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

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

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

He who is cruel is not a hero.

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

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

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

Money is the artery of war.

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

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

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

Childhood, youth, education of Peter I

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

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

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

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

Beginning of independent rule

To be afraid of misfortune is to see no happiness.

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

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

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

The first transformations of Peter I

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

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

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

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

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

Lessons from the Northern War

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

Governance reform of Peter I

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

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

Transformations in the economy

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

Transformations of Peter I in the field of culture

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

Personal life of the king

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

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

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

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

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

Results of Peter's reforms

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speak briefly, ask for little, go away!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The judgments of Peter I’s contemporaries about this undertaking can be read from Fokerodt. Opinions about the reform of Peter I differed extremely during his lifetime. A small group of close collaborators held an opinion, which Mikhail Lomonosov later formulated with the words: “he is your God, your God was, Russia.” The masses, on the contrary, were ready to agree with the schismatics’ assertion that Peter I was the Antichrist. Both proceeded from the general idea that Peter carried out a radical revolution and created new Russia, not similar to the previous one. A new army, a navy, relations with Europe, and finally, a European appearance and European technology - all these were facts that caught the eye; Everyone recognized them, differing only fundamentally in their assessment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Date of publication or update 12/15/2017

To the table of contents: Rulers

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

Russian Tsar (1682). The first Russian emperor (since 1721), an outstanding statesman, diplomat and commander, all his activities were related to reforms.

From the Romanov dynasty.

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

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

But Princess Sophia did not want to lose power and organized a revolt of the archers against Peter. Having learned about this, Peter hid in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Remembering how the archers killed many of his relatives, he experienced real horror. From that time on, Peter developed nervous tics and convulsions.

Peter I, Emperor of All Russia. Engraving from the early 19th century.

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

Peter I, Emperor of All Russia. Portrait. Unknown artist of the late 18th century.

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

Under the guise of studying maritime affairs and shipbuilding, Peter volunteered at the Great Embassy in 1697–1698. to Europe. There, under the name of Peter Mikhailov, the tsar completed a full course of artillery sciences in Brandenburg and Koenigsberg, worked as a carpenter in the shipyards of Amsterdam, studied naval architecture and plan drawing, and completed a theoretical course in shipbuilding in England. On his orders, instruments, weapons, and books were purchased in England, and foreign craftsmen and scientists were invited. The British said about Peter that there was no craft that the Russian Tsar would not have become familiar with.

Portrait Peter I. Artist A. Antropov. 1767

At the same time, the Grand Embassy prepared the creation of the Northern Alliance against Sweden, which finally took shape only 2 years later (1699). Summer 1697 Peter I held negotiations with the Austrian emperor, but having received news of the impending uprising of the Streltsy, which was organized by Princess Sophia, who promised many privileges in the event of the overthrow of Peter, he returned to Russia. On August 26, 1698, the investigation into the Streltsy case did not spare any of the rebels (1,182 people were executed, Sophia and her sister Martha were tonsured as nuns).

Returning to Russia, Peter I began his transformative activities.

In February 1699, on his orders, the unreliable rifle regiments were disbanded and the formation of regular soldiers and dragoons began. Soon, decrees were signed, under pain of fines and flogging, ordering men to “cut their beards,” wear European-style clothing, and women to uncover their hair. Since 1700, a new calendar was introduced with the beginning of the year on January 1 (instead of September 1) and chronology from the “Nativity of Christ”. All these actions Peter I provided for the breaking of ancient mores.

At the same time Peter I began serious changes in government. country. Over the course of more than 35 years of rule, he managed to carry out many reforms in the field of culture and education. Thus, the monopoly of the clergy on education was eliminated, and secular schools were opened. Under Peter, the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences (1701), the Medical-Surgical School (1707) - the future Military Medical Academy, the Naval Academy (1715), the Engineering and Artillery Schools (1719), and translator schools were opened. at the collegiums. In 1719, the first museum in Russian history began to operate - the Kunstkamera with a public library.

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

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

However, reform activities Peter I took place in a bitter struggle with the conservative opposition. The reforms provoked resistance from the boyars and clergy (conspiracy of I. Tsikler, 1697).

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

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

However, the war with Sweden, called the Northern War, still continued. On June 27, 1709, near the Poltava fortress, the great Battle of Poltava took place, which ended in the complete defeat of the Swedish army. Peter I He himself led his troops and participated in the battle along with everyone else. He encouraged and inspired the soldiers, saying his famous words: “You are fighting not for Peter, but for the state entrusted to Peter. And about Peter, know that life is not dear to him, if only Russia lives, its glory, honor and prosperity!” Historians write that on the same day, Tsar Peter threw a big feast, invited the captured Swedish generals to it and, returning their swords to them, said: “... I drink to the health of you, my teachers in the art of war.” After the Battle of Poltava, Peter forever secured access to the Baltic Sea. From now on foreign countries were forced to reckon with the strong power Russia.

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

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

However, the weight of the Northern War and reforms fell heavily on the peasantry, who made up the majority of the Russian population. Discontent erupted in popular uprisings (Astrakhan uprising, 1705; Peasant War led by K.A. Bulavin, 1707–1708; unrest of the Bashkirs 1705–1711), which were suppressed by Peter with cruelty and indifference.

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

The Decree on Single Inheritance of 1714 equalized estates and patrimonial estates and introduced primogeniture (granting the right to inherit real estate to the eldest of the sons), the purpose of which was to ensure the stable growth of noble land ownership.

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

Strengthening its position in the Baltic Sea, Peter I back in 1703, he founded the city of St. Petersburg at the mouth of the Neva River, which turned into a sea trading port designed to serve the needs of all of Russia. By founding this city, Peter “cut a window to Europe.”

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

In 1721, Peter finally concluded the Treaty of Nystad, ending the Northern War. According to the Peace of Nystad, Russia regained the Novgorod lands near Ladoga that had been torn away from it and acquired Vyborg in Finland and the entire Baltic region with Ravel and Riga. For this victory, Peter I received the title of “Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great"Thus, the long process of formation of the Russian Empire was formally completed.

In 1722, a Table of Ranks of all military, civil and court service ranks was published, according to which family nobility could be obtained “for blameless service to the emperor and the state.”

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

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

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

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

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

Peter was married twice:

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

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

U Peter I Alekseevich the Great officially there were 14 children:

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

Alexander (1691 – 1692)

Paul (born and died 1693)

Peter (1704 – 1707)

Paul (1705 – 1707)

Catherine (1706 – 1708)

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

Elizabeth (1709 – 1761) – Russian Empress (1741-1762)

Natalia (1713 – 1715)

Margaret (1714 – 1715)

Peter (1715 – 1719)

Pavel (born and died in 1717)

Natalia (1718 – 1725)

Peter (1719 – 1723)

Image Peter I Alekseevich the Great was embodied in cinema (“Tsarevich Alexey”, 1918; “Peter the Great”, 1938; “Tobacco Captain”, 1972; “The Tale of How Tsar Peter Married the Arab", 1976; “Peter’s Youth”, 1980; “In the Beginning glorious deeds", 1980, "Young Russia", 1982; "The Demidovs", 1983; "Peter the Great", 1985; "Tsarevich Alexey", 1997; ", 2000; "Prayer for Hetman Mazepa" / "Prayer for Hetman Mazepa", 2001; "Servant of the Sovereigns", 2006).

His extraordinary appearance was captured by artists (A. N. Benois, M. V. Lomonosov, E. E. Lansere, V. I. Surikov, V. A. Serov). Stories and novels about Peter have been written: A. N. Tolstoy “Peter the Great”, A. S. Pushkin “Poltava” and “ Bronze Horseman", "The Blackamoor of Peter the Great", Merezhkovsky D.S. "Peter and Alexey", Anatoly Brusnikin - "The Ninth Savior", Gregory Keyes series "The Age of Madness".

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

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

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

The last Tsar of All Rus' and the first Emperor of Russia - Peter the Great- a truly great figure. It is not for nothing that this king was called “The Great” by Peter. He sought not only to expand the boundaries Russian state, but also to make life in it similar to that seen in Europe. He learned a lot himself and taught others.

Brief biography of Peter the Great

Peter the Great belonged to the Romanov family, he was born June 9, 1672. His father is the king Alexey Mikhailovich. His mother is the second wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, Natalia Naryshkina. Peter I was the first child from the tsar’s second marriage and the fourteenth.

IN 1976 Peter Alekseevich’s father died and his eldest son ascended the throne - Fedor Alekseevich. He was sickly and reigned for about 6 years.

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.

Streletsky riot

After the death of Feodor III, the question arose: who should rule next? Peter's elder brother Ivan was a sickly child (he was also called weak-minded) and it was decided to place Peter on the throne.

However, the relatives of the first wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich did not like this - Miloslavsky. Having secured the support of 20 thousand archers who were dissatisfied at that time, the Miloslavskys staged a riot in 1682.

The consequence of this Streltsy revolt was the proclamation of Peter's sister, Sophia, as regent until Ivan and Peter grew up. Subsequently, Peter and Ivan were considered dual rulers of the Russian state until Ivan's death in 1686.

Queen Natalya was forced to go to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow with Peter.

"Amusing" troops of Peter

In the villages Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky Peter was engaged in far from childish games - he formed from his peers "funny" troops and learned to fight. Foreign officers helped him master military literacy.

Subsequently, these two battalions were formed Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments- the basis of Peter's guard.

Beginning of independent rule

In 1689 On the advice of his mother, Peter got married. The daughter of a Moscow boyar was chosen as his bride Evdokia Lopukhina. After his marriage, 17-year-old Peter was considered an adult and could lay claim to independent rule.

Suppression of the riot

Princess Sophia immediately realized the danger she was in danger of. Not wanting to lose power, she persuaded the archers oppose Peter. Young Peter managed to gather an army loyal to him, and together with him he moved to Moscow.

The uprising was brutally suppressed, the instigators were executed, they were hanged, whipped, and burned with a hot iron. Sophia was sent to Novodevichy Convent.

Capture of Azov

Since 1696, after the death of Tsar Ivan V, Peter became sole ruler of Russia. A year earlier, he turned his gaze to the map. Advisers, among them the beloved Swiss Lefort, suggested that Russia needs access to the sea, it needs to build a fleet, it needs to move south.

The Azov campaigns began. Peter himself took part in battles and gained combat experience. On the second attempt they captured Azov, in a convenient bay of the Azov Sea, Peter founded the city Taganrog.

Trip to Europe

Peter went “incognito”, he was called volunteer Peter Mikhailov,
sometimes captain of the Preobrazhensky regiment.

In England Peter the Great studied maritime affairs, in Germany- artillery, in Holland worked as a simple carpenter. But he had to return to Moscow prematurely - information about a new mutiny of the archers reached him. After the brutal massacre of the archers and executions, Peter began preparing for war with Sweden.

Peter's war with Sweden

On Russia's allies - Poland and Denmark- the young Swedish king began to attack CharlesXII, determined to conquer all of northern Europe. Peter I decided to enter the war against Sweden.

Battle of Narva

First battle of Narva in 1700 was unsuccessful for the Russian troops. Having a multiple advantage over the Swedish army, the Russians were unable to take the Narva fortress and had to retreat.

Decisive action

Having attacked Poland, Charles XII was stuck in the war for a long time. Taking advantage of the ensuing respite, Peter announced a recruitment drive. He issued a decree according to which money and bells from churches began to be collected for the war against Sweden melted down for cannons, strengthened old fortresses, erected new ones.

St. Petersburg – the new capital of Russia

Peter the Great personally participated in a combat sortie with two regiments of soldiers against Swedish ships blocking access to the Baltic Sea. The attack was a success, the ships were captured, and access to the sea became free.

On the banks of the Neva, Peter ordered the construction of a fortress in honor of Saints Peter and Paul, which was later named Petropavlovskaya. It was around this fortress that the city was formed Saint Petersburg- the new capital of Russia.

Battle of Poltava

The news of Peter's successful foray on the Neva forced the Swedish king to move his troops to Russia. He chose the south, where he waited for help from Turk and where is Ukrainian Hetman Mazepa promised to give him Cossacks.

The Battle of Poltava, where the Swedes and Russians gathered their troops, didn't last long.

Charles XII left the Cossacks brought by Mazepa in the convoy; they were not sufficiently trained and equipped. The Turks never came. Numerical superiority in troops was on the side of the Russians. And no matter how hard the Swedes tried to break through the ranks of the Russian troops, no matter how they reorganized their regiments, they failed to turn the tide of the battle in their favor.

A cannonball hit Karl's stretcher, he lost consciousness, and panic began among the Swedes. After the victorious battle, Peter arranged a feast at which treated captured Swedish generals and thanked them for their science.

Internal reforms of Peter the Great

Peter the Great, in addition to wars with other states, was actively involved in reforms within the country. He demanded that the courtiers take off their caftans and put on European dress, that they shave their beards, and go to the balls arranged for them.

Important reforms of Peter

Instead of the Boyar Duma, he established Senate, who was involved in solving important government issues, introduced a special Table of ranks, which determined the classes of military and civilian officials.

Started operating in St. Petersburg Maritime Academy, opened in Moscow math school. Under him, it began to be published in the country first Russian newspaper. For Peter there were no titles or awards. If he saw a capable person, albeit of low origin, he would send him to study abroad.

Opponents of reforms

To many Peter's innovations didn't like it- starting from the highest ranks, ending with serfs. The Church called him a heretic, schismatics called him the Antichrist, and sent all kinds of blasphemy against him.

The peasants found themselves completely dependent on the landowners and the state. Increased tax burden 1.5-2 times, for many it turned out to be unbearable. Major uprisings occurred in Astrakhan, on the Don, in Ukraine, and the Volga region.

The breaking of the old way of life caused a negative reaction among the nobles. Peter's son, his heir Alexey, became an opponent of reforms and went against his father. He was accused of conspiracy and in 1718 sentenced to death.

Last year of reign

In the last years of Peter's reign was very sick, he had kidney problems. In the summer of 1724, his illness intensified; in September he felt better, but after a while the attacks intensified.

On January 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 February 2 he confessed. Strength began to leave the patient, he no longer screamed, as before, from severe pain, but only moaned.

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

At the beginning of six o'clock in the morning February 8, 1725 Peter the Great “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 Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

Peter the Great was born on May 30 (June 9), 1672 in Moscow. In the biography of Peter 1, it is important to note that he was the youngest son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from his second marriage to Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. From the age of one he was raised by nannies. And after the death of his father, at the age of four, his half-brother became Peter’s guardian and new king Fedor Alekseevich.

From the age of 5, little Peter began to be taught the alphabet. The clerk N. M. Zotov gave him lessons. However, the future king received a weak education and was not literate.

Coming to power

In 1682, after the death of Fyodor Alekseevich, 10-year-old Peter and his brother Ivan were proclaimed kings. But in fact, their elder sister, Princess Sofya Alekseevna, took over the management.
At this time, Peter and his mother were forced to move away from the yard and move to the village of Preobrazhenskoye. Here Peter 1 developed an interest in military activities; he created “amusing” regiments, which later became the basis of the Russian army. He is interested in firearms and shipbuilding. He spends a lot of time in the German settlement, becomes a fan of European life, and makes friends.

In 1689, Sophia was removed from the throne, and power passed to Peter I, and the management of the country was entrusted to his mother and uncle L.K. Naryshkin.

Rule of the Tsar

Peter continued the war with Crimea and took the fortress of Azov. Further actions of Peter I were aimed at creating a powerful fleet. Foreign policy Peter I of that time was focused on finding allies in the war with the Ottoman Empire. For this purpose, Peter went to Europe.

At this time, the activities of Peter I consisted only of creating political unions. He studies shipbuilding, structure, and culture of other countries. Returned to Russia after news of the Streltsy mutiny. As a result of the trip, he wanted to change Russia, for which several innovations were made. For example, chronology according to the Julian calendar was introduced.

To develop trade, access to the Baltic Sea was required. So the next stage of the reign of Peter I was the war with Sweden. Having made peace with Turkey, he captured the fortress of Noteburg and Nyenschanz. In May 1703, construction of St. Petersburg began. Next year, Narva and Dorpat were taken. In June 1709, Sweden was defeated in the Battle of Poltava. Soon after the death of Charles XII, peace was concluded between Russia and Sweden. New lands were annexed to Russia, and access to the Baltic Sea was gained.

Reforming Russia

In October 1721, the title of emperor was adopted in the biography of Peter the Great.

Also during his reign, Kamchatka was annexed and the shores of the Caspian Sea were conquered.

Peter I carried out military reform several times. It mainly concerned the collection of money for the maintenance of the army and navy. It was carried out, in short, by force.

Further reforms of Peter I accelerated the technical and economic development of Russia. He carried out church reform, financial reform, transformation in industry, culture, and trade. In education, he also carried out a number of reforms aimed at mass education: he opened many schools for children and the first gymnasium in Russia (1705).

Death and legacy

Before his death, Peter I was very ill, but continued to rule the state. Peter the Great died on January 28 (February 8), 1725 from inflammation of the bladder. The throne passed to his wife, Empress Catherine I.

The strong personality of Peter I, who sought to change not only the state, but also the people, played a vital role in the history of Russia.

Cities were named after the Great Emperor after his death.

Monuments to Peter I were erected not only in Russia, but also in many European countries. One of the most famous is the Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg.

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 (Peter's relatives 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.

Understanding high probability 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), 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 of 1682 described above; according to one version, the nervous convulsions distorting his face during excitement appeared soon after the experience. In addition, this revolt 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 selected candidates 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 management of a huge 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. Planned for July this year religious procession he sabotaged, forbidding Sophia to participate in it, and after her refusal to obey, he left, thus creating 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 own death I was disappointed in my daughter-in-law because of 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 the 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 stone one for her with government money two-story house in the German settlement.

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 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)