Research On Russian-British Trade Relations During The Reign Of Catherine Ⅱ

This paper aims at studying the changes of Russian-British trade relations during the reign of Catherine II.It tries to explain the change process of Russian-British trade relations from warming to deterioration.It explores the reasons for the changes in Russian-British trade relations,analyzes the main influencing factors of Russian-British trade relations,and evaluates the Russian-British trade relations at this time.This paper is divided into three parts:preface,main text and conclusion.The first part,the preface,it elaborates the significance and value of the study mentioned in this paper and provides a review of overseas and domestic research status on the Russian-British commercial relations during the reign of Catherine II.The second part,main text,is further divided into four sections:The first section is mainly a review of the Russian-British trade relations before Catherine II.In this part,firstly,the process and purpose of establishing trade relations between Russia and Britain in the second half of the 16th century are described.Russia paid attention to the political value of trade relations,while Britain paid attention to the economic value of trade relations.Secondly,it analyzes the deterioration of trade relations between Russia and Britain in the 17th century.Because of the Russian domestic political turmoil and competition from the Netherlands,Russia-Britain trade relations are very unstable.Russian merchants launched a petition against British merchant,which put huge amount of pressure on the government.Later,when the first British revolution broke out,Russia took the opportunity to abolish Britain’s trade privileges,British merchants were driven out of Russia.Trade relations between the two sides had deteriorated completely.Third,it analyzes the reconstruction process of Russian-British trade relations in the early 18th century.Peter the great signed the treaty of tobacco trade with Britain,which laid the foundation for the restoration of Russian-British trade relations.Russia forced the transfer of its foreign trade center from Archangel to St.Petersburg,and Britain wisely followed this trend,resulting in a significant increase in trade between Russia and Britain.In 1734,Russia and Britain reached a commercial treaty,which laid a solid legal foundation for the development of trade relations and normalized it.The second section focuses on the main factors and process of the warming of the trade relations between Russia and Britain in the early period of Catherine Ⅱ’s reign.At the beginning of Catherine II’s accession to the throne,a series of conditions were favorable for the warming of trade relations between Russia and Britain.The queen herself had close relations with Britain.After the queen came to power,pro-British forces led by Panin gradually took the lead in the government.The commerce committee,that made up of Panin’s supporters,is strongly supportive of the development of Russian-British trade relations.Above all,Britain wanted an alliance with Russia to avoid isolation.Russia also wanted to bring Britain into the Northern system,to form an alliance with Britain.Political union has been a major driver of waming trade relations between Russia and Britain.Then it analyzes the warming process of trade relations.The signing of the Russia-British trade treaty in 1766 is the main manifestation of the warming up of trade relations,so the process of the Russian-British trade negotiations is also the process of the warming of the Russian-British trade relations.The third section focuses on the analysis of the reasons and effects of the deterioration of trade relations in the later period of Catherine II’s reign.The deterioration of trade relations between Russia and Britain is mainly caused by two reasons.First,the decrease of Russia’s political dependence on Britain.As Russia’s dependence on British politics was decreasing,Russia was no longer willing to trade interests for British political support,and no longer easily gave way to Britain on trade issues.The confrontation between the two sides on trade issues has become increasingly fierce.Second,the deepening of Britain’s trade dependence on Russia.with the deepening of Britain’s trade dependence on Russia,the trade initiative gradually came into Russia’s hands.Russia paid more attention to the development of its own trade,began to oppose Britain’s monopoly position in Russian overseas trade,and even openly targeted Britain in trade,which led to the deterioration of trade relations.The impact of the deterioration of trade relations is that Russia-France trade relations are close,and the two sides finally signed the trade treaty in 1786.Britain also began to develop trade relations with Poland,trying to replace the trade relations between Britain and Russia with the trade relations between Britain and Poland.The last section is to evaluate the trade relations between Russia and Britain in the period of Catherine II.During the reign of Catherine II,the trade relations between Russia and Britain mainly had the following three characteristics.First,mutual benefit.The development of trade relations has brought benefits to both sides.With the development of trade relations,Britain obtained a large number of raw materials needed for the industrial revolution,and the British navy was provided with sufficient naval supplies.With the help of its trade relations with Britain,Russia accelerated its integration into the European economic system,and its westernization was significantly accelerated.Second,inequality.Britain was overly dependent on its trade relations with Russia,but Russia was constantly reducing its dependence on Britain through signing trade treaties with many countries,the initiative of trade relations gradually came into Russia’s hands.Third,trade relations and political relations influence each other.On the one hand,the trade relationship between Russia and Britain is extremely susceptible to the influence of political relations.On the other hand,trade relations can also have an impact on political relations.It is in order to maintain trade relations with Russia that Britain shows obvious pro-Russian tendency in politics,which plays an important role in resolving the political crisis between Russia and Britain.The conclusion mainly summarizes the development and changes of Russian-British trade relations during the reign of Catherine Ⅱ.