Andreas Peter, Greve (count) von Bernstorff | Danish statesman, diplomat, reformer

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(aged 61)</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Title / Office: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/foreign-minister">foreign minister (1784-1797)</a>, <a href="/place/Denmark">Denmark</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/foreign-minister">foreign minister (1773-1780)</a>, <a href="/place/Denmark">Denmark</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Andreas-Peter-Greve-von-Bernstorff"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref201666"></span>Andreas Peter, Greve (count) von Bernstorff</strong> (born Aug. 28, 1735, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Hannover-Germany" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Hannover</a>, Hanover [Germany]—died June 21, 1797, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Copenhagen" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Copenhagen</a>, Den.) was a statesman who maintained the neutrality of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Denmark" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Denmark</a> during the last quarter of the 18th century and who took a leading part in Danish domestic reform.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In 1758 Bernstorff joined the Danish Foreign Office, from which he was dismissed in 1770. He returned to the office in 1772 and became foreign minister the next year. On Aug. 12, 1773, he concluded a partly defensive and partly anti-Swedish treaty of alliance between Denmark and Russia.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">During the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Revolution" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">American Revolution</a>, Bernstorff <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="sympathized" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/sympathized" data-type="EB">sympathized</a> with Great Britain despite that <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/nation-state" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">country’s</a> assertion of its right to search for “<span id="ref981102"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/contraband" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">contraband</a> of war” on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/high-seas" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">high seas</a>, and in 1779 he favoured the British proposal for a triple alliance among Great Britain, Denmark-Norway, and Russia. The Danish court, however, favoured the Russian proposal for an armed league of all the neutral powers to protect neutral shipping. Bernstorff, fearing that the Russian proposal was aimed exclusively against Great Britain, unwillingly acceded to it on July 9, 1780, after having reached a separate agreement with Britain five days earlier on what <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="constituted" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/constituted" data-type="MW">constituted</a> “contraband of war.” Russian resentment over his action forced Bernstorff’s resignation on November 13.</p><div class="module-spacing"> </div><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Recalled to office in April 1784, Bernstorff, until his death, served as foreign minister in a moderate liberal government. He supported a series of reform measures including the regulation of landlord-peasant relations and the end of adscription (the legal bond between peasants and the estate of their birth). In foreign affairs, Bernstorff carefully pursued a policy of neutrality. When the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/French-Revolution" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">French Revolution</a> broke out, he condemned any interference in the domestic affairs of France and avoided every anti-French coalition. In March 1794 he negotiated a neutrality treaty with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sweden" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Sweden</a> for protecting the merchant shipping of both countries by combined squadrons.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Bernstorff’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/foreign-policy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">foreign policy</a> won him the respect of European diplomats; his domestic policy gained him such popularity among the Danes that his death was regarded as a national <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="calamity" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calamity" data-type="MW">calamity</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="md-signature">This article was most recently revised and updated by <a href="/contributor/encyclopaedia-britannica/12989892">Encyclopaedia Britannica</a>.</span><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":62650,"pageLength":323,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"BIO_MEDIUM","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Andreas Peter, Greve (count) von Bernstorff | Danish statesman, diplomat, reformer | Britannica