Peter 1 birth. I Peter biography. Medical reforms of Peter I

The first Russian emperor Peter I the Great was born

Autocratic hand
He boldly sowed enlightenment,
I did not despise my native country:
He knew her purpose.

Now an academician, now a hero,
Now a navigator, now a carpenter,
He is an all-encompassing soul
The eternal worker was on the throne.

Pushkin A. S. "Stanzas", 1826

May 30 (June 9) 1672 in Moscow in the family Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov and his second wife Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina was born the first Russian emperor (1721) Peter I Alekseevich the Great.

As the youngest of the heirs, Pyotr Alekseevich received the Moscow throne in April 1682, immediately after the death of his childless half-brother, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, bypassing the second tsarevich, Ivan. This caused the discontent of the relatives of Alexei Mikhailovich's first wife, Miloslavsky, who used Strelets Moscow uprising of 1682 for a palace coup. The followers and relatives of the Naryshkins were subjected to repression, Peter I was crowned king together with his half-brother, Ivan V, as a junior co-ruler, and the elder tsar's sister, Princess Sofia Alekseevna, became regent with them. During her reign, Peter, along with his mother, was located far from the Court in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. Only in 1689 did he manage to remove Tsarevna Sophia from power, and in 1696, after the death of Ivan V, to become an autocratic tsar.

Like all the children of Alexei Mikhailovich, Peter I received a good education at home, and then throughout his life replenished his knowledge and skills in various fields, paying special attention to military and naval affairs. In 1687, he created the amusing Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments, which later became the basis of the Russian regular army. In the years 1688-1693. a funny flotilla operated on Lake Pleshcheyevo, the experience of which was then used in the construction of a fleet in the Black Sea region and in the Baltic. And in 1697-1698. the young tsar made a trip abroad, during which he not only got acquainted with the peculiarities of the state structure of other countries, but also completed a full course of artillery sciences in Koenigsberg, a theoretical course in shipbuilding in England and a six-month practice of working as a carpenter in the shipyards of Amsterdam.

While maintaining and strengthening the feudal-serf system during his reign, Peter I carried out a series of reforms aimed at overcoming Russia's separation from the Western European path of development and strengthening the country's influence on the international economy and politics.

This was largely facilitated by the tsar's energetic foreign policy. So, as a result of the Azov campaigns of 1695-1696. Russia captured the Turkish fortress of Azov and got access to the Azov and Black Seas. During Northern War (1700-1721) lands on the banks of the Neva, in Karelia and the Baltic states, previously conquered by Sweden, were returned, the country received access to the Baltic Sea, which greatly influenced its economic, political and cultural development. During the Persian campaign (1722–1723), the western coast of the Caspian Sea with the cities of Derbent and Baku retreated to Russia.

Inside the country, important changes have been made in all spheres of life. So, the capital was transferred to the city created in 1703. Saint Petersburg city , division of the country's territory into the province in 1708-1715., the formation of the highest government body - the Senate, creation of collegia etc. Changes in the social sphere, reflected in the decree on single inheritance of 1714, affected the merger of two forms of land ownership (estates and estates) and the transformation of the noble service into a lifelong one. In 1722, a document was approved regulating the procedure for moving through the service - "Table of Ranks"... In 1721, Peter I introduced "Spiritual regulations" officially abolished the Patriarchate in the Russian Church and created a Theological College for its administration, which was soon renamed the Holy Governing Synod. BThanks to the military reform, a regular Russian army and navy was formed, the organizational basis of which was the Military Charter and the Marine Charter.Under Peter was created the Russian Academy of Sciences, a number of higher educational institutions were opened, a secular general education school was formed, the first museum and a public library in Russia were opened, the first Russian newspaper "Vedomosti", a number of expeditions were organized to Central Asia and the Far East, etc. In 1721 Russia became an empire, and a year later there was succession decree, which secured the autocratic rights of the monarch to appoint his successor.

The activities of the king were assessed by society ambiguously. The advancement of the serving nobility and bureaucracy to the fore, the elimination of the patriarchate, and the loss of political independence by the church caused discontent among the boyars and the church hierarchy. The response to many violent innovations and increased tax burdens was the uprising of townspeople and soldiers.

On January 28 (February 10), 1725, the first Russian emperor died and was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. He was succeeded by his wife, Catherine I.

Lit .: Bazilevich K.V. Peter I - statesman, reformer, commander. M, 1946; Brickner A.G. The History of Peter the Great. M., 2004; Valishevsky K.F. Peter the Great. M., 2003; Great reformer of Russia: To the 300th anniversary of the birth of Peter I. Voronezh, 2002; Memorable legends about the life and deeds of Peter the Great. SPb., 1872; Legislation of Peter I. M., 1997; Zolotov V.A.Story of Peter the Great. SPb., 1872; Kara-Murza A. A. Reformer: Russians about Peter I. Ivanovo, 1994; Massy R.K. Peter the Great: Personality and Epoch. SPb., 2003; Pavlenko N.I., Peter I. M., 2003; Peter the Great in legends, legends, anecdotes, fairy tales, songs. SPb., 2000; Letters and papers of Peter the Great. SPb; M. T.1-13. 1887-1992; Pogosyan E. A. Peter I - the architect of Russian history. SPb., 2001; Reforms of Peter I and the fate of Russia. M., 1994; Senigov I. P. Tsar-worker and teacher. Pg., 1915; Tarle E. V. Russian fleet and foreign policy of Peter I. St. Petersburg, 1994; Schebalsky P.K. Tsar Peter the Great, the first Russian emperor. Warsaw, 1873.

See also in the Presidential Library:

Battle of Lesnaya // On this day. October 9, 1708 G.;

First civil calendar published in Moscow // On this day. January 8, 1709 G.;

Alexander Nevsky Lavra founded in St. Petersburg // On this day. April 5, 1713 G.;

The decree of Peter I "On wearing a dress in the manner of a Hungarian one" was issued // On this day. January 14, 1700 ;

Peace Treaty of Constantinople signed between Russia and Turkey // On this day. 14 July 1700 ;

The Treaty of Preobrazhensky was concluded between Peter I and August II // On this day. November 21, 1699 ;

Peter the Great (Born in 1672 - died in 1725) The first Russian emperor, known for his reforms of public administration.

How the king died

1725, January 27 - The Emperor's Palace in St. Petersburg was surrounded by reinforced guards. The first Russian emperor Peter 1 was dying in terrible agony. The last 10 days, convulsions were replaced by deep fainting and delirium, and in those minutes when Peter came to himself, he screamed terribly from unbearable pain. During the last week, in short-term moments of relief, Peter received Holy Communion three times. By his decree, all arrested debtors were released from prisons and their debts were covered from the royal sums. In all churches, including those of other religions, about him

Origin. early years

Peter was the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his second wife Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina. Peter was born on May 30, 1672. The tsar had 13 children from his first marriage with Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, but only two of the sons survived - Fedor and Ivan. After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1676, Peter's upbringing was looked after by his elder brother, Tsar Fyodor, who was his godfather. For young Peter, he chose Nikita Zotov as a mentor, thanks to whose influence he became addicted to books, especially to historical writings. Nikita told the young prince a lot about the past of the Fatherland, about the glorious deeds of his ancestors.

The real idol for Peter was Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Subsequently, Peter spoke of his reign: “This sovereign is my predecessor and model; I have always envisioned him as a model of my government in civil and military affairs, but I did not have time in that as far as he did. Fools only those who do not know the circumstances of his time, the properties of his people and the greatness of his merits, call him a tormentor. "

Struggle for the royal throne

After the death of the 22-year-old Tsar Fedor in 1682, the struggle for the royal throne of two families - the Miloslavsky and the Naryshkins - sharply intensified. The contender for the kingdom from the Miloslavskys was Ivan in weak health, from the Naryshkins - healthy, but younger Peter. At the instigation of the Naryshkins, the patriarch proclaimed Peter the king. But the Miloslavskys were not going to humble themselves and they provoked a streltsy riot, during which many of the people close to the Naryshkins died. This made an indelible impression on Peter, had an impact on his mental health and outlook. Throughout his life, he harbored hatred for the archers and for the entire family of Miloslavsky.

Two kings

The result of the riot was a political compromise: both Ivan and Peter were elevated to the throne, and Princess Sophia, the smart and ambitious daughter of Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage, became regent (ruler) with them. Peter and his mother did not play any role in the life of the state. They ended up in a kind of exile in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. Peter had to take part only in ambassadorial ceremonies in the Kremlin. There, in Preobrazhensky, the military "fun" of the young tsar began. Under the leadership of the Scotsman Menezius, from Peter's peers, as a rule, representatives of noble families, they recruited a children's regiment, from which in the early 90s. two guards regiments grew up - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky. They served as the future field marshal M.M. Golitsyn, and a descendant of a noble family Buturlin, and the son of a groom, and in the future a friend and associate of Peter, A.D. Menshikov. The tsar himself served here, starting with a drummer. The officers in the regiments were, as a rule, foreigners.

In general, foreigners who lived near Preobrazhensky in the German Quarter (Kukui), seekers of happiness and ranks, masters, military specialists who came to the country under Tsar Alexei, played a huge role in the Tsar's life. They taught him shipbuilding, military affairs, and besides that, drinking strong drinks, smoking, wearing foreign dresses. From them, one might say, he absorbed a disdain for everything Russian. The Swiss F. Lefort became closer to Peter.

Attempted riot

In the summer of 1689, the struggle with the Miloslavskys intensified. Tsarevna Sophia, realizing that soon Peter would push back the sick Ivan and take the reign into his own hands, began to incite the archers, led by Shaklovity, to revolt. However, this plan failed: the archers themselves betrayed Pyotr Shaklovity, and he, having named many of his like-minded people under torture, was executed along with them. Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent. This was the beginning of his sole rule. Ivan's reign was nominal, and after his death in 1696, Peter became an autocrat.

Riot archers

1697 - the tsar, as part of the Great Embassy of fifty people, under the guise of the Preobrazhensky regiment sergeant Peter Mikhailov, went abroad. The purpose of the trip is an alliance against the Turks. In Holland and England, working as a carpenter in shipyards, Peter was engaged in the development of shipbuilding. On the way back, in Vienna, he was caught by the news of a new revolt of the archers. The tsar hurried to Russia, but on the way he received news that the revolt had been suppressed, having executed 57 instigators, and 4000 archers had been exiled. On his return, believing that Miloslavsky's "seed" had not been destroyed, Peter gave the order to resume the investigation. The archers who had already been exiled were returned to Moscow. Peter personally took part in torture and executions. He chopped off the heads of the archers with his own hands, forcing his entourage and courtiers to do it.

Many archers were executed in a new way - they were driven on the wheel. Peter's vengeance towards the Miloslavsky family was boundless. He gave the order to dig out the coffin with Miloslavsky's body, bring it on pigs to the place of execution and place it near the block so that the blood of the executed would flow onto the remains of Miloslavsky. In total, more than 1000 archers were executed. Their bodies were thrown into a pit where the corpses of animals were dumped. 195 archers were hanged at the gates of the Novodevichy Convent, and three - near the very windows of Sophia, and for five months the corpses hung at the place of execution. In this terrible case, and in many others, the tsar surpassed his idol Ivan the Terrible in cruelty.

Reforms Peter 1

At the same time, Peter began reforms, intending to transform Russia along the Western European model, to make the country an absolutist police state. He wanted everything at once. With his reforms, Peter 1 put Russia on its hind legs, but how many people went to the rack, to the chopping block, to the gallows! How many were beaten, tortured ... It all started with cultural innovations. It became obligatory for everyone, with the exception of the peasants and clergy, to wear foreign dresses, the army was dressed in uniforms according to the European model, and everyone, again, except for the peasants and the clergy, had to shave their beards, while in Preobrazhensky the tsar cut off beards with his own hands. boyars. 1705 - a tax was introduced on beards: from servicemen and clerks, merchants and townspeople, 60 rubles each. per person per year; from the rich merchants of the living room hundreds - 100 rubles each; from people of lower rank, boyar people, coachmen - 30 rubles each; from peasants - 2 money each time they entered the city or left it.

Other innovations have also been introduced. They encouraged the teaching of crafts, created numerous workshops, sent young men from noble families to study abroad, reorganized the city administration, carried out a reform of the calendar, established the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, and opened the Navigation School. To strengthen the centralization of state administration, instead of orders, collegia and the Senate were created. All these transformations were carried out by violent methods. A special place was occupied by the relationship between the tsar and the clergy. Day after day, he led an attack on the independence of the church. After the death of his mother, the king no longer took part in religious processions. The patriarch was no longer an adviser to Peter, he was expelled from the tsarist Duma, and after his death in 1700, the administration of the church was transferred to a specially created Synod.

The character of the king

And all these and other transformations were superimposed on the unbridled temper of the king. According to the historian Valishevsky: “In everything that Peter did, he brought a lot of impetuosity, a lot of personal rudeness, and especially, a lot of addiction. He beat right and left. And therefore, correcting, he spoiled everything. " Peter's rage, reaching the point of fury, his mockery of people could not be restrained.

He could pounce on Generalissimo Shein with savage abuse, and inflict serious wounds on Romodanovsky and Zotov, who were trying to appease him, people close to him: one had his fingers severed, the other had wounds on his head; could beat his friend Menshikov for not taking off his sword at the assembly during the dances; could kill a servant with a stick for taking off his hat too slowly; he could give the order that the 80-year-old boyar M. Golovin was forced to sit naked in a buffoon's cap for an hour on the Neva ice because he refused, dressed as a devil, to participate in the buffoon's march. After that, Golovin fell ill and died quickly. So Peter behaved not only at home: in the Copenhagen Museum, the tsar mutilated a mummy, for the fact that he was refused to sell it for the Cabinet of Curiosities. And there are many examples of this kind.

Peter's era

The Peter's era was a time of constant wars. The Azov campaigns in 1695–1696, the Northern War of 1700–1721, the Prut campaign in 1711, the campaign to the Caspian Sea in 1722. All this required a huge number of people and money. A huge army and navy were created. Recruits were often brought to cities in chains. Many lands were depopulated. In general, during the reign of Peter 1, Russia lost almost a third of its population. It was forbidden to cut down large trees throughout the state, and people were generally executed for cutting oak. For the maintenance of the army, new levies were introduced: recruit, dragoon, ship, courtyard and stamp paper. New rent was introduced: for fishing, home baths, mills, inns. The sale of salt and tobacco passed into the hands of the treasury. Even the oak coffins were transferred to the treasury and then sold at four more. But there was still not enough money.

Personal life of Peter 1

The difficult character of the king was reflected in his family life. At the age of 16, his mother, in order to discourage him from the German settlement, married him to Evdokia Lopukhina, whom he never loved. Evdokia bore him two sons: Alexander, who died in infancy, and Alexei. After the death of Natalya Kirillovna, relations between the spouses sharply deteriorated. The tsar even wanted to execute his wife, but limited himself only to forcibly tonsuring her as a nun in the Intercession Monastery in Suzdal. The 26-year-old queen was not given a penny for maintenance, and she had to ask her relatives for money. At the same time, the tsar in the German settlement had two mistresses: the daughter of the silversmith Betticher and the daughter of the wine merchant Mons - Anna, who became the first titled favorite of Peter. He presented her with palaces, estates, but when her love affair with the Saxon envoy Keyserling surfaced, the vengeful king took almost everything she had donated, and even kept her in prison for some time.

A vindictive, but not inconsolable lover, he quickly found a replacement for her. Among his favorites were at the same time Anisya Tolstaya, and Varvara Arsenyeva, and a number of other representatives of noble families. Often the choice of Peter stopped at simple maids. 1703 - another woman appeared who played a special role in the life of Peter - Marta Skavronskaya, who later became the wife of the tsar under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. After the occupation of Marienburg by the Russian army, she was a servant and mistress of Field Marshal B. Sheremetev, then A. Menshikov, who introduced her to Peter. Martha converted to Orthodoxy, gave birth to Peter's three daughters and a son, Peter Petrovich, who died in 1719. But only in 1724 the tsar crowned her. At the same time, a scandal erupted: Peter became aware of the love affair of Catherine and Willem Mons, the brother of the former favorite. Mons was executed, and his head in a jar of alcohol, by order of Peter, was in his wife's bedroom for several days.

Tsarevich Alexey

Against the background of these events, the tragedy of Peter's son, Alexei, stands out clearly. His fear of his father reached the point that, on the advice of his friends, he even wanted to give up the inheritance. The king saw a conspiracy in this and gave the order to put his son in a monastery. The prince fled and hid with his mistress, first in Vienna, and then in Naples. But they were found and lured to Russia. Peter promised his son forgiveness if he would give out the names of his accomplices. But instead of forgiveness, the tsar sent him to the casemate of the Peter and Paul Fortress and ordered an investigation to begin. During the week Alexei was tortured 5 times. The father himself took part in this. To end the torment, Alexey slandered himself: they say, he wanted to conquer the throne with the help of the troops of the Austrian emperor. 1718, June 24 - a court of 127 people unanimously sentenced the prince to death. The choice of execution was left to Peter's discretion. Little is known about how Alexei died: either from poison, or from strangulation, or they cut off his head, or he died under torture.

And the participants in the investigation were awarded titles, villages. The next day, the tsar celebrated the ninth anniversary of the Battle of Poltava magnificently.

With the end of the Northern War in 1721, Russia was proclaimed an empire, and the Senate honored Peter with the titles "Father of the Fatherland", "Emperor" and "Great".

Last years. Death

By the age of 50, Peter's stormy life gave him a bouquet of illnesses, but most of all he suffered from uremia. Mineral waters did not help either. Peter spent the last three months mostly in bed, although on the days of relief he took part in the festivities. By mid-January, the attacks of the disease became more frequent. Kidney dysfunction has led to a blockage of the urinary tract. The operation carried out gave nothing. Blood poisoning began. The question of succession to the throne arose sharply, because by this time the sons of Peter were not alive.

On January 27, Peter wanted to write a decree on the succession to the throne. He was given a piece of paper, but he was able to write only two words: "Give everything ..." In addition, he lost his speech. The next day he died in terrible agony. His body remained unburied for forty days. He was displayed on a velvet bed, embroidered with gold in the palace hall, upholstered with carpets that Peter received as a gift from Louis XV during his stay in Paris. His wife Ekaterina Alekseevna was proclaimed empress.

the last Tsar of All Russia and the first Emperor of All Russia

short biography

Peter the Great(real name - Romanov Peter Alekseevich) - Russian Tsar, since 1721 - Emperor, an outstanding statesman, famous for a large number of cardinal reforms, a commander - was born on June 9 (May 30, O.S.) 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 training began in 1677, in fact, the boy was left largely 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 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 enthronement of Peter and Ivan was a political compromise; 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 the main followers of Sophia, 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 gaining real power, instead of Peter, his mother and other close people ruled in reality. 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, entrusted this mission mainly to the ministers. He got used to being aloof from affairs during the long 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 ebullient energy, a keen interest in everything new allowed him to tackle the most important issues in the life of the country, especially since life itself immediately 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 largely contributed to the strengthening of his authority as a sovereign.

In 1697, Peter and his associates went abroad, lived 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 and social structure. The news of an archery rebellion that broke out in his homeland forced him to return to his homeland, where he suppressed an 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, had to serve, and set an example for others. Peter behaved in many ways unconventional for the monarch, destroying his sacred image that had developed over the centuries, therefore a certain part of society was critical of him and his activities. Nevertheless, Peter I led the country along the path of cardinal reforms in all areas of life, from government to culture. They began with the order to shave off their beards and wear clothes in a foreign manner.

A number of reforms have been undertaken in the public administration system. Thus, under Peter I, the Senate and collegiums 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 were entrusted with a special mission on this city - it was to become a model city, a “paradise”. In the same period, a council of ministers appeared instead of the boyar duma, and a lot of new institutions arose in St. Petersburg. When the Northern War ended, in 1721 Russia received the status of an empire, and Peter was named by the Senate as "Great" and "Father of the Fatherland."

Much has changed in the economic system as well, since Peter was well aware of how deep the chasm between the country he led and Europe was. He took many measures for the development of industry and trade, including foreign; under him, a large number of new industrial branches, factories and plants, manufactories, shipyards, and wharves appeared. All this was created taking into account the adopted Western European experience.

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

During the reign of Peter, Russian culture was replenished with a large number of European elements. At this time, the Academy of Sciences, many secular educational institutions were opened, and the first Russian newspaper appeared. Through the efforts of Peter the service promotion of the nobility was made dependent on the level of their education. Under Peter I, the civil alphabet was adopted, the celebration of the New Year was introduced. In St. Petersburg, a fundamentally new urban environment was formed, starting with architectural structures that had not been built before and ending with the forms of pastime of 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 reformer sovereign. For a long time, the system of administration he introduced and the principles of territorial division of Russia were preserved; he laid the foundations of the national culture. At the same time, Peter's reforms were contradictory, which created the preconditions for a crisis to mature. The ambiguity of his course is connected with violence as the main instrument of reforms, the absence of changes in the social sphere, and the strengthening of the institution of serfdom.

Peter I the Great left behind a vast manuscript heritage of more than a dozen volumes; relatives, acquaintances of the emperor, his contemporaries, biographers have captured many of the sovereign's statements that have come down to our time. On February 8 (January 28, O.S.) 1725, Peter I died in his brainchild - St. Petersburg. It is known that he suffered from a number of serious diseases that significantly brought his death closer.

Biography from Wikipedia

The representative of the Romanov dynasty. He was proclaimed tsar 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 an interest in 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 his return 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 the territories of Russia in the Baltic region after the victory in the Great Northern War, which allowed him to accept 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 opposite assessments of both the personality of Peter I and his role in the history of Russia. In official Russian historiography, Peter was considered 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 Tsarina and Grand Duchess Natalia Kirillovna, and bore Us a son, the Blessed Tsarevich and Great Prince Peter Alekseevich of All Great and Little and White Russia, and his name-day June 29th ".

Complete Laws, Volume I, p. 886

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

Father - Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich - had numerous offspring: Peter I was the 14th child, but the first from his second wife, Queen Natalia Naryshkina. On June 29, on the day of the holy apostle Peter and the holy apostle Paul, the prince was baptized in the Chudov monastery (according to other sources in the church of Gregory of Neokesaria, 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 name of his older brother, since he was born on the same day with Fedor. It was not found in either the Romanovs or the Naryshkins. The last representative of the Moscow dynasty of Rurikovich with this name was Peter Dmitrievich, who died in 1428.

After spending a year with the queen, he was given to be raised by nannies. In the 4th year of Peter's life, in 1676, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died. The prince's guardian 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 mistakes, using a poor vocabulary. This was due to the fact that the then patriarch of Moscow, Joachim, in the framework of the struggle against "romanization" and "foreign influence", removed from the royal court the disciples of Simeon of Polotsk, who taught Peter's older brothers, and insisted that less educated clerks be engaged in teaching Peter Nikita Zotov and Afanasy Nesterov. In addition, Peter did not have the opportunity to receive an education from any university graduate or from a high school teacher, since neither universities nor secondary schools existed in the Russian kingdom during Peter's childhood, and among the estates of Russian society only clerks, clerks, clergy, boyars and some merchants were taught to read and write. Clerks taught Peter to read and write from 1676 to 1680. Peter was able to compensate for the shortcomings of basic education with rich practical lessons.

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

Streletsky revolt of 1682 and the coming to power of Sophia 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 sickly elder 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 Matveyev, summoned from exile, was declared a "great guardian". Supporters of Ivan Alekseevich found it difficult to support their challenger, who could not reign due to extremely poor health. The organizers of the actual palace coup announced the version of the dying Fyodor Alekseevich's handing over the "scepter" to his younger brother Peter, but no reliable evidence of this was presented.

The uprising of the archers in 1682. The archers are dragged out of the palace by Ivan Naryshkin. While Peter I consoles his mother, Princess Sophia watches with satisfaction. Painting by A. I. Korzukhin, 1882

The Miloslavskys, relatives of Tsarevich Ivan and Tsarevna Sophia by their mothers, saw in the proclamation of Peter as tsar an infringement of their interests. Sagittarius, of whom there were more than 20 thousand in Moscow, have long been showing discontent and willfulness; and, apparently, incited by the Miloslavskys, on May 15 (25), 1682, they came out openly: with shouts that the Naryshkins had strangled Tsarevich Ivan, they moved to the Kremlin. Natalya Kirillovna, hoping to calm the rioters, 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 Matveyev and Mikhail Dolgoruky were killed, then other supporters of Tsarina Natalia, including her two brothers Naryshkins.

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

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

Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky amusing shelves

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 "funny", dressed in foreign caftans, accompanied by a drumbeat in regimental formation, marched through Moscow from Preobrazhenskoye to the village of Vorobyovo. Peter himself served as a drummer.

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

In Preobrazhensky, opposite the palace, on the banks of the Yauza, a "funny town" was built. During the construction of the fortress, Peter himself worked actively, helped to cut logs, install cannons. Here was also quartered the "All-Sense, All-Drunken and Extravagant Cathedral" created by Peter - a parody of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The fortress itself was named Preschburg probably by the name of the then famous Austrian fortress of Presburg (now Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia), which he heard about from Captain Sommer. At the same time, 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 a Dutchman 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 bot, and then lower it to the Yauza River. However, the Yauza and Prosyan pond turned out to be cramped for the ship, so Peter went to Pereslavl-Zalessky, to Lake Pleshcheev, where he laid the first shipyard for the construction of ships. There were already two "amusing" regiments: Semyonovsky was added to Preobrazhensky, located in the village of Semyonovskoye. Preschburg was already completely like a real fortress. Knowledgeable and experienced people were needed to command regiments and study military science. But there were no such people among the Russian courtiers. So Peter appeared in the German settlement.

The first marriage of Peter I

Peter and Evdokia Lopukhina. The drawing located at the beginning of the Book of Love, a Sign of Honest Marriage by Karion Istomin, 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 eyeing her life with curiosity for a long time. An increasing number of foreigners at the court of Tsar Peter, such as Franz Timmermann and Karsten Brandt, were natives of the German settlement. All this imperceptibly led to the fact that the tsar became a frequent guest in the settlement, where he soon turned out to be a great admirer of a relaxed foreign life. Peter lit a German pipe, began to attend German parties with dancing and drinking, met Patrick Gordon, Franz Lefort - future associates of Peter, started an affair with Anna Mons. Peter's mother strongly opposed this. To reason her 17-year-old son, Natalya Kirillovna decided to marry him to Evdokia Lopukhina, the daughter of a roundabout.

Peter did not contradict his mother, and on January 27 (February 6), 1689, the wedding of the "younger" tsar was played. However, less than a month later, Peter left his wife and went to Lake Pleshcheyevo for several days. From this marriage, Peter had two sons: the eldest, Alexei, was the 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 when her half-brother came of age, she would have to give up power. At one time, the princess's supporters hatched a coronation plan, but Patriarch Joachim was categorically opposed.

The campaigns against the Crimean Tatars, carried out in 1687 and 1689 by the favorite of the princess, Prince Vasily Golitsyn, were unsuccessful, but were presented as large and generously rewarded victories, which aroused the discontent of 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 performed from the Kremlin to the Kazan Cathedral. At the end of the Mass, Peter went up to 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 of the case, 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 Shaklovite to equip more of her people to the Kremlin, as if to accompany them 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, to kill the princess, the brother of Tsar Ivan, and seize power. Shaklovity gathered the streltsy regiments to march in a "great assembly" to Preobrazhenskoye and beat all of Peter's supporters for their intention to kill Princess Sophia. At the same time, three horsemen were sent to observe what was happening in Preobrazhensky with the task of immediately informing if Tsar Peter went somewhere alone or with regiments.

Peter's supporters among the archers sent two like-minded people to Preobrazhenskoye. After the report, Peter with a small retinue rode in alarm to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Peter's illness was a consequence of the horrors of the shooters' performances: with strong excitement, convulsive facial movements began. On August 8, both queens, Natalia and Evdokia, arrived at the monastery, followed by "funny" regiments with artillery. On August 16, a letter came from Peter, so that from all the rifle regiments, chiefs and 10 privates were sent to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Tsarevna Sophia strictly forbade the execution of this command on pain of death, and a letter was sent to Tsar Peter with a notice that his request could not be fulfilled in any way.

On August 27, a new letter from Tsar Peter arrived - to go to all the regiments to the Trinity. Most of the troops obeyed the lawful king, and Princess Sophia had to admit defeat. She herself went to the Trinity Monastery, but in the village of Vozdvizhenskoye, Peter's envoys met her 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 the 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 a sovereign.

After the overthrow of Tsarevna Sophia, power passed into the hands of people rallied around Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna. She tried to accustom her son to government, 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, against his will, the Moscow government refused to renew the war with the Ottoman Empire, the tsar did not want to return from Pereyaslavl to meet the Persian ambassador, and the top officials of the government of Natalia 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, NM Zotov's "placement" in "all Yauza and all Kokui patriarchs" was the tsar's response to the appointment of Patriarch Adrian, made against his will. After the death of Natalya Kirillovna, the tsar did not overthrow the government of L.K. Naryshkin - B.A.Golitsyn, formed by his mother, but he made sure that it strictly fulfilled his will.

The beginning of the expansion of Russia. 1690-1699

Azov campaigns. 1695, 1696

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

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 at a distance from the supply bases. However, already in the fall of 1695, preparations began for a new campaign. In Voronezh, the construction of a rowing Russian flotilla began. In a short time, a flotilla of different ships was built, 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 on the gallery. 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 Azov fortress, the beginning of the construction of the Taganrog port, 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. Russia did not yet have the strength for a war with Turkey, as well as a full-fledged navy.

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

During the construction of the fleet and the reorganization of the army, Peter was forced to rely on foreign specialists. After completing the Azov campaigns, he decides to send young nobles to study abroad, and soon he himself goes on his first trip to Europe.

Great embassy based on an engraving by a contemporary. Portrait of Peter I dressed as 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. Admiral-General Franz Lefort, General Fyodor Golovin, and the head of the Ambassadorial Office Prokofiy Voznitsyn were appointed great plenipotentiary ambassadors. In total, the embassy included up to 250 people, among whom, under the name of the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky regiment, Peter Mikhailov, was Tsar Peter I. For the first time, the Russian tsar took a trip outside his state.

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

The embassy recruited several hundred specialists in shipbuilding to Russia, 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, of which Isaac Newton was the caretaker at that time. He was primarily interested in the technical achievements of Western countries, and not in the legal system. They say that after visiting the Palace of Westminster, Peter saw there "lawyers", that is, barristers, in their robes and wigs. He asked: "What kind of people are they and what are they doing here?" He was told: "These are all legalists, Your Majesty." “Lawyers! - Peter was surprised. - What are they for? In all my kingdom there are only two lawyers, and then I suppose to hang one of them when I return home. " True, having visited the British 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 to the king are clearly telling the truth, this should be learned from the British."

The Grand 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 the struggle of Russia for the Baltic. Thus, there was a reorientation of Russia's foreign policy from the south to the north.

Return. The turning point for Russia 1698-1700

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

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

Princess Sophia was tonsured as 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 cut her hair. and a thorough enlightenment in Russia. The patriarch fully supported the tsar, and these reforms led to the creation of a new education system and the opening of the Academy of Sciences in 1724.

During the 15 months of his stay abroad, Peter has seen a lot and learned a lot. After the return of the tsar on August 25 (September 4), 1698, his reform activities began, aimed at first at changing the external signs that distinguish the Old Slavic way of life from the Western European one. 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, 11) September wearing beards.

“I want to transform the secular goats, that is, citizens, and the clergy, that is, monks and priests. The first, so that they without beards resemble Europeans in goodness, and the others, so that they, although with beards, in churches would teach parishioners Christian virtues as I have seen and heard pastors teaching in Germany. "

The new 7208th year according to the Russian-Byzantine calendar ("from the creation of the world") became 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 autumnal equinox, as previously celebrated. In his special decree it was written:

“Because in Russia the New Year is considered differently, from now on, stop fooling people and count the New Year everywhere from January 1. And as a sign of a good beginning and fun, wish each other a Happy New Year, wishing well-being in matters and prosperity in the family. In honor of the New Year, decorate with fir trees, amuse children, ride on sleds from the mountains. And adults do not commit drunkenness and massacre - there are enough other days for that. "

Creation of the Russian Empire. 1700-1724 years

Military reforms of Peter

Kozhukhov's 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 poor 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 Transfiguration 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 attention was paid to the organization of the infantry. There was simply not enough time to create all the necessary military structure. The tsar's impatience was legendary - he was impatient to enter the war and test his army in action. Management, combat support service, strong well-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 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, led by the Saxon Elector and the Polish King Augustus II. The driving force behind the alliance was the desire of Augustus II to take Livland from Sweden. For help, he promised Russia the return of the lands that had previously belonged to the Russians (Ingermanlandia and Karelia).

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

In turn, Charles XII's plan was to defeat the opponents one by one. Soon 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, entrusted 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 from the very beginning.

Considering that Russia was weakened enough, Charles XII went to Livonia to direct all his forces against August II.

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

However, Peter, continuing the reforms of the army on the European model, resumed hostilities. Already in the fall of 1702, the Russian army, in the presence of the tsar, captured the Noteburg fortress (renamed Shlisselburg), in the spring of 1703 - the Nyenskans fortress at the mouth of the Neva. On May 10 (21), 1703, for the bold seizure of two Swedish ships at the mouth of the Neva, Peter (at that time bore the rank of captain of the Bombardier company of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment) received the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. 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 the Kotlin Island. The exit to the Baltic Sea was broken.

In 1704, after the capture of Dorpat and Narva, Russia established itself in the Eastern Baltic. On the offer to conclude peace, Peter I was refused.

After the overthrow of August II in 1706 and his replacement by the Polish king Stanislav Leszczynski, Charles XII began his fateful 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, Karl moved his troops south for food reasons and with the intention of reinforcing the army with Mazepa's supporters. In the battle at Lesnaya on September 28 (October 9), 1708, Peter personally led the corvolant of A.D. Menshikov and defeated the Swedish corps of Levengaupt, which was marching to join the army of Charles XII from Livonia. The Swedish army lost reinforcements and a convoy with military supplies. Peter later 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 took the rank of first lieutenant general and shautbenacht from the blue flag.

In 1710 Turkey intervened in the war. After the defeat in the Prut campaign in 1711, Russia returned the 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 domination of Sweden at sea, the Great Northern War dragged on. The Baltic Fleet was just being created by Russia, but managed to win the first victory in the Battle of Gangut in the summer of 1714. In 1716, Peter led the combined fleet from Russia, England, Denmark and Holland, but due to disagreements in the Allied camp, it was not possible to organize an attack on Sweden. As the Russian Baltic Fleet 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 Eleanor resumed the war, hoping for help from England. The devastating Russian landings in 1720 on the Swedish coast pushed 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 stock of the ancients, especially the Roman and Greek peoples, the daring to perceive, on the day of the celebration and the announcement of the prisoner by them in. v. through the labors of all of Russia, only a glorious and prosperous world, after reading this treatise in church, according to our all-subject thanksgiving for the intercession of this world, to bring my petition to you publicly, so that he would deign to accept from us, as if from his faithful subjects, in gratitude the title of Father of the Fatherland, The Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great, as usual from the Roman Senate for the noble deeds of the emperors, their titles were publicly donated to them and signed on statutes for memory in eternal birth.

Russo-Turkish War 1710-1713

After the defeat in the Battle of Poltava, the Swedish king Charles XII took refuge in the Ottoman Empire, the city of Bender. Peter I entered into an agreement with Turkey on the expulsion of Charles XII from Turkish territory, but then the Swedish king was allowed to stay and pose a threat to 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 reason for 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 war from Turkey was limited to the winter raid of the Crimean Tatars, vassals of the Ottoman Empire, to Ukraine. Russia waged a 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 that 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 the Azov to Turkey and lost access to the Sea of ​​Azov.

Since August 1711, there have been no hostilities, although in the process of agreeing on the final treaty, Turkey several times threatened 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 conquests 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, Buchholz's expedition founded Omsk at the confluence of the Irtysh and Omi rivers, upstream of the Irtysh: Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semipalatinsk and other fortresses. In 1716-1717, a detachment of Bekovich-Cherkassky was sent to Central Asia in order to persuade the Khiva Khan to become citizens and to scout 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 during his rule. During the reign of Peter I, Kamchatka was annexed to Russia. Peter planned an expedition across the Pacific Ocean to America (intending to establish Russian colonies there), but did not have time 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 seeking help from the son of the Persian shah Tohmas-Mirza, a 22,000-strong Russian detachment sailed from Astrakhan across the Caspian Sea. Derbent surrendered in August, after which the Russians returned to Astrakhan due to problems with provisions. The next year, 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 was capturing the western and central Transcaucasia.

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 of June 12 (23), 1724, Turkey recognized all Russia's 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 precisely established.

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

Russian Empire under Peter I

Peter I. Mosaic. Recruited by M.V. Lomonosov. 1754. Ust-Ruditsk factory. hermitage Museum

After the victory in the Northern War and the conclusion of the Nystadt Peace in September 1721, the Senate and 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 the emperors, such titles were publicly presented to them as a gift and signed on statutes for memory of eternal birth.»

On October 22 (November 2), 1721, Peter I took a title, not just an honorary one, but testifying to the new role of Russia in international affairs. Prussia and Holland immediately recognized the new title of the 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 taxable people was 5 million 198 thousand people, from where the number of peasants and townspeople, including females, was estimated at about 10 million. Many souls were hidden by the landowners. the second revision increased the number of taxable souls to almost 6 million people. Russian noblemen with families were counted up to 500 thousand; officials up to 200 thousand and clergy with families of up to 300 thousand souls.

Inhabitants of the conquered regions, who were not under the universal taxation, 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 counted from 700 to 800 thousand souls. The number of Siberian peoples was unknown, but Fokkerodt put it down to a million people.

Thus, the population of the Russian Empire was up to 15 million subjects and was second only to France in number in Europe (about 20 million).

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

Transformations of Peter I

All internal state activities of Peter can be conditionally divided into two periods: 1695-1715 and 1715-1725. The peculiarity of the first stage was haste and not always well thought out character, 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, at the first stage, extensive reforms were carried out with the aim of modernizing the way of life. In the second period, the reforms were more systematic.

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

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

After returning from the Grand Embassy, ​​Peter I fought against the external manifestations of the "outdated" way of life (the most famous is the beard tax), but no less paid attention to the introduction of the nobility to education and secular Europeanized culture. Secular educational institutions began to appear, the first Russian newspaper was founded, and many books were translated into Russian. Success in the service Peter made the nobles dependent on education.

Peter was clearly aware of the need for enlightenment, and took a number of decisive 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 maritime academy in St. Petersburg, mining schools at the Olonets and Ural factories. The first gymnasium in Russia was opened in 1705. The goals of mass education were to serve the digital schools created by the decree of 1714 in provincial cities, designed to “ children of all ranks to teach literacy, numbers and geometry". It was supposed to create two such schools in each province, where education was to be free. Garrison schools were opened for soldiers' children, a network of theological schools was created to train priests in 1721. In 1724, a draft regulation on the Academy of Sciences, the university and the gymnasium was signed.

By decrees of Peter, compulsory training of nobles and clergy was introduced, but a similar measure for the urban population met with fierce resistance and was canceled. Peter's attempt to create an all-class elementary school failed (the creation of a network of schools after his death ceased, most of the digital schools under his successors were re-profiled into estate schools for training clergy), but nevertheless, in 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 typography). 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 have been changes in the Russian language, which included 4.5 thousand new words borrowed from European languages. In 1724, Peter approved the charter of the organized Academy of Sciences (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 unknown forms of life and pastime (theater, 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 for Russia. At the assemblies, the nobles danced and communicated freely, in contrast to previous 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 18th 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, which ordered to write names in petitions and other documents completely instead of derogatory half names (Ivashka, Senka, etc.), do not fall on your knees in front of the king, in winter in the cold a hat in front of the house , in which the king is, do not shoot. He explained the need for these innovations in the following 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), prohibited forced marriage and marriage. It was prescribed that there should be no less than 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 doesn’t want to take the bride, or the bride doesn’t want to marry the groom,” no matter how the parents insisted, “there must be freedom”. Since 1702, the bride herself (and not only her relatives) was given the formal right to terminate the betrothal and upset the agreed marriage, and neither of the parties had the right to "beat the forehead for a penalty." Legislative prescriptions 1696-1704 on public celebrations, it was obligatory for all Russians, including the "female", to participate in the celebrations and celebrations.

From the "old" in the structure of the nobility under Peter, the former enslavement 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 and re-emerged. The decree on single inheritance of 1714 regulated the legal status of the nobility and consolidated the legal merger of such forms of land ownership as patrimony and estates.

Peasants from the reign of Peter I began to be divided into serfs (landowners), monastic and state peasants. All three categories were recorded in revision tales and taxed with a poll tax. Since 1724, the proprietor peasants could leave their villages to work and for other needs only with the written permission of the master, attested by the zemstvo commissar and colonel of the regiment that was stationed in the area. Thus, the landlord's power over the personality of the peasants received an even greater opportunity to strengthen, taking into its unaccountable disposal both the personality and the property of the private peasant. This new state of the rural worker receives from that time the name of "serf", or "revision", soul.

In general, Peter's reforms were aimed at strengthening the state and introducing the elite to European culture, while strengthening absolutism. In the course of the reforms, the technical and economic lag of Russia from a number of other European states was overcome, access to the Baltic Sea was conquered, and transformations were carried out in many spheres of the life of Russian society. Gradually, among the nobility, a different system of values, perception of the world, aesthetic ideas took shape, which radically differed from the values ​​and worldview of most representatives of other estates. At the same time, the forces of the people were extremely exhausted, the preconditions (the decree on succession to the throne) were created for the crisis of the supreme power, which led to the "era of palace coups."

Economic successes

Having set himself the goal of equipping the economy with the best Western production technologies, Peter reorganized all sectors of the national economy. During the Grand Embassy, ​​the tsar studied various aspects of European life, including the technical one. He mastered the foundations of the then dominant economic theory - mercantilism. The mercantilists based their economic doctrine on two principles: first, each nation, in order not to become impoverished, must produce whatever it needs, without resorting to the help of other people's labor, the labor of other peoples; second, every nation, in order to get rich, must export manufactured products from its country as much as possible and import foreign products as little as possible.

Under Peter, the development of geological exploration began, thanks to which deposits of metal ore were found in the Urals. In the Urals alone, at least 27 metallurgical plants were built under Peter; gunpowder factories, sawmills, glass factories 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 factories built during his reign. The largest were shipyards (only the St. Petersburg shipyard employed 3.5 thousand people), sailing factories and mining and metallurgical plants (9 Ural factories employed 25 thousand workers), there were a number of other enterprises with the number of employees from 500 to 1000 people. The first canals in Russia were dug to supply the new capital.

Reverse side of reforms

Peter's transformations were achieved through violence against the population, its complete submission to the will of the monarch, and the eradication of all dissent. Even Pushkin, who sincerely admired Peter, wrote that many of his decrees were "cruel, capricious and, it seems, were written with a whip," as if "escaped from 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 of despotism with the people, with their inertia. He hoped, by a thunderstorm of power, to cause self-activity 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 within the framework of in-kind labor service. They felled forests, filled up swamps, built embankments, etc. In 1704, up to 40 thousand workers were summoned to St. Petersburg from different provinces, mainly landlord serfs and state peasants. In 1707, many workers fled, sent to St. Petersburg from the Belozersk Territory. Peter I ordered to take family members of those who fled - their fathers, mothers, wives, children "or whoever lives in their houses" and to keep them in prisons until the fugitives are found ..

Factory workers of Peter's time 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, he was ordered to grab 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 workers' hands, villages and villages of peasants were attributed to factories and factories, as was still practiced in the 17th century. Such persons assigned to the factory worked for it and in it at the behest of the owner.

Repression

In November 1702, a decree was issued, which said: “I will continue to be in Moscow and in the Moscow court order of whatever ranks, whether from the cities, governors and clerks, and from monasteries they will send authorities, and landowners and patrimonials will bring their own people and peasants , and those people and peasants will learn to say “the sovereign’s word and deed,” and without asking those people in the Moscow court order, send them to the Preobrazhensky order to the steward to Prince Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky. Yes, even in the cities, the governors and clerks of people who learn to say "the sovereign's word and deed" behind them, send them to Moscow without asking. "

In 1718, the Secret Chancellery was created for the investigation of 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”. A non-informant about this was also entitled to 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 the kings authority over the nations, but Christ alone is ruled over the conscience of people." But this decree was not applied to the Old Believers. In 1716, in order to facilitate their accounting, they were given the opportunity of a semi-legal existence on condition that they pay "for this split all payments in half." At the same time, the control and punishment of those who evaded registration and double tax payments were strengthened. Those who did not confess and did not pay a double tax were ordered to be fined, each time increasing the rate of the fine, and even exiled to hard labor. For seduction into schism (any Old Believer divine service or the performance of sacraments was considered seduction), as before Peter I, the death penalty was imposed, which was confirmed in 1722. Old Believer priests were declared either schismatics, if they were Old Believer mentors, or traitors to Orthodoxy, if they were priests before, and they were punished for both. The schismatic sketes and chapels were ruined. Through torture, punishment with a whip, pulling out nostrils, threats of execution 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 again “fell into schism”. Deacon Alexander Pitirim, who headed the Kerzhen Old Believers, forced him to abandon the Old Believers, shackling him in shackles and threatening him with beatings, as a result of which the deacon "was afraid of him, of the bishop, great torment, and exiles, and tearing nostrils, as if it was done over others." When Alexander complained in a letter to Peter I about the actions of Pitirim, he was subjected to terrible torture and was executed on May 21 (June 1), 1720.

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

The personality of Peter I

Appearance

Portrait of Peter I

Sculptural head made by death mask (GIM)

A cast of the hand of Tsar Peter (State Historical Museum)

Peter's caftan and camisole make it possible to represent 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 for a whole head. At the same time, with such a great height, he was not of 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, the same, his head was also small compared to his body.

The people around were frightened by very strong convulsive twitching of the face, especially in moments of anger and emotional excitement. Contemporaries attributed these convulsive movements to a child's shock during the rifle riots or an attempt to poison Princess Sophia.

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

During his trips abroad, Peter I frightened sophisticated aristocrats with a rude manner of communication and simplicity of manners. The Hanoverian elector Sophia wrote about Peter as follows:

« The king is tall, he has beautiful features and a noble bearing; he has great mental alertness, his answers are quick and correct. But with all the virtues that nature has endowed him with, it would be desirable that there was 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 received the best upbringing, then a perfect person would 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 somewhat thick towards the end; the lips are rather large, the complexion is reddish and swarthy, beautiful black eyes, large, lively, penetrating, beautifully shaped; the look is majestic and affable, when he watches himself and restrains himself, otherwise severe and wild, with convulsions on his face that do not recur often, but distort both the eyes and the whole face, frightening everyone present. The spasm usually lasted one moment, and then his gaze became strange, as if bewildered, then everything immediately took on a normal look. All his appearance showed intelligence, reflection and greatness and was not devoid of charm».

Character

In Peter I, practical sharpness and dexterity, cheerfulness, seeming straightforwardness were combined with spontaneous impulses in the expression of both affection and anger, and sometimes with unbridled cruelty.

In his youth, Peter indulged in insane drunken orgies with his comrades. In anger, he could beat those close to him. He chose “noble persons” and “old boyars” as victims of his evil jokes - as Prince Kurakin reports, “fat people were dragged through chairs, where it was impossible to get stuck, they ripped off many dresses and left them naked…”. Created by him, the Most Hearing, Most Drunken and Extravagant Council was engaged in mockery of everything that was valued and revered in society as primordial everyday or moral and religious foundations. He personally performed the duties of the executioner during the execution of the participants in the Streltsy uprising. The Danish envoy Yust Yul testified that during the ceremonial entry into Moscow after the victory at Poltava, Peter, deathly pale, with ugly distorted convulsions on his face, making "terrible movements of his head, mouth, arms, shoulders, hands and feet", galloped in a mad frenzy on a soldier who had blundered in something and began to "mercilessly slash him with a sword."

During the hostilities on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on July 11 (22), 1705, Peter was present at Vespers in the Basilian monastery in Polotsk. After one of the Basilians called Jehoshaphat Kuntsevich, who oppressed the Orthodox population, a holy martyr, the tsar ordered the capture of the monks. The Basilians tried to resist and four of them were hacked to death. The next day, Peter ordered to hang a monk who distinguished himself with 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 under his mother in concepts that were alien to Peter's reformatory activities. The rest of the children of Peter and Evdokia died shortly after birth. In 1698, Evdokia Lopukhina became involved in an archery revolt, the purpose of which was to elevate her son to the kingdom, and was exiled to a monastery.

Alexei Petrovich, the official heir to the Russian throne, condemned the transformations of his father, and in the end 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 Tsarevich Alexei's death has not yet been reliably established. From his marriage to Princess Charlotte of Braunschweig, Tsarevich Alexei left a son, Peter Alexeevich (1715-1730), who became Emperor Peter II in 1727, and a daughter, Natalia Alexeevna (1714-1728).

In 1703, Peter I met 19-year-old Katerina, nee Martha Samuilovna Skavronskaya (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 servant from the Baltic peasants from Alexander Menshikov and made her his mistress. In 1704, Katerina gave birth to her first child, named Peter, the next year, Paul (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, was able to calm Peter's convulsive headaches with affection and patient attention. The sound of Katerina's voice calmed Peter; then she

“She would sit him down and take him, caressing him, by the head, which she lightly scratched. This produced a magical effect on him, he fell asleep in a few minutes. So as not to disturb his sleep, she held his head on her chest, sitting motionless for two or three hours. After that, he woke up completely fresh and vigorous. "

The official wedding of Peter I to 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 Peter's death in January 1725, Yekaterina Alekseevna, with the support of the serving nobility and the guards regiments, became the first ruling Russian Empress Catherine I, but she did not rule for long 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 seen the reign of her grandson Peter Alekseevich.

Awards

• 1698 - Order of the Garter (England) - the order was awarded to Peter during the Grand 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-Lithuanian Commonwealth) - in response to the awarding of the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth August II with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.
• 1713 - Order of the Elephant (Denmark) - for successes 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 will take the throne after the death of the emperor. Tsarevich Pyotr Petrovich (1715-1719, son of Catherine Alekseevna), who was declared heir to the throne at the abdication of Alexei Petrovich, died in childhood. The direct heir was the son of Tsarevich Alexei and Princess Charlotte, Pyotr Alekseevich. However, if you follow the custom and declare the son of the disgraced Alexei the heir, then the opponents of the reforms aroused the hopes of returning the old order, and on the other hand, fears arose among Peter's comrades-in-arms, who voted for the execution of Alexei.

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

... why did they prudently enact this statute, so that this would always be in the will of the ruling sovereign, to whom he wants, to determine the inheritance, and to the certain, seeing what indecency, packs away, so that children and descendants do not fall into such anger as above written I have this bridle on myself.

The decree was so unusual for Russian society that they had to explain it and demand 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 made a decree to kiss the cross for the future sovereign, and kiss the cross for the Swede. The Swede will eventually 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 the marriage with Ekaterina Alekseevna, would take the throne. But in 1724, Anna renounced any claim to the Russian throne after she became engaged to the Duke of Holstein Karl-Friedrich. If the youngest daughter Elizabeth, who was 15 years old (in 1724), took the throne, then the Duke of Holstein would rule instead, who dreamed of returning the lands conquered by the Danes with the help of Russia.

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

There was only one candidate left - Peter's wife, Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. Peter needed a person who would continue the work he had begun, his transformation. On May 7 (18), 1724, Peter crowned Catherine as empress and co-ruler, but after a short time he suspected of adultery (the Mons case). The decree of 1722 violated the usual order of succession, but Peter did not manage 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 stones, 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, against the advice of his life physician Blumentrost. From Olonets, Peter drove to Staraya Russa and in November went to St. Petersburg by water. 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 be engaged in state affairs. On January 17 (28), 1725, he had such a bad time that he ordered to install 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 (excluding the murderers and those convicted of repeated robbery) were amnestied. 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 he had written: "Give everything ...". 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 Peter's words "Give everything ..." and the order to call Anna is known only from the notes of GF Bassevich, the Holstein secret adviser; according to N.I. Pavlenko and V.P. Kozlov, it is a biased fiction aimed at 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 Peter's place. The Senate, Synod and generals - all institutions that did not have the formal right to decide 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 to Peter the Great. Guards officers entered the conference room, two guards regiments entered the square, and to the drumming of troops withdrawn by the party of Ekaterina Alekseevna and Menshikov, the Senate adopted a unanimous decision by 4 am on January 28 (February 8). By the decision of the Senate, the throne was succeeded by Peter's wife, Ekaterina Alekseevna, who became on January 28 (February 8) 1725 the first Russian empress under the name of Catherine I.

At the beginning of the sixth hour of 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 back of the urethra, hardening of the bladder neck and Antonov fire." Death followed from inflammation of the bladder, which turned into gangrene due to urinary retention caused by 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 to Russia, Louis XIV spoke about Peter:

This sovereign reveals his aspirations by concerns about training 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 it formidable to its neighbors and arouses very profound envy.

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

An enthusiastic characterization of Peter was given by Mikhail Lomonosov

With whom can I compare the Great Sovereign? I see in antiquity and in modern times the Owners who were called great. Indeed, they are great before others. However, before Peter they are small. ... Will I liken our Hero? I often wondered what kind of One who rules heaven, earth and sea with an omnipotent wave: His spirit will breathe - and the waters will flow, touch the mountains - and 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 "History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great" was published. The main value of Peter's reforms, Voltaire determines the progress that the Russians have achieved in 50 years, other nations cannot achieve this in 500. Peter I, his reforms, their significance became the object of a dispute between Voltaire and.

August Strindberg described Peter as follows

The barbarian who civilized his Russia; he, who built cities, but himself 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 the public sense, in the private sense, as it turned out.

NM Karamzin, recognizing this sovereign as the Great, severely criticizes Peter for his excessive enthusiasm for foreign affairs, the desire to make Russia the Netherlands. A drastic 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 Peter's reforms, 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 both in internal affairs and in foreign policy, showed the organic nature and historical readiness of the reforms:

The need to move to a new road was realized; the responsibilities were determined: the people got up and got ready for the road; but they were waiting for someone; they were waiting for the leader; the leader appeared.

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 in views stemmed from the enormity of the work done by Peter, the duration of the impact of this work. The more significant a phenomenon, the more contradictory views and opinions it generates, and the longer they talk about it, the longer they feel its influence on themselves.

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

The reform (of Peter) by itself emerged from the vital needs of the state and the people, instinctively felt by a powerful person with a sensitive mind and strong character, talents ... in this state, was not directed by the task of putting Russian life on the 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 the people with ready-made Western European means, mental and material, and thus to put the state on a level with the position it had won in Europe ... Begun and led by the supreme power, the usual leader of the people, it has mastered the nature and methods of a violent coup, a kind of revolution. It was a revolution not in its goals and results, but only in its methods and in the impression it made on the minds and nerves of its contemporaries.

PN Milyukov, in his works develops the idea that the reforms carried out by Peter spontaneously, from time to time, under the pressure of specific circumstances, without any logic and plan, 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 population of Russia within the borders of 1695 declined due to incessant wars.

S. F. Platonov was one of Peter's apologists. In his book Personality and Activity, he wrote the following:

People of all generations in their assessments of 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 the whole people. No one considered him an insignificant person, unconsciously using power or walking blindly along a random path.

In addition, Platonov pays a lot of attention to the personality of Peter, highlighting his positive qualities: energy, seriousness, natural intelligence and talents, a 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 agree with him in many respects: E. V. Tarle, N. N. Molchanov, V. I. Buganov, considering the reforms from the point of view of Marxist theory.

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

According to R. Pipes, Kamensky, E. V. Anisimov, Peter's reforms were extremely controversial. Serfdom methods and repression led to an overstrain of the popular forces.

EV 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 publicist Ivan Solonevich. In his opinion, the result of Peter's activities was the gap between the ruling elite and the people, the first denationalization. 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 "really a great man"; the first who "fully appreciated the extremely favorable situation for Russia in Europe."

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

RAS Academician 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 unassuming man in his private life, began almost immediately after his death and continued regardless of the change in political regimes in Russia. Peter became the object of reverent cult in St. Petersburg, founded by him, as well as throughout the Russian Empire.

In the XX century, the cities of Petrograd, Petrodvorets, Petrokrepost, Petrozavodsk bore his name; in honor of him, large geographical objects are also named - the island of Peter I and the Peter the Great Bay. In Russia and abroad, the so-called. houses of Peter I, where, according to legend, the monarch stayed. Monuments to Peter I have been erected in many cities, the most famous (and the first) of which is the Bronze Horseman on the Senate Square in St. Petersburg.

Peter I in sketches and works of art

• A. N. Tolstoy. Historical novel "Peter I" (books 1-3, 1929-1945, not finished)
• Tsar Peter the First, the history of Tsar Peter I (Romanov) visiting the Solovetsky archipelago. Electronic encyclopedia "Solovki"
• V. Bergman. "History of Peter the Great", 1833 - article on the site "Pedagogy of a comprehensive school"
• E. Sherman. "Evolution of the Petrine myth in Russian literature" - article on the site "Network Literature"
• S. Mezin. The book "A View from Europe: French Authors of the 18th Century on Peter I"
• B. Bashilov. “Robespierre on the throne. Peter I and the historical results of the revolution he accomplished "
• K. Konichev. Narration "Peter the First in the North"
• D. S. Merezhkovsky. "Antichrist. Peter and Alexey ”, a historical novel, the final one in the trilogy“ Christ and Antichrist ”, 1903-1904.
• MV Lomonosov, "Peter the Great" (unfinished poem), 1760.
• A. Pushkin, "History of Peter I" (unfinished historical work), 1835.
• A. Pushkin, "Arap of Peter the Great" (historical novel), 1837.

Film incarnations of Peter I

• Alexei Petrenko - "The Tale of How Tsar Peter Married the Arap"; historical melodrama, directed by Alexander Mitta, Mosfilm studio, 1976.
• Vladlen Davydov - "Tobacco Captain"; musical comedy television feature film, directed by Igor Usov, Lenfilm studio, 1972.
• Nikolay Simonov - "Peter the First"; two-part historical feature film, directed by Vladimir Petrov, Lenfilm studio, 1937.
• Dmitry Zolotukhin - "Young Russia"; multi-part television feature film, directed by Ilya Gurin, Gorky Film Studio, 1981-1982.
• Peter Voinov - "Peter the Great" (another name - "The Life and Death of Peter the Great") - a silent feature short film, directed by Kai Hansen and Vasily Goncharov, Pathé Brothers (Moscow office), Russian Empire, 1910
• Ian Niklas, Graham McGrath, Maximilian Schell - Peter the Great; TV series, directors Marian Chomsky, Lawrence Schiller, USA, NBC TV channel, 1986).
• Alexander Lazarev - Demidovs; historical feature film, directed by Yaropolk Lapshin, Sverdlovsk Film Studio, 1983.
• Victor Stepanov - "Tsarevich Alexei", ​​historical feature film, directed by Vitaly Melnikov, Lenfilm, 1997
• Vyacheslav Dovzhenko - "Prayer for Hetman Mazepa" (Ukrainian "Prayer for Hetman Mazepa"), historical feature film, directed by Yuri Ilyenko, Alexander Dovzhenko Film Studio, Ukraine, 2001.
• Andrey Sukhov - "The Sovereign's Servant"; historical adventure film, directed by Oleg Ryaskov, film company "BNT Entertainment", 2007.

The main dates of the life and work of Peter the Great

1682 - 1689 - Board of Princess Sophia.

1689, September- Deposition of the ruler Sophia and her imprisonment in the Novodevichy Convent.

1695 - The first Azov campaign of Peter I.

1696 - The second Azov campaign of Peter and the capture of the fortress.

1698, April - June- Archers uprising and defeat of archers near New Jerusalem.

1699, November- Peter's conclusion of an alliance with the Saxon Elector Augustus II and the Danish king Frederick IV against Sweden.

1699, December 20.- Decree on the introduction of a new chronology and celebration of the new year on January 1.

1700, October- Death of Patriarch Andrian. Appointment of the Ryazan Metropolitan Stephen Yavorsky locum tenens of the patriarchal throne.

1701 - 1702 - Victories of Russian troops over the Swedes at Erestfer and Gumelstof.

1704 - The capture of Dorpat and Narva by the Russian troops.

1705 - 1706 - The uprising in Astrakhan.

1707 - 1708 - The uprising on the Don under the leadership of K. Bulavin.

1708 - 1710 - Regional reform of Peter.

1710January 29- Approval of the civil alphabet. Decree on the printing of books in a new font.

1710 - The mastery of the Russian troops in Riga, Revel, Vyborg, Kexholm, etc.

1712 - Marriage of Peter I with Ekaterina Alekseevna.

1713 - Moving of the courtyard and higher government institutions to St. Petersburg.

1715 - Foundation of the Maritime Academy in St. Petersburg.

1716, August- Appointment of Peter as commander of the combined fleets of Russia, Holland, Denmark and England.

1716 - 1717 - Expedition of Prince Bekovich-Cherkassky to Khiva.

1716 - 1717 - Peter's second trip abroad.

1718 - Start of construction of the Ladoga Bypass Canal.

1718 - 1720 - Organization of collegiums.

1719 - Opening of the Kunstkamera - the first museum in Russia.

1721, October 22- Presentation of the title of Emperor, Great and Father of the Fatherland by the Senate to Peter.

1722 - Reform of the Senate. Establishment of the Prosecutor General's Office.

1722 - 1724 - Carrying out the first audit. Replacing the household tax with a poll tax.

1722 - 1723 - Peter's Caspian campaign. Accession to Russia of the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea.

1724 - The introduction of a protective customs tariff.

The main dates of the life of Emperor Peter II 1715, October 12 - birth. October 22 - death of Peter's mother, Charlotte Christina Sophia. 1718, July 26 - death of his father, Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich. 1725, January 28 - death of Emperor Peter I. violation of the rights of Peter II, the empress rises

The main dates of the life and work of Peter Fedorovich 1728, February 10 (21) - Karl Peter was born in the city of Kiel (Holstein, Germany). 1737, June 24 - for accurate shooting at a target on Midsummer's Day, this year was awarded the honorary title of the leader of the riflemen of the Oldenburg guild Saint

KEY DATES OF LIFE AND ACTIVITY 1878, July 7 - Pancho Villa was born in Gogohito, near the Rio Grande ranch on the lands of San Juan del Rio, Durango state. 1890 - Pancho Villa's first arrest. 1895 - Pancho Villa's second arrest. 1910, 20 November - The beginning of the revolution. Villa leads

KEY DATES OF LIFE AND WORK 1) CHARLES DARWIN 1809, February 12 - Charles Robert Darwin was born in the English city of Shrewsbury in the family of the doctor Robert Darwin. 1818 - Enters elementary school. 1825 - Enters the medical department of the University of Edinburgh. 1828

MAIN DATES OF THE LIFE OF NIKOLAI, ALEXANDER, ANDREY, PETER STAROSTINYK All dates according to the new style. 1902, February 26 - Nikolai was born in Moscow (according to unconfirmed reports). 1903, August 21 - Alexander was born in Pogost. 1905, March 27 - sister Claudia was born .1906, October 24 - in Moscow (by

The main dates of life and work in 1857 - September 17 (5) in the village of Izhevsk, Spassky district of Ryazan province, in the family of the forester Eduard Ignatievich Tsiolkovsky and his wife Maria Ivanovna Tsiolkovskaya, nee Yumasheva, a son was born - Konstantin Eduardovich

Main dates of life and work 1772 Born in London 1814 Became a major landowner, acquiring the estate of Gatcum Park in Gloucestershire, 1817 Published his main work "On the principles of political economy and taxation", which became "the economic bible

Main dates of life and activity 1795 Born in Denver 1807 Began working in his brother's store 1812 Participated in the Anglo-American War 1814 Moved to Baltimore 1827 Visited England for the first time to resolve trade issues 1829 Became the main senior partner of Peabody,

The main dates of life and work 1818 Born in Trier 1830 Entered the gymnasium 1835 Entered the university 1842 Began to cooperate with the "Rhine Newspaper" 1843 Married Jenny von Westphalen 1844 Moved to Paris, where he met Friedrich Engels 1845 . Organized

Main dates of life and work 1839 Born in Richford, USA 1855 Joined Hewitt & Tuttle 1858 Together with Maurice Clark founded Clark & ​​Rockefeller 1864 Married Laura Spellman 1870 Founded Standard Oil 1874 Born son and

Main dates of life and activity 1930 Born in Omaha 1943 Paid his first income tax of $ 35 1957 Created an investment partnership Buffett Associates 1969 Acquired a textile company Berkshire Hathaway 2006 Announced a will of $ 37 billion for

Main dates of life and work 1930 Born in Pennsylvania 1957 Published the book "The Economic Theory of Discrimination" 1964 Published "Human Capital" 1967 Awarded the John Clark Medal 1981 Published the work "Treatise on the Family" 1992 Received Nobel Prize

Main dates of life and activity 1941 Born in Timmins 1957 Entered McMaster University in Hamilton 1962 Received a BA in Economics 1964 Received an MBA from the University of Chicago 1969

Main dates of life and work 1942 Born in Boston (USA) into a poor Jewish family 1964 Enrolled in Harvard Business School 1966 Began a trader career at Salomon Brothers 1981 Founded Innovative Market Systems, later renamed Bloomberg LP 2001 Elected mayor

MAIN DATES OF PETER ALEXEEV'S LIFE AND ACTIVITY 1849 - January 14 (26) - Peter Alekseev was born in the village of Novinskaya Sychevsky district of the Smolensk province, in the family of the peasant Alexei Ignatovich. 1858 - nine-year-old Pyotr Alekseev is sent to a factory in Moscow 1872

Peter I (Peter Alekseevich, First, Great) - the last Moscow tsar and the first Russian emperor... He was the youngest son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov from his second wife, boyar Natalia Naryshkina. Born in 1672 on May 30 (9) (June).

A short biography of Peter I is presented below (Peter 1 photo also).

Peter's father died when he was 4 years old, and his elder brother, Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich became his official guardian, a strong party of the Miloslavsky boyars came to power in Moscow (Fyodor's mother was Alexei's first wife Maria Miloslavskaya).

In contact with

Upbringing and education of Peter I

All historians are unanimous in their opinion about the formation of the future emperor. They think it was as weak as possible. Until the age of one, he was raised by his mother, and until he was 4 years old - by his nannies. Then the clerk N. Zotov took up the education of the boy. The boy did not have the opportunity to study with the famous Simeon of Polotsk, who taught his older brothers, since the patriarch of Moscow Joachim, who began the struggle against "romanization", insisted on the removal of Polotsk and his students from the court. N. Zotov taught the tsar to read and write, the law of God and the initial account. The prince wrote poorly, his vocabulary was scarce. However, in the future, Peter will fill all the gaps in his education.

The struggle of the Miloslavskys and Naryshkins for power

Fyodor Alekseevich died in 1682 without leaving a male heir. Boyars Naryshkins, taking advantage of the turmoil that arose and the fact that Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich, the next oldest brother, was mentally ill, elevated Peter to the throne, and made Natalia Kirillovna regent, while a close friend and relative of the Narashkins, boyar Artamon Matveyev, was appointed guardian.

The Miloslavsky boyars, led by Princess Sophia, the eldest daughter of Alexei Mikhailovich, began to incite the archers, of whom there were about 20 thousand in Moscow, to revolt. And a riot happened; as a result, boyar A. Matveev, his supporter, boyar M. Dolgoruky, and many of the Naryshkin family were killed. Tsarina Natalya was sent into exile, and both Ivan and Peter were elevated to the throne (and Ivan was considered the eldest). Princess Sophia became regent with them, enlisting the support of the leaders of the streltsy army.

Link to Preobrazhenskoe, creation of amusing regiments

After the wedding ceremony, young Peter was sent to the village of Preobrazhenskoye. There he grew up without feeling any restrictions. Very soon, everyone around him understood the young prince's interest in military affairs. From 1685 to 1688, Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky (after the name of the neighboring village of Preobrazhensky, Semenov) amusing regiments were created in the village, and "amusing" artillery was created.

At the same time, the tsarevich became interested in maritime affairs and laid the first shipyard on Lake Pleshcheyevo near Pereslavl - Zalessky. Since there were no Russian boyars who knew maritime science, the heir to the throne turned to foreigners, Germans and Dutchmen who lived in the German settlement in Moscow. It was at this time that he met Timmerman, who taught him geometry and arithmetic, Brandt, who studied navigation with him, Gordon and Lefort, who in the future would become his closest associates and associates.

First marriage

In 1689, by order of his mother, Peter married Evdokia Lopukhina, a girl from a wealthy and noble boyar family. Tsarina Natalya pursued three goals: to connect her son with the noble Moscow boyars, who, if necessary, would provide him with political support, to announce the coming of age of the boy-tsar and, as a result, his ability to rule independently, and to distract her son from his German mistress, Anna Mons. The prince did not love his wife and very quickly left her alone, although from this marriage Tsarevich Alexei, the future heir to the emperor, was born.

The beginning of independent rule and the struggle with Sophia

In 1689, another conflict broke out between Sophia and Peter, who wanted to rule on his own. At first, the archers led by Fyodor Shaklovity took the side of Sophia, but Peter managed to turn the tide and forced Sophia to retreat. She went to the monastery, Shaklovity was executed, and the elder brother Ivan fully recognized the younger brother's right to the throne, although nominally, until his death in 1696, he remained co-ruler. 1689 to 1696 year the affairs of the state were handled by the government formed by Tsarina Natalia. The tsar himself completely "surrendered" to his favorite affairs - the creation of an army and a navy.

The first independent years of reign and the final destruction of Sophia's supporters

From 1696, Peter began to rule on his own, choosing for themselves the priority task of continuing the war with the Ottoman Empire. In 1695, 1696, he undertook two campaigns with the aim of capturing the Turkish fortress of Azov on the Sea of ​​Azov (Peter deliberately abandoned campaigns in the Crimea, believing that his army was not yet strong enough). In 1695 it was not possible to take the fortress, and in 1696, after more thorough preparation and the creation of a river fleet, the fortress was taken. So Peter got the first port on the South Sea. In the same 1696, another fortress, Taganrog, was laid on the Sea of ​​Azov, which would become an outpost for the Russian forces preparing to attack the Crimea from the sea.

However, an attack on the Crimea meant a war with the Ottomans, and the tsar understood that he still had little strength for such a campaign. That is why he began to strenuously seek allies who would support him in this war. For this purpose, he organized the so-called "Great Embassy" (1697-1698).

The official goal of the embassy, ​​headed by F. Lefort, was to establish ties with Europe and educate the undergrowth, unofficially - to conclude military alliances against the Oman Empire. The king also went with the embassy, ​​albeit incognito. He visited several German principalities, Holland, England and Austria. The official goals were achieved, but it was not possible to find allies for the war with the Ottomans.

Peter also intended to visit Venice and the Vatican, but in 1698 an uprising of the archers, instigated by Sophia, began in Moscow, and Peter was forced to return to his homeland. The Strelets uprising was brutally suppressed by him. Sophia was tonsured into a monastery. Peter also sent his wife, Evdokia Lopukhina, to a monastery in Suzdal, but she was not trimmed as a nun, since Patriarch Adrian opposed this.

Empire building. Northern War and Southward Expansions

In 1698, Peter completely disbanded the streltsy army and created 4 regular regiments, which became the basis of his new army. There was no such army in Russia yet, but the tsar needed it, since he was going to start a war for access to the Baltic Sea. The elector of Saxony, the ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Danish king offered Peter to fight with Sweden, the then hegemon of Europe. They needed a weak Sweden, and Peter needed access to the sea and convenient harbors for building a fleet. The reason for the war was the alleged insult inflicted on the tsar in Riga.

The first stage of the war

The beginning of the war cannot be called successful. On 19 (30) .11.1700, the Russian army was defeated near Narva. Then Charles XII, king of Sweden, defeated the allies. Peter did not back down, drew conclusions and reorganized the army and the rear, carrying out reforms on the European model. They immediately bore fruit:

• 1702 - the capture of Noteburg;
• 1703 - capture of Nyenskans; start of construction of St. Petersburg and Kronstadt;
• 1704 - capture of Dorpat and Narva

In 1706 Charles XII, confident of his victory after strengthening in the Commonwealth, began to break through to the south of Russia, where he was promised support by the hetman of Ukraine I. Mazepa. But the battle near the village of Lesnoy (the Russian army was headed by Al. Menshikov) deprived the Swedish army of fodder and ammunition. Most likely, it was this fact, as well as the military leadership talent of Peter I, that led to the complete defeat of the Swedes near Poltava.

The Swedish king fled to Turkey, where he wanted to gain the support of the Turkish sultan. Turkey intervened, and as a result of the unsuccessful Prut campaign (1711), Russia was forced to return Azov to Turkey and abandon Taganrog. The loss was heavy for Russia, but they managed to conclude peace with Turkey. This was followed by victories in the Baltic:

• 1714 - victory at Cape Gangut (in 1718 Karl XII died and peace negotiations began);
• 1721 - victory at Grengam Island.

In 1721, the Treaty of Nystadt was concluded, according to which Russia received:

• access to the Baltic;
• Karelia, Estonia, Livonia, Ingria (but Russia had to give Sweden the conquered Finland).

In the same year, Peter the Great proclaimed Russia an Empire, and endowed himself with the title of Emperor (and, in a short time, this new title of Peter I of the Moscow Tsar was recognized by all European powers: who could challenge the decision made by the most powerful ruler of the then Europe?).

In 1722 - 1723, Peter the Great undertook the Caspian campaign, which ended with the signing of the Peace of Constantinople with Turkey (1724), which recognized Russia as the right to the western shores of the Caspian. The same agreement was signed with Persia.

Domestic policy of Peter I. Reforms

From 1700 to 1725, Peter the Great carried out reforms that in one way or another affected every sphere of the life of the Russian state. The most significant of them:

Finance and trade:

We can say that it was Peter the Great who created the industry of Russia, opening state-owned and helping to create private manufactories throughout the country;

Army:

• 1696 - the beginning of the creation of the Russian fleet (Peter did everything to make the Russian fleet the strongest in the world in 20 years);
• 1705 - introduction of conscription (creation of a regular army);
• 1716 - creation of the Military Regulations;

Church:

• 1721 - the abolition of the patriarchate, the creation of the Synod, the creation of the Spiritual Regulations (the church in Russia completely submitted to the state);

Internal management:

Noble law:

• 1714 - a decree on single inheritance (a ban on splitting up noble estates, which led to the strengthening of noble land tenure).

Family and personal life

After a divorce from Evdokia Lopukhina, Peter married (in 1712) his longtime mistress Catherine (Martha Skavronskaya), with whom he had been in connection since 1702 and from whom he already had several children (including Anna, the mother of the future Emperor Peter III, and Elizabeth , the future Russian empress). He crowned her to the kingdom, making her an empress and co-ruler.

Peter had a difficult relationship with his eldest son, Tsarevich Alexei, which led to treason, abdication and death of the first in 1718. In 1722, the emperor issues a decree on succession to the throne, which states that the emperor has the right to appoint his own heir. The only male heir in a straight line was the emperor's grandson, Peter (son of Tsarevich Alexei). But who would take the throne after the death of Peter the Great remained unknown until the end of the emperor's life.

Peter had a harsh character, was quick-tempered, but the fact that he was a bright and extraordinary person can be judged by the photos taken from the lifetime portraits of the emperor.

Almost all his life, Peter the Great suffered from kidney stones and uremia. From several attacks that occurred between 1711-1720, he could well have died.

In 1724-1725, the disease intensified and the emperor suffered from terrible bouts of pain. In the fall of 1724, Peter caught a bad cold (he stood for a long time in the cold water, helping the sailors to rescue the stranded boat), and the pains became incessant. In January, the emperor took to his bed, on the 22nd he confessed and took the last communion, and on the 28th, after a long and painful agony (a photo of Peter I taken from the painting "The Emperor on His Deathbed" proves this fact), Peter the Great died in the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg.

Doctors diagnosed pneumonia, and after an autopsy, it became clear that the emperor had gangrene after the urinary canal was finally narrowed and clogged with stones.

The emperor was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. His reign is over.

On January 28, with the support of A. Menshikov, Ekaterina Alekseevna, the second wife of Peter the Great, became Empress.