Peter III Fedorovich Romanov

Peter III (Pyotr Fyodorovich Romanov , birth nameCarl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp; February 21, 1728, Kiel - July 17, 1762, Ropsha- Russian emperor in 1761-1762, the first representative of the Holstein-Gottorp (or rather: Oldenburg dynasty, Holstein-Gottorp branches, officially bearing the name "Imperial House of the Romanovs")on the Russian throne, husband of Catherine II, father of Paul I

Peter III(in the uniform of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, 1762)

Peter III

The short reign of Peter III lasted less than a year, but during this time the emperor managed to turn against himself almost all the influential forces in Russian noble society: the court, the guards, the army and the clergy.

He was born on February 10 (21), 1728 in Kiel in the Duchy of Holstein (northern Germany). The German prince Karl Peter Ulrich, who received the name Peter Fedorovich after the adoption of Orthodoxy, was the son of Duke Karl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp and the eldest daughter of Peter I Anna Petrovna.

Karl Friedrich Holstein-Gottorp

Anna Petrovna

Having ascended the throne, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna summoned the son of her beloved sister to Russia and appointed her heir in 1742. Karl Peter Ulrich was brought to St. Petersburg in early February 1742 and on November 15 (26) was declared her heir. Then he converted to Orthodoxy and received the name of Peter Fedorovich

Elizaveta Petrovna

As a teacher, Academician J. Shtelin was assigned to him, who could not achieve any significant success in the education of the prince; he was fascinated only by military affairs and playing the violin.

Pyotr Fedorovich when he was the Grand Duke. Job portrait G. H. Groot

In May 1745 the prince was proclaimed the ruling duke of Holstein. In August 1745 he married Princess Sophia Frederica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, the future Catherine II.

Pyotr Fedorovich (Grand Duke) and Ekaterina Alekseevna (Grand Duchess

Tsarevich Pyotr Fedorovich and Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna. 1740s Hood. G.-K. Groot.

The marriage was unsuccessful, only in 1754 their son Pavel was born, and in 1756 their daughter Anna, who died in 1759. He had a connection with the maid of honor E.R. Vorontsova, niece of Chancellor M.I. Vorontsov. Being an admirer of Frederick the Great, he publicly expressed his pro-Prussian sympathies during the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. Peter's open hostility to everything Russian and his apparent inability to deal with state affairs caused Elizabeth Petrovna to worry. In court circles, projects were put forward to transfer the crown to the young Paul during the regency of Catherine or Catherine herself.

Portrait of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich as a child ( Rokotov F. S., )

Peter and Catherine were granted the possession of Oranienbaum near Petersburg

However, the empress did not dare to change the order of succession to the throne. The former duke, who was trained from birth to occupy the Swedish throne, since he was also the grandson of Charles XII, studied the Swedish language, Swedish law and Swedish history, from childhood he was accustomed to treat Russia with prejudice. A zealous Lutheran, he could not reconcile himself to being forced to change his faith, and at every opportunity tried to emphasize his contempt for Orthodoxy, the customs and traditions of the country that he was to rule. Peter was neither evil nor treacherous; on the contrary, he often showed gentleness and mercy. However, his extreme nervous imbalance made the future sovereign dangerous, as a person who concentrated absolute power over a vast empire in his hands.

Peter III Fedorovich Romanov

Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova, favorite of Peter III

Having become the new emperor after the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter quickly angered the courtiers against himself, attracting foreigners to government posts, the guard, canceling the Elizabethan liberties, the army, making a peace unfavorable for Russia with defeated Prussia, and, finally, the clergy, ordering all the icons to be taken out of the churches , except for the most important ones, to shave their beards, take off their vestments and change into frock coats in the likeness of Lutheran pastors.

Empress Catherine the Great with her husband Peter III of Russia and their son, the future Emperor Paul I

On the other hand, the emperor softened the persecution of the Old Believers, signed in 1762 a decree on the freedom of the nobility, abolishing compulsory service for representatives of the noble class. It seemed that he could count on the support of the nobles. However, his reign ended tragically.

Peter III is depicted on horseback among a group of soldiers.The emperor wears the orders of St. Andrew the First-Called and St. Anne.Snuffbox decorated with miniatures

Many were not happy that the emperor entered into an alliance with Prussia: shortly before, under the late Elizabeth Petrovna, Russian troops won a number of victories in the war with the Prussians, and the Russian Empire could count on considerable political benefits from the successes achieved on the battlefields. The alliance with Prussia crossed out all such hopes and violated good relations with Russia's former allies - Austria and France. Even greater dissatisfaction was caused by the involvement of numerous foreigners in the Russian service by Peter III. At the Russian court there were no influential forces whose support would ensure the stability of the reign of the new emperor.

Portrait of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich

Unknown Russian artist PORTRAIT OF EMPEROR PETER III Last third of the 18th century.

Taking advantage of this, a strong court party, hostile to Prussia and Peter III, in alliance with a group of guards, carried out a coup.

Pyotr Fedorovich was always afraid of Catherine. When, after the death of Empress Elizabeth, he became the Russian Tsar Peter III, almost nothing connected the crowned spouses, but they shared a lot. Rumors reached Catherine that Peter wanted to get rid of her by imprisoning her in a monastery or depriving her of her life, and declare their son Paul illegitimate. Catherine knew how harshly the Russian autocrats treated hateful wives. But for many years she had been preparing to ascend the throne and was not going to give it up to a man whom everyone did not like and "slandered out loud without trembling."

Georg Christoph Groot.Portrait of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (later Emperor Peter III

Six months after Peter III ascended the throne on January 5, 1762, a group of conspirators led by Catherine's lover Count G.G. Orlov took advantage of Peter's absence at court and issued a manifesto on behalf of the regiments of the imperial guard, according to which Peter was deprived of the throne, and Catherine was proclaimed empress. She was crowned bishop of Novgorod, while Peter was imprisoned in a country house in Ropsha, where he was killed in July 1762, apparently with the knowledge of Catherine. According to a contemporary of those events, Peter III "allowed himself to be overthrown from the throne, like a child who is sent to sleep." His death soon finally freed Catherine the way to power.

in the Winter Palace, the coffin was placed next to the coffin of Empress Catherine II (the hall was designed by the architect Rinaldi)

After official ceremonies, the ashes of Peter III and Catherine II were transferred from Winter Palace to the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress

This allegorical engraving by Nicholas Anselin is dedicated to the exhumation of Peter III

Tombs of Peter III and Catherine II in the Peter and Paul Cathedral

Hat of Emperor Peter III. 1760s

Ruble of Peter III 1762 St. Petersburg silver

Portrait of Emperor Peter III (1728-1762) and a view of the monument to Empress Catherine II in St. Petersburg

Unknown North Russian carver. Plaquette with a portrait of Grand Duke Pyotr Fedorovich. St. Petersburg (?), Ser. 19th century. Mammoth tusk, relief carving, engraving, drilling

Series of messages " ":
Part 1 - Peter III Fedorovich Romanov

The Russian emperor Peter III lived only 34 years and had two names - German and Russian. Rarely did contemporaries and descendants give such conflicting assessments to a sovereign. Some said: "stupid martinet", "the lackey of Frederick II", "chronic drunkard". But there are also positive reviews of prominent figures of Russian culture and statesmen about him.

His name was used by the leader of the peasant movement Emelyan Pugachev. But in the people's memory, he remained the victim of his royal wife, Catherine the Great.

The great sovereign and emperor of All Russia Peter III Fedorovich was awarded not only the title of "idiot" and "incapable spouse", that is, "impotent", Catherine II, but, as one of the pre-revolutionary Russian historians noted, this tsar was awarded "some kind of exceptional privilege to senselessness and stupidity."

Ladies and gentlemen, I can assure you, there are no angels or demons. We are all human beings, and Pyotr Fedorovich, born in the Lutheran faith Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp (and in German: Karl Peter Ulrich von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf), was not a fiend. Another victim of the political intrigues of the court camarilla. Usually, Peter III is considered in the context of domestic Russian politics, most often without touching on international issues. This is important, because people like to accuse Peter of concluding a treacherous separate peace with Prussia, because he was a passionate admirer of Frederick the Great and everything Prussian.

The participants in the conspiracy to overthrow the legitimate monarch diligently fomented anti-German sentiments in society in order to turn the patriots against the emperor. Until now, many Russian historians see Pyotr Fedorovich as a traitor who refused all the brilliant victories of Russian weapons on the battlefields of the Seven Years' War and, having betrayed his allies - Austria and France - concluded a "meaningless" peace. Note that not only a bad peace is better than a good quarrel.

The French king Louis XVI made the following remark about the relationship of Peter III to Frederick II: “Europe, on the contrary, waited with admiration for Peter III to rush to the aid of Prussia, which France and Austria had driven to exhaustion and which had been saved from the worst misfortune by a miracle and friendly support of the emperor. It was just as beneficial for Russia as it is for us now that Prussia and Austria did not merge into one state. Europe wanted Russia to save Prussia from extermination by the combined forces of the two great powers. Strengthened by Prussian possessions, Austria had the opportunity to face off power with Russia, when peace was established thanks to the friendly assistance of Peter III, which proves that this sovereign was a good politician.

In addition, one can agree with the opinion of some Russian historians that in the geopolitical situation of the middle of the 18th century, the benefit from the acquisition by Russia East Prussia seemed doubtful. By the way, the prominent Russian historian Vasily Klyuchevsky criticized such a dubious acquisition as Poland - the core of the future revolutionary infection. Unlike the province of Koenigsberg, the Commonwealth had at least a common border with Russia.

If we ignore the propaganda hype of tsarist times and the ideological clichés of Soviet times, it turns out that Catherine the Second signed an alliance treaty with Frederick of Prussia just two years later, a number of articles of which exactly repeated the clauses of the "treacherous" treaty of her late husband Peter III.

The stamped look at Pyotr Fedorovich even in scientific circles reaches unimaginable heights. "A modern art historian, even a qualified one, describing the portrait of Peter III by the remarkable Russian artist of the 18th century A.P. Antropov, will see in the quite ordinary model depicted on canvas "a fat belly on thin legs, a small head on narrow shoulders and long arms, as thin as spider legs. "The spectacle is really not their pleasant, although it would seem strange to demand that Apollo certainly sit on the Russian throne," modern Russian historian Alexander Mylnikov is surprised.

The grandson of the Great Peter, Peter III, turned out to be among those historical figures about whom we know more rumors and myths created by their political opponents than real historical facts. Still: one of the main sources of information about him are the memoirs of "Mother Empress Catherine." This most intelligent woman, of course, wanting to justify in the eyes of her subjects and descendants the awkward "elimination" of her husband, made him look like a fool, capable only of non-musical playing the violin and adoring not Russia, but her pipe and maid of honor-lover.

Peter III is far from the only slandered historical figure. And we are not talking about his "posthumous rehabilitation". It's just pointless. And this, to some extent, explains the sad fate of the imperial house of the Romanovs, the last representatives of which were brutally destroyed by the Bolsheviks in the basement of the Ipatiev House. The brutality of those fighting for supremacy gave rise to later atrocities. The forerunners of the communist barbarians were the noble nobles who dealt with Peter III, Paul I and John VI Antonovich.

If we continue the comparison further, then the figure of Stalin will appear, who at the end of the 1930s will brutally end Lenin's comrades-in-arms. However, we digress. While revolutions are still far away, Peter III, in an effort to imitate his great grandfather-namesake, from the first days of accession to the throne, paid special attention to strengthening order and discipline in the highest government places, to streamlining the competence of the highest authorities. Peter the Third was hardly the only monarch after Peter the Great who personally visited the Synod, the highest church department.

Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, who took part in the palace coup led by her namesake, did not feel favoritism towards Peter III, frankly wrote in her memoirs that "Peter III increased the disgust that they had for him and aroused deep contempt for himself with his legislative measures." This private opinion of a particular person correctly notices the oppositional attitude towards the Russian monarch of some part of the highest nobility. It was from their midst and Catherine's entourage that many myths about the grandson of Peter the Great went for a walk around the world.

Here is one of them: the courtiers, they say, convinced Peter III to liquidate the Secret Chancellery, about which he waved a manifesto after, having agreed in advance, during a feast, Count K. G. Razumovsky shouted at one of the drinking companions "word and deed" for that he insulted the emperor by not drinking a glass to the bottom for his health. Historians have a reasonable question, why didn’t Razumovsky and his comrades play such a show earlier, under Elizabeth Petrovna? This despite the fact that Kirill Grigorievich was the brother of her longtime favorite and supposedly the morganatic spouse of the Empress Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky.

During his short reign from December 25, 1761 (after the death of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna) to June 29, 1762 (when, arrested, he signed the abdication of the throne, and presumably was killed on July 3), Pyotr Fedorovich signed several important manifestos: "On the granting of liberty and freedom to everything Russian nobility"," On the destruction of the Secret Investigative Office "and a series of acts on religious tolerance and the relationship between the state and the Orthodox Church.

Emperor Peter III Fedorovich at birth was named Karl Peter Ulrich, since the future Russian ruler was born in the port city of Kiel, located in the north of the modern German state. On the Russian throne, Peter III lasted six months (1761-1762 are considered the official years of reign), after which he became a victim of a palace coup arranged by his wife, who replaced her deceased spouse.

It is noteworthy that in the following centuries, the biography of Peter III was presented exclusively from a pejorative point of view, so his image among people was unambiguously negative. But in recent times historians find evidence that this emperor had quite definite merits to the country, and a longer term of his reign would have brought tangible benefits to the inhabitants Russian Empire.

Childhood and youth

Since the boy was born in the family of Duke Karl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp, the nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII, and his wife Anna Petrovna, the daughter of the king (that is, Peter III was the grandson of Peter I), his fate was predetermined from infancy. As soon as he was born, the child became the heir to the Swedish throne, and besides, in theory he could claim the Russian throne, although, according to the idea of ​​his grandfather Peter I, this should not have happened.

The childhood of Peter III was not royal at all. The boy lost his mother early, and his father, obsessed with reclaiming the lost Prussian lands, raised his son like a soldier. Already at the age of 10, little Karl Peter was awarded the rank of second lieutenant, and a year later the boy was orphaned.

Carl Peter Ulrich - Peter III

After the death of Karl Friedrich, his son ended up in the house of Bishop Adolf Eitinsky, his cousin uncle, where the boy turned into an object for humiliation, cruel jokes and where they regularly flogged. Nobody cared about the education of the crown prince, and by the age of 13 he could barely read. Karl Peter was in poor health, he was a frail and timid teenager, but at the same time kind and simple-hearted. He loved music and painting, although because of the memories of his father, he also adored the "military".

However, it is known that until his death, Emperor Peter III was afraid of the sound of cannon shots and rifle volleys. The chroniclers also noted the young man's strange predilection for fantasies and inventions, which often turned into outright lies. There is also a version that still in adolescence Karl Peter became addicted to alcohol.

The life of the future All-Russian Emperor changed when he was 14 years old. His aunt ascended the Russian throne, who decided to secure the monarchy for the descendants of her father. Since Karl Peter was the only direct heir of Peter the Great, he was summoned to St. Petersburg, where the young Peter the Third, who already bore the title of Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, adopted the Orthodox religion and received the Slavic name Prince Peter Fedorovich.

At the first meeting with her nephew, Elizabeth was amazed at his ignorance and assigned a tutor to the royal heir. The teacher noted the excellent mental abilities of the ward, which debunks one of the myths about Peter III as a "feeble-minded martinet" and "mentally handicapped."

Although there is evidence that the emperor behaved in public in an extremely strange way. Especially in temples. For example, during the service, Peter laughed and spoke loudly. Yes, and with foreign ministers behaved familiarly. Perhaps this behavior gave rise to a rumor about his "inferiority".

Also in his youth, he had been ill with a severe form of smallpox, which could cause developmental disabilities. At the same time, Pyotr Fedorovich understood exact sciences, geography and fortification, spoke German, French and in Latin. But he practically did not know Russian. But he didn't want to master it either.

By the way, smallpox severely disfigured the face of Peter III. But this defect in appearance is not displayed in any portrait. And then no one thought about the art of photography - the first photo in the world appeared only after more than 60 years. So only his portraits, painted from life, but “embellished” by artists, survived to his contemporaries.

Governing body

After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna on December 25, 1761, Peter Fedorovich ascended the throne. But he was not crowned, it was planned to do this after a military campaign against Denmark. As a result, Peter III was crowned posthumously in 1796.

He spent 186 days on the throne. During this time, Peter the Third signed 192 laws and decrees. And that's not even counting the award nominations. So, despite the myths and rumors around his personality and activities, even for such a short period, he managed to prove himself both in the external and in domestic politics countries.

The most important document of the reign of Peter Fedorovich is the “Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility”. This piece of legislation exempted nobles from the mandatory 25-year service and even allowed them to travel abroad.

Slandered Emperor Peter III

Of the other affairs of the emperor, it is worth noting a number of reforms on the transformation of the state system. He, being on the throne for only six months, managed to abolish the Secret Chancellery, introduce freedom of religion, abolish church supervision over the personal lives of his subjects, forbid giving away state lands to private ownership, and most importantly, make the court of the Russian Empire open. And he also declared the forest a national wealth, established the State Bank and introduced the first banknotes into circulation. But after the death of Pyotr Fedorovich, all these innovations were destroyed.

Thus, Emperor Peter III intended to make the Russian Empire freer, less totalitarian and more enlightened.

Despite this, most historians consider the short period and results of his reign to be among the worst for Russia. The main reason for this is the actual annulment of the results of the Seven Years' War by him. Peter developed a bad relationship with military officers, as he ended the war with Prussia and withdrew Russian troops from Berlin. Some regarded these actions as a betrayal, but in fact the victories of the guardsmen in this war brought glory either to them personally, or to Austria and France, whose side was supported by the army. But for the Russian Empire, this war was of no use.

He also decided to introduce the Prussian order into the Russian army - the guards had a new form, and now the punishments were also in the Prussian manner - the cane system. Such changes did not add to his authority, but, on the contrary, gave rise to discontent and uncertainty in tomorrow both in the army and in court circles.

Personal life

When the future ruler was barely 17 years old, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna hurried to marry him. The German princess Sophia Frederica Augusta was chosen as his wife, whom the whole world knows today under the name Catherine II. The wedding of the heir was played on an unprecedented scale. As a gift, Peter and Catherine were presented with the palaces of the count - Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg and Lyubertsy near Moscow.

It is worth noting that Peter III and Catherine II could not stand each other and were considered a married couple only legally. Even when his wife gave Peter the heir of Paul I, and then his daughter Anna, he joked that he did not understand "where she takes these children."

The infant heir, the future Russian Emperor Paul I, was taken away from his parents after birth, and Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself immediately took up his upbringing. However, this did not upset Pyotr Fyodorovich at all. He never showed much interest in his son. He saw the boy once a week, this was the permission of the empress. Daughter Anna Petrovna died in infancy.

The difficult relationship between Peter the Third and Catherine II is evidenced by the fact that the ruler repeatedly quarreled publicly with his wife and even threatened to divorce her. Once, after his wife did not support the toast he had uttered at the feast, Peter III ordered the woman to be arrested. Catherine was saved from prison only by the intervention of Peter's uncle, Georg of Holstein-Gottorp. But with all the aggression, anger and, most likely, burning jealousy for his wife, Pyotr Fedorovich had respect for her mind. In difficult situations, more often economic and financial, Catherine's husband often turned to her for help. There is evidence that Peter III called Catherine II "Madame Help".

It is noteworthy that the absence of intimate relations with Catherine did not affect the personal life of Peter III. Pyotr Fedorovich had mistresses, the main of which was the daughter of General Roman Vorontsov. Two of his daughters were presented to the court: Catherine, who would become a friend of the imperial wife, and later Princess Dashkova, and Elizabeth. So she was destined to become the beloved woman and favorite of Peter III. For her sake, he was even ready to terminate the marriage, but this was not destined to happen.

Death

On the royal throne, Peter Fedorovich stayed a little longer than six months. By the summer of 1762, his wife Catherine II inspired her henchman to organize a palace coup, which took place at the end of June. Peter, struck by the betrayal of his environment, abdicated the Russian throne, which he initially did not value and did not want, and intended to return to his native country. However, by order of Catherine, the deposed emperor was arrested and placed in a palace in Ropsha near St. Petersburg.

And on July 17, 1762, a week after that, Peter III died. The official cause of death was an "attack of hemorrhoidal colic", aggravated by the abuse of alcoholic beverages. However, the main version of the death of the emperor is considered to be a violent death by hand, the elder brother - the main favorite of Catherine at that time. It is believed that Orlov strangled the prisoner, although neither the later medical examination of the corpse nor historical facts confirm this. This version is based on the "repentant letter" of Alexei, which has survived in our time in a copy, and modern scientists are sure that this paper is a fake made by Fyodor Rostopchin, right hand Paul the First.

Peter III and Catherine II

After the death of the former emperor, there was a misconception about the personality and biography of Peter III, since all conclusions were made on the basis of the memoirs of his wife Catherine II, an active participant in the conspiracy Princess Dashkova, one of the main ideologists of the conspiracy, Count Nikita Panin, and his brother, Count Peter Panin . That is, based on the opinion of those people who betrayed Pyotr Fedorovich.

It was precisely “thanks to” the notes of Catherine II that the image of Peter III was formed as a drunken husband who hanged a rat. Allegedly, the woman went into the emperor's office and was amazed at what she saw. There was a rat hanging over his desk. Her husband replied that she had committed a criminal offense and, according to military laws, was subjected to the most severe punishment. According to him, she was executed and will hang in front of the public for 3 days. This "story" was repeated by both, and, describing Peter the Third.

Whether this was in reality, or whether in this way Catherine II created her own positive image against its “unsightly” background, now it is not possible to find out.

Rumors of death have given rise to a considerable number of impostors calling themselves the "surviving king." Similar phenomena have happened before, it is worth remembering at least the numerous False Dmitrys. But in terms of the number of people who pretended to be the emperor, Pyotr Fedorovich has no competitors. At least 40 persons turned out to be "False Peters III", among which was Stepan Maly.

Memory

• 1934 - feature film "The Dissolute Empress" (as Peter III - Sam Jaffe)
• 1963 - feature film "Katerina from Russia" (in the role of Peter III - Raul Grassili)
• 1987 - the book "The Legend of the Russian Prince" - Mylnikov A.S.
• 1991 - feature film "Vivat, midshipmen!" (as Peter III -)
• 1991 - the book "The temptation of a miracle. "Russian Prince" and impostors "- Mylnikov A.S.
• 2007 - the book "Catherine II and Peter III: the history of the tragic conflict" - Ivanov O. A.
• 2012 - the book "The Heirs of the Giant" - Eliseeva O.I.
• 2014 - the series "Catherine" (in the role of Peter III -)
• 2014 - a monument to Peter III in the German city of Kiel (sculptor Alexander Taratynov)
• 2015 - series "The Great" (as Peter III -)
• 2018 - series "The Bloody Lady" (as Peter III -)

Awards:

Peter III (Pyotr Fedorovich, born Carl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp; February 21, Kiel - July 17, Ropsha) - Russian emperor in -, the first representative of the Holstein-Gottorp (Oldenburg) branch of the Romanovs on the Russian throne. From 1745 - Sovereign Duke of Holstein.

After a six-month reign, he was overthrown as a result of a palace coup that enthroned his wife, Catherine II, and soon lost his life. The personality and activities of Peter III for a long time were regarded by historians unanimously negatively, but then a more balanced approach appeared, noting a number of state merits of the emperor. During the reign of Catherine, many impostors pretended to be Pyotr Fedorovich (about forty cases were recorded), the most famous of which was Emelyan Pugachev.

Childhood, education and upbringing

Peter grew up timid, nervous, impressionable, loved music and painting and at the same time adored everything military (however, he was afraid of cannon fire; this fear remained with him for the rest of his life). It was with military comforts that all his ambitious dreams were connected. He did not differ in good health, rather the opposite: he was sickly and frail. By nature, Peter was not evil; often acted rudely. Peter's penchant for lies and absurd fantasies is also noted. According to some reports, already in childhood he was addicted to wine.

Heir

At the first meeting, Elizabeth was struck by the ignorance of her nephew and upset by her appearance: thin, sickly, with an unhealthy complexion. Academician Jacob Shtelin became his tutor and teacher, who considered his student quite capable, but lazy, at the same time noting in him such features as cowardice, cruelty to animals, and a tendency to boast. The education of the heir in Russia lasted only three years - after the wedding of Peter and Catherine, Shtelin was dismissed from his duties (however, he forever retained Peter's disposition and trust). Neither during his studies, nor subsequently, did Pyotr Fedorovich ever learn to properly speak and write in Russian. The tutor of the Grand Duke in Orthodoxy was Simon Todorsky, who also became a teacher of the law for Catherine.

The wedding of the heir was played on a special scale - so that before the ten-day celebrations, "all the tales of the East faded." Peter and Catherine were granted the possession of Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg and Lyubertsy near Moscow.

Peter's relationship with his wife did not work out from the very beginning: she was intellectually more developed, and he, on the contrary, was infantile. Catherine in her memoirs noted:

(In the same place, Catherine, not without pride, mentions that she read The History of Germany in eight large volumes in four months. Elsewhere in her memoirs, Catherine writes about the enthusiastic reading of Madame de Sevigne and Voltaire. All memories are about the same time.)

The mind of the Grand Duke was still occupied by children's games, military exercises, and he was not at all interested in women. It is believed that until the beginning of the 1750s there was no marital relationship between husband and wife, but then Peter underwent some kind of operation (presumably circumcision to eliminate phimosis), after which in 1754 Catherine gave birth to his son Paul (future Emperor Paul I) . However, the letter of the Grand Duke to his wife, dated December 1746, testifies to the inconsistency of this version:

madam, I ask you not to bother yourself to sleep with me this night, since it is already too late to deceive me, the bed has become too narrow, after a two-week separation from you, this day at noon Your unfortunate husband, whom you never honored with this name

The infant heir, the future Russian Emperor Paul I, was taken away from his parents immediately after birth, and Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself took up his upbringing. However, Pyotr Fedorovich was never interested in his son and was quite satisfied with the permission of the Empress to see Paul once a week. Peter became more and more distant from his wife; his favorite was Elizaveta Vorontsova (sister of E. R. Dashkova). Nevertheless, Catherine noted that for some reason the Grand Duke always had an involuntary trust in her, all the more strange that she did not strive for spiritual intimacy with her husband. In difficult situations, financial or economic, he often turned to his wife for help, calling her ironically Madame la Resource("Lady Help").

Peter never hid his hobbies for other women from his wife; Catherine felt humiliated by this state of affairs. In 1756, she had an affair with Stanisław August Poniatowski, at that time the Polish envoy to the Russian court. For the Grand Duke, his wife's passion also did not become a secret. There is evidence that Peter and Catherine more than once arranged dinners with Poniatovsky and Elizaveta Vorontsova; they took place in the chambers of the Grand Duchess. After, leaving with the favorite for his half, Peter joked: “Well, children, now you don’t need us anymore.” Both couples lived on very good terms with each other. In 1757, the grand ducal couple had another child - Anna (she died of smallpox in 1759). Historians cast great doubt on the paternity of Peter, calling S. A. Poniatovsky the most probable father. However, Peter officially recognized the child as his own.

In the early 1750s, Peter was allowed to write a small detachment of Holstein soldiers (by 1758 their number was about one and a half thousand), and that’s it. free time he spent by doing military exercises and maneuvers with them. Some time later (by 1759-1760) these Holstein soldiers formed the garrison of the amusing fortress Peterstadt, built in the residence of the Grand Duke Oranienbaum. Another hobby of Peter was playing the violin.

During the years spent in Russia, Peter never made any attempts to get to know the country, its people and history better, he neglected Russian customs, behaved inappropriately during church services, did not observe fasts and other rituals.

It is noted that Peter III was energetically engaged in state affairs(“Already in the morning he was in his office, where he listened to reports<…>, then hurried to the Senate or collegiums.<…>In the Senate, he took on the most important cases himself energetically and assertively. His policy was quite consistent; he, in imitation of his grandfather Peter I, proposed a series of reforms.

Among the most important cases of Peter III are the abolition of the Secret Office (Office of Secret Investigative Affairs; Manifesto of February 16, 1762), the beginning of the process of secularization of church lands, the promotion of commercial and industrial activities by creating the State Bank and issuing banknotes (Nominal Decree of May 25), adoption of the freedom decree foreign trade(Decree of March 28); it also contains a demand for a careful attitude to forests as one of the most important wealth of Russia. Among other measures, researchers note a decree that allowed factories for the production of sailing fabric in Siberia, as well as a decree that qualified the murder of peasants by landowners as "tyrannical torment" and provided for life exile for this. He also stopped the persecution of the Old Believers. Peter III is also credited with the intention to reform the Russian Orthodox Church according to the Protestant model (In the Manifesto of Catherine II on the occasion of her accession to the throne of June 28, 1762, Peter was blamed for this: “Our Greek Church was already extremely exposed to its last danger of changing the ancient Orthodoxy in Russia and the adoption of an infidel law).

Legislative acts adopted during the short reign of Peter III, in many ways became the foundation for the subsequent reign of Catherine II.

The most important document of the reign of Peter Fedorovich is the “Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility” (Manifesto of February 18, 1762), thanks to which the nobility became the exclusive privileged class of the Russian Empire. The nobility, being forced by Peter I to obligatory and total duty to serve the state all his life, under Anna Ioannovna, who received the right to retire after 25 years of service, now received the right not to serve at all. And the privileges, initially granted to the nobility as a service class, not only remained, but also expanded. In addition to being exempted from service, the nobles received the right to leave the country virtually unhindered. One of the consequences of the Manifesto was that the nobles could now freely dispose of their land holdings, regardless of their attitude to service (the Manifesto passed over in silence the rights of the nobility to their estates; while the previous legislative acts of Peter I, Anna Ioannovna and Elizaveta Petrovna, concerning noble service, linked service duties and landownership rights). The nobility became as free as a privileged estate in a feudal country can be.

The reign of Peter III was marked by the strengthening of serfdom. The landlords got the opportunity to arbitrarily move the peasants who belonged to them from one county to another; there were serious bureaucratic restrictions on the transition of serfs to the merchant class; during the six months of Peter's reign, about 13 thousand people were distributed from state peasants to serfs (in fact, there were more of them: only men were included in the audit lists in 1762). During these six months, peasant riots arose several times, suppressed by punitive detachments. Noteworthy is the Manifesto of Peter III of June 19 regarding the riots in the Tver and Cannes districts: “We intend to inviolably preserve the landlords with their estates and possessions, and keep the peasants in due obedience to them.” The riots were caused by a spreading rumor about the granting of "liberties to the peasantry", a response to the rumors and served as a legislative act, which was not accidentally given the status of a manifesto.

The legislative activity of the government of Peter III was extraordinary. During the 186-day reign, judging by the official "Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire", 192 documents were adopted: manifestos, nominal and Senate decrees, resolutions, etc. (They do not include decrees on awards and rank production, monetary payments and on specific private issues).

However, some researchers stipulate that measures useful for the country were taken as if “by the way”; for the emperor himself, they were not urgent or important. In addition, many of these decrees and manifestos did not appear suddenly: they were prepared under Elizabeth by the “Commission for the drafting of a new Code”, but were adopted at the suggestion of Roman Vorontsov, Pyotr Shuvalov, Dmitry Volkov and other Elizabethan dignitaries who remained at the throne of Pyotr Fedorovich.

Peter III was much more interested in the internal affairs of the war with Denmark: out of Holstein patriotism, the emperor decided, in alliance with Prussia, to oppose Denmark (yesterday's ally of Russia), in order to return Schleswig taken away from her native Holstein, and he himself intended to go on a campaign at the head of the guard.

Romanov dynasty (before Peter III)

Roman Yurievich Zakharyin Anastasia , wife of Ivan IV the Terrible Fedor I Ioannovich Peter I the Great (2nd wife Catherine I) Anna Petrovna

Alexander Nikitich Mikhail Nikitich Ivan Nikitich

	Nikita Ivanovich

Immediately upon accession to the throne, Pyotr Fedorovich returned to court most of the disgraced nobles of the previous reign, who were languishing in exile (except for the hated Bestuzhev-Ryumin). Among them was Count Burchard Christopher Munnich, a veteran of palace coups. The Holstein relatives of the emperor were summoned to Russia: Princes Georg Ludwig of Holstein-Gottorp and Peter August Friedrich of Holstein-Beck. Both were promoted to field marshals in view of the war with Denmark; Peter August Friedrich was also appointed governor-general of the capital. Alexandre Vilboa was appointed Feldzeugmeister General. These people, as well as the former tutor Jacob Stehlin, who was appointed personal librarian, formed the emperor's inner circle.

Once in power, Peter III immediately stopped hostilities against Prussia and concluded the Peace of Petersburg with Frederick II on extremely unfavorable terms for Russia, returning the conquered East Prussia (which had been an integral part of the Russian Empire for four years); and abandoning all acquisitions in the course of the effectively won Seven Years' War. Russia's exit from the war again saved Prussia from complete defeat (see also "The Miracle of the Brandenburg House"). Peter III easily sacrificed the interests of Russia for the sake of his German duchy and friendship with the idol Frederick. The peace concluded on April 24 caused bewilderment and indignation in society, it was naturally regarded as a betrayal and national humiliation. The long and costly war ended in nothing, Russia did not derive any benefits from its victories.

Despite the progressive nature of many legislative measures and the unprecedented privileges of the nobility, Peter's poorly thought out foreign policy acts, as well as his harsh actions against the church, the introduction of the Prussian order in the army not only did not add to his authority, but deprived him of any social support; in court circles, his policy only gave rise to uncertainty about the future.

Society felt in the actions of the government prank and whim, the lack of unity of thought and a certain direction. It was obvious to everyone that the governmental mechanism was in disorder. All this caused a friendly murmur, which poured down from the higher spheres and became popular. Tongues loosened, as if not feeling the policeman's fear; on the streets they openly and loudly expressed discontent, without any fear blaming the sovereign.

Finally, the intention to withdraw the guard from St. Petersburg and send it to an incomprehensible and unpopular Danish campaign served as a powerful catalyst for a conspiracy that arose in the guard in favor of Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Palace coup

The first beginnings of the conspiracy date back to 1756, that is, by the time the Seven Years' War began and the health of Elizabeth Petrovna worsened. The all-powerful chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, knowing full well about the pro-Prussian sentiments of the heir and realizing that under the new sovereign he was threatened at least by Siberia, hatched plans to neutralize Pyotr Fedorovich upon his accession to the throne, declaring Catherine an equal co-ruler. However, Alexei Petrovich fell into disgrace in 1758, hastening to implement his plan (the intentions of the chancellor remained undisclosed, he managed to destroy the dangerous papers). The Empress herself had no illusions about her successor on the throne and later thought about replacing her nephew with Paul's great-nephew:

During illness<…>Elisaveta Petrovna I heard that<…>everyone is afraid of her heir; that he is neither loved nor honored by anyone; that the empress herself complains about whom to entrust the throne; that they find a tendency in her to dismiss the incapable heir, from whom she herself had annoyance, and take his seven-year-old son and entrust me [that is, Catherine] with management.

Over the next three years, Catherine, who also fell under suspicion in 1758 and almost ended up in a monastery, did not take any noticeable political actions, except that she stubbornly increased and strengthened personal ties in high society.

In the ranks of the guard, a conspiracy against Pyotr Fedorovich took shape in the last months of Elizaveta Petrovna's life, thanks to the activities of the three Orlov brothers, the officers of the Izmailovsky regiment, the brothers Roslavlev and Lasunsky, the Transfigurationists Passek and Bredikhin, and others. Among the highest dignitaries of the Empire, the most enterprising conspirators were N. I. Panin, educator of the young Pavel Petrovich, M. N. Volkonsky and K. G. Razumovsky, Little Russian hetman, president of the Academy of Sciences, favorite of his Izmailovsky regiment.

Elizaveta Petrovna died without daring to change anything in the fate of the throne. Catherine did not consider it possible to carry out a coup immediately after the death of the Empress: she was at the end of her fifth month of pregnancy (from Grigory Orlov; in April 1762 she gave birth to a son, Alexei). In addition, Catherine had political reasons not to rush things, she wanted to attract as many supporters as possible to her side for a complete triumph. Knowing well the character of her husband, she rightly believed that Peter would set the entire metropolitan society against him soon enough. To carry out the coup, Catherine chose to wait for the right moment.

The position of Peter III in society was precarious, but the position of Catherine at court was also fragile. Peter III openly said that he was going to divorce his wife in order to marry his favorite Elizaveta Vorontsova. He treated his wife rudely, and on April 30, during a gala dinner on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with Prussia, there was a public scandal. The emperor, in the presence of the court, diplomats and foreign princes, shouted to his wife across the table "folle"(stupid); Catherine wept. The reason for the insult was Catherine's unwillingness to drink while standing, proclaimed by Peter III toast. The hostility between the spouses reached its climax. On the evening of the same day, he gave the order to arrest her, and only the intervention of Field Marshal Georg of Holstein-Gottorp, the emperor's uncle, saved Catherine.

Peterhof. Cascade "Golden Mountain". 19th century photolithography

By May 1762, the change of mood in the capital became so obvious that the emperor was advised from all sides to take measures to prevent a catastrophe, there were denunciations of a possible conspiracy, but Pyotr Fedorovich did not understand the seriousness of his situation. In May, the court, led by the emperor, as usual, left the city, to Oranienbaum. There was a calm in the capital, which greatly contributed to the final preparations of the conspirators.

The Danish campaign was planned for June. The emperor decided to postpone the march of the troops in order to celebrate his name day. On the morning of June 28, 1762, on the eve of Peter's Day, Emperor Peter III with his retinue set off from Oranienbaum, his country residence, to Peterhof, where a gala dinner was to be held in honor of the emperor's namesake. On the eve of St. Petersburg, there was a rumor that Catherine was being held under arrest. The strongest turmoil began in the guard; one of the conspirators, Captain Passek, was arrested; the Orlov brothers feared that there was a threat of disclosure of the conspiracy.

In Peterhof, Peter III was supposed to be met by his wife, who, on the duty of the empress, was the organizer of the celebrations, but by the time the court arrived, she had disappeared. After a short time, it became known that Catherine fled to St. Petersburg early in the morning in a carriage with Alexei Orlov (he arrived in Peterhof to Catherine with the news that events had taken a critical turn and it was no longer possible to delay). In the capital, the guards, the Senate and the Synod, the population swore allegiance to the "Empress and Autocrat of All Russia" in a short time.

The guards marched towards Peterhof.

Peter's further actions show an extreme degree of confusion. Rejecting Minich's advice to immediately head to Kronstadt and fight, relying on the fleet and the army loyal to him stationed in East Prussia, he was going to defend himself in Peterhof in a toy fortress built for maneuvers with the help of a Holstein detachment. However, having learned about the approach of the guards led by Catherine, Peter abandoned this thought and sailed to Kronstadt with the whole court, ladies, etc. But by that time Kronstadt had already sworn allegiance to Catherine. After that, Peter completely lost heart and, again rejecting Minich's advice to go to the East Prussian army, returned to Oranienbaum, where he signed the abdication.

Somewhere they got wine, and a general binge began. The rampant guard was clearly going to inflict reprisals on their former emperor. Panin forcibly gathered a battalion of reliable soldiers to surround the pavilion. It was hard to look at Peter III. He sat powerless and weak-willed, constantly crying. Seizing a moment, he rushed to Panin and, catching his hand for a kiss, whispered: “I ask for one thing - leave Lizaveta [Vorontsova] with me, I conjure in the name of the Merciful Lord!” .

The events of June 28, 1762 have significant differences from previous palace coups; firstly, the coup went beyond the "walls of the palace" and even beyond guard barracks, having gained hitherto unprecedented broad support from various segments of the capital's population, and secondly, the guard became an independent political force, and not a protective force, but a revolutionary force that overthrew the legitimate emperor and supported the usurpation of power by Catherine.

Death

Palace in Ropsha, built during the reign of Catherine II

The circumstances of the death of Peter III have not yet been finally clarified.

Immediately after the coup, the deposed emperor, accompanied by a guard of guards led by A. G. Orlov, was sent to Ropsha, 30 miles from St. Petersburg, where he died a week later. According to the official (and most likely) version, the cause of death was an attack of hemorrhoidal colic, aggravated by prolonged alcohol consumption, and accompanied by diarrhea. An autopsy (which was carried out on the orders of Catherine) revealed that Peter III had a pronounced dysfunction of the heart, inflammation of the intestines, and there were signs of apoplexy.

However, the common version considers the death of Peter violent and calls Alexei Orlov the killer. This version is based on Orlov's letter to Ekaterina from Ropsha, which has not been preserved in the original. This letter has come down to us in a copy made by F. V. Rostopchin; the original letter was allegedly destroyed by Emperor Paul I in the first days of his reign. Recent historical and linguistic studies refute the authenticity of the document (the original, apparently, never existed, and Rostopchin is the true author of the fake).

Already today, a number of medical examinations have been carried out on the basis of surviving documents and evidence. Experts believe that Peter III suffered from manic-depressive psychosis in a weak stage (cyclothymia) with a mild depressive phase; suffered from hemorrhoids, which is why he could not sit in one place for a long time; A "small heart" found at autopsy usually suggests dysfunction of other organs as well, making it more likely to have poor blood circulation, which means there is a risk of a heart attack or stroke.

The funeral

Chimes of the Peter and Paul Cathedral

Initially, Peter III was buried without any honors in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, since only crowned heads were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the imperial tomb. The full Senate asked the Empress not to attend the funeral.

But, according to some reports, Catherine decided in her own way; came to the Lavra incognito and paid her last debt to her husband. In, immediately after the death of Catherine, by order of Paul I, his remains were transferred first to the house church of the Winter Palace, and then to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Peter III was reburied simultaneously with the burial of Catherine II; At the same time, Emperor Paul personally performed the ceremony of crowning the ashes of his father.

The headstones of the buried have the same date of burial (December 18, 1796), which gives the impression that Peter III and Catherine II lived together for many years and died on the same day.

Life after death

Impostors in the world community have not been a novelty since the time of the False Nero, who appeared almost immediately after the death of his "prototype". In Russia, false tsars and false princes of the Time of Troubles are also known, but among all other domestic rulers and members of their families, Peter III holds the absolute record for the number of impostors who tried to take the place of the untimely deceased tsar. In Pushkin's time there were rumors of five; according to the latest data, in Russia alone there were about forty false Peters III.

Shortly thereafter, the name of the late emperor was appropriated by a fugitive recruit Ivan Evdokimov, who tried to raise an uprising in his favor among the peasants of the Nizhny Novgorod province and a Ukrainian Nikolai Kolchenko in Chernihiv /

In the same year, shortly after the arrest of Kremnev, in Sloboda Ukraine, in the settlement of Kupyanka, Izyumsky district, a new impostor appears. This time it turned out to be Chernyshev Pyotr Fedorovich, a runaway soldier of the Bryansk regiment. This impostor, unlike his predecessors, turned out to be smart and eloquent. Soon captured, convicted and exiled to Nerchinsk, he did not leave his claims there either, spreading rumors that the "father-emperor", who incognito inspected the soldiers' regiments, was mistakenly captured and beaten with whips. The peasants who believed him tried to organize an escape by bringing a horse to the "sovereign" and supplying him with money and provisions for the road. However, the impostor was not lucky. He got lost in the taiga, was caught and severely punished in front of his admirers, sent to Mangazeya for eternal work, but died on the way there.

An extraordinary personality turned out to be Fedot Bogomolov, a former serf who fled and joined the Volga Cossacks under the name Kazin. Strictly speaking, he himself did not pretend to be the former emperor, but in March-June 1772 on the Volga, in the Tsaritsyn region, when his colleagues, due to the fact that Kazin-Bogomolov seemed to them too quick-witted and smart, suggested that in front of them hiding emperor, Bogomolov easily agreed with his "imperial dignity." Bogomolov, following his predecessors, was arrested, sentenced to tearing out his nostrils, branding and eternal exile. On the way to Siberia, he died.

In the same year, a certain Don Cossack, whose name has not been preserved in history, decided to extract monetary benefits for himself from the widespread belief in the "hiding emperor." Perhaps, of all the applicants, this was the only one who spoke in advance with a purely fraudulent purpose. His accomplice, posing as the secretary of state, traveled around the Tsaritsyn province, taking oaths and preparing the people for the reception of the "father-tsar", then the impostor himself appeared. The couple managed to profit enough at someone else's expense before the news reached the other Cossacks and they decided to give everything a political aspect. A plan was developed to capture the town of Dubrovka and arrest all the officers. However, the plot became known to the authorities and one of the high-ranking military showed sufficient decisiveness to radically suppress the plot. Accompanied by a small convoy, he entered the hut where the impostor was, hit him in the face and ordered him to be arrested along with his accomplice (“secretary of state”). The Cossacks present obeyed, but when the arrested were brought to Tsaritsyn for trial and reprisals, rumors immediately spread that the emperor was in custody and dull unrest began. To avoid an attack, the prisoners were forced to be kept outside the city, under heavy escort. During the investigation, the prisoner died, that is, from the point of view of the inhabitants, he again "disappeared without a trace." In 1774, the future leader of the peasant war Emelyan Pugachev, the most famous of the false Peters III, skillfully turned this story to his advantage, assuring that he himself was the "disappeared emperor" from Tsaritsyn - and this attracted many to his side. .

The Lost Emperor appeared at least four times abroad and enjoyed considerable success there. For the first time he appeared in 1766 in Montenegro, which at that time was fighting for independence against the Turks and the Venetian Republic. Strictly speaking, this man, who appeared from nowhere and became a village healer, never declared himself emperor, but a certain captain Tanovich, who had previously been in St. from Orthodox monasteries and came to the conclusion that the original is very similar to its image. A high-ranking delegation was sent to Stephen (that was the name of the stranger) with requests to take power over the country, but he flatly refused until internal strife was stopped and peace was made between the tribes. Such unusual demands finally convinced the Montenegrins of his “royal origin” and, despite the resistance of the clergy and the intrigues Russian general Dolgorukov, Stefan became the ruler of the country. He never revealed his real name, giving Yu. V. Dolgoruky, who sought the truth, a choice of three versions - “Raichevich from Dalmatia, a Turk from Bosnia and finally a Turk from Ioannina”. Openly recognizing himself as Peter III, he, however, ordered to call himself Stephen and went down in history as Stephen the Small, which is believed to come from the signature of the impostor - “ Stefan, small with small, kind with good, evil with evil". Stefan turned out to be an intelligent and knowledgeable ruler. In the short time that he remained in power, internecine strife ceased; after short frictions, good-neighborly relations with Russia were established and the country defended itself quite confidently against the onslaught of both the Venetians and the Turks. This could not please the conquerors, and Turkey and Venice repeatedly attempted on Stephen's life. Finally, one of the attempts was successful: after five years of reign, Stefan the Small was stabbed to death in his sleep by his own doctor, a Greek by nationality, Stanko Klasomunya, who was bribed by the Skadar pasha. The things of the impostor were sent to Petersburg, and his associates even tried to get themselves a pension from Catherine for "valiant service to her husband."

After the death of Stefan, the ruler of Montenegro and Peter III, once again "miraculously escaped from the hands of the murderers," a certain Zenovich tried to declare himself, but his attempt was not crowned with success. Count Mocenigo, who at that time was on the island of Zante in the Adriatic, wrote about another impostor in a report to the Doge of the Venetian Republic. This impostor operated in Turkish Albania, in the vicinity of the city of Arta. What ended his epic - is unknown.

The last foreign impostor, having appeared in 1773, traveled all over Europe, corresponded with monarchs, kept in touch with Voltaire and Rousseau. In 1785 in Amsterdam, finally, the swindler was arrested and opened his veins.

The last Russian "Peter III" was arrested in 1797, after which the ghost of Peter III finally leaves the historical scene.

Notes

1. Biographies of the cavalry guards: N. Yu. Trubetskoy
2. Iskul S.N. Year 1762. - St. Petersburg: Information and Publishing Agency "Lik", 2001, p. 43.
3. Peskov A. M. Pavel I. The author refers to:
   Kamensky A. B. Life and fate of Empress Catherine the Great. - M., 1997.
   Naumov V.P. An amazing autocrat: the mysteries of his life and reign. - M., 1993.
   Ivanov O. A. The mystery of Alexei Orlov's letters from Ropsha // Moscow magazine. - 1995. - № 9.
4. VIVOS VOCO: N. Ya. Eidelman, “YOUR XVIII CENTURY…” (Chapter 6)
5. Integrated lesson on the course of Russian history and literature in the 8th… :: Open Lesson Festival
6. Murmansk MBNEWS.RU - Polar truth number 123 dated 24.08.06
7. SHIELD and SWORD | A long time ago
8. http://www.rustrana.ru/article.php?nid=22182 (unavailable link - story)
9. Alexey Golovnin. The word is infallible. Samizdat magazine (2007). - Application of methods of structural hermeneutics to the text "Words about Igor's Campaign". Archived from the original on August 22, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
10. Count Benevsky. Part four. Runaway Noah's Ark
11. http://window.edu.ru/window_catalog/files/r42450/r2gl12.pdf
12. :: Russian torture. Political investigation in Russia of the 18th century - Evgeny Anisimov - Page: 6 - Read - Free download txt fb2:: (unavailable link - story)
13. Sergey Kravchenko. Crooked Empire. My day is my year!┘
14. Pugachev on the Volga | History of Tsaritsyn | History of Volgograd
15. Selivanov Kondraty
16. How Stephen the Small came to save Montenegro and afterwards | Spectator, The | Find Articles at BNET (unavailable link)
17. Stepan (Stefan) Small. Impostor. He posed as Peter III in Montenegro. Books in the 100 One Hundred Great series
18. Doubles, impostors or historical figures who lived twice

References

1. Klyuchevsky V. O. historical portraits. - M .: "Pravda", 1990. - ISBN 5-253-00034-8

(Start)

Pyotr Fedorovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna. In 1742, Elizabeth declared her nephew, the natural grandson of Peter the Great (and the grandson of the sister of Charles XII of Sweden), the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein Karl-Peter-Ulrich, to be his heir. For the Russian people, he was the same German prince as those from whom he was freed in 1741 Russian society and which he was so disgusted with. This choice of hers, or, rather, the necessity of this choice, Elizabeth soon began to consider a serious misfortune. The fourteen-year-old orphaned duke was transported from Holstein to Russia, found a second mother in Elizabeth, converted to Orthodoxy and, instead of a German upbringing, began to receive Russian. In 1745 they hurried to marry him. The issue of the bride was discussed at court for a very long time, because marriage was given political significance and they were afraid to make a mistake. Finally, Elizabeth settled on the person pointed out, in contrast to Bestuzhev, by the French-Prussian party, which Friedrich of Prussia also pointed out - Princess Sophia-August-Frederike of Anhalt-Zerbst. Her father was only a general in the Prussian service, commandant of Stetin; mother, in caring for a rather poor household, managed to lose her sense of tact and good character, acquiring a tendency to acquisitions and gossip. The bride and her mother came to Russia, converted to Orthodoxy and was named Ekaterina Alekseevna; On August 25, 1745, the wedding of 17-year-old Peter and 16-year-old Catherine took place. But everyone noticed that the groom was cold to the bride and directly quarreled with the future mother-in-law. However, Catherine's mother showed her quarrelsome character in relation to everyone and therefore was sent from Russia in the same 1745. The young couple remained, as it were, alone in the large Elizabethan palace, being cut off from the German environment, from the atmosphere of their childhood. Both husband and wife had to determine their own personality and their relationships at court.

Grand Duke Pyotr Fedorovich (future Peter III) and Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna (future Catherine II)

Pyotr Fedorovich was a weakly gifted man both physically and mentally, he lost his mother and father early and remained in the hands of Marshal Brummer, who was more a soldier than an educated person, more a groom than a teacher. Peter's childhood passed in such a way that nothing good could remember him. His upbringing was neglected, as was his education. Brummer established such an order of life for his pupil, which could not but upset his health, which was already weak: for example, during long studies, the boy did not exercise and did not eat until two in the afternoon. And at lunchtime, the sovereign duke often only looked from the corner as his servants ate dinner, which he himself was denied by teachers. Poorly feeding the boy, he was not allowed to develop, which is why he became lethargic and weak. moral education was neglected: kneeling on peas, decorating with donkey ears, hitting with a whip and even beating with anything were the usual means of pedagogical persuasion. A series of moral humiliations in front of the courtiers, Brummer's rude shouts and his impudent antics, of course, could not develop in the prince either sound moral concepts or a sense of human dignity. Mental education was also bad. Peter studied many languages, many subjects, but they taught him through force, not in accordance with his weak abilities, and he learned little and received an aversion to teaching. Latin, which at that time was obligatory for everyone educated person, he was tired to the point that he forbade placing Latin books in his library in St. Petersburg. When he came to Russia and Elizabeth met him, she was surprised at the paucity of his knowledge. They began to teach him again, already in the Orthodox Russian way. But science was hindered by Peter's illness (in 1743-1745 he was seriously ill three times), and then his marriage. Having learned the Orthodox catechism hastily, Peter remained with the views of a German Protestant. Getting acquainted with Russia from the lessons of Academician Shtelin, Peter was not interested in her, he missed his lessons and remained a very ignorant and undeveloped person with German views and habits. He did not like Russia and thought superstitiously that he would be unhappy in Russia. He was only interested in "entertainment": he loved to dance, play pranks like a child and play soldiers. He was interested in the military the highest degree, but he did not study him, but amused himself with him and, like a German, was in awe of King Frederick, whom he wanted to imitate always and in everything and never knew how to do anything.

Marriage did not bring him to reason and could not bring him to reason because he did not feel his oddities and had a very good opinion of himself. He looked down on his wife, who was immeasurably taller than him. Since they stopped teaching him, he considered himself an adult and, of course, did not want to learn from his wife either her tact, or her restraint, or, finally, her efficiency. He didn’t want to know the cases, on the contrary, he expanded the repertoire of fun and strange antics: either for whole hours he slapped the rooms with a coachman’s whip, then he unsuccessfully practiced the violin, then he gathered palace lackeys and played soldiers with them, then he reviewed toy soldiers, arranged toy fortresses, bred guards and did toy military exercises; and once, in the eighth year of his marriage, he judged according to military laws and hanged a rat that ate his starched soldier. All this was done with serious interest, and it was clear from everything that these games of toy soldiers interested him extremely. He woke his wife at night so that she ate oysters with him or stood on the clock at his office. To her, he described in detail the beauty of the woman who had fascinated him and demanded attention to such an insulting conversation for her. Being tactless towards Catherine and insulting her, he had no tact in relation to strangers and allowed himself various vulgarities: for example, in church during a service, behind his aunt, he mimicked the priests, and when the ladies-in-waiting looked at him, he showed them his tongue , but in such a way that the aunt would not see it: he was still very afraid of his aunt. Sitting at the table, he mocked the servants, poured water on her dresses, pushed dishes on the neighbors and tried to get drunk as soon as possible. So behaved the heir to the throne, an adult and the father of the family (in 1754 his son Pavel was born). "Peter showed all the signs of a stopped spiritual development," says S. M. Solovyov, "he was an adult child." Empress Elizabeth understood the qualities of Peter and often cried, worrying about the future, but she did not dare to change the order of succession to the throne, because Peter III was a direct descendant of Peter the Great.

However, they did not lose hope to win over and accustom Peter to business. Shtelin continued to acquaint him with state affairs theoretically, and in 1756 Peter was appointed a member of the Conference, established, as we have seen, for especially important matters. At the same time, as Duke of Holstein, Peter every week "on Monday and Friday, with his Holstein ministers, the council held and managed the affairs of his duchy." All these concerns had some result. Peter became interested in affairs, but not in Russia, but in Holstein. It is unlikely that he knew them well, but he learned Holstein's views, wanting to win the Holstein lands from Denmark and was very busy with the Holstein soldiers and officers, whom he was allowed to bring to Russia from 1755. He lived with them in the summer in the camps at Oranienbaum, adopted their soldierly manners and foppishness, learned from them to smoke, drink like a soldier, and dream of Holstein conquests.

Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Portrait by V. Eriksen

Over time, Peter's attitude to Russia and Russian affairs was also determined. He told his wife that "he was not born for Russia, that he was unsuitable for the Russians and the Russians were unsuitable for him, and he was convinced that he would perish in Russia." When the Swedish throne was vacated and Peter could not take it, although he had the right, he spoke out loud with malice: “They dragged me into this accursed Russia, where I must consider myself a state prisoner, would sit on the throne of a civilized people." When Peter was present at the Conference, he submitted his opinions and in them revealed a complete ignorance of the political situation in Russia; he talked about Russian interests from the point of view of his love for the Prussian king. Thus, ignorance of Russia, contempt for her, the desire to leave her, Holstein sympathies and the absence of a mature personality distinguished the future Russian emperor. Chancellor Bestuzhev seriously thought about either completely removing Peter from power, or in some other way protecting the interests of Russia from his influence.

A completely different kind of person was Peter's wife, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna. Growing up in a modest family of an insignificant prince, a strict Protestant father, Catherine received some education, enhanced by her own powers of observation and receptivity. As a child, she traveled a lot in Germany, saw and heard a lot. Even then, with her liveliness and abilities, she attracted the attention of observant persons: in Braunschweig, one canon who was engaged in predictions remarked to her mother: "I see at least three crowns on your daughter's forehead." When Catherine and her mother were summoned to Russia, the purpose of the trip was no secret to her, and the lively girl managed to take her first steps at the Russian court with great tact. Her father wrote to her guide a series of rules of prudent restraint and modesty. Catherine added her own tact and remarkable practical flair to these rules and charmed Elizabeth, won the sympathy of the court, and then the people. No older than 15 years old, she behaved better and smarter than her supervisor mother. When the mother quarreled and gossiped, the daughter tried to acquire a common disposition. She diligently took up the Russian language and Orthodox dogma. Brilliant abilities allowed her to make great progress in a short time, and at the baptism ceremony she recited the creed so firmly that she surprised everyone. But news has survived that the change of religion for Catherine was not as easy and joyful as she showed the empress and the court. In pious embarrassment before this step, Catherine wept a lot and, they say, sought consolation from the Lutheran pastor. However, the lessons of the Orthodox teacher of the law did not stop there. "Ambition takes its toll," one diplomat remarked on this occasion. And Catherine herself admitted that she was ambitious.

Catherine II after her arrival in Russia. Portrait by L. Caravaca, 1745

Not loving either her husband or Elizabeth, Catherine nevertheless behaved very well towards them. She tried to correct and cover up all the antics of her husband and did not complain about him to anyone. She treated Elizabeth with respect and, as it were, sought her approval. In the court environment, she sought popularity, finding an affectionate word for everyone, trying to adapt to the mores of the court, trying to seem like a purely Russian pious woman. At a time when her husband remained a Holsteiner and despised the Russians, Catherine wished to stop being a German and, after the death of her parents, renounced all rights to her Anhalt-Zerbst. Her mind and practical prudence forced others to see in her great strength, to predict great court influence behind her. And indeed, over the years, Catherine occupied a prominent position at court; she was well known even among the masses of the people. For everyone, she became more visible and prettier than her husband.

But Catherine's personal life was unenviable. Placed far from work and left for whole days by her husband, Catherine did not know what to do, because she had no company at all: she could not get close to the ladies of the court, because "she dared to see only maids in front of her," in her own words; she could not get close to the circle of court men because it was inconvenient. It remained to read, and Catherine's "reading" continued for the first eight years of her married life. At first she read novels: a casual conversation with the Swedish Count Gyllenborg, whom she knew back in Germany, directed her attention to serious books. She re-read many historical works, travels, classics, and, finally, remarkable writers of French philosophy and journalistic literature of the 18th century. During these years, she received that mass of information that surprised her contemporaries, that philosophical liberal way of thinking that she brought with her to the throne. She considered herself a student of Voltaire, worshiped Montesquieu, studied the Encyclopedia and, thanks to the constant tension of thought, became an exceptional person in the Russian society of her time. The degree of her theoretical development and education reminds us of the power of practical development of Peter the Great. And they were both self-taught.

In the second half of Elizabeth's reign, Grand Duchess Catherine was already a well-established and very prominent person at court. She has received a lot of attention from diplomats because, as they find, "no one has so much firmness and determination" - qualities that give her many opportunities in the future. Catherine is more independent, clearly at odds with her husband, incurring the displeasure of Elizabeth. But the most prominent "seizure" people of Elizabeth, Bestuzhev, Shuvalov, Razumovsky, now do not ignore the Grand Duchess, but, on the contrary, try to establish good, but cautious relations with her. Catherine herself enters into relations with diplomats and Russian statesmen, monitors the course of affairs and even wants to influence them. The reason for this was the morbidity of Elizabeth: one could expect an imminent change on the throne. Everyone understood that Peter could not be a normal ruler and that his wife should play a big role with him. Elizabeth also understood this: fearing from Catherine any step in her favor against Peter, she began to treat her badly and even directly hostile; over time, Peter himself treats his wife in the same way. Surrounded by suspicion and enmity and driven by ambition, Catherine understood the danger of her position and the possibility of tremendous political success. Others also told her about this possibility: one of the envoys (Prussian) vouched for her that she would be empress; The Shuvalovs and Razumovskys considered Catherine a contender for the throne; Bestuzhev, together with her, made plans to change the succession to the throne. Catherine herself had to prepare to act both for her personal protection and to achieve power after the death of Elizabeth. She knew that her husband was attached to another woman (Eliz. Rom. Vorontsova) and wanted to replace her with her wife, in whom she saw a person dangerous to herself. And so, so that the death of Elizabeth does not take her by surprise, does not give her defenseless into the hands of Peter, Catherine seeks to make political friends for herself, to form her own party. She secretly interferes in political and court affairs, and is in correspondence with many prominent persons. The case of Bestuzhev and Apraksin (1757-1758) showed Elizabeth how great the importance of Grand Duchess Catherine was at court. Bestuzhev was accused of excessive respect for Catherine. Apraksin was constantly influenced by her letters. The fall of Bestuzhev was due to his closeness to Catherine, and Catherine herself suffered at that moment the disgrace of the empress. She was afraid that she would be expelled from Russia, and with remarkable dexterity she achieved reconciliation with Elizabeth. She began to ask Elizabeth for an audience in order to clarify her case. And Catherine was given this audience at night. During Catherine's conversation with Elizabeth, Catherine's husband Peter and Ivan Iv were secretly behind the screens in the same room. Shuvalov, and Ekaterina guessed it. The conversation was crucial to her. Under Elizabeth, Catherine began to assert that she was not to blame for anything, and in order to prove that she did not want anything, she asked the empress to let her go to Germany. She asked for it, being sure that they would do just the opposite. The result of the audience was that Catherine remained in Russia, although she was surrounded by surveillance. Now she had to play the game without allies and assistants, but she continued to play it with even more energy. If Elizabeth had not died so unexpectedly soon, then, probably, Peter III would not have had to take the throne, because the conspiracy already existed and a very strong party was already behind Catherine. Catherine could not reconcile with her husband, she could not bear him; he saw in her an evil, too independent and hostile woman. “We need to crush the snake,” said the Holsteiners surrounding Peter, conveying with this expression his thoughts about his wife. During Catherine's illness, he even directly dreamed of her death.

So, in the last years of Elizabeth, the complete incapacity of her heir and the great importance and intelligence of his wife were revealed. The question of the fate of the throne greatly occupied Elizabeth; According to Catherine, the empress "looked with trepidation at the hour of death and at what could happen after it." But she did not dare to dismiss her nephew directly. The court environment also understood that Peter could not be the ruler of the state. Many thought about how to eliminate Peter, and came up with various combinations. It was possible to eliminate it by transferring the rights to the minor Pavel Petrovich, and his mother Ekaterina would have received a big role. It would be possible to put Catherine directly in power. Without it, the issue could not be resolved in any case (then no one thought about the former emperor John). Therefore, Catherine, in addition to her personal qualities and aspirations, gained great importance and was the center of political combinations and the banner of the movement against Peter. We can say that even before the death of Elizabeth, Catherine became a rival to her husband, and a dispute began between them about the Russian crown.