The Baltic Germans had already been active as foreign experts in the Russian empire since the early modern times. To achieve his goal of the European integration of Russia, Peter the Great increased recruitment by promising them numerous liberties and unlimited freedom to practise their religious confession. In addition, there were generous financial incentives that made working abroad more attractive. Germans played a disproportionately large role in the officer corps and bureaucracy of the Tsarist Empire. In the 19th century until the end of the Russian Empire there was at least one Baltic German at the head of every Russian ministry.
Many Baltic German noble families later had Russian family branches as children of mixed marriages had to be baptised according to the Orthodox rite. Well-known examples are the Wrangell and Krusenstern families. The latter is still honoured as a circumnavigator in Russia, Estonia and Germany.
Illustrations:
1.) Portrait of Baroness von Krüdener with her two-year-old son Paul painted in 1787 by Angelika Kauffmann. Museum of Louvre-Lens
Barbara Juliane von Krüdener (1764-1824) was a famous Baltic German woman. She came from the Baltic noble family Vietinghoff-Scheel and was the granddaughter of the field marshal von Münnich. The founding of the Holy Alliance between Russia, Austria and Prussia in 1815 is also attributed to her influence on the Russian Tsar Alexander I.
2.) Paul von Rennenkampf (1854-1918). The general of the Imperial Russian cavalry and adjutant general of Tsar Nicholas II came from a Baltic German family. In 1914 he led the attack of the Russian armed forces in East Prussia.