Georg Heinrich von Görtz is the A+ minister of Charles XII that cahn asked if he was like tragic Fredersdorf.
Well, a little bit, but either way, he's interesting in his own right, imo.
Massie makes Görtz sound like one of the most amazing, larger-than-life characters in the story. He starts out a minister in Holstein-Gottorp service, acting as diplomat abroad, and meeting with the likes of Queen Anne, Peter the Great, and other monarchs. But Holstein-Gottorp is too small for him.
Then he ends up meeting Charles, and they realize they're a match made in heaven. Charles is the king with the grand military vision, Görtz has administrative and diplomatic genius. Charles gives him full powers as minister. Which already makes a lot of people jealous, because he's still technically a Holsteiner, helping out his ally, rather than someone whose exclusive loyalties are to Sweden.
This is already a big problem, because not only is he a foreigner, his boss is Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who is Charles XII's nephew (and future dad of Peter III).
Why is this a problem?
Well, remember how Charles refuses to choose between his nephew and his sister as his heir? If his nephew's ambassador is unofficial prime minister of Sweden, the sister's party can only assume that he's going to be working on behalf of the Holstein claim to the throne. So Görtz has already got some powerful enemies there. But don't worry, he'll get more!
We're in the late stages of the war. Sweden is out of men, out of money, out of overseas territory. But not out of Charles XII and Görtz! Together, they're determined to turn it around! Görtz was, according to Massie,
an audacious international adventurer without real ties of nationality but with a taste for power and a passion for intrigue. He had a complex, versatile intellect which allowed him to work on several divergent, even contradictory schemes simultaneously. It has been said of him that “he achieved twenty times as much as Talleyrand or Metternich while working with less than one twentieth of their resources.” For four years—from 1714 to 1718—Goertz, armed with the power of the king, loomed over Sweden. In person, he was a dramatic figure, tall, handsome (in spite of an artificial eye, made of enamel, which replaced one lost in a student duel), charming and a brilliant conversationalist.
...
[Charles] admired Goertz’ energy, his breadth of vision, his analytical capacity and his willingness to attempt, like Charles himself, vast, grand-scale schemes and radical solutions even with limited resources. As Charles saw it, Goertz applied in administration and diplomacy the same dash and reckless bravado which the King employed in war. Thereafter, until Charles’ death, Goertz was indispensable to him. He took absolute control of Sweden’s finances and all the great domestic departments of state. He became the King’s voice, if not his brain, in Swedish diplomacy. By February 1716, he was describing himself as Director of the Finances and Commerce of Sweden.
He goes to work, raising taxes, creating a paper currency, doing whatever it takes to make it so Charles can fight on. Naturally, the Swedes, already exhausted, like Görtz as much as you might imagine.
Massie says he was accused of financial dishonesty, but was in fact so honest that he even paid for state needs out of his own pocket. (This was a thing that happened; Peter's favorite Menshikov and Catherine's favorite Potemkin were both accused of embezzlement, but they both, when you examine the records, apparently used personal money for state purposes and state money for personal purposes, considering the one a loan to the state and the other a repayment of the money they'd advanced. The bookkeeping was so chaotic that it was impossible to tell in the end who owed who. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out Görtz did the same.)
But try telling the Swedes that. So now Görtz has got three sets of enemies: Swedes who are upset that a foreigner is getting all this favor, Swedes who support C12's sister Ulrike Eleonora over Holstein nephew Charles Frederick as heir to the throne, and Swedes are Done With This War Already (TM).
But Charles thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread, and Charles is an absolute monarch!
So now Görtz's job is to go negotiate with other major powers, like Russia, about ending the war on terms Charles will accept.
This is Massie's take (note my qualifier):
Görtz is a people skills genius who takes a weakened Sweden that should really be suing for peace, and makes it into the diplomatic power of the north that everyone is courting. He's wheeling and dealing, wielding smoke and mirrors, using psychology, just like a poker player pretending his hand is a lot stronger than it is. It works amazingly! He gets really good terms!
And Charles rejects them, because the only acceptable Charles XII terms are "I defeat my enemies utterly and don't cede an inch of land." (You saw this coming, right?)
So Görtz tries again! He doesn't tell Charles what he's up to, and he asks forgiveness rather than permission, and he gets another really good deal!
Which Charles rejects, and goes on fighting for all-or-nothing.
At this point, I was super impressed with Görtz, and the fact that he and Charles were both so amazing in their respective but completely different domains was pushing my ship buttons. (As I've explained, this is why I find it hard to ship Fritz/Fredersdorf more than I do: they're both good at so many of the same things, and even where they're not, I don't get that clear sense that their partnership had that clear division of labor like Charles and Görtz. "The same dash and reckless bravado which the King employed in war" is a ship made to order for me.)
BUT. The fact that they weren't on the same page and Görtz was increasingly having to keep secrets from Charles was making shipping harder. (I know that would be a feature rather than a bug for some of you reading this. For this particular dynamic, for me, it's a bug.)
But then! I read Hatton. And Hatton's take is that the claim that Görtz was doing genius diplomacy basically behind Charles' back, and Charles' stubbornness and arrogance kept making it all for naught, is the *old* school of thought. Whereas if you read all the archives, not just from Sweden, but of the whole anti-Swedish coalition--as well as Sweden's would-be allies, in the military sense, the Jacobites and Alberoni of Spain, and of her formal allies although not co-belligerents, Hesse and France--the threads of the negotiations can now be more clearly distinguished.
(Hatton may not be perfect, but this kind of thing is why I like her.)
According to Hatton, reading all the archives you can get your hands on reveals that Charles and Görtz knew their letters were being read. This was a safe assumption in 18th century diplomacy, as selenak and I have explained.
So our antiheroes had a whole system going where they would send letters that they meant to be read, which made it look like Görtz was taking his diplomatic maneuvering extremely seriously and Charles was the one rejecting it. But their secret letters, which have only just (as of 1968) been studied, make it clear that they were on the same page, and that Görtz's job was to distract the allies and buy time for Charles' military initiatives. And he knew it and was on board with it.
Me: HELLO MY NEW SHIP.
But then, in 1718, Charles is shot through the head on one of these military initiatives, as we've learned. In the grab for the throne, his sister Ulrika Eleonora moves fast and wins.
Görtz has three sets of enemies, as described above--Swedes who hate the war, everyone suspicious of foreigners, and Ulrika Eleonora's anti-Holstein party--and one of them is now on the throne. And his protector is gone.
He's promptly arrested and accused of alienating the late king's affections from the people. Meaning everyone is super upset at the war and blaming Charles, but he's the king and my brother, so we can't have that, so let's blame the minister! Who worked hand in glove with Charles and did only what the King wanted. Never mind that, off with his head! Görtz is the one who made Charles, after 14 years of continuing the war of his own accord, decide to keep continuing the war another 4 years. (Um, guys, Charles' track record is against you.)
Görtz got a show trial. To quote Massie at length again:
From the beginning, Goertz was doomed; in vain, he protested the lack of jurisdiction of the special commission. His claim that he was an alien and untouchable was rejected. His petition to have legal counsel was refused as unnecessary. He was not allowed to call his own witnesses or to confront hostile witnesses. He was not allowed to develop his defense in writing or to bring notes into the courtroom. He was given only a day and a half to prepare his reply, which permitted him time to read only one fifth of the evidence presented against him. Inevitably, he was found guilty, and unanimously he was condemned to be beheaded and his body buried under the scaffold, a mark of special contempt. He received the sentence with composure, but petitioned that his body might be spared this final disgrace. Grimly, Ulrika ordered the entire sentence carried out. Goertz mounted the scaffold with courage and dignity and said, “You bloodthirsty Swedes, take then the head you have thirsted for so long.” As he laid his head on the block, his last words were, “Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” His head fell at the first blow, and his body was buried on the spot.
He outlived Charles by just 2 months.
So, he's not exactly Fredersdorf and not exactly Katte, but the minister part is there and the tragic part is there. While I'm not endorsing the measures he took to continue the war, it's a massive double standard that Charles gets venerated and the guy who showed up to help him at the end gets his head chopped off. Just like Fritz *actually* trying to run away and Katte just thinking about it, and one gets locked up and the other gets his head chopped off.
At least they both got single-blow executions. As we've seen, that was a luxury in pre-guillotine days.
Also, I would read the hell out of fic about these two and their crazy partnership. :D I don't care if they had sex, that's the least important part here.
Oh, I should add that Massie relies heavily on Hatton for his C12 material, so I'm not sure how he overlooked her comment about the "ostensible" correspondence and the recently turned up "real" correspondence. But she makes a way better case than he does, so I'm going with her interpretation until further notice.
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Great Northern War: Tragic minister Görtz
Date: 2021-11-08 11:22 pm (UTC)Well, a little bit, but either way, he's interesting in his own right, imo.
Massie makes Görtz sound like one of the most amazing, larger-than-life characters in the story. He starts out a minister in Holstein-Gottorp service, acting as diplomat abroad, and meeting with the likes of Queen Anne, Peter the Great, and other monarchs. But Holstein-Gottorp is too small for him.
Then he ends up meeting Charles, and they realize they're a match made in heaven. Charles is the king with the grand military vision, Görtz has administrative and diplomatic genius. Charles gives him full powers as minister. Which already makes a lot of people jealous, because he's still technically a Holsteiner, helping out his ally, rather than someone whose exclusive loyalties are to Sweden.
This is already a big problem, because not only is he a foreigner, his boss is Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who is Charles XII's nephew (and future dad of Peter III).
Why is this a problem?
Well, remember how Charles refuses to choose between his nephew and his sister as his heir? If his nephew's ambassador is unofficial prime minister of Sweden, the sister's party can only assume that he's going to be working on behalf of the Holstein claim to the throne. So Görtz has already got some powerful enemies there. But don't worry, he'll get more!
We're in the late stages of the war. Sweden is out of men, out of money, out of overseas territory. But not out of Charles XII and Görtz! Together, they're determined to turn it around! Görtz was, according to Massie,
an audacious international adventurer without real ties of nationality but with a taste for power and a passion for intrigue. He had a complex, versatile intellect which allowed him to work on several divergent, even contradictory schemes simultaneously. It has been said of him that “he achieved twenty times as much as Talleyrand or Metternich while working with less than one twentieth of their resources.” For four years—from 1714 to 1718—Goertz, armed with the power of the king, loomed over Sweden. In person, he was a dramatic figure, tall, handsome (in spite of an artificial eye, made of enamel, which replaced one lost in a student duel), charming and a brilliant conversationalist.
...
[Charles] admired Goertz’ energy, his breadth of vision, his analytical capacity and his willingness to attempt, like Charles himself, vast, grand-scale schemes and radical solutions even with limited resources. As Charles saw it, Goertz applied in administration and diplomacy the same dash and reckless bravado which the King employed in war. Thereafter, until Charles’ death, Goertz was indispensable to him. He took absolute control of Sweden’s finances and all the great domestic departments of state. He became the King’s voice, if not his brain, in Swedish diplomacy. By February 1716, he was describing himself as Director of the Finances and Commerce of Sweden.
He goes to work, raising taxes, creating a paper currency, doing whatever it takes to make it so Charles can fight on. Naturally, the Swedes, already exhausted, like Görtz as much as you might imagine.
Massie says he was accused of financial dishonesty, but was in fact so honest that he even paid for state needs out of his own pocket. (This was a thing that happened; Peter's favorite Menshikov and Catherine's favorite Potemkin were both accused of embezzlement, but they both, when you examine the records, apparently used personal money for state purposes and state money for personal purposes, considering the one a loan to the state and the other a repayment of the money they'd advanced. The bookkeeping was so chaotic that it was impossible to tell in the end who owed who. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out Görtz did the same.)
But try telling the Swedes that. So now Görtz has got three sets of enemies: Swedes who are upset that a foreigner is getting all this favor, Swedes who support C12's sister Ulrike Eleonora over Holstein nephew Charles Frederick as heir to the throne, and Swedes are Done With This War Already (TM).
But Charles thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread, and Charles is an absolute monarch!
So now Görtz's job is to go negotiate with other major powers, like Russia, about ending the war on terms Charles will accept.
This is Massie's take (note my qualifier):
Görtz is a people skills genius who takes a weakened Sweden that should really be suing for peace, and makes it into the diplomatic power of the north that everyone is courting. He's wheeling and dealing, wielding smoke and mirrors, using psychology, just like a poker player pretending his hand is a lot stronger than it is. It works amazingly! He gets really good terms!
And Charles rejects them, because the only acceptable Charles XII terms are "I defeat my enemies utterly and don't cede an inch of land." (You saw this coming, right?)
So Görtz tries again! He doesn't tell Charles what he's up to, and he asks forgiveness rather than permission, and he gets another really good deal!
Which Charles rejects, and goes on fighting for all-or-nothing.
At this point, I was super impressed with Görtz, and the fact that he and Charles were both so amazing in their respective but completely different domains was pushing my ship buttons. (As I've explained, this is why I find it hard to ship Fritz/Fredersdorf more than I do: they're both good at so many of the same things, and even where they're not, I don't get that clear sense that their partnership had that clear division of labor like Charles and Görtz. "The same dash and reckless bravado which the King employed in war" is a ship made to order for me.)
BUT. The fact that they weren't on the same page and Görtz was increasingly having to keep secrets from Charles was making shipping harder. (I know that would be a feature rather than a bug for some of you reading this. For this particular dynamic, for me, it's a bug.)
But then! I read Hatton. And Hatton's take is that the claim that Görtz was doing genius diplomacy basically behind Charles' back, and Charles' stubbornness and arrogance kept making it all for naught, is the *old* school of thought. Whereas if you read all the archives, not just from Sweden, but of the whole anti-Swedish coalition--as well as Sweden's would-be allies, in the military sense, the Jacobites and Alberoni of Spain, and of her formal allies although not co-belligerents, Hesse and France--the threads of the negotiations can now be more clearly distinguished.
(Hatton may not be perfect, but this kind of thing is why I like her.)
According to Hatton, reading all the archives you can get your hands on reveals that Charles and Görtz knew their letters were being read. This was a safe assumption in 18th century diplomacy, as
So our antiheroes had a whole system going where they would send letters that they meant to be read, which made it look like Görtz was taking his diplomatic maneuvering extremely seriously and Charles was the one rejecting it. But their secret letters, which have only just (as of 1968) been studied, make it clear that they were on the same page, and that Görtz's job was to distract the allies and buy time for Charles' military initiatives. And he knew it and was on board with it.
Me: HELLO MY NEW SHIP.
But then, in 1718, Charles is shot through the head on one of these military initiatives, as we've learned. In the grab for the throne, his sister Ulrika Eleonora moves fast and wins.
Görtz has three sets of enemies, as described above--Swedes who hate the war, everyone suspicious of foreigners, and Ulrika Eleonora's anti-Holstein party--and one of them is now on the throne. And his protector is gone.
He's promptly arrested and accused of alienating the late king's affections from the people. Meaning everyone is super upset at the war and blaming Charles, but he's the king and my brother, so we can't have that, so let's blame the minister! Who worked hand in glove with Charles and did only what the King wanted. Never mind that, off with his head! Görtz is the one who made Charles, after 14 years of continuing the war of his own accord, decide to keep continuing the war another 4 years. (Um, guys, Charles' track record is against you.)
Görtz got a show trial. To quote Massie at length again:
From the beginning, Goertz was doomed; in vain, he protested the lack of jurisdiction of the special commission. His claim that he was an alien and untouchable was rejected. His petition to have legal counsel was refused as unnecessary. He was not allowed to call his own witnesses or to confront hostile witnesses. He was not allowed to develop his defense in writing or to bring notes into the courtroom. He was given only a day and a half to prepare his reply, which permitted him time to read only one fifth of the evidence presented against him. Inevitably, he was found guilty, and unanimously he was condemned to be beheaded and his body buried under the scaffold, a mark of special contempt. He received the sentence with composure, but petitioned that his body might be spared this final disgrace. Grimly, Ulrika ordered the entire sentence carried out. Goertz mounted the scaffold with courage and dignity and said, “You bloodthirsty Swedes, take then the head you have thirsted for so long.” As he laid his head on the block, his last words were, “Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” His head fell at the first blow, and his body was buried on the spot.
He outlived Charles by just 2 months.
So, he's not exactly Fredersdorf and not exactly Katte, but the minister part is there and the tragic part is there. While I'm not endorsing the measures he took to continue the war, it's a massive double standard that Charles gets venerated and the guy who showed up to help him at the end gets his head chopped off. Just like Fritz *actually* trying to run away and Katte just thinking about it, and one gets locked up and the other gets his head chopped off.
At least they both got single-blow executions. As we've seen, that was a luxury in pre-guillotine days.
Also, I would read the hell out of fic about these two and their crazy partnership. :D I don't care if they had sex, that's the least important part here.
Oh, I should add that Massie relies heavily on Hatton for his C12 material, so I'm not sure how he overlooked her comment about the "ostensible" correspondence and the recently turned up "real" correspondence. But she makes a way better case than he does, so I'm going with her interpretation until further notice.