Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century

121 The facts are inaccurate here. In an attempt to save the Byzantine Empire from the Turkish invasion the representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church entered into union with the Catholic Church at the Council of Florence in 1439. Under the terms of the Union of Florence the Eastern Orthodox Church acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope and accepted the Catholic dogmas, while retaining its own rites. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, Thomas, the brother of the last Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palacologus, and his family, fled to Rome.

Pope Paul If, by planning to marry ‘l'homas’s daughter Sophia (Zoë) Palaeologus to Ivan Ill, and basing himself on the decisions of the Union of Florence, hoped to consolidate his power over the Russian Orthodox Church.

Ivan III married Sophia Palacologus on November 12, 1472, under Pope Sixtus IV. Ivan III used this marriage to enhance Russia’s prestige in international affairs and his own authority as a Grand Prince in Russia.

122 In this chapter, Marx drew on one of Engels’ articles about Pan-Slavism, written for the New-York Daily Tribune in 1856, but never published. The manuscripts of these articles, which the editors of the newspaper returned to Marx, have not been traced. Soon after the Revelations of the Diplomatic History of the 18th Century had been published, Marx wrote to Engels on April 9, 1857: “In the last one I used the text of one of your articles, in which you speak of Peter I” .

123 This refers to the Russo-Turkish Wars of 1686-99 and 1710-13 and Peter I’s campaign to the Persian possessions near the Caspian Sea in 1722-23.

124 Peter I assumed the title of Emperor in 1721.

125 An ironic allusion to the actions of the English fleet commanded by Charles. Napier (1854) and Richard Dundas (1855) during the Crimean war (1853-56).

126 The Peace Treaty of Stolbowa was concluded between Russia and Sweden with Britain’s mediation in 1617, after the failure of the intervention of Poland and Sweden in Russia at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Sweden returned several Russian towns to Russia, but retained the territories in Karelia and the Baltic lands, and thus cut off Russia from the Baltic Sea. The treaty envisaged the resumption of trade between Russia and Sweden. The state boundaries established by this treaty were intact till the Northern War (1700-21).

127 See Note 88.

128 See Note 55.

129 A reference to the treaty of 1711, signed during the Russo-Turkish war of 1710-13.