(Redirected from Aleksandr Vorontsov)Count 'Alexander Romanovich Vorontsov' () (
1741–
1805) was the
Russian imperial chancellor during the early years of
Alexander I's reign.
He began his career at the age of fifteen in the
Izmailovsky regiment of the Guards. In
1759, his uncle, the grand chancellor
Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov, sent him to
Strasbourg,
Paris and
Madrid to train him in
diplomacy. Under
Peter III, who was in love with his sister Elizabeth, he represented Russia for a short time at the
court of St James's.
Catherine II created him a
senator and president of the Board of Trade; but she never liked him, and ultimately (
1791) compelled him to retire from public life. In
1802, Alexander I summoned him back to office and appointed him imperial chancellor. This was the period of the triumph of the Vorontsovs, who had always insisted on the necessity of a close union with
Austria and
Great Britain, in opposition to
Panin and his followers, who had leaned on
France or
Prussia till the outbreak of the
French Revolution made friendship with France impossible. Vorontsov was also an implacable opponent of
Napoleon, whose "topsy-turvyness" he was never weary of denouncing. The rupture with Napoleon in
1803 is mainly attributable to him. He also took a leading part in the internal administration and was in favour of a thorough reform of the
senate and the ministries. He retired in
1804. A lifelong bachelor, he possessed an extraordinary memory and a firm and wide grasp of history. His ''Memoirs of My Own Times'' is printed in vol. VII of the ''Vorontsov Archives''.
See also
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Vorontsov - his family
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Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov - his uncle
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Ekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova - his sister
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Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov - his brother
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Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov - his nephew.
External link
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Online Museum of the Vorontsov Family
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