There is a rather interesting story that when the writer Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy was working on his novel Peter the Great, he was faced with the rather unusual fact that the greatest of Russian monarchs, the pride of the Romanov family, has nothing to do with either the family name or Russian nationality in general!

This fact excited the writer extremely, and he, taking advantage of his acquaintance with another great dictator, and remembering the fate of other, careless writers, decided to turn to him for advice, especially since the information was in a sense quite close to the leader.

The information was provocative and ambiguous, Alexei Nikolaevich brought a document to Stalin, namely a certain letter, which clearly indicated that Peter I, by his origin, was not at all Russian, as was previously thought, but a Georgian!

Remarkably, Stalin was not at all surprised by such an unusual incident. Moreover, after reading the documents, he asked Tolstoy to hide this fact in order not to give him the opportunity to become public, arguing his desire quite simply: “Let them leave at least one “Russian” that they can be proud of!”

And recommending that the document inherited by Tolstoy be destroyed. The act, it would seem, is strange, if you remember that Joseph Vissarionovich himself was a Georgian by birth. But if you look, it is absolutely logical from the point of view of the position of the leader of the peoples, since it is known that Stalin considered himself Russian! How else would he call himself the leader of the Russian people?

Information after this meeting, it would seem, should have been buried forever, but no offense to Alexei Nikolaevich, and he, like any writer, was an extremely sociable person, was told to a narrow circle of acquaintances, and there, according to the snowball principle, it was spread like a virus around to all the minds of the intelligentsia of that time.

What was the letter that was supposed to disappear? Most likely, this is a letter from Darya Archilovna Bagration-Mukhranskaya, daughter of the King of Imereti Archil II, to her cousin, the daughter of the Mingrelian prince Dadiani.

The letter refers to a certain prophecy she heard from the Georgian queen: “My mother told me about a certain Matveev, who had a prophetic dream in which Saint George the Victorious appeared to him and said to him: a "KING OF KINGS" must be born who will make it a great empire. He was supposed to be born from the alien Orthodox Tsar of Iberian from that tribe of David, which is the Mother of God. And the daughters of Cyril Naryshkin, pure in heart. Disobeying this command - to be a great pestilence. The will of God is the will."

The prophecy unequivocally hinted at the urgent need for such an event, but another problem could really serve such a turn of events.

The beginning of the end of the Romanov family

To understand the reasons for such a written appeal, it is necessary to turn to history and remember that the Moscow kingdom at that time was a kingdom without a king, and the acting king, the monarch Alexei Mikhailovich, could not cope with the role assigned to him.

In fact, the country was ruled by Prince Miloslavsky, mired in palace intrigues, a swindler and adventurer.

Context

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La Nacion Argentina 01/26/2016 Aleksey Mikhailovich was a weak and frail man, he was surrounded by people mostly church people, to whose opinion he listened. One of these was Artamon Sergeevich Matveev, who, being a difficult man, knew how to exert the necessary pressure on the tsar in order to induce him to do things that the tsar was not ready for. In fact, Matveev led the tsar with his tips, being a kind of prototype of "Rasputin" at court.

Matveev's plan was simple: it was necessary to help the tsar get rid of his kinship with the Miloslavskys and put "his" heir on the throne...

So in March 1669, after giving birth, the wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, died.

After that, it was Matveev who betrothed Alexei Mikhailovich the Crimean Tatar princess Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, the daughter of the Crimean Tatar murza Ismail Narysh, who at that time lived in Moscow and for convenience wore the name Kirill, quite convenient for the pronunciation of the local nobility.

It remained to resolve the issue with the heir, since the children born from the first wife were as frail as the tsar himself, and, according to Matveev, they were unlikely to pose a threat.

In other words, as soon as the tsar was married to Princess Naryshkina, the question arose of an heir, and since at that time the tsar was seriously ill and physically weak, and his children turned out to be frail, it was decided to find a replacement for him, and that's when the Georgian prince fell into the hands of the conspirators ...

Who is Peter's father?

There are actually two theories, two great Georgian princes from the Bagration family are registered in Peter's fathers, these are:

Archil II (1647-1713) - king of Imereti (1661-1663, 1678-1679, 1690-1691, 1695-1696, 1698) and Kakheti (1664-1675), lyric poet, eldest son of King Vakhtang V of Kartli. One of founders of the Georgian colony in Moscow.

Heraclius I (Nazarali Khan; 1637 or 1642 - 1709) - king of Kartli (1688-1703), king of Kakheti (1703-1709). Son of Prince David (1612-1648) and Elena Diasamidze (d. 1695), grandson of King Teimuraz I of Kartli and Kakheti.

And in fact, after a little investigation, I am forced to bow that it was Heraclius who could become the father, because it was Heraclius who stayed in Moscow at the time suitable for the conception of the king, and Archil moved to Moscow only in 1681.

Tsarevich Irakli was known in Russia under the name Nikolai, which was more convenient for the local people, and his patronymic was Davydovich. Heraclius was close to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and even at the wedding of the Tsar and the Tatar princess, he was appointed thousandth, that is, the main manager of the wedding celebrations.

It is fair to say that the duties of the thousandth also included becoming the godfather of the wedding couple. But by the will of fate, the Georgian prince helped the Tsar of Moscow not only with the choice of a name for the first-born, but also with the conception of it.

At the christening of the future emperor, in 1672, Heraclius fulfilled his duty and named the baby Peter, and in 1674 he left Russia, taking the throne of the principality of Kakheti, however, to receive this title, he had to accept Islam.

Version two, doubtful

According to the second version, the father of the future autocrat in 1671 was the king of Imereti Archil II, who had been visiting the court for several months, fleeing from the pressure of Persia, who was practically forced to visit the princess’s bedroom under pressure, convincing him that, according to divine providence, his participation was necessary in an extremely charitable deed, namely, the conception of "the one who was expected."

Perhaps it was the dream of the practically holy man Matveyev that made the most noble Orthodox tsar enter the young princess.

The fact that the official heir to the Georgian monarch, Prince Alexander, became the first general of the Russian army of Georgian origin, served with Peter in amusing regiments and died for the emperor in Swedish captivity can testify to the relationship of Peter with Archil.

And the other children of Archil: Matvey, David and sister Daria (Dargen) received from Peter such preferences as lands in Russia, and were kindly treated by him in every possible way. In particular, the fact is known that Peter went to celebrate his victory in the village of All Saints, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe current Sokol, to his sister Daria!

The wave of mass migration of the Georgian elite to Moscow is also connected with this period in the life of the country. As proof of the relationship between the Georgian king Archil II and Peter I, they also cite the fact captured in the letter of the monarch to the Russian princess Naryshkina, in which he writes: “How is our rascal doing?”

Although "our rascal" can be said about Tsarevich Nikolai, and about Peter, as a representative of the Bagration family. The second version is also supported by the fact that Peter I was surprisingly similar to the Imeretian king Archil II. Both were truly gigantic for that time, with identical facial features and characters, although the same version can be used as evidence of the first, since the Georgian princes were in direct relationship.

Everyone knew and everyone was silent

It seems that everyone knew about the relatives of the king at that time. So Princess Sophia wrote to Prince Golitsyn: “You can’t give power to a Basurman!”

Peter's mother, Natalya Naryshkina, was also terribly afraid of what she had done, and repeatedly stated: "He cannot be a king!"

And the tsar himself, at the moment when the Georgian princess was being married to him, declared publicly: “I won’t marry namesakes!”

Visual similarity, no other evidence needed

This must be seen. Remember from history: not a single Moscow tsar was distinguished by either height or Slavic appearance, but Peter is the most special of them.

According to historical documents, Peter I was quite tall even by today's standards, since his height reached two meters, but what is strange is that he wore shoes of size 38, and the size of his clothes was 48! But, nevertheless, it was these features that he inherited from his Georgian relatives, since this description fit the Bagration family with accuracy. Peter was a pure European!

But not even visually, but in character, Peter definitely did not belong to the Romanov family, in all his habits he was a real Caucasian.

Yes, he inherited the unthinkable cruelty of the Moscow tsars, but this feature could have come to him on the maternal side, since their whole family was more Tatar than Slavic, and it was precisely this feature that gave him the opportunity to turn a fragment of the horde into a European state.

Conclusion

Peter I was not Russian, but he was a Russian, because despite his not entirely correct origin, he was still of royal blood, but he did not ascend to the Romanov family, much less to the Ruriks.

Perhaps it was not the Horde origin that made him a reformer and a real emperor, who turned the county Horde principality of Muscovy into the Russian Empire, even though he had to borrow the history of one of the occupied territories, but we will tell about this in the next story.

The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

the last tsar of all Rus' and the first Emperor of All Russia

short biography

Peter I the Great(real name - Romanov Petr Alekseevich) - Russian tsar, since 1721 - emperor, an outstanding statesman, famous for a large number of cardinal reforms, commander - was born on June 9 (May 30 according to Art.) in 1672 in Moscow; his father was Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, his mother was Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina.

The future emperor did not receive a systematic education, and although it is reported that his education began in 1677, in fact the boy was largely left to himself, spending most of his time with his peers in entertainment in which he participated very willingly. Until the age of 10, after the death of his father in 1676, Peter grew up under the supervision of Fyodor Alekseevich, his older brother. After his death, Ivan Alekseevich was supposed to become the heir to the throne, but the poor health of the latter contributed to the promotion of Peter to this post. Nevertheless, as a result of the Streltsy revolt, the political compromise was the enthronement of Peter and Ivan; Sofya Alekseevna, their older sister, was appointed ruler.

During the regency of Sophia, Peter participated in state administration only formally, attending ceremonial events. Sophia, watching the grown-up Peter, who was seriously fond of military amusements, took measures to strengthen her power. In August 1689, Peter's supporters convened a noble militia, dealt with Sophia's main adherents, she herself was settled in a monastery, and after that power actually passed into the hands of Peter's party, Ivan remained only a nominal ruler.

Nevertheless, even after receiving real power, instead of Peter, his mother and other close people actually ruled. The first time after the death of Natalya Kirillovna in 1694, the state machine worked by inertia, so Peter, although he was forced to rule the country, trusted this mission, mainly to the ministers. He was accustomed to detachment from affairs for many years of forced isolation from power.

At that time, Russia was very far from the advanced European states in terms of its socio-economic development. Peter's inquisitiveness, his seething energy, and keen interest in everything new allowed him to tackle the most important issues in the life of the country, especially since life itself promptly pushed him to this. The first victory in the biography of young Peter as a ruler was the second campaign against Azov in 1696, and this greatly contributed to strengthening his authority as a sovereign.

In 1697, Peter went abroad with his close associates, living in Holland, Saxony, England, Venice, Austria, where he got acquainted with the achievements of these countries in the field of technology, shipbuilding, as well as with the way of life of other states of the continent, their political, social structure. The news of the streltsy rebellion that broke out in his homeland forced him to return to his homeland, where he suppressed the act of disobedience with extreme cruelty.

During his stay abroad, the tsar's program in political life was formed. In the state, he saw the common good, which everyone, first of all, himself, should serve, and set an example for others. Peter behaved in many ways unconventionally for a monarch, destroying his sacred image, which had developed over the centuries, so a certain part of society was critical of him and his activities. Nevertheless, Peter I led the country along the path of fundamental reforms in all areas of life, from government controlled and ending with culture. They began with orders to shave off beards and wear clothes in a foreign manner.

A number of reforms were undertaken in the public administration system. So, under Peter I, the Senate, colleges were created; he subordinated the church to the state, introduced the administrative-territorial division of the country into provinces. In 1703, at the mouth of the Neva River, he founded a new Russian capital - St. Petersburg. They had a special mission assigned to this city - it was to become a model city, a "paradise". In the same period, instead of the boyar duma, a council of ministers appeared, and a mass of new institutions arose in St. Petersburg. When the Northern War ended, in 1721 Russia received the status of an empire, and Peter was called the "Great" and "Father of the Fatherland" by the Senate.

Much has changed in the economic system as well, because Peter was well aware of how deep the gulf between the country he headed and Europe was. He took many measures to develop industry and trade, including foreign trade; appeared with him a large number of new industries, factories and factories, manufactories, shipyards, marinas. All this was created taking into account the adopted Western European experience.

Peter I was credited with creating a regular army and navy. The foreign policy pursued by him was extremely energetic; Peter the Great undertook many military campaigns. In particular, as a result of the Northern War (1700-1721), territories that Sweden conquered even earlier were annexed to Russia, after the war with Turkey, Russia received Azov.

During the reign of Peter the Russian culture was replenished with a large number of European elements. At this time, the Academy of Sciences was opened, many secular educational institutions, the first Russian newspaper appeared. Through the efforts of Peter, the promotion of the nobility was made dependent on the level of their education. Under Peter I, the civil alphabet was adopted, and the celebration of the New Year was introduced. A fundamentally new urban environment was being formed in St. Petersburg, starting with architectural structures that had not been built before and ending with forms of pastime for people (in particular, Peter introduced the so-called assemblies by decree).

Peter I is credited with bringing Russia to the international arena as a great power. The country has become a full-fledged participant in international relations, its foreign policy has become active and has led to the strengthening of its authority in the world. The Russian emperor himself turned for many into an exemplary sovereign-reformer. For a long time, the system of administration introduced by him and the principles of the territorial division of Russia were preserved; they laid the foundations of national culture. At the same time, Peter's reforms were controversial, which created the preconditions for a crisis to brew. The ambiguity of his course is connected with violence as the main instrument of reform, the lack of changes in the social sphere, and the strengthening of the institution of serfdom.

Peter I the Great left behind an extensive manuscript heritage, numbering more than a dozen volumes; relatives, acquaintances of the emperor, his contemporaries, biographers captured many statements of the sovereign that have come down to our time. On February 8 (January 28 according to the old style), 1725, Peter I died in his offspring - the city of St. Petersburg. It is known that he suffered from a number of serious illnesses, which significantly brought his death closer.

Biography from Wikipedia

Representative of the Romanov dynasty. He was proclaimed king at the age of 10, began to rule independently from 1689. The formal co-ruler of Peter was his brother Ivan (until his death in 1696).

From a young age, showing interest in the sciences and a foreign way of life, Peter was the first of the Russian tsars to make a long journey to the countries of Western Europe. Upon returning from it, in 1698, Peter launched large-scale reforms of the Russian state and social order. One of the main achievements of Peter was the solution of the task set in the 16th century: the expansion of Russian territories in the Baltic region after the victory in the Great Northern War, which allowed him to take the title of Russian emperor in 1721.

IN historical science and in public opinion from the end of the 18th century to the present, there are diametrically opposed assessments of both the personality of Peter I and his role in the history of Russia. In the official Russian historiography, Peter was considered to be one of the most prominent statesmen who determined the direction of Russia's development in the 18th century. However, many historians, including Nikolai Karamzin, Vasily Klyuchevsky, Pavel Milyukov and others, expressed sharply critical assessments.

early years

Peter was born on the night of May 30 (June 9), 1672 (in 7180 according to the then accepted chronology "from the creation of the world"):

“In the current year of May 180, on the 30th day, for the prayers of the Holy Fathers, God forgave Our Queen and Grand Duchess Natalia Kirillovna, and gave birth to Us a son, the Blessed Tsarevich and Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich of All Great and Small and White Russia, and his name day is June 29 numbers.

Complete collection of laws, volume I, p.886

The exact place of Peter's birth is unknown; some historians indicated the birthplace of the Terem Palace of the Kremlin, and according to folk tales, Peter was born in the village of Kolomenskoye, and Izmailovo was also indicated.

Father - Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich - had numerous offspring: Peter I was the 14th child, but the first from his second wife, Tsarina Natalya Naryshkina. On June 29, on the day of the Holy Apostle Peter and the Holy Apostle Paul, the Tsarevich was baptized in the Miracle Monastery (according to other sources in the church of Gregory of Neocaesarea, in Derbitsy), by Archpriest Andrei Savinov and named Peter. The reason why he received the name "Peter" is not clear, perhaps as a euphonic correspondence to the older brother's name, as he was born on the same day as Fedor. It was not found either among the Romanovs or the Naryshkins. The last representative of the Moscow Rurik dynasty with that name was Pyotr Dmitrievich, who died in 1428.

After spending a year with the queen, he was given to the education of nannies. In the 4th year of Peter's life, in 1676, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died. The guardian of the tsarevich was his half-brother, godfather and new tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. Peter received a poor education, and until the end of his life he wrote with errors, using a poor vocabulary. This was due to the fact that the then Patriarch of Moscow, Joachim, as part of the fight against “Latinization” and “foreign influence”, removed from the royal court the students of Simeon of Polotsk, who taught Peter’s older brothers, and insisted that worse educated clerks be engaged in Peter’s education. Nikita Zotov and Afanasy Nesterov. In addition, Peter did not have the opportunity to get an education from any university graduate or from a secondary school teacher, since neither universities nor secondary schools existed in the Russian kingdom during Peter's childhood, and among the estates of Russian society there were only clerks, clerks, the clergy, boyars and some merchants were literate. The clerks taught Peter to read and write from 1676 to 1680. Peter was able to subsequently compensate for the shortcomings of basic education with rich practical exercises.

The death of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the accession of his eldest son Fyodor (from Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna, nee Miloslavskaya) pushed Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna and her relatives, the Naryshkins, into the background. Tsarina Natalya was forced to go to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.

Streltsy rebellion of 1682 and the coming to power of Sofia Alekseevna

On April 27 (May 7), 1682, after 6 years of reign, the sickly Tsar Fedor III Alekseevich died. The question arose of who should inherit the throne: the older, sickly Ivan, according to custom, or the young Peter. Enlisting the support of Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins and their supporters elevated Peter to the throne on the same day. In fact, the Naryshkin clan came to power and Artamon Matveev, summoned from exile, declared the “great guardian”. Supporters of Ivan Alekseevich found it difficult to support their pretender, who could not reign due to extremely poor health. The organizers actually palace coup announced the version of the hand-handed transfer of the “scepter” by the dying Fyodor Alekseevich to his younger brother Peter, but there was no reliable evidence of this.

Streltsy rebellion in 1682. Streltsy dragging Ivan Naryshkin out of the palace. While Peter I comforts his mother, Princess Sophia watches with satisfaction. Painting by A. I. Korzukhin, 1882

The Miloslavskys, relatives of Tsarevich Ivan and Princess Sophia by their mother, saw in the proclamation of Peter the Tsar an infringement of their interests. Streltsy, of whom there were more than 20 thousand in Moscow, had long shown discontent and willfulness; and, apparently, incited by the Miloslavskys, on May 15 (25), 1682, they spoke openly: shouting that the Naryshkins strangled Tsarevich Ivan, they moved to the Kremlin. Natalya Kirillovna, hoping to calm the rebels, together with the patriarch and the boyars, led Peter and his brother to the Red Porch. However, the uprising was not over. In the first hours, the boyars Artamon Matveev and Mikhail Dolgoruky were killed, then other supporters of Queen Natalia, including her two brothers Naryshkins.

On May 26, elected representatives from the archery regiments came to the palace and demanded that the elder Ivan be recognized as the first tsar, and the younger Peter as the second. Fearing a repetition of the pogrom, the boyars agreed, and Patriarch Joachim immediately performed a solemn prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral for the health of the two named kings; and on June 25 he crowned them to the kingdom.

On May 29, the archers insisted that Princess Sofya Alekseevna take over the government due to the infancy of her brothers. Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, together with her son Peter, the second tsar, had to retire from the court to a palace near Moscow in the village of Preobrazhensky. In the Armory of the Kremlin, a double throne for young tsars with a small window in the back was preserved, through which Princess Sophia and those close to her told them how to behave and what to say during palace ceremonies.

Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky amusing regiments

Peter spent all his free time away from the palace - in the villages of Vorobyov and Preobrazhensky. Every year his interest in military affairs increased. Peter dressed and armed his "amusing" army, which consisted of peers in boyish games. In 1685, his "amusing", dressed in foreign caftans, marched in regimental formation through Moscow from Preobrazhensky to the village of Vorobyovo to the beat of drums. Peter himself served as a drummer.

In 1686, 14-year-old Peter started artillery with his "amusing" ones. Gunsmith Fedor Sommer showed the tsar grenade and firearms. 16 guns were delivered from the Pushkar Order. To control heavy guns, the tsar took adult servants eager for military affairs from the Stable Order, who were dressed in uniforms of foreign cut and identified as amusing gunners. Sergei Bukhvostov was the first to put on a foreign uniform. Subsequently, Peter ordered a bronze bust of this the first Russian soldier, as he called Bukhvostov. The amusing regiment began to be called Preobrazhensky, in the place of its quartering - the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.

In Preobrazhensky, opposite the palace, on the banks of the Yauza, a "fun town" was built. During the construction of the fortress, Peter himself worked actively, helping to cut logs and install cannons. The “Most Joking, Most Drunk and Most Foolish Cathedral” created by Peter was also quartered here - a parody of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The fortress itself was named Preshburg, probably by the name of the then famous Austrian fortress of Pressburg (now Bratislava - the capital of Slovakia), which he heard about from Captain Sommer. Then, in 1686, the first amusing ships appeared near Preshburg on the Yauza - a large shnyak and a plow with boats. During these years, Peter became interested in all the sciences that were associated with military affairs. Led by the Dutch Timmerman he studied arithmetic, geometry, military sciences.

Walking one day with Timmerman in the village of Izmailovo, Peter went to the Linen Yard, in the barn of which he found an English boat. In 1688 he commissioned a Dutchman Karsten Brandt repair, arm and equip this boat, and then lower it onto the Yauza River. However, Yauza and Millet Pond turned out to be cramped for the ship, so Peter went to Pereslavl-Zalessky, to Lake Pleshcheyevo, where he laid the first shipyard for the construction of ships. There were already two "amusing" regiments: Semyonovsky, located in the village of Semyonovskoye, was added to Preobrazhensky. Preshburg already looked like a real fortress. Knowledgeable and experienced people were needed to command regiments and study military science. But among the Russian courtiers there were none. So Peter appeared in the German settlement.

The first marriage of Peter I

Peter and Evdokia Lopukhina. The drawing located at the beginning of Karion Istomin's "Book of Love, a sign in an honest marriage", presented in 1689 as a wedding gift to Peter the Great.

The German settlement was the closest "neighbor" of the village of Preobrazhenskoye, and Peter had been looking at her life with curiosity for a long time. More and more foreigners at the court of Tsar Peter, such as Franz Timmerman And Karsten Brandt, were natives of the German settlement. All this imperceptibly led to the fact that the king became a frequent guest in the settlement, where he soon turned out to be a great admirer of the laid-back foreign life. Peter lit a German pipe, began to attend German parties with dancing and drinking, met Patrick Gordon, Franz Lefort - Peter's future associates, started an affair with Anna Mons. Peter's mother strongly opposed this. In order to reason with her 17-year-old son, Natalya Kirillovna decided to marry him to Evdokia Lopukhina, the daughter of the okolnichi.

Peter did not argue with his mother, and on January 27 (February 6), 1689, the wedding of the "younger" king was played. However, less than a month later, Peter left his wife and left for a few days at Lake Pleshcheyevo. From this marriage, Peter had two sons: the eldest, Alexei, was heir to the throne until 1718, the youngest, Alexander, died in infancy.

Accession of Peter I

Peter's activity greatly disturbed Princess Sophia, who understood that with the coming of age of her half-brother, she would have to give up power. At one time, the supporters of the princess hatched a plan for the coronation, but Patriarch Joachim was categorically against it.

Campaigns against the Crimean Tatars, carried out in 1687 and 1689 by the favorite of the princess, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, were not very successful, but were presented as major and generously rewarded victories, which caused discontent among many.

On July 8 (18), 1689, on the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the first public conflict took place between the matured Peter and the Ruler. On that day, according to custom, a religious procession was made from the Kremlin to the Kazan Cathedral. At the end of mass, Peter approached his sister and announced that she should not dare to go along with the men in the procession. Sophia accepted the challenge: she took the image of the Most Holy Theotokos in her hands and went for crosses and banners. Unprepared for such an outcome, Peter left the course.

On August 7 (17), 1689, unexpectedly for everyone, a decisive event took place. On this day, Princess Sophia ordered the head of the archers, Fyodor Shaklovity, to equip more of his people to the Kremlin, as if to be escorted to the Donskoy Monastery on a pilgrimage. At the same time, a rumor spread about a letter with the news that Tsar Peter decided at night to occupy the Kremlin with his “amusing” regiments, kill the princess, Tsar Ivan’s brother, and seize power. Shaklovity gathered archery regiments in order to march in a "great assembly" to Preobrazhenskoye and beat all the supporters of Peter for their intention to kill Princess Sophia. Then they sent three riders to observe what was happening in Preobrazhensky with the task to immediately inform if Tsar Peter went somewhere alone or with regiments.

Supporters of Peter among the archers sent two like-minded people to Preobrazhenskoye. After the report, Peter, with a small retinue, galloped in alarm to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The consequence of the horrors of the streltsy performances experienced was Peter's illness: with strong excitement, he began to have convulsive movements of his face. On August 8, both queens, Natalya and Evdokia, arrived at the monastery, followed by “amusing” regiments with artillery. On August 16, a letter came from Peter to send commanders and 10 privates from all the archery regiments to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Princess Sophia strictly forbade this command to be carried out on pain of death, and a letter was sent to Tsar Peter with a notice that it was impossible to fulfill his request.

On August 27, a new letter of tsar Peter came - to go to all the regiments to the Trinity. Most of the troops obeyed the legitimate king, and Princess Sophia had to admit defeat. She herself went to the Trinity Monastery, but in the village of Vozdvizhenskoye she was met by Peter's envoys with orders to return to Moscow. Soon Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent under strict supervision.

On October 7, Fyodor Shaklovity was captured and then executed. The elder brother, Tsar Ivan (or John), met Peter in the Assumption Cathedral and in fact gave him all power. Since 1689, he did not take part in the reign, although until his death on January 29 (February 8), 1696, he nominally continued to be co-tsar.

After the overthrow of Princess Sophia, power passed into the hands of people who rallied around Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna. She tried to accustom her son to public administration, entrusting him with private affairs, which Peter found boring. The most important decisions (declaration of war, election of the Patriarch, etc.) were made without taking into account the opinion of the young tsar. This led to conflicts. For example, at the beginning of 1692, offended by the fact that, contrary to his will, the Moscow government refused to resume the war with the Ottoman Empire, the tsar did not want to return from Pereyaslavl to meet the Persian ambassador, and the first persons of the government of Natalya Kirillovna (L.K. Naryshkin with B. A. Golitsyn) were forced to personally follow him. On January 1 (11), 1692, at the behest of Peter I in Preobrazhensky, the “appointment” of N. M. Zotov to the “patriarchs of all Yauza and all Kokuy” was the tsar’s response to the appointment of Patriarch Adrian, committed against his will. After the death of Natalya Kirillovna, the tsar did not begin to remove the government of L.K. Naryshkin - B.A. Golitsyn, formed by his mother, but he ensured that it strictly carried out his will.

Beginning of Russian expansion. 1690-1699

Azov campaigns. 1695, 1696

The priority of Peter I in the first years of autocracy was the continuation of the war with the Ottoman Empire and the Crimea. Instead of campaigns against the Crimea, undertaken during the reign of Princess Sophia, Peter I decided to strike at the Turkish fortress of Azov, located at the confluence of the Don River into the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov.

The first Azov campaign, which began in the spring of 1695, ended unsuccessfully in September of the same year due to the lack of a fleet and the unwillingness of the Russian army to operate far from supply bases. However, already in the autumn of 1695, preparations began for a new campaign. In Voronezh, the construction of a rowing Russian flotilla began. In a short time, a flotilla was built from different ships, led by the 36-gun ship "Apostle Peter". In May 1696, the 40,000-strong Russian army under the command of Generalissimo Shein again laid siege to Azov, only this time the Russian flotilla blocked the fortress from the sea. Peter I took part in the siege with the rank of captain in a galley. Without waiting for the assault, on July 19 (29), 1696, the fortress surrendered. So the first exit of Russia to the southern seas was opened.

The result of the Azov campaigns was the capture of the fortress of Azov, the beginning of the construction of the port of Taganrog, the possibility of an attack on the Crimean peninsula from the sea, which significantly secured the southern borders of Russia. However, Peter failed to get access to the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait: he remained under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Forces for the war with Turkey, as well as a full-fledged navy, Russia has not yet had.

To finance the construction of the fleet, new types of taxes were introduced: landowners were united in the so-called kumpanships of 10 thousand households, each of which had to build a ship with their own money. At this time, the first signs of dissatisfaction with the activities of Peter appear. The conspiracy of Zikler, who was trying to organize a streltsy uprising, was uncovered. In the summer of 1699, the first large Russian ship "Fortress" (46-gun) took the Russian ambassador to Constantinople for peace negotiations. The very existence of such a ship persuaded the Sultan to conclude peace in July 1700, which left the fortress of Azov behind Russia.

During the construction of the fleet and the reorganization of the army, Peter was forced to rely on foreign specialists. Having completed the Azov campaigns, he decides to send young noblemen to study abroad, and soon he himself sets off on his first trip to Europe.

Grand Embassy from a contemporary engraving. Portrait of Peter I in the clothes of a Dutch sailor

Grand Embassy 1697-1698

In March 1697, the Great Embassy was sent to Western Europe through Livonia, the main purpose of which was to find allies against the Ottoman Empire. General-Admiral Franz Lefort, General Fyodor Golovin, Head of the Ambassadorial Department Prokofy Voznitsyn were appointed Grand Plenipotentiary Ambassadors. In total, up to 250 people entered the embassy, ​​among which, under the name of the constable of the Preobrazhensky regiment Peter Mikhailov, was Tsar Peter I himself. For the first time, the Russian Tsar undertook a trip outside his state.

Peter visited Riga, Koenigsberg, Brandenburg, Holland, England, Austria, a visit to Venice and to the Pope was planned.

The embassy recruited several hundred shipbuilding specialists to Russia and purchased military and other equipment.

In addition to negotiations, Peter devoted a lot of time to the study of shipbuilding, military affairs and other sciences. Peter worked as a carpenter at the shipyards of the East India Company, with the participation of the king, the ship "Peter and Paul" was built. In England, he visited a foundry, an arsenal, parliament, Oxford University, the Greenwich Observatory and the Mint, whose caretaker at that time was Isaac Newton. He was primarily interested in the technical achievements of Western countries, and not in the legal system. It is said that when Peter visited the Palace of Westminster, he saw there "lawyers", that is, barristers, in their robes and wigs. He asked: “What kind of people are these and what are they doing here?” They answered him: "These are all lawyers, Your Majesty." "Legalists! Peter was surprised. - Why are they? There are only two lawyers in my whole kingdom, and I propose to hang one of them when I return home.” True, having visited the English parliament incognito, where the speeches of the deputies before King William III were translated to him, the tsar said: “It’s fun to hear when the sons of the patronymic tell the king clearly the truth, this should be learned from the British.”

The Great Embassy did not achieve its main goal: it was not possible to create a coalition against the Ottoman Empire due to the preparation of a number of European powers for the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). However, thanks to this war, favorable conditions were created for Russia's struggle for the Baltic. Thus, there was a reorientation of Russia's foreign policy from the south to the north.

Return. Critical years for Russia 1698-1700

Morning of the archery execution. Hood. V. I. Surikov, 1881

In July 1698, the Great Embassy was interrupted by the news of a new streltsy rebellion in Moscow, which was suppressed even before the arrival of Peter. Upon the arrival of the tsar in Moscow (August 25 (September 4)) a search and inquiry began, which resulted in a one-time execution of about 800 archers (except for those executed during the suppression of the rebellion), and subsequently several hundred more until the spring of 1699.

Princess Sophia was tonsured a nun under the name of Susanna and sent to the Novodevichy Convent, where she spent the rest of her life. The same fate befell Peter's unloved wife, Evdokia Lopukhina, who was forcibly sent to the Suzdal Monastery, even despite the fact that Patriarch Adrian refused to tonsure her. and thorough education in Russia. The patriarch fully supported the tsar, and these reforms led to the creation of a new education system and the opening in 1724 of the Academy of Sciences.

During the 15 months of his stay abroad, Peter saw a lot and learned a lot. After the return of the king on August 25 (September 4), 1698, his transformative activity began, aimed at first at changing external signs that distinguish the Old Slavonic way of life from the Western European. In the Transfiguration Palace, Peter suddenly began to cut the beards of the nobles, and already on August 29 (September 8), 1698, the famous decree “On wearing a German dress, on shaving beards and mustaches, on going to schismatics in the attire indicated for them” was issued, which banned from 1 ( 11) September wearing beards.

“I want to transform secular goats, that is, citizens, and the clergy, that is, monks and priests. First, that they, without beards, be like Europeans in goodness, and others, that they, although with beards, in churches would teach the parishioners Christian virtues in the same way that I saw and heard pastors teaching in Germany.

The new 7208th year according to the Russian-Byzantine calendar (“from the creation of the world”) became the 1700th year according to the Julian calendar. Peter also introduced the celebration of the New Year on January 1, and not on the day of the autumn equinox, as was celebrated earlier. In his special decree it was written:

“Because in Russia they consider the New Year in different ways, from now on stop fooling people's heads and count the New Year everywhere from the first of January. And as a sign of a good undertaking and fun, congratulate each other on the New Year, wishing well-being in business and prosperity in the family. In honor of the New Year, make decorations from fir trees, amuse children, ride sleds from the mountains. And for adults, drunkenness and massacre should not be committed - there are enough other days for that.

Creation of the Russian Empire. 1700-1724 years

Military reforms of Peter

Kozhukhovsky maneuvers (1694) showed Peter the advantage of the regiments of the "foreign system" over the archers. The Azov campaigns, in which four regular regiments participated (Preobrazhensky, Semyonovsky, Lefortovsky and Butyrsky regiments), finally convinced Peter of the low suitability of the troops of the old organization. Therefore, in 1698, the old army was disbanded, except for 4 regular regiments, which became the basis of the new army.

Preparing for the war with Sweden, Peter ordered in 1699 to make a general recruitment and begin training recruits according to the model established by the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovites. At the same time, a large number of foreign officers were recruited. The war was supposed to start with the siege of Narva, so the main focus was on the organization of the infantry. There was simply not enough time to create all the necessary military structure. There were legends about the impatience of the king - he was eager to enter the war and test his army in action. Management, a combat support service, a strong equipped rear still had to be created.

Northern War with Sweden (1700-1721)

After returning from the Grand Embassy, ​​the tsar began to prepare for a war with Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea. In 1699, the Northern Alliance was created against the Swedish king Charles XII, which, in addition to Russia, included Denmark, Saxony and the Commonwealth, led by the Saxon elector and the Polish king August II. The driving force behind the union was the desire of Augustus II to take away Livonia from Sweden. For help, he promised Russia the return of lands that previously belonged to the Russians (Ingermanland and Karelia).

For Russia to enter the war, it was necessary to make peace with the Ottoman Empire. After reaching a truce with the Turkish sultan for a period of 30 years, on August 19 (30), 1700, Russia declared war on Sweden under the pretext of revenge for the insult shown to Tsar Peter in Riga.

In turn, the plan of Charles XII was to defeat the opponents one by one. Shortly after the bombing of Copenhagen, Denmark on August 8 (19), 1700 withdrew from the war, even before Russia entered it. The attempts of August II to capture Riga ended unsuccessfully. After that, Charles XII turned against Russia.

The beginning of the war for Peter was discouraging: the newly recruited army, handed over to the Saxon field marshal Duke de Croa, was defeated near Narva on November 19 (30), 1700. This defeat showed that everything had to start virtually all over again.

Considering that Russia was sufficiently weakened, Charles XII went to Livonia in order to direct all his forces against Augustus II.

The assault on the Noteburg fortress on October 11 (22), 1702. Peter I is depicted in the center. A. E. Kotzebue, 1846

However, Peter, continuing the reforms of the army according to the European model, resumed hostilities. Already in the autumn of 1702, the Russian army, in the presence of the tsar, captured the Noteburg fortress (renamed Shlisselburg), in the spring of 1703, the Nienschanz fortress at the mouth of the Neva. On May 10 (21), 1703, for the bold capture of two Swedish ships at the mouth of the Neva, Peter (then held the rank of captain of the Bombardier Company of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment) received the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called approved by him. Here, on May 16 (27), 1703, the construction of St. Petersburg began, and the base of the Russian fleet, the Kronshlot fortress (later Kronstadt), was located on Kotlin Island. The exit to the Baltic Sea was broken.

In 1704, after the capture of Derpt and Narva, Russia gained a foothold in the Eastern Baltic. On the offer to make peace, Peter I was refused.

After the deposition of Augustus II in 1706 and his replacement by the Polish king Stanisław Leszczynski, Charles XII began his fatal campaign against Russia. Having passed the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the king did not dare to continue the attack on Smolensk. Enlisting the support of the Little Russian hetman Ivan Mazepa, Charles moved his troops south for food reasons and with the intention of strengthening the army with Mazepa's supporters. In the battle of Lesnaya on September 28 (October 9), 1708, Peter personally led the corvolant A. D. Menshikov and defeated the Swedish corps of Levenhaupt, which was going to join the army of Charles XII from Livonia. The Swedish army lost reinforcements and convoys with military supplies. Later, Peter celebrated the anniversary of this battle as a turning point in the Northern War.

In the Battle of Poltava on June 27 (July 8), 1709, in which the army of Charles XII was utterly defeated, Peter again commanded on the battlefield; Peter's hat was shot through. After the victory, he accepted the rank of first lieutenant general and schautbenacht from the blue flag.

Türkiye intervened in 1710. After the defeat in the Prut campaign in 1711, Russia returned Azov to Turkey and destroyed Taganrog, but due to this, it was possible to conclude another truce with the Turks.

Peter again focused on the war with the Swedes, in 1713 the Swedes were defeated in Pomerania and lost all possessions in continental Europe. However, thanks to the dominance of Sweden at sea, the Northern War dragged on. The Baltic Fleet was just being created by Russia, but managed to win the first victory in the Gangut battle in the summer of 1714. In 1716, Peter led the combined fleet from Russia, England, Denmark and Holland, but due to disagreements in the camp of the allies, it was not possible to organize an attack on Sweden. As the Baltic Fleet of Russia strengthened, Sweden felt the danger of an invasion of its lands. In 1718, peace negotiations began, interrupted by the sudden death of Charles XII. The Swedish queen Ulrika Eleonora resumed the war, hoping for help from England. The devastating landings of the Russians in 1720 on the Swedish coast prompted Sweden to resume negotiations. On August 30 (September 10), 1721, the Treaty of Nystadt was concluded between Russia and Sweden, which ended the 21-year war. Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea, annexed the territory of Ingria, part of Karelia, Estonia and Livonia. Russia became a great European power, in commemoration of which on October 22 (November 2), 1721, Peter, at the request of the senators, took the title Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great:

... we thought, with the butt of the ancients, especially the Roman and Greek peoples, the boldness to perceive, on the day of the celebration and announcement of the prisoner by them. V. by the labors of all Russia only a glorious and prosperous world, after reading its treatise in the church, according to our most humble thanksgiving for the intercession of this world, to bring our petition to you publicly, so that you deign to accept from us, as from our faithful subjects, in gratitude the title of Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great, as usual from the Roman Senate for the noble deeds of emperors, their such titles were publicly presented to them as a gift and signed on statutes for memory in eternal birth.

Russian-Turkish war 1710-1713

After the defeat in the Battle of Poltava, the Swedish king Charles XII took refuge in the possessions of the Ottoman Empire, the city of Bendery. Peter I concluded an agreement with Turkey on the expulsion of Charles XII from Turkish territory, but then the Swedish king was allowed to stay and threaten the southern border of Russia with the help of part of the Ukrainian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars. Seeking the expulsion of Charles XII, Peter I began to threaten Turkey with war, but in response, on November 20 (December 1), 1710, the sultan himself declared war on Russia. The real cause of the war was the capture of Azov by Russian troops in 1696 and the appearance of the Russian fleet in the Sea of ​​Azov.

The Turkish war was limited to a winter raid of the Crimean Tatars, vassals of the Ottoman Empire, into Ukraine. Russia waged war on 3 fronts: the troops made campaigns against the Tatars in the Crimea and the Kuban, Peter I himself, relying on the help of the rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia, decided to make a deep campaign to the Danube, where he hoped to raise Christian vassals of the Ottoman Empire to fight the Turks.

On March 6 (17), 1711, Peter I went to the troops from Moscow with his faithful friend Ekaterina Alekseevna, whom he ordered to be considered his wife and queen (even before the official wedding, which took place in 1712). The army crossed the border of Moldova in June 1711, but already on July 20 (31), 1711, 190 thousand Turks and Crimean Tatars pressed the 38 thousandth Russian army to the right bank of the Prut River, completely surrounding it. In a seemingly hopeless situation, Peter managed to conclude the Prut peace treaty with the Grand Vizier, according to which the army and the tsar himself escaped capture, but in return Russia gave Azov to Turkey and lost access to the Sea of ​​Azov.

From August 1711, there was no fighting, although in the process of negotiating the final treaty, Turkey threatened several times to resume the war. Only in June 1713 was the Adrianople Peace Treaty concluded, which generally confirmed the terms of the Prut Agreement. Russia got the opportunity to continue the Northern War without a 2nd front, although it lost the gains of the Azov campaigns.

Russia's movement to the east

The expansion of Russia to the east under Peter I did not stop. In 1716, the Buchholz expedition founded Omsk at the confluence of the Irtysh and Om, upstream of the Irtysh: Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semipalatinsk and other fortresses. In 1716-1717, a detachment of Bekovich-Cherkassky was sent to Central Asia with the aim of persuading the Khiva khan to citizenship and reconnoitering the way to India. However, the Russian detachment was destroyed by the khan and the plan to conquer the Central Asian states was not implemented under his rule. During the reign of Peter I, Kamchatka was annexed to Russia. Peter planned an expedition across the Pacific Ocean to America (intentioning to establish Russian colonies there), but did not manage to carry out his plan.

Caspian campaign 1722-1723

The largest foreign policy event of Peter after the Northern War was the Caspian (or Persian) campaign in 1722-1724. The conditions for the campaign were created as a result of Persian civil strife and the actual collapse of the once powerful state.

On July 18 (29), 1722, after the son of the Persian Shah Tokhmas Mirza applied for help, a 22,000-strong Russian detachment sailed from Astrakhan across the Caspian Sea. In August, Derbent surrendered, after which the Russians returned to Astrakhan due to problems with provisions. In the next 1723, the western coast of the Caspian Sea was conquered with the fortresses of Baku, Rasht, Astrabad. Further progress was stopped by the threat of the Ottoman Empire entering the war, which seized the western and central Transcaucasus.

On September 12 (23), 1723, the Petersburg Treaty was concluded with Persia, according to which the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea with the cities of Derbent and Baku and the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Astrabad were included in the Russian Empire. Russia and Persia also entered into a defensive alliance against Turkey, which, however, turned out to be inoperative.

Under the Treaty of Constantinople dated June 12 (23), 1724, Turkey recognized all Russian acquisitions in the western part of the Caspian Sea and renounced further claims to Persia. The junction of the borders between Russia, Turkey and Persia was established at the confluence of the Araks and Kura rivers. In Persia, the turmoil continued, and Turkey challenged the provisions of the Treaty of Constantinople before the border was clearly established.

It should be noted that soon after Peter's death, these possessions were lost due to the high losses of garrisons from diseases, and, in the opinion of Queen Anna Ioannovna, the hopelessness of the region.

Russian Empire under Peter I

Peter I. Mosaic. Recruited by M. V. Lomonosov. 1754. Ust-Ruditskaya factory. Hermitage

After the victory in the Northern War and the conclusion of the Peace of Nystadt in September 1721, the Senate and the Synod decided to present Peter with the title of Emperor of All Russia with the following wording: “ as usual, from the Roman Senate, for the noble deeds of emperors, such titles were publicly presented to them as a gift and signed on statutes for memory in eternal birth.»

October 22 (November 2), 1721, Peter I took the title, not just honorary, but testifying to the new role of Russia in international affairs. Prussia and Holland immediately recognized the new title of Russian Tsar, Sweden in 1723, Turkey in 1739, England and Austria in 1742, France and Spain in 1745, and finally Poland in 1764.

Secretary of the Prussian Embassy in Russia in 1717-1733, I.-G. Fokkerodt, at the request of Voltaire, who was working on the history of the reign of Peter, wrote memoirs about Russia under Peter. Fokkerodt tried to estimate the population of the Russian Empire by the end of the reign of Peter I. According to his information, the number of persons of the taxable estate was 5 million 198 thousand people, from which the number of peasants and townspeople, including females, was estimated at about 10 million. Many souls were concealed by landowners, a second revision increased the number of taxable souls to almost 6 million people. Russian nobles with families were considered to be up to 500 thousand; officials up to 200 thousand and clerics with families up to 300 thousand souls.

The inhabitants of the conquered regions, who were not under the general tax, were estimated to be from 500 to 600 thousand souls. Cossacks with families in the Ukraine, on the Don and Yaik and in the border towns were considered to be from 700 to 800 thousand souls. The number of Siberian peoples was unknown, but Fokkerodt put it up to a million people.

Thus, the population of the Russian Empire amounted to 15 million subjects and was inferior in Europe in terms of numbers only to France (about 20 million).

According to the calculations of the Soviet historian Yaroslav Vodarsky, the number of males and children increased from 5.6 to 7.8 million from 1678 to 1719. Thus, if we take the number of women approximately equal to the number of men, the total population of Russia increased during this period from 11.2 to 15.6 million

Transformations of Peter I

All internal state activity of Peter can be conditionally divided into two periods: 1695-1715 and 1715-1725. The peculiarity of the first stage was the haste and not always thoughtful nature, which was explained by the conduct of the Northern War. The reforms were aimed primarily at raising funds for the war, were carried out by force and often did not lead to the desired result. In addition to state reforms, extensive reforms were carried out at the first stage in order to modernize the way of life. In the second period, the reforms were more systematic.

A number of historians, such as V. O. Klyuchevsky, pointed out that the reforms of Peter I were not something fundamentally new, but were only a continuation of those transformations that were carried out during the 17th century. Other historians (for example, Sergei Solovyov), on the contrary, emphasized the revolutionary nature of Peter's transformations.

Peter carried out a reform of state administration, transformations in the army, a navy was created, a reform of church administration was carried out in the spirit of Caesaropapism, aimed at eliminating church jurisdiction autonomous from the state and subordinating the Russian church hierarchy to the emperor. Financial reform was also carried out, measures were taken to develop industry and trade.

After returning from the Great Embassy, ​​Peter I led the fight against the outward manifestations of the "obsolete" way of life (the most famous tax on beards), but no less paid attention to the inclusion of the nobility in education and secular Europeanized culture. Secular educational institutions began to appear, the first Russian newspaper was founded, translations of many books into Russian appeared. Success in the service of Peter made the nobles dependent on education.

Peter was clearly aware of the need for enlightenment, and took a number of drastic measures to this end. On January 14 (25), 1701, a school of mathematical and navigational sciences was opened in Moscow. In 1701-1721, artillery, engineering and medical schools were opened in Moscow, an engineering school and a naval academy in St. Petersburg, mining schools at the Olonets and Ural factories. In 1705, the first gymnasium in Russia was opened. The goals of mass education were to be served by the digital schools created by decree of 1714 in provincial cities, called " to teach children of all ranks literacy, numbers and geometry". It was supposed to create two such schools in each province, where education was supposed to be free. Garrison schools were opened for soldiers' children, a network of theological schools was created for the training of priests starting from 1721. In 1724, a draft regulation on the Academy of Sciences, the university and the gymnasium attached to it was signed.

Peter's decrees introduced compulsory education for nobles and clergy, but a similar measure for the urban population met with fierce resistance and was canceled. Peter's attempt to create an all-estate elementary school failed (the creation of a network of schools ceased after his death, most of the digital schools under his successors were redesigned into class schools for the training of the clergy), but nevertheless, during his reign, the foundations were laid for the spread of education in Russia.

Peter created new printing houses, in which 1312 titles of books were printed in 1700-1725 (twice as many as in the entire previous history of Russian book printing). Thanks to the rise of book printing, paper consumption increased from 4-8 thousand sheets at the end of the 17th century to 50 thousand sheets in 1719. There were changes in the Russian language, which included 4.5 thousand new words borrowed from European languages. In 1724, Peter approved the charter of the Academy of Sciences being organized (it opened a few months after his death).

Of particular importance was the construction of stone St. Petersburg, in which foreign architects took part and which was carried out according to the plan developed by the tsar. He created a new urban environment with previously unfamiliar forms of life and pastime (theatre, masquerades). The interior decoration of houses, the way of life, the composition of food, etc., changed. By a special decree of the tsar in 1718, assemblies were introduced, representing a new form of communication between people in Russia. At the assemblies, the nobles danced and mingled freely, unlike earlier feasts and feasts.

The reforms carried out by Peter I affected not only politics, economics, but also art. Peter invited foreign artists to Russia and at the same time sent talented young people to study "arts" abroad. In the second quarter of the XVIII century. "Peter's pensioners" began to return to Russia, bringing with them new artistic experience and acquired skills.

On December 30, 1701 (January 10, 1702), Peter issued a decree ordering to write full names in petitions and other documents instead of pejorative half-names (Ivashka, Senka, etc.), not to fall on your knees in front of the tsar, in winter in the frost a hat in front of the house , in which the king is located, do not shoot. He explained the need for these innovations in this way: “Less baseness, more zeal for service and loyalty to me and the state - this honor is characteristic of the king ...”

Peter tried to change the position of women in Russian society. He by special decrees (1700, 1702 and 1724) forbade forced marriage and marriage. It was prescribed that there should be at least six weeks between the betrothal and the wedding, "so that the bride and groom could recognize each other." If during this time, the decree said, “the bridegroom does not want to take the bride, or the bride does not want to marry the groom,” no matter how the parents insisted, “there is freedom.” Since 1702, the bride herself (and not just her relatives) was given the formal right to terminate the betrothal and upset the arranged marriage, and neither of the parties had the right to “strike with a forfeit”. Legislative prescriptions 1696-1704 about public festivities introduced the obligation to participate in the celebrations and festivities of all Russians, including "female".

From the “old” in the structure of the nobility under Peter, the former serfdom of the service class remained unchanged through the personal service of each service person to the state. But in this enslavement, its form has changed somewhat. Now they were obliged to serve in the regular regiments and in the navy, as well as in the civil service in all those administrative and judicial institutions that were transformed from the old ones and arose anew. The Decree on Uniform Heritage of 1714 regulated the legal status of the nobility and secured the legal merger of such forms of land ownership as an estate and an estate.

From the reign of Peter I, the peasants began to be divided into serfs (landlords), monastic and state peasants. All three categories were recorded in the revision tales and subjected to a poll tax. Since 1724, the owner's peasants could leave their villages to work and for other needs only with the written permission of the master, witnessed by the zemstvo commissar and the colonel of the regiment that was stationed in the area. Thus, the landowner's power over the personality of the peasants received even more opportunities to increase, taking both the personality and property of the privately owned peasant into their unaccountable disposal. From that time on, this new state of the rural worker received the name of the "serf" or "revisionist" soul.

In general, Peter's reforms were aimed at strengthening the state and familiarizing the elite with European culture while strengthening absolutism. In the course of the reforms, the technical and economic backwardness of Russia from a number of other European states was overcome, access to the Baltic Sea was won, and transformations were carried out in many areas of the life of Russian society. Gradually, among the nobility, a different system of values, worldview, aesthetic ideas took shape, which was fundamentally different from the values ​​and worldview of most representatives of other estates. At the same time, the people's forces were extremely depleted, the prerequisites (Decree of Succession) were created for the crisis of the supreme power, which led to the "epoch of palace coups".

Economic success

Having set himself the goal of arming the economy with the best Western production technologies, Peter reorganized all sectors of the national economy. During the Great Embassy, ​​the tsar studied various aspects of European life, including technical ones. He learned the basics of the then dominant economic theory - mercantilism. Own economic doctrine the mercantilists based it on two propositions: first, each people, in order not to become impoverished, must produce everything it needs, without turning to the help of other people's labor, the labor of other peoples; second, every nation, in order to grow rich, must export as much as possible the manufactured products from its country and import foreign products as little as possible.

Under Peter, the development of geological exploration begins, thanks to which metal ore deposits are found in the Urals. In the Urals alone, at least 27 metallurgical plants were built under Peter; gunpowder factories, sawmills, glass manufactories were founded in Moscow, Tula, St. Petersburg; in Astrakhan, Samara, Krasnoyarsk, the production of potash, sulfur, saltpeter was established, sailing, linen and cloth manufactories were created. This made it possible to start phasing out imports.

By the end of the reign of Peter I, there were already 233 factories, including more than 90 large manufactories built during his reign. The largest were shipyards (3.5 thousand people worked at the St. Petersburg shipyard alone), sailing manufactories and mining and metallurgical plants (25 thousand workers worked at 9 Ural factories), there were a number of other enterprises with a number of employees from 500 to 1000 people. The first canals in Russia were dug to supply the new capital.

The reverse side of the reforms

Peter's transformations were achieved through violence against the population, its complete subordination to the will of the monarch, and the eradication of any dissent. Even Pushkin, who sincerely admired Peter, wrote that many of his decrees were "cruel, wayward and, it seems, written with a whip", as if "broke out of an impatient autocratic landowner." Klyuchevsky points out that the triumph of the absolute monarchy, which sought to drag its subjects from the Middle Ages into the present by force, contained a fundamental contradiction:

Peter's reform was a struggle between despotism and the people, against their rigidity. He hoped, by a storm of power, to provoke initiative in an enslaved society and, through the slave-owning nobility, to establish European science in Russia ... he wanted the slave, while remaining a slave, to act consciously and freely.

Use of forced labor

The construction of St. Petersburg from 1704 to 1717 was mainly carried out by the forces of "working people" mobilized as part of natural labor service. They felled forests, filled up swamps, built embankments, etc. In 1704, up to 40,000 working people were summoned to St. Petersburg from various provinces, mostly serfs of landowners and state peasants. In 1707, many workers fled, sent to St. Petersburg from the Belozersky region. Peter I ordered to take the family members of the fugitives - their fathers, mothers, wives, children "or who live in their houses" and keep them in prisons until the fugitives are found ..

The factory workers of the time of Peter the Great came from a wide variety of strata of the population: runaway serfs, vagabonds, beggars, even criminals - all of them, according to strict orders, were taken and sent to “work” in factories. Peter could not stand "walking" people who were not attached to any business, it was ordered to seize them, not sparing even the monastic rank, and send them to factories. There were frequent cases when, in order to supply factories, and especially factories, with working hands, villages and villages of peasants were attributed to factories and factories, as was still practiced in the 17th century. Such assigned to the factory worked for it and in it by order of the owner.

Repression

In November 1702, a decree was issued stating: “From now on, in Moscow and in the Moscow court order, no matter what ranks people or voivode and clerk people from cities, and authorities will send from monasteries, and landlords and estates will bring their people and peasants , and those people and peasants will learn to say “the sovereign’s word and deed” after themselves, - and without asking those people in the Moscow Court Order, send them to the Preobrazhensky Order to the steward to Prince Fedor Yuryevich Romodanovsky. Yes, and in the cities, governors and clerks of such people who will teach themselves to say “the sovereign’s word and deed”, send them to Moscow without asking.”

In 1718, the Secret Chancellery was created to investigate the case of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, then other political cases of extreme importance were transferred to it. On August 18 (29), 1718, a decree was issued, which, under the threat of the death penalty, was forbidden to "write locked up." The non-informer about this was also supposed to be the death penalty. This decree was aimed at combating anti-government "anonymous letters".

The decree of Peter I, issued in 1702, proclaimed religious tolerance as one of the main state principles. “One must deal with the opponents of the church with meekness and understanding,” said Peter. “The Lord gave kings power over the nations, but Christ alone has power over the conscience of the people.” But this decree did not apply to the Old Believers. In 1716, to facilitate their accounting, they were given the opportunity of a semi-legal existence, on the condition that they pay "for this split all payments doubled." At the same time, control and punishment of those who evaded registration and payment of double tax was strengthened. Those who did not confess and did not pay double tax were ordered to be fined, each time increasing the rate of the fine, and even sent to hard labor. For seduction into schism (seduction was considered any Old Believer worship or the performance of trebs), as before Peter I, the death penalty was due, which was confirmed in 1722. Old Believer priests were declared either schismatic teachers, if they were Old Believer mentors, or traitors to Orthodoxy, if they used to be priests, and they were punished for both. Schismatic sketes and chapels were ruined. Through torture, punishment with a whip, tearing out of the nostrils, threats of executions and exile, Bishop Pitirim of Nizhny Novgorod managed to return a considerable number of Old Believers to the bosom of the official church, but most of them soon "fallen into schism" again. Deacon Alexander Pitirim, who headed the Kerzhensky Old Believers, forced him to renounce the Old Believers, shackling him and threatening him with beatings, as a result of which the deacon “feared from him, from the bishop, great torment, and exile, and nostrils of tearing, as if it had been done to others.” When Alexander complained in a letter to Peter I about the actions of Pitirim, he was subjected to terrible torture and on May 21 (June 1), 1720 was executed.

The adoption of the imperial title by Peter I, as the Old Believers believed, testified that he was the Antichrist, as this emphasized the continuity of state power from Catholic Rome. The antichrist nature of Peter was also, according to the Old Believers, evidenced by the calendar changes made during his reign and the census he introduced for the head salary.

Personality of Peter I

Appearance

Portrait of Peter I

Sculpted head made from a death mask (GIM)

Cast of the hand of Tsar Peter (GIM)

The caftan and camisole of Peter allow us to imagine his elongated figure

As a child, Peter amazed people with the beauty and liveliness of his face and figure. Due to his height - 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) - he stood out in the crowd by a full head. At the same time, with such a large growth, he was not a heroic build - he wore shoes of size 39, and clothes of size 48. Peter's arms were also small and his shoulders were narrow for his height, likewise, his head was also small compared to his body.

Surrounding people were frightened by very strong convulsive twitches of the face, especially in moments of anger and emotional excitement. These convulsive movements were attributed by contemporaries to childhood shock during the Streltsy riots or an attempted poisoning by Princess Sophia.

S. A. Kirillov. Peter the Great. (1982-1984).

During trips abroad, Peter I frightened refined aristocrats with a rude manner of communication and simplicity of morals. Sophia, Elector of Hanover, wrote about Peter as follows:

« The king is tall, he has beautiful features and a noble posture; he has great quickness of mind, his answers are quick and correct. But with all the virtues that nature endowed him with, it would be desirable that there be less rudeness in him. This sovereign is very good and at the same time very bad; morally, he is a complete representative of his country. If he had received a better education, then a perfect person would have come out of him, because he has many virtues and an extraordinary mind.».

Later, already in 1717, during Peter's stay in Paris, the Duke of Saint-Simon wrote down his impression of Peter:

« He was very tall, well built, rather thin, with a roundish face, high forehead, fine eyebrows; his nose is rather short, but not too short, and is somewhat thick towards the end; the lips are rather large, the complexion reddish and swarthy, fine black eyes, large, lively, penetrating, beautifully shaped; a look majestic and friendly when he watches himself and restrains, otherwise severe and wild, with convulsions in the face, which are not often repeated, but distort both the eyes and the whole face, frightening all present. The convulsion usually lasted for an instant, and then his eyes became strange, as if bewildered, then everything immediately took on a normal look. His whole appearance showed intelligence, reflection and grandeur, and was not without charm.».

Character

In Peter I, practical sharpness and dexterity, cheerfulness, apparent directness were combined with spontaneous impulses in expressing both affection and anger, and sometimes with unbridled cruelty.

In his youth, Peter indulged in crazy drunken orgies with his comrades. In anger, he could beat those close to him. He chose “noble people” and “old boyars” as victims of his evil jokes - as Prince Kurakin reports, “fat people were dragged through chairs where it was impossible to stand, many were stripped of their dresses and left naked ...”. The All-Joking, All-Drunken, and Most Extravagant Cathedral, created by him, was engaged in mockery of everything that was valued and revered in society as primordial household or moral-religious foundations. He personally acted as an executioner during the execution of participants in the Streltsy uprising. The Danish envoy Just Yul testified that during the solemn entry into Moscow after the victory at Poltava, Peter, deathly pale, with an ugly convulsive face, making "terrible movements of the head, mouth, arms, shoulders, hands and feet", jumped in a crazy frenzy on a soldier who had blundered in some way and began to "ruthlessly cut him with a sword."

During the fighting on the territory of the Commonwealth on July 11 (22), 1705, Peter was present at Vespers in the Basilian Monastery in Polotsk. After one of the Basilians called Josaphat Kuntsevich, who oppressed the Orthodox population, a holy martyr, the tsar ordered the monks to be seized. The Basilians tried to resist and four of them were hacked to death. The next day, Peter ordered the hanging of a monk, distinguished by sermons directed against the Russians.

Family of Peter I

For the first time, Peter married at the age of 17 at the insistence of his mother to Evdokia Lopukhina in 1689. A year later, Tsarevich Alexei was born to them, who was brought up with his mother in terms that were alien to Peter's reformist activities. The rest of the children of Peter and Evdokia died shortly after birth. In 1698, Evdokia Lopukhina was involved in the Streltsy rebellion, the purpose of which was to raise her son to the kingdom, and was exiled to a monastery.

Alexei Petrovich, the official heir to the Russian throne, condemned the transformation of his father, and eventually fled to Vienna under the patronage of a relative of his wife (Charlotte of Brunswick) Emperor Charles VI, where he sought support in the overthrow of Peter I. In 1717, the prince was persuaded to return home, where he was taken into custody. On June 24 (July 5), 1718, the Supreme Court, which consisted of 127 people, sentenced Alexei to death, finding him guilty of high treason. On June 26 (July 7), 1718, the prince, without waiting for the execution of the sentence, died in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The true cause of the death of Tsarevich Alexei has not yet been reliably established. From his marriage to Princess Charlotte of Brunswick, Tsarevich Alexei left his son Peter Alekseevich (1715-1730), who became Emperor Peter II in 1727, and his daughter Natalya Alekseevna (1714-1728).

In 1703, Peter I met 19-year-old Katerina, nee Martha Samuilovna Skavronskaya (the widow of the dragoon Johann Kruse), captured by Russian troops as war booty during the capture of the Swedish fortress of Marienburg. Peter took the former maid from the Baltic peasants from Alexander Menshikov and made her his mistress. In 1704, Katerina gave birth to their first child, named Peter, the next year, Pavel (both died soon after). Even before her legal marriage to Peter, Katerina gave birth to daughters Anna (1708) and Elizabeth (1709). Elizabeth later became Empress (ruled 1741-1761). Katerina alone could cope with the tsar in his fits of anger, knew how to calm Peter's attacks of convulsive headache with kindness and patient attention. The sound of Katerina's voice calmed Peter; then she

“I sat him down and took him, caressing him by the head, which I scratched slightly. This had a magical effect on him, he fell asleep in a few minutes. In order not to disturb his sleep, she held his head on her breast, sitting motionless for two or three hours. After that, he woke up completely fresh and vigorous.

The official wedding of Peter I with Ekaterina Alekseevna took place on February 19 (March 1), 1712, shortly after returning from the Prut campaign. In 1724, Peter crowned Catherine as empress and co-ruler. Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to her husband 11 children, but most of them died in childhood, except for Anna and Elizabeth.

After the death of Peter in January 1725, Ekaterina Alekseevna, with the support of the serving nobility and guards regiments, became the first ruling Russian Empress Catherine I, but her reign was short-lived and died in 1727, vacating the throne for Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich. The first wife of Peter the Great, Evdokia Lopukhina, outlived her happy rival and died in 1731, having managed to see the reign of her grandson Peter Alekseevich.

Awards

• 1698 - Order of the Garter (England) - the order was awarded to Peter during the Great Embassy for diplomatic reasons, but Peter refused the award.
• 1703 - Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (Russia) - for the capture of two Swedish ships at the mouth of the Neva.
• 1712 - Order of the White Eagle (Polish Commonwealth) - in response to the awarding of the King of the Commonwealth Augustus II with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.
• 1713 - Order of the Elephant (Denmark) - for success in the Northern War.

succession to the throne

In the last years of the reign of Peter the Great, the question of succession to the throne arose: who would take the throne after the death of the emperor. Tsarevich Pyotr Petrovich (1715-1719, son of Ekaterina Alekseevna), announced at the abdication of Alexei Petrovich as heir to the throne, died in childhood. The son of Tsarevich Alexei and Princess Charlotte, Peter Alekseevich, became the direct heir. However, if you follow the custom and declare the son of the disgraced Alexei the heir, then the hopes of the opponents of the reforms to return the old order were aroused, and on the other hand, fears arose among Peter's associates, who voted for the execution of Alexei.

On February 5 (16), 1722, Peter issued a Decree on the succession to the throne (cancelled by Paul I 75 years later), in which he abolished the ancient custom of transferring the throne to direct male descendants, but allowed the appointment of any worthy person as heir at the will of the monarch. The text of this most important decree justified the need for this measure:

... why it was prudent to do this charter, so that it was always in the will of the ruling sovereign, whoever he wants, to determine the inheritance, and to the determined one, seeing what indecency, he will cancel, so that children and descendants do not fall into such anger, as written above, having this bridle on you.

The decree was so unusual for Russian society that it was necessary to explain it and require the consent of the subjects under oath. The schismatics were indignant: “He took a Swede for himself, and that queen will not give birth to children, and he issued a decree to kiss the cross for the future sovereign, and kiss the cross for the Swede. Of course, the Swede will reign.”

Peter Alekseevich was removed from the throne, but the question of succession to the throne remained open. Many believed that either Anna or Elizabeth, Peter's daughter from her marriage to Ekaterina Alekseevna, would take the throne. But in 1724, Anna renounced any claims to the Russian throne after she became engaged to the Duke of Holstein, Karl-Friedrich. If the throne was taken youngest daughter Elizabeth, who was 15 years old (in 1724), then the Duke of Holstein would rule instead of her, who dreamed of returning the lands conquered by the Danes with the help of Russia.

Peter and his nieces, the daughters of Ivan's older brother, were not satisfied: Anna Kurlyandskaya, Ekaterina Mecklenburgskaya and Praskovya Ioannovna.

Only one candidate remained - Peter's wife, Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. Peter needed a person who would continue the work he started, his transformation. On May 7 (18), 1724, Peter crowned Catherine as empress and co-ruler, but after a short time he was suspected of adultery (the case of Mons). The decree of 1722 violated the usual way of succession to the throne, but Peter did not have time to appoint an heir before his death.

Death of Peter

I. N. Nikitin "Peter I
on deathbed"

In the last years of his reign, Peter was very ill (presumably, kidney stone disease, complicated by uremia). In the summer of 1724, his illness intensified, in September he felt better, but after a while the attacks intensified. In October, Peter went to inspect the Ladoga Canal, contrary to the advice of his life physician Blumentrost. From Olonets, Peter traveled to Staraya Russa and in November went by boat to St. Petersburg. At Lakhta, he had to, standing waist-deep in water, rescue a boat with soldiers that had run aground. The attacks of the disease intensified, but Peter, not paying attention to them, continued to deal with state affairs. On January 17 (28), 1725, he had such a bad time that he ordered to put a camp church in the room next to his bedroom, and on January 22 (February 2) he confessed. The strength began to leave the patient, he no longer screamed, as before, from severe pain, but only moaned.

On January 27 (February 7), all those sentenced to death or hard labor were amnestied (excluding murderers and those convicted of repeated robbery). On the same day, at the end of the second hour, Peter demanded paper, began to write, but the pen fell out of his hands, only two words could be made out of what was written: "Give it all..." The tsar then ordered his daughter Anna Petrovna to be called so that she would write under his dictation, but when she arrived, Peter had already fallen into oblivion. The story about the words of Peter “Give everything ...” and the order to call Anna is known only from the notes of the Holstein Privy Councilor G. F. Bassevich; according to N. I. Pavlenko and V. P. Kozlov, it is a tendentious fiction with the aim of hinting at the rights of Anna Petrovna, the wife of the Holstein Duke Karl Friedrich, to the Russian throne.

When it became obvious that the emperor was dying, the question arose of who would take the place of Peter. The Senate, the Synod and the generals - all institutions that did not have the formal right to control the fate of the throne, even before Peter's death, gathered on the night of January 27 (February 7) to January 28 (February 8) to decide on the successor of Peter the Great. Guards officers entered the meeting room, two guards regiments entered the square, and under the drumbeat of the troops withdrawn by the party of Ekaterina Alekseevna and Menshikov, the Senate adopted a unanimous decision by 4 o'clock in the morning on January 28 (February 8). By decision of the Senate, the throne was inherited by Peter's wife, Ekaterina Alekseevna, who became the first Russian empress on January 28 (February 8), 1725 under the name Catherine I.

At the beginning of the sixth hour in the morning on January 28 (February 8), 1725, Peter the Great died in terrible agony in his Winter Palace near the Winter Canal, according to the official version, from pneumonia. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. An autopsy showed the following: "a sharp narrowing in the region of the back of the urethra, hardening of the neck of the bladder and Antonov fire." Death followed from inflammation of the bladder, which turned into gangrene due to urinary retention caused by a narrowing of the urethra.

The famous court icon painter Simon Ushakov painted on a cypress board the image of the Life-Giving Trinity and the Apostle Peter. After the death of Peter I, this icon was installed over the imperial tombstone.

Performance evaluation and criticism

In a letter to the French ambassador in Russia, Louis XIV spoke of Peter as follows:

This sovereign reveals his aspirations by his concerns about preparing for military affairs and about the discipline of his troops, about training and enlightening his people, about attracting foreign officers and all kinds of capable people. This course of action, and the increase in power, which is the greatest in Europe, makes him formidable to his neighbors and arouses a very thorough envy.

Moritz of Saxony called Peter the greatest man of his century.

An enthusiastic description of Peter was given by Mikhail Lomonosov

With whom shall I compare the Great Sovereign? I see in antiquity and in modern times Possessors, called great. Indeed, before others are great. However, they are small before Peter. ... To whom shall I liken our Hero? I have often wondered what He is, who with an all-powerful wave governs the heavens, the earth, and the sea: His spirit breathes, and the waters flow; touches the mountains, and they rise up.

Voltaire wrote repeatedly about Peter. By the end of 1759 he published the first volume, and in April 1763 the second volume of "The History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great" was published. Voltaire defines the main value of Peter's reforms as the progress that the Russians have made in 50 years, other nations cannot achieve this even in 500. Peter I, his reforms, their significance became the object of the dispute between Voltaire and.

August Strindberg described Peter as

Barbarian who civilized his Russia; he who built cities, but did not want to live in them; he, who punished his wife with a whip and gave the woman wide freedom - his life was great, rich and useful in public terms, in private terms, such as it turned out.

N. M. Karamzin, recognizing this sovereign as the Great, severely criticizes Peter for his excessive passion for foreign countries, the desire to make Russia the Netherlands. A sharp change in the "old" way of life and national traditions undertaken by the emperor, according to the historian, is far from always justified. As a result, Russian educated people "became citizens of the world, but ceased to be, in some cases, citizens of Russia."

Westerners positively assessed the reforms of Peter the Great, thanks to which Russia became a great power and joined the European civilization.

S. M. Solovyov spoke of Peter in enthusiastic tones, attributing to him all the successes of Russia as in internal affairs, and in foreign policy, showed the organicity and historical readiness of the reforms:

The need to move onto a new road was recognized; At the same time, the duties were determined: the people got up and gathered on the road; but someone was waiting; waiting for the leader; the leader arrived.

The historian believed that the emperor saw his main task in the internal transformation of Russia, and the Northern War with Sweden was only a means to this transformation. According to Solovyov:

The difference of opinion stemmed from the enormity of the work done by Peter, the duration of the influence of this work. The more significant a phenomenon is, the more divergent views and opinions it generates, and the more they talk about it, the more they feel its influence on themselves.

V. O. Klyuchevsky gave a contradictory assessment of Peter's transformations:

The reform (Peter's) itself came out of the urgent needs of the state and the people, instinctively felt by an imperious person with a sensitive mind and strong character, talents ... in this state, was not directed by the task of placing Russian life on Western European foundations that were unusual for it, introducing new borrowed principles into it, but was limited to the desire to arm the Russian state and people with ready-made Western European means, mental and material, and thereby put the state on a level with the position it had won in Europe... Started and led by the supreme power, the habitual leader of the people, it adopted the character and methods of a violent upheaval, a kind of revolution. It was a revolution not in its aims and results, but only in its methods and in the impression it made on the minds and nerves of its contemporaries.

P. N. Milyukov, in his works, develops the idea that the reforms were carried out by Peter spontaneously, from time to time, under the pressure of specific circumstances, without any logic and plan, they were "reforms without a reformer." He also mentions that only "at the cost of ruining the country, Russia was elevated to the rank of a European power." According to Milyukov, during the reign of Peter the Great, the population of Russia within the boundaries of 1695 decreased due to incessant wars.

S. F. Platonov belonged to the apologists of Peter. In his book Personality and Activity, he wrote the following:

People of all generations in assessing the personality and activities of Peter agreed on one thing: he was considered a force. Peter was the most prominent and influential figure of his time, the leader of all the people. No one considered him an insignificant person who unconsciously used power or blindly walked along a random road.

In addition, Platonov pays a lot of attention to the personality of Peter, highlighting his positive qualities: energy, seriousness, natural intelligence and talents, the desire to figure everything out on his own.

N. I. Pavlenko believed that Peter's transformations were a major step along the road to progress (albeit within the framework of feudalism). Outstanding Soviet historians, such as E. V. Tarle, N. N. Molchanov, and V. I. Buganov, agree with him in many respects, considering the reforms from the point of view of Marxist theory.

V. B. Kobrin argued that Peter did not change the most important thing in the country: serfdom. Fortress industry. Temporary improvements in the present doomed Russia to a crisis in the future.

According to R. Pipes, Kamensky, E. V. Anisimov, Peter's reforms were extremely controversial. Serf-owning methods and repressions led to an overstrain of the people's forces.

E. V. Anisimov believed that, despite the introduction of a number of innovations in all spheres of society and the state, the reforms led to the conservation of the autocratic-serf system in Russia.

An extremely negative assessment of Peter's personality and the results of his reforms was given by the publicist Ivan Solonevich. In his opinion, the result of Peter's activity was the gap between the ruling elite and the people, the denationalization of the first. He accused Peter himself of cruelty, incompetence, tyranny and cowardice.

L. N. Tolstoy accuses Peter of extreme cruelty.

Friedrich Engels in his work "Foreign policy of Russian tsarism" calls Peter "a really great man"; the first who "fully appreciated the exceptionally favorable situation for Russia in Europe."

In the historical literature, there is a version about the reduction in the population of Russia in the period 1700-1722.

Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences L. V. Milov wrote: “Peter I forced the Russian nobility to study. And this is his greatest achievement."

Memory

The praise of Peter, a very unpretentious person in private life, began almost immediately after his death and continued regardless of the change of political regimes in Russia. Peter became an object of reverent cult in St. Petersburg, which he founded, as well as throughout the Russian Empire.

In the 20th century, the cities of Petrograd, Petrodvorets, Petrokrepost, Petrozavodsk bore his name; large geographical objects are also named after him - Peter I Island and Peter the Great Bay. In Russia and abroad, they protect the so-called. houses of Peter I, where, according to legend, the monarch stayed. In many cities there are monuments to Peter I, the most famous (and the first) of which is the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square in St. Petersburg.

Peter I in essays and fiction

• A. N. Tolstoy. Historical novel "Peter I" (books 1-3, 1929-1945, not finished)
• Tsar Peter the Great, the history of the visit to the Solovetsky archipelago by Tsar Peter I (Romanov). Electronic encyclopedia "Solovki"
• V. Bergman. "History of Peter the Great", 1833 - article on the site "Pedagogy of a comprehensive school"
• E. Sherman. "The Evolution of the Petrine Myth in Russian Literature" - an article on the site "Network Literature"
• S. Mezin. The book "View from Europe: French authors of the XVIII century about Peter I"
• B. Bashilov. "Robespierre on the throne. Peter I and the historical results of the revolution he made
• K. Konichev. Narration "Peter the Great in the North"
• D. S. Merezhkovsky. "Antichrist. Peter and Alexei", ​​historical novel, the final in the trilogy "Christ and Antichrist", 1903-1904.
• M. V. Lomonosov, "Peter the Great" (unfinished poem), 1760.
• A. S. Pushkin, "The History of Peter I" (unfinished historical work), 1835.
• A. S. Pushkin, "Arap of Peter the Great" (historical novel), 1837.

Film incarnations of Peter I

• Alexey Petrenko - “The Tale of How Tsar Peter the Black Married”; historical melodrama, director Alexander Mitta, Mosfilm studio, 1976.
• Vladlen Davydov - "Tobacco Captain"; musical comedy television feature film, directed by Igor Usov, Lenfilm film studio, 1972.
• Nikolai Simonov - "Peter the First"; two-part historical feature film directed by Vladimir Petrov, Lenfilm film studio, 1937.
• Dmitry Zolotukhin - "Young Russia"; serial television feature film, director Ilya Gurin, M. Gorky Film Studio, 1981-1982.
• Petr Voinov - “Peter the Great” (another name is “The Life and Death of Peter the Great”) - a silent feature short film, directors Kai Hanzen and Vasily Goncharov, Pathe Brothers (Moscow office), Russian Empire, 1910
• Jan Niklas, Graham McGrath, Maximilian Schell - "Peter the Great" (Eng. Peter the Great); television series directed by Marian Chomsky, Lawrence Schiller, USA, NBC, 1986).
• Alexander Lazarev - "Demidovs"; historical feature film, directed by Yaropolk Lapshin, Sverdlovsk Film Studio, 1983.
• Victor Stepanov - "Tsarevich Alexei", ​​historical feature film, director Vitaly Melnikov, Lenfilm, 1997
• Vyacheslav Dovzhenko - "Prayer for Hetman Mazepa" (Ukrainian "Prayer for Hetman Mazepa"), historical feature film, director Yuriy Ilyenko, Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio, Ukraine, 2001.
• Andrei Sukhov - "Servant of the Sovereigns"; historical adventure film directed by Oleg Ryaskov, BNT Entertainment film company, 2007.

Nowadays, there are a large number of books and records about the life of Peter 1. In this article we will tell short biography the first emperor of the All-Russian - Peter Alekseevich Romanov (Peter 1). A large number of large and significant transformations for the Russian state are associated with his name.

Date and place of birth

The last Tsar of All Rus' was born on June 9, 1672, according to folk tales, Peter was born in the village of Kolomenskoye.

Family and parents of Peter 1

Peter 1 was the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Parents were of different social status. His father is the second Russian Tsar from the Romanov dynasty, while his mother is a small noblewoman. Natalya Kirillovna was the second wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, his first wife, Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, died in childbirth.
Peter 1 had two wives: the first was Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, the second was Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova (Ekaterina 1). During his life, the Emperor of Russia had 10 children (2 from his first marriage and 8 from his second). Unfortunately, most of the children died in childhood.

Childhood of Peter the Great

From an early age, Peter was very fond of playing with military toys, seeing this, his father appointed the experienced Colonel Menesius as a mentor in military affairs. It is worth noting that Alexei Mikhailovich organized the “Petrov regiment”, a small military association that served as the basis for teaching military affairs in a playful way. This regiment had a real uniform and weapons. Later, such associations began to be called "amusing regiments." Here Peter passed his first real military-practical training. At the age of ten, Peter 1 had already begun to rule Russia. It was 1682.

The reign of Peter 1. Briefly

Peter the Great finally transformed the Muscovite kingdom into the Russian Empire. Under him, Rus' became Russia: a multinational power with access to the southern and northern seas.
Peter 1 is the creator of the Russian fleet, the date of foundation of which can be called 1696. Forever in the history of Russia there was a memory of the Battle of Poltava, in which Russia won. In the war with Turkey, he conquered Azov, and the Northern War with Sweden ensured Russia's access to the Baltic Sea.
Another great deed is the founding of St. Petersburg. Under him, the first printed domestic newspaper Vedomosti began to appear. He created the conditions for the development of various sciences, urban planning industry. The indomitable energy of Peter allowed him to master many professions - from carpentry to sailor. One of them was that while in Holland, the emperor learned the basics of dental treatment (namely, he learned how to pull them out).
Ordered to celebrate the New Year on the first of January. It is to him that we owe the cheerful custom of decorating Christmas trees for this holiday.
Peter 1 died in 1725 after a long illness, which he received while rescuing people from a sinking ship, pulling them out of the icy water.

The Russian Tsar Peter the Great since 1682, ruling since 1689 and being the Russian emperor since 1721, was the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov. during his successful reign, the king carried out many reforms of public administration.

This ruler used the rich experience of Western European countries in the development of culture, trade and industry, and also pursued the so-called mercantilism policy (that is, the creation of canals, marinas, shipyards, various factories, etc.). Peter the Great also led the Russian army in such military campaigns:

· Azov campaigns 1695 - 1696;

Northern War (1700 - 1721);

Prut campaign of 1711;

· Persian military campaign (1722-23), etc.

In addition, the tsar commanded the soldiers in 1702 during the capture of Noteburg, as well as in the battles near Poltava, etc.

In 1697, the tsar, together with his subjects, went abroad and lived in Austria, Venice, England, Saxony, Holland, getting acquainted with the achievements of these states in the technical industry, as well as in the field of architects and shipbuilding. However, the news of the streltsy rebellion in Russia that reached him forced him to return to his homeland, where this disobedience was suppressed by him with particular cruelty.

During the reign of Peter the Great, a number of successful reforms were undertaken in the state administration system. For example, the Senate is formed, the division of the state into provinces is introduced, the church is subordinate to the state, etc. In 1703, the Russian new capital, St. Petersburg, was built. It was this city that was supposed to later become a kind of "paradise", a model city.

In 1721, Russia received the status of the Empire and Peter began an active foreign policy, developing trade and industry between Europe and his country.

One of the important decisions of Peter the Great is the creation of a navy and a regular army. Also during this period, the state territory was significantly expanded.

Russian culture in the era of the reign of Peter was able to replenish a huge number of different European elements. At this time, the Academy of Sciences is opening, as well as many secular educational institutions.

It was thanks to the efforts of Peter that the promotion of the nobles in the service depended primarily on the level of their education.

Suffering from various illnesses, Peter the Great died in his city of St. Petersburg in 1725.

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Peter I is a great Russian emperor and an incredibly attractive and creative person, so interesting facts from the biography of the tsar of the Romanov dynasty will be of interest to everyone. I will try to tell you something that is definitely impossible to find in any school textbooks. Peter the Great, according to the new style, was born on June 8, according to the sign of the zodiac - twins. It is not surprising that it was Peter the Great who became the innovator for the conservative Russian Empire. Gemini is an air sign that is distinguished by ease of decision-making, a sharp mind and amazing imagination. Only the "horizon of expectation" usually does not justify itself: the rough reality is too different from blue dreams.

An unusual fact about the character of Peter the Great

According to the calculations of the square of Pythagoras, the character of Peter 1 consists of three units, which means that the emperor was distinguished by a calm character. It is believed that it is a person with three or four units that is most suitable for working in government structures. For example, a person with one or five, six units is distinguished by a despotic character and is ready to "go over their heads" for the sake of power. So, Peter the Great had all the prerequisites for occupying the royal throne.

Is it an heir?

There is an opinion that Peter the Great is not the native son of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov. The fact is that the future emperor was distinguished by strong health, unlike his brother Fedor and sister Natalia. But this is only an assumption. But the birth of Peter was predicted by Simeon of Polotsk, he informed the sovereign that he would soon have a son who would go down in Russian history as a great ruler!

But the wife of the Emperor Catherine I was of peasant origin. By the way, this is the first woman who was aware of all state affairs. Peter discussed everything with her and listened to any advice.

Innovator

Peter the Great introduced many new ideas into Russian life.

• While traveling in Holland, I noticed that skating is much more convenient if they are not tied to shoes, but are tightly attached to special boots.

• In order for the soldiers not to confuse right and left, Peter I ordered hay to be tied to the left leg, and straw to the right. When doing drill training, the commander, instead of the usual ones for us: “right - left”, commanded “hay - straw”. By the way, only educated people used to be able to distinguish between right and left.
• Peter intensively fought against drunkenness, especially among the courtiers. In order to completely eradicate the disease, he came up with his own system: to give out iron, seven-kilogram medals for each spree. Such an award was hung around the neck in the police station and it was necessary to walk with it for at least 7 days! It was impossible to take pictures on your own, and it was dangerous to ask someone else.
• Peter I was impressed by the beauty of overseas tulips; he brought flower bulbs from Holland to Russia in 1702.

Peter I's favorite pastime is dentistry, with such interest he pulled out bad teeth from everyone who just asked. But sometimes he got so carried away that he could vomit healthy ones too!

Substitution of Peter I

The most unusual and interesting fact in Russian history. Researchers A. Fomenko and G. Nosovsky argue that the fact of substitution was and provide strong evidence to confirm. In those days, the names of the future heirs to the throne were given in accordance with the day of the angel of the Orthodox canons, and this is where the discrepancy opened up: the birthday of Peter the Great falls on the name Isakiy.

Peter the Great from his youth was distinguished by his love for everything Russian: he wore a traditional caftan. But after a two-year stay in Europe, the sovereign began to wear exclusively fashionable European clothes and never again put on his once beloved Russian caftan.

• Researchers claim that the impostor who returned from distant countries had a body structure that was different from Peter the Great. The impostor was taller and thinner. It is believed that Peter 1 was actually not two meters tall before, this is logical, because his father’s height was 170 cm, his grandfather’s was 167. And the king who came from Europe was 204 cm. Therefore, there is a version that the impostor did not wear favorite clothes of the king due to size discrepancies.
• Peter I had a mole on his nose, but after his stay in Europe, the mole mysteriously disappeared, this is confirmed by numerous portraits of the sovereign.
• When Peter returned from a trip abroad, he did not know where the oldest library of Ivan the Terrible was located, although the secret of its location was inherited. Princess Sophia constantly visited her, and the new Peter could not find a repository of rare editions.
• When Peter returned from Europe, his companions consisted of the Dutch, although when the tsar was just setting off on his journey, there was a Russian embassy with him, consisting of 20 people. Where did the 20 Russian subjects go during the two years of the tsar's stay in Europe remains a mystery.
• After arriving in Russia, Peter the Great tried to bypass his relatives and associates, and then got rid of everyone in various ways.

It was the archers who announced that the returned Peter was an impostor! And staged a riot, which was brutally suppressed. This is very strange, because only close associates of the king were selected for the archery troops, the title of archer was inherited with the confirmation of the king. Therefore, each of these people was clearly dear to Peter the Great before his trip to Europe, and now he suppressed the uprising in the most cruel way, according to historical data, 20 thousand people were killed. After that, the army was completely reorganized.

In addition, while in London, Peter the Great imprisoned his wife Lopukhina in a monastery without announcing the reason and married a peasant woman, Martha Samuilovna Skavronskaya-Kruse, who in the future would become Empress Catherine I.

Researchers note that the calm and just Peter the Great became a real despot after returning from a foreign campaign, all his orders were aimed at destroying Russian property: Russian history was rewritten by German professors, many Russian chronicles disappeared without a trace, a new chronology system was introduced, the usual measures were canceled measurements, repressions against the clergy, the eradication of Orthodoxy, the distribution of alcohol, tobacco and coffee, a ban on the cultivation of medicinal amaranth, and much more.

Whether this is really so, one can only guess, all the historical documents of those times that we have cannot be considered valid, because. Everything has been rewritten many times. It remains only to guess and assume, you can also watch a film on this topic.

In any case, Peter I is a significant personality in Russian history.