Gortschakoff, PRINCE ALEXANDER MICHAELOVITCH, Russian statesman, was born at St Petersburg, 16th July 1798, being the son of Prince Michael, a distinguished officer. He was educated at the celebrated Lyceum of Tzarskoe-Selo, and acquired experience in diplomacy under Nesselrode. Ambassador at Vienna (1854-56), he displayed great judgment and ability during the Crimean war, and it was chiefly through his influence that Russia agreed to the treaty of Paris. After this event Prince Gortschakoff succeeded Nesselrode as minister of foreign affairs. When France became hostile to Austria on the Italian question, he cultivated the friendship of the former. Desirous of restoring the prestige of Russia in European affairs, he addressed a circular dispatch to the Powers in 1860 in favour of the principle of nationalities in the Two Sicilies. He also favoured the French expedition of 1861 to Syria on behalf of the oppressed Christians, but he declined to associate himself with France and Great Britain in their unfriendly attitude towards the United States after the outbreak of the civil war. Touching the Polish insurrection of 1863, he repudiated foreign dictation, and asserted the right of Russia to settle her internal affairs in accordance with her own interests and the integrity of the empire. By this step he acquired great popularity at home and respect abroad, and he was appointed chancellor of the empire in July 1863. From this time until the ascendancy of Bismarck he was the most powerful minister in Europe.
He remained neutral during the struggle between Prussia and Austria; and, owing to a definite understanding between the Russian and Prussian chancellors, the neutrality of Austria was secured in the great Franco-Prussian war of 1870. Gortschakoff further availed himself of this war to counteract the injury done to Russian influence by the treaty of Paris. At the London Conference in January 1871 he procured the revision of the treaty, and the formation of another putting an end to the neutralisation of the Black Sea. For this service the emperor conferred upon him the dignity of Serene Highness. In 1873-74 he manifested a desire to preserve friendly relations with England in regard to central Asia, but this was scarcely consistent with his aggressive policy. In the Servian war of 1878 Gortschakoff took up an indecisive attitude; and after the conclusion of the Turko-Russian war, the repudiation of the treaty of San Stefano, and the signing of the treaty of Berlin his influence began to wane. At the Berlin Congress Bismarck and Beaconsfield had paid more attention to Schouvaloff than to the chancellor. Gortschakoff altogether ceased to be the first factor in European politics before Alexander II. was assassinated, and long before he was superseded by M. de Giers as minister for foreign affairs in March 1882. Gortschakoff's sphere of action was European, not local; he ignored too much Russian developments and Russian aspirations, took no active interest in the serious financial and industrial problems affecting his country, or in the growth of Nihilism, and he even failed to bear his part in the abolition of serfdom. After his retirement he left Russia for Baden-Baden, where he died on 1st March 1883. Gortschakoff was a man of considerable culture and a friend of the liberal arts. His diplomatic circulars were remarkable for their excellent diction, their wit, and their restless logic. The name is also Englished by Gortchakoff and Gorchakov. See Klaczko's Two Chancellors (Eng. trans. 1876).