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

This fact greatly excited the writer, 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 some sense quite close to the leader.

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

What is noteworthy is that Stalin was not at all surprised by such an unusual incident. Moreover, after familiarizing himself with the documents, he asked Tolstoy to hide this fact, so as not to give him the opportunity to become public, arguing his desire quite simply: “Let’s leave them at least one “Russian” whom they can be proud of!”

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

The 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 then, according to the snowball principle, it was spread like a virus throughout to all the minds of the intelligentsia of that time.

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

The letter talks about a certain prophecy that 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 happening in Muscovy. a “KING OF KINGS” must be born who will make it a great empire. He was supposed to be born from the visiting Orthodox Tsar of Iveron from the same tribe of David as the Mother of God. And the daughter of Kirill Naryshkin, pure in heart. If you disobey this command, there will be a great pestilence. The will of God is the will.”

The prophecy clearly hinted at the urgent need for such an event, but another problem could actually contribute to 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 kingdom of Moscow 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 an adventurer.

Context

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La Nacion Argentina 01/26/2016 Alexey Mikhailovich was a weak and frail person; he was surrounded by mostly church people, to whose opinions he listened. One of these was Artamon Sergeevich Matveev, who, being not a simple person, knew how to put the necessary pressure on the tsar in order to induce him to do things that the tsar was not ready for. In fact, Matveev guided the tsar with his tips, being a sort of prototype of “Rasputin” at court.

Matveev’s plan was simple: it was necessary to help the tsar get rid of kinship with the Miloslavskys and place “his” heir on the throne...

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

After which it was Matveev who betrothed Alexei Mikhailovich to 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 bore the name Kirill, which was quite convenient for the local nobility to pronounce.

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 were unlikely, in Matveev’s opinion, to pose a threat.

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

Who is Peter's father?

There are actually two theories; Peter’s fathers include two great Georgian princes from the Bagration family, 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 the king of Kartli Vakhtang V. One of founders of the Georgian colony in Moscow.

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

And in fact, after conducting a little investigation, I am forced to believe that Irakli could have become the father, because it was Irakli who was in Moscow at the time suitable for the king’s conception, and Archil moved to Moscow only in 1681.

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

It is fair to note that Tysyatsky’s duties also included becoming the godfather of the wedding couple. But as fate would have it, the Georgian prince helped the Tsar of Moscow not only with the choice of a name for his first-born, but also with his conception.

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 convert to Islam.

Version two, dubious

According to the second version, the father of the future autocrat in 1671 was the Imeretian king Archil II, who had been staying at 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 extremely necessary. a godly deed, namely, the conception of “the one they were waiting for.”

Perhaps it was the dream of the practically holy man Matveev that forced the most noble Orthodox Tsar to enter the young princess.

The relationship between Peter and Archil can be evidenced by 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.

And Archil’s other children: Matvey, David and sister Daria (Dardgen) received such preferences from Peter as lands in Russia, and were treated kindly by him in every possible way. In particular, it is a known fact that Peter went to celebrate his victory in the village of Vsekhsvyatskoye, the area of ​​​​present-day Sokol, to visit his sister Daria!

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

Although “our naughty boy” can be said about both Tsarevich Nicholas and 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 this same version can also be used as evidence of the first, since the Georgian princes were directly related.

Everyone knew and everyone was silent

It seems that everyone knew about the king’s relatives at that time. So Princess Sophia wrote to Prince Golitsyn: “You cannot give power to an infidel!”

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 wooed for him, declared publicly: “I will not marry people of the same name!”

Visual similarity, no other evidence needed

This is a must see. Remember from history: not a single Moscow king 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’s strange is that he wore size 38 shoes, and his clothing size was 48! But, nevertheless, it was precisely these features that he inherited from his Georgian relatives, since this description accurately suited the Bagration family. 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 unimaginable cruelty of the Moscow kings, but this feature could have been inherited from his mother’s side, since their entire family was more Tatar than Slavic, and it was precisely this feature that gave him the opportunity to turn a fragment of the horde into a European state.

Conclusion

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

Perhaps it was not his Horde origin that made him a reformer and actually an emperor, who turned the district 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 talk about this in the next story.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively from foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

Peter I The Great (Peter I) Russian Tsar from 1682 (reigned from 1689), the first Russian Emperor (from 1721), the youngest son of Alexei Mikhailovich from his second marriage to Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina.

Peter I was born June 9 (May 30, old style) 1672, in Moscow. On March 22, 1677, at the age of 5, he began to study.

According to old Russian custom, Peter began to be taught at the age of five. The Tsar and the Patriarch came to the opening of the course, served a prayer service with the blessing of water, sprinkled holy water on the new spude and, after blessing him, sat him down to learn the alphabet. Nikita Zotov bowed to his student and began his course of study, and immediately received a fee: the patriarch gave him one hundred rubles (more than a thousand rubles in our money), the sovereign granted him a court, promoted him to the nobility, and the queen mother sent two pairs of rich outer and underdresses and “the whole outfit,” into which Zotov immediately dressed up after the departure of the sovereign and patriarch. Krekshin also noted the day when Peter's education began - March 12, 1677, when, therefore, Peter was not even five years old.

He who is cruel is not a hero.

The prince studied willingly and smartly. In his spare time, he loved to listen to different stories and look at books with “kunsts” and pictures. Zotov told the queen about this, and she ordered him to give him “historical books”, manuscripts with drawings from the palace library, and ordered several new illustrations from the masters of painting in the Armory Chamber.

Noticing when Peter began to get tired of reading books, Zotov took the book from his hands and showed him these pictures, accompanying the review with explanations.

Peter I carried out public administration reforms (created Senate, collegiums, bodies of higher state control and political investigation; the church is subordinate to the state; The country was divided into provinces, a new capital was built - St. Petersburg).

Money is the artery of war.

Peter I used the experience of Western European countries in the development of industry, trade, and culture. He pursued a policy of mercantilism (the creation of manufactories, metallurgical, mining and other factories, shipyards, piers, canals). He supervised the construction of the fleet and the creation of a regular army.

Peter I led the army in the Azov campaigns of 1695-1696, the Northern War of 1700-1721, the Prut campaign of 1711, the Persian campaign of 1722-1723; commanded troops during the capture of Noteburg (1702), in the battles of the village of Lesnoy (1708) and near Poltava (1709). Contributed to strengthening the economic and political position of the nobility.

On the initiative of Peter I, many educational institutions, the Academy of Sciences, were opened, and the civil alphabet was adopted. The reforms of Peter I were carried out by cruel means, through extreme strain of material and human forces (poll tax), which entailed uprisings (Streletskoye 1698, Astrakhan 1705-1706, Bulavinskoye 1707-1709), which were mercilessly suppressed by the government. Being the creator of a powerful absolutist state, he achieved recognition of Russia as a great power.

Childhood, youth, education of Peter I

For confession there is forgiveness, for concealment there is no pardon. It is better to have an open sin than a hidden one.

Having lost his father in 1676, Peter was raised until the age of ten under the supervision of the Tsar’s elder brother Fyodor Alekseevich, who chose clerk Nikita Zotov as his teacher, who taught the boy to read and write. When Fedor died in 1682, the throne was to be inherited by Ivan Alekseevich, but since he was in poor health, the Naryshkin supporters proclaimed Peter Tsar. However, the Miloslavskys, relatives of Alexei Mikhailovich’s first wife, did not accept this and provoked a Streltsy riot, during which ten-year-old Peter witnessed a brutal massacre of people close to him. These events left an indelible mark on the boy’s memory, affecting both his mental health and his worldview.

The result of the rebellion was a political compromise: Ivan and Peter were placed on the throne together, and their elder sister, Princess Sofya Alekseevna, was named ruler. From that time on, Peter and his mother lived mainly in the villages of Preobrazhenskoye and Izmailovo, appearing in the Kremlin only to participate in official ceremonies, and their relationship with Sophia became increasingly hostile. The future tsar received neither secular nor church systematic education. He was left to his own devices and, active and energetic, spent a lot of time playing with his peers. Later, he was allowed to create his own “amusing” regiments, with which he played out battles and maneuvers and which later became the basis of the Russian regular army.

In Izmailovo, Peter discovered an old English boat, which, on his orders, was repaired and tested on the Yauza River. Soon he ended up in the German settlement, where he first became acquainted with European life, experienced his first passions and made friends among European merchants. Gradually, a group of friends formed around Peter, with whom he spent all his free time. In August 1689, when he heard rumors that Sophia was preparing a new Streltsy rebellion, he fled to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, where loyal regiments and part of the court arrived from Moscow. Sophia, feeling that strength was on her brother’s side, made an attempt at reconciliation, but it was too late: she was removed from power and imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent. Sophia was supported by her favorite, Fyodor Leontievich Shaklovity, who was executed under torture when Peter came to power.

Beginning of independent rule

To be afraid of misfortune is to see no happiness.

In the second half of the 17th century. Russia was experiencing a deep crisis associated with its socio-economic lag behind the advanced countries of Europe. Peter, with his energy, inquisitiveness, and interest in everything new, turned out to be a person capable of solving the problems facing the country. But at first he entrusted the management of the country to his mother and uncle, L.K. Naryshkin. The Tsar still visited Moscow little, although in 1689, at the insistence of his mother, he married E. F. Lopukhina.

Peter was attracted by sea fun, and he went for a long time to Pereslavl-Zalessky and Arkhangelsk, where he participated in the construction and testing of ships. Only in 1695 did he decide to undertake a real military campaign against the Turkish fortress of Azov. The first Azov campaign ended in failure, after which a fleet was hastily built in Voronezh, and during the second campaign (1696) Azov was taken. Taganrog was founded at the same time. This was the first victory of young Peter, which significantly strengthened his authority.

Soon after returning to the capital, the tsar went abroad (1697) with the Great Embassy. Peter visited Holland, England, Saxony, Austria and Venice, studied shipbuilding while working in shipyards, and became acquainted with the technical achievements of Europe at that time, its way of life, and its political structure. During his trip abroad, the basis for the alliance of Russia, Poland and Denmark against Sweden was laid. The news of a new Streltsy revolt forced Peter to return to Russia (1698), where he dealt with the rebels with extraordinary cruelty (Streltsy uprising of 1698).

The first transformations of Peter I

Peace is good, but at the same time you shouldn’t sleep, so as not to tie your hands, and so that the soldiers don’t become women.

Abroad, Peter's political program basically took shape. Its ultimate goal was the creation of a regular police state based on universal service; the state was understood as the “common good.” The tsar himself considered himself the first servant of the fatherland, who was supposed to teach his subjects by his own example. Peter's unconventional behavior, on the one hand, destroyed the centuries-old image of the sovereign as a sacred figure, and on the other hand, it aroused protest among part of society (primarily the Old Believers, whom Peter cruelly persecuted), who saw the Antichrist in the tsar.

The reforms of Peter I began with the introduction of foreign dress and the order to shave the beards of everyone except peasants and the clergy. So, initially, Russian society turned out to be divided into two unequal parts: one (the nobility and the elite of the urban population) was intended for the Europeanized culture imposed from above, the other preserved the traditional way of life.

In 1699, a calendar reform was also carried out. A printing house was created in Amsterdam to publish secular books in Russian, and the first Russian order was founded - St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle. The country was in dire need of its own qualified personnel, and the king ordered young men from noble families to be sent abroad to study. In 1701, the Navigation School was opened in Moscow. The reform of city government also began. After the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, a new patriarch was not elected, and Peter created the Monastic Order to manage the church economy. Later, instead of the patriarch, a synodal government of the church was created, which remained until 1917. Simultaneously with the first transformations, preparations for war with Sweden were intensively underway, for which a peace treaty with Turkey was previously signed.

Peter I also introduced the celebration of the New Year in Rus'.

Lessons from the Northern War

The war, the main goal of which was to consolidate Russia in the Baltic, began with the defeat of the Russian army near Narva in 1700. However, this lesson served Peter well: he realized that the reason for the defeat was primarily the backwardness of the Russian army, and with even greater energy he set about rearming it and the creation of regular regiments, first by collecting “dacha people”, and from 1705 by introducing conscription (in 1701, after the defeat of the Russian army near Narva, economist and publicist Ivan Tikhonovich Pososhkov compiled a note for Peter I “On military behavior”, proposing measures to create a combat-ready army.). The construction of metallurgical and weapons factories began, supplying the army with high-quality cannons and small arms. The campaign of Swedish troops led by King Charles XII to Poland allowed the Russian army to win its first victories over the enemy, capture and devastate a significant part of the Baltic states. In 1703, at the mouth of the Neva, Peter founded St. Petersburg, the new capital of Russia, which, according to the Tsar’s plan, was to become an exemplary “paradise” city. During these same years, the Boyar Duma was replaced by a Council of Ministers consisting of members of the Tsar’s inner circle; along with Moscow orders, new institutions were created in St. Petersburg. In 1708 the country was divided into provinces. In 1709, after the Battle of Poltava, a turning point in the war came and the tsar was able to pay more attention to internal political affairs.

Governance reform of Peter I

In 1711, setting off on the Prut campaign, Peter I founded the Governing Senate, which had the functions of the main body of the executive, judicial and legislative powers. In 1717, the creation of collegiums began - central bodies of sectoral management, founded in a fundamentally different way than the old Moscow orders. New authorities - executive, financial, judicial and control - were also created locally. In 1720, the General Regulations were published - detailed instructions for organizing the work of new institutions. In 1722, Peter signed the Table of Ranks, which determined the order of organization of military and civil service and was in effect until 1917. Even earlier, in 1714, a Decree on Single Inheritance was issued, which equalized the rights of owners of estates and estates. This was important for the formation of the Russian nobility as a single full-fledged class. But the tax reform, which began in 1718, was of paramount importance for the social sphere. In Russia, a poll tax was introduced for males, for which regular population censuses (“audits of souls”) were carried out. During the reform, the social category of serfs was eliminated and the social status of some other categories of the population was clarified. In 1721, after the end of the Northern War, Russia was proclaimed an empire, and the Senate awarded Peter the titles “Great” and “Father of the Fatherland.”

When the sovereign obeys the law, then no one will dare to resist it.

Transformations in the economy

Peter I clearly understood the need to overcome the technical backwardness of Russia and in every possible way contributed to the development of Russian industry and trade, including foreign trade. Many merchants and industrialists enjoyed his patronage, among whom the Demidovs were the most famous. Many new plants and factories were built, and new industries emerged. However, its development in wartime conditions led to the priority development of heavy industry, which after the end of the war could no longer exist without state support. In fact, the enslaved position of the urban population, high taxes, the forced closure of the Arkhangelsk port and some other government measures were not conducive to the development of foreign trade. In general, the grueling war that lasted for 21 years, requiring large capital investments, received mainly through emergency taxes, led to the actual impoverishment of the country's population, mass escapes of peasants, and the ruin of merchants and industrialists.

Transformations of Peter I in the field of culture

The time of Peter I is a time of active penetration of elements of secular Europeanized culture into Russian life. Secular educational institutions began to appear, and the first Russian newspaper was founded. Peter made success in service for the nobles dependent on education. By a special decree of the tsar, assemblies were introduced, representing a new form of communication between people for Russia. Of particular importance was the construction of stone Petersburg, in which foreign architects took part and which was carried out according to the plan developed by the tsar. They created a new urban environment with previously unfamiliar forms of life and pastime. The interior decoration of houses, the way of life, the composition of food, etc. changed. Gradually, a different system of values, worldview, and aesthetic ideas took shape in the educated environment. The Academy of Sciences was founded in 1724 (opened in 1725).

Personal life of the king

Upon returning from the Grand Embassy, ​​Peter I finally broke up with his unloved first wife. Subsequently, he became friends with the captured Latvian Marta Skavronskaya (future Empress Catherine I), with whom he married in 1712.

There is a desire, there are a thousand ways; no desire - a thousand reasons!

On March 1, 1712, Peter I married Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya, who converted to Orthodoxy and from that time was called Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Marta Skavronskaya's mother was a peasant and died early. Pastor Gluck took Martha Skavronskaya (that was her name then) into her upbringing. At first, Martha was married to a dragoon, but she did not become his wife, since the groom was urgently summoned to Riga. When the Russians arrived in Marienburg, she was taken as a prisoner. According to some sources, Marta was the daughter of a Livonian nobleman. According to others, she was a native of Sweden. The first statement is more reliable. When she was captured, B.P. took her in. Sheremetev, and A.D. took it from him or begged it. Menshikov, the latter - Peter I. Since 1703, she became a favorite. Three years before their church marriage, in 1709, Peter I and Catherine had a daughter, Elizabeth. Martha took the name Ekaterina after converting to Orthodoxy, although she was called by the same name (Katerina Trubacheva) when she was with A.D. Menshikov".

Marta Skavronskaya gave birth to several children to Peter I, of whom only daughters Anna and Elizaveta (the future Empress Elizaveta Petrovna) survived. Peter, apparently, was very attached to his second wife and in 1724 crowned her with the imperial crown, intending to bequeath the throne to her. However, shortly before his death, he learned about his wife’s infidelity with V. Mons. The relationship between the tsar and his son from his first marriage, Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, did not work out either, who died under unclear circumstances in the Peter and Paul Fortress in 1718 (for this purpose the tsar created the Secret Chancellery). Peter I himself died from a disease of the urinary organs without leaving a will. The emperor had a whole bunch of illnesses, but uremia bothered him more than other ailments.

Results of Peter's reforms

Forgetting service for the sake of a woman is unforgivable. To be a prisoner of a mistress is worse than a prisoner of war; The enemy can have freedom more quickly, but the woman’s fetters are long-lasting.

The most important result of Peter's reforms was to overcome the crisis of traditionalism by modernizing the country. Russia became a full participant in international relations, pursuing an active foreign policy. Russia's authority in the world grew significantly, and Peter I himself became for many an example of a reformer sovereign. Under Peter, the foundations of Russian national culture were laid. The Tsar also created a system of governance and administrative-territorial division of the country, which remained in place for a long time. At the same time, the main instrument of reform was violence. Petrine reforms not only did not rid the country of the previously established system of social relations embodied in serfdom, but, on the contrary, preserved and strengthened its institutions. This was the main contradiction of Peter’s reforms, the prerequisites for a future new crisis.

PETER I THE GREAT (article by P. N. Milyukov from the “Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron”, 1890 - 1907)

Peter I Alekseevich the Great- the first All-Russian Emperor, born on May 30, 1672, from the second marriage of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, a pupil of the boyar A.S. Matveev.

Contrary to the legendary stories of Krekshin, the education of young Peter proceeded rather slowly. Tradition forces a three-year-old child to report to his father, with the rank of colonel; in fact, he was not yet weaned at two and a half years old. We do not know when N. M. Zotov began teaching him to read and write, but it is known that in 1683 Peter had not yet finished learning the alphabet.

Don’t trust three: don’t trust a woman, don’t trust a Turk, don’t trust a non-drinker.

Until the end of his life, Peter continued to ignore grammar and spelling. As a child, he becomes acquainted with the “exercises of the soldier’s formation” and adopts the art of beating the drum; This is what limits his military knowledge to military exercises in the village. Vorobyov (1683). This fall, Peter is still playing wooden horses. All this did not go beyond the pattern of the then usual “fun” of the royal family. Deviations begin only when political circumstances throw Peter off track. With the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, the silent struggle of the Miloslavskys and Naryshkins turns into an open clash. On April 27, the crowd gathered in front of the red porch of the Kremlin Palace shouted Peter as Tsar, beating his elder brother John; On May 15, on the same porch, Peter stood in front of another crowd, which threw Matveev and Dolgoruky onto the Streltsy spears. The legend depicts Peter as calm on this day of rebellion; it is more likely that the impression was strong and that this is where Peter’s well-known nervousness and hatred of the archers originated. A week after the start of the rebellion (May 23), the victors demanded from the government that both brothers be appointed kings; another week later (on the 29th), at the new request of the archers, due to the youth of the kings, the reign was handed over to Princess Sophia.

Peter's party was excluded from all participation in state affairs; Throughout Sophia’s regency, Natalya Kirillovna came to Moscow only for a few winter months, spending the rest of her time in the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow. A significant number of noble families were grouped around the young court, not daring to throw in their lot with the provisional government of Sophia. Left to his own devices, Peter learned to endure any kind of constraint, to deny himself the fulfillment of any desire. Tsarina Natalya, a woman of “small intelligence,” according to the expression of her relative Prince. Kurakina, apparently cared exclusively about the physical side of raising her son.

From the very beginning we see Peter surrounded by “young guys, common people” and “young people of the first houses”; the former eventually gained the upper hand, and the “noble persons” were kept away. It is very likely that both simple and noble friends of Peter’s childhood games equally deserved the nickname “mischievous” given to them by Sophia. In 1683-1685, two regiments were organized from friends and volunteers, settled in the villages of Preobrazhenskoye and neighboring Semenovskoye. Little by little, Peter developed an interest in the technical side of military affairs, which forced him to look for new teachers and new knowledge. “For mathematics, fortification, turning and artifical lights” is under Peter a foreign teacher, Franz Timmermann. Peter's textbooks that have survived (from 1688?) testify to his persistent efforts to master the applied side of arithmetic, astronomical and artillery wisdom; the same notebooks show that the foundations of all this wisdom remained a mystery to Peter 1. But turning and pyrotechnics have always been Peter’s favorite pastimes.

The only major, and unsuccessful, intervention of the mother in the personal life of the young man was his marriage to E.F. Lopukhina, on January 27, 1689, before Peter turned 17 years old. This was, however, more a political than a pedagogical measure. Sophia also married Tsar John immediately upon reaching the age of 17; but he only had daughters. The very choice of a bride for Peter was the product of a party struggle: noble adherents of his mother offered a bride from the princely family, but the Naryshkins, with Tikh, won. Streshnev was at the head, and the daughter of a small nobleman was chosen. Following her, numerous relatives came to the court (“more than 30 people,” says Kurakin). Such a mass of new job seekers, who, moreover, did not know the “courtyard treatment,” caused general irritation against the Lopukhins at court; Queen Natalya soon “hated her daughter-in-law and wanted to see her with her husband in disagreement rather than in love” (Kurakin). This, as well as the dissimilarity of characters, explains that Peter’s “considerable love” for his wife “lasted only a year,” and then Peter began to prefer family life - camping, in the regimental hut of the Preobrazhensky Regiment.

A new occupation, shipbuilding, distracted him even further; From Yauza, Peter moved with his ships to Lake Pereyaslavl, and had fun there even in winter. Peter's participation in state affairs was limited, during Sophia's regency, to his presence at ceremonies. As Peter grew up and expanded his military amusements, Sophia began to become more and more worried about her power and began to take measures to preserve it. On the night of August 8, 1689, Peter was awakened in Preobrazhenskoe by archers who brought news of a real or imaginary danger from the Kremlin. Peter fled to Trinity; his followers ordered the convening of a noble militia, demanded commanders and deputies from the Moscow troops and inflicted short reprisals on Sophia’s main supporters. Sophia was settled in a monastery, John ruled only nominally; in fact, power passed to Peter's party. At first, however, “the royal majesty left his reign to his mother, and he himself spent his time in the amusements of military exercises.”

In honor of the New Year, make decorations from fir trees, amuse children, and ride down the mountains on sleds. But adults should not commit drunkenness and massacres - there are enough other days for that.

The reign of Queen Natalya seemed to contemporaries as an era of reaction against Sophia's reform aspirations. Peter took advantage of the change in his position only to expand his amusements to grandiose proportions. Thus, the maneuvers of the new regiments ended in 1694 with the Kozhukhov campaigns, in which “Tsar Fyodor Pleshbursky (Romodanovsky) defeated “Tsar Ivan Semenovsky” (Buturlin), leaving 24 real dead and 50 wounded on the amusing battlefield. The expansion of sea fun prompted Peter to travel to the White Sea twice, and he was exposed to serious danger during his trip to the Solovetsky Islands. Over the years, the center of Peter's wild life becomes the house of his new favorite, Lefort, in the German settlement. “Then debauchery began, drunkenness was so great that it is impossible to describe that for three days, locked in that house, they were drunk and that many people died as a result” (Kurakin).

In Lefort’s house, Peter “began to make friends with foreign ladies, and Cupid began to be the first to be with one merchant’s daughter.” “From practice”, at Lefort’s balls, Peter “learned to dance in Polish”; the son of the Danish commissioner Butenant taught him fencing and horse riding, the Dutchman Vinius taught him the practice of the Dutch language; During a trip to Arkhangelsk, Peter changed into a Dutch sailor suit. In parallel with this assimilation of European appearance, there was a rapid destruction of the old court etiquette; ceremonial entrances to the cathedral church, public audiences and other “courtyard ceremonies” fell out of use. “Curses against noble persons” from the tsar’s favorites and court jesters, as well as the establishment of the “all-joking and all-drunk cathedral,” originate in the same era. In 1694, Peter's mother died. Although now Peter “he himself was forced to take over the administration, he did not want to bear the trouble and left the administration of his entire state to his ministers” (Kurakin). It was difficult for him to give up the freedom to which years of involuntary retirement had taught him; and subsequently he did not like to bind himself to official duties, entrusting them to other persons (for example, “Prince Caesar Romodanovsky, before whom Peter plays the role of a loyal subject), while he himself remained in the background. The government machine in the first years of Peter's own reign continues to move at its own pace; he interferes in this move only if and to the extent that it turns out to be necessary for his naval amusements.

Very soon, however, Peter’s “infantile play” with soldiers and ships leads to serious difficulties, to eliminate which it turns out to be necessary to significantly disturb the old state order. “We were joking near Kozhukhov, and now we are going to play near Azov” - this is what Peter reported to F.M. Apraksin at the beginning of 1695 about the Azov campaign. Already in the previous year, having become familiar with the inconveniences of the White Sea, Peter began to think about transferring his maritime activities to some other sea. He fluctuated between the Baltic and the Caspian; the course of Russian diplomacy prompted him to prefer war with Turkey and Crimea, and the secret goal of the campaign was Azov - the first step towards access to the Black Sea.

The humorous tone soon disappears; Peter's letters become more laconic as the unpreparedness of the troops and generals for serious actions is revealed. The failure of the first campaign forces Peter to make new efforts. The flotilla built in Voronezh, however, turns out to be of little use for military operations; the foreign engineers appointed by Peter are late; Azov surrenders in 1696 “by treaty, not by war.” Peter noisily celebrates the victory, but clearly feels the insignificance of success and the insufficient strength to continue the fight. He invites the boyars to grab “fortune by the hair” and find funds to build a fleet in order to continue the war with the “infidels” at sea.

The boyars entrusted the construction of ships to the “kumpanships” of secular and spiritual landowners who had at least 100 households; the rest of the population had to help with money. The ships built by the “companies” later turned out to be worthless, and this entire first fleet, which cost the population about 900 thousand rubles of that time, could not be used for any practical purposes. Simultaneously with the establishment of the “campanships” and in view of the same goal, i.e., war with Turkey, it was decided to equip an embassy abroad to consolidate the alliance against the “infidels.” “Bombardier” at the beginning of the Azov campaign and “captain” at the end, Peter now joins the embassy as “volunteer Peter Mikhailov”, with the aim of further studying shipbuilding.

I instruct the gentlemen senators to speak not according to what is written, but in your own words, so that the nonsense is visible to everyone.

On March 9, 1697, the embassy set out from Moscow, with the intention of visiting Vienna, the kings of England and Denmark, the pope, the Dutch states, the Elector of Brandenburg and Venice. Peter’s first impressions abroad were, as he put it, “not very pleasant”: the Riga commandant Dalberg took the tsar’s incognito too literally and did not allow him to inspect the fortifications: Peter later made a casus belli out of this incident. The magnificent meeting in Mitau and the friendly reception of the Elector of Brandenburg in Konigsberg improved matters. From Kolberg, Peter went forward, by sea, to Lubeck and Hamburg, trying to quickly reach his goal - a minor Dutch shipyard in Saardam, recommended to him by one of his Moscow acquaintances.

Here Peter stayed for 8 days, surprising the population of the small town with his extravagant behavior. The embassy arrived in Amsterdam in mid-August and remained there until mid-May 1698, although negotiations were completed already in November 1697. In January 1698, Peter went to England to expand his maritime knowledge and remained there for three and a half months, working mainly at the Deptford shipyard. The main goal of the embassy was not achieved, since the states resolutely refused to help Russia in the war with Turkey; for this, Peter used his time in Holland and England to acquire new knowledge, and the embassy was engaged in the purchase of weapons and all kinds of ship supplies; hiring sailors, artisans, etc.

Peter impressed European observers as an inquisitive savage, interested mainly in crafts, applied knowledge and all sorts of curiosities and not sufficiently developed to be interested in the essential features of European political and cultural life. He is portrayed as an extremely hot-tempered and nervous person, quickly changing his mood and plans and unable to control himself in moments of anger, especially under the influence of wine.

The embassy's return route lay through Vienna. Peter experienced a new diplomatic setback here, since Europe was preparing for the War of the Spanish Succession and was busy trying to reconcile Austria with Turkey, and not about a war between them. Constrained in his habits by the strict etiquette of the Viennese court, finding no new attractions for curiosity, Peter hurried to leave Vienna for Venice, where he hoped to study the structure of galleys.

Speak briefly, ask for little, go away!

The news of the Streltsy revolt called him to Russia; On the way, he only managed to see the Polish King Augustus (in the town of Rava), and here; Among the three days of continuous fun, the first idea flashed to replace the failed plan for an alliance against the Turks with another plan, the subject of which, instead of the Black Sea that had slipped from the hands, would be the Baltic. First of all, it was necessary to put an end to the archers and the old order in general. Straight from the road, without seeing his family, Peter drove to Anna Mons, then to his Preobrazhensky yard. The next morning, August 26, 1698, he personally began cutting the beards of the first dignitaries of the state. The archers had already been defeated by Shein at the Resurrection Monastery and the instigators of the riot were punished. Peter resumed the investigation into the riot, trying to find traces of the influence of Princess Sophia on the archers. Having found evidence of mutual sympathy rather than specific plans and actions, Peter nevertheless forced Sophia and her sister Martha to cut their hair. He took advantage of this same moment to forcibly cut the hair of his wife, who was not accused of any involvement in the rebellion.

The king's brother, John, died back in 1696; no ties with the old no longer restrain Peter, and he indulges with his new favorites, among whom Menshikov comes first, in some kind of continuous bacchanalia, the picture of which Korb paints. Feasts and drinking bouts give way to executions, in which the king himself sometimes plays the role of executioner; from the end of September to the end of October 1698, more than a thousand archers were executed. In February 1699, hundreds of archers were executed again. The Moscow Streltsy army ceased to exist.

The decree of December 20, 1699 on a new calendar formally drew a line between the old and new times. On November 11, 1699, a secret agreement was concluded between Peter and Augustus, by which Peter pledged to enter Ingria and Karelia immediately after the conclusion of peace with Turkey, no later than April 1700; Livonia and Estland, according to Patkul's plan, were left to Augustus for himself. Peace with Turkey was concluded only in August. Peter took advantage of this period of time to create a new army, since “after the dissolution of the Streltsy, this state did not have any infantry.” On November 17, 1699, a recruitment of new 27 regiments was announced, divided into 3 divisions, headed by the commanders of the Preobrazhensky, Lefortovo and Butyrsky regiments. The first two divisions (Golovin and Weide) were fully formed by mid-June 1700; together with some other troops, up to 40 thousand in total, they were moved to the Swedish borders, the next day after the promulgation of peace with Turkey (August 19). To the displeasure of the allies, Peter sent his troops to Narva, taking which he could threaten Livonia and Estland. Only towards the end of September did the troops gather at Narva; It was only at the end of October that fire was opened on the city. During this time, Charles XII managed to put an end to Denmark and, unexpectedly for Peter, landed in Estland.

On the night of November 17–18, the Russians learned that Charles XII was approaching Narva. Peter left the camp, leaving command to Prince de Croix, unfamiliar with the soldiers and unknown to them - and the eight-thousand-strong army of Charles XII, tired and hungry, defeated Peter’s forty-thousand-strong army without any difficulty. The hopes aroused in Petra by the trip to Europe give way to disappointment. Charles XII does not consider it necessary to pursue such a weak enemy further and turns against Poland. Peter himself characterizes his impression with the words: “then captivity drove away laziness and forced him to hard work and art day and night.” Indeed, from this moment Peter is transformed. The need for activity remains the same, but it finds a different, better application; All Peter’s thoughts are now directed towards defeating his opponent and gaining a foothold in the Baltic Sea.

In eight years, he recruits about 200,000 soldiers and, despite losses from the war and from military orders, increases the size of the army from 40 to 100 thousand. The cost of this army in 1709 cost him almost twice as much as in 1701: 1,810,000 r. instead of 982,000. For the first 6 years of the war, moreover, it was paid; subsidies to the Polish king are about one and a half million. If we add here the costs of the fleet, artillery, and the maintenance of diplomats, then the total expenditure caused by the war will be 2.3 million in 1701, 2.7 million in 1706 and 3.2 billion in 1710 Already the first of these figures was too large in comparison with the funds that were delivered to the state by the population before Peter (about 11/2 million).

A subordinate in front of his superiors should look dashing and stupid, so as not to embarrass his superiors with his understanding.

It was necessary to look for additional sources of income. At first, Peter cares little about this and simply takes for his own purposes from the old state institutions - not only their free remains, but even those amounts that were previously spent on another purpose; this disrupts the correct course of the state machine. And yet, large items of new expenses could not be covered by old funds, and Peter was forced to create a special state tax for each of them. The army was supported from the main income of the state - customs and tavern duties, the collection of which was transferred to a new central institution, the town hall. To maintain the new cavalry recruited in 1701, it was necessary to assign a new tax (“dragoon money”); exactly the same - for maintaining the fleet (“ship”). Then comes the tax on the maintenance of workers for the construction of St. Petersburg, “recruits”, “underwater”; and when all these taxes become familiar and merge into the total amount of permanent (“salary”), new emergency fees (“request”, “non-salary”) are added to them. And these direct taxes, however, soon turned out to be insufficient, especially since they were collected rather slowly and a significant part remained in arrears. Therefore, other sources of income were invented alongside them.

The earliest invention of this kind - stamp paper, introduced on the advice of Alexei Aleksandrovich Kurbatov - did not yield the profits expected from it. The damage to the coin was all the more important. Recoining a silver coin into a coin of lower denomination, but with the same nominal price, gave 946 thousand in the first 3 years (1701-03), 313 thousand in the next three; from here foreign subsidies were paid. However, soon all the metal was converted into a new coin, and its value in circulation fell by half; Thus, the benefit from deteriorating the coin was temporary and was accompanied by enormous harm, lowering the value of all treasury receipts (along with a decline in the value of the coin).

A new measure to increase government revenues was the re-signing, in 1704, of old quitrent articles and the transfer of new quitrents; all owner-owned fisheries, home baths, mills, and inns were subject to quitrent, and the total figure of government revenues under this article rose by 1708 from 300 to 670 thousand annually. Further, the treasury took control of the sale of salt, which brought it up to 300 thousand in annual income, tobacco (this enterprise was unsuccessful) and a number of other raw products, which brought in up to 100 thousand annually. All these private events satisfied the main goal - to somehow survive a difficult time.

During these years, Peter could not devote a single minute of attention to the systematic reform of state institutions, since the preparation of means of struggle took all his time and required his presence in all parts of the state. Peter began to come to the old capital only on Christmastide; here the usual riotous life was resumed, but at the same time the most urgent state affairs were discussed and decided. The Poltava victory gave Peter the opportunity to breathe freely for the first time after the Narva defeat. The need to understand the mass of individual orders of the first years of the war; became more and more urgent; both the means of payment of the population and the treasury resources were greatly depleted, and a further increase in military spending was expected ahead. From this situation, Peter found the outcome that was already familiar to him: if there were not enough funds for everything, they had to be used for the most important thing, that is, for military affairs. Following this rule, Peter had previously simplified the financial management of the country, transferring taxes from individual localities directly into the hands of the generals for their expenses, and bypassing the central institutions where the money should have been received according to the old order.

It was most convenient to apply this method in the newly conquered country - Ingria, which was given to the “government” of Menshikov. The same method was extended to Kyiv and Smolensk - to put them in a defensive position against the invasion of Charles XII, to Kazan - to pacify unrest, to Voronezh and Azov - to build a fleet. Peter only summarizes these partial orders when he orders (December 18, 1707) “to paint the cities in parts, except for those that in the 100th century. from Moscow - to Kyiv, Smolensk, Azov, Kazan, Arkhangelsk." After the Poltava victory, this vague idea about the new administrative and financial structure of Russia received further development. The assignment of cities to central points, in order to collect any fees from them, presupposed a preliminary clarification of who should pay what in each city. To inform payers, a widespread census was appointed; To make payments known, it was ordered to collect information from previous financial institutions. The results of these preliminary works revealed that the state was experiencing a serious crisis. The census of 1710 showed that, as a result of continuous recruitment and escape from taxes, the paying population of the state greatly decreased: instead of 791 thousand households listed before the census of 1678, the new census counted only 637 thousand; in the entire north of Russia, which bore the main part of the financial burden to Peter, the decline even reached 40%.

In view of this unexpected fact, the government decided to ignore the figures of the new census, with the exception of places where they showed the income of the population (in the SE and in Siberia); in all other areas, it was decided to collect taxes in accordance with the old, fictitious figures of payers. And under this condition, however, it turned out that payments did not cover expenses: the first turned out to be 3 million 134 thousand, the last - 3 million 834 thousand rubles. About 200 thousand could be covered from salt income; the remaining half a million was a permanent deficit. During the Christmas congresses of Peter's generals in 1709 and 1710, the cities of Russia were finally distributed among 8 governors; everyone in his “province” collected all taxes and directed them, first of all, to the maintenance of the army, navy, artillery and diplomacy. These “four places” absorbed the entire stated income of the state; How the “provinces” would cover other expenses, and above all their own, local ones - this question remained open. The deficit was eliminated simply by cutting government spending by a corresponding amount. Since the maintenance of the army was the main goal when introducing “provinces,” the further step of this new structure was that each province was entrusted with the maintenance of certain regiments.

For constant relations with them, the provinces appointed their “commissars” to the regiments. The most significant drawback of this arrangement, introduced in 1712, was that it actually abolished the old central institutions, but did not replace them with any others. The provinces had direct contact with the army and with the highest military institutions; but there was no higher office above them that could control and approve their functioning. The need for such a central institution was felt already in 1711, when Peter I had to leave Russia for the Prut campaign. “For his absences” Peter created the Senate. The provinces had to appoint their own commissioners to the Senate, “to demand and adopt decrees.” But all this did not accurately determine the mutual relations of the Senate and the provinces. All attempts by the Senate to organize over the provinces the same control that the “Near Chancellery” established in 1701 had over orders; ended in complete failure. The irresponsibility of the governors was a necessary consequence of the fact that the government itself constantly violated the rules established in 1710-12. order of the provincial economy, took money from the governor for purposes other than those for which he was supposed to pay them according to the budget, freely disposed of the provincial cash sums and demanded from the governors more and more “devices”, i.e., an increase in income, at least at the cost oppression of the population.

The main reason for all these violations of the established order was that the budget of 1710 fixed the figures for the necessary expenses, but in reality they continued to grow and no longer fit within the budget. The growth of the army has now, however, slowed down somewhat; on the other hand, expenses quickly increased on the Baltic fleet, on buildings in the new capital (where the government finally moved its residence in 1714), and on the defense of the southern border. We had to again find new, extra-budgetary resources. It was almost useless to impose new direct taxes, since the old ones were paid worse and worse as the population became impoverished. Re-minting of coins and state monopolies also could not give more than what they had already given. In place of the provincial system, the question of restoring central institutions naturally arises; the chaos of old and new taxes, “salary”, “every year” and “request”, necessitates the consolidation of direct taxes; the unsuccessful collection of taxes based on fictitious figures for 1678 leads to the question of a new census and a change in the tax unit; Finally, the abuse of the system of state monopolies raises the question of the benefits of free trade and industry for the state.

The reform is entering its third and final phase: until 1710 it was reduced to the accumulation of random orders dictated by the need of the moment; in 1708-1712 Attempts were made to bring these orders into some purely external, mechanical connection; Now there is a conscious, systematic desire to erect a completely new state structure on theoretical foundations. The question to what extent Peter I himself personally participated in the reforms of the last period remains still controversial. An archival study of the history of Peter I has recently discovered a whole mass of “reports” and projects in which almost the entire content of Peter’s government activities was discussed. In these reports, presented by Russian and especially foreign advisers to Peter I, voluntarily or at the direct call of the government, the state of affairs in the state and the most important measures necessary to improve it were examined in great detail, although not always on the basis of sufficient familiarity with the conditions of Russian reality. Peter I himself read many of these projects and took from them everything that directly answered the questions that interested him at the moment - especially the question of increasing state revenues and developing Russia's natural resources. To solve more complex government problems, e.g. on trade policy, financial and administrative reform, Peter I did not have the necessary preparation; his participation here was limited to posing the question, mostly on the basis of verbal advice from someone around him, and developing the final wording of the law; all intermediate work - collecting materials, developing them and designing appropriate measures - was assigned to more knowledgeable persons. In particular, in relation to trade policy, Peter I himself “complained more than once that of all government affairs, nothing is more difficult for him than commerce and that he could never form a clear idea about this matter in all its connections” (Fokkerodt).

However, state necessity forced him to change the previous direction of Russian trade policy - and the advice of knowledgeable people played an important role in this. Already in 1711-1713. The government was presented with a number of projects that proved that the monopolization of trade and industry in the hands of the treasury ultimately harms the fiscal itself and that the only way to increase government revenues from trade is to restore freedom of commercial and industrial activity. Around 1715 the content of the projects became broader; foreigners take part in the discussion of issues, verbally and in writing instilling in the king and the government the ideas of European mercantilism - about the need for the country to have a favorable trade balance and about the way to achieve it by systematically patronizing national industry and trade, by opening factories and factories, concluding trade agreements and establishing trade consulates abroad.

Once he had grasped this point of view, Peter I, with his usual energy, carried it out in many separate orders. He creates a new trading port (St. Petersburg) and forcibly transfers trade there from the old one (Arkhangelsk), begins to build the first artificial waterways to connect St. Petersburg with central Russia, takes great care to expand active trade with the East (after his attempts in the West in this direction were not very successful), gives privileges to the organizers of new factories, imports craftsmen, the best tools, the best breeds of livestock, etc. from abroad.

Peter I was less attentive to the idea of ​​financial reform. Although in this respect life itself shows the unsatisfactory nature of current practice, and a number of projects presented to the government discuss various possible reforms, nevertheless, he is only interested here in the question of how to distribute the maintenance of a new, standing army to the population. Already during the establishment of the provinces, expecting a quick peace after the Poltava victory, Peter I intended to distribute the regiments between the provinces, following the example of the Swedish system. This idea resurfaces in 1715; Peter I orders the Senate to calculate how much it will cost to maintain a soldier and an officer, leaving the Senate itself to decide whether this expense should be covered with the help of a house tax, as was the case before, or with the help of a capitation tax, as various “informers” advised.

The technical side of the future tax reform is being developed by Peter's government, and then he insists with all his energy on the speedy completion of the capitation census necessary for the reform and on the possible speedy implementation of the new tax. Indeed, the poll tax increases the figure of direct taxes from 1.8 to 4.6 million, accounting for more than half of the budget revenue (81/2 million). The question of administrative reform interests Peter I even less: here the very idea, its development, and its implementation belong to foreign advisers (especially Heinrich Fick), who suggested that Peter fill the lack of central institutions in Russia by introducing Swedish boards. To the question of what primarily interested Peter in his reformation activities, Vokerodt already gave an answer very close to the truth: “he especially and with all zeal tried to improve his military forces.”

Indeed, in his letter to his son, Peter I emphasizes the idea that through military work “we went from darkness to light, and (we), who were not known in the world, are now revered.” “The wars that occupied Peter I all his life (continues Vokerodt), and the treaties concluded with foreign powers regarding these wars forced him to also pay attention to foreign affairs, although he relied here mostly on his ministers and favorites... His very favorite and a pleasant occupation was shipbuilding and other matters related to navigation. It entertained him every day, and even the most important state affairs had to be ceded to him... Peter I cared little or not at all about internal improvements in the state - legal proceedings, economics, income and trade - in the first thirty years of his reign, and was satisfied , if only his admiralty and army were sufficiently supplied with money, firewood, recruits, sailors, provisions and ammunition.”

Immediately after the Poltava victory, Russia's prestige abroad rose. From Poltava, Peter I goes straight to meetings with the Polish and Prussian kings; in mid-December 1709 he returned to Moscow, but in mid-February 1710 he left it again. He spends half the summer before the capture of Vyborg on the seaside, the rest of the year in St. Petersburg, dealing with its construction and the marriage alliances of his niece Anna Ioannovna with the Duke of Courland and his son Alexei with Princess Wolfenbüttel.

On January 17, 1711, Peter I left St. Petersburg on the Prut campaign, then went straight to Carlsbad, for treatment with water, and to Torgau, to attend the marriage of Tsarevich Alexei. He returned to St. Petersburg only in the New Year. In June 1712, Peter again left St. Petersburg for almost a year; he goes to the Russian troops in Pomerania, in October he is treated in Karlsbad and Teplitz, in November, having visited Dresden and Berlin, he returns to the troops in Mecklenburg, at the beginning of the next 1713 he visits Hamburg and Rendsburg, passes through Hanover and Wolfenbüttel in February Berlin, for a meeting with the new king Frederick William, then returns to St. Petersburg.

A month later he was already on a Finnish voyage and, returning in mid-August, continued to undertake sea trips until the end of November. In mid-January 1714, Peter I left for Revel and Riga for a month; On May 9, he again goes to the fleet, wins a victory with it at Gangeuda and returns to St. Petersburg on September 9. In 1715, from the beginning of July to the end of August, Peter I was with his fleet on the Baltic Sea. At the beginning of 1716, he left Russia for almost two years; On January 24, he leaves for Danzig, for the wedding of Ekaterina Ivanovna’s niece with the Duke of Mecklenburg; from there, through Stettin, he goes to Pyrmont for treatment; in June he goes to Rostock to join the galley squadron, with which he appears near Copenhagen in July; in October, Peter I goes to Mecklenburg; from there to Havelsberg, for a meeting with the Prussian king, in November - to Hamburg, in December - to Amsterdam, at the end of March of the following 1717 - to France. In June we see him in Spa, on the waters, in the middle of the field - in Amsterdam, in September - in Berlin and Danzig; On October 10 he returns to St. Petersburg.

For the next two months, Peter I led a fairly regular life, devoting his mornings to work at the Admiralty and then driving around the St. Petersburg buildings. On December 15, he goes to Moscow, waits there for his son Alexei to be brought from abroad, and on March 18, 1718, he leaves back to St. Petersburg. On June 30, Alexei Petrovich was buried in the presence of Peter; in early July, Peter I left for the fleet and, after a demonstration near the Åland Islands, where peace negotiations were being held, he returned to St. Petersburg on September 3, after which he went to the seaside three more times and once to Shlisselburg.

The following year, 1719, Peter I left on January 19 for the Olonets waters, from where he returned on March 3. On May 1 he went to sea, and returned to St. Petersburg only on August 30. In 1720, Peter I spent the month of March in the Olonets waters and factories: from July 20 to August 4, he sailed to the Finnish shores. In 1721 he traveled by sea to Riga and Revel (March 11 - June 19). In September and October, Peter celebrated the Peace of Nystad in St. Petersburg, and in December in Moscow. In 1722, on May 15, he left Moscow for Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan and Astrakhan; On July 18, he set off from Astrakhan on a Persian campaign (to Derbent), from which he returned to Moscow only on December 11. Having returned to St. Petersburg on March 3, 1723, Peter I already left for the new Finnish border on March 30; in May and June he was engaged in equipping the fleet and then went to Revel and Rogerwick for a month, where he built a new harbor.

In 1724, Peter I suffered greatly from ill health, but it did not force him to abandon the habits of a nomadic life, which accelerated his death. In February he goes to the Olonets waters for the third time; at the end of March he goes to Moscow for the coronation of the Empress, from there he makes a trip to Millerovo Vody and on June 16 leaves for St. Petersburg; in the fall he travels to Shlisselburg, to the Ladoga Canal and the Olonets factories, then to Novgorod and Staraya Rusa to inspect the salt factories: only when the autumn weather decisively prevents sailing along the Ilmen, Peter I returns (October 27) to St. Petersburg. On October 28, he goes from lunch with Pavel Ivanovich Yaguzhinsky to a fire that happened on Vasilyevsky Island; On the 29th he goes by water to Sesterbek and, having met a boat that has run aground along the way, he helps remove its soldiers from waist-deep water. Fever and fever prevent him from traveling further; he spends the night in place and returns to St. Petersburg on November 2. On the 5th he invites himself to the wedding of a German baker, on the 16th he executes Mons, on the 24th he celebrates the betrothal of his daughter Anna to the Duke of Holstein. Celebrations resume on the occasion of the choice of a new prince-pope, January 3rd and 4th, 1725.

Busy life goes on as usual until the end of January, when, finally, it is necessary to resort to doctors, whom Peter I had not wanted to listen to until that time. But time is lost and the disease is incurable; On January 22, an altar is erected near the patient’s room and he is given communion, on the 26th, “for the sake of his health,” he is released from the convicts’ prison, and on January 28, at a quarter past six in the morning, Peter I dies without having time to decide the fate of the state.

A simple list of all the movements of Peter I over the last 15 years of his life gives one a sense of how Peter’s time and attention were distributed between various types of activities. After the navy, army and foreign policy, Peter I devoted the greatest part of his energy and his concerns to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg is Peter’s personal business, carried out by him despite the obstacles of nature and the resistance of those around him. Tens of thousands of Russian workers fought with nature and died in this struggle, summoned to the deserted outskirts populated by foreigners; Peter I himself dealt with the resistance of those around him, with orders and threats.

The judgments of Peter I's contemporaries about this undertaking can be read from Fokerodt. Opinions about the reform of Peter I differed extremely during his lifetime. A small group of close collaborators held an opinion, which Mikhail Lomonosov later formulated with the words: “he is your God, your God was, Russia.” The masses, on the contrary, were ready to agree with the schismatics’ assertion that Peter I was the Antichrist. Both proceeded from the general idea that Peter carried out a radical revolution and created a new Russia, unlike the old one. A new army, a navy, relations with Europe, and finally, a European appearance and European technology - all these were facts that caught the eye; Everyone recognized them, differing only fundamentally in their assessment.

What some considered useful, others recognized as harmful to Russian interests; what some considered a great service to the fatherland, others saw as a betrayal of their native traditions; finally, where some saw a necessary step forward on the path of progress, others recognized a simple deviation caused by the whim of a despot.

Both views could provide factual evidence in their favor, since in the reform of Peter I both elements were mixed - both necessity and chance. The element of chance came out more while the study of the history of Peter was limited to the external side of the reform and the personal activities of the reformer. The history of the reform, written according to his decrees, should have seemed exclusively Peter’s personal matter. Other results should have been obtained by studying the same reform in connection with its precedents, as well as in connection with the conditions of contemporary reality. A study of the precedents of Peter's reform showed that in all areas of public and state life - in the development of institutions and classes, in the development of education, in the environment of private life - long before Peter I, the same trends were revealed that were brought to triumph by Peter's reform. Being thus prepared by the entire past development of Russia and constituting the logical result of this development, the reform of Peter I, on the other hand, even under him does not yet find sufficient ground in Russian reality, and therefore even after Peter in many ways remains formal and visible for a long time.

New dress and “assemblies” do not lead to the adoption of European social habits and decency; in the same way, the new institutions borrowed from Sweden are not based on the corresponding economic and legal development of the masses. Russia is among the European powers, but for the first time only to become an instrument in the hands of European politics for almost half a century. Of the 42 digital provincial schools opened in 1716-22, only 8 survive until the middle of the century; out of 2000 students recruited, mostly by force, by 1727 only 300 in all of Russia actually graduated. Higher education, despite the Academy project, and lower education, despite all the orders of Peter I, remain a dream for a long time.

According to the decrees of January 20 and February 28, 1714, children of nobles and clerks, clerks and clerks, must learn numbers, i.e. arithmetic, and some part of geometry, and was subject to “a fine such that he will not be free to marry until he learns this”; crown certificates were not given without a written certificate of training from the teacher. For this purpose, it was prescribed that schools should be established in all provinces at the bishop's houses and in noble monasteries, and that teachers would send there students from the mathematical schools established in Moscow around 1703, which were then real gymnasiums; The teacher was given a salary of 300 rubles a year using our money.

The decrees of 1714 introduced a completely new fact into the history of Russian education, compulsory education of the laity. The business was conceived on an extremely modest scale. For each province, only two teachers were appointed from students of mathematics schools who had learned geography and geometry. Numerals, elementary geometry and some information on the law of God, contained in the primers of that time - this is the entire composition of elementary education, recognized as sufficient for the purposes of the service; its expansion would be to the detriment of the service. Children had to go through the prescribed program between the ages of 10 and 15, when school necessarily ended because service began.

Students were recruited from everywhere, like hunters into the then regiments, just to staff the institution. 23 students were recruited to the Moscow engineering school. Peter I demanded that the set be increased to 100 and even 150 people, only on the condition that two thirds be from noble children. The educational authorities were unable to comply with the instructions; a new angry decree - to recruit the missing 77 students from all ranks of people, and from the children of the courtiers, from the capital's nobility, behind whom there are at least 50 peasant households - forcibly.

This character of the then school in the composition and program of the Maritime Academy is even more clear. In this planned predominantly noble and specially technical institution, out of 252 students, only 172 were from the nobility, the rest were commoners. In the upper classes, large astronomy, flat and round navigation were taught, and in the lower classes, 25 commoners studied the alphabet, 2 books of hours from the nobility and 25 commoners, 1 psalter from the nobility and 10 commoners, and writing by 8 commoners.

Schooling was fraught with many difficulties. It was already difficult to teach and study even then, although the school was not yet constrained by regulations and supervision, and the tsar, busy with war, cared about the school with all his soul. The necessary teaching aids were either lacking or very expensive. The state printing house, the Printing House in Moscow, which published textbooks, in 1711 bought from its own reference book, proofreader, hierodeacon Herman, the Italian lexicon needed “for school work” for 17 ½ rubles with our money. In 1714, the engineering school demanded 30 geometries and 83 books of sines from the Printing House. The printing house sold the geometry for 8 rubles a copy with our money, but wrote about the sines that it didn’t have them at all.

The school, which turned the education of youth into the training of animals, could only push away from itself and helped to develop among its pupils a unique form of counteraction - escape, a primitive, not yet improved way of students fighting their school. School runaways, together with recruits, have become a chronic ailment of Russian public education and Russian state defense. This school desertion, the then form of an educational strike, will become a completely understandable phenomenon for us, without ceasing to be sad, if we take into account the difficultly imaginable language in which foreign teachers were taught, clumsy and, moreover, difficult to obtain textbooks, and the methods of the then pedagogy, which did not at all want to to please students, let us add the government’s view of schooling not as a moral need of society, but as a natural service for young people, preparing them for compulsory service. When school was viewed as the threshold of a barracks or office, then young people learned to look at school as a prison or hard labor, from which it is always pleasant to escape.

In 1722, the Senate published the highest decree for public information... This decree of His Majesty the Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia announced publicly that 127 schoolchildren fled from the Moscow navigation school, which depended on the St. Petersburg Maritime Academy, which resulted in the loss of the academic sum of money, because These schoolchildren are scholarship holders, “living for many years and taking their salary, they fled.” The decree delicately invited fugitives to report to school at the specified time under the threat of a fine for the children of the gentry and a more sensitive “punishment” for the lower ranks. Attached to the decree was a list of fugitives, as persons worthy of the attention of the entire empire, which was informed that 33 students had fled from the nobility, and among them Prince A. Vyazemsky; the rest were children of reiters, guards soldiers, commoners, up to 12 people from boyar serfs; The composition of the school at that time was so diverse.

Things went badly: children were not sent to new schools; they were recruited by force, kept in prisons and behind guards; at 6 years old there are few places where these schools have settled; the townspeople asked the Senate to keep their children away from digital science, so as not to distract them from their father’s affairs; of the 47 teachers sent to the province, eighteen did not find students and returned back; The Ryazan school, opened only in 1722, enrolled 96 students, but 59 of them fled. Vyatka governor Chaadaev, who wanted to open a digital school in his province, met opposition from the diocesan authorities and the clergy. To recruit students, he sent soldiers from the voivodeship office around the district, who grabbed everyone fit for school and took them to Vyatka. The matter, however, failed.

Peter I died February 8 (January 28, old style) 1725, in St. Petersburg.

On January 13, 1991, Russian Press Day was established. The date is associated with the birthday of the first Russian newspaper founded by Peter I.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peter I, who received the nickname Peter the Great for his services to Russia, is not just a significant figure in Russian history, but a key one. Peter 1 created the Russian Empire, therefore he turned out to be the last Tsar of All Rus' and, accordingly, the first All-Russian Emperor. The son of the Tsar, the godson of the Tsar, the brother of the Tsar - Peter himself was proclaimed the head of the country, and at that time the boy was barely 10 years old. Initially, he had a formal co-ruler Ivan V, but from the age of 17 he already ruled independently, and in 1721 Peter I became emperor.

Tsar Peter the Great | Haiku Deck

For Russia, the years of the reign of Peter I were a time of large-scale reforms. He significantly expanded the territory of the state, built the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, incredibly boosted the economy by founding a whole network of metallurgical and glass factories, and also reducing imports of foreign goods to a minimum. In addition, Peter the Great was the first of the Russian rulers to adopt their best ideas from Western countries. But since all the reforms of Peter the Great were achieved through violence against the population and the eradication of all dissent, the personality of Peter the Great still evokes diametrically opposed assessments among historians.

Childhood and youth of Peter I

The biography of Peter I initially implied his future reign, since he was born into the family of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov and his wife Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. It is noteworthy that Peter the Great turned out to be the 14th child of his father, but the first-born for his mother. It is also worth noting that the name Peter was completely unconventional for both dynasties of his ancestors, so historians still cannot figure out where he got this name from.

Childhood of Peter the Great | Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

The boy was only four years old when the Tsar Father died. His elder brother and godfather Fyodor III Alekseevich ascended the throne, who took guardianship of his brother and ordered him to be given the best possible education. However, Peter the Great had big problems with this. He was always very inquisitive, but just at that moment the Orthodox Church started a war against foreign influence, and all Latin teachers were removed from the court. Therefore, the prince was taught by Russian clerks, who themselves did not have deep knowledge, and Russian-language books of the proper level did not yet exist. As a result, Peter the Great had a meager vocabulary and wrote with errors until the end of his life.

Childhood of Peter the Great | View Map

Tsar Feodor III reigned for only six years and died due to poor health at a young age. According to tradition, the throne was supposed to be taken by another son of Tsar Alexei, Ivan, but he was very sickly, so the Naryshkin family actually organized a palace coup and declared Peter I the heir. It was beneficial for them, since the boy was a descendant of their family, but the Naryshkins did not take into account that the Miloslavsky family will rebel due to infringement of the interests of Tsarevich Ivan. The famous Streletsky revolt of 1682 took place, the result of which was the recognition of two tsars at the same time - Ivan and Peter. The Kremlin Armory still preserves a double throne for the brother tsars.

Childhood and youth of Peter the Great | Russian Museum

Young Peter I's favorite game was practicing with his troops. Moreover, the prince’s soldiers were not toys at all. His peers dressed in uniform and marched through the streets of the city, and Peter the Great himself “served” as a drummer in his regiment. Later, he even got his own artillery, also real. The amusing army of Peter I was called the Preobrazhensky regiment, to which the Semenovsky regiment was later added, and, in addition to them, the tsar organized an amusing fleet.

Tsar Peter I

When the young tsar was still a minor, behind him stood his older sister, Princess Sophia, and later his mother Natalya Kirillovna and her relatives the Naryshkins. In 1689, brother-co-ruler Ivan V finally gave Peter all power, although he nominally remained co-tsar until he died suddenly at the age of 30. After the death of his mother, Tsar Peter the Great freed himself from the burdensome guardianship of the Naryshkin princes, and it was from then on that we can talk about Peter the Great as an independent ruler.

Tsar Peter the Great | Cultural studies

He continued military operations in Crimea against the Ottoman Empire, carried out a series of Azov campaigns, which resulted in the capture of the Azov fortress. To strengthen the southern borders, the tsar built the port of Taganrog, but Russia still did not have a full-fledged fleet, so it did not achieve final victory. Large-scale construction of ships and training of young nobles abroad in shipbuilding begins. And the tsar himself studied the art of building a fleet, even working as a carpenter on the construction of the ship “Peter and Paul”.

Emperor Peter the Great | Bookaholic

While Peter the Great was preparing to reform the country and personally studied the technical and economic progress of leading European states, a conspiracy was hatched against him, led by the tsar’s first wife. Having suppressed the Streltsy revolt, Peter the Great decided to redirect military operations. He concludes a peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire and begins a war with Sweden. His troops captured the fortresses of Noteburg and Nyenschanz at the mouth of the Neva, where the Tsar decided to found the city of St. Petersburg, and placed the base of the Russian fleet on the nearby island of Kronstadt.

Wars of Peter the Great

The above conquests made it possible to open access to the Baltic Sea, which later received the symbolic name “Window to Europe.” Later, the territories of the Eastern Baltic were annexed to Russia, and in 1709, during the legendary Battle of Poltava, the Swedes were completely defeated. Moreover, it is important to note: Peter the Great, unlike many kings, did not sit in fortresses, but personally led his troops on the battlefield. In the Battle of Poltava, Peter I was even shot through his hat, meaning he really risked his own life.

Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava | X-digest

After the defeat of the Swedes near Poltava, King Charles XII took refuge under the protection of the Turks in the city of Bendery, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, and today is located in Moldova. With the help of the Crimean Tatars and Zaporozhye Cossacks, he began to escalate the situation on the southern border of Russia. By seeking the expulsion of Charles, Peter the Great, on the contrary, forced the Ottoman Sultan to restart the Russian-Turkish war. Rus' found itself in a situation where it was necessary to wage a war on three fronts. On the border with Moldova, the tsar was surrounded and agreed to sign peace with the Turks, giving them back the Azov fortress and access to the Sea of ​​Azov.

Fragment of Ivan Aivazovsky's painting "Peter I at Krasnaya Gorka" | Russian Museum

In addition to the Russian-Turkish and northern wars, Peter the Great escalated the situation in the east. Thanks to his expeditions, the cities of Omsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk were founded, and later Kamchatka joined Russia. The Tsar wanted to carry out campaigns in North America and India, but failed to bring these ideas to life. But he carried out the so-called Caspian campaign against Persia, during which he conquered Baku, Rasht, Astrabad, Derbent, as well as other Iranian and Caucasian fortresses. But after the death of Peter the Great, most of these territories were lost, since the new government considered the region not promising, and maintaining a garrison in those conditions was too expensive.

Reforms of Peter I

Due to the fact that the territory of Russia expanded significantly, Peter managed to reorganize the country from a kingdom into an empire, and starting in 1721, Peter I became emperor. Of the numerous reforms of Peter I, transformations in the army clearly stood out, which allowed him to achieve great military victories. But no less important were such innovations as the transfer of the church under the authority of the emperor, as well as the development of industry and trade. Emperor Peter the Great was well aware of the need for education and the fight against an outdated way of life. On the one hand, his tax on wearing a beard was perceived as tyranny, but at the same time there appeared a direct dependence of the promotion of nobles on the level of their education.

Peter the Great cuts off the beards of the boyars | VistaNews

Under Peter, the first Russian newspaper was founded and many translations of foreign books appeared. Artillery, engineering, medical, naval and mining schools were opened, as well as the country's first gymnasium. Moreover, now not only the children of nobles, but also the offspring of soldiers could attend secondary schools. He really wanted to create a compulsory primary school for everyone, but did not have time to implement this plan. It is important to note that the reforms of Peter the Great affected not only economics and politics. He financed the education of talented artists, introduced the new Julian calendar, and tried to change the position of women by prohibiting forced marriage. He also raised the dignity of his subjects, obliging them not to kneel even before the tsar and to use full names, and not call themselves “Senka” or “Ivashka” as before.

Monument "Tsar Carpenter" in St. Petersburg | Russian Museum

In general, the reforms of Peter the Great changed the value system of the nobles, which can be considered a huge plus, but at the same time the gap between the nobility and the people increased many times and was no longer limited only to finances and titles. The main disadvantage of the royal reforms is the violent method of their implementation. In fact, this was a struggle between despotism and uneducated people, and Peter hoped to use the whip to instill consciousness in the people. Indicative in this regard is the construction of St. Petersburg, which was carried out in difficult conditions. Many artisans ran away from hard labor, and the tsar ordered their entire family to be imprisoned until the fugitives returned to confess.

Komsomolskaya Pravda

Since not everyone liked the methods of governing the state under Peter the Great, the tsar founded the political investigation and judicial body Preobrazhensky Prikaz, which later grew into the notorious Secret Chancellery. The most unpopular decrees in this context were the ban on keeping records in a room closed from outsiders, as well as the ban on non-reporting. Violation of both of these decrees was punishable by death. In this way, Peter the Great fought against conspiracies and palace coups.

Personal life of Peter I

In his youth, Tsar Peter I loved to visit the German Settlement, where he not only became interested in foreign life, for example, learned to dance, smoke and communicate in a Western manner, but also fell in love with a German girl, Anna Mons. His mother was very alarmed by such a relationship, so when Peter reached his 17th birthday, she insisted on his wedding to Evdokia Lopukhina. However, they did not have a normal family life: soon after the wedding, Peter the Great left his wife and visited her only to prevent rumors of a certain kind.

Evdokia Lopukhina, first wife of Peter the Great | Sunday afternoon

Tsar Peter I and his wife had three sons: Alexei, Alexander and Pavel, but the latter two died in infancy. The eldest son of Peter the Great was supposed to become his heir, but since Evdokia in 1698 unsuccessfully tried to overthrow her husband from the throne in order to transfer the crown to her son and was imprisoned in a monastery, Alexei was forced to flee abroad. He never approved of his father's reforms, considered him a tyrant and planned to overthrow his parent. However, in 1717 the young man was arrested and detained in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and the following summer he was sentenced to death. The matter did not come to execution, since Alexei soon died in prison under unclear circumstances.

Ekaterina Alekseevna, second wife of Peter the Great | NewConcepts

A few years after the divorce from his first wife, Peter the Great took 19-year-old Marta Skavronskaya as his mistress, whom Russian troops captured as booty of war. She gave birth to eleven children from the king, half of them even before the legal wedding. The wedding took place in February 1712 after the woman converted to Orthodoxy, thanks to which she became Ekaterina Alekseevna, later known as Empress Catherine I. Among the children of Peter and Catherine are the future Empress Elizabeth I and Anna, the mother, the rest died in childhood. It is interesting that the second wife of Peter the Great was the only person in his life who knew how to calm his violent character even in moments of rage and fits of anger.

Maria Cantemir, favorite of Peter the Great | Wikipedia

Despite the fact that his wife accompanied the emperor on all campaigns, he was able to become carried away by young Maria Cantemir, the daughter of the former Moldavian ruler, Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich. Maria remained Peter the Great's favorite until the end of his life. Separately, it is worth mentioning the height of Peter I. Even for our contemporaries, a more than two-meter man seems very tall. But during the time of Peter I, his 203 centimeters seemed completely incredible. Judging by the chronicles of eyewitnesses, when the Tsar and Emperor Peter the Great walked through the crowd, his head rose above the sea of ​​people.

Compared to his older brothers, born by a different mother from their common father, Peter the Great seemed quite healthy. But in fact, he was tormented by severe headaches almost all his life, and in the last years of his reign, Peter the Great suffered from kidney stones. The attacks intensified even more after the emperor, together with ordinary soldiers, pulled out the stranded boat, but he tried not to pay attention to the illness.

Engraving "The Death of Peter the Great" | ArtPolitInfo

At the end of January 1725, the ruler could no longer endure the pain and fell ill in his Winter Palace. After the emperor had no strength left to scream, he only moaned, and everyone around him realized that Peter the Great was dying. Peter the Great accepted his death in terrible agony. Doctors named pneumonia as the official cause of his death, but later doctors had strong doubts about this verdict. An autopsy was performed, which showed a terrible inflammation of the bladder, which had already developed into gangrene. Peter the Great was buried in the cathedral at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, and his wife, Empress Catherine I, became the heir to the throne.

Main dates of the life and activities of Peter the Great

1682 - 1689 - The reign of Princess Sophia.

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

1695 - The first Azov campaign of Peter I.

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

1698, April - June- Streltsy uprising and defeat of the Streltsy near New Jerusalem.

1699, November- Peter concluded an alliance with the Saxon Elector Augustus II and the Danish King Frederick IV against Sweden.

1699, December 20- Decree on the introduction of a new calendar and the celebration of the New Year on January 1.

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

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

1704 - Capture of Dorpat and Narva by Russian troops.

1705 - 1706 - Uprising in Astrakhan.

1707 - 1708 - Uprising on the Don led by K. Bulavin.

1708 - 1710 - Regional reform of Peter.

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

1710 - Capture by Russian troops of Riga, Revel, Vyborg, Kexholm, etc.

1712 - The wedding of Peter I with Ekaterina Alekseevna.

1713 - Relocation of the court and higher government institutions to St. Petersburg.

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

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

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

1716 - 1717 - Peter's second trip abroad.

1718 - Start of construction of the Ladoga bypass canal.

1718 - 1720 - Organization of boards.

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

1721, October 22- The Senate presented Peter with the title of Emperor, Great and Father of the Fatherland.

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

1722 - 1724 - Conducting the first audit. Replacement of house tax with poll tax.

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

1724 - Introduction of a protective customs tariff.

From the book Peter II author Pavlenko Nikolay Ivanovich

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

From the book Starostin Brothers author Dukhon Boris Leonidovich

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

From Tretyakov's book author Anisov Lev Mikhailovich

From the book Financiers who changed the world author Team of authors

Main dates of life and activity 1772 Born in London 1814 Became a large landowner, acquiring the Gatcum Park estate in Gloucestershire 1817 Published his main work “On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation,” which became “the economic bible

From the book Peter Alekseev author Ostrover Leon Isaakovich

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

From the author's book

Main dates of life and activities 1818 Born in Trier 1830 Entered the gymnasium 1835 Entered the university 1842 Began collaborating with the Rhenish Gazette 1843 Married Jenny von Westphalen 1844 Moved to Paris, where he met Friedrich Engels 1845 Organized

From the author's book

Key dates of life and activity 1839 Born in the city of Richford in the USA 1855 Got a job at Hewitt & Tuttle 1858 Together with Maurice Clark, founded the Clark & ​​Rockefeller company 1864 Married Laura Spellman 1870 Founded the Standard Oil company 1874 Only born son and

From the author's book

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

From the author's book

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

From the author's book

Key dates of life and work 1941 Born in Timmins 1957 Entered McMaster University in Hamilton 1962 Received a bachelor's degree in economics 1964 Received a qualifying Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Chicago 1969

From the author's book

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

From the author's book

MAIN DATES IN THE LIFE AND ACTIVITY OF PETER ALEXEEV 1849 - January 14 (26) - Pyotr Alekseev was born in the village of Novinskaya, Sychevsky district, Smolensk province, in the family of peasant Alexei Ignatovich. 1858 - nine-year-old Pyotr Alekseev's parents sent him to Moscow, to a factory1872

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