also:cross of St See also:George and a See also:golden See also:sword. By the See also:death of his See also:father in See also:February 1791, he succeeded to the See also:title of duc de Richelieu. He .returned to Paris shortly afterwards on the See also:summons of Louis XVI., but he was not sufficiently in the confidence of the court to be informed of the projected See also:flight to Varennes. In See also:July he obtained a See also:passport from the See also:National See also:Assembly for service in See also:Russia. In the Russian army he obtained the grade of See also:general-See also:major, only to be forced by the intrigues of his enemies to resign. The See also:accession of See also:Alexander I. brightened his prospects. His erasure from the See also:list of emigres, which he had failed to secure from See also:Napoleon, was accorded on the See also:request of the Russian See also:government, and in 1803 he became See also:governor of See also:Odessa. Two years later he became governor general of the See also:Chersonese, of See also:Ekaterinoslav and the See also:Crimea, then called New Russia.

In the eleven years of his See also:

administration, Odessa See also:rose from a miserable See also:village to an important See also:city. He commanded a See also:division in the See also:Turkish See also:War of 1806-7, and was engaged in frequent expeditions to the See also:Caucasus. Richelieu returned to See also:France in 1814; on the triumphant return of Napoleon from See also:Elba he accompanied Louis XVIII. in his flight as far as See also:Lille, whence he went to Vienna to join the Russian army, believing that he could best serve the interests of the See also:monarchy and of France by attaching himself to the headquarters of the See also:emperor Alexander. Richelieu's See also:character and antecedents alike marked him out as valuable support of the monarchy after its second restoration. Though the bulk of his confiscated estates were lost beyond recall, he did not See also:share the resentment of the See also:mass of the returned emigres, from whom and their intrigues he had held aloof during his See also:exile, and was far from sharing their delusions as to the possibility of undoing the See also:work of the Revolution. As the See also:personal friend of the Russian emperor his See also:influence in the See also:councils of the See also:Allies was likely to be of See also:great service. He refused, indeed, Talleyrand's offer of a place in his See also:ministry, See also:pleading his See also:long See also:absence from France and See also:ignorance of its conditions; but after Talley-' See also:rand's retirement he consented to follow him as See also:prime See also:minister, though—as he himself said—he did not know the See also:face of one of his colleagues. The events of Richelieu's See also:tenure of See also:office are noticed elsewhere (see FRANCE: See also:History). Here it need only be said that it was mainly due to his efforts that France was so See also:early relieved of the See also:burden of the allied army of occupation. It was for this purpose mainly that he attended the See also:congress of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818. There he had been informed in confidence of the renewal by the Allies of their treaty binding them to interfere in See also:case of a renewal of revolutionary trouble in France; and it was partly owing to this knowledge that he resigned office in See also:December of the same year, on the refusal of his colleagues to' support a reactionary modification of the electoral See also:law. After the See also:murder of the duc de See also:Berry and the enforced retirement of See also:Decazes, he again became See also:president of the See also:council (21st February 1821); but his position was untenable owing to the attacks of the " Ultras " on the one See also:side and the Liberals on the other, and on the 12th of December he again resigned.

He died of See also:

apoplexy on the 17th of May 1822. Great See also:part of Richelieu's See also:correspondence with Pozzo di Borgo, See also:Capo d'See also:Istria and others, with his See also:journal of his travels in See also:Germany and the Turkish See also:campaign, and a See also:notice by the duchesse de Richelieu, is published by the Imperial See also:Historical Society of Russia, vol. 54. There is an exhaustive study of his career by L. de See also:Crousaz-Cretet, Le Duc de Richelieu en Russie et en France (1897), with which compare an See also:article by L. Rioult de See also:Neuville in the Revue See also:des questions historiques (Oct. 1897). See also R. de Cisternes, Le Duc de Richelieu, son See also:action aux conferences d'Aix-la-Chapelle (1898), containing copies of documents.

End of Article: RICHELIEU, ARMAND EMMANUEL SOPHIE SEPTEMANIE DU PLESSIS

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