There was no ruler who changed the country so radically as he did. Just look at the transformation of dense, wild Muscovy, trampled on all sides by the more developed kingdoms of that time, into a strong power with its own army and navy. Russia's access to the sea, and more than one, became the first major defeat for the monarchs of Europe in the entire history of relations with our country.

Great in everything

Undoubtedly, the transformation of a huge, resource-rich northern country, which did not have its own trade routes and was doomed to sell goods on the terms of foreign merchants, into a formidable, militant power was not desired in Europe. Western rulers were more satisfied with the dense Muscovy, which did not know how to defend its rights. They tried with all their might to “drive it back into the forests and swamps,” as they put it abroad then. And Peter the Great, on the contrary, longed to lead his people out of poverty and dirt into the civilized world. But the emperor had to fight not only with the stubborn rulers of Europe, but also with his own subjects, who were satisfied with their established lazy life, and were not at all interested in the unknown civilization of the mossy boyars. But Peter's wisdom and perseverance turned the slow course of events in Russia.

Great ruler, transformer, reformer, helmsman. Throughout his reign and centuries after the death of the first Russian emperor, he was called by many epithets. But initially the invariable “Great” was attributed to them. The reign of Peter the Great seemed to divide the history of our state into segments “before” and “after”. The last decade of his reign, from 1715 to 1725, was especially significant. Educational institutions were established, which simply did not exist in the country before Peter, books were printed, not only manufactories and factories were built - numerous fortresses and entire cities were erected. Thanks to the revolutionary ideas of the tsar, today we have the happiness of visiting the beautiful city on the Neva, named after him. It is impossible to list in a few chapters everything that was created by Peter during his reign. Volumes of historical works are devoted to this period.

Before sole rule

One can only guess where a boy raised by illiterate clerks, Nikita Zotov and Afanasy Nesterov, discovered such a lively and insightful mind, a desire to elevate not himself, but the entire people entrusted to him. But the entire biography of Peter the Great confirms that his birth became salvation for Russia. The most famous son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the future reformer, was born on the night of May 30, 1672, presumably in the village of Kolomenskoye. Although some historians call the Kremlin’s Terem Palace the place of his birth, while others call the village of Izmailovo.

Peter's mother was Alexei's second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. The newborn prince was his father's 14th child. But all his older brothers and sisters are from the first wife of the ruler, and only he is from the second. The boy was raised in the Kremlin chambers until the age of four, until the death of Alexei Mikhailovich. During the reign of Peter’s half-brother, Fyodor Mikhailovich, who ascended the throne, Natalya Kirillovna was sent with her son to the village of Preobrazhenskoye, where the future Tsar Peter the Great gathered his army years later.

The sickly Fyodor, who sincerely cared for his younger brother, died after reigning for only six years. Ten-year-old Peter became his successor. But the Miloslavskys - relatives of the first wife of Alexei Mikhailovich - insisted on proclaiming the frail and resigned, but at the same time completely harmless Ivan, Fyodor's younger half-brother, as his co-ruler. Their sister was proclaimed their guardian. The struggle for power between her and Peter stretched out for many years, until he became so strong that he was forced to win his right to the throne by force. The seven-year period of Sophia's reign was remembered for several failed campaigns in the Crimea and unsuccessful attempts to win over the archers to their side in order to prevent the accession to the throne of the hateful younger, and also half-brother.

Rehearsal for funny

Most of Peter's childhood and youth were spent in Preobrazhenskoye. Having withdrawn from the real reign due to his age, he, nevertheless, prepared for it, using all available methods. Having a true passion for military science, he insisted that boys of his age be brought to him from all the surrounding villages for a kind of live game of “toy soldiers.”

For the amusement of the young king, wooden sabers, guns and even cannons were made, on which he honed his skills. Dressed in kaftans of foreign troops, since in the time of Peter the Great it was almost impossible to get others, and he revered foreign military science above domestic ones, the amusing regiments, after several years spent in entertaining battles, strengthened and trained, began to pose a very real threat to the regular army . Especially when Peter ordered real cannons to be cast for him and other firearms and stabbing weapons to be delivered to his residence.

By the age of 14, here, on the banks of the Yauza, he had a whole amusing town with his own regiments - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky. In this fortress, called Preshburg, they no longer remembered wooden weapons, practicing on the present. The first teacher of the intricacies of military science in those years was the master of firearms for Peter Fyodor Sommer. But he received more complete knowledge, including arithmetic, from the Dutchman Timmerman. He told the young king about sea vessels, commercial and military, after one day the two of them found a leaky English boat in an abandoned barn. This shuttle, repaired and launched, became the first floating ship in the Tsar’s life. Descendants, remembering Peter the Great, attribute great significance to the story of the found boat. They say that it was with him that the subsequently victorious Russian fleet began.

To be a maritime power!

Of course, Peter’s famous slogan sounds somewhat different, but this does not change the essence. Having once fallen in love with naval warfare, he never betrayed it. All of his most significant victories became possible only thanks to a strong fleet. The first rowing ships of the Russian flotilla began to be built in the fall of 1695 near Voronezh. And by May 1696, an army of 40,000, supported from the sea by several dozen different ships led by the “Apostle Peter,” besieged Azov, the stronghold of the Ottoman Empire on the Black Sea. The fortress, realizing that it could not withstand the military superiority of the Russians, surrendered without a fight. This is how Peter the Great laid the foundation for his subsequent great victories. It took him less than a year to turn his idea into reality and build a combat-ready fleet. But these were not the ships he dreamed of.

To build real warships, the king had neither money nor sufficient specialists. The first Russian fleet was created under the leadership of foreign engineers. Having captured Azov, Peter only opened a loophole for himself to the Black Sea; the Kerch Strait - a strategically important shipping artery - still remained with the Ottomans. It was too early to fight with Turkey further, strengthening its superiority at sea, and there was nothing to do with it.

At the beginning of his independent rule, Peter the Great encountered more resistance than help from his subjects. The boyars, merchants and monasteries did not want to share their own goods with the tsar, and the construction of the flotilla fell directly on their shoulders. The king had to literally approve a new business from under the stick.

But the more intensively he imposed construction on his subjects, the more acute the problem of the shortage of specialist shipbuilders manifested itself. They could only be found in Europe. In March 1697, Peter sent the sons of the most distinguished Russian nobles abroad to study maritime affairs, where he himself went incognito under the name of the constable of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Peter Mikhailov.

A few years before the tsar left for Europe, the first reform of Peter the Great was carried out in the country - in 1694, the weight of silver kopecks was reduced by several grams. The liberated precious metal provided much-needed savings for the minting of coins for the war with Sweden. But larger sums were needed, and besides, the Turks were pushing in from the south. To fight them, it was necessary to enlist the support of allies abroad. Peter, with his voyage to the West, pursued several goals at once: to learn ship craftsmanship and have his own specialists, as well as to find like-minded people in the confrontation with the Ottoman Empire.

We went out thoroughly, for a long time, planning to visit all the leading capitals of Europe. The embassy consisted of three hundred people, 35 of whom were traveling directly to learn the crafts necessary for shipbuilding.

Peter himself, among other things, longed to personally look at the Western “polites”, about which he heard so much from his chief adviser. Life, culture, social orders - Peter absorbed them in Courland, Austria, England, Holland. He was especially struck by Luxembourg. From Holland, Peter brought potatoes and tulip bulbs to Russia. For a year and a half, as part of the embassy, ​​the Russian Tsar visited the English Parliament, Oxford University, the Mint in London, and the Greenwich Observatory. He especially valued his acquaintance with Isaac Newton. What he saw and heard in Europe largely influenced what followed after his return to Russia. From August 1698, they literally rained down on the heads of his subjects.

Import substitution like a king

Peter was unable to fully implement his plan. Not having time to agree with the monarchs of Europe on the creation of a coalition against Turkey, the tsar was forced to return to Russia - a Streltsy revolt, incited by Sophia, broke out in Moscow. They suppressed it harshly - with torture and execution.

Having eliminated the undesirables, the tsar set about transforming the state. The reforms of Peter the Great in those years were aimed at increasing Russia's competitiveness in all spheres: trade, military, cultural. In addition to the permit for the sale of tobacco, introduced in 1697, and the decree to shave beards, which was perceived by contemporaries as an outrage, recruitment for military service began throughout the country.

The Streltsy regiments were disbanded, and not only Russians, but also foreigners were recruited as soldiers (recruits). Engineering, navigation, and medical schools were established and developed. Peter also attached great importance to the exact sciences: mathematics, physics, geometry. They needed their own specialists, not foreign ones, but with no less knowledge.

Apart from raw products, there was practically nothing to trade with foreign merchants: neither their own metal, nor fabrics, nor paper - everything was purchased abroad for a lot of money. The first reform of Peter the Great, aimed at developing his own industry, was a ban on the export of several types of raw materials, such as flax, from the country. Cloth and other fabrics had to be produced in their own state. The tsar's wardrobe was made exclusively from Russian fabrics. Felt hats, stockings, lace, sailcloth - soon everything of their own appeared.

They built and developed, however, slowly and with virtually no tangible income, manufactories and factories. Only the mines turned out to be profitable. Factories were built in the vicinity of Moscow, where raw materials mined in Siberia were brought, and cannons, shotguns, and pistols were cast here. But it was unwise to develop mining far from the mountains. Iron factories were established in Tobolsk and Verkhotur. Silver mines and coal mines opened. Manufacturing plants opened throughout the country. By 1719, 36 foundries were operating in the Kazan province alone, three less than in Moscow itself. And in Siberia, Demidov forged the glory of Russia.

City of Petra

The protracted Northern War with Sweden required strengthening of its positions on the initially conquered Russian lands. In 1703, the first stone of a fortress was laid on the banks of the Neva, which later became the capital city of the Russian state. It was briefly called Peter, although the full name given to it in honor of the Apostle Peter was different - St. Petersburg. The king took a direct part in the construction of the city. It is there that the most famous monument to Peter the Great, the “Bronze Horseman,” stands to this day.

Although by the time the city was practically built, the land underneath was still considered Swedish. In order to prove in practice who owns the property, to emphasize that the old Muscovy no longer exists and will not exist, that the country is developing by European standards, the tsar ordered all important government institutions to be transferred here after the completion of the city. In 1712, St. Petersburg was proclaimed the capital of the Russian Empire.

St. Petersburg retained its status for a little more than a century. He personified everything new, modern and advanced that the king instilled in his people. The pro-European western city became a counterweight to White Stone, which was considered a relic of the past. The intelligent, cultural capital of Russia - this is how Peter the Great saw it. St. Petersburg to this day is perceived by descendants no differently than in the years of its first heyday. They say about it that even the homeless here behave like noble lords.

Wives and lovers

There were few women in Peter's life, and he valued only one of them so much that he listened to her opinion when making important political decisions - his second wife, Catherine. With the first, he was married at the behest of Natalya Kirillovna, who hoped to settle her son down with an early marriage, since the tsar was only 17 years old.

But nepotism did not in any way affect his desire to act in the interests of the state, create an army, build a navy. He disappeared for months at shipyards and military exercises. Even the birth of a son a year after his marriage did not calm down Peter the Great. In addition, he did not feel any special feelings for his wife, other than duty, since for many years his beloved was the German Anna Mons.

Peter met Catherine, née Marta Skavronskaya, in 1703 during the Northern War. The 19-year-old widow of a Swedish dragoon was captured as war booty and was in the train of Alexander Menshikov, the tsar’s faithful comrade-in-arms for many years.

Despite the fact that Alexashka himself really liked Marta, he resignedly gave her to Peter. She alone had a beneficial influence on the king, she could calm him down and calm him down. After some events in the early years of his reign, during the confrontation with Sophia, Peter began to have seizures similar to apoplexy, but in a milder form, in moments of great excitement. In addition, he became ferocious very quickly, almost with lightning speed. Only Martha, the Tsar’s legal wife since 1712, could bring Peter out of a state of extreme psychosis. An interesting fact: when accepting Orthodoxy, the patronymic of the newly-made Christian was given to Peter’s son, Alexei, who became the godfather of the Tsar’s beloved.

Such different descendants

In total, Peter the Great had three children from Evdokia Lopukhina and eight from Catherine. But only one daughter - the illegitimate Elizabeth - reigned, although she was not considered a contender as such, since after Peter’s death he still had male heirs. The first-born Alexei fled from Russia in 1716, hid for some time in Austria with Emperor Charles, but two years later he was handed over to his father. An investigation was carried out over the heir. There are documents confirming that he was subjected to torture. Alexei was found guilty of plotting against his father, but while awaiting execution he unexpectedly died in a dungeon. The tsar's two remaining children from Evdokia, sons Alexander and Paul, died soon after birth.

Death in infancy was a fairly common occurrence at that time. Thus, of the eight children born from Catherine, only Elizabeth, the Russian Empress, lived to a ripe old age (as was then believed). Daughter Anna died at the age of 20, having been married and given birth to two children. It was her son Peter who was considered the heir to the throne under Elizabeth and was married to the German princess Fike, later Catherine the Great. The remaining six - four girls and two boys - did not please their parents for long. But unlike Alexei, Anna and Elizabeth loved and revered their father. The latter, having ascended the throne, wanted to be like him in everything.

Unprecedented transformations

The first great reformer of Russia is Peter the Great. The history of his reign is replete with many decrees and laws issued, affecting all aspects of human life and the political system. After its inglorious conclusion, Peter adopted a new provision on succession to the throne, according to which the first contender could be anyone whom the ruler appointed at his discretion. This has never happened in Rus' before. However, 75 years later, Emperor Paul the First canceled this decree.

Peter's purposeful line of asserting absolute, sole royal power led to the elimination of the Boyar Duma in 1704 and the creation in 1711 of the Governing Senate, dealing with both administrative and judicial matters. In the early 20s of the 18th century, he weakened the power of the church by establishing the Holy Synod - a spiritual college - and subordinating it to the state.

Reforms of local and central self-government, monetary, military, tax, cultural - Peter changed almost everything. One of the latest innovations is the table of ranks, adopted three years before his death. The death of the king was so incredible that until recently few people believed in it. And his associates and comrades-in-arms were extremely confused: what to do next? Peter the Great's will never existed; he did not have time to leave it, as he died suddenly, presumably from pneumonia, at dawn on January 28 (February 8), 1725. He also did not appoint a successor. Therefore, the legal wife of the Tsar, crowned in 1722, Catherine the First, the former widow of the Swedish dragoon Martha Skavronskaya, was elevated to the throne.

Peter I was born on May 30, 1672, the 14th child of Alexei Mikhailovich, but the first-born of his wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Peter was baptized in the Chudov Monastery.

He ordered the measures to be removed from the newborn and an icon of the same size to be painted. Simon Ushakov painted an icon for the future emperor. On one side of the icon the face of the Apostle Peter was depicted, on the other the Trinity.

Natalya Naryshkina loved her firstborn very much and cherished him very much. The baby was entertained with rattles and harps, and he was drawn to toy soldiers and skates.

When Peter turned three years old, the Tsar Father gave him a children's sabre. At the end of 1676, Alexei Mikhailovich died. Peter's half-brother Fyodor ascends the throne. Fyodor was concerned that Peter was not being taught to read and write, and asked Naryshkina to devote more time to this component of training. A year later, Peter began to actively study.

He was assigned a clerk, Nikita Moiseevich Zotov, as his teacher. Zotov was a kind and patient man, he quickly fell into the good graces of Peter I, who did not like to sit still. He loved to climb in attics and fight with archers and noble children. Zotov brought good books to his student from the armory.

From early childhood, Peter I began to be interested in history, military art, geography, loved books and, already being Emperor of the Russian Empire, dreamed of compiling a book on the history of his fatherland; He himself composed the alphabet, which was easy on the tongue and easy to remember.

Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich died in 1682. He did not leave a will. After his death, only two brothers Peter I and Ivan could claim the throne. The paternal brothers had different mothers, representatives of different noble families. Having secured the support of the clergy, the Naryshkins elevated Peter I to the throne, and Natalya Kirillovna was made ruler. The relatives of Ivan and Princess Sophia, the Miloslavskys, were not going to put up with this state of affairs.

The Miloslavskys organize a Streltsy riot in Moscow. On May 15, a Streltsy uprising took place in Moscow. The Miloslavskys started a rumor that Tsarevich Ivan had been killed. Dissatisfied with this, the archers moved to the Kremlin. In the Kremlin, Natalya Kirillovna came out to them with Peter I and Ivan. Despite this, the archers rampaged in Moscow for several days, robbed and killed, they demanded that the feeble-minded Ivan be crowned king. And she became the regent of two young kings.

Ten-year-old Peter I witnessed the horrors of the Streltsy riot. He began to hate the Streltsy, who aroused in him rage, a desire to avenge the death of loved ones and the tears of his mother. During the reign of Sophia, Peter I and his mother lived almost all the time in Preobrazhenskoye, Kolomenskoye and Semenovskoye villages, only occasionally traveling to Moscow to participate in official receptions.

Natural curiosity, quickness of mind, and strength of character led Peter to a passion for military affairs. He arranges “war fun”. “War fun” is semi-childish games in palace villages. Forms amusing regiments, which recruit teenagers from noble and peasant families. “Military fun” eventually grew into real military exercises. Amusing regiments soon became adults. The Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments became an impressive military force, superior to the Streltsy army in military affairs. In those same young years, Peter I came up with the idea of ​​a fleet.

He gets acquainted with shipbuilding on the Yauza River, and then on Lake Pleshcheyeva. Foreigners living in the German Settlement played a large role in Peter’s military fun. The Swiss and Scotsman Patrick Gordon will have a special position in the military system of the Russian state under Peter I. Many like-minded people gather around young Peter, who will become his close associates in life.

He becomes close to Prince Romodanovsky, who fought with the archers; Fedor Apraksin - future admiral general; Alexei Menshikov, future field marshal of the Russian army. At the age of 17, Peter I married Evdokia Lopukhina. A year later, he cooled down to her and began to spend more time with Anna Mons, the daughter of a German merchant.

Coming of age and marriage gave Peter I full right to the royal throne. In August 1689, Sophia provoked a Streltsy uprising directed against Peter I. He took refuge in the Trinity - Sergeyev Lavra. Soon the Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments approached the monastery. Patriarch of All Rus' Joachim also took his side. The mutiny of the Streltsy was suppressed, its leaders were subjected to repression. Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent, where she died in 1704. Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn was sent into exile.

Peter I began to independently govern the state, and with the death of Ivan, in 1696, he became the sole ruler. At first, the sovereign took little part in state affairs; he was passionate about military affairs. The burden of governing the country fell on the shoulders of the mother's relatives - the Naryshkins. In 1695, the independent reign of Peter I began.

He was obsessed with the idea of ​​access to the sea, and now the 30,000-strong Russian army, under the command of Sheremetyev, goes on a campaign against the Ottoman Empire. Peter I is an epoch-making personality, under him Russia became an Empire, and the Tsar became an Emperor. He pursued an active foreign and domestic policy. The priority of foreign policy was to gain access to the Black Sea. To achieve these goals, Russia participated in the Northern War.

In domestic policy, Peter I made many changes. He went down in Russian history as a reformer tsar. His reforms were timely, although they killed Russian identity. We managed to carry out transformations in trade and industry. Many praise the personality of Peter I, calling him the most successful ruler of Russia. But history has many faces; in the life of each historical character you can find both good and bad sides. Peter I died in 1725, in terrible agony after a long illness. He was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. After him, his wife, Catherine I, sat on the throne.

PETER I ALEXEEVICH (THE GREAT)(05/30/1672-01/28/1725) - Tsar from 1682, first Russian Emperor from 1721.
Peter I was the youngest son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from his second marriage to N.K. Naryshkina.
At the end of April 1682, after the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, ten-year-old Peter was declared tsar. After the Streltsy uprising in May 1682, during which several relatives of the young tsar died, two tsars ascended the throne at the same time - Peter and his older brother Ivan, the son of Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage to M. Miloslavskaya. But by the state in 1682-1689. in fact, it was their elder sister, Princess Sofya Alekseevna, who ruled. The Miloslavskys ruled the Kremlin and took young Peter and his mother from there to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow. The young king devoted all his time to “military fun.” In Preobrazhenskoye and in the neighboring village of Semenovskoye, he created two “amusing” regiments. Later, the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments became the first guards units in Russia.
Peter became friends with many foreigners who lived in the German settlement, not far from Preobrazhenskoye. Communicating with the Germans, British, French, Swedes, and Danes, Peter became more and more convinced that Russia was significantly behind Western Europe. He saw that in his homeland science and education were not so developed, there was no strong army, there was no navy. The Russian state, huge in its territory, had almost no influence on the life of Europe.
In January 1689, Peter’s wedding took place with Evdokia Lopukhina; in 1690, a son, Alexei Petrovich, was born into this marriage. In the summer of 1689, the archers began to prepare a new uprising against Peter I. The young tsar fled in fear to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, but it turned out that most of the troops went over to his side. The instigators of the uprising were executed, and Princess Sophia was removed from power. Peter and Ivan became independent rulers. The sickly Ivan took almost no part in state activities, and in 1696, after his death, Peter I became the sovereign tsar.
Peter received his first baptism of fire in the war with Turkey in 1695-1696. during the Azov campaigns. Then Azov, Turkey’s stronghold on the Black Sea, was taken. In a more convenient and deeper bay, Peter founded the new harbor of Taganrog.
In 1697-1698. With the Great Embassy, ​​under the name of Peter Mikhailov, the Tsar visited Europe for the first time. He studied shipbuilding in Holland, met with the sovereigns of various European powers, and hired many specialists to serve in Russia.
In the summer of 1698, when Peter was in England, a new Streltsy uprising broke out. Peter urgently returned from abroad and brutally dealt with the archers. He and his associates personally cut off the heads of the archers.
Over time, Peter turned from a hot-tempered youth into a grown man. His height exceeded two meters. Constant physical labor further developed his natural strength, and he became a real strongman. Peter was an educated man. He had deep knowledge of history, geography, shipbuilding, fortification, and artillery. He loved to make things with his own hands. No wonder they called him “the carpenter king.” Already in his youth he knew up to fourteen crafts, and over the years he acquired a lot of technical knowledge.
Peter loved fun, jokes, feasts and feasts, which sometimes lasted for several days. In moments of thought, he preferred a quiet office and a pipe to tobacco. Even in adulthood, Peter remained very active, impetuous and restless. His companions could barely keep up with him, skipping. But the turbulent events of his life, the shocks of his childhood and youth, affected Peter’s health. At the age of twenty, his head began to shake, and during excitement, convulsions passed through his face. He often had nervous attacks and bouts of unjustified anger. In a good mood, Peter gave his favorites the richest gifts. But his mood could change dramatically in a few seconds. And then he became uncontrollable, he could not only scream, but also use his fists or a baton. Since the 1690s Peter began to carry out reforms in all areas of Russian life. He used the experience of Western European countries in the development of industry, trade, and culture. Peter emphasized that his main concern was “the benefit of the Fatherland.” His words spoken to the soldiers on the eve of the Poltava battle became famous: " The hour has come that will decide the fate of the Fatherland. And so you should not think that you are fighting for Peter, but for the state entrusted to Peter, for your family, for the Fatherland, for the Orthodox faith and the church... But know about Peter that life is not dear to him, if only Russia lived in bliss and glory, for your welfare".
Peter sought to create a new, powerful Russian Empire, which would become one of the strongest, richest and most enlightened states in Europe. In the 1st quarter XVIII century Peter changed the system of government: instead of the Boyar Duma, the Senate was created, in 1708-1715. provincial reform was carried out in 1718-1721. orders were replaced by collegiums. A regular army and navy were created, conscription and compulsory military service were introduced for nobles. By the end of Peter's reign, about a hundred plants and factories were operating, and Russia began to export industrial goods: iron, copper and linen. Peter cared about the development of culture and education: many educational institutions were opened, the civil alphabet was adopted, the Academy of Sciences was founded (1725), theaters appeared, new printing houses were equipped, in which more and more new books were printed. In 1703, the first Russian newspaper Vedomosti was published. Foreign specialists were invited from Europe: engineers, craftsmen, doctors, officers. Peter sent Russian youths abroad to study sciences and crafts. In 1722, the Table of Ranks was adopted - a legislative act that brought all government ranks into the system. Service became the only way to obtain a government rank.
Since 1700, a new calendar was introduced in Russia from the Nativity of Christ and the celebration of the New Year on January 1, adopted in Western Europe. On May 16, 1703, on one of the islands at the mouth of the Neva River, Peter I founded the fortress of St. Petersburg. In 1712, St. Petersburg officially became the new capital of Russia.
Stone houses were built there, and the streets began to be paved with stones for the first time in Russia.
Peter began to pursue a policy of limiting church power, church properties were transferred to the state. Since 1701, property issues were removed from the jurisdiction of the church. In 1721, the power of the patriarch was replaced by the power of the Synod, a collegial body that headed the church administration. The Synod reported directly to the sovereign.
After the conclusion of peace with Turkey in 1700, in the field of foreign policy, Peter I considered the main task to be the fight with Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea. In the summer of 1700, Russia entered into the war, which became known as the Northern War. During the Northern War (1700-1721), Peter showed himself to be a talented commander and a wonderful strategist. He beat the Swedish army several times - the best in Europe at that time.
The king repeatedly demonstrated personal courage. On May 7, 1703, near the Nyenschanz fortress, Russian soldiers under his command in thirty boats captured two Swedish ships. For this feat, Peter was awarded the highest order in the Russian state - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. On June 27, 1709, during the Battle of Poltava, the tsar personally led one of the battalions of the Novgorod regiment and did not allow the Swedish troops to break through. The Northern War ended with the signing of the Peace of Nystadt between Sweden and Russia. Russia retained all the Baltic lands it had conquered (Estonia, Livonia, Courland, Ingermanland) and the opportunity to have a fleet in the Baltic Sea. Victory in the Northern War turned Russia into a powerful power with borders from the Baltic to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Now all European states had to reckon with it.
In 1710-1713 Russia took part in the war with Turkey. In 1711, Peter I led the Prut campaign, which ended in failure. Russia ceded the city of Azov to Turkey, and also promised to demolish the fortresses of Taganrog, Bogoroditsk and Kamenny Zaton. As a result of the Persian campaign of 1722-1723. Russia acquired land on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.
On October 22, 1721, the Senate presented Peter I with the title of Emperor of All Russia, the title “Great” and “Father of the Fatherland.” Since then, all Russian sovereigns began to be called emperors, and Russia turned into the Russian Empire.
Petrine reforms had not only positive consequences. In the 1st quarter XVIII century A powerful bureaucratic system of state governance developed, subordinate only to the will of the king. For many years, the Russian state apparatus was dominated by foreigners, whom the tsar often trusted more than Russian subjects.
Peter's reforms and many years of war depleted the country's economy and placed a heavy burden on the working population of Russia. Peasants were forced to work more and more in corvee labor, and factory workers were permanently assigned to factories. Thousands of ordinary peasants and working people died from hunger, disease, under the whip of overseers at shipyards, during the construction of new fortresses and cities.
In 1718-1724. A tax reform was carried out, which increased the tax burden by 1.5-2 times. In addition, this reform led to even greater enslavement of the peasants. During the reign of Peter there were several major popular uprisings: in Astrakhan (1705-1706), on the Don, Slobodskaya Ukraine, the Volga region (1707-1708), in Bashkiria (1705-1711). The church policy of Peter I was also ambiguous. The complete subordination of the church to the state and the weakening of the role of the Orthodox clergy led to the destruction of traditional spiritual values. Peter's actions caused a negative reaction in the upper strata of Russian society. Peter sharply broke the usual way of life of the Russian people, especially the nobles. They had difficulty getting used to assemblies and refused to shave their beards or go to theaters. The tsar's son and heir, Alexei Petrovich, did not accept Peter's reforms. Accused of plotting against the tsar, in 1718 he was deprived of the throne and sentenced to death.
The tsar's first wife, Evdokia Lopukhina, was sent to a monastery. In 1703, the tsar’s wife became a simple peasant woman, Marta Skavronskaya, who took the name of Catherine in Orthodox baptism. But the official wedding took place only in 1712. Several children were born in this marriage, but the sons died in infancy, leaving two daughters alive - Anna (mother of the future Emperor Peter III) and Elizabeth, the future Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. In 1724, in the Assumption Cathedral, Peter I placed the imperial crown on the head of his wife.
In 1722, Peter I, who by that time had no male heirs, adopted a decree on succession to the throne: the heir was appointed at the will of the “ruling sovereign,” and the sovereign, having appointed an heir, could change his decision if he discovered that the heir did not justify hope. This decree laid the foundations for the palace coups of the 18th century. and became the reason for drawing up forged wills of sovereigns. In 1797, Paul I canceled the decree.
In the last months of his life, Peter was very ill and spent most of his time in bed. Before his death, the emperor did not have time to draw up a will and transfer power to his successor. On January 28, 1725, Peter I died as a result of illness. He was buried in Peter's Cathedral.

Peter 1 the Great (Born 1672 - died 1725) The first Russian emperor, known for his reforms of government.

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. For the last 10 days, convulsions gave way to deep fainting and delirium, and in those minutes when Peter came to his senses, he screamed terribly from unbearable pain. During the last week, in short moments of relief, Peter received communion three times. By his decree, all arrested debtors were released from prison and their debts were covered from the royal sums. In all churches, including those of other faiths, about him

Origin. early years

Peter was the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his second wife Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Peter was born on May 30, 1672. From his first marriage to Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, the tsar had 13 children, but only two of his sons survived - Fedor and Ivan. After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1676, Peter’s upbringing was supervised by his elder brother, Tsar Feodor, who was his godfather. For young Peter, he chose Nikita Zotov as a mentor, thanks to whose influence he became addicted to books, especially historical works. 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 about his reign: “This sovereign is my predecessor and example; I always imagined him as a model for my rule in civil and military affairs, but I did not get as far in that as he did. Only those who do not know the circumstances of his time, the properties of his people and the greatness of his merits are fools and call him a tormentor.”

The fight for the royal throne

After the death of 22-year-old Tsar Fyodor in 1682, the struggle for the royal throne between two families - the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins - sharply intensified. The contender for the kingdom from the Miloslavskys was Ivan, who was in poor health; from the Naryshkins, the healthy but younger Peter. At the instigation of the Naryshkins, the patriarch proclaimed Peter Tsar. But the Miloslavskys were not going to reconcile and they provoked a Streltsy riot, during which many of the people close to the Naryshkins died. This made an indelible impression on Peter and influenced his mental health and worldview. For the rest of his life he harbored hatred for the archers and the entire Miloslavsky family.

Two kings

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

In general, foreigners who lived near Preobrazhensky in the German settlement (Kukui), who came to the country during the reign of Tsar Alexei, seekers of fortune and rank, craftsmen, military specialists, played a huge role in the life of the tsar. From them he studied shipbuilding, military affairs, and besides this, drink strong drinks, smoke, wear foreign dresses. From them, one might say, he absorbed 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. Princess Sophia, realizing that Peter would soon push aside the sick Ivan and take the government into his own hands, began to incite the archers, led by Shaklovity, to revolt. However, this plan failed: the archers themselves handed over Shaklovity to Peter, 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 rule was nominal, and after his death in 1696, Peter became autocrat.

Streltsy riot

1697 - the Tsar, as part of the Great Embassy of fifty people, under the guise of the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Pyotr 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 mastered shipbuilding. On the way back, in Vienna, he was caught by the news of a new mutiny of the archers. The Tsar hurried to Russia, but on the way he received news that the rebellion had been suppressed, 57 instigators had been executed, and 4,000 archers had been exiled. Upon his return, considering that Miloslavsky’s “seed” had not been exterminated, Peter gave the order to resume the investigation. The already exiled archers 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 close associates and courtiers to do it.

Many archers were executed in a new way - they were wheeled on the wheel. Peter's vindictiveness towards the Miloslavsky family was boundless. He gave the order to dig up the coffin with Miloslavsky's body, bring it on pigs to the place of execution and place it near the scaffold so that the blood of the executed would flow onto Miloslavsky's remains. In total, more than 1000 archers were executed. Their bodies were thrown into a pit where animal corpses were thrown. 195 archers were hanged at the gates of the Novodevichy Convent, and three were hanged near the very windows of Sophia, and for five months the corpses hung at the place of execution. In this terrible matter, 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 Western European lines, making 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 scaffold, to the gallows! How many were beaten, tortured... It all started with cultural innovations. It became mandatory for everyone, with the exception of the peasants and the clergy, to wear foreign dresses, the army was dressed in uniforms according to the European model, and everyone, again, except the peasants and the clergy, was obliged to shave their beards, while in Preobrazhenskoe the tsar cut off the beards with his own hands boyars 1705 - a tax was introduced on beards: 60 rubles from servicemen and clerks, merchants and townspeople. per year per person; from rich merchants of the living room hundreds - 100 rubles each; from people of lower rank, boyars, coachmen - 30 rubles each; from the peasants - 2 money each time they entered or left the city.

Other innovations were also introduced. They encouraged training in crafts, created numerous workshops, sent young men from noble families to study abroad, reorganized the city government, carried out a calendar reform, established the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called, and opened a Navigation School. To strengthen the centralization of government, instead of orders, collegiums and the Senate were created. All these transformations were carried out using violent methods. The relationship between the king and the clergy occupied a special place. 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 Peter's advisor; he was expelled from the Tsar's Duma, and after his death in 1700, the management of church affairs was transferred to a specially created Synod.

The Tsar's Temper

And all these and other transformations were superimposed by 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 partiality. He hit left and right. And therefore, while correcting, he spoiled everything.” Peter's rage, reaching the point of fury, and his mockery of people could not be restrained.

He could have attacked Generalissimo Shein with wild abuse, and inflicted severe wounds on the people close to him, Romodanovsky and Zotov, who were trying to calm him down: one had his fingers cut off, the other had wounds on his head; he could beat his friend Menshikov because he did not take 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 be forced to sit naked on the Neva ice for a whole hour in a jester’s cap because he refused, dressed as the devil, to participate in the jester’s procession. After this, Golovin fell ill and quickly died. Peter behaved this way not only at home: in the Copenhagen museum, the tsar mutilated the mummy because they refused to sell it to him for the Kunstkamera. And many such examples could be given.

Peter's era

The era of Peter the Great was a time of constant wars. Azov campaigns 1695–1696, Northern War 1700–1721, Prut campaign 1711, campaign to the Caspian 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. Throughout the state it was forbidden to cut down large trees, and people were executed for cutting down oak trees. To maintain the army, new taxes were introduced: recruit, dragoon, ship, household and stamp paper. New taxes were introduced: for fishing, home baths, mills, and 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 times the price. But there was still not enough money.

Personal life of Peter 1

The tsar’s difficult character also affected 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 deteriorated sharply. The tsar even wanted to execute his wife, but limited himself to only forcibly tonsuring her as a nun in the Intercession Monastery in Suzdal. The 26-year-old queen was not given a penny for her maintenance, and she was forced to ask her relatives for money. At the same time, the tsar had two mistresses in the German settlement: the daughter of the silversmith Betticher and the daughter of the wine merchant Mons, Anna, who became Peter’s first titled favorite. He gifted her with palaces and estates, but when her love affair with the Saxon envoy Keyserling surfaced, the vengeful king took almost everything 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 at one time were Anisya Tolstaya, Varvara Arsenyeva, and a number of other representatives of noble families. Often Peter’s choice stopped at ordinary maids. 1703 - another woman appeared who played a special role in the life of Peter - Marta Skavronskaya, who later became the tsar’s wife under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. After the Russian army occupied Marienburg, she was the servant and mistress of Field Marshal B. Sheremetev, then A. Menshikov, who introduced her to Peter. Martha converted to Orthodoxy and gave birth to Peter 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 broke out: Peter became aware of the love affair between 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 kept 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 friends, he even wanted to renounce the inheritance. The king saw this as a conspiracy and gave the order to send his son to 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 gave up 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, Alexey was tortured 5 times. The father himself took part in this. To stop the torment, Alexei slandered himself: they say, he wanted to win the throne with the help of the troops of the Austrian emperor. 1718, June 24 - a court consisting 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 his head was cut off, or he died under torture.

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

With the end of the Northern War in 1721, Russia was proclaimed an empire, and the Senate awarded Peter the titles “Father of the Fatherland,” “Emperor,” and “Great.”

Last years. Death

Peter’s stormy life “gave” him a bunch of illnesses at the age of 50, 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 days of relief he took part in festivities. By mid-January, attacks of the disease became more frequent. Impaired kidney function led to blockage of the urinary tract. The operation did not yield anything. Blood poisoning began. The question of succession to the throne arose acutely, because Peter’s sons were no longer alive by this time.

On January 27, Peter wanted to write a decree on the succession to the throne. They gave him a paper, but he could only write 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 a palace hall, upholstered in carpets that Peter received as a gift from Louis XV during his stay in Paris. His wife Ekaterina Alekseevna was proclaimed empress.

Peter I Alekseevich
Coronation:
	Sofya Alekseevna (1682 - 1689)
Co-ruler:	Ivan V (1682 - 1696)
Predecessor:	Fedor III Alekseevich
Successor:	Title abolished
Successor:	Catherine I
Religion:	Orthodoxy
Birth:
Buried:	Peter and Paul Cathedral, St. Petersburg
Dynasty:	Romanovs
	Alexey Mikhailovich
	Natalya Kirillovna
	1) Evdokia Lopukhina 2) Ekaterina Alekseevna
	(from 1) Alexey Petrovich (from 2) Anna Petrovna Elizaveta Petrovna Peter (died in childhood) Natalya (died in childhood) the rest died in infancy
Autograph:
Awards::

Peter's first marriage

Accession of Peter I

Azov campaigns. 1695-1696

Grand Embassy. 1697-1698

Russia's movement to the east

Caspian campaign 1722-1723

Transformations of Peter I

Personality of Peter I

Peter's appearance

Family of Peter I

Succession to the throne

Offspring of Peter I

Death of Peter

Performance evaluation and criticism

Monuments

In honor of Peter I

Peter I in art

In literature

In cinema

Peter I on money

Criticism and assessment of Peter I

Peter I the Great (Pyotr Alekseevich; May 30 (June 9), 1672 - January 28 (February 8), 1725) - Tsar of Moscow from the Romanov dynasty (since 1682) and the first All-Russian Emperor (since 1721). In Russian historiography he is considered one of the most outstanding statesmen who determined the direction of Russia's development in the 18th century.

Peter was proclaimed tsar in 1682 at the age of 10, and began to rule independently in 1689. From a young age, showing interest in science and foreign lifestyles, Peter was the first of the Russian tsars to make a long trip to the countries of Western Europe. Upon returning from it in 1698, Peter launched large-scale reforms of the Russian state and social structure. One of Peter's main achievements was the significant expansion of Russian territories in the Baltic region after the victory in the Great Northern War, which allowed him to take the title of first emperor of the Russian Empire in 1721. Four years later, Emperor Peter I died, but the state he created continued to expand rapidly throughout the 18th century.

The early years of Peter. 1672-1689

Peter was born on the night of May 30 (June 9), 1672 in the Terem Palace of the Kremlin (in 7235 according to the then-accepted chronology “from the creation of the world”).

The father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, had numerous offspring: Peter was the 14th child, but the first from his second wife, Tsarina Natalya Naryshkina. On June 29, on the day of Saints Peter and Paul, the prince was baptized in the Miracle Monastery (according to other sources, in the Church of Gregory of Neocaesarea, in Derbitsy, by Archpriest Andrei Savinov) and named Peter.

After spending a year with the queen, he was given to nannies to raise. In the 4th year of Peter’s life, in 1676, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died. The Tsarevich's guardian was his half-brother, godfather and new Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. Deacon N.M. Zotov taught Peter to read and write from 1676 to 1680.

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

Streletsky riot of 1682 and the rise to power of Sofia Alekseevna

On April 27 (May 7), 1682, after 6 years of gentle rule, the liberal and sickly Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich died. The question arose of who should inherit the throne: the older, sickly and feeble-minded Ivan, according to custom, or the young Peter. Having secured the support of Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins and their supporters enthroned Peter on April 27 (May 7), 1682. In fact, the Naryshkin clan came to power and Artamon Matveev, summoned from exile, was declared the “great guardian.” It was difficult for supporters of Ivan Alekseevich to support their candidate, who could not reign due to extremely poor health. The organizers of the actual palace coup announced a version about the hand-written transfer of the “scepter” by the dying Feodor Alekseevich to his younger brother Peter, but no reliable evidence of this was presented.

The Miloslavskys, relatives of Tsarevich Ivan and Princess Sophia through their mother, saw in the proclamation of Peter as tsar an infringement of their interests. The Streltsy, of whom there were more than 20 thousand in Moscow, had long shown discontent and waywardness; and, apparently incited by the Miloslavskys, on May 15 (25), 1682, they came out openly: shouting that the Naryshkins had strangled Tsarevich Ivan, they moved towards the Kremlin. Natalya Kirillovna, hoping to calm the rioters, together with the patriarch and boyars, led Peter and his brother to the Red Porch.

However, the uprising did not end. In the first hours, the boyars Artamon Matveev and Mikhail Dolgoruky were killed, then other supporters of Queen Natalia, including her two brothers Naryshkin.

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

On May 29, the archers insisted that Princess Sofya Alekseevna take over control of the state due to the minor age of her brothers. Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna was supposed to, together with her son - the second Tsar - retire from the court to a palace near Moscow in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. In the Kremlin Armory, a two-seat throne for young kings with a small window in the back was preserved, through which Princess Sophia and her entourage told them how to behave and what to say during palace ceremonies.

Preobrazhenskoe and amusing shelves

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

In 1686, 14-year-old Peter started artillery with his “amusing” ones. Gunsmith Fedor Sommer showed the king grenades and firearms. 16 guns were delivered from the Pushkarsky order. To control the heavy guns, the tsar took from the Stable Prikaz adult servants who were keen on military affairs, who were dressed in foreign-style uniforms and designated as amusing gunners. The first to put on a foreign uniform Sergey Bukhvostov. Subsequently, Peter ordered a bronze bust of this the first Russian soldier, as he called Bukhvostov. The amusing regiment began to be called Preobrazhensky, after its quartering place - the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.

In Preobrazhenskoye, opposite the palace, on the banks of the Yauza, an “amusing town” was built. During the construction of the fortress, Peter himself worked actively, helping to cut logs and install cannons. The “Most Joking, Most Drunken and Most Extravagant Council”, created by Peter, was located here - a parody of the Orthodox Church. The fortress itself was named Preshburg, probably named after the then famous Austrian fortress of Presburg (now Bratislava - 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 related to military affairs. Under the leadership of the Dutchman Timmerman he studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences.

One day, walking with Timmerman through the village of Izmailovo, Peter entered the Linen Yard, in the barn of which he found an English boot. In 1688 he entrusted the Dutchman Carsten Brandt repair, arm and equip this boat, and then lower it to the Yauza.

However, the Yauza and Prosyanoy Pond turned out to be too small for the ship, so Peter went to Pereslavl-Zalessky, to Lake Pleshcheevo, where he founded the first shipyard for the construction of ships. There were already two “Amusing” regiments: Semenovsky, located in the village of Semenovskoye, was added to Preobrazhensky. Preshburg already looked like a real fortress. To command regiments and study military science, knowledgeable and experienced people were needed. But there were no such people among the Russian courtiers. This is how Peter appeared in the German settlement.

Peter's first marriage

The German settlement was the closest “neighbor” of the village of Preobrazhenskoye, and Peter had been keeping an eye on its curious life for a long time. More and more foreigners at the court of Tsar Peter, such as Franz Timmerman And Karsten Brandt, came from the German settlement. All this imperceptibly led to the fact that the tsar became a frequent visitor to the settlement, where he soon turned out to be a great admirer of relaxed foreign life. Peter lit a German pipe, began attending German parties with dancing and drinking, met Patrick Gordon, Franz Yakovlevich Lefort - Peter's future associates, and started an affair with Anna Mons. Peter's mother strictly opposed this. In order to bring her 17-year-old son to reason, Natalya Kirillovna decided to marry him to Evdokia Lopukhina, the daughter of a okolnichy.

Peter did not contradict his mother, and on January 27, 1689, the wedding of the “junior” tsar took place. 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 heir to the throne until 1718, the youngest, Alexander, died in infancy.

Accession of Peter I

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

The campaigns against the Crimean Tatars, carried out in 1687 and 1689 by the princess’s favorite V.V. Golitsyn, were not very successful, but were presented as major and generously rewarded victories, which caused discontent among many.

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

On August 7, 1689, unexpectedly for everyone, a decisive event occurred. On this day, Princess Sophia ordered the chief of the archers, Fyodor Shaklovity, to send more of his people to the Kremlin, as if to escort them to the Donskoy Monastery on a pilgrimage. At the same time, a rumor spread about a letter with the news that Tsar Peter at night decided to occupy the Kremlin with his “amusing” ones, kill the princess, Tsar Ivan’s brother, 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. Then they sent three horsemen to observe what was happening in Preobrazhenskoe with the task of immediately reporting if Tsar Peter went anywhere 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 galloped in alarm to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The consequence of the horrors of the Streltsy demonstrations was Peter's illness: with strong excitement, he began to have convulsive facial movements. On August 8, both queens, Natalya and Evdokia, arrived at the monastery, followed by “amusing” regiments with artillery. On August 16, a letter came from Peter, ordering commanders and 10 privates from all regiments to be sent to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Princess Sophia strictly forbade the fulfillment of this command on pain of the death penalty, and a letter was sent to Tsar Peter informing him that it was impossible to fulfill his request.

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

On October 7, Fyodor Shaklovity was captured and then executed. The elder brother, Tsar Ivan (or John), met Peter at the Assumption Cathedral and actually gave him all power. Since 1689, he did not take part in the reign, although until his death on January 29 (February 8), 1696, he continued to be a co-tsar. At first, Peter himself took little part in the board, giving powers to the Naryshkin family.

The beginning of Russian expansion. 1690-1699

Azov campaigns. 1695-1696

The priority of Peter I in the first years of autocracy was the continuation of the war with Crimea. Since the 16th century, Muscovite Rus' has been fighting the Crimean and Nogai Tatars for possession of the vast coastal lands of the Black and Azov Seas. During this struggle, Russia collided with the Ottoman Empire, which patronized the Tatars. One of the stronghold military points on these lands was 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 far from supply bases. However, already in the fall. In 1695-96, preparations began for a new campaign. The construction of a Russian rowing flotilla began in Voronezh. In a short time, a flotilla of different ships was built, led by the 36-gun ship Apostle Peter. In May 1696, a 40,000-strong Russian army under the command of Generalissimo Shein again besieged 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 a galley. Without waiting for the assault, on July 19, 1696, the fortress surrendered. Thus, Russia's first access to the southern seas was opened.

The result of the Azov campaigns was the capture of the Azov fortress, the beginning of construction of the port of Taganrog, the possibility of an attack on the Crimean peninsula from the sea, which significantly secured the southern borders of Russia. However, Peter failed to gain access to the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait: he remained under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Russia did not yet have the forces 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: landowners were united into so-called kumpanstvos of 10 thousand households, each of which had to build a ship with their own money. At this time, the first signs of dissatisfaction with Peter's activities appear. The conspiracy of Tsikler, who was trying to organize a Streltsy uprising, was uncovered. In the summer of 1699, the first large Russian ship “Fortress” (46-gun) took the Russian ambassador to Constantinople for peace negotiations. The very existence of such a ship persuaded the Sultan to conclude peace in July 1700, which left the Azov fortress behind Russia.

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

Grand Embassy. 1697-1698

In March 1697, the Grand Embassy was sent to Western Europe through Livonia, the main purpose of which was to find allies against the Ottoman Empire. Admiral General F. Ya. Lefort, General F. A. Golovin, and Head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz P. B. Voznitsyn were appointed great ambassadors plenipotentiary. In total, up to 250 people entered the embassy, ​​among whom, under the name of the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Peter Mikhailov, was Tsar Peter I himself. For the first time, a Russian Tsar undertook a trip outside the borders of his state.

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

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

In addition to negotiations, Peter devoted a lot of time to studying shipbuilding, military affairs and other sciences. Peter worked as a carpenter at the shipyards of the East India Company, and with the participation of the Tsar, 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.

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 (1701-14). However, thanks to this war, favorable conditions developed for Russia’s struggle for the Baltic. Thus, there was a reorientation of Russian foreign policy from the southern to the northern direction.

Return. Crucial years for Russia 1698-1700

In July 1698, the Grand Embassy was interrupted by news of a new Streltsy rebellion in Moscow, which was suppressed even before Peter’s arrival. Upon the tsar’s arrival in Moscow (August 25), a search and inquiry began, the result of which was the one-time execution of about 800 archers (except for those executed during the suppression of the riot), and subsequently several thousand 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 against the will of the clergy.

During his 15 months in Europe, Peter saw a lot and learned a lot. After the return of the tsar on August 25, 1698, his transformative activities began, aimed first at changing the external signs that distinguished the Old Slavic way of life from the Western European one. In the Preobrazhensky Palace, Peter suddenly began to cut the beards of nobles and already on August 29, 1698, the famous decree “On wearing German dress, on shaving beards and mustaches, on schismatics walking in the attire specified for them” was issued, which prohibited the wearing of beards from September 1.

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

Creation of the Russian Empire. 1700-1724

Northern War with Sweden (1700-1721)

After returning from the Great 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 union was the desire of Augustus II to take Livonia from Sweden; for help, he promised Russia the return of lands that previously belonged to the Russians (Ingria and Karelia).

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

Charles XII's plan was to defeat his opponents one by one through a series of rapid amphibious operations. Soon after the bombing of Copenhagen, Denmark withdrew from the war on August 8, 1700, even before Russia entered it. Augustus II's attempts to capture Riga ended unsuccessfully.

The attempt to capture the Narva fortress ended with the defeat of the Russian army. On November 30, 1700 (New Style), Charles XII with 8,500 soldiers attacked the camp of Russian troops and completely defeated the 35,000-strong fragile Russian army. Peter I himself left the troops for Novgorod 2 days before. Considering that Russia was sufficiently weakened, Charles XII went to Livonia to direct all his forces against what he thought was his main enemy - Augustus II.

However, Peter, hastily reorganizing the army along European lines, resumed hostilities. Already in 1702 (October 11 (22), Russia captured the Noteburg fortress (renamed Shlisselburg), and in the spring of 1703, the Nyenschanz fortress at the mouth of the Neva. Here, on May 16 (27), 1703, the construction of St. Petersburg began, and on the island of Kotlin the base of the Russian fleet was located - the Kronshlot fortress (later Kronstadt). The exit to the Baltic Sea was breached. In 1704, Narva and Dorpat were taken, Russia was firmly entrenched in the Eastern Baltic. Peter I’s offer to make peace was refused.

After the deposition of Augustus II in 1706 and his replacement by the Polish king Stanislav Leszczynski, Charles XII began his fatal campaign against Russia. Having captured Minsk and Mogilev, the king did not dare to go to Smolensk. Having secured the support of the Little Russian hetman Ivan Mazepa, Charles moved his troops south for food reasons and with the intention of strengthening the army with Mazepa’s supporters. On September 28, 1708, near the village of Lesnoy, Levengaupt's Swedish corps, which was marching to join the army of Charles XII from Livonia, was defeated by the Russian army under the command of Menshikov. 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, 1709, the army of Charles XII was completely defeated, the Swedish king with a handful of soldiers fled to Turkish possessions.

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

Peter again focused on the war with the Swedes; in 1713, the Swedes were defeated in Pomerania and lost all their possessions in continental Europe. However, thanks to Sweden's dominance at sea, the Northern War dragged on. The Baltic Fleet was just being created by Russia, but managed to win its first victory in the Battle of Gangut in the summer of 1714. In 1716, Peter led a united 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 Russia's 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 Eleonora resumed the war, hoping for help from England. The devastating Russian landings on the Swedish coast in 1720 prompted Sweden to resume negotiations. On August 30 (September 10), 1721, the Peace of Nystad was concluded between Russia and Sweden, ending the 21-year war. Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea, annexed the territory of Ingria, part of Karelia, Estland and Livonia. Russia became a great European power, in commemoration of which on October 22 (November 2), 1721, Peter, at the request of senators, accepted the title Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great:

... we thought, from the example of the ancients, especially the Roman and Greek peoples, to take the boldness, on the day of the celebration and announcement of what they concluded in. V. through the labors of all Russia for a glorious and prosperous world, after reading its treatise in the church, according to our all-submissive thanksgiving for the destruction of this world, to bring our petition to you publicly, so that you deign to accept from us, as from your faithful subjects, in gratitude the title of Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great, as usual from the Roman Senate for the noble deeds of emperors, such titles were publicly presented to them as a gift and signed on statues for memory for eternal generations.

Russo-Turkish War 1710-1713

After the defeat in the Battle of Poltava, the Swedish king Charles XII took refuge in the possessions of the Ottoman Empire, the city of Bendery. Peter I concluded an agreement with Turkey on the expulsion of Charles XII from Turkish territory, but then the Swedish king was allowed to stay and create 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 war with Turkey, but in response, on November 20, 1710, the Sultan himself declared war on Russia. The real cause of the war was the capture of Azov by Russian troops in 1696 and the appearance of the Russian fleet in the Sea of ​​Azov.

The war on Turkey's part was limited to the winter raid of the Crimean Tatars, vassals of the Ottoman Empire, on Ukraine. Russia waged a war on 3 fronts: troops made campaigns against the Tatars in the Crimea and 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 the Christian vassals of the Ottoman Empire to fight the Turks.

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

There had been no hostilities since August 1711, although during the process of agreeing on the final treaty, Turkey threatened several times to resume the war. Only in June 1713 was the Treaty of Andrianople concluded, which generally confirmed the terms of the Prut Agreement. Russia received the opportunity to continue the Northern War without a 2nd front, although it lost the gains of the Azov campaigns.

Russia's movement to the east

Russia's expansion to the east under Peter I did not stop. In 1714, Buchholz's expedition south of the Irtysh founded Omsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semipalatinsk and other fortresses. In 1716-17, a detachment of Bekovich-Cherkassky was sent to Central Asia with the goal of persuading the Khiva Khan to become a citizen and to scout out the route to India. However, the Russian detachment was destroyed by the khan. 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

Peter's largest foreign policy event 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 June 18, 1722, after the son of the Persian Shah Tokhmas Mirza asked for help, a 22,000-strong Russian detachment sailed from Astrakhan along the Caspian Sea. In August, Derbent surrendered, after which the Russians returned to Astrakhan due to problems with supplies. The following year, 1723, the western shore of the Caspian Sea with the fortresses of Baku, Rasht, and Astrabad was conquered. Further progress was stopped by the threat of the Ottoman Empire entering the war, which captured western and central Transcaucasia.

On September 12, 1723, the Treaty of St. Petersburg 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 concluded a defensive alliance against Turkey, which, however, turned out to be ineffective.

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

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

Russian Empire under Peter I

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

On October 22 (November 2), 1721, Peter I accepted the title, not just an honorary one, but indicating a new role for 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 1717-33, I.-G. Fokkerodt, at the request of Voltaire, who was working on the history of Peter's reign, 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 people in the tax-paying class was 5 million 198 thousand people, from which the number of peasants and townspeople, including women, was estimated at approximately 10 million. Many souls were hidden by the landowners, The repeated audit increased the number of tax-paying souls to almost 6 million people. There were up to 500 thousand Russian nobles and families; officials up to 200 thousand and clergy with families up to 300 thousand souls.

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

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

Transformations of Peter I

All of Peter’s state activities can be conditionally divided into two periods: 1695-1715 and 1715-1725.

The peculiarity of the first stage was haste and not always thought out, which was explained by the conduct of the Northern War. The reforms were aimed primarily at raising funds for the Northern War, were carried out by force and often did not lead to the desired result. In addition to government reforms, at the first stage, extensive reforms were carried out to change the cultural way of life.

Peter carried out a monetary reform, as a result of which accounts began to be kept in rubles and kopecks. The pre-reform silver kopek (Novgorodka) continued to be minted until 1718 for the outskirts. The copper kopeck came into circulation in 1704, at the same time the silver ruble began to be minted. The reform itself began in 1700, when copper half-polushka (1/8 kopeck), half-ruble (1/4 kopeck), denga (1/2 kopeck) were put into circulation, and since 1701, silver ten money (five kopecks), ten kopecks (ten kopecks), half-fifty (25 kopecks) and half. Accounting for money and altyns (3 kopecks) was prohibited. Under Peter, the first screw press appeared. During the reign, the weight and fineness of coins were reduced several times, which led to the rapid development of counterfeiting. In 1723, copper five kopecks ("cross" nickel) were introduced into circulation. It had several degrees of protection (smooth field, special alignment of the sides), but counterfeits began to be minted not in a homemade way, but in foreign mints. Cross nickels were subsequently confiscated to be re-coined into kopecks (under Elizabeth). Gold chervonets began to be minted according to the European model; later they were abandoned in favor of a gold coin of two rubles. Peter I planned to introduce a copper ruble payment based on the Swedish model in 1725, but these payments were implemented only by Catherine I.

In the second period, reforms were more systematic and aimed at the internal development of the state.

In general, Peter's reforms were aimed at strengthening the Russian state and introducing the ruling stratum to European culture while simultaneously strengthening the absolute monarchy. By the end of the reign of Peter the Great, a powerful Russian Empire was created, headed by an emperor who had absolute power. During the reforms, the technical and economic lag of Russia from European countries was overcome, access to the Baltic Sea was won, and transformations were carried out in all spheres of life of Russian society. At the same time, the popular forces were extremely exhausted, the bureaucratic apparatus grew, and the preconditions were created (Decree on Succession to the Throne) for a crisis of supreme power, which led to the era of “palace coups.”

Personality of Peter I

Peter's appearance

Even as a child, Peter amazed people with the beauty and liveliness of his face and figure. Due to his height - 200 cm (6 ft 7 in) - he stood out a whole head in the crowd. At the same time, with such a large height, he wore size 38 shoes.

Those 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 childhood shock during the Streltsy riots or an attempt to poison Princess Sophia.

During his visit to Europe, Peter I frightened sophisticated aristocrats with his rude manner of communication and simplicity of morals. Elector Sophia of Hanover wrote about Peter as follows:

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, and beautiful eyebrows; his nose is quite short, but not too short, and somewhat thick towards the end; the lips are quite large, the complexion is reddish and dark, beautiful black eyes, large, lively, penetrating, beautifully shaped; the look is majestic and welcoming when he watches himself and restrains himself, otherwise he is stern and wild, with convulsions on the face that are not repeated 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 confused, then everything immediately took on its normal appearance. His whole appearance showed intelligence, reflection and greatness and was not without charm.»

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 raised by his mother in concepts alien to Peter’s reform activities. The remaining children of Peter and Evdokia died soon after birth. In 1698, Evdokia Lopukhina became involved in the Streltsy 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 his father’s reforms, and eventually fled to Vienna under the patronage of his wife’s relative (Charlotte of Brunswick), Emperor Charles VI, where he sought support in the overthrow of Peter I. In 1717, the weak-willed prince was persuaded to return home, where he was taken into custody. On June 24 (July 5), 1718, the Supreme Court, consisting of 127 people, sentenced Alexei to death, finding him guilty of treason.

On June 26 (July 7), 1718, the prince, without waiting for the sentence to be carried out, died in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The true cause of the death of Tsarevich Alexei has not yet been reliably established.

From his marriage to Princess Charlotte of Brunswick, Tsarevich Alexei left a son, Peter Alekseevich (1715-1730), who became Emperor Peter II in 1727, and a daughter, Natalya Alekseevna (1714-1728).

In 1703, Peter I met 19-year-old Katerina, whose maiden name was Marta Skavronskaya, captured by Russian troops as booty during the capture of the Swedish fortress of Marienburg. Peter took a former maid from the Baltic peasants from Alexander Menshikov and made her his mistress. In 1704, Katerina gives birth to her first child, named Peter, and the following year, Paul (both soon died). Even before her legal marriage to Peter, Katerina gave birth to daughters Anna (1708) and Elizabeth (1709). Elizabeth later became empress (reigned 1741-1761), and Anna's direct descendants ruled Russia after Elizabeth's death, from 1761 to 1917.

Katerina alone could cope with the king in his fits of anger; she knew how to calm Peter’s attacks of convulsive headaches with affection and patient attention. The sound of Katerina's voice calmed Peter; then she:

The official wedding of Peter I and Ekaterina Alekseevna took place on February 19, 1712, shortly after returning from the Prut campaign. In 1724 Peter crowned Catherine as empress and co-regent. Ekaterina Alekseevna bore her husband 11 children, but most of them died in childhood, except for Anna and Elizaveta.

After Peter's death in January 1725, Ekaterina Alekseevna, with the support of the serving nobility and 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 lucky rival and died in 1731, having managed to see the reign of her grandson Peter Alekseevich.

Succession to the throne

In the last years of the reign of Peter the Great, the question of succession to the throne arose: who would take the throne after the death of the emperor. Tsarevich Pyotr Petrovich (1715-1719, son of Ekaterina Alekseevna), declared heir to the throne upon 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 as the heir, then the hopes of opponents of the reforms to return to the old order were aroused, and on the other hand, fears arose among Peter’s comrades, who voted for the execution of Alexei.

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

The decree was so unusual for Russian society that it had to be explained and consent was required from 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 they kiss the cross for the Swede. Of course, a Swede will reign.”

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

Peter and his nieces, the daughters of his elder brother Ivan, were not satisfied: Anna of Courland, Ekaterina of Mecklenburg 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 started, his transformation. On May 7, 1724, Peter crowned Catherine empress and co-ruler, but a short time later he suspected her of adultery (the Mons affair). The decree of 1722 violated the usual structure of succession to the throne, but Peter did not have time to appoint an heir before his death.

Offspring of Peter I

	Date of Birth	Date of death	Notes
With Evdokia Lopukhina
Alexey Petrovich			He was considered the official heir to the throne before his arrest. He was married in 1711 to Princess Sophia Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbittel, sister of Elizabeth, wife of Emperor Charles VI. Children: Natalya (1714-28) and Peter (1715-30), later Emperor Peter II.
Alexander Petrovich
With Ekaterina
Anna Petrovna			In 1725 she married the German Duke Karl Friedrich. She left for Kiel, where she gave birth to her son Karl Peter Ulrich (later Russian Emperor Peter III).
Elizaveta Petrovna			Empress since 1741. In 1744 she entered into a secret marriage with A.G. Razumovsky, from whom, according to contemporaries, she gave birth to several children.
Natalya Petrovna
Margarita Petrovna
Pyotr Petrovich			He was considered the official heir to the crown from 1718 until his death.
Pavel Petrovich
Natalya Petrovna

In most history books, including some popular Internet resources, as a rule, a smaller number of children of Peter I are mentioned. This is due to the fact that they reached the age of maturity and left a certain mark on history, unlike other children who died in early childhood. According to other sources, Peter I had 14 children officially registered and mentioned on the family tree of the Romanov dynasty.

Death of Peter

In the last years of his reign, Peter was very ill (presumably kidney stones, uremia). In the summer of 1724, his illness intensified; in September he felt better, but after a while the attacks intensified. In October, Peter went to inspect the Ladoga Canal, contrary to the advice of his physician Blumentrost. From Olonets, Peter traveled to Staraya Russa and in November traveled by water to St. Petersburg. Near Lakhta, he had to stand waist-deep in water to save a boat with soldiers that had run aground. The attacks of the disease intensified, but Peter, not paying attention to them, continued to engage in government affairs. On January 17, 1725, he had such a bad time that he ordered a camp church to be erected in the room next to his bedroom, and on January 22 he confessed. The patient’s strength began to leave him; 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 murderers and those convicted of repeated robbery) were amnestied. That same day, at the end of the second hour, Peter demanded paper and began to write, but the pen fell out of his hands, and only two words could be made out from what was written: “Give everything...” The Tsar then ordered his daughter Anna Petrovna to be called so that she could write under his dictation, but when she arrived, Peter had already fallen into oblivion. The story about Peter’s words “Give up everything...” and the order to call Anna is known only from the notes of the Holstein Privy Councilor G. F. Bassevich; according to N.I. Pavlenko and V.P. Kozlov, it is a tendentious fiction 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 as to who would take Peter's place. The Senate, the Synod and the generals - all institutions that did not have the formal right to control the fate of the throne, even before Peter's death, gathered on the night of January 27-28, 1725 to resolve the issue of Peter the Great's successor. Guards officers entered the meeting room, two guards regiments entered the square, and to the drumbeat of troops withdrawn by the party of Ekaterina Alekseevna and Menshikov, the Senate made a unanimous decision by 4 o'clock in the morning on January 28. By decision of the Senate, the throne was inherited by Peter's wife, Ekaterina Alekseevna, who became the first Russian empress on January 28 (February 8), 1725 under the name Catherine I.

At the beginning of six o'clock in the morning on January 28 (February 8), 1725, Peter the Great died. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

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

Performance evaluation and criticism

In a letter to the French ambassador to Russia, Louis XIV spoke of Peter in the following way: “This sovereign reveals his aspirations with concerns about preparing for military affairs and 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 of power, which is the greatest in Europe, make him formidable to his neighbors and excite very thorough envy."

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

S. M. Solovyov spoke about Peter in enthusiastic terms, attributing to him all the successes of Russia both in internal affairs and in foreign policy, showing the organic nature and historical preparedness of the reforms:

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:

P. N. Milyukov, in his works, develops the idea that the reforms carried out by Peter spontaneously, from case to case, under the pressure of specific circumstances, without any logic or 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 Miliukov, during the reign of Peter, the population of Russia within the borders of 1695 decreased due to incessant wars.

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

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 largely agree with him: E.V. Tarle, N.N. Molchanov, V.I. Buganov, considering the reforms from the point of view of Marxist theory.

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

N. M. Karamzin, recognizing this sovereign as the Great, severely criticizes Peter for his excessive passion for foreign things, his desire to make Russia the Netherlands. The sharp change in the “old” way of life and national traditions undertaken by the emperor, according to the historian, is not always justified. As a result, Russian educated people "became citizens of the world, but ceased to be, in some cases, citizens of Russia."

V. O. Klyuchevsky gave a contradictory assessment of Peter’s transformations. “The reform (of Peter) itself came out of the urgent needs of the state and the people, instinctively felt by a powerful man with a sensitive mind and strong character, talents... The reform carried out by Peter the Great did not have as its direct goal to rebuild either the political, social, or moral order established in this state was not directed by the task of putting Russian life on Western European foundations that were unusual for it, introducing new borrowed principles into it, but was limited to the desire to arm the Russian state and people with ready-made Western European means, mental and material, and thereby put the state on a level with the conquered them by the situation in Europe... Started and led by the supreme power, the habitual leader of the people, it adopted the character and methods of a violent revolution, 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 his contemporaries."

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

According to R. Pipes, Kamensky, E.V. Anisimov, Peter’s reforms were extremely contradictory. Feudal methods and repression led to an overstrain of popular forces.

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

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

A. M. Burovsky calls Peter I, following the Old Believers, “the Antichrist Tsar,” as well as a “possessed sadist” and a “bloody monster,” arguing that his activities ruined and bled Russia. According to him, everything good that is attributed to Peter was known long before him, and Russia before him was much more developed and free than after.

Memory

Monuments

Monuments were erected in honor of Peter the Great in different cities of Russia and Europe. The very first and most famous is the Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg, created by the sculptor Etienne Maurice Falconet. Its production and construction took more than 10 years. The sculpture of Peter by B.K. Rastrelli was created earlier than the Bronze Horseman, but was installed in front of the Mikhailovsky Castle later.

In 1912, during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Tula Arms Plant, a monument to Peter, as the founder of the plant, was unveiled on its territory. Subsequently, the monument was erected in front of the factory entrance.

The largest in size was installed in 1997 in Moscow on the Moskva River, sculptor Zurab Tsereteli.

In 2007, a monument was erected in Astrakhan on the Volga embankment, and in 2008 in Sochi.

May 20, 2009 at the Moscow City Children's Marine Center named after. Peter the Great" a bust of Peter I was installed as part of the "Walk of Russian Glory" project.

Various natural objects are also associated with the name of Peter. Thus, until the end of the 20th century, an oak tree was preserved on Kamenny Island in St. Petersburg, according to legend, planted personally by Peter. At the site of his last exploit near Lakhta there was also a pine tree with a memorial inscription. Now a new one has been planted in its place.

Orders

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

In honor of Peter I

• The Order of Peter the Great is an award in 3 degrees, established by the public organization Academy of Defense Security and Law Enforcement Problems, which was liquidated by the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation because it issued fictitious awards that were consistent with official awards of orders and medals.

Peter I in art

In literature

• Tolstoy A. N., “Peter the First (novel)” is the most famous novel about the life of Peter I, published in 1945.
• Yuri Pavlovich German - “Young Russia” - novel
• A. S. Pushkin made a deep study of the life of Peter and made Peter the Great the hero of his poems “Poltava” and “The Bronze Horseman”, as well as the novel “Arap of Peter the Great”.
• Merezhkovsky D.S., “Peter and Alexey” - novel.
• Anatoly Brusnikin - “The Ninth Savior”
• Yuri Tynyanov’s story “The Wax Person” describes the last days of the life of Peter I and vividly characterizes the era and the emperor’s inner circle.
• A. Volkov’s story “Two Brothers” describes the life of various layers of society under Peter and Peter’s attitude towards them.

In music

• “Peter the Great” (Pierre le Grand, 1790) - opera by Andre Grétry
• "The Youth of Peter the Great" (Das Petermännchen, 1794) - opera by Joseph Weigl
• “The Carpenter Tsar, or The Dignity of a Woman” (1814) - singspiel by K. A. Lichtenstein
• “Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, or the Livonian Carpenter” (Pietro il Grande zar di tutte le Russie or Il falegname di Livonia, 1819) - opera by Gaetano Donizetti
• “The Burgomaster of Saardam” (Il borgomastro di Saardam, 1827) - opera by Gaetano Donizetti
• “The Tsar and the Carpenter” (Zar und Zimmermann, 1837) - operetta by Albert Lortzing
• “Northern Star” (L"étoile du nord, 1854) - opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer
• “Tobacco Captain” (1942) - operetta by V. V. Shcherbachev
• “Peter I” (1975) - opera by Andrei Petrov

In addition, in 1937-1938, Mikhail Bulgakov and Boris Asafiev worked on the libretto of the opera Peter the Great, which remained an unrealized project (the libretto was published in 1988).

In cinema

Peter I is a character in dozens of feature films.

Peter I on money

Criticism and assessment of Peter I

In a letter to the French ambassador to Russia, Louis XIV spoke of Peter in the following way: “This sovereign reveals his aspirations with concerns about preparing for military affairs and 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, make him formidable to his neighbors and excite very thorough envy."

Moritz of Saxony called Peter the greatest man of his century

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

Westerners positively assessed Peter's reforms, thanks to which Russia became a great power and joined European civilization.

The famous historian S. M. Solovyov spoke about Peter in enthusiastic terms, attributing to him all the successes of Russia both in internal affairs and in foreign policy, showing the organicity and historical preparedness of the reforms:

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:

P. N. Milyukov, in his works, develops the idea that the reforms carried out by Peter spontaneously, from case to case, under the pressure of specific circumstances, without any logic or 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 Miliukov, during the reign of Peter, the population of Russia within the borders of 1695 decreased due to incessant wars.
S. F. Platonov was one of Peter’s apologists. In his book “Personality and Activity” he wrote the following:

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

N.I. Pavlenko believed that Peter's transformations were a major step towards progress (albeit within the framework of feudalism). Outstanding Soviet historians largely agree with him: E.V. Tarle, N.N. Molchanov, V.I. Buganov, considering the reforms from the point of view of Marxist theory. Voltaire wrote repeatedly about Peter. By the end of 1759 the first volume was published, and in April 1763 the second volume of “History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great” was published. Voltaire defines the main value of Peter’s reforms as the progress that the Russians achieved in 50 years; other nations cannot achieve this even in 500. Peter I, his reforms, and their significance became the object of dispute between Voltaire and Rousseau.

N. M. Karamzin, recognizing this sovereign as the Great, severely criticizes Peter for his excessive passion for foreign things, his desire to make Russia Holland. The sharp change in the “old” way of life and national traditions undertaken by the emperor, according to the historian, is not always justified. As a result, Russian educated people "became citizens of the world, but ceased to be, in some cases, citizens of Russia."

V. O. Klyuchevsky thought that Peter was making history, but did not understand it. To protect the Fatherland from enemies, he devastated it more than any enemy... After him, the state became stronger, and the people poorer. “All his transformative activities were guided by the thought of the necessity and omnipotence of imperious coercion; he hoped only to forcefully impose on the people the benefits they lacked. “Woe threatened those who, even secretly, even in drunkenness, would think: “Is the king leading us to good, and is it not in vain "Will these torments lead to the most evil torments for many hundreds of years? But thinking, even feeling anything other than submission was forbidden."

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

According to R. Pipes, Kamensky, N.V. Anisimov, Peter’s reforms were extremely contradictory. Feudal methods and repression led to an overstrain of popular forces.

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

• Boris Chichibabin. Curse to Peter (1972)
• Dmitry Merezhkovsky. Trilogy Christ and Antichrist. Peter and Alexey (novel).
• Friedrich Gorenstein. Tsar Peter and Alexei(drama).
• Alexey Tolstoy. Peter the First(novel).