INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

At Tilsit in June and July 1807 Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I negotiated a peace that radically changed the map of Europe, and initiated a new order in European politics. Some of the consequences of the Tilsit alliance were as transient as the alliance itself, but in Scandinavia and Poland, Tilsit had important effects.

In the short term, Tilsit was the trigger for a British attack on Denmark in August 1807, which culminated in the first days of September when Copenhagen was subjected to three nights of terror bombardment to secure the surrender of the entire Danish navy into British hands. This was the first in a series of events that would lead to a territorial revolution in Scandinavia by destroying the two existing northern monarchies which had been in place since the middle ages - the old kingdom of Sweden, which included Finland as an integral part, and the Oldenburg state, which incorporated not only Denmark but also Schleswig-Holstein to the south and Norway to the north. They also represented a vital step for Finland and Norway on the road to a new sense of national consciousness and separate identity.

Tilsit also had important consequences for Poland. From Prussian territory Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw, the first Polish state since the third and final partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. To a great degree, the duchy was governed by Poles, although subject to French supervision, and remaining always within the French orbit. As such it posed dilemmas for Polish 'patriots'. What should be sacrificed for the chance - no more than that - of a full restoration of their state? Some continued to opt for Russia, others embraced Napoleon.

From the perspective of the Napoleonic Grande Empire the Duchy of Warsaw played an exceptional role in two ways. First, as the furthest outpost of the empire, it differed most from the constitutional blueprint imposed more or less successfully on other Napoleonic satellites - compromises were necessary as the French bureaucratic and secular model encountered the traditions of noble republicanism and the established position of the Catholic Church. Second, no part of the Grande Empire made such an enormous, and largely voluntary, contribution to the Napoleonic war effort in the years to 1813, either in terms of its own army, or in the soldiers it sent abroad to fight in French corps.

This conference has been jointly organised by the Department of Scandinavian Studies and the SSEES History Department at University College London to mark the bicentenary of Tilsit.

Dr Richard Butterwick (History Department, SSEES, UCL)
Dr Thomas Munch-Petersen (Scandinavian Studies, UCL)

Session 1: Denmark, Prussia and Tilsit

09.15 - 09.25: Welcome from Dr Robin Aizlewood, director of SSEES

09.25 - 09.30: Introduction: Dr Thomas Munch-Petersen
09.30 - 10.15: Dr Michael Rowe (KCL), Tilsit and Prussia
10.15 - 11.00: Mr Jakob Seerup (Royal Danish Naval Museum, Copenhagen), The struggle for Zealand: military and naval operations around Copenhagen, 1807
11.00 - 11.30: coffee/tea
11.30 - 12.15: Dr Thomas Munch-Petersen (UCL), Tilsit and the destruction of Danish neutrality, 1807 - Denmark between Britain, France and Russia*

12.15 - 14.00: lunch

Session 2: The Polish question between Russia and France

14.00 - 14.05: Introduction: Dr Richard Butterwick
14.05 - 14.50: Dr Hubert Zawadzki (Abingdon), The Polish Question at Tilsit
14.50 - 15.30: Dr hab. Jarosław Czubaty (Warsaw), Between the French and Russian Empires: Polish dilemmas in 1806-07
15.30 - 16.00: coffee/tea
16.00 - 16.45: Mr Benoît Roger (Paris), Leaving the War without Leaving Poland: The French Army in the Summer of 1807

18.00 - 20.00: Reception at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, 47 Portland Place

Session 3: The Duchy of Warsaw

09.30 - 10.15: Dr John Stanley (Toronto), The Establishment of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807
10.15 - 11.00: Dr Martyna Deszczyńska (Warsaw), The Catholic Church in the Duchy of Warsaw faced by the Napolenic State
11.00 - 11.30: coffee/tea
11.30 - 12.15: Dr Maciej Mycielski (Warsaw), Between Napoleonic bureaucracy and Polish republicanism: The Duchy of Warsaw, 1807-13

12.15 - 14.00: lunch

Session 4: The ramifications of Tilsit for Sweden

14.00 - 14.45: Dr Christer Jorgensen (Stockholm), Tilsit and Sweden
14.45 - 15.30: Professor Max Engman (Åbo Akademi), Tilsit and Finland
15.30 - 16.00: coffee/tea
16.00 - 16.45: Mr Tim Voelcker (Exeter), A question of trust: Count von Rosen, Admiral Saumarez and the Crown Prince, Bernadotte, in the Anglo-Swedish 'War' 1810-12

19.30: Conference dinner in the Terrace Restaurant, UCL main building

* For details of Dr Munch-Petersen's new book on the events surrounding the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, see the weblink - www.copenhagen1807.info.

Booking information

If you wish to attend the conference, please inform the Departmental Administrator for Scandinavian Studies, Ms Karin Charles, and enclose a cheque for the appropriate amount made out to 'University College London'.

Charge for tea/coffee (obligatory) £5

Conference dinner (for those wishing to attend the dinner) £35

k.charles@ucl.ac.uk

Tel: 020 7679 7176
Fax: 020 7679 7750

Department of Scandinavian Studies
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT

This page last modified Monday 4 June 2007.