Charles Gravier, Count of Vergennes (النطق الفرنسي: [vɛʁ.ʒɛn]; 29 December 1719 – 13 February 1787) was a French statesman and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister from 1774 during the reign of Louis XVI, notably during the American War of Independence.

Vergennes rose through the ranks of the diplomatic service during postings in Portugal and Germany before receiving the important post of Envoy to the Ottoman Empire in 1755. While there he oversaw complex negotiations that resulted from the Diplomatic Revolution before being recalled in 1768. After assisting a pro-French faction to take power in Sweden, he returned home and was promoted to foreign minister.

Vergennes hoped that by giving French aid to the American rebels, he would be able to weaken Britain's dominance of the international stage in the wake of their victory in the Seven Years' War. This produced mixed results as in spite of securing American independence France was able to extract little material gain from the war, while the costs of fighting damaged French national finances in the run up to the Revolution. He went on to be a dominant figure in French politics during the 1780s.

الخدمة الدبلوماسية

البرتغال وباڤاريا

الدولة العثمانية

His successful advocacy of French interests in Germany led him to believe his next posting would be as Ambassador to Bavaria. Instead he was sent to the Ottoman Empire in 1755, first as minister plenipotentiary, then as full ambassador. The reason for Vergennes' original lesser rank was because sending a new ambassador was a time-consuming elaborate ceremony and there was a sense of urgency because of the death of the previous ambassador. Before he left France he was inducted into the Secret du Roi.

الزواج والاستنادىء

السويد

وزيراً للخارجية

التعيين

With the accession of King Louis XVI in 1774, Vergennes became foreign minister. His policy was guided by the conviction that the power of the states on the periphery of Europe, namely Great Britain and Russia, was increasing, and ought to be diminished. When he was appointed to the job, he had spent almost the entirety of the previous thirty five years abroad in diplomatic service. He readily admitted that he had lost touch with developments in France, and was mocked by some political opponents as a "foreigner". Despite this, or perhaps more because of it, he was able to view France's foreign affairs with a more abstract nature, taking in the wider European context.

حرب الاستقلال الأمريكية

Vergennes' rivalry with the British, and his desire to avenge the disasters of the Seven Years' War, led to his support of the Thirteen Colonies in the American War of Independence. Historians believe that, because of financial strains for France, this commitment contributed to the French Revolution of 1789. As early as 1765, Vergennes predicted that the loss of the French threat in North America would lead to the Americans "striking off their chains". In 1775 the first fighting broke out, and in July 1776, the colonists declared independence.

دخول الحرب

Long before France's open entry into the war, Vergennes approved of the Pierre Beaumarchais's plan for secret French assistance. From early 1776, the French gave supplies, arms, ammunition and volunteers to the American rebels. The weakness of the British naval blockade off the American coast allowed large amounts of goods to reach the continent. In 1777, Vergennes informed the Americans' commissioners that France acknowledged the United States, and was willing to form an offensive and defensive alliance with the new state. In the wake of the Battle of Saratoga, a defeat for the British, Vergennes feared that the British and colonists might reconcile. He hastened to create an alliance with the Americans from fear that they might jointly attack France with the British.

Although Vergennes had long planned to enter the war jointly with Spain, Charles III was more interested in mediating the dispute, as he did not want to encourage colonial revolts. Vergennes pressed ahead with his alliance, in agreement with the American envoy Benjamin Franklin, which would almost certainly lead to war with Britain. In the wake of the Franco-American agreement, the Americans rejected British peace offers made by the Carlisle Peace Commission.

الاستراتيجية

Despite American rebels' optimism related to France's entry into the war, the new forces did not quickly affect the balance of power in North America. A fleet under Admiral d'Estaing sailed to assist the rebels but failed in attacks on British forces in Rhode Island and Savannah, placing significant strains on Franco-American relations. Vergennes continued to send large amounts of money to keep the war effort afloat, but the British regained the initiative with their Southern Strategy.

In 1779, Spain's entry into the war against the British made the Allies' joint fleet considerably larger than the British Royal Navy, but their attempted invasion of Britain that year miscarried. This seriously undermined Vergennes' plans, as he had anticipated a swift and simple war against the British. It promised to be considerably more difficult and expensive than he had hoped.

عصبة الحياد المسلح

By a series of negotiations, Vergennes sought to secure the armed neutrality of the Northern European states, which was eventually achieved by Catherine II of Russia. Britain declared war against the Dutch Republic in an attempt to keep the Dutch from joining the League. Vergennes believed the Dutch were most valuable as neutrals, as they could supply France through the British blockade, than as allies. He briefly entertained the hope that the British war against the Dutch would provoke the Russians to enter the war against them, but Catherine declined to act. The Dutch entry into the war placed further strains on the French treasury, as they searched for finances to support the Dutch war effort.

Vergennes acted as an intermediary in the War of the Bavarian Succession between Austria and Prussia, which he feared could trigger a major European war. He did not want his strategy of sending French and Spanish forces against Britain in the Americas to be deflected by troops and resources being diverted to Central Europe. The conflict was ended relatively peacefully by the Treaty of Teschen, of which France was a guarantor. Vergennes's strategy to prevent Britain from gaining allies from the European great powers was a success. In sharp contrast to previous wars, the British were forced to fight the entire war without a significant ally.

يوركتاون

The first French expedition to America under d'Estaing returned to France in 1779. The following year, another fleet was dispatched under Admiral de Grasse.

The Expédition Particulière, a sizable force of French soldiers under the comte de Rochambeau, arrived in America in July 1780. In October 1781, the French force played a key role in the surrender of a British army at Yorktown. In spite of the large British military presence in the colonies and its continued control of several major cities, in early 1782, the British parliament passed a resolution suspending further offensives against the Americans. This did not apply to their other enemies in other theatres of war.

1782

After the success at Yorktown, the French fleet went to the West Indies as part of a plan to invade Britain's colony of Jamaica. In April 1782 at the Battle of the Saintes, the French fleet suffered a major defeat and de Grasse was captured by the British. Both France and Britain understood this victory to restore British control of the high seas. Since 1779, Allied forces had laid siege to the British base at Gibraltar. In 1782, a major Franco-Spanish attack on Gibraltar failed, and the fort was relieved shortly afterward. This presented a major problem to Vergennes, as his treaty of alliance with the Spanish had committed the French to keep fighting until Gibraltar was under Spanish control. Failure to gain control of Gibraltar could potentially extend the war indefinitely.

These two defeats undermined the French confidence that had greeted the success at Yorktown. Vergennes grew increasingly pessimistic about allied prospects during the coming year. By this stage, peace negotiations were well underway. During 1782, Vergennes committed French troops to put down a democratic revolution in the Republic of Geneva, which had broken out the previous year.

معاهدة پاريس

By 1782 Vergennes was growing increasingly frustrated by what he regarded as the inability of the United States to justify its use of the large sums of money which France had given them. He remarked to Lafayette, who had recently returned from America, "I am not marvelously pleased with the country that you have just left. I find it barely active and very demanding." Although he continued to enjoy a warm relationship with Benjamin Franklin, the American peace commissioners John Jay and John Adams distrusted Vergennes' motives and began separate peace talks with British envoys.

When Vergennes discovered in November 1782 that the Americans had concluded a separate peace with the British, he felt betrayed, as they had previously agreed that a joint peace would be negotiated between them. In light of the generous terms that Britain had granted to the United States, although they refused to cede Canada, Vergennes remarked, "The English buy peace rather than make it."

During the negotiations leading up to the Treaty of Paris, Vergennes tried to balance the conflicting interests of France, Spain and the United States. He was largely unsympathetic to the Dutch, believing that their disappointing effort in the war did not justify his championing their goals at the peace table. He played a major role in persuading Spain to accept a peace agreement that did not give them Gibraltar; without their concession, it was likely the war would have been prolonged at least one more year, which French national finances could not afford.

France's own peace terms with Britain were completed in January 1783. Worried that another year of war would result in further British victories, Vergennes was keen to reach an agreement. France received Tobago, several trading posts in Africa, and the end of trading restrictions at Dunkirk. Vergennes claimed that France's limited gains justified his position that their participation had been disinterested. He was criticised for this by Marquis de Castries, who believed that most of the war's burdens had been on France, while most of the benefits went to her allies.

السنوات الأخيرة

السياسة الخارجية

Despite its claim of victory from the American War of Independence, France's foreign situation began to decline rapidly in the years after 1783. French resources were increasingly strained and unable to support the nation's traditional role in Europe. During the Dutch Crisis of 1787, France was unable to prevent the intervention of Prussian troops, who crushed the French-allied Patriots in the Dutch Republic. The diplomatic retreat was a contributing factor to the French Revolution.

Vergennes encouraged King Louis to sponsor expeditions to Indochina. These contributed to the French exploration and conquest during the nineteenth century that developed as French Indochina.

السياسة الداخلية

In domestic affairs, Vergennes remained conservative, carrying out intrigues to have Jacques Necker removed. He regarded Necker, a foreign Protestant, as a dangerous innovator and secret republican and was wary of his Anglophile views. In 1781, Vergennes became chief of the council of finance, and, in 1783, he supported the nomination of Charles Alexandre de Calonne as Controller-General.

Vergennes died just before the meeting of the Assembly of Notables, which he is said to have suggested to Louis XVI. The opening of the Assembly was delayed several times to accommodate him after he had grown ill from overwork, but on 13 February 1787, he died. When Louis XVI was told the news, he broke down in tears, describing Vergennes as "the only friend I could count on, the one minister who never deceived me."

After his death in 1787, the French national situation deteriorated, leading to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. In January 1793, the rebels executed the King. France was soon at war with many of its neighbours. In The Terror that followed, the government imprisoned and killed many of Vergennes' contemporaries.

ذكراه والثقافة الشعبية

American historians have often portrayed Vergennes as a visionary, because of his support for United States independence. Other historians believe that his support for a republican insurrection and the enormous cost which France incurred in the war, caused the French Revolution, which brought down the French monarchy and the system he served.

The city of Vergennes, Vermont in the United States was named after him, as suggested by Ethan Allen.

The figure of Vergennes was played by Guillaume Gallienne in the film Marie Antoinette (2006).

He was portrayed by Jean-Hugues Anglade in the 2008 HBO series John Adams.

انظر أيضاً

• Franco-Ottoman alliance
• Vergennes, Vermont, a city located in an area affected by the Saratoga Campaign which influenced Vergennes.

الهامش

المراجع

; endnotes:

• • P. Fauchelle, La Diplomatie française et la Ligue des neutres 1780 (1776—83) (Paris, 1893).
  • John Jay, The Peace Negotiations of 1782—83 as illustrated by the Confidential Papers of Shelburne and Vergennes (New York, 1888).
  • L. Bonneville de Marsangy, Le Chevalier de Vergennes, son ambassade a Constantinople (Paris, 1894) and Le Chevalier de Vergennes, son ambassade en Suède (Paris, 1898).
• Gaines, James R. For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette and their Revolutions. Norton, 2007.
• Harvey, Robert. A Few Bloody Noses: The American Revolutionary War. Robinson, 2004.
• Murphy, Orville T. Charles Gravier, Comte De Vergennes: French Diplomacy in the Age of Revolution, 1719-1787. State University of New York Press, 1982.
• Murphy, Orville T. The Diplomatic Retreat of France and Public Opinion on the Eve of the French Revolution, 1783-1789. Catholic University of America Press, 1998.
• Rodger, N. A. M. The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815. Penguin Books, 2006.
• Schiff, Stacy. Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of America. Bloomsbury, 2006.
• Weintraub, Stanley. Iron Tears: Rebellion in America, 1775-1783. Simon & Schuster, 2005.

مصادر أخرى

• Marie de Testa, Antoine Gautier, "Deux grandes dynasties de drogmans, les Fonton et les Testa", in Drogmans et diplomates européens auprès de la Porte ottomane, éditions ISIS, Istanbul, 2003, pp. 129–147.
• A. Gautier, "Anne Duvivier, comtesse de Vergennes (1730-1798), ambassadrice de France à Constantinople", in Le Bulletin, Association des anciens élèves, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), November 2005, pp. 43–60.