The foreign policy of France during the time of Eugen Kvaternik

Abstract

Napoleon III dedicated his reign to restoring France to its position as a major power and a key player in international relations in Europe. This involved working towards rebalancing power dynamics on the Old Continent and dismantling the rules inherited from the Congress of Vienna. He endeavoured to weaken and isolate Russia and the Habsburg Monarchy, guardians of the old order. The principle of nationalities appeared to him as the instrument for reshaping Europe in favour of France. However, it proved to be a double-edged sword, a Pandora's box.

The Sphinx tried to position itself as a guide for peoples seeking sovereignty but failed to control them. While the Romanians were indebted to him for their emancipation, the hopes of the Poles placed in him were disappointed. Condemned to a "policy of tips," he proved powerless to channel Prussian expansionism. The birth of the Reich would be proclaimed on the ashes of the Second Empire.

Between 1859 and 1864, the Croatian revolutionary Eugen Kvaternik made several extended stays in Paris. A supporter of the independence of his homeland, he worked to gain the support of French political circles for his cause. He established connections with prominent figures in the Bonapartist movement, such as Louis Léouzon Le Duc, journalists Adolphe Guéroult and Paulin de Limayrac, historian Francis Lacombe, disgraced colonial administrator Sarda-Garriga, and publisher Ferdinand-Fleurus Amyot.

This network allowed him to publish his work "La Croatie et la Confédération italienne" and modestly influence the treatment of Central European issues in the press. He also played a role in changing the title of a play intended to cast shame on the Austrian army during the Italian Campaign. Rehearsed under the title "Les Croates," this work by François-Alphonse Arnault, Louis Judicis, and Jules Delahaye was promptly renamed "La Veille de Marengo" just before its premiere at the Gaîté.

With his social skills and unwavering determination, and having been received by the emperor himself, Kvaternik established contact with the emperor's first cousin, Prince Napoleon. He met with him four times at the Palais-Royal in March and April 1860 and then in August 1863. He sent him his book and several memoirs. Kvaternik sought to draw the attention of the "Red Bonaparte" to the Croatian question, convincing him of the opportunity to link it to the resolution of the Italian problem and then to the context of the Polish crisis. He hinted at the possibility that the Croats would offer him their "throne" in reward for French support in liberating their country after the upcoming uprising in the Military Frontier. He presented his plans for reorganising Central Europe and his projects for a Danubian Confederation.

Napoleon-Jérôme was not indifferent to his arguments, but he remained sceptical of this unknown and evidently isolated exile, oddly holding Russian nationality and hostile to Vienna and Pest. Kvaternik claimed to represent a nation considered loyal to the Habsburgs. The Croatian rebel failed to convince him of his ability to achieve the ambitious plans outlined or to diminish his fondness for the Magyars. Perhaps he also overestimated Plon-Plon's power and influence over his illustrious cousin. His efforts remained without tangible effects. Many years later, in October 1871, after many twists and turns and other adventures, Kvaternik led an armed uprising against the Habsburgs in Rakovica in Kordun. He lost his life there.