HISTORY

Russia Comes to America's Aid

On March 18th, 1813, Czar Alexander I, the 35-year-old autocratic ruler of Russia offered to mediate between Britain and the United States. The Czar would have been to be an odd supporter of the US considering he was an active opponent to the only other republic at the time… France. Not to mention being a serious autocrat himself, with little interest in freedom-loving ideals. He did have a few reasons, however, to pursue the end of the War of 1812.

First, was the all-important war causing factor… trade. Imports along the Baltic route, carried almost exclusively by American shipping, completely dried up due to the war. His second reason was his ally Britain. The Czar had no desire to see the British waste resources on an American war when he wanted all their efforts focused on his current enemy France.

There may have been a little guilt involved as well. Alexander came to power in 1801 through the assassination of his father, Paul I. Although there is limited evidence to confirm it, Alexander may have been indirectly involved in his father's assassination. Sources indicate that Alexander was expecting the conspirators to force his father's abdication, but the effort went wrong and they ended up simply killing him. In any case, one of the chief conspirators was Britain's representative in Saint Petersburg, Charles Whitworth. So, Alexander had some reason to gain a certain amount of political revenge.

In any case, the British refused to allow the Czar to moderate. It was felt the landlocked country would side with the Americans… or they knew about his plan to revenge himself against Charles Whitworth.