The Russians in Koenigsberg: a numismatic testimony to the Seven Years' War

In the upcoming auction of the Tempelhofer Münzenhaus / Berlin, on April 6, 2017, a largecollection of coins of Frederick II will be auctioned off. They include a comprehensive seriesof Russian coins from East Prussia. We are telling their story.

As a matter of fact, the Seven Year's War (1756-1763) might be understood as the first globalwar in history: All major European powers were involved. On the side of Prussia, there wereEngland and Portugal while on the side of the House of Habsburg, there were France, Russiaand Sweden; and these were only the three most significant participants. Their campaignswere not restricted to the European territory but infringed North America, India and theCaribbean. Nevertheless, the decision was made in Europe without involving any army.

East Prussia
An important theater of war was East Prussia, the part of the Prussian Kingdom that lent theHouse of Hohenzollern their name. This was only possible because East Prussia was locatedso far east that it did not belong to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

Geographically speaking, it was an exclave in the Polish Kingdom (fig. 1). East Prussia onlywas not subject to the supremacy of the Polish ruler because he had waived his sovereignrights in 1657. Therewith, the East Prussian ruler was autonomous and free to place a royalcrown on his head. This in no way changed anything about the two weak spots of his EastPrussian rule: Located far away from the ancestral homeland, the territory was difficult todefend. And the Polish would have loved to incorporate it into their own empire again.

And what did the Russians want in East Prussia?
Elizabeth I of Russia had ambitious plans. To her, the Seven Years' War came in very handy.Her father Peter I had modernized the country. Now she planned to convert these efforts intoan expansion of territory, most preferably to the west where there was a greater density ofeconomic centers. There, however, the Kingdom of Poland was located. If she had been in theposition to offer the Kingdom a reasonable change of land, she would have surely gained theDuchy of Courland in turn, which was of great interest to her.

Thus, East Prussia was no mere strategic goal when the Russian army, led by GeneralApraksin, attacked on July 1, 1757. He won the Battle of Gross-Jaegersdorf, but could nottake advantage of his victory. Also his lines of supplies were too long. As a result, the Russianmain body was forced to retreat.

Already in the spring of the following year, though, it attacked another time. The Battle ofZorndorf was a horrible bloodbath and modern historians still wonder who has won exactly.The Prussians lost 13,000 men, and the Russians 18,000!No wonder, then, that Federick's situation became increasingly threatening. In the Battle ofKunersdorf, he suffered a devastating defeat. Berlin wasn't taken only for the fact that theallies were interested in other things. Elizabeth wanted East Prussia, and that became theplace where the Russian administration took residence.

Russian coins for East Prussia
Elizabeth wasn't interested in ruining East Prussia. It had to remain an attractive, operatingeconomic territory if she wanted to exchange it for another part of Poland. And an operatingeconomy required an operating monetary system.

And so, the Russians made good use of the Koenigberg Mint to strike coins for East Prussiabetween 1759 and 1762. The denominations matched the local ones. They consisted of thirdtalers (fig. 3), sixth talers (fig. 4), 18 groeschers, also called tympf (fig. 5), 6 groeschers orszostak (fig. 6), 3 groeschers or duettchen (fig. 7), 2 groeschers (fig. 8), groschen (fig. 9), andschilling (fig. 10).

The coins' design of course changed. From the third taler down to the 3 groeschers, on theobverse we see the bust of Tsarina Elizabeth I with a Latin legend (in translation): Elizabeth Iby the grace of God Empress of all Russia. The 2 groeschers, in contrast, only depicts theRussian double eagle with the Latin wording (in translation): silver coin. The smallestdenomination, the schilling of which three made a groschen, shows an entwined monogramconsisting of E and P for Elizabeth Petrovna (= Elizabeth, daughter of Peter).

The reverse, on the other hand, remains Prussian: It features the crowned eagle with scepterand Imperial orb. Furthermore, every denomination clearly states its value, and the groscheneven mentions explicitly that it was a coin of the Kingdom of Prussia (Moneta RegniPrussiae).

Coin imports from Moscow
These coins were very popular, because the Tsarina didn't take part in the general debasementwith which other rulers, like Frederick II, funded their war. Her coins were rather issued inpre-war quality. By decree, the poor war money was banned from the East Prussian markets.Since the Koenigsberg Mint was not able to strike enough coins to meet the demand, theMoscow Mint was commissioned as well. It's hard to draw a distinction between this Mint'sstrikings and their Koenigsberg models. The only difference is that they exhibit a flatter reliefand some stylistic variations.

How popular these coins were among the ordinary people becomes clear by the fact that thosepublic counterfeiters, acting on behalf of king Frederick II, produced imitations of the tympfof 18 groschens (fig. 11), but of course with a considerably reduced silver content. TheseBerlin imitations are recognizable by their obverse legend. Instead of the usual RUSS, theyend with RUSSIA or, as in the present case, with RUSSIAE.

Heaven intervenes in favor of Frederick
Early in 1762, the Prussian Kingdom looked at a future that was more than dismal. With thefall of British Prime Minister William Pitt, Great Britain terminated the payment of subsidies.That would have put an end to everything if Tsarina Elizabeth I had not died on January 5,1762.

Her heir was Peter III, an ardent admirer of the Prussian King. Already as Tsarevitch, hemaintained an extensive exchange of letters with Frederick. He possessed a guard of Germansoldiers who had been trained according to the Prussian model, and he loved to command itwhile wearing a Prussian uniform. When the war had broken out, Peter had already tried tostop his aunt from attacking Prussia. Now, he possessed the power to do what he deemedright. And this meant immediate peace negotiations.

East Prussia and the Treaty of Saint Petersburg
Russia, therefore, no longer took part in the war. East Prussia was returned without any kindof compensation. By decree (fig. 12), the Russian Procurator informed the East Prussians thatthe ... "confusions between Your Imperial Highness, most gracious lord of mine, and HisRoyal Highness the King of Prussia, which have caused a bloody war, have now beenremedied happily and that a treaty, concluded between the two sovereign courts, haveestablished an eternal peace." By this, Frederick would have "resumed complete possession ofthis Kingdom again."

A decision of historical significance
The edict was published on July 8, 1762. On July 9, Peter was dead, he fell victim to a coupof his own wife. Presumably she didn't have any problems finding herself allies. After all,who wanted to be ruled by someone who returned a conquest that had cost the lives of tens ofthousands of Russian soldiers so easily?To Frederick, this was of no concern. The withdrawal of Russia had more or less ended thewar. On February 15, 1763, the Treaty of Hubertusburg was signed.

And East Prussia?
East Prussia remained a part of the Kingdom of Prussia, a part whose vulnerability wasknown. Therefore, Frederick agreed to the First Partition of Poland right away. What hegained was a land connection with East Prussia. It took only a little bit more than 20 years towipe Poland, stripped of power, off the map for nearly an entire century.An injustice that prepared the ground for more injustice.