The Francis II. Rákóczi's uprising in the context of Russian Diplomacy and Russian Periodical News Coverage “Vedomosti”

Abstract

The Francis II. Rákóczi's uprising in 1703-1711, it's a frequently debated topic in European historiography (especially in Hungarian, Slovak and Polish). For Slovak historiography (since its beginning), the issue of anti-Habsburg uprisings in the 17th and early 18th centuries has been a key issue. There are number of works that deal in detail with the last anti-Habsburg uprising in Hungary. The aim of this study is to enlighten the mentioned events through a different historical source, the Russian newspaper “Vedomosti”, which in 1703 to 1711 captured relatively detailed information about the uprising of Francis II. Rákóczi. The first report about the anti-Habsburg uprising in Russian Journal Vedomosti was published in October 1703. Most reports describe military operations on the Slovak territory, which makes their content interesting for Slovak historiography. The study presents an analysis of the problems of international relations and the foreign political interests of the Imperial Russian court in the person of Francis II. Rákóczi in the context of sources, scholarly literature as well as information from the newspaper itself. Reports of the Francis II. Rákóczi's uprising in the Russian periodical from 1703-1711 may not be of key importance for the scholarly research of the uprising itself, but show the interest of Russian diplomacy in the Central European outbreak of the Hungarian anti-Habsburg rebellions in the context of European policy in the early 18th century. After the conclusion of the treaty of Satmár Francis II. Rákóczi remained interesting for European politics, even in a different context. After 1711, Tsar Peter the Great invited F. Rákóczi with all the others who decided to immigrate to Russia. However, such an option was unacceptable to F. Rákóczi himself.

Keywords:

European Diplomacy, 18th century, Peter The Great, Francis II Rákóczi, Slovak Historiography, Russian Newspaper “Vedomosti”