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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The beginning of the end of the Romanov family

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

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

Context

As bequeathed by Peter the Great

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As Peter I ruled

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Vladimir Putin is a good king

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who is Peter's father?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Version two, doubtful

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everyone knew and everyone was silent

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

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

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

Visual similarity, no other evidence needed

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

InoSMI materials contain estimates exclusively foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.

Peter the Great is a rather remarkable personality, both from the side of the person and from the side of the ruler. His numerous changes in the country, decrees and an attempt to organize life in a new way were not perceived positively by everyone. However, it cannot be denied that during his reign a new impetus was given to the development Russian Empire that time.

The great Peter the Great introduced innovations that made it possible to reckon with the Russian Empire at the world level. These were not only external achievements, but also internal reforms.

An extraordinary personality in the history of Russia - Tsar Peter the Great

There were a lot of outstanding sovereigns and rulers in the Russian state. Each of them contributed to its development. One of these was Tsar Peter I. His reign was marked by various innovations in various fields, as well as reforms that brought Russia to a new level.

What can be said about the time when Tsar Peter the Great ruled? Briefly, it can be described as a series of changes in the way of life of the Russian people, as well as a new direction in the development of the state itself. Peter after his trip to Europe caught fire with the idea of ​​a full-fledged navy for your country.

In his royal years, Peter the Great changed a lot in the country. He is the first ruler who gave direction to change the culture of Russia towards Europe. So many of his followers continued his undertakings, and this led to the fact that they were not forgotten.

Peter's childhood

If we now talk about whether childhood influenced the future fate of the tsar, his behavior in politics, then we can answer that of course. Little Peter was always developed beyond his years, and his remoteness from the royal court allowed him to look at the world in a completely different way. No one hampered him in development, and also did not forbid him to feed his craving for learning everything new and interesting.

The future Tsar Peter the Great was born on June 9, 1672. His mother was Naryshkina Natalya Kirillovna, who was the second wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Until the age of four, he lived at court, loved and spoiled by his mother, who did not have a soul in him. In 1676, his father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, died. Fedor Alekseevich, who was Peter's older half-brother, ascended the throne.

From that moment on, a new life began both in the state and in the royal family. By order of the new king (part-time half-brother), Peter began to learn to read and write. Science was given to him quite easily, he was a rather inquisitive child who was interested in a lot of things. The teacher of the future ruler was the clerk Nikita Zotov, who did not scold the restless student too much. Thanks to him, Peter read many wonderful books that Zotov brought him from the armory.

The result of all this was a further genuine interest in history, he even in the future had a dream of a book that would tell about the history of Russia. Peter was also fascinated by the art of war, was interested in geography. At an older age, he compiled a rather easy and simple alphabet to learn. However, if we talk about the systematic acquisition of knowledge, then the king did not have this.

Ascension to the throne

Peter the Great was enthroned when he was ten years old. This happened after the death of his half-brother Fyodor Alekseevich, in 1682. However, it should be noted that there were two contenders for the throne. This is Peter's older half-brother - John, who was rather painful from birth. Perhaps that is why the clergy decided that the younger, but stronger applicant should be the ruler. Due to the fact that Peter was still a minor, the king's mother, Natalya Kirillovna, ruled on his behalf.

However, this was not at all liked by the no less noble relatives of the second contender for the throne - Miloslavsky. All this discontent, and even the suspicion that Tsar John was killed by the Naryshkins, led to an uprising that happened on May 15. This event later became known as the "streltsy revolt". On this day, some boyars, who were Peter's mentors, were killed. What happened made an indelible impression on the young king.

After the Streltsy rebellion, two were married to the kingdom - John and Peter 1, the first had a dominant position. Their older sister Sophia, who was the real ruler, was appointed regent. Peter and his mother again left for Preobrazhenskoye. By the way, many of his relatives and friends were also either exiled or killed.

Life of Peter in Preobrazhensky

Peter's life after the May events of 1682 remained the same solitary. Only occasionally did he come to Moscow when there was a need for his presence at official receptions. The rest of the time he continued to live in the village of Preobrazhensky.

At this time, he became interested in the study of military affairs, which led to the formation of, for the time being, children's, amusing regiments. They recruited guys around his age who wanted to learn the art of war, since all these initial children's games grew into just that. Over time, a small military town is formed in Preobrazhensky, and children's amusing regiments grow into adults and become quite an impressive force to be reckoned with.

It was at this time that the future Tsar Peter the Great had the idea of ​​his own fleet. Once he discovered a broken boat in an old barn, and he got the idea of ​​fixing it. After a while, Peter found the person who fixed it. So, the boat was launched. However, the Yauza River was small for such a vessel, it was dragged to a pond near Izmailovo, which also seemed small for the future ruler.

In the end, Peter's new hobby continued on Lake Pleshchevo, near Pereyaslavl. It was here that the formation of the future fleet of the Russian Empire began. Peter himself not only commanded, but also studied various crafts (blacksmith, joiner, carpenter, studied printing).

Peter at one time did not receive a systematic education, but when the need arose to study arithmetic and geometry, he did it. This knowledge was needed in order to learn how to use the astrolabe.

During these years, when Peter received his knowledge in various fields, he had many associates. These are, for example, Prince Romodanovsky, Fedor Apraksin, Alexei Menshikov. Each of these people played a role in the character of the future reign of Peter the Great.

Peter's family life

Peter's personal life was quite complicated. He was seventeen years old when he got married. This happened at the insistence of the mother. Evdokia Lopukhina became the wife of Peter.

Between the spouses there was never mutual understanding. A year after his marriage, he became interested in Anna Mons, which led to a final quarrel. First family history Peter the Great ended with the fact that Evdokia Lopukhin was exiled to a monastery. This happened in 1698.

From his first marriage, the tsar had a son - Alexei (born in 1690). It has a rather tragic story. It is not known exactly for what reason, but Peter did not love his own son. Perhaps this happened because he did not at all resemble his father, and also did not at all welcome some of his reformist introductions. Be that as it may, but in 1718 Tsarevich Alexei dies. This episode itself is rather mysterious, as many spoke of torture, as a result of which the son of Peter died. By the way, hostility to Alexei extended to his son (grandson of Peter).

In 1703, Marta Skavronskaya entered the life of the tsar, who later became Catherine I. For a long time she was Peter's mistress, and in 1712 they got married. In 1724, Catherine was crowned empress. Peter the Great, biography family life which is truly fascinating, was very attached to his second wife. During their life together, Catherine bore him several children, but only two daughters survived - Elizabeth and Anna.

Peter treated his second wife very well, one might even say he loved her. However, this did not prevent him from sometimes having an affair on the side. Catherine herself did the same. In 1725, she was convicted of having an affair with Willem Mons, who was a chamberlain. It was a scandalous story, as a result of which the lover was executed.

The beginning of the real reign of Peter

For a long time, Peter was only second in line to the throne. Of course, these years were not in vain, he studied a lot, became a full-fledged personality. However, in 1689 a new streltsy uprising took place, which was prepared by his sister Sophia, who was ruling at that time. She did not take into account that Peter is far from being the younger brother he was before. Two personal royal regiments - Preobrazhensky and Streletsky, as well as all the patriarchs of Russia, rose to his defense. The rebellion was suppressed, and Sophia spent the rest of her days in the Novodevichy Convent.

After these events, Peter became more interested in the affairs of the state, but nevertheless shifted most of them onto the shoulders of his relatives. The real reign of Peter the Great began in 1695. In 1696, his brother John dies, and he remains the sole ruler of the country. From that time on, innovations began in the Russian Empire.

Wars of the king

There were several wars in which Peter the Great took part. The biography of the king shows how purposeful he was. This is proved by his first campaign against Azov in 1695. It ended in failure, but this did not stop the young king. After analyzing all the mistakes, Peter carried out a second assault in July 1696, which ended successfully.

After the Azov campaigns, the tsar decided that the country needed its own specialists, both in military affairs and in shipbuilding. He sent several nobles to study, and then he decided to travel around Europe himself. This lasted for a year and a half.

In 1700, Peter begins the Great Northern War, which lasted twenty-one years. The result of this war was the signed Treaty of Nystadt, which opened him access to the Baltic Sea. By the way, it was this event that led to the fact that Tsar Peter I received the title of emperor. The resulting lands formed the Russian Empire.

estate reform

Despite the conduct of the war, the emperor did not forget to conduct and internal politics countries. Numerous decrees of Peter the Great affected different areas life in Russia and beyond.

One of the important reforms was a clear division and consolidation of rights and obligations between nobles, peasants and city dwellers.

Nobles. In this estate, innovations concerned primarily the compulsory literacy education for males. Those who failed to pass the exam were not allowed to receive an officer's rank, and they were also not allowed to marry. A table of ranks was introduced, which allowed even those who by birth did not have the right to receive the nobility.

In 1714, a decree was issued that allowed only one offspring from a noble family to inherit all property.

Peasants. For this class, poll taxes were introduced, instead of household taxes. Also, those serfs who went to serve as soldiers were freed from serfdom.

City. For urban residents, the transformation consisted in the fact that they were divided into “regular” (subdivided into guilds) and “irregular” (other people). Also in 1722, workshops for crafts appeared.

Military and judicial reforms

Peter the Great carried out reforms for the army as well. It was he who began recruiting into the army every year from young people who had reached the age of fifteen. They were sent to military training. This led to the fact that the army became stronger and more experienced. A powerful fleet was created, a judicial reform was carried out. Appellate and provincial courts appeared, which were subordinate to the governors.

Administrative reform

At the time when Peter the Great ruled, the reforms also affected the administration of the state. For example, the ruling king could appoint his successor during his lifetime, which was previously impossible. It could have been absolutely anyone.

Also in 1711, by order of the king, a new state body appeared - the Governing Senate. Anyone could also enter it, it was the king's privilege to appoint its members.

In 1718, instead of Moscow orders, 12 colleges appeared, each of which covered its own field of activity (for example, military, income and expenses, etc.).

At the same time, by decree of Tsar Peter, eight provinces were created (later there were eleven). The provinces were divided into provinces, the latter into counties.

Other reforms

The time of Peter the Great is also rich in other equally important reforms. For example, they affected the Church, which lost its independence and became dependent on the state. Later established Holy Synod whose members were appointed by the sovereign.

Great reforms took place in the culture of the Russian people. The king, after returning from a trip to Europe, ordered to cut off the beards and shave the faces of men (this did not apply only to priests). Peter also introduced the wearing of European clothes for the boyars. In addition, balls, other music, as well as tobacco for men, which the king brought from his trip, appeared for the upper class.

An important point was the change in the calendar calculation, as well as the transfer of the beginning of the new year from the first of September to the first of January. This happened in December 1699.

On the special position there was a culture in the country. The sovereign founded many schools that gave knowledge about foreign languages, mathematics and other technical sciences. A lot of foreign literature was translated into Russian.

The results of the reign of Peter

Peter the Great, whose reign was full of many changes, led Russia to a new direction in its development. A fairly strong fleet appeared in the country, as well as a regular army. The economy has stabilized.

The reign of Peter the Great also had a positive impact on the social sphere. Medicine began to develop, the number of pharmacies and hospitals increased. Science and culture have reached a new level.

In addition, the state of the economy and finances in the country has improved. Russia has entered a new international level and signed several important contracts.

End of reign and Peter's successor

The king's death is shrouded in mystery and speculation. It is known that he died on January 28, 1725. However, what led him to this?

Many talk about an illness from which he did not fully recover, but went on business to the Ladoga Canal. The king was returning home by sea when he saw a ship in distress. It was late cold and rainy autumn. Peter helped drowning people, but he got very wet and as a result caught a bad cold. He never recovered from all this.

All this time, while Tsar Peter was ill, prayers were held in many churches for the health of the Tsar. Everyone understood that this was indeed a great ruler who had done a lot for the country and could have done so much more.

There was another rumor that the tsar was poisoned, and it could be A. Menshikov close to Peter. Whatever it was, but after his death, Peter the Great did not leave a will. The throne is inherited by Peter's wife Catherine I. There is also a legend about this. They say that before his death, the king wanted to write his will, but managed to write only a couple of words and died.

The personality of the king in modern cinema

The biography and history of Peter the Great is so entertaining that a dozen films have been made about him, as well as several television series. In addition, there are paintings about individual members of his family (for example, about the deceased son Alexei).

Each of the films reveals the personality of the king in its own way. For example, the television series “Testament” plays on the dying years of the king. Of course, there is truth mixed with fiction. An important point will be that Peter the Great never wrote a will, which will be described in colors in the film.

Of course, this is one of many pictures. Some were based on works of art(for example, the novel by A. N. Tolstoy “Peter I”). Thus, as we see, the odious personality of Emperor Peter I excites the minds of people today. This great politician and reformer pushed Russia to develop, to learn new things, and also to enter the international arena.

Peter I Alekseevich
Coronation:
	Sofia 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 Pyotr (d. in childhood) Natalya (d. in childhood) the rest died in infancy
Autograph:
Awards::

Peter's first marriage

Accession of Peter I

Azov campaigns. 1695-1696

Great Embassy. 1697-1698

Russia's movement to the east

Caspian campaign 1722-1723

Transformations of Peter I

Personality of Peter I

Appearance of Peter

Family of Peter I

succession to the throne

Descendants 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 evaluation 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 prominent statesmen who determined the direction of Russia's development in the 18th century.

Peter was proclaimed king in 1682 at the age of 10, began to rule independently from 1689. From a young age, showing interest in the sciences and a foreign way of life, Peter was the first of the Russian tsars to make a long journey to the countries of Western Europe. Upon returning from it in 1698, Peter launched large-scale reforms of the Russian state and social order. One of the main achievements of Peter was a significant expansion of the territories of Russia in the Baltic region after the victory in the Great northern war, which allowed him to accept in 1721 the title of the first emperor of the Russian Empire. After 4 years, Emperor Peter I died, but the state he created continued to expand rapidly throughout the 18th century.

The Early Years of Peter. 1672-1689 years

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").

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 the education of nannies. In the 4th year of Peter's life, in 1676, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died. The guardian of the prince was his half-brother, godfather and new tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. Clerk 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, nee Miloslavskaya) pushed Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna and her relatives, the Naryshkins, into the background. Tsarina Natalya was forced to go to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Preobrazhenskoye and amusing shelves

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

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

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

Walking one day with Timmerman in the village of Izmailovo, Peter went to the Linen Yard, in the barn of which he found an English boat. In 1688 he commissioned a Dutchman Karsten Brandt repair, arm and equip this boat, and then lower it onto the Yauza.

However, Yauza and Millet Pond turned out to be cramped for the ship, so Peter went to Pereslavl-Zalessky, to Lake Pleshcheyevo, where he laid the first shipyard for the construction of ships. There were already two "amusing" regiments: Semyonovsky, located in the village of Semyonovskoye, was added to Preobrazhensky. Preshburg already looked like a real fortress. Knowledgeable and experienced people were needed to command regiments and study military science. But among the Russian courtiers there were none. So Peter appeared in the German settlement.

Peter's first marriage

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

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

Accession of Peter I

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

Hiking on Crimean Tatars, carried out in 1687 and 1689 by the favorite of the princess 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 took place between the matured Peter and the Ruler. On that day, according to custom, a religious procession was made from the Kremlin to the Kazan Cathedral. At the end of mass, Peter approached his sister and announced that she should not dare to go along with the men in the procession. Sophia accepted the challenge: she took the image of the Most Holy Theotokos in her hands and went for crosses and banners. Unprepared for such an outcome, Peter left the course.

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

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

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

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

Beginning of Russian expansion. 1690-1699

Azov campaigns. 1695-1696

The priority of Peter I in the first years of autocracy was the continuation of the war with the Crimea. Since the 16th century, Muscovite Russia 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 clashed with the Ottoman Empire, patronizing the Tatars. One of the military strongholds 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, in autumn. In 1695-96, preparations began for a new campaign. In Voronezh, the construction of a rowing Russian flotilla began. In a short time, a flotilla was built from different ships, led by the 36-gun ship "Apostle Peter". In May 1696, the 40,000-strong Russian army under the command of Generalissimo Shein again laid siege to Azov, only this time the Russian flotilla blocked the fortress from the sea. Peter I took part in the siege with the rank of captain in a galley. Without waiting for the assault, on July 19, 1696, the fortress surrendered. So the first exit of Russia to the southern seas was opened.

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

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

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

Great Embassy. 1697-1698

In March 1697, the Great Embassy was sent to Western Europe through Livonia, the main purpose of which was to find allies against the Ottoman Empire. General-Admiral F. Ya. Lefort, General F. A. Golovin, head Embassy order P. B. Voznitsyn. In total, up to 250 people entered the embassy, ​​among which Tsar Peter I himself was under the name of the constable of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Peter Mikhailov. For the first time, the Russian Tsar undertook a trip outside his state.

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

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

In addition to negotiations, Peter devoted a lot of time to the study of shipbuilding, military affairs and other sciences. Peter worked as a carpenter at the shipyards of the East India Company, with the participation of the king, the ship "Peter and Paul" was built. In England, he visited a foundry, an arsenal, parliament, Oxford University, the Greenwich Observatory and the Mint, whose caretaker at that time was Isaac Newton.

Grand Embassy main goal did not reach: 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 Spanish inheritance(1701-14). However, thanks to this war, favorable conditions were created for Russia's struggle for the Baltic. Thus, there was a reorientation of Russia's foreign policy from the south to the north.

Return. Critical years for Russia 1698-1700

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

Princess Sophia was tonsured a nun under the name of Susanna and sent to the Novodevichy Convent, where she spent the rest of her life. The same fate befell Peter's unloved wife, Evdokia Lopukhina, who was forcibly sent to the Suzdal Monastery even against the will of the clergy.

During the 15 months of his stay in Europe, Peter saw a lot and learned a lot. After the return of the tsar on August 25, 1698, his reforming activity began, initially aimed at changing the external signs that distinguish the Old Slavonic way of life from the Western European one. In the Transfiguration Palace, Peter suddenly began to cut the beards of the nobles, and already on August 29, 1698, the famous decree “On the wearing of German dress, on shaving beards and mustaches, on walking schismatics in the attire indicated for them” was issued, which forbade wearing beards from September 1.

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

Creation of the Russian Empire. 1700-1724 years

Northern War with Sweden (1700-1721)

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

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

The plan of Charles XII was to smash the opponents one by one with a series of quick landing operations. Shortly after the bombing of Copenhagen, Denmark on August 8, 1700 withdrew from the war, even before Russia entered it. The attempts of August II to capture Riga ended unsuccessfully.

The attempt to capture the fortress of Narva ended with the defeat of the Russian army. On November 30, 1700 (according to the new style), Charles XII with 8500 soldiers attacked the camp of Russian troops and completely defeated the 35,000 strong Russian army. Peter I himself left the troops for Novgorod 2 days before. Considering that Russia was sufficiently weakened, Charles XII went to Livonia in order to direct all his forces against the main, as it seemed to him, enemy - Augustus II.

However, Peter, having hastily reorganized the army according to the European model, resumed fighting. Already in 1702 (October 11 (22)), Russia captured the Noteburg fortress (renamed Shlisselburg), and in the spring of 1703, the Nienschanz fortress at the mouth of the Neva. Here, on May 16 (27), 1703, the construction of St. Petersburg began, and the base of the Russian fleet, the Kronshlot fortress (later Kronstadt), was located on Kotlin Island. The exit to the Baltic Sea was broken. In 1704, Narva and Derpt were taken, Russia was firmly entrenched in the Eastern Baltic. On the offer to make peace, Peter I was refused.

After the deposition of Augustus II in 1706 and his replacement by the Polish king Stanisław Leszczynski, Charles XII began his fatal campaign against Russia. Having captured Minsk and Mogilev, the king did not dare to go to Smolensk. Enlisting the support of the Little Russian hetman Ivan Mazepa, Karl 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, the Swedish corps of Levengaupt, which was going 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 convoys with military supplies. Later, Peter celebrated the anniversary of this battle as a turning point in the Northern War.

In the Battle of Poltava on June 27, 1709, the army of Charles XII was utterly defeated, the Swedish king with a handful of soldiers fled to Turkish possessions.

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

Peter again focused on the war with the Swedes, in 1713 the Swedes were defeated in Pomerania and lost all possessions in continental Europe. However, thanks to the dominance of Sweden at sea, the Northern War dragged on. The Baltic Fleet was just being created by Russia, but managed to win the first victory in the Gangut battle in the summer of 1714. In 1716, Peter led the combined fleet from Russia, England, Denmark and Holland, but due to disagreements in the camp of the allies, it was not possible to organize an attack on Sweden.

As the Russian Baltic Fleet strengthened, Sweden felt the danger of an invasion of its lands. In 1718, peace negotiations began, interrupted by the sudden death of Charles XII. The Swedish queen Ulrika 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 Nystadt was concluded between Russia and Sweden, which ended the 21-year war. Russia received access to the Baltic Sea, annexed the territory of Ingria, part of Karelia, Estonia and Livonia. Russia became a great European power, in commemoration of which, on October 22 (November 2), 1721, Peter, at the request of the senators, took the title Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great:

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

Russian-Turkish war 1710-1713

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

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

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

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

Russia's movement to the east

The expansion of Russia to the east under Peter I did not stop. In 1714, the Buchholz 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 aim of persuading the Khiva khan to citizenship and reconnaissance of the way to India. However, the Russian detachment was destroyed by the khan. During the reign of Peter I, Kamchatka was annexed to Russia. Peter planned the expedition through Pacific Ocean to America (intent on establishing Russian colonies there), but he did not manage to carry out his plan.

Caspian campaign 1722-1723

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

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

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

According to the Istanbul (Constantinople) Treaty 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. In Persia, the turmoil continued, and Turkey challenged the provisions of the Istanbul Treaty before the border was clearly established.

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

Russian Empire under Peter I

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

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

Secretary of the Prussian embassy in Russia in 1717-33, I.-G. Fokkerodt, at the request of Voltaire, who was working on the history of the reign of Peter, wrote memoirs about Russia under Peter. Fokkerodt tried to estimate the population of the Russian Empire by the end of the reign of Peter I. According to his information, the number of persons of the taxable estate was 5 million 198 thousand people, from which the number of peasants and townspeople, including females, was estimated at about 10 million. Many souls were concealed by landowners, a second revision increased the number of taxable souls to almost 6 million people. Russian nobles with families were considered to be up to 500 thousand; officials up to 200 thousand and clerics with families up to 300 thousand souls.

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

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

Transformations of Peter I

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

The peculiarity of the first stage was the haste and not always thoughtful nature, which was explained by the conduct of the Northern War. The reforms were aimed primarily at raising funds for the conduct of the Northern War, were carried out by force and often did not lead to the desired result. Except 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 the account began to be kept in rubles and kopecks. A pre-reform silver kopeck (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 a penny (1/8 kopeck), a half penny (1/4 kopeck), denga (1/2 kopeck) were put into circulation, and since 1701 silver ten money (five kopecks), a dime (ten kopecks), half-fifty (25 kopecks) and fifty. The account for money and altyns (3 kopecks) was banned. Under Peter, the first screw press appeared. During the reign, the weight and fineness of the coins were reduced several times, which led to the rapid development of counterfeiting. In 1723, copper five kopecks ("cross" penny) were put into circulation. It had several degrees of protection (smooth field, special alignment of the sides), but fakes began to be minted not in a handicraft way, but at foreign mints. Cross nickels were subsequently withdrawn for re-coining into a penny (under Elizabeth). According to the European model, golden chervonets began to be minted, later they were abandoned in favor of a gold coin worth two rubles. Peter I planned to introduce in 1725 a copper ruble-payment according to the Swedish model, but these payments were made only by Catherine I.

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

In general, Peter's reforms were aimed at strengthening Russian state and the familiarization of the ruling stratum with European culture, while at the same time strengthening the absolute monarchy. By the end of the reign of Peter the Great, a powerful Russian empire was created, headed by the emperor, who had absolute power. In the course of the reforms, the technical and economic backwardness of Russia from European states was overcome, access to the Baltic Sea was won, and transformations were carried out in all spheres of life in Russian society. At the same time, the people's forces were extremely exhausted, the bureaucracy grew, the prerequisites (Decree of Succession) were created for the crisis of the supreme power, which led to the era of " palace coups».

Personality of Peter I

Appearance of Peter

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

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

During a visit to Europe, Peter I frightened refined aristocrats with a rude manner of communication and simplicity of morals. Sophia, Elector 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, fine eyebrows; his nose is rather short, but not too short, and is somewhat thick towards the end; the lips are rather large, the complexion reddish and swarthy, fine black eyes, large, lively, penetrating, beautifully shaped; a look majestic and friendly when he watches himself and restrains, otherwise severe and wild, with convulsions in the face, which are not often repeated, but distort both the eyes and the whole face, frightening all present. The convulsion usually lasted for an instant, and then his eyes became strange, as if bewildered, then everything immediately took on a normal look. His whole appearance showed intelligence, reflection and grandeur, and was not without charm.»

Family of Peter I

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

Alexei Petrovich, the official heir to the Russian throne, condemned the transformation of his father, and eventually fled to Vienna under the patronage of a relative of his wife (Charlotte of Brunswick) Emperor Charles VI, where he sought support in the overthrow of Peter I. In 1717, the weak-willed prince was persuaded to return home, where he was taken into custody. On June 24 (July 5), 1718, the Supreme Court, which consisted of 127 people, sentenced Alexei to death, finding him guilty of high treason.

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

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

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

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

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

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

succession to the throne

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

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

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

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

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

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

Descendants of Peter I

	Date of Birth	Date of death	Notes
With Evdokia Lopukhina
Alexey Petrovich			He was considered the official heir to the throne until his arrest. He was married in 1711 to Princess Sophia-Charlotte of Braunschweig-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 a 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 have 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 genealogical tree of the Romanov dynasty.

Death of Peter

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

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

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

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

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

Performance evaluation and criticism

In a letter to the French ambassador in Russia, Louis XIV spoke of Peter as follows: “This sovereign reveals his aspirations by his concerns about preparing for military affairs and about the discipline of his troops, about training and enlightening his people, about attracting foreign officers and all kinds of capable people. This course of action and the increase in power, which is the greatest in Europe, make him formidable to his neighbors and arouse very thorough envy.

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

S. M. Solovyov spoke of Peter in enthusiastic tones, attributing to him all the successes of Russia both in internal affairs and in foreign policy, showed the organicity and historical readiness 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 were carried out by Peter spontaneously, from time to time, under the pressure of specific circumstances, without any logic and plan, they were "reforms without a reformer." He also mentions that only "at the cost of ruining the country, Russia was elevated to the rank of a European power." According to Milyukov, during the reign of Peter the Great, the population of Russia within the boundaries of 1695 decreased due to incessant wars.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A. M. Burovsky calls Peter I, following the Old Believers, "the tsar-antichrist", 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

In honor of Peter the Great, monuments were erected in various cities of Russia and Europe. The first and most famous is Bronze Horseman Petersburg, created by the sculptor Etienne Maurice Falcone. Its manufacture and construction took more than 10 years. The sculpture of Peter by B.K. Rastrelli was created earlier than the Bronze Horseman, but installed in front of 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 opened on its territory. Subsequently, the monument was erected in front of the factory entrance.

The largest one was installed in 1997 in Moscow on the Moskva River by sculptor Zurab Tsereteli.

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

May 20, 2009 in the "Moscow City Children's Maritime Center named after. Peter the Great, a bust of Peter I was erected as part of the Alley of Russian Glory project.

Various natural objects are also associated with the name of Peter. So, 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. On the site of his last feat near Lakhta, there was also a pine tree with a commemorative 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 (Polish Commonwealth) - in response to the awarding of the King of the Commonwealth Augustus II with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.
• 1713 - Order of the Elephant (Denmark) - for success in the Northern War.

In honor of Peter I

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

Peter I in art

In literature

• Tolstoy A. N., "Peter the Great (novel)" - 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 Alexei" - a novel.
• Anatoly Brusnikin - "Ninth Spas"
• Yury Tynyanov's story "The Wax Person" describes the last days of the life of Peter I, vividly characterizes the era and the emperor's inner circle.
• A. Volkov's story "Two Brothers" - describes the life of various strata 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 Josef Weigl
• "The Tsar-Carpenter, or the Dignity of a Woman" (1814) - Singspiel by K. A. Lichtenstein
• "Peter the Great, the Russian Tsar, 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 Lorzing
• "Northern Star" (L "étoile du nord, 1854) - opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer
• Tobacco Captain (1942) - operetta by V. V. Shcherbachev
• "Peter I" (1975) - opera by Andrey 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 evaluation of Peter I

In a letter to the Ambassador of France in Russia, Louis XIV spoke of Peter as follows: “This sovereign reveals his aspirations by his concerns about preparing for military affairs and about the discipline of his troops, about training and enlightening his people, about attracting foreign officers and all kinds of capable people. This course of action and the increase in power, which is the greatest in Europe, make him formidable to his neighbors and arouse very solid envy.

Moritz of Saxony called Peter the greatest man of his century

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

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

The well-known historian S. M. Solovyov spoke of Peter in enthusiastic tones, attributing to him all the successes of Russia both in internal affairs and in foreign policy, showed the organicity and historical readiness 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 were carried out by Peter spontaneously, from time to time, under the pressure of specific circumstances, without any logic and plan, they were "reforms without a reformer." He also mentions that only "at the cost of ruining the country, Russia was elevated to the rank of a European power." According to Milyukov, during the reign of Peter, the population of Russia within the boundaries of 1695 was reduced due to incessant wars.
S. F. Platonov belonged to the apologists of Peter. In his book Personality and Activity, he wrote the following:

In addition, Platonov pays much attention to the personality of Peter, highlighting him positive traits: energy, seriousness, natural intelligence and talents, the desire to figure everything out on your own.

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

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

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 activity was guided by the thought of the necessity and omnipotence of imperious coercion; he hoped only to impose on the people the blessings he lacked by force. "Will these torments lead to the worst torments for many hundreds of years? But it was forbidden to think, even to feel anything other than humility"

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

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

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

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

Peter I the Great (05/30/1672 - 01/28/1725) - the first All-Russian Emperor, one of the outstanding Russian statesmen, who went down in history as a person of advanced views, who carried out active reformist activities in the Russian state and expanded the territory of the state in the Baltic region.

Peter 1 was born on May 30, 1672. His father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, had a very numerous offspring: Peter was his fourteenth child. With his mother, Tsaritsa Natalya Naryshkina, Peter was the firstborn. After spending a year with the queen, Peter was given to the nannies to be raised. When the boy was four, his father died, and his half-brother Fyodor Alekseevich, who became the new tsar, was appointed guardian of the prince. Education Peter the first received a weak one, so he wrote all his life with errors. However, Peter the Great subsequently managed to compensate for the shortcomings of his basic education with rich practical exercises.

In the spring of 1682, after six years of his reign, Tsar Fedor Alekseevich died. In Moscow, there was an uprising of archers and the young Peter, together with his brother Ivan, were elevated to the throne, and their elder sister, Princess Sofya Alekseevna, was named the ruler. Peter spent little time in Moscow, living with his mother in the villages of Izmailovo and Preobrazhensky. Energetic and mobile, who did not receive a church or secular systematic education, he spent all his time in active games with his peers. Subsequently, he was allowed to create "fun regiments" with which the boy played out maneuvers and battles. In the summer of 1969, having learned that Sophia was preparing a streltsy rebellion, Peter escaped to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where loyal regiments arrived to him, as well as part of the court. Sophia was removed from power, and then imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent.

Peter 1 at first entrusted the administration of the country to his uncle L.K. Naryshkin and his mother, still visiting Moscow little. In 1689, at the insistence of his mother, he married Evdokia Lopukhina. In 1695, Peter 1 undertook his first military campaign against the fortress of Azov, which ended in failure. Having hastily built a fleet in Voronezh, the tsar organized a second campaign against Azov, which brought him his first victory, which strengthened his authority. In 1697, the king went abroad, where he studied shipbuilding, working in shipyards and getting acquainted with technical achievements. European countries, their way of life and political structure. It was also there that the political program of Peter I was mainly formed, the purpose of which was the creation of a regular police state. Peter I considered himself the first servant of his fatherland, whose duty it was own example teach subjects.

Peter's reforms began with the order to shave off the beards of everyone, with the exception of the clergy and peasants, as well as with the introduction of foreign dress. In 1699 the calendar was also reformed. Young men from noble families, by order of the king, were sent to study abroad, so that the state would have its own qualified personnel. In 1701, the Navigation School was established in Moscow.

In 1700, Russia, trying to gain a foothold in the Baltic, was defeated near Narva. Peter I realized that the reason for this failure lay in the backwardness of the Russian army, and set about creating regular regiments, introducing conscription in 1705. Arms and metallurgical plants began to be built, which supplied small arms and cannons to the army. The Russian army began to win the first victories over the enemy, capturing a significant part of the Baltic. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great. In 1708 Russia was divided into provinces. With the creation of the Governing Senate in 1711, Peter 1 began the reform of government and the creation of new authorities. In 1718, the tax reform began. After the end of the Northern War, Russia was proclaimed an empire in 1721, and Peter 1 was awarded the titles "Father of the Fatherland" and "Great" by the Senate.

Peter the Great, realizing the technical backwardness of Russia, contributed in every possible way to the development of domestic industry, as well as trade. He also carried out many transformations in culture. Under him, secular people began to appear educational establishments, the first Russian newspaper was founded. The Academy of Sciences was founded in 1724.

The first wife of Peter the Great, being involved in the Streltsy rebellion, was exiled to a monastery. In 1712 he married Ekaterina Alekseevna, whom Peter crowned in 1724 as co-ruler and empress.

Peter I died on January 28, 1725. from pneumonia.

The main achievements of Peter I

• Peter the Great entered the history of the Russian state as a transforming tsar. As a result of Peter the Great's reforms, Russia was able to become a full-fledged participant in international relations and began to actively foreign policy. Peter 1 strengthened the authority of the Russian state in the world. Also, under him, the foundations of Russian national culture were laid. The system of government he created, as well as the administrative-territorial division of the state, was preserved for a long time. At the same time, violence was the main instrument for carrying out Peter the Great's reforms. These reforms could not rid the state of the previously established system of social relations, which was embodied in serfdom, they, on the contrary, only strengthened the institutions of serfdom, which was the main contradiction of Peter's reforms.

Important dates in the biography of Peter I

• 05/30/1672 - a boy was born to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who was named Peter.
• 1676 - Alexei Mikhailovich died, Fedor Alekseevich, brother of Peter 1, became king.
• 1682 - Tsar Fedor III died. Streltsy uprising in Moscow. Ivan and Peter were elected kings, and Princess Sophia was proclaimed ruler.
• 1689 - Peter married Evdokia Lopukhina. The deposition of the ruler Sophia.
• 1695 - Peter's first Azov campaign.
• 1696 - after the death of Ivan Y, Peter 1 became the only king of Russia.
• 1696 - the second Azov campaign of Peter.
• 1697 - departure of the king to Western Europe.
• 1698 - the return of Peter 1 to Russia. Link of Evdokia Lopukhina to the monastery.
• 1699 - the introduction of a new chronology.
• 1700 - the beginning of the Northern War.
• 1701 - organization of the Navigation School.
• 1703 - the first naval victory of Peter.
• 1703 - the foundation of St. Petersburg.
• 1709 - the defeat of the Swedes near Poltava.
• 1711 - establishment of the Senate.
• 1712 - the marriage of Peter 1 with Ekaterina Alekseevna.
• 1714 - decree on single inheritance.
• 1715 - foundation of the Naval Academy in St. Petersburg.
• 1716-1717 - the second trip of Peter the Great abroad.
• 1721 - the establishment of the Synod. The Senate awarded Peter 1 the title of the Great, the Father of the Fatherland, as well as the emperor.
• 1722 - reform of the Senate.
• 1722-1723 - Peter's Caspian campaign, after which the southern and western Caspian coasts were annexed to Russia.
• 1724 - establishment of the Academy of Sciences. The coronation of Empress Catherine Alekseevna.
• 1725 - death of Peter I.

Interesting facts from the life of Peter the Great

• Peter the Great combined gaiety, practical dexterity and seeming directness in his character with spontaneous impulses in the manifestation of both affection and anger, and sometimes with unbridled cruelty.
• Only his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna could cope with the tsar in his angry attacks, who with caress knew how to calm Peter's attacks of severe headache from time to time. The sound of her voice calmed the king, Catherine laid her husband's head, caressing, on her chest, and Peter 1 fell asleep. Catherine sat motionless for hours, after which Peter the first woke up absolutely cheerful and fresh.

Date of publication or update 12/15/2017

Contents: Rulers

Peter I Alekseevich the Great
Years of life: 1672-1725
Reign: 1689-1725

Russian Tsar (1682). The first Russian emperor (since 1721), an outstanding statesman, diplomat and commander, all his activities are connected with reforms.

From the Romanov dynasty.

In the 1680s under the guidance of the Dutchman F. Timmerman and the Russian master R. Kartsev Peter I studied shipbuilding, and in 1684 he sailed on his boat on the Yauza, and later on Lake Pereyaslav, where he laid the first shipyard for the construction of ships.

On January 27, 1689, by decree of his mother, Peter married Evdokia Lopukhina, the daughter of a Moscow boyar. But the newlyweds spent time with friends in the German Quarter. There, in 1691, he met the daughter of a German craftsman, Anna Mons, who became his lover. But according to Russian custom, when he married, he was considered an adult and could claim independent rule.

But Princess Sophia did not want to lose power and organized a revolt of archers against Peter. Upon learning of this, Peter hid in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Remembering how the archers killed many of his relatives, he experienced real horror. Since that time, Peter had a nervous tic and convulsions.

Peter I, Emperor of All Russia. Engraving early XIX century.

But soon Petr Alekseevich came to his senses and brutally suppressed the uprising. In September 1689, Princess Sophia was exiled to the Novodevichy Convent, and her supporters were executed. In 1689, having removed his sister from power, Pyotr Alekseevich became the de facto tsar. After the death of his mother in 1695, and in 1696 of his brother-co-ruler Ivan V, on January 29, 1696, he became an autocrat, the only king of all Russia and legally.

Peter I, Emperor of All Russia. Portrait. Unknown artist late XVIII century.

Barely established on the throne, Peter I personally participated in the Azov campaigns against Turkey (1695–1696), which ended with the capture of Azov and reaching the shores Sea of ​​Azov. Thus, the first exit of Russia to the southern seas was opened.

Under the guise of studying maritime affairs and shipbuilding, Peter went as a volunteer at the Great Embassy in 1697-1698. to Europe. There, under the name of Peter Mikhailov, the tsar took a full course in artillery sciences in Brandenburg and Koenigsberg, worked as a carpenter at the shipyards of Amsterdam, studied ship architecture and drawing plans, graduated theoretical course shipbuilding in England. By his order, instruments, weapons, books were purchased in England, foreign craftsmen and scientists were invited. The British said about Peter that there was no such craft that the Russian Tsar would not have met.

Portrait Peter I. Artist A. Antropov. 1767.

At the same time, the Great Embassy prepared the creation of the Northern Alliance against Sweden, which finally took shape only 2 years later (1699). In the summer of 1697 Peter I held negotiations with the Austrian emperor, but having received news of the impending uprising of the archers, which was organized by Princess Sophia, who promised many privileges in the event of the overthrow of Peter, returned to Russia. On August 26, 1698, the investigation into the Streltsy case did not spare any of the rebels (1182 people were executed, Sophia and her sister Marfa were tonsured nuns).

Returning to Russia Peter I began his transformational work.

In February 1699, on his orders, unreliable archery regiments were disbanded and the formation of regular ones - soldiers and dragoons - began. Decrees were soon signed, under pain of fines and flogging, ordering men to “cut their beards”, wear European-style clothes, and women to open their hair. Since 1700, a new calendar was introduced with the beginning of the year on January 1 (instead of September 1) and the reckoning from the "Christmas". All these actions Peter I provided for the breaking of old customs.

However, Peter I began a major transformation in government. country. Over the course of more than 35 years of his reign, he managed to carry out many reforms in the field of culture and education. Thus, the monopoly of the clergy on education was abolished, and secular schools were opened. Under Peter, the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences (1701), the Medical and Surgical School (1707) - the future Military-medical Academy, Naval Academy (1715), Engineering and Artillery Schools (1719), schools of translators at the colleges. In 1719, the first museum in Russian history began to operate - the Kunstkamera with a public library.

Monument to Peter the Great at the House of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg.

ABC books, educational maps were published, a systematic study of the country's geography and cartography was laid. The spread of literacy was facilitated by the reform of the alphabet (cursive was replaced with civil type, 1708), the publication of the first Russian printed newspaper Vedomosti (since 1703). In the era Peter I many buildings were erected for state and cultural institutions, the architectural ensemble of Peterhof (Petrodvorets).

However reform activity Peter I proceeded in a sharp struggle with the conservative opposition. The reforms aroused the resistance of the boyars and the clergy (conspiracy of I. Tsikler, 1697).

In 1700 Peter I concluded the Treaty of Constantinople with Turkey and started a war with Sweden in alliance with Poland and Denmark. Peter's opponent was the 18-year-old Swedish king Charles XII. In November 1700, they first encountered Peter near Narva. The troops of Charles XII won this battle, since Russia did not yet have strong army. But Peter learned a lesson from this defeat and actively set about strengthening the armed forces of Russia. Already in 1702, all the lands along the Niva to the Gulf of Finland were cleared of Swedish troops.

Monument to Peter the Great in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

However, the war with Sweden, called the Northern War, still continued. June 27, 1709 under the fortress of Poltava, there was a great battle of Poltava, culminating in the complete defeat of the Swedish army. Peter I he himself led his troops and participated in the battle on an equal footing with everyone else. He encouraged and inspired the soldiers, saying his famous words: “You are fighting not for Peter, but for the state entrusted to Peter. Historians write that on the same day, Tsar Peter arranged a big feast, invited captured Swedish generals to it and, returning their swords to them, said: "... I drink to the health of you, my teachers in the art of war." After the Battle of Poltava, Peter forever secured access to the Baltic Sea. From now on, foreign countries were forced to reckon with the strong power of Russia.

Tsar Peter I did a lot for Russia. Under him, industry actively developed, trade expanded. New cities began to be built all over Russia, and in the old ones the streets were illuminated. With the emergence of the all-Russian market, the economic potential of the central government grew. And the reunification of Ukraine and Russia and the development of Siberia turned Russia into greatest state peace.

During the time of Peter the Great, exploration of ore resources was actively carried out, iron foundries and weapons factories were built in the Urals and Central Russia, canals and new strategic roads were laid, shipyards were built, and new cities arose along with them.

However, the burden of the Northern War and the reforms laid a heavy burden on the peasantry, which constituted the majority of the population of Russia. Discontent erupted in popular uprisings (Astrakhan uprising, 1705; Peasants' War under the leadership of K.A. Bulavin, 1707–1708; unrest of the Bashkirs of 1705-1711), which were suppressed by Peter with cruelty and indifference.

After the suppression of the Bulavin rebellion Peter I carried out the regional reform of 1708-1710, which divided the country into 8 provinces headed by governors and governors-general. In 1719 the provinces were divided into provinces, provinces into counties.

The Decree of Uniform Heritage of 1714 equalized estates and patrimonies, introduced majorat (granting the right to inherit real estate to the eldest of the sons), the purpose of which was to ensure the stable growth of noble land ownership.

Domestic affairs not only did not occupy Tsar Peter, but rather depressing. His son Alexei showed disagreement with his father's vision of proper government. After his father's threats, Alexei fled to Europe in 1716. Peter, declaring his son a traitor, imprisoned him in a fortress and in 1718 personally sentenced Alexei to death. After these events, suspiciousness, unpredictability and cruelty settled in the character of the king.

Strengthening its positions on the Baltic Sea, Peter I back in 1703, he laid the city of St. Petersburg at the mouth of the Neva River, which turned into a sea trading port, designed to serve the needs of all of Russia. With the foundation of this city, Peter "cut a window to Europe."

In 1720 he wrote the Naval Charter, completed the reform of city government. The Chief Magistrate was created in the capital (as a collegium) and magistrates in the cities.

In 1721, Peter finally concluded the Treaty of Nishtad, which put an end to the Northern War. According to the Treaty of Nishtad, Russia regained the Ladoga settlements torn away from it. Novgorod lands and acquired Vyborg in Finland and the entire Baltic with Ravel and Riga. For this victory, Peter I received the title of "Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great". Thus, the long process of formation of the Russian Empire was formally completed.

In 1722, the Table of Ranks for all military, civilian and court official ranks was published, according to which the family nobility could be obtained "for impeccable service to the emperor and the state."

The Persian campaign of Peter in 1722-1723 secured the western coast of the Caspian Sea with the cities of Derbent and Baku for Russia. There at Peter I For the first time in the history of Russia, permanent diplomatic missions and consulates were established.

In 1724, a decree was issued on the opening of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences with a gymnasium and a university.

In October 1724, Tsar Peter caught a bad cold while rescuing soldiers who were drowning during a flood in the Gulf of Finland. The tsar died of pneumonia on January 28, 1725, without leaving a will about his heir.

Later Peter I was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The transformations he carried out made Russia a strong, developed, civilized country, introduced it into the community of great world powers.

Peter was married twice:

on Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina (1670-1731), from 1689 to 1698, after which she was forcibly sent to the Suzdal Intercession Monastery. She bore Peter I three sons.

on Catherine I Alekseevna (1684-1727), nee Martha Samuilovna Skavronskaya, being the mistress (since 1703) and wife (since 1712) of Peter I bore him 11 children: 6 daughters and 5 sons.

At Peter I Alekseevich the Great officially had 14 children:

Alexei (1690 - 1718) - father of the Russian Emperor Peter IIa (1715-1730)

Alexander (1691 - 1692)

Pavel (born and died 1693)

Peter (1704 - 1707)

Pavel (1705 - 1707)

Catherine (1706 - 1708)

Anna (1708-1728) - mother of the Russian Emperor Peter IIIa (1728-1762)

Elizabeth (1709 - 1761) - Empress of Russia (1741-1762)

Natalia (1713 - 1715)

Margarita (1714 - 1715)

Peter (1715 - 1719)

Pavel (born and died 1717)

Natalia (1718 - 1725)

Peter (1719 - 1723)

Image Peter I Alekseevich the Great was embodied in the cinema ("Tsarevich Alexei", ​​1918; "Peter the Great", 1938; "Tobacco Captain", 1972; "The Tale of How Tsar Peter the Arap Married", 1976; "Peter's Youth", 1980; "In the Beginning Glorious Deeds", 1980, "Young Russia", 1982; "Dmitry Kantemir", 1974; "Demidovs", 1983; "Peter the Great" / "Peter the Great", 1985; "Tsarevich Alexei", ​​1997; "Secrets of palace coups ", 2000; "Prayer for Hetman Mazepa" / "Prayer for Hetman Mazepa", 2001; "Servant of the Sovereigns", 2006).

His extraordinary appearance was captured by artists (A.N. Benois, M.V. Lomonosov, E.E. Lansere, V.I. Surikov, V.A. Serov). Novels and novels about Peter were written: Tolstoy A. N. "Peter the First", A. S. Pushkin "Poltava" and "The Bronze Horseman", "Arap of Peter the Great", Merezhkovsky D. S. "Peter and Alexei", ​​Anatoly Brusnikin - "Ninth Spas", Gregory Keyes series "Age of Madness".

In memory of the great tsar, numerous monuments were built in St. Petersburg (“The Bronze Horseman” by E.M. Falcone, 1782; a bronze statue of B.K. Rastrelli, 1743, a bronze seated sculpture of M.M. Shemyakin in the Peter and Paul Fortress, Kronstadt (F Zhak), the cities of Arkhangelsk, Taganrog, Petrodvorets (M.M. Antokolsky), Tula, Petrozavodsk (I.N. Schroeder and I.A. Monighetti), Moscow (Z. Tsereteli). In 2007, a monument was erected in Astrakhan on the Volga embankment, and in 2008 in Sochi. Peter I Alekseevich were opened in Leningrad, Tallinn, Pereslavl-Zalessky, Vologda, Liepaja. The monument to Peter I in Arkhangelsk is depicted on a modern ticket of the Bank of Russia on a banknote of 500 rubles.

The Academy of Defense Security and Law Enforcement Problems established Order of Peter the Great.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries and the assessment of historians, the emperor, like many smart, strong-willed, decisive, talented people who spare no effort in the name of a cherished goal, was strict not only to himself, but also to others. Sometimes Tsar Peter was cruel and ruthless, did not take into account the interests and lives of those who were weaker than him. Energetic, purposeful, greedy for new knowledge, Tsar Peter the Great, for all his inconsistency, went down in history as an emperor who managed to radically change the face of Russia and the course of history for many centuries.