Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Third Estate
In office
5 May 1789 – 9 July 1789
ConstituencyCorse-du-Sud
Personal details
Born(1764-03-08)8 March 1764
Legitimist (1792–1804)
Alma materUniversity of Pisa
ProfessionDiplomat, soldier
Military service
Allegiance French First Republic
Corsica Kingdom of Corsica
Branch/serviceFrench Army
Corsican Army
Years of service1792–1796
RankLieutenant general
UnitColonna-Cesari Regiment
Battles/warsFrench Revolutionary Wars

Count Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo (French: Charles-André Pozzo de Borgo, Russian: Карл Осипович Поццо ди Борго, Karl Osipovich Potso di Borgo; 8 March 1764 – 15 February 1842) was a Corsican politician, who later became a Russian diplomat.

He was an official representative of his homeland in Paris before entering the Russian diplomatic service. His life was dominated by opposition to

Napoleon Bonaparte
, driven by a life-long hatred of him from an early age, considering him a traitor.

Biography

Early life and politics

He was born at

events of August 1792
.

Chief Minister of Corsica

On his safe return to Corsica, he was warmly received by

Jacobin
party. Under the new constitution, Pozzo was elected procureur-general-syndic, that is, chief of the civil government, while Paoli commanded the army. Along with Paoli, he refused to obey a summons to the bar of the convention, and the final breach with the Bonapartes, who actively supported the revolutionary authorities, dates from this time. Eventually, Paoli and Pozzo accepted foreign help, and from 1794 to 1796, during the British protectorate of Corsica, Pozzo was president of the council of state under Sir Gilbert Eliott.

When Napoleon sent troops to occupy the island Pozzo was excepted from the general

Gilbert Eliott, 1st Earl of Minto) on an embassy to Vienna
, where he lived for six years and was well received in political circles. His hatred of Napoleon dominated his life, and even as an exile of no official standing he was recognized as a dangerous enemy.

Serving the Russian Empire

In 1804 through the influence of

Tilsit in July interrupted his career, necessitating a temporary retirement after the completion of his business with the Porte
.

He returned to Vienna, but on the demand of Napoleon for his extradition

Tuileries, and sought to secure a marriage between Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry
, and the Russian grand duchess Anna, Alexander's sister.

Diplomat during Restoration

Pozzo assisted at the

Louis XVIII in Belgium, where he was also instructed to discuss the situation with the Duke of Wellington. He was present at Waterloo and was singled out by The Duke of Wellington in his post-battle dispatch.[2]
The Tsar dreamed of allowing an appeal to the people of France on the subject of the government of France in accordance with his vague liberalizing tendencies, but Pozzo's suggestions in this direction were met by violent opposition, the Duke refusing to make any concessions to what he regarded as rebellion; but in St. Petersburg, on the other hand, his attachment to the Bourbon dynasty was considered excessive.

During the early years of his residence in Paris Pozzo laboured tirelessly to lessen the burdens laid on France by the allies and to shorten the period of foreign occupation. That his French sympathies were recognized in Paris is shown by the strange suggestion that he should enter the French ministry with the portfolio of foreign affairs. He consistently supported the moderate party at court, and stood by the ministry of the

Louis Philippe
, he did good service in preventing difficulties with Russia.

Later life and death

In 1832 he visited

Lady Cowper, Palmerston's mistress, cannot have made for friendly relations between the two men.[3]
In London his health suffered, and he retired from the service in 1839 to spend the rest of his days in Paris. He had been made a count and peer of France in 1818.

Honours and awards

In popular culture

He was played by

The Passing Parade series.[4]
The film served as wartime propaganda which equated di Borgo's service in the defeat of Napoleon to that necessary for the defeat of Adolf Hitler.

Ancestry

Further reading

  • Pozzo di Borgo, Carlo Andrea, conte entry (in Italian) by Francesco Lemmi in the Enciclopedia Treccani, 1935
  • Carrington, Dorothy. "Charles-Andre Pozzo Di Borgo, Napoleon's Arch-Enemy. History Today (Feb 1967), Vol. 17 Issue 2, pp 73–80.
  • Egon Larsen, Carlo-Andrea Pozzo Di Borgo: One Man Against Napoleon (1968)
  • Prof. J. McErlean of McLaughlin College, York University, Toronto has written several articles on Pozzo and as recently as 2009 was preparing a biography using previously unknown di Borgo archival material.
  • "Pozzo di Borgo, Carlo Andrea".
    ISBN 978-0-78-765015-5
    . Retrieved 3 November 2023.

References

  1. ^ Ridley, Jasper Lord Palmerston Constable London 1970 p.43
  2. ^ "Wellington's Dispatches".
  3. ^ Ridley p.116
  4. ^ IMDB - Vendetta

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pozzo di Borgo, Carlo Andrea, Count". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 239–240.

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