Editing Aleksey Lobanov-Rostovsky

{{Short description|Russian statesman}}
{{family name hatnote|Borisovich|Lobanov-Rostovsky|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
[[File:Lobanov.gif|right|frame|Aleksey Lobanov-Rostovsky]]
'''Prince Aleksey Borisovich Lobanov-Rostovsky''' ({{langx|ru|Князь Алексе́й Бори́сович Лоба́нов-Росто́вский}}) ({{OldStyleDate|30 December|1824|18 December}} in [[Voronezh Governorate]] – {{OldStyleDate|30 August|1896|18 August}}) was a Russian [[politician|statesman]], probably best remembered for having concluded the [[Li-Lobanov Treaty]] with China, the [[Peace of Constantinople (1879)|Peace of Constantinople]] with the [[Ottoman Empire]], and for his publication of the ''Russian Genealogical Book'' (in two volumes).

==Life==
[[Knyaz|Prince]] Lobanov-Rostovsky was educated at [[Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum]]. At the age of twenty, he entered the [[diplomatic service]] and became [[Diplomatic minister|minister]] at [[Constantinople]] in 1859. In 1863, a regrettable incident in his private life made him retire temporarily from the [[Civil service|public service]], but four years later he re-entered it and served for ten years as an assistant to the [[Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire|minister of the interior]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Lobanov-Rostovski, Alexis Borisovich|volume=16|pages=835-836|first=Donald Mackenzie|last=Wallace|authorlink=Donald Mackenzie Wallace}}</ref>

At the close of the [[Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878|Russo-Turkish war]] in 1878, he was selected by [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] as [[ambassador]] to Constantinople, and for more than a year he carried out with great ability the policy of his government, which aimed at re-establishing tranquility in the [[Eastern Question]] after the disturbances produced by the reckless action of his predecessor, [[Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev|Count Ignatiev]]. In 1879 he was transferred to London, and in 1882 to [[Vienna]]. In March 1895, under [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]], he was appointed [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire|minister of foreign affairs]] in succession to [[Nicholas de Giers]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

In this position he displayed much of the caution of his predecessor, but adopted a more energetic policy in European affairs generally and especially in the [[Balkan Peninsula]]. At the time of his appointment the attitude of the Russian government towards the [[Slavic peoples|Slav nationalities]] had been for several years one of extreme reserve, and he had seemed as ambassador to sympathize with this attitude. But as soon as he became minister of foreign affairs, Russian influence in the Balkan Peninsula suddenly revived. [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]] received financial assistance; a large consignment of arms was sent openly from [[Saint Petersburg]] to the prince of [[Principality of Montenegro|Montenegro]]; Prince [[Ferdinand of Bulgaria|Ferdinand]] of [[Principality of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] became ostensibly reconciled with the Russian emperor, and his son [[Boris III of Bulgaria|Boris]] was received into the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]; the Russian embassy at Constantinople tried to bring about a reconciliation between the [[Bulgarian Exarchate|Bulgarian exarch]] and the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Ecumenical Patriarch]]; Bulgarians and [[Serbs|Serbians]] professed, at the bidding of Russia, to lay aside their mutual hostility.<ref name="EB1911"/>

All this seemed to foreshadow the creation of a [[Balkan]] [[confederation]] hostile to the [[Ottoman Empire]], and Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]] had reason to feel alarmed. In reality Prince Lobanov was merely trying to establish a strong Russian [[hegemony]] among these nationalities, and he had not the slightest intention of provoking a new crisis in the Eastern Question so long as the general European situation did not afford Russia a convenient opportunity for solving it in her own interest without serious intervention from other powers. Meanwhile, he considered that the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire must be maintained so far as these other powers were concerned. At the same time efforts were made to weaken the [[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]], the principal instrument employed being the entente with France, which Prince Lobanov helped convert into a formal [[military alliance|alliance]] between the two great powers.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In [[East Asia]] he was not less active and became the protector of [[Qing Dynasty|China]] in the same sense as he had shown himself the protector of Turkey. By the [[Yamagata-Lobanov Agreement]], Japan was compelled to give up her conquests in [[Northeast China]], so as not to interfere with the future actions of St.&nbsp;Petersburg in [[Manchuria]] and financial and political schemes for increasing czarist influence in that part of the world were vigorously supported. All this activity, though combined with a haughty tone towards foreign governments and [[diplomat]]s, did not produce much general apprehension, probably because there was a widespread conviction that he desired to maintain peace, and that his great ability and strength of character would enable him to control the dangerous forces which he boldly set in motion. However this may be, before he had time to mature his schemes, and when he had been the director of Russian policy for only eighteen months, he died suddenly of [[heart disease]] when travelling with the emperor on August 30, 1896.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Personally, Prince Lobanov-Rostovskiy was a grand aristocrat of the Russian type, proud of being descended from the independent princes of [[Rostov, Yaroslavl Oblast|Rostov]], and at the same time an amiable man of wide culture, deeply versed in [[Russian history]] and [[genealogy]], and perhaps the first authority of his time in all that related to the reign of Tsar [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]] (1754–1801).<ref name="EB1911"/> His extensive collection of coins, particularly those minted by the Russians during their occupation of [[Königsberg]] in 1758–1761, was acquired by the [[Russian Museum]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2017}}

{{commons category|Aleksey Borisovich Lobanov-Rostovsky}}

==References==
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{{succession box|title=[[Foreign Minister of Russia]]|before=[[Nicholas de Giers]]|after=[[Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov|Mikhail Muraviev]]|years=1895–1896}}
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{{Foreign ministers of Russia and the Soviet Union}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lobanov-Rostovsky, Alexei}}
[[Category:1824 births]]
[[Category:1896 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Voronezh Governorate]]
[[Category:Nobility from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Foreign ministers of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Russian genealogists]]
[[Category:Numismatists from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Diplomats of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Members of the State Council (Russian Empire)]]
[[Category:Lobanov-Rostovsky family|Aleksey]]
[[Category:Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum alumni]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century diplomats]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ambassadors to Austria-Hungary]]