Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SHUVALOV (sometimes written SCHOUVALO...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 1 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

SHUVALOV (sometimes written SCHOUVALOFF), See also:PETER ANDREIVICH, See also:COUNT (1827–1889) , See also:Russian diplomatist, was See also:born in 1827 of an old Russian See also:family which See also:rose to distinction and imperial favour about the See also:middle of the 18th See also:century. Several of its members attained high•See also:rank in the See also:army and the See also:civil See also:administration, and one of them may be regarded as the founder of the See also:Moscow University and the St See also:Petersburg See also:Academy of the See also:Fine Arts. As a youth Count Peter Andreivich showed no See also:desire to emulate his distinguished ancestors. He studied just enough to qualify for the army, and for nearly twenty years he led the agreeable, See also:commonplace See also:life of a fashionable officer of the See also:Guards. In 1864 See also:Court See also:influence secured for him the See also:appointment of See also:Governor-See also:General of the Baltic Provinces, and in that position he gave See also:evidence of so much natural ability and tact that in 1866, when the revolutionary See also:fermentation in the younger See also:section of the educated classes made it advisable to See also:place at the See also:head of the See also:political See also:police a See also:man of exceptional intelligence and See also:energy, he was selected by the See also:emperor for the See also:post. In addition to his See also:regular functions, he was entrusted by his See also:Majesty with much See also:work of a confidential, delicate nature, including a See also:mission to See also:London in 1873. The ostensible See also:object of this mission was to arrange amicably certain See also:diplomatic difficulties created by the advance of See also:Russia in Central See also:Asia, but he was instructed at the same See also:time to prepare the way for the See also:marriage of the See also:grand duchess See also:Marie Alexandrovna with the See also:duke of See also:Edinburgh, which took place in See also:January of the following See also:year. At that time the emperor See also:Alexander II. was anxious to establish cordial relations with See also:Great See also:Britain, and he thought this object might best be attained by appointing as his diplomatic representative at the See also:British Court the man who had See also:con-ducted successfully the See also:recent matrimonial negotiations. Count Shuvalov was accordingly appointed See also:ambassador to London; and he justified his selection by the extraordinary diplomatic ability he displayed during the Russo-See also:Turkish See also:War of 1877–78 and the subsequent negotiations, when the relations between Russia and Great Britain were strained almost to the point of rupture. After the publication of the treaty of See also:San Stefano, which astonished See also:Europe and seemed to render a conflict inevitable, he concluded with See also:Lord See also:Salisbury a See also:secret See also:convention which enabled the two See also:powers to meet in See also:congress and find a pacific See also:solution for all the questions at issue. In the deliberations and discussions of the congress he played a leading See also:part, and defended the interests of his See also:country with a dexterity which excited the admiration of his colleagues; but when it became known that the San Stefano arrangements were profoundly modified by the treaty of See also:Berlin, public See also:opinion in Russia con- See also:xxv. Idemned him as too conciliatory, and reproached him with having needlessly given up many of the advantages secured by the war.

For a time Alexander II. resisted the popular clamour, but in the autumn of 1879, when See also:

Prince See also:Bismarck assumed an attitude of hostility towards Russia, Count Shuvalov, who had been See also:long regarded as too amenable to Bismarckian influence, was recalled from his post as ambassador in London; and after living for nearly ten years in retirement, he died at St Petersburg in 1889. (D. M.

End of Article: SHUVALOV (sometimes written SCHOUVALOFF), PETER ANDREIVICH, COUNT (1827–1889)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SHUTTLE (O. Eng. shitel, &c.; from the same word as... 		[next]
SHUYA

Site © 2006 - Net Industries