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

The favorite game of young Peter I was practicing with his army. 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 with 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 infatuated with 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 "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.

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

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

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

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

Peter's reforms began with the order to shave off the beards of everyone, with the exception of the clergy and peasants, as well as with the introduction of foreign dress. In 1699, a calendar reform was also carried out. On the orders of the tsar, young men from noble families were sent abroad to study so that the state could have its own qualified personnel. In 1701, a Navigation School was created in Moscow.

In 1700, Russia, trying to gain a foothold in the Baltic, was defeated near Narva. Peter I realized that the reason for this failure lay in the backwardness of the Russian army, and began to create regular regiments, introducing conscription in 1705. Weapons and metallurgical factories began to be built, supplying small arms and cannons to the army. The Russian army began to win its first victories over the enemy, capturing a significant part of the Baltic states. In 1703, Peter I founded St. Petersburg. In 1708, Russia was divided into provinces. With the creation of the Governing Senate in 1711, Peter 1 began to carry out management reforms and create new government bodies. In 1718, tax reform began. After the end of the Northern War, Russia was proclaimed an empire in 1721, and Peter 1 was awarded the titles “Father of the Fatherland” and “Great” by the Senate.

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

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

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

The main achievements of Peter I

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

Important dates in the biography of Peter I

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

Interesting facts from the life of Peter the Great

• Peter was the first to combine gaiety, practical dexterity and apparent straightforwardness in his character with spontaneous impulses in the manifestation of both affection and anger, and sometimes with unbridled cruelty.
• Only his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna could cope with the king in his angry attacks, who with affection knew how to calm Peter’s periodic attacks of severe headaches. The sound of her voice calmed the king, Catherine laid her husband’s head, caressing it, on her chest, and Peter 1 fell asleep. Catherine sat motionless for hours, after which Peter was the first to wake up absolutely cheerful and fresh.

Pyotr Alekseevich Romanov, the future Emperor Peter I, born on the night of June 9, 1672, was the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his second wife Natalya Naryshkina. When young Peter was 4 years old, his father died; His brother and new Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich was appointed guardian. Six years later, Fyodor Alekseevich died, which became the reason for the uprising of the archers: they demanded the elevation of the young princes Ivan and Peter to the kingdom. Their demand was fulfilled, and their elder sister Sofya Alekseevna took the reins of government (since the brothers were still very young).

Peter was sent away from the court and became interested in military affairs: he formed “amusing regiments” of peasant youths, and under his leadership they underwent drill training and learned the basics of combat. At the age of seventeen, Peter married for the first time - to Evdokia Lopukhina. In the same year, after several public conflicts with the royal sister, he, having carried out a coup with the help of regiments loyal to him, became the sole ruler of the state.
In the first years of his reign, Peter went on an educational journey through the main European powers. The reason for his return was the Streltsy uprising; Having dealt harshly with the rebels, the ruler clearly showed the people what would happen to those who dared to contradict him.

From 1700, Peter began active reform activities: he switched to the Julian calendar, ordered nobles to dress in European dress and “put themselves in order” according to the European model. In the same year, the Northern War with Sweden begins, which will end only in 1721. In 1704 – 1717, the future capital of the state, St. Petersburg, was built. In the 1710s, not the most successful wars were waged with Turkey, which ended in a peace treaty between the parties. In 1721, Peter took the title of emperor, and the Russian state was declared the Russian Empire.

In 1725, Emperor Peter I died. The official version of his death is considered to be pneumonia; it is known that during the previous six months the ruler suffered from serious chronic diseases.

Brief biography of Peter I

Peter I - brief biographyPeter was born in May 1672 in the city of Moscow. He was the youngest of the children of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, but from his second marriage. After the first year of his life, he was sent to be raised by nannies. And a few years later, after the death of his father, his elder half-brother Fyodor Alekseevich became his guardian.

Subsequently, he became a king too. At the age of ten, Peter himself, as well as his brother Ivan, ascended the throne. But this reign was only a formality; in fact, their elder sister Sophia ruled. As a result, Peter and his mother were forced to leave the royal court for a while and live in the village. In this place, the future emperor developed a passion for military affairs.

He even designs his own shelves, which will later become real. He is also interested in weapons and shipbuilding. And the nearby German settlement greatly attracted the king to the way of life of the local population. A few years later, Queen Sophia lost power, which now passed to Peter, but again, in fact, his mother and uncle ruled. When real power finally came to Peter, he did not stop the ongoing war and took the Turkish Azov fortress.

And the tsar’s next serious step was the creation of the Russian fleet. Since the tsar fought against the Ottoman Empire, he needed comrades-in-arms in this matter, for whom he went to Europe. There Peter also studies shipbuilding, lifestyle and culture. And upon his return, after the Streltsy rebellion, he decided to change the way of life in Russia. Since the tsar saw the development of his homeland in trade, this required going to sea. As a result, a war broke out with Sweden. And at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the construction of St. Petersburg began.

A few years later, in the battle of Poltava, the enemy suffered a crushing defeat and was crushed. And with the death of their king, the parties concluded a peace treaty, and Russia received the long-awaited access to the Baltic, and also appropriated new lands. In the twenties of the eighteenth century, Peter the first of the tsars took the imperial title. Under his rule, Kamchatka and part of the Caspian coast also joined Russia.

The king was also known as a great reformer, and his reforms affected almost all areas of life. These were military, industrial, church and educational reforms. It was during his reign that the first gymnasium and many schools were opened. In the last years of his life, Peter was often ill, but did not stop governing the country. After his death, power over the great power passed to his wife Catherine I.

Interesting facts and dates from life

Biography of Peter I begins on June 9, 1672 in Moscow. He was the youngest son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from his second marriage to Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Peter was the youngest of 13 children in the large family of Alexei Mikhailovich. From the age of one he was raised by nannies.

Before his death, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich blessed his eldest son Fedor, who was 14 years old at that time, to rule. After Fedor ascended the throne, Natalya Kirillovna decided to leave with her children to the village of Preobrazhenskoye.

Father

Alexey I Mikhailovich Romanov

Mother

Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina

Nikita Zotov took an active part in the upbringing of the young prince, but Peter was initially not interested in science and was not literate.

V. O. Klyuchevsky noted:

“More than once you can hear the opinion that Peter I was brought up not in the old way, but differently and more carefully than his father and older brothers were brought up. As soon as Peter began to remember himself, he was surrounded in his nursery by foreign things; everything he played reminded him of the German. Over the years, Petra's nursery becomes filled with military items. A whole arsenal of toy weapons appears in it. Thus, in Peter’s nursery, Moscow artillery was quite fully represented; we see many wooden arquebuses and cannons with horses.” Even foreign ambassadors brought toy and real weapons as gifts to the prince. “In his spare time, he loved to listen to different stories and look at books with kunsts (pictures).”

The revolt of 1682 and the rise to power of Princess Regent Sophia

The death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich in 1682 marked the beginning of an active confrontation between two clans of nobles - the Naryshkins (relatives of Peter on his mother’s side) and the Miloslavskys (relatives of the first wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, defending the interests of Ivan). Each of the families tried to promote its own candidate, however, the boyar duma had to make the final decision and most of the boyars decided to make Peter king, since Ivan was a sickly child. On the day of Fyodor Alekseevich’s death, April 27, 1682, Peter was proclaimed tsar.

Not wanting to lose power, the Miloslavskys started a rumor that the Naryshkins had strangled Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich. Under the sounds of the alarm, many archers burst into the Kremlin, breaking the defense of the few royal guards. However, to their confusion, Tsarina Natalya appeared towards them from the Red Porch along with the princes Ivan and Peter. Ivan answered the questions of the archers:

“No one is harassing me, and I have no one to complain about”

Tsarina Natalya goes to the archers to prove that Ivan V is alive and well. Painting by N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky

The crowd, heated to the limit, was provoked by accusations of Prince Dolgorukov of treason and theft - the Streltsy killed several boyars, many from the Naryshkin clan and Streltsy leaders. Having placed their own guards inside the Kremlin, the archers did not let anyone out or let anyone in, in fact taking the entire royal family hostage.

Realizing the high probability of revenge on the part of the Naryshkins, the archers submitted several petitions (in fact, these were more likely not requests, but an ultimatum) so that Ivan would also be appointed tsar (and the eldest one at that), and Sophia as the ruler-regent. In addition, they demanded to legitimize the riot and abandon the prosecution of its instigators, recognizing their actions as legitimate and protecting the interests of the state. The Patriarch and the Boyar Duma were forced to comply with the demands of the Streltsy, and on June 25, Ivan V and Peter I were crowned kings.

Princess Sophia watches with pleasure as the archers drag out Ivan Naryshkin, Tsarevich Peter calms his mother. Painting by A. I. Korzukhin, 1882

Princess Regent Sofya Alekseevna Romanova

Peter was seriously shocked by the events described above in 1682; according to one version, the nervous convulsions distorting his face during excitement appeared soon after the experience. In addition, this rebellion and the next one, in 1698, finally convinced the tsar of the need to disband the streltsy units.

Natalya Kirillovna considered that it was very unsafe to remain in the Kremlin completely captured by the Miloslavskys and decided to move to the country estate of Alexei Mikhailovich - the village of Preobrazhenskoye. Tsar Peter could live here under the supervision of faithful people, sometimes going to Moscow to participate in ceremonies obligatory for the royal person.

Funny shelves

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was very fond of falconry and other similar entertainments - after his death, a large farm and about 600 servants remained. These devoted and intelligent people did not remain idle - having arrived in Preobrazhenskoye, Natalya Kirillovna set the task of organizing a military school for her son.

The prince received his first “amusing” detachment in the fall of 1683. By the next year, the “amusing city” of Presburg had already been rebuilt in Preobrazhenskoye, next to the royal palace. Peter received military training along with other teenagers. He began his service marching ahead of the Preobrazhensky Regiment as a drummer, and eventually rose to the rank of bombardier.

One of the first candidates selected for the “amusing army” was Alexander Menshikov. He had to fulfill a special role: to become the bodyguard of the young king, his shadow. According to the testimony of contemporaries of those events, Menshikov even slept at Peter’s feet near his bed. Being almost constantly under the tsar, Menshikov became one of his main comrades-in-arms, especially his confidant in all the most important matters relating to the governance of the vast country. Alexander Menshikov received an excellent education and, like Peter I, received a certificate of shipbuilding training in Holland.

Menshikov A. D.

Personal life of young Peter I - first wife

The first wife of Peter I, Evdokia Lopukhina, was chosen by the mother of Peter I as his bride without coordinating this decision with Peter himself. The queen hoped that the Lopukhin family, although not considered particularly noble, but numerous, would strengthen the position of the young prince.

The wedding ceremony of Peter I and Lopukhina took place on February 6, 1689 in the church of the Transfiguration Palace. An additional factor in the need for marriage was the Russian custom of that time, according to which a married person was full-fledged and of full age, which gave Peter I the right to get rid of the princess regent Sophia.

Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina

During the first three years of this marriage, two sons were born: the younger Alexander died in infancy, and the eldest Tsarevich Alexei, born in 1690, will be deprived of his life by order of Peter I himself somewhere in the dungeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg.

Accession of Peter I - removal of Sophia

The Second Crimean Campaign of 1689, led by Sophia's favorite, Prince Golitsyn, was unsuccessful. General dissatisfaction with her rule added to seventeen-year-old Peter's chances of returning the throne - his mother and her faithful people began preparations for Sophia's removal.

In the summer of 1689, Peter's mother called Peter from Pereslyavl to Moscow. At this turning point in his fate, Peter begins to show Sophia his own power. He sabotaged the religious procession planned for July of this year, forbidding Sophia to participate in it, and after she refused to obey, he left, thus causing a public scandal. At the end of July, he barely succumbed to persuasion to give awards to the participants of the Crimean campaign, but refused to accept them when they came to him with gratitude.

By the beginning of August, relations between brother and sister had reached such an intensity that the entire court expected open confrontation, but both sides did not show initiative, completely concentrating on defense.

Sophia's last attempt to retain power

It is unknown whether Sophia decided to openly oppose her brother, or whether she was frightened by rumors that Peter I with his amusing regiments was planning to arrive in Moscow to remove her sister from power - on August 7, the princess’s assistants began to agitate the archers in favor of Sophia. The tsar's supporters, seeing such preparations, immediately informed him of the danger, and Peter, accompanied by three guides, galloped away from the village of Preobrazhenskoye to the monastery of the Trinity Lavra. Starting from August 8, the remaining Naryshkins and all of Peter’s supporters, as well as his amusing army, begin to gather at the monastery.

From the monastery, on behalf of Peter I, his mother and her associates put forward a demand to Sophia in a report on the reasons for the armament and agitation on August 7, as well as messengers from each of the rifle regiments. Having forbidden the archers to send elected officials, Sophia sent Patriarch Joachim to her brother for trial, but the patriarch, loyal to the prince, did not return back to the capital.

Peter I again sent a demand to the capital to send representatives from the townspeople and archers - they came to the Lavra despite Sophia’s ban. Realizing that the situation is developing in favor of her brother, the princess decides to go to him herself, but already on the road they convince her to return, warning that if she comes to Trinity, they will treat her “dishonestly.”

Joachim (Patriarch of Moscow)

Having returned to Moscow, the princess regent tries to restore the archers and townspeople against Peter, but to no avail. The Sagittarius forces Sophia to hand over to Peter her comrade-in-arms, Shaklovity, who upon arrival at the monastery is tortured and executed. Following Shaklovity’s denunciation, many of Sophia’s like-minded people were caught and convicted, most of whom were sent into exile, and some were executed.

After the massacre of people who were devoted to Sophia, Peter felt the need to clarify his relationship with his brother and wrote to him:

“Now, sir brother, the time has come for both of our persons to rule the kingdom entrusted to us by God themselves, since we have come to the measure of our age, and we do not deign to allow the third shameful person, our sister, with our two male persons, to be in titles and in the dispensation of affairs... It’s shameful, sir, at our perfect age, for that shameful person to own the state bypassing us.”

Ivan V Alekseevich

Princess Sofya Alekseevna in the Novodevichy Convent

Thus, Peter I expressed an unequivocal desire to take the reins of power into his own hands. Left without people willing to take risks for her, Sophia was forced to obey Peter’s demands and retire to the Holy Spirit Monastery, and then move even further, to the Novodevichy Convent.

From 1689 to 1696, Peter I and Ivan V ruled simultaneously, until the latter died. In fact, Ivan V did not take part in the reign; Natalya Kirillovna ruled until 1694, after which Peter I himself ruled.

The fate of Tsar Peter I after his accession

First lover

Peter quickly lost interest in his wife and in 1692 he met Anna Mons in the German settlement, with the assistance of Lefort. While his mother was still alive, the king did not show open antipathy towards his wife. However, Natalya Kirillovna herself, shortly before her own death, became disillusioned with her daughter-in-law, due to her independence and excessive stubbornness. After the death of Natalya Kirillovna in 1694, when Peter left for Arkhangelsk and even stopped corresponding with Evdokia. Although Evdokia was also called the queen and she lived with her son in a palace in the Kremlin, her Lopukhin clan fell out of favor - they began to be removed from leadership positions. The young queen tried to establish contacts with people dissatisfied with Peter's policies.

Alleged portrait of Anna Mons

According to some researchers, before Anna Mons became Peter's favorite in 1692, she was in a relationship with Lefort.

Returning from the Grand Embassy in August 1698, Peter I visited the house of Anna Mons, and on September 3 sent his legal wife to the Suzdal Intercession Monastery. There were rumors that the king was even planning to officially marry his mistress - she was so dear to him.

House of Anna Mons in the German Settlement in the painting by Alexandre Benois.

The Tsar presented her with expensive jewelry or intricate items (for example, a miniature portrait of the sovereign, decorated with diamonds worth 1 thousand rubles); and even built a two-story stone house for her in the German settlement with government money.

Great fun hike Kozhukhovsky

Miniature from a manuscript of the 1st half of the 18th century “The History of Peter I”, written by P. Krekshin. Collection of A. Baryatinsky. State Historical Museum. Military exercises near the village of Kolomenskoye and the village of Kozhukhovo.

Peter's amusing regiments were no longer just a game - the scope and quality of equipment fully corresponded to real combat units. In 1694, the tsar decided to conduct his first large-scale exercises - for this purpose, a small wooden fortress was built on the banks of the Moscow River near the village of Kozhukhovo. It was a regular pentagonal parapet with loopholes, embrasures and could accommodate a garrison of 5,000 people. The plan of the fortress drawn up by General P. Gordon assumed an additional ditch in front of the fortifications, up to three meters deep.

To staff the garrison, they gathered the archers, as well as all the clerks, nobles, clerks and other service people who were nearby. The archers had to defend the fortress, and the amusing regiments carried out an assault and carried out siege work - they dug tunnels and trenches, blew up fortifications, and climbed walls.

Patrick Gordon, who drew up both the plan for the fortress and the scenario for its assault, was Peter’s main teacher in military affairs. During the exercises, the participants did not spare each other - according to various sources, there were up to 24 killed and more than fifty wounded on both sides.

The Kozhukhov campaign became the final stage of the military practical training of Peter I under the leadership of P. Gordon, which lasted from 1690.

The first conquests - the siege of Azov

The urgent need for trade routes in the Black Sea waters for the state's economy was one of the factors that influenced the desire of Peter I to extend his influence to the coasts of the Azov and Black Seas. The second determining factor was the young king's passion for ships and navigation.

Blockade of Azov from the sea during the siege

After the death of his mother, there were no people left who could dissuade Peter from resuming the fight with Turkey within the Holy League. However, instead of the previously failed attempts to march on the Crimea, he decides to advance south, near Azov, which was not conquered in 1695, but after the additional construction of a flotilla, which cut off the supply of the fortress from the sea, Azov was taken in 1696.

Diorama “The capture of the Turkish fortress of Azov by the troops of Peter I in 1696”

Russia's subsequent struggle against the Ottoman Empire within the framework of an agreement with the Holy League lost its meaning - the War of the Spanish Succession began in Europe, and the Austrian Habsburgs no longer wanted to take into account the interests of Peter. Without allies, it was not possible to continue the war with the Ottomans - this became one of the key reasons for Peter’s trip to Europe.

Grand Embassy

In 1697-1698, Peter I became the first Russian Tsar to make a long trip abroad. Officially, the tsar participated in the embassy under the pseudonym of Pyotr Mikhailov, with the rank of bombardier. According to the original plan, the embassy was to go along the following route: Austria, Saxony, Brandenburg, Holland, England, Venice and, finally, a visit to the Pope. The actual route of the embassy passed through Riga and Koenigsberg to Holland, then to England, from England - back to Holland, and then to Vienna; It was not possible to get to Venice - on the way, Peter was informed about the uprising of the Streltsy in 1698.

Start of the journey

March 9-10, 1697 can be considered the beginning of the embassy - it moved from Moscow to Livonia. Arriving in Riga, which at that time belonged to Sweden, Peter expressed a desire to inspect the fortifications of the city fortress, but General Dahlberg, the Swedish governor, did not allow him to do this. The Tsar, in anger, called Riga a “cursed place,” and when leaving after the embassy to Mitava, he wrote and sent home the following lines about Riga:

We drove through the city and the castle, where soldiers stood in five places, there were less than 1,000 of them, but they say that they were all there. The city is much fortified, but it is not finished. They are very afraid here, and they are not allowed into the city and other places with a guard, and they are not very pleasant.

Peter I in Holland.

Arriving in the Rhine on August 7, 1697, Peter I descended to Amsterdam along the river and canals. Holland was always interesting to the Tsar - Dutch merchants were frequent guests in Russia and talked a lot about their country, arousing interest. Without devoting much time to Amsterdam, Peter rushed to a city with many shipyards and shipbuilders' workshops - Zaandam. Upon his arrival, he signed up as an apprentice at the Linst Rogge shipyard under the name Pyotr Mikhailov.

In Zaandam, Peter lived on Krimp Street in a small wooden house. Eight days later the king moved to Amsterdam. The mayor of the city of Witsen helped him obtain permission to participate in work at the shipyards of the Dutch East India Company.

Seeing such interest of Russian guests in shipyards and the process of building ships, on September 9 the Dutch laid the foundation for a new ship (the frigate “Peter and Pavel”), in the construction of which Pyotr Mikhailov also took part.

In addition to teaching shipbuilding and studying local culture, the embassy was looking for engineers for the subsequent development of production in the Russian Tsardom - the army and future fleet were in dire need of re-equipping and equipping.

In Holland, Peter became acquainted with many different innovations: local workshops and factories, whaling ships, hospitals, orphanages - the tsar carefully studied Western experience to apply it in his homeland. Peter studied the mechanism of a windmill and visited a stationery factory. He attended lectures on anatomy in Professor Ruysch's anatomy office and expressed a special interest in the embalming of corpses. In the anatomical theater of Boerhaave, Peter participated in the dissection of corpses. Inspired by Western developments, a few years later Peter will create the first Russian museum of curiosities - the Kunstkamera.

In four and a half months, Peter managed to study a lot, but his Dutch mentors did not live up to the king’s hopes; he described the reason for his dissatisfaction as follows:

At the East India Dockyard, having devoted himself with other volunteers to the study of naval architecture, the sovereign in a short time accomplished what a good carpenter should know, and with his labors and skill he built a new ship and launched it into the water. Then he asked that shipyard bass, Jan Paul, to teach him the ship’s proportions, which he showed him four days later. But since in Holland there is no such mastery of perfection in a geometric way, but only some principles, everything else from long-term practice, which the above-mentioned bass said, and that he cannot show everything on a drawing, then he became disgusted that such a long way for I perceived this, but did not achieve the desired end. And for several days His Majesty happened to be in the country yard of the merchant Jan Tessing in company, where he sat much sadder for the reason described above, but when between conversations he was asked why he was so sad, then he announced that reason. In that company there was one Englishman who, hearing this, said that here in England this architecture was as perfect as any other, and that one could learn it in a short time. This word made His Majesty very happy, so he immediately went to England and there, four months later, he completed his studies.

Peter I in England

Having received a personal invitation from William III at the beginning of 1698, Peter I went to England.

Having visited London, the tsar spent most of his three months in England in Deptford, where, under the guidance of the famous shipbuilder Anthony Dean, he continued to study shipbuilding.

Peter I talks with English shipbuilders, 1698

In England, Peter I also inspected everything that was connected with production and industry: arsenals, docks, workshops, and visited warships of the English fleet, getting acquainted with their structure. Museums and cabinets of curiosities, an observatory, a mint - England was able to surprise the Russian sovereign. There is a version according to which he met with Newton.

Having ignored the art gallery of Kensington Palace, Peter became very interested in the device for determining the direction of the wind, which was present in the king’s office.

During Peter's visit to England, the English artist Gottfried Kneller managed to create a portrait that later became an example to follow - most of the images of Peter I that were widespread in Europe during the 18th century were made in Kneller's style.

Returning back to Holland, Peter was unable to find allies to fight against the Ottoman Empire and headed to Vienna, to the Austrian Habsburg dynasty.

Peter I in Austria

On the way to Vienna, the capital of Austria, Peter received news of plans by Venice and the Austrian king to conclude a truce with the Turks. Despite the long negotiations that took place in Vienna, Austria did not agree to the demand of the Russian kingdom for the transfer of Kerch and offered only to preserve the already conquered Azov with the adjacent territories. This put an end to Peter's attempts to gain access to the Black Sea.

July 14, 1698 Peter I said goodbye to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and planned to leave for Venice, but news was received from Moscow about the mutiny of the Streltsy and the trip was cancelled.

Meeting of Peter I with the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Already on the way to Moscow, the tsar was informed about the suppression of the rebellion. July 31, 1698 In Rava, Peter I met with the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Augustus II. Both monarchs were almost the same age, and in three days of communication they managed to get closer and discuss the possibility of creating an alliance against Sweden in an attempt to shake its dominance in the Baltic Sea and adjacent territories. The final secret agreement with the Saxon elector and the Polish king was signed on November 1, 1699.

August II Strong

Having assessed the prospects, Peter I decided to focus on the Baltic Sea instead of the Black Sea. Today, centuries later, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of this decision - the conflict between Russia and Sweden, which resulted in the Northern War of 1700-1721, became one of the bloodiest and most debilitating in the entire existence of Russia.

(to be continued)

Peter I Alekseevich the Great. Born May 30 (June 9), 1672 - died January 28 (February 8), 1725. The last Tsar of All Rus' (since 1682) and the first Emperor of All Russia (since 1721).

As a representative of the Romanov dynasty, Peter was proclaimed tsar at the age of 10 and began to rule independently in 1689. Peter's formal co-ruler was his brother Ivan (until his death in 1696).

From a young age, showing interest in science and foreign lifestyles, Peter was the first of the Russian tsars to make a long trip to the countries of Western Europe. Upon returning from it, in 1698, Peter launched large-scale reforms of the Russian state and social structure.

One of Peter’s main achievements was the solution to the task set in the 16th century: the expansion of Russian territories in the Baltic region after the victory in the Great Northern War, which allowed him to accept the title of Russian emperor in 1721.

In historical science and in public opinion from the end of the 18th century to the present day, there have been diametrically opposed assessments of both the personality of Peter I and his role in the history of Russia.

In official Russian historiography, Peter was considered one of the most outstanding statesmen who determined the direction of Russia's development in the 18th century. However, many historians, including N.M. Karamzin, V.O. Klyuchevsky, P.N. Milyukov and others, expressed sharply critical assessments.

Peter I the Great (documentary)

Peter was born on the night of May 30 (June 9), 1672 (in 7180 according to the then-accepted chronology “from the creation of the world”): “In the current year of May 180, on the 30th day, for the prayers of the holy Fathers, God forgave Our and Great Queen Princess Natalia Kirillovna, and gave birth to Us a son, the blessed Tsarevich and Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich of all Great, Little and White Russia, and his name day is June 29th.”

The exact place of Peter's birth is unknown. Some historians indicated the Kremlin's Terem Palace as his birthplace, and according to folk tales, Peter was born in the village of Kolomenskoye, and Izmailovo was also indicated.

The father, the Tsar, had numerous offspring: Peter I was the 14th child, but the first from his second wife, Tsarina Natalya Naryshkina.

June 29, St. Day Apostles Peter and Paul, the prince was baptized in the Miracle Monastery (according to other sources in the Church of Gregory of Neocaesarea, in Derbitsy), by Archpriest Andrei Savinov and named Peter. The reason why he received the name "Peter" is not clear, perhaps as a euphonic correspondence to the name of his older brother, since he was born on the same day as Fedor. It was not found among either the Romanovs or the Naryshkins. The last representative of the Moscow Rurik dynasty with that name was Pyotr Dmitrievich, who died in 1428.

After spending a year with the queen, he was given to nannies to raise. In the 4th year of Peter’s life, in 1676, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died. The Tsarevich's guardian was his half-brother, godfather and new Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. Peter received a poor education, and until the end of his life he wrote with errors, using a poor vocabulary. This was due to the fact that the then Patriarch of Moscow, Joachim, as part of the fight against “Latinization” and “foreign influence”, removed from the royal court the students of Simeon of Polotsk, who taught Peter’s older brothers, and insisted that Peter’s education be carried out by less educated clerks N. M. Zotov and A. Nesterov.

In addition, Peter did not have the opportunity to receive an education from a university graduate or a high school teacher, since neither universities nor secondary schools existed in the Russian kingdom during Peter’s childhood, and among the classes of Russian society only clerks, clerks and higher clergy were taught to read and write.

The clerks taught Peter to read and write from 1676 to 1680. Peter was later able to compensate for the shortcomings of his basic education with rich practical training.

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

On April 27 (May 7), 1682, after 6 years of reign, the sickly Tsar Fedor III Alekseevich died. The question arose of who should inherit the throne: the older, sickly Ivan, according to custom, or the young Peter. Having secured the support of Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins and their supporters enthroned Peter on April 27 (May 7), 1682.

In fact, the Naryshkin clan came to power and Artamon Matveev, summoned from exile, was declared the “great guardian.” It was difficult for supporters of Ivan Alekseevich to support their candidate, who could not reign due to extremely poor health. The organizers of the actual palace coup announced a version about the hand-written transfer of the “scepter” by the dying Fyodor Alekseevich to his younger brother Peter, but no reliable evidence of this was presented.

Streltsy riot of 1682. Tsarevna Sofya Alekseevna

On April 27 (May 7), 1682, after 6 years of reign, the sickly Tsar Fedor III Alekseevich died. The question arose of who should inherit the throne: the older, sickly Ivan, according to custom, or the young Peter.

Having secured the support of Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins and their supporters enthroned Peter on April 27 (May 7), 1682. In fact, the Naryshkin clan came to power and Artamon Matveev, summoned from exile, was declared the “great guardian.”

It was difficult for supporters of Ivan Alekseevich to support their candidate, who could not reign due to extremely poor health. The organizers of the actual palace coup announced a version about the hand-written transfer of the “scepter” by the dying Fyodor Alekseevich to his younger brother Peter, but no reliable evidence of this was presented.

The Miloslavskys, relatives of Tsarevich Ivan and Princess Sophia through their mother, saw in the proclamation of Peter as tsar an infringement of their interests. The Streltsy, of whom there were more than 20 thousand in Moscow, had long shown discontent and waywardness. Apparently, incited by the Miloslavskys, on May 15 (25), 1682, they came out openly: shouting that the Naryshkins had strangled Tsarevich Ivan, they moved towards the Kremlin.

Natalya Kirillovna, hoping to calm the rioters, together with the patriarch and boyars, took Peter and his brother to the Red Porch. However, the uprising was not over. In the first hours, the boyars Artamon Matveev and Mikhail Dolgoruky were killed, then other supporters of Queen Natalia, including her two Naryshkin brothers.

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

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

Funny shelves

Peter spent all his free time away from the palace - in the villages of Vorobyovo and Preobrazhenskoye. Every year his interest in military affairs increased. Peter dressed and armed his “amusing” army, which consisted of peers from boyhood games.

In 1685, his “amusing” men, dressed in foreign caftans, marched in regimental formation through Moscow from Preobrazhenskoye to the village of Vorobyovo to the beat of drums. Peter himself served as a drummer.

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

In Preobrazhenskoye, opposite the palace, on the banks of the Yauza, an “amusing town” was built. During the construction of the fortress, Peter himself worked actively, helping to cut logs and install cannons.

The building created by Peter was also stationed here. “The most humorous, the most drunken and the most extravagant Council”- a parody of the Orthodox Church. The fortress itself was named Presburg, probably after the famous at that time Austrian fortress Presburg (now Bratislava - the capital of Slovakia), which he heard about from Captain Sommer.

At the same time, in 1686, the first amusing ships appeared near Preshburg on the Yauza - a large shnyak and a plow with boats. During these years, Peter became interested in all the sciences that were related to military affairs. Under the guidance of the Dutchman Timmerman, he studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences.

One day, walking with Timmerman through the village of Izmailovo, Peter entered the Linen Yard, in the barn of which he found an English boot.

In 1688, he instructed the Dutchman Karsten Brandt to repair, arm and equip this boat, and then lower it to the Yauza River. However, the Yauza and Prosyanoy Pond turned out to be too small for the ship, so Peter went to Pereslavl-Zalessky, to Lake Pleshcheevo, where he founded the first shipyard for the construction of ships.

There were already two “Amusing” regiments: Semenovsky, located in the village of Semenovskoye, was added to Preobrazhensky. Preshburg already looked like a real fortress. To command regiments and study military science, knowledgeable and experienced people were needed. But there were no such people among the Russian courtiers. So Peter appeared in the German settlement.

First marriage of Peter I

The German settlement was the closest “neighbor” of the village of Preobrazhenskoye, and Peter had been looking at its life with curiosity for a long time. More and more foreigners at the court of Tsar Peter, such as Franz Timmermann and Karsten Brandt, came from the German Settlement. All this imperceptibly led to the fact that the tsar became a frequent guest in the settlement, where he soon turned out to be a big fan of the relaxed foreign life.

Peter lit a German pipe, began attending German parties with dancing and drinking, met Patrick Gordon, Franz Lefort- future associates of Peter, started an affair with Anna Mons. Peter's mother strictly opposed this.

To bring her 17-year-old son to reason, Natalya Kirillovna decided to marry him Evdokia Lopukhina, daughter of a okolnichy.

Peter did not contradict his mother, and on January 27, 1689, the wedding of the “junior” tsar took place. However, less than a month later, Peter left his wife and went to Lake Pleshcheyevo for several days.

From this marriage, Peter had two sons: the eldest, Alexei, was heir to the throne until 1718, the youngest, Alexander, died in infancy.

Accession of Peter I

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

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

On July 8, 1689, on the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the first public conflict occurred between the matured Peter and the Ruler.

On that day, according to custom, a religious procession was held from the Kremlin to the Kazan Cathedral. At the end of the mass, Peter approached his sister and announced that she should not dare to go along with the men in the procession. Sophia accepted the challenge: she took the image of the Most Holy Theotokos in her hands and went to get the crosses and banners. Unprepared for such an outcome, Peter left the move.

On August 7, 1689, unexpectedly for everyone, a decisive event occurred. On this day, Princess Sophia ordered the chief of the archers, Fyodor Shaklovity, to send more of his people to the Kremlin, as if to escort them to the Donskoy Monastery on a pilgrimage. At the same time, a rumor spread about a letter with the news that Tsar Peter at night decided to occupy the Kremlin with his “amusing” regiments, kill the princess, Tsar Ivan’s brother, and seize power.

Shaklovity gathered the Streltsy regiments to march in a “great assembly” to Preobrazhenskoye and beat all of Peter’s supporters for their intention to kill Princess Sophia. Then they sent three horsemen to observe what was happening in Preobrazhenskoe with the task of immediately reporting if Tsar Peter went anywhere alone or with regiments.

Peter's supporters among the archers sent two like-minded people to Preobrazhenskoye. After the report, Peter with a small retinue galloped in alarm to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The consequence of the horrors of the Streltsy demonstrations was Peter's illness: with strong excitement, he began to have convulsive facial movements.

On August 8, both queens, Natalya and Evdokia, arrived at the monastery, followed by “amusing” regiments with artillery.

On August 16, a letter came from Peter, ordering commanders and 10 privates from all regiments to be sent to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Princess Sophia strictly forbade the fulfillment of this command on pain of the death penalty, and a letter was sent to Tsar Peter informing him that it was impossible to fulfill his request.

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

Soon Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent under strict supervision.

On October 7, Fyodor Shaklovity was captured and then executed. The elder brother, Tsar Ivan (or John), met Peter at the Assumption Cathedral and actually gave him all power.

Since 1689, he did not take part in the reign, although until his death on January 29 (February 8), 1696, he nominally continued to be a co-tsar.

After the overthrow of Princess Sophia, power passed into the hands of people who rallied around Queen Natalya Kirillovna. She tried to accustom her son to public administration, entrusting him with private affairs, which Peter found boring.

The most important decisions (declaration of war, election of the Patriarch, etc.) were made without taking into account the opinion of the young king. This led to conflicts. For example, at the beginning of 1692, offended by the fact that, contrary to his will, the Moscow government refused to resume the war with the Ottoman Empire, the tsar did not want to return from Pereyaslavl to meet the Persian ambassador, and the top officials of Natalya Kirillovna’s government (L.K. Naryshkin with B.A. Golitsyn) were forced to personally go after him.

The “installation” of N. M. Zotov in “all Yauza and all Kokui as patriarchs”, which took place on January 1, 1692, by the will of Peter I in Preobrazhenskoe, became the tsar’s response to the installation of Patriarch Adrian, which was accomplished against his will. After the death of Natalya Kirillovna, the tsar did not displace the government of L.K. Naryshkin - B.A. Golitsyn, formed by his mother, but ensured that it strictly carried out his will.

Azov campaigns of 1695 and 1696

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

The first Azov campaign, which began in the spring of 1695, ended unsuccessfully in September of the same year due to the lack of a fleet and the unwillingness of the Russian army to operate far from supply bases. However, already in the fall of 1695, preparations for a new campaign began. The construction of a Russian rowing flotilla began in Voronezh.

In a short time, a flotilla of different ships was built, led by the 36-gun ship Apostle Peter.

In May 1696, a 40,000-strong Russian army under the command of Generalissimo Shein again besieged Azov, only this time the Russian flotilla blocked the fortress from the sea. Peter I took part in the siege with the rank of captain on a galley. Without waiting for the assault, on July 19, 1696, the fortress surrendered. Thus, Russia's first access to the southern seas was opened.

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

To finance the construction of the fleet, new types of taxes were introduced: landowners were united into so-called kumpanstvos of 10 thousand households, each of which had to build a ship with their own money. At this time, the first signs of dissatisfaction with Peter's activities appear. The conspiracy of Tsikler, who was trying to organize a Streltsy uprising, was uncovered.

In the summer of 1699, the first large Russian ship “Fortress” (46-gun) took the Russian ambassador to Constantinople for peace negotiations. The very existence of such a ship persuaded the Sultan to conclude peace in July 1700, which left the Azov fortress behind Russia.

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

The Great Embassy of 1697-1698

In March 1697, the Grand Embassy was sent to Western Europe through Livonia, the main purpose of which was to find allies against the Ottoman Empire. Admiral General F. Ya. Lefort, General F. A. Golovin, and Head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz P. B. Voznitsyn were appointed great ambassadors plenipotentiary.

In total, up to 250 people entered the embassy, ​​among whom, under the name of the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Peter Mikhailov, was Tsar Peter I himself. For the first time, a Russian Tsar undertook a trip outside the borders of his state.

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

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

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

In England, he visited a foundry, an arsenal, parliament, Oxford University, the Greenwich Observatory and the Mint, of which Isaac Newton was the keeper at that time. He was primarily interested in the technical achievements of Western countries, and not in the legal system.

They say that having visited the Palace of Westminster, Peter saw there “legalists”, that is, barristers, in their robes and wigs. He asked: “What kind of people are these and what are they doing here?” They answered him: “These are all lawyers, Your Majesty.” “Legalists! - Peter was surprised. - What are they for? In my entire kingdom there are only two lawyers, and I plan to hang one of them when I return home.”

True, having visited the English Parliament incognito, where the speeches of the deputies before King William III were translated for him, the Tsar said: “It’s fun to hear when the sons of the patronymic tell the king the obvious truth, this is something we should learn from the English.”

The Grand Embassy did not achieve its main goal: it was not possible to create a coalition against the Ottoman Empire due to the preparation of a number of European powers for the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). However, thanks to this war, favorable conditions developed for Russia’s struggle for the Baltic. Thus, there was a reorientation of Russian foreign policy from the southern to the northern direction.

Peter in Russia

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

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

During his 15 months abroad, Peter saw a lot and learned a lot. After the return of the tsar on August 25, 1698, his transformative activities began, aimed first at changing the external signs that distinguished the Old Slavic way of life from the Western European one.

In the Preobrazhensky Palace, Peter suddenly began to cut the beards of nobles, and already on August 29, 1698, the famous decree “On wearing German dress, on shaving beards and mustaches, on schismatics walking in the attire specified for them” was issued, which prohibited the wearing of beards from September 1.

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

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

His special decree stated: “Since people in Russia count the New Year differently, from now on, stop fooling people and count the New Year everywhere from the first of January. And as a sign of good beginnings and fun, congratulate each other on the New Year, wishing prosperity in business and in the family. In honor of the New Year, make decorations from fir trees, amuse children, and ride down the mountains on sleds. But adults shouldn’t indulge in drunkenness and massacres—there are plenty of other days for that.”.

Northern War 1700-1721

The Kozhukhov maneuvers (1694) showed Peter the advantage of the regiments of the “foreign system” over the archers. The Azov campaigns, in which four regular regiments took part (Preobrazhensky, Semenovsky, Lefortovo and Butyrsky regiments), finally convinced Peter of the low suitability of the troops of the old organization.

Therefore, in 1698, the old army was disbanded, except for 4 regular regiments, which became the basis of the new army.

In preparation for the war with Sweden, Peter ordered in 1699 to carry out a general recruitment and begin training of recruits according to the model established by the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovtsy. At the same time, a large number of foreign officers were recruited.

The war was supposed to begin with the siege of Narva, so the main attention was paid to organizing the infantry. There was simply not enough time to create all the necessary military structures. There were legends about the tsar’s impatience; he was impatient to enter the war and test his army in action. Management, a combat support service, and a strong, well-equipped rear had yet to be created.

After returning from the Great Embassy, ​​the tsar began to prepare for a war with Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea.

In 1699, the Northern Alliance was created against the Swedish king Charles XII, which, in addition to Russia, included Denmark, Saxony and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, led by the Saxon elector and the Polish king Augustus II. The driving force behind the union was the desire of Augustus II to take Livonia from Sweden. For help, he promised Russia the return of lands that previously belonged to the Russians (Ingria and Karelia).

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

In turn, Charles XII's plan was to defeat his opponents one by one. Soon after the bombing of Copenhagen, Denmark withdrew from the war on August 8, 1700, even before Russia entered it. Augustus II's attempts to capture Riga ended unsuccessfully. After this, Charles XII turned against Russia.

The beginning of the war for Peter was discouraging: the newly recruited army, handed over to the Saxon field marshal Duke de Croix, was defeated near Narva on November 19 (30), 1700. This defeat showed that everything had to start all over again.

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

However, Peter, continuing the reforms of the army according to the European model, resumed hostilities. Already in the fall of 1702, the Russian army, in the presence of the tsar, captured the Noteburg fortress (renamed Shlisselburg), and in the spring of 1703, the Nyenschanz fortress at the mouth of the Neva.

On May 10 (21), 1703, for the bold capture of two Swedish ships at the mouth of the Neva, Peter (then held the rank of captain of the Bombardier Company of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment) received his own approved Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.

Here On May 16 (27), 1703, the construction of St. Petersburg began, and on the island of Kotlin the base of the Russian fleet was located - the Kronshlot fortress (later Kronstadt). The exit to the Baltic Sea was breached.

In 1704, after the capture of Dorpat and Narva, Russia gained a foothold in the Eastern Baltic. Peter I’s offer to make peace was refused. After the deposition of Augustus II in 1706 and his replacement by the Polish king Stanislav Leszczynski, Charles XII began his fatal campaign against Russia.

Having passed through the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the king did not dare to continue the attack on Smolensk. Enlisting the support of the Little Russian Hetman Ivan Mazepa, Charles moved his troops south for food reasons and with the intention of strengthening the army with Mazepa’s supporters. In the Battle of Lesnaya on September 28 (October 9), 1708, Peter personally led the corvolant and defeated the Swedish corps of Levenhaupt, who was marching to join the army of Charles XII from Livonia. The Swedish army lost reinforcements and a convoy with military supplies. Peter later celebrated the anniversary of this battle as a turning point in the Northern War.

In the Battle of Poltava on June 27 (July 8), 1709, in which the army of Charles XII was completely defeated, Peter again commanded on the battlefield. Peter's hat was shot through. After the victory, he received the rank of first lieutenant general and schoutbenacht from the blue flag.

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

Peter again focused on the war with the Swedes; in 1713, the Swedes were defeated in Pomerania and lost all their possessions in continental Europe. However, thanks to Sweden's dominance at sea, the Northern War dragged on. The Baltic Fleet was just being created by Russia, but managed to win its first victory in the Battle of Gangut in the summer of 1714.

In 1716, Peter led a united fleet from Russia, England, Denmark and Holland, but due to disagreements in the Allied camp, it was not possible to organize an attack on Sweden.

As Russia's Baltic Fleet strengthened, Sweden felt the danger of an invasion of its lands. In 1718, peace negotiations began, interrupted by the sudden death of Charles XII. The Swedish queen Ulrika Eleonora resumed the war, hoping for help from England.

The devastating Russian landings on the Swedish coast in 1720 prompted Sweden to resume negotiations. On August 30 (September 10), 1721, a treaty was concluded between Russia and Sweden Nystadt Peace, ending the 21-year war.

Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea, annexed the territory of Ingria, part of Karelia, Estland and Livonia. Russia became a great European power, in commemoration of which on October 22 (November 2), 1721 Peter, at the request of the senators, accepted the title of Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great: "...we thought, from the example of the ancients, especially the Roman and Greek peoples, to have the courage to accept, on the day of celebration and the announcement of the glorious and prosperous world concluded by these centuries through the labors of all Russia, after reading its treatise in the church, according to our with the most submissive thanksgiving for the intercession of this peace, to bring my petition to you publicly, so that you deign to accept from us, as from your faithful subjects, in thanksgiving the title of Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great, as usual from the Roman Senate for the noble deeds of emperors their such titles publicly presented to them as a gift and signed on statutes for memory for eternal generations"(Petition of senators to Tsar Peter I. October 22, 1721).

Russian-Turkish War 1710-1713. Prut campaign

After the defeat in the Battle of Poltava, the Swedish king Charles XII took refuge in the possessions of the Ottoman Empire, the city of Bendery. Peter I concluded an agreement with Turkey on the expulsion of Charles XII from Turkish territory, but then the Swedish king was allowed to stay and create a threat to the southern border of Russia with the help of part of the Ukrainian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars.

Seeking the expulsion of Charles XII, Peter I began to threaten war with Turkey, but in response, on November 20, 1710, the Sultan himself declared war on Russia. The real cause of the war was the capture of Azov by Russian troops in 1696 and the appearance of the Russian fleet in the Sea of ​​Azov.

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

On March 6 (17), 1711, Peter I went to the troops from Moscow with his faithful girlfriend Ekaterina Alekseevna, whom he ordered to be considered his wife and queen (even before the official wedding, which took place in 1712).

The army crossed the border of Moldova in June 1711, but already on July 20, 1711, 190 thousand Turks and Crimean Tatars pressed the 38 thousand Russian army to the right bank of the Prut River, completely surrounding it. In a seemingly hopeless situation, Peter managed to conclude the Prut Peace Treaty with the Grand Vizier, according to which the army and the Tsar himself escaped capture, but in return Russia gave Azov to Turkey and lost access to the Sea of ​​Azov.

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

Russia's expansion to the east under Peter I did not stop. In 1716, Buchholz's expedition founded Omsk at the confluence of the Irtysh and Om rivers., upstream the Irtysh: Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semipalatinsk and other fortresses.

In 1716-1717, a detachment of Bekovich-Cherkassky was sent to Central Asia with the goal of persuading the Khiva Khan to become a citizen and to scout out the route to India. However, the Russian detachment was destroyed by the khan. During the reign of Peter I, Kamchatka was annexed to Russia. Peter planned an expedition across the Pacific Ocean to America (intending to establish Russian colonies there), but did not have time to carry out his plans.

Caspian campaign 1722-1723

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

On July 18, 1722, after the son of the Persian Shah Tokhmas Mirza asked for help, a 22,000-strong Russian detachment sailed from Astrakhan along the Caspian Sea. In August, Derbent surrendered, after which the Russians returned to Astrakhan due to problems with supplies.

The following year, 1723, the western shore of the Caspian Sea with the fortresses of Baku, Rasht, and Astrabad was conquered. Further progress was stopped by the threat of the Ottoman Empire entering the war, which captured western and central Transcaucasia.

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

According to the Treaty of Constantinople of June 12, 1724, Turkey recognized all Russian acquisitions in the western part of the Caspian Sea and renounced further claims to Persia. The junction of the borders between Russia, Turkey and Persia was established at the confluence of the Araks and Kura rivers. Troubles continued in Persia, and Türkiye challenged the provisions of the Treaty of Constantinople before the border was clearly established. It should be noted that soon after the death of Peter, these possessions were lost due to high losses of garrisons from disease, and, in the opinion of Tsarina Anna Ioannovna, the lack of prospects for the region.

Russian Empire under Peter I

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

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

Secretary of the Prussian embassy in Russia in 1717-1733, I.-G. Fokkerodt, at the request of someone who was working on the history of Peter's reign, wrote memoirs about Russia under Peter. Fokkerodt tried to estimate the population of the Russian Empire by the end of the reign of Peter I. According to his information, the number of people in the tax-paying class was 5 million 198 thousand people, from which the number of peasants and townspeople, including women, was estimated at approximately 10 million.

Many souls were hidden by the landowners; the repeated audit increased the number of tax-paying souls to almost 6 million people.

There were up to 500 thousand Russian nobles and families, up to 200 thousand officials and up to 300 thousand clergy and families.

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

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

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

Reforms of Peter I

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

A feature of the first stage was haste and not always thought-out character, which was explained by the conduct of the Northern War. The reforms were aimed primarily at raising funds for the war, were carried out by force and often did not lead to the desired result. In addition to government reforms, extensive reforms were carried out at the first stage with the aim of modernizing the way of life. In the second period, reforms were more systematic.

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

Peter carried out a reform of public administration, transformations in the army, a navy was created, and a reform of church government was carried out in the spirit of Caesaropapism, aimed at eliminating the church jurisdiction autonomous from the state and subordinating the Russian church hierarchy to the emperor.

Financial reform was also carried out, and measures were taken to develop industry and trade.

After returning from the Great Embassy, ​​Peter I waged a struggle against the external manifestations of an “outdated” way of life (the ban on beards is most famous), but no less paid attention to introducing the nobility to education and secular Europeanized culture. Secular educational institutions began to appear, the first Russian newspaper was founded, and translations of many books into Russian appeared. Peter made success in service for the nobles dependent on education.

Peter was clearly aware of the need for enlightenment, and took a number of decisive measures to this end.

On January 14 (25), 1701, a school of mathematical and navigational sciences was opened in Moscow.

In 1701-1721, artillery, engineering and medical schools were opened in Moscow, an engineering school and a naval academy in St. Petersburg, and mining schools at the Olonets and Ural factories.

In 1705, the first gymnasium in Russia was opened.

The goals of mass education were to be served by digital schools created by decree of 1714 in provincial cities, designed to “teach children of all ranks literacy, numbers and geometry.”

It was planned to create two such schools in each province, where education was to be free. Garrison schools were opened for soldiers' children, and a network of theological schools was created to train priests starting in 1721.

Peter's decrees introduced compulsory education for nobles and clergy, but a similar measure for the urban population met fierce resistance and was cancelled.

Peter's attempt to create an all-estate primary school failed (the creation of a network of schools ceased after his death; most of the digital schools under his successors were repurposed as estate schools for training the clergy), but nevertheless, during his reign the foundations were laid for the spread of education in Russia.

Peter created new printing houses, in which 1312 book titles were printed between 1700 and 1725 (twice as many as in the entire previous history of Russian book printing). Thanks to the rise of printing, paper consumption increased from 4-8 thousand sheets at the end of the 17th century to 50 thousand sheets in 1719.

There have been changes in the Russian language, which included 4.5 thousand new words borrowed from European languages.

In 1724, Peter approved the charter of the newly founded Academy of Sciences (opened a few months after his death).

Of particular importance was the construction of stone St. Petersburg, in which foreign architects took part and which was carried out according to the plan developed by the Tsar. He created a new urban environment with previously unfamiliar forms of life and pastime (theater, masquerades). The interior decoration of houses, the way of life, the composition of food, etc. changed. By a special decree of the tsar in 1718, assemblies were introduced, representing a new form of communication between people for Russia. At the assemblies, the nobles danced and communicated freely, unlike previous feasts and feasts.

The reforms carried out by Peter I affected not only politics, economics, but also art. Peter invited foreign artists to Russia and at the same time sent talented young people to study “art” abroad. In the second quarter of the 18th century. “Peter’s pensioners” began to return to Russia, bringing with them new artistic experience and acquired skills.

On December 30, 1701 (January 10, 1702) Peter issued a decree, which ordered that full names be written in petitions and other documents instead of derogatory half-names (Ivashka, Senka, etc.), not kneel before the Tsar, and a hat in winter in the cold Do not take pictures in front of the house where the king is. He explained the need for these innovations as follows: “Less baseness, more zeal for service and loyalty to me and the state - this honor is characteristic of a king...”.

Peter tried to change the position of women in Russian society. By special decrees (1700, 1702 and 1724) he prohibited forced marriage.

It was prescribed that there should be a period of at least six weeks between betrothal and wedding, “so that the bride and groom can recognize each other”. If during this time, the decree said, “The groom doesn’t want to take the bride, or the bride doesn’t want to marry the groom”, no matter how parents insist on it, “there is freedom in that”.

Since 1702, the bride herself (and not just her relatives) was given the formal right to dissolve the betrothal and upset the arranged marriage, and neither party had the right to “beat the forfeit.”

Legislative regulations 1696-1704. on public festivities, mandatory participation in celebrations and festivities was introduced for all Russians, including the “female sex.”

From the “old” in the structure of the nobility under Peter, the former enslavement of the service class through the personal service of each service person to the state remained unchanged. But in this enslavement its form has changed somewhat. They were now obliged to serve in the regular regiments and in the navy, as well as in the civil service in all those administrative and judicial institutions that were transformed from the old ones and arose again.

The Decree on Single Inheritance of 1714 regulated the legal status of the nobility and secured the legal merger of such forms of land ownership as patrimony and estate.

From the reign of Peter I, peasants began to be divided into serf (landowner), monastic and state peasants. All three categories were recorded in the revision tales and subject to a poll tax.

Since 1724, landowner peasants could leave their villages to work and for other needs only with the written permission of the master, certified by the zemstvo commissar and the colonel of the regiment that was stationed in the area. Thus, the landowner's power over the personality of the peasants received even more opportunities to strengthen, taking into its unaccountable disposal both the personality and property of the privately owned peasant. From now on, this new state of the rural worker receives the name “serf” or “revision” soul.

In general, Peter's reforms were aimed at strengthening the state and introducing the elite to European culture while simultaneously strengthening absolutism. During the reforms, the technical and economic lag of Russia from a number of other European countries was overcome, access to the Baltic Sea was won, and transformations were carried out in many spheres of life of Russian society.

Gradually, a different system of values, worldview, and aesthetic ideas took shape among the nobility, which was radically different from the values ​​and worldview of the majority of representatives of other classes. At the same time, the popular forces were extremely exhausted, the preconditions were created (Decree on Succession to the Throne) for a crisis of supreme power, which led to the “era of palace coups.”

Having set himself the goal of equipping the economy with the best Western production technologies, Peter reorganized all sectors of the national economy.

During the Great Embassy, ​​the tsar studied various aspects of European life, including technical ones. He learned the basics of the prevailing economic theory at that time - mercantilism.

The mercantilists based their economic teaching on two principles: first, every nation, in order not to become poor, must produce everything it needs itself, without turning to the help of other people's labor, the labor of other peoples; secondly, in order to get rich, every nation must export manufactured products from its country as much as possible and import foreign products as little as possible.

Under Peter, the development of geological exploration begins, thanks to which metal ore deposits are found in the Urals. In the Urals alone, no less than 27 metallurgical plants were built under Peter. Gunpowder factories, sawmills, and glass factories were founded in Moscow, Tula, and St. Petersburg. In Astrakhan, Samara, Krasnoyarsk, the production of potash, sulfur, and saltpeter was established, and sailing, linen and cloth factories were created. This made it possible to begin a gradual phase-out of imports.

By the end of the reign of Peter I, there were already 233 factories, including more than 90 large manufactories built during his reign. The largest were shipyards (the St. Petersburg shipyard alone employed 3.5 thousand people), sailing manufactories and mining and metallurgical plants (9 Ural factories employed 25 thousand workers); there were a number of other enterprises employing from 500 to 1000 people.

To supply the new capital The first canals in Russia were dug.

Peter's reforms were achieved through violence against the population, its complete subordination to the will of the monarch, and the eradication of all dissent. Even Pushkin, who sincerely admired Peter, wrote that many of his decrees were “cruel, capricious and, it seems, written with a whip,” as if “snatched from an impatient, autocratic landowner.”

Klyuchevsky points out that the triumph of the absolute monarchy, which sought to forcefully drag its subjects from the Middle Ages into modernity, contained a fundamental contradiction: “Peter’s reform was a struggle of despotism with the people, with their inertia. He hoped, with the threat of power, to provoke independent activity in an enslaved society and through the slave-owning nobility to introduce European science in Russia... wanted the slave, while remaining a slave, to act consciously and freely."

The construction of St. Petersburg from 1704 to 1717 was mainly carried out by “working people” mobilized as part of natural labor service. They felled forests, filled in swamps, built embankments, etc.

In 1704, up to 40 thousand working people, mostly landowner serfs and state peasants, were summoned to St. Petersburg from various provinces. In 1707, many workers sent to St. Petersburg from the Belozersky region fled. Peter I ordered to take family members of the fugitives - their fathers, mothers, wives, children “or whoever lives in their houses” and keep them in prison until the fugitives are found.

The factory workers of Peter the Great's time came from a wide variety of strata of the population: runaway serfs, vagabonds, beggars, even criminals - all of them, according to strict orders, were picked up and sent “to work” in the factories.

Peter could not stand “walking” people who were not assigned to any business; he was ordered to seize them, not even sparing the monastic rank, and send them to factories. There were frequent cases when, in order to supply factories, and especially factories, with workers, villages and villages of peasants were assigned to factories and factories, as was still practiced in the 17th century. Those assigned to the factory worked for it and in it by order of the owner.

In November 1702 a decree was issued which stated: “From now on, in Moscow and in the Moscow court order, there will be people of whatever ranks, or from the cities, governors and clerks, and from the monasteries, they will send authorities, and the landowners and patrimonial owners will bring their people and peasants, and those people and peasants will begin to say after themselves, “ the sovereign’s word and deed,” and without questioning those people in the Moscow court order, send them to the Preobrazhensky order to the steward, Prince Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky. And in the cities, governors and officials send such people who learn to say “the sovereign’s word and deed” to Moscow without asking questions.”.

In 1718, the Secret Chancellery was created to investigate the case of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, then other political matters of extreme importance were transferred to her.

On August 18, 1718, a decree was issued, which, under threat of death penalty, prohibited “writing while locked up.” Those who failed to report this were also subject to the death penalty. This decree was aimed at combating anti-government “nominal letters”.

The decree of Peter I, issued in 1702, proclaimed religious tolerance one of the main state principles.

“We must deal with those who oppose the church with meekness and reason,” said Peter. “The Lord gave kings power over the nations, but Christ alone has power over the conscience of people.” But this decree was not applied to the Old Believers.

In 1716, to facilitate their accounting, they were given the opportunity to live semi-legally on the condition that they pay “double all payments for this split.” At the same time, control and punishment of those who evaded registration and payment of double tax were strengthened.

Those who did not confess and did not pay double tax were ordered to be fined, each time increasing the fine rate, and even sent to hard labor. For seduction into schism (any Old Believer worship service or performance of religious services was considered seduction), as before Peter I, the death penalty was imposed, which was confirmed in 1722.

Old Believer priests were declared either schismatic teachers, if they were Old Believer mentors, or traitors to Orthodoxy, if they had previously been priests, and were punished for both. The schismatic monasteries and chapels were ruined. Through torture, whipping, tearing out nostrils, threats of executions and exile, Nizhny Novgorod Bishop Pitirim managed to return a considerable number of Old Believers to the fold of the official church, but the majority of them soon “fell into schism” again. Deacon Alexander Pitirim, who led the Kerzhen Old Believers, forced him to renounce the Old Believers, shackling him and threatening him with beatings, as a result of which the deacon “feared from him, from the bishop, great torment, and exile, and the tearing of the nostrils, as inflicted on others.”

When Alexander complained in a letter to Peter I about the actions of Pitirim, he was subjected to terrible torture and was executed on May 21, 1720.

The adoption of the imperial title by Peter I, as the Old Believers believed, indicated that he was the Antichrist, since this emphasized the continuity of state power from Catholic Rome. The Antichrist essence of Peter, according to the Old Believers, was also evidenced by the calendar changes made during his reign and the population census he introduced for the per capita salary.

Family of Peter I

For the first time, Peter married at the age of 17, at the insistence of his mother, to Evdokia Lopukhina in 1689. A year later, Tsarevich Alexei was born to them, who was raised by his mother in concepts alien to Peter’s reform activities. The remaining children of Peter and Evdokia died soon after birth. In 1698, Evdokia Lopukhina became involved in the Streltsy revolt, the purpose of which was to elevate her son to the kingdom, and was exiled to a monastery.

Alexei Petrovich, the official heir to the Russian throne, condemned his father's reforms, and eventually fled to Vienna under the patronage of his wife's relative (Charlotte of Brunswick), Emperor Charles VI, where he sought support in the overthrow of Peter I. In 1717, the prince was persuaded to return home, where he was taken into custody.

On June 24 (July 5), 1718, the Supreme Court, consisting of 127 people, sentenced Alexei to death, finding him guilty of treason. On June 26 (July 7), 1718, the prince, without waiting for the sentence to be carried out, died in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The true cause of the death of Tsarevich Alexei has not yet been reliably established. From his marriage to Princess Charlotte of Brunswick, Tsarevich Alexei left a son, Peter Alekseevich (1715-1730), who became Emperor Peter II in 1727, and a daughter, Natalya Alekseevna (1714-1728).

In 1703, Peter I met 19-year-old Katerina, whose maiden name was Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya(widow of dragoon Johann Kruse), captured by Russian troops as booty during the capture of the Swedish fortress of Marienburg.

Peter took a former maid from the Baltic peasants from Alexander Menshikov and made her his mistress. In 1704, Katerina gave birth to her first child, named Peter, and the following year, Paul (both died soon after). Even before her legal marriage to Peter, Katerina gave birth to daughters Anna (1708) and Elizabeth (1709). Elizabeth later became empress (reigned 1741-1761).

Katerina alone could cope with the king in his fits of anger; she knew how to calm Peter’s attacks of convulsive headaches with affection and patient attention. The sound of Katerina's voice calmed Peter. Then she “sat him down and took him, caressing him, by the head, which she lightly scratched. This had a magical effect on him; he fell asleep within a few minutes. So as not to disturb his sleep, she held his head on her chest, sitting motionless for two or three hours. After that, he woke up completely fresh and cheerful.”

The official wedding of Peter I and Ekaterina Alekseevna took place on February 19, 1712, shortly after returning from the Prut campaign.

In 1724 Peter crowned Catherine as empress and co-regent.

Ekaterina Alekseevna bore her husband 11 children, but most of them died in childhood, except for Anna and Elizaveta.

After Peter's death in January 1725, Ekaterina Alekseevna, with the support of the serving nobility and guards regiments, became the first ruling Russian empress, but she did not rule for long and died in 1727, vacating the throne for Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich. The first wife of Peter the Great, Evdokia Lopukhina, outlived her lucky rival and died in 1731, having managed to see the reign of her grandson Peter Alekseevich.

Children of Peter I:

With Evdokia Lopukhina:

Alexey Petrovich 02/18/1690 - 06/26/1718. He was considered the official heir to the throne before his arrest. He was married in 1711 to Princess Sophia Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbittel, sister of Elizabeth, wife of Emperor Charles VI. Children: Natalya (1714-28) and Peter (1715-30), later Emperor Peter II.

Alexander 03.10.1691 14.05.1692

Alexander Petrovich died in 1692.

Paul 1693 - 1693

He was born and died in 1693, which is why the existence of a third son from Evdokia Lopukhina is sometimes called into question.

With Ekaterina:

Catherine 1707-1708.

Illegitimate, died in infancy.

Anna Petrovna 02/07/1708 - 05/15/1728. In 1725 she married the German Duke Karl Friedrich. She left for Kiel, where she gave birth to her son Karl Peter Ulrich (later Russian Emperor Peter III).

Elizaveta Petrovna 12/29/1709 - 01/05/1762. Empress since 1741. In 1744 she entered into a secret marriage with A.G. Razumovsky, from whom, according to contemporaries, she gave birth to several children.

Natalya 03/03/1713 - 05/27/1715

Margarita 09/03/1714 - 07/27/1715

Peter 10/29/1715 - 04/25/1719 He was considered the official heir to the crown from 06/26/1718 until his death.

Pavel 01/02/1717 - 01/03/1717

Natalya 08/31/1718 - 03/15/1725.

Decree of Peter I on succession to the throne

In the last years of the reign of Peter the Great, the question of succession to the throne arose: who would take the throne after the death of the emperor.

Tsarevich Pyotr Petrovich (1715-1719, son of Ekaterina Alekseevna), declared heir to the throne upon the abdication of Alexei Petrovich, died in childhood.

The direct heir was the son of Tsarevich Alexei and Princess Charlotte, Pyotr Alekseevich. However, if you follow the custom and declare the son of the disgraced Alexei as the heir, then the hopes of opponents of the reforms to return to the old order were aroused, and on the other hand, fears arose among Peter’s comrades, who voted for the execution of Alexei.

On February 5 (16), 1722, Peter issued a Decree on Succession to the Throne (cancelled by Paul I 75 years later), in which he abolished the ancient custom of transferring the throne to direct descendants in the male line, but allowed the appointment of any worthy person as heir at the will of the monarch. The text of this important decree justified the need for this measure: “Why did they decide to make this charter, so that it would always be in the will of the ruling sovereign, whoever he wants, to determine the inheritance, and to a certain one, seeing what obscenity, he will cancel it, so that the children and descendants do not fall into such anger as is written above, having this bridle on myself".

The decree was so unusual for Russian society that it had to be explained and consent was required from the subjects under oath. The schismatics were indignant: “He took a Swede for himself, and that queen will not give birth to children, and he made a decree to kiss the cross for the future sovereign, and they kiss the cross for the Swede. Of course, a Swede will reign.”

Peter Alekseevich was removed from the throne, but the question of succession to the throne remained open. Many believed that the throne would be taken by either Anna or Elizabeth, Peter’s daughter from his marriage to Ekaterina Alekseevna.

But in 1724, Anna renounced any claims to the Russian throne after she became engaged to the Duke of Holstein, Karl Friedrich. If the throne had been taken by the youngest daughter Elizabeth, who was 15 years old (in 1724), then the Duke of Holstein would have ruled instead, who dreamed of returning the lands conquered by the Danes with the help of Russia.

Peter and his nieces, the daughters of his elder brother Ivan, were not satisfied: Anna of Courland, Ekaterina of Mecklenburg and Praskovya Ioannovna. There was only one candidate left - Peter's wife, Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. Peter needed a person who would continue the work he had started, his transformation.

On May 7, 1724, Peter crowned Catherine empress and co-ruler, but a short time later he suspected her of adultery (the Mons affair). The decree of 1722 violated the usual structure of succession to the throne, but Peter did not have time to appoint an heir before his death.

Death of Peter I

In the last years of his reign, Peter was very ill (presumably from kidney stones complicated by uremia).

In the summer of 1724, his illness intensified; in September he felt better, but after a while the attacks intensified. In October, Peter went to inspect the Ladoga Canal, contrary to the advice of his physician Blumentrost. From Olonets, Peter traveled to Staraya Russa and in November traveled by water to St. Petersburg.

Near Lakhta, he had to stand waist-deep in water to save a boat with soldiers that had run aground. The attacks of the disease intensified, but Peter, not paying attention to them, continued to engage in government affairs. On January 17 (28), 1725, he had such a bad time that he ordered a camp church to be erected in the room next to his bedroom, and on January 22 (February 2) he confessed. The patient’s strength began to leave him; he no longer screamed, as before, from severe pain, but only moaned.

On January 27 (February 7), all those sentenced to death or hard labor (excluding murderers and those convicted of repeated robbery) were amnestied. On the same day, at the end of the second hour, Peter demanded paper, began to write, but the pen fell out of his hands, and only two words could be made out from what was written: “Give everything up...”.

The Tsar then ordered his daughter Anna Petrovna to be called so that she could write under his dictation, but when she arrived, Peter had already fallen into oblivion. The story about Peter’s words “Give up everything...” and the order to call Anna is known only from the notes of the Holstein Privy Councilor G.F. Bassevich. According to N.I. Pavlenko and V.P. Kozlov, it is a tendentious fiction aimed at hinting at the rights of Anna Petrovna, the wife of the Holstein Duke Karl Friedrich, to the Russian throne.

When it became obvious that the emperor was dying, the question arose as to who would take Peter's place. The Senate, the Synod and the generals - all institutions that did not have the formal right to control the fate of the throne, even before the death of Peter, gathered on the night of January 27 (February 7) to January 28 (February 8) to resolve the issue of Peter the Great's successor.

Guards officers entered the meeting room, two guards regiments entered the square, and to the drumbeat of troops withdrawn by the party of Ekaterina Alekseevna and Menshikov, the Senate made a unanimous decision by 4 a.m. on January 28 (February 8). By decision of the Senate, the throne was inherited by Peter's wife, Ekaterina Alekseevna, who became the first Russian empress on January 28 (February 8), 1725 under the name Catherine I.

At the beginning of six o'clock in the morning on January 28 (February 8), 1725, Peter the Great died in terrible agony in his Winter Palace near the Winter Canal, according to the official version, from pneumonia. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg. The autopsy showed the following: “a sharp narrowing in the posterior part of the urethra, hardening of the bladder neck and Antonov fire.” Death followed from inflammation of the bladder, which turned into gangrene due to urinary retention caused by narrowing of the urethra.

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