Везде
English «Cloak And Dagger Knights» at the Court of Catherine II
Table of contents
Annotation Estimate Publication content
References Comments
Share
QR
Metrics
English «Cloak And Dagger Knights» at the Court of Catherine II
Annotation
PII
S013038640006343-5-
DOI
10.31857/S013038640006343-5
Publication type
Article
Status
Published
Authors
Tatiana Labutina 
Occupation: Professor, Leading Researcher
Affiliation: Institute of World History, RAS
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow
Edition
Issue 5
Pages
37-56
Abstract

The article is devoted to the unexplored problem in the historiography of intelligence activities of British ambassadors at the court of Catherine the Great. Modern historians do not pay enough attention to the study of the "secret war", most likely due to the lack of necessary sources. Based on diplomatic correspondence and memoir literature of ambassadors John Buckinghamshire, George Macartney, Сharles Cathcart, James Harris, the author covers the unofficial, secret activities of diplomats. It turns out that the most important for the ambassadors were information about the Army and Navy of the Russian Empire, as well as information about the state of affairs in Russia and the first persons of the state - Catherine II, and her Ministers and confidants. It is emphasized that to collect such information was entrusted to the ambassadors by the reigning king George III. The author comes to the conclusion that diplomats were often informed by high-ranking Russian officials, including well-known statesmen N. Panin, G. Potemkin, who due to selfish motives or "special" disposition to Britain – anglophiliya, supplied ambassadors with secret information, thereby causing obvious harm to their state. Information about the Army and Navy of the Russian Empire occupied a primary place in the intelligence of ambassadors. Important for the British government, and hence for the ambassadors, was also information about the first persons of the Russian state. Therefore, each of the ambassadors felt it necessary to inform London about their observation of the activities of the Empress and her entourage of ministers, the courtiers. All diplomats saw them as a potential source of information that could be used in the interests of the Great Britain.

Keywords
Great Britain, Russia, XVIII century, Catherine II, George III, ambassadors, intelligence activity
Received
22.05.2019
Date of publication
12.09.2019
Number of purchasers
93
Views
3036
Readers community rating
0.0 (0 votes)
Previous versions
S013038640006343-5-1 Дата внесения правок в статью - 30.08.2019
Cite   Download pdf

References

1. Beskrovnyj L. G. Russkaya armiya i flot v XVIII v. (ocherki). M., 1958.

2. Beskrovnyj L. G. Khrestomatiya po russkoj voennoj istorii. M., 1947, s. 202-203.

3. De Madariaga I. Rossiya v ehpokhu Ekateriny Velikoj. M., 2002.

4. Labutina T. L. Britanskij diplomat i razvedchik Charl'z Uitvort pri dvore Petra I. - Voprosy istorii, 2010, № 11.

5. Labutina T. L. Britanskie razvedchiki v Rossii (XVI-XVIII vv.). - Mnogolikost' tselogo: iz istorii tsivilizatsij starogo i novogo sveta. Sbornik statej v chest' Viktora Leonidovicha Mal'kova. M., 2011.

6. Labutina T. L. Vizit britanskogo vracha T. Dimsdejla ko dvoru Ekateriny II. - E. R. Dashkova i XVIII vek. Traditsii i novye podkhody. M., 2012.

7. Labutina T. L. Petrovskaya Rossiya glazami britanskogo diplomata Ch. Uitvorta. - Novaya i novejshaya istoriya, 2012, № 4.

8. Labutina T. L. Britanskij morskoj ofitser Dzhon Den na sluzhbe u Petra I. - Novaya i novejshaya istoriya, 2013, № 3.

9. Labutina T. L. Britantsy v Rossii v XVIII veke. SPb., 2013.

10. Labutina T. L. Vizit suprugov Dimsdejl v Rossiyu vo vtoroj polovine XVIII v. - Voprosy istorii, 2013, № 6.

11. Labutina T. L. Byla li Ekaterina II anglijskoj shpionkoj? Domysly i fakty. - Rodina, 2014, № 9.

12. Labutina T. L. Neudachnaya missiya grafa Bekingema. Iz istorii rossijsko-britanskikh otnoshenij vtoroj poloviny XVIII veka. - Novaya i novejshaya istoriya, 2015, № 4, 173-186.

13. Labutina T. L. Britanskij posol Dzhordzh Makartni i ego predstavleniya o ekaterininskoj Rossii. - Novaya i novejshaya istoriya, 2016, № 3, s. 166-180.

14. Labutina T. L. Soyuznyj dogovor – kamen' pretknoveniya v peregovorakh britanskogo posla Charl'za Kehtkarta i rossijskoj imperatritsy Ekateriny II. - Novaya i novejshaya istoriya, 2018, № 3, 80-101.

15. Lord Mal'msbyuri (Garris) v Rossii v tsarstvovanie Ekateriny II. - Russkij arkhiv, 1874, t. II, № 11, s. 878.

16. Sbornik imperatorskogo rossijskogo istoricheskogo obschestva, t. XII. SPb., 1873, s. 20.

17. Sbornik imperatorskogo rossijskogo istoricheskogo obschestva, t. XIX. SPb.,1876, s. 165.

18. Sekretnye memuary, otnosyaschiesya k kabinetu v Sankt-Peterburge. - Voprosy istorii, 1999, № 4-5, s. 117.

19. Solov'ev S. M. Sochineniya. Kn. XV. Istoriya Rossii s drevnejshikh vremen, t. 29. M., 1995, s. 252-253.

20. Chernyak E. B. Pyat' stoletij tajnoj vojny. Iz istorii sekretnoj diplomatii i razvedki, izd. 4-e. M.,1985.

21. An Account of Russia. 1767. London, 1768, p. 30.

22. Labutina T. L. Charles Whitworth, the British Diplomat and Intelligence Officer, at the Court of Peter I. - Social Sciences, v. 42, 2011, № 2.

Comments

No posts found

Write a review
Translate