Roman A.N. Tolstoy "Peter the Great" is the central work in the disclosure of the Petrine theme in the writer's work. However, the object of the image in it is not only the personality of the famous Russian Tsar, but also a whole era of reforms and upheavals, a time when peasant Russia, hitherto following its own special path, suddenly came into contact with the attributes of European civilization. And this contact was both progressive and painful, because attempts to impose a European way of life sometimes came into deep conflict with national traditions, took root poorly on Russian soil and, of course, gave rise to resistance.
The novel consists of three books. The story is told from the perspective of the author. Both fictional characters and real historical figures act in the work. A huge role in organizing the development of the plot is played by mass scenes, dialogues, descriptions of the dwelling, life and portraits of the characters.
A. Tolstoy emphasizes the natural wealth of the Russian land: centuries-old pines, expanses of full-flowing rivers, fluffy-tailed squirrels, caravans of birds. "The earth moved apart before the eyes - there was no end to it."
In the traditions of I. Shmelev, A. Tolstoy in the novel draws, first of all, Orthodox Rus'. This is evidenced in the very first scene of the work by the portrait of the episodic heroine: “Mother's wrinkled face was lit up with fire. Most terrible of all, tear-stained eyes flashed from under the tattered board,
Like an icon. In this laconic description of a simple Russian woman, in fact, the difficult fate of a man of the pre-Petrine era is revealed: constant material deprivation, the habit of everyday work and at the same time stamina, spiritual depth, honed in torment and suffering.
From the description of the peasant way of life in the house of Ivan Brovkin, A.N. Tolstoy moves on to a story about the nobleman Vasily Volkov, who also barely makes ends meet: he has to pay huge taxes to the monastery and dues and tributes to the royal treasury. In a conversation with neighbor Mikhail Tyrtov, Volkov exclaims with pain: "All peoples live in wealth, in contentment, we alone are poor." Vasily recalls how he went to Moscow in Ku-kui-sloboda, where the Germans live. Everywhere is clean and tidy, people are friendly. Yes, and they live richer than all of Moscow.
The reasons for the beggarly existence of Russia A.N. Tolstoy sees in mismanagement, sometimes reaching elementary greed, and in theft, and in riots on the roads, when the prince's son contains a gang of robbers who rob merchants on the road. The mentality of a Russian person seemed especially absurd to foreigners. They were surprised that at the royal court there were no balls and gallant fun, no subtle entertainment with music. Russian people work a little. There is almost no time left for this: they defended church services three times a day, ate heartily four times, and even slept during the day for health. However, A.N. Tolstoy shows that European manners are increasingly entering the life of representatives of the royal court. The house of Prince Golitsyn is guarded by the Swiss. He himself shaves his beard, wears a French suit, reads Latin books. The house has French and Italian fine furniture. Golitsyn is thinking about the liberation of the peasantry, the creation of academies. However, even his interlocutor, Mr. de Neuville, does not believe that it is possible to carry out this entire utopian program in Russia. In a conversation with Sophia, the idea is heard that the clergy who support patriarchal traditions will not be happy with European manners.
Notable in the novel is the image of medieval Moscow with its ancient toponymy (Iverskaya, St. Basil's, Spassky Gates, Varvarka, All Saints Bridge). Hot pies and sbiten with honey are sold in the Kalash Row of Gostiny Dvor. In Moscow, as nowhere else in Russia, there is an acute property gap in the position between the highest nobility and the people: you can buy half of Moscow for the brocade coat of Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn.
A.N. writes with a high degree of detail. Tolstoy about the fierce struggle for the royal throne, which is waged by Sophia with her own brother Peter. But a woman, even in political affairs, remains a woman: for one wrinkle on the face of her beloved Prince Golitsyn, Sophia is ready to burn half of Moscow. In an indomitable desire to wrest power from Peter's hands at any cost, she is ready to destroy him. In the scene when Sofya and Natalya Kirillovna are listening to the advice of Patriarch Jokim on how to pacify the archers, A.N. Tolstoy compares Sophia to a snake.
By the will of fate, Peter came to the Russian throne ahead of schedule. He was still a boy. The first description of Peter in the novel eloquently testifies to this: “Monomakh's hat slid down into his ear, revealing black cropped hair. Round-cheeked and blunt-nosed, he craned his neck. The eyes are round like those of a mouse. The small mouth is clenched in fear. Such a cruel and imperious Russian Tsar Peter first appeared before his subjects. He remembered the Streltsy riots for the rest of his life.
Growing up, Tsar Peter is increasingly visiting Kukuevskaya Sloboda: he is interested in the life of the Germans, gradually adopting their manners. A.N. Tolstoy tells in detail how the tsar puts on a European costume for the first time, how he dances with Frau Schimelpfe-nig and Ankhen country dance. Then Peter invites German teachers for himself: to study mathematics and fortification.
The young tsar falls in love with a pretty German woman. But even a monarch in Russia cannot step over the established foundations. Peter must marry the one whom his mother chose for him.
The scene of the king's wedding is noteworthy in the novel. In all this ceremony, it is only important to observe the ritual. The fact that young people do not have any feelings for each other does not bother anyone. The bride is dressed for a long time with songs by hay girls. Jewels choke Evdokia's throat, pull back her ears, and her hair is tied so tightly that the bride could not blink her eyes. All these details emphasize the pompous unnaturalness of this situation. The gifts of the groom, presented to the bride according to custom, are symbolic and personal: sweets, jewelry, a chest with needlework and a rod. It was assumed that after the wedding, the wife fell into complete dependence on her husband, and for disobedience, she could also be beaten with a whip.
During the wedding itself, everyone behaves unnaturally: they are afraid to make a mistake. Evdokia's ribs are trembling with fear. The bride's relatives are even afraid to eat, so as not to show that they are hungry, so as not to drop themselves in the eyes of the king. Peter, during the wedding, thinks only that he could not say goodbye to Ankhen.
Peter submitted to the will of his mother, but this was one of the last concessions to ancient customs. When the young people were escorted to the bedchamber, Peter turned sharply to the guests. “They lost their laughter when they saw his eyes, backed away ...” - writes A.N. Tolstoy, showing with this scene the full depth of the anger of the sovereign, who does not want to make a laughingstock out of his life.
The further plot of the novel draws the image of an active Peter. He builds ships, studies new technologies. Sitting on the throne, shouting, stomping his foot - this is not how Peter imagines his life. Having matured, he managed to get real state power in the country. A.N. Tolstoy shows how the Russian tsar "spits on royal greatness for the sake of curiosity for trade and sciences ...". Peter is well aware that Russia needs maritime trade routes. For their sake, relying on the Cossacks, at the cost of huge human losses after unsuccessful assaults, he takes Azov by siege.
In parallel with the artistic biography of Peter A.N. Tolstoy tells in the novel about the fate of his devoted assistants - Aleksashka Menshikov and Alyoshka Brovkin. For the first time, the reader sees them on the pages of the novel as boys with difficult, but typical fates for people of that time. Gradually, these heroes also begin to fight for their own happiness and dignity and become the closest associates of Peter.
Seeing the contempt of European captains for his makeshift fleet, the tsar embarks on an “Asiatic trick”, as A.N. Tolstoy, all the time emphasizing that the case of Peter
This is Russia's path from Asia to Europe. The Russian tsar asks foreigners to help Russia overcome poverty.
The author of the novel openly writes about the difficulties that lie in wait for Peter in his difficult work. Huge distances and the lack of high-speed means of communication lead to the fact that while the tsar is traveling around Europe, he does not have reliable information about what is happening in Russia. All sorts of ridiculous rumors are also creeping about him.
Russian economic devastation in the novel is opposed by German accuracy. Remembering Moscow in Germany, Peter, out of vexation, wants to burn it down. He plans to build a new city - a true paradise.
Franz Lefort becomes Peter's first assistant in bringing Russia closer to Europe, who understands his desires perfectly. This hero in the novel has an extraordinary mind, European gloss, diligence, good-natured and cheerful disposition. “We thought with one mind,” Peter will say about Lefort, saying goodbye to his dead friend. However, not everyone was happy with the friendship and cooperation between Peter and Lefort. Some called him "the damned foreigner."
The image of ignorant Russia is created by dozens of scenes and episodes of the novel, describing torture, witchcraft, untidiness, cruel executions. The Russian tsar suppresses any resistance with barbaric cruelty. A.N. Tolstoy eloquently shows this in the scene of the massacre of Tsykler, in the description of the execution by archers.
Changes in Russian life A.N. Tolstoy describes the example of the family of Roman Borisovich Buynosov, as well as the fate of Sanka Brovkina, who suddenly turned from a peasant girl into a noble lady, even at the same time she learned to read. Peter shaved the beards of the boyars, obliged the Russian nobility to wear German clothes and drink coffee in the morning. But all these external changes did not give a qualitatively new level of management in the country. True, Ivan Brovkin created a linen factory, which gives a good profit, and Vasily Volkov is under the tsar, building the Russian fleet.
The main idea of the novel is the desire to show the progressive nature of Peter's reforms. The author believes in a bright future for his country and wishes her sovereign power and economic prosperity.
Shakhbulatov Radzhab Saitasanovich, Student – Domestic Philology Chechen Languages Literature, Russian Languages Literature. Chechen State University, Grozny.
Serdyukova Elena Fedorovna,
Art. Lecturer, Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Chechen State University; trainer, consultant psychologist, Grozny [email protected]
Genre and compositional features of the novel "Peter the Great" by A. Tolstoy
Annotation. This article was written during the study of the novel "Peter the Great". In many ways, this work and article are aimed at defining genre and compositional features. “A historical novel cannot be written in the form of a chronicle, in the form of history... First of all, as in any artistic canvas, the composition, the architectonics of the work, is needed. What is a composition? First of all, this is the establishment of the center, the center of the artist's vision ... In my novel, the figure of Peter I is the center. Key words: historical novel about the era of Peter the Great, composition and plot of the novel.
INTRODUCTION Actuality. Alexei Tolstoy is one of the greatest Soviet writers, a remarkable master of words, the creator of a number of literary works widely known in our country and abroad. His extensive work, in which the best traditions of Russian classical literature were embodied, is a valuable contribution to the literature of socialist realism. The artistic talent of A. Tolstoy was exceptionally bright and versatile. The writer showed himself as a prose writer and as a poet, as a publicist and as a playwright. He created stories, novellas, novels, poems, fairy tales, plays, screenplays, essays, journalistic and critical articles. With equal interest and vivacity, he painted both the present, and the events of the recent civil war, and the distant past of our people. The action of his works takes place either in the atmosphere of Russian life, or abroad. The palette of A. Tolstoy, the artist, was so rich, his creative range was so wide that it seemed that nothing was impossible for him in the creative development of the most diverse subjects. her scents. Always gravitating toward the concrete, the visible, the visually imaginable, Tolstoy, as an artist, stubbornly eschewed all sorts of artificial abstractions in literature, far-fetched decadent tricks and conventions. According to A. Tolstoy, true art "should smell of flesh", the artist must be able to "put his hands up to the elbow in the dough of life." topical issues of the present. The best works of A. Tolstoy - his trilogy "Walking through the torments" and the monumental historical novel "Peter the Great" - are characterized by exceptional richness and depth of their ideological content. The material of the study is A. Tolstoy's novel "Peter the First", published for the first time in 1930-1934.
The object of A. Tolstoy's novel "Peter the Great". The subject is genre and compositional features on the example of the novel "Peter the First" by A. Tolstoy. The purpose of the work is to determine the genre and compositional features of the novel "Peter the First" by A. Tolstoy. consider the work of A.N. Tolstoy; to study the genre organization of the novel "Peter the First"; to study the compositional organization of the novel "Peter the First";
analyze the figurative structure of the novel "Peter the Great"; identify and describe the author's picture of the world of the novel. The purpose and objectives determined the choice of research methods. A comparative method is used that provides an opportunity to study genre specifics, a systematic method that allows to identify ideological and artistic unity, stylistic analysis of the work.
The main partThe personality of Peter and his era excited the imagination of writers, artists, composers of many generations. From Lomonosov to the present day, the theme of Peter does not leave the pages of fiction. Pushkin, Nekrasov, L. Tolstoy, Blok and others addressed her. Before turning to the theme of Peter in the work of A. N. Tolstoy, let us briefly dwell on the image of Peter and his era in Russian literature, in particular in the works of A. S. Pushkin and L. N. Tolstoy. Pushkin carefully studied the history of Peter, worked in the archives, made interesting notes, but he failed to complete his work. The true understanding of history, characteristic of the poet, helped him to see deep contradictions in the great reformer, whose image he captured in his poems and poems. So, he writes in the abstracts of the History of Peter: “The difference between the state institutions of Peter the Great and his temporary decrees is worthy of surprise. The first are the fruits of a vast mind, full of benevolence and wisdom, the second are often cruel, capricious and, it seems, written with a whip. The first were for eternity, or at least for the future, the second escaped from the impatient autocratic landowner. Already in the poem "The Bronze Horseman" the poet showed another side of Peter's progressive activity. But in Pushkin this is hinted at, and in the novel by Alexei Tolstoy, who followed the Pushkin tradition in depicting Peter, it is deployed, as D. D. Blagoy rightly notes, on “real historical material. The novel gives us the clearest idea of the two sides of Peter's activity, which Pushkin guessed about in his notes about the tsar that were not intended for publication. ”Leo Tolstoy collected material for several years to create a novel about Peter and his era, but he never wrote it, although he made a number of preliminary notes. Tolstoyne was able to write it because this era, as he said, "is too far away from us." But the real reasons were apparently different. As researchers (B. Eikhenbaum, A. Alpatov, L. Polyak) point out, the novel from the era of Peter was not written, probably because the very personality of the king 1Serov S. A. Tolstoy and Russian history // Tolstoy A. N. Petr First. M: Fiction, 1990.S. 12. The reformer, actively influencing the course of historical events, came into conflict with Tolstoy's concept of historical fatalism, his understanding of the role of the individual in history. For more than twenty years, Alexei Tolstoy was also worried about the topic of Peter. The story "Peter's Day" was written in 1917, the last chapters of his historical novel "Peter the Great" - in 1945. A. N. Tolstoy did not immediately manage to draw a deep, truthful and comprehensive picture of the Petrine era, to learn the progressive nature of the Petrine transformations2. “I saw all the stains on his camisole, but Peter still stuck out as a mystery in the historical fog.” This is evidenced by his story "Peter's Day" and the tragedy "On the Rack" (1928), which I recommend to get acquainted with. Comparing the story "Peter's Day" and the tragedy "On the Rack" with the novel "Peter the Great" clearly shows how Marxist-Leninist historical science, which helps to correctly reveal the driving forces of the historical process, the personality of Peter, was important for the ideological and artistic growth of Tolstoy. In the distant past, he tried to find answers to questions that tormented him about the fate of his homeland and people. Why did the writer turn to this era? The Petrine era - the time of transformative reforms, a radical break in patriarchal Rus' - was perceived by him as something reminiscent of 1917. How does Tolstoy draw Peter and the Petrine era in the story "Peter's Day"? Peter is shown in an atmosphere of everyday affairs and worries, the writer makes you feel the scale of his activities, his colossal will, tireless energy aimed at transforming the state. But are these transformations necessary for Russia? Whether all this change, a drastic restructuring of the country, is necessary - that's the thought that runs through the whole story. Denying the expediency of sharp changes in the development of the country, Tolstoy in 1917 could not answer this question positively, he could not show the pattern of Peter's reforms. Moreover, in the whole course of his story and in the author's digressions, he affirmed the futility of Peter's measures, the impossibility of abruptly turning the slowly moving course of history independent of human will. Therefore, the country did not become what Tsar Peter wanted to see it: “... Russia did not enter the elegant and strong party of the great powers. And pulled up by him by the stripes, bloodied and distraught with horror and despair, she appeared to her new relatives in a miserable and unequal form - a slave. ”According to the author, the entire turning point that occurred in Russia was caused by Peter’s personal will alone. The whole Russian land, all classes, all estates were against Peter's reforms, he alone rebelled against the whole country: "...sitting on wastelands and swamps, with his terrible will he strengthened the state, rebuilt the land." Gloomy, tragic Tolstoy depicts the contradictions of the era, shows cruelty, harsh methods of implementing reforms. Tolstoy's interpretation of the image of Peter is close to the interpretation of the Slavophiles, the Symbolists, who saw in Peter the destroyer of national foundations, the habitual, centuries-old way of Russian life. He is presented in the story as a cruel proud man, there is even something mystical in the description of Peter's black eyes, "as if burning with madness", his soul is "greedy, dashing, hungry." He is alone and afraid. Tolstoy deliberately reduces the image of Peter. 2Alpatov A.V. Creativity of A.N. Tolstoy. M: Uchpedgiz, 1956. S. 120; Andreev Yu. A. Once again about "Peter the Great" // Russian Literature, 1958, No. 2. P. 123.
A certain creative concept of the author finds expression in an artistic form. Comparison of excerpts from the story "Peter's Day" and the novel "Peter the Great", dedicated to the depiction of St. Petersburg under construction, makes it possible to verify this. Let's analyze the excerpts and try to understand what is common in the depiction of the construction of St. them the author's position.
"Peter's Day"
The damp wind drove a strong fog from the sea ... it blew rotten straw from the huts and stalls, howled in the cold chimneys ... many houses were empty at that time, because the people took measures to the last degree from ulcers, fogs and hunger. Dashing, gloomy life was in St. Petersburg. The swollen river beat into the log embankments; . , hospitals, private houses of the resettled boyars. The royal city was built on the edge of the earth, in swamps, near the German region. Who needed him, for what still new flour it was necessary to shed sweat and blood and die by the thousands, the people did not know. (pp. 81-82).
"Peter the First"
Through bloody efforts, the passage from Ladoga to the open sea was opened. Countless obovs, crowds of workers and convicts stretched out from the east ... Huts and dugouts stood on the shore, bonfires smoked, axes banged, saws squealed. Here, to the ends of the earth, working people went and went without return .... The open sea was just a stone's throw from here. The wind covered it with a cheerful swell... There was not enough bread. From devastated Ingria, where the plague began, there was no supply ... Peter wrote to the Prince Caesar, asking him to send more people, - “they are very sick here, and many have died” (end of the second volume) .... A welcome, beloved place was here. It’s good, of course, on the Sea of Azov, whitish and warm, obtained with great labors, it’s good on the White Sea :., but it’s not equal to the Baltic Sea - a wide road to wonderful cities, to rich countries .. Here the heart beats in a special way, and thoughts open their wings, and strength doubles ...... The wind tears the flag on the fortress bastion, piles stick out of the marshy shores, people go everywhere in labor and worries, and the city is already standing like a city, not yet large, but already in all ordinariness. The reviewed excerpts from the story "Peter's Day" and the novel "Peter the Great" are devoted to one topic - the construction of St. Petersburg. Both in the story and in the novel, Tolstoy depicts hard labor of the people, poverty, hunger, countless diseases that mowed down the working people who built a city on the edge of the earth. Nevertheless, the impression of the two passages is different. In the story "Peter's Day", Tolstoy sought to show Peter the Great as a masterful landowner who wants to change the life of his native country. “Yes, that’s enough,” he writes below, “did Tsar Peter want good for Russia? What was Russia to him, the tsar, the owner, ignited with vexation and jealousy: how is his yard and cattle, laborers and all the economy worse, more stupid than the neighbor's? necessary for Russia, - such is Tolstoy's thought, which finds its expression in the selection of certain vocabulary, creating a gloomy picture of Petersburg under construction. The tone of excerpts from the novel "Peter the Great" is life-affirming, optimistic. Showing the difficult living conditions of the workers, many of whom "died" from hard labor and hunger, revealing the social contradictions of the Petrine era, Tolstoy emphasizes the historical necessity of building the city of St. Petersburg, from which the Baltic Sea is "a stone's throw away". This place is desirable, beloved, because it opens up wide opportunities for Russia to trade with the West, the road to "wonderful cities, rich countries." The negative attitude towards Peter and his reforming activity was connected, as rightly so; say the researchers, with rejection and misunderstanding. A. N. Tolstoy in 1917 of the October Revolution. One of the best works of Soviet literature on a historical theme was the “excellent”, according to A. M. Gorky, A. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Peter the Great.” The beginning of work on this novel coincides as you know, with events of great historical significance in the life of our country. 1929 is the year of the great turning point. A decisive offensive is launched against the capitalist elements in town and country. In the 1930s, new cities, factories, and power plants were built on the once empty places. The face of the village is changing. The powerful labor upsurge in the country, the pathos of the socialist restructuring of the city and the countryside, the flourishing of culture could not help but influence Tolstoy4. It was during these years that Tolstoy again turned to the image of the Petrine era. He feels the echo of the distant Petrovsky time, “when the old world cracks and collapses”, with our time, feels a certain consonance between these two eras, about which he writes in one of his notes: “... despite the difference in goals, the era of Peter and our era is echoed precisely by some kind of riot of forces, explosions of human energy and will aimed at liberation from foreign dependence. ”The main work on the novel was the study of the works of the classics of Marxism, the assessment in these works of the activities of Peter and his era. Peter ceased to be a “mystery in the historical fog” for the artist. Marxism, as the artist himself testified, enriched his art, Marxist knowledge of history gave him “purposefulness and method in reading the book of life.” Marxist-Leninist historical science, socialist reality, which illuminated the past anew, helped the writer understand the regularity and historical inevitability of a sharp break in the old way of Russia at the beginning of the 18th century, the progressive nature of the Petrine reforms and their class limitations. First of all, the processing of one's artistic feeling. The result is that history began to reveal untouched riches. Under the superimposed grid of Marxist analysis 3 Andreev Yu. Philological Sciences, 1983, No. 1. S. 4. History came to life in all its living diversity, in all the dialectical laws of the class struggle.
CONCLUSION
The thoughts of A. Tolstoy turned especially stubbornly to the knowledge and disclosure of the great historical destinies of our country. The best and most intimate pages of his works are devoted to the theme of the motherland and the revolution, the depiction of the heroic struggle of the Russian people for their future, the disclosure of the remarkable properties of the Russian national character, the process of its formation. The writer saw the origins of the formation of the character of our people even in its distant historical past. At the same time, he understood how immeasurably our people had grown and transformed, enriched by the experience of the socialist revolution. He wrote with admiration about the Soviet people, who astonished the whole world with their heroism, the strength of resistance, revealed in the recent struggle against fascism. Speaking with bright journalistic articles, A. Tolstoy found the most ardent and heartfelt words to express his feelings of love for the motherland, devotion to her. The patriotic writer A. Tolstoy was proud of Russian literature, which had won world fame. He loved Russian folklore, admired the beautiful and expressive language created by our people. In his very work on the word, A. Tolstoy discovered the amazing ability of deep penetration into the riches of Russian folk speech. ". Gorky called this book a real historical novel, what is the significance of Marxist-Leninist historical science for a writer who reproduces the events of a bygone era, how it helps the Soviet artist to understand the driving forces of the historical process, the contradictions of the depicted era. Reflecting one of the most interesting eras in the development of Russia - the era of the radical breakup of patriarchal Russia and the struggle of the Russian people for their independence, the novel by A. N. Tolstoy "Peter the Great" will always attract readers with its patriotism, extraordinary freshness and high artistic skill. This novel is of great educational value, because it introduces us to the life of Russia late XVII - early XVIII century, depicts the struggle of the new, young Russia, striving for progress, with the old, patriarchal Russia, clinging to the old days, asserts the invincibility of the new. "Peter the Great" is a huge historical canvas, the broadest picture of morals, but above all, it is, according to A. S. Serafimovich, a book about the Russian character. Tolstoy's novel is an outstanding work of art, and this obliges us to reveal its aesthetic value, to show the high skill of the writer in depicting vivid pictures of the life and customs of the era of Peter the Great, in creating living images, in the ability to reproduce the originality and coloring of the language of the early 18th century. The study of the "juicy, musical and at the same time simple" language of the novel will help to develop an artistic taste, to feel how "great and powerful" the Russian language is. The way to work on the novel "Peter the Great", as well as on every work of art, is from the emotional perception of it to an in-depth critical analysis of the work, comprehension of it in all its artistic originality, in the unity of content and form.
Links to sources 1. Petrov S. M. Russian Soviet historical novel. M: Sovremennik, 1980. S. 24. 2. Tolstoy A. N. Brief autobiography And Tolstoy A. N. Knowledge of happiness. M: Young Guard, 1981. S. 23. 3. Pautkin AI Soviet historical novel. M: Knowledge, 1970. S. 19 20. 4. Perkhin V. V. Artistic prose of A. N. Tolstoy in the assessment of pre-revolutionary and Soviet criticism // Artistic world of A. N. Tolstoy. Articles. Messages /V. Skobelev / Kuibyshev: Prince. Publishing house, 1983. P. 126. 5. Alpatov A.V. Two novels about Peter I (1933), Peter I for a teenager reader (1933), An image as if carved on copper (1934) op. according to Rozhdestvenskaya I. S., Khodyuk A. G. A. N. Tolstoy. Seminary. L: Uchpedgiz, 1962. S. 3542. 6. Veksler II Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy: life and creative path. M: Soviet writer, 1948. S. 337.
"Peter the First" and Russian Literature. Russian literature often and on various occasions turned to the image of the tsar-transformer, the tsar-revolutionary. In the XVIII century. the heroic-odic tonality dominated: M. V. Lomonosov’s poem “Peter the Great”, “Lament on the death of Peter” by V. K. Tpe-diakovsky, poems by M. M. Kheraskov, G. R. Derzhavin, “Dithyramb” by A. P. Sumarokova (“Founder of our glory, oh, creator of great deeds! Look at the end of your state and at a happy limit”). In the 19th century, however, assessments of the activities of Peter I were divided. Unlike Pushkin, who perceived the acts of Peter the Great as a feat, the Slavophiles pointed to the negative consequences of the exaggerated and violent, in their opinion, Europeanization of Russia. Leo Tolstoy reacted similarly to the figure of Peter. Having conceived a novel from the era of Peter, he stopped writing it, because, by his own admission, he hated the personality of the king, "the most pious robber, murderer." Such a negative assessment was then picked up, already in the new century, by the Symbolists, which was especially clearly manifested in D. S. Merezhkovsky’s novel “Peter and Alexei” (1905) from his trilogy “Christ and the Antichrist”.
Peter and Pushkin. However, through all the contrasts and contradictions of the Petrine era, the Pushkin tradition shows us the vector of movement. Pushkin, as A. I. Kuprin said, “was, is and will be the only writer who could, with his divine inspiration, penetrate into the giant soul of Peter and understand, feel its supernatural dimensions ... No, Pushkin was not blinded or intoxicated by the beautiful and terrible the face of Peter. In the words of a cold mind, he speaks of the deeds of the reformer of Russia: “The difference between the state institutions of Peter the Great and his temporary decrees is worthy of surprise. The former are the fruits of a vast mind, full of benevolence and wisdom; the second - often cruel - are wayward and, it seems, written with a whip. The former were for eternity, or at least for the future; the second - escaped from the impatient, autocratic landowner. "That's how truthful and cautious Pushkin is, how sharp-sighted his eyes are."
The theme of Peter in early Tolstoy. Working on the novel about Peter, Tolstoy went from the Pushkin source. Ho this topic, one might say the theme of the artist's life, he turned to long before writing his grandiose work. “I have been aiming at Peter for a long time,” Tolstoy wrote. “I saw all the stains on his camisole, but Peter still stuck out as a mystery in the historical fog.”
Russian history, the feeling of the Fatherland, the native land are the core of Tolstoy's nature. This deeply national essence of talent was described by Bunin much later: “He knew and felt everything Russian (Tolstoy. - O.M.), like very few.” His burning interest in the past of Russia, its history was dictated by the desire to better understand the present, to understand what is happening. "The Tale of the Time of Troubles" (1922), stylized as "Prince Typenev's handwritten book", is dedicated to the turbulent events of the beginning of the 17th century, when the Russian state "established itself" in a bloody tangle of palace coups, foreign invasions, and peasant riots, and when the most amazing biographies, such as the transformation of the murderer Naum into Saint Nifont - another repetition in Russia of the story with Kudeyar, in which, in the words of Nekrasov, "the Lord awakened the conscience." This gave the artist a historical run-up, although the short stories “Delusion” (1917), “Peter’s Day” (1917), and then the historical play “On the Rack” (1928) were direct, albeit distant approaches to the Peter the Great theme.
Actually, the very figure of Peter is not yet in the "Delusion": it depicts the tragic death of the innocently slandered Kochubey and the unhappy love of his daughter Matryona for the traitor - Hetman Mazepa. But in the next story, the personality of the king-transformer is at the very center of the story. How is Peter depicted against the backdrop of the "paradise" under construction - Petersburg? This is the destroyer of national foundations, the centuries-old way of Russian life. “With a face twisted with anger and impatience, the owner rode from Holland to Moscow, flew in annoyance ... Now, on the same day, turn everything over, reshape, cut beards, put on a Dutch caftan for everyone, grow wiser, start thinking differently. And with little resistance, they only hinted that, they say, we are not Dutch, but Russians ... we cannot be Dutch, have mercy, - where is it! The royal soul was furious at such unawakening, and the shooters' heads flew.
It is significant that for the story "Peter's Day" Tolstoy, among other sources, turned to the diary of a foreigner, chamber junker at the court of the Duke of Holstein F. Berchholz, who was very hostile to Peter and his activities. And in general, the writer gives a negative assessment of the Petrine reforms, drawing closer to the Slavophiles and D. S. Merezhkovsky. As Tolstoy believes, the whole Russian land, all estates, all the people were against the drastic reforms of Peter, who, "sitting on wastelands and swamps, strengthened the state with his terrible will, rebuilt the land." In this one can hear topical echoes of the upheavals that Russia experienced in the formidable 1917.
Work on a novel. Historicism and topicality. The first book of the epic "Peter the Great" was created in an environment where centuries-old foundations were being broken in Soviet Russia, when industrialization and collectivization were carried out with an iron fist and the foundations of the cult of I.V. Stalin were laid in the heroic labor and at the same time tragic atmosphere, marked by millions of victims. In the early 1930s, speaking about his work on Peter the Great, Tolstoy emphasized the topicality of his historical narrative:
“I could not pass indifferently past the creative enthusiasm that covers our entire country, but I could not write about modernity, having visited our new buildings once or twice ... I decided to respond to our era in the way I could. And again he turned to the past, this time to tell about the victory over the elements, inertia and Asianism. But at the same time, the writer resolutely protested against the attempts of vulgar critics to present the novel Peter the Great as an artistic encoding of his time: “What led me to the epic Peter the Great? It is not true that I chose that epoch for the projection of modernity - this would be a false historical and anti-artistic device on my part. I was fascinated by the feeling of the fullness of the “unkempt” and creative power of that life, when the Russian character was revealed with particular brightness.
The influence of the historical school of M. N. Pokrovsky. At the end of the 1920s, when Tolstoy began work on the novel, the views of M. N. Pokrovsky dominated historical science. He believed that Russia in the XVII century. developed under the auspices of merchant capital in the cap of Monomakh. In other words, Pokrovsky believed that all of Peter's foreign and domestic policy served to strengthen the "commercial bourgeoisie", and as a result, the monarch himself appeared in the role of a merchant king fighting against the "Thermidor of the boyars." While working on the first book of the novel, Tolstoy was influenced by this vulgar-Marxist concept, which sometimes manifested itself quite straightforwardly. So, the wise clerk Vinius instructs the king: "You exalt the trading people, pull them out of the mud, give them strength, and the merchant will be honored in one word of honor - boldly rely on them." And further: “Sidney, and Van Leyden, and Lefort spoke the same words. The unknown seemed to Peter in them, as if a vein was being felt under his feet ... ”In accordance with this doctrine, the image of Ivashka Brovkin is created, a beggar serf who, thanks to the support of the tsar, breaks out“ into people ”, becomes one of the richest people in the country and betrays his beautiful daughter for the former mister boyar Volkov.
However, such examples occurred in the reign of Peter. Yes, and Rus' itself, like a sleeping princess, needed a powerful shake-up. And here Tolstoy sharply disagrees with Pokrovsky in assessing the results of Peter's reforms, summing up which the historian concluded: "The death of the reformer was a worthy finale of this feast during the plague." Meanwhile, from the first to the last page, the epic is permeated with a deep conviction that all undertakings and reforms will have a happy ending, because they are useful and necessary for Russia. In fact, Tolstoy brings us back to the optimistic, Pushkinian tradition in evaluating the activities of Peter the Great.
composition of the novel. Image of Peter the Great. Tolstoy's innovation. According to the tradition that has developed in literature, dating back to Walter Scott, the decisive events, the so-called "big story", served only as a background for the history of another, "small", and private human destinies. The clearest example of this is the epic of Leo Tolstoy "War and Peace", where what is happening is conveyed through the perception of fictional characters - Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova, etc., while historical figures - Kutuzov, Napoleon, Bagration, Rostopchin, up to Emperor Alexander I - relegated to the background. Going against the current, Alexei Tolstoy makes the hero of his epic precisely the “big story” and Peter himself.
“A historical novel cannot be written in the form of a chronicle, in the form of history...,” the author himself noted. - What is needed first of all, as in any artistic canvas, is the composition, the architectonics of the work. What is composition? First of all, this is the establishment of the center, the center of the artist's vision ... In my novel, the center is the figure of Peter I. As in Pushkin's "Poltava", the monumental, as if cast in bronze, figure of the Tsar-Transformer becomes the core of the work. On the contrary, the wide historical background is filled with just fictional characters - the Brovkins, Buynosovs, Vasily Volkov, Golikov, Zhemov, Gypsy, Fedka Wash Yourself with Mud, etc.
At the same time, the multiplicity of storylines creates, as it were, several planes in the work, growing out of rough, working outlines: “Peter's line (war, construction). Monet line (love). Sanka (Brovkin) line. Golikov line (split). The line of Loskut, Overyan (revolutionary protest])”. However, the versatility of the composition, the contrast of the chapters, the constantly changing author's tonality - all this adds up to a mosaic panorama of the era. Decisive events in the life of the country become the plot basis of the epic novel: the uprising of the Streltsy in Moscow, the reign of Sophia, the unsuccessful campaigns of Golitsyn and the Azov campaign of Peter, the Streltsy rebellion, the construction of St. Petersburg, the capture of Yuryev and Narva. The very movement of the epoch, a series of its key events over a vast period of time, from 1682 to 1704, forms, as it were, the internal framework of the unfolding narrative. The action is transferred with cinematic swiftness from the impoverished hut of Ivashka Brovkin to the noisy square of old Moscow; from the room of the imperious and predatory Princess Sophia to the Red Porch in the Kremlin, where little Peter becomes an eyewitness to the brutal reprisal against the boyar Matveev; from the boring chambers of the mother of Tsar Natalya Kirillovna in the Transfiguration Palace to a clean, well-groomed German settlement on Kukui, and from there to the scorched steppes of southern Russia, along which the army of Prince Golitsyn wanders, etc., etc.
From book to book, the composition is improved and adjusted, reaching in the last, third, special harmony and coherence. “Individual chapters, subchapters, episodes, descriptions,” notes the researcher of the historical novel
A. Tolstoy A. V. Alpatov - replace each other not just in the order of the general chronological sequence. In their movement and tempo, one can feel an orientation towards a certain artistic expressiveness; there is even some kind of orderliness in the very rhythm of the narration. At the same time, the patriotic sound is growing. The third book was created in the atmosphere of the heroic upsurge of the Great Patriotic War. In it, the theme of the military exploits of a Russian soldier, a Russian person, naturally comes to the fore, clearly revealed in the description of the assault on Narva. The figure of Peter appears even more ambitious in the third book. “Character only benefits from boldly applied shadows,” said Leo Tolstoy. Peter is revealed in all his grandiose contradictory nature - magnanimous and cruel; courageous and subject to attacks of fear coming from childhood; broad and merciless to dissenters; a revolutionary tsar and truly the first landowner of Russia, he anticipates the entire Russian eighteenth century - “the century is crazy and wise” (A. N. Radishchev).
Image of Peter. The formation of personality. Creating the image of Peter, Tolstoy traces the process of becoming a personality, the formation of his character both under the influence of historical circumstances and the principles laid down in him by nature: will, energy, perseverance in achieving the goal. He cannot stand the “spirit of an old woman” and from an early age feels disgust for all the old customs, for everything patriarchal, the personification of which is for him mothers, nannies, accustomers and crackers. This well-fed, but empty life without thought and labor is opposed by the ebullient activity of Peter, who always had “no time”. “You gave birth to a good son,” Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn says to Natalya Kirillovna, “it will turn out to be smarter than everyone, give it time. His eyes are not sleeping. Peter eagerly rushes to a new life, to new people, not like those who surround him in the Transfiguration Palace.
From the first pages of the novel, Tolstoy emphasizes Peter's outward resemblance to people of a "vile" breed: "Peter, covered in dust, in the ground, sweaty like a peasant," stood under a linden tree in front of Nikita; “To the left stood lanky Peter, as if at Christmas time they dressed a peasant in a royal dress that was not tall.” Life in the village of Preobrazhenskoye allowed him to communicate closely with the people, and friendly relations began between him and the peasant children of the same age. “You ... read the divine with him more,” mother Natalya Kirillovna says with concern to Peter's first teacher Nikita Zotov. - And then he does not even look like a king ... Until now he has not learned how to walk with his feet. Everything runs like a simple one. Among the stagnant boyars, boasting of their “bornness”, the absence of arrogance in relations with ordinary people, friendship with peers of the “vile rank” (Aleksashka Menshikov, Alyoshka Brovkin), indifference to the royal dignity, love of work and the desire to be able to do everything yourself (from pulling a needle through the cheek to building a ship).
The merit of Tolstoy is that he was able to show the gradual formation of Peter as an outstanding historical figure, and did not immediately paint him as an established statesman and talented commander (as he appears in the third book of the novel). So, the idea of the necessary transformation of the country does not come to him immediately after the imprisonment of Sophia in the Novodevichy Convent and gaining full power. Only after visiting Arkhangelsk and seeing foreign merchant ships, Peter realized how economically the country lagged behind the West, he acutely felt the need to create a fleet in Russia and develop trade. Thus, life itself pushes Peter to transformative activity.
The failure in the Azov campaign finally turned Peter to face the state and its needs. “In a courageous voice”, which does not tolerate objections, he speaks - and does not speak, but “barks cruelly” - at the second meeting of the boyar thought on the immediate improvement of the devastated and scorched Azov and the Taganrog fortress, on the creation of “kumpanstvo” for the construction of ships, on the collection of taxes for the construction of the Volga-Don canal. “In two years they should build a fleet, become smart from fools,” he unquestioningly declares, and the boyars understand that now Peter has “everything decided in advance” and soon he will do without a thought.
Tolstoy does not put literary make-up on Peter, showing how he breaks everything “again” - forcibly trims the beards of the boyars and participates in the cruel torture of his enemies. However, Peter's merciless struggle against the boyars, the streltsy rebellion and the schismatic movement is dictated by the historical need to turn Byzantine Rus into a new Russia. The novel repeats the reflections of Peter, who sees the poverty, squalor, darkness of the country: “Why is this? We are sitting on the great expanses and - beggars ... ”Like Romodanovsky or Vasily Golitsyn, Peter sees a way out in the development of industry, trade, in conquering the shores of the Baltic. Ho, unlike the weak-willed dreamer Golitsyn, Peter is a statesman who resolutely puts his ideas into practice.
This sovereign awakens national forces in the country. Seeing how foreigners are getting rich at the expense of Russia, Peter exclaims: “Why can’t their own?” Without hesitation, he gladly gives money to the enterprising Tula blacksmith Demidov, who decided to “raise the Urals”, helps the Bazhenin brothers, who built a water saw mill without overseas craftsmen, provides three ships to the first “navigator” Ivan Zhigulin to carry blubber and seal skins overseas , salmon and pearls. He perfectly understands that the development of trade is impossible without access to the Baltic Sea, otherwise - complete dependence on foreign merchants. "No. The Black Sea is a concern... - he says to the ministers. “The Baltic Sea needs its own ships.” And the Northern War with Sweden 1700-1721. was a just war, because it was fought for the return of those captured by it at the beginning of the 17th century. Russian lands and access to the Baltic Sea.
Peter, by an effort of will, is trying not only to overcome the backwardness of his country, but also to fight ignorance and darkness, he is a practitioner who thinks more about "today" than about "eternal", especially since this "eternal", in his opinion, only pulls back , to the past. “Lice have eaten us up from theology…” the tsar exclaims. - Navigational, mathematical sciences. Mining, medicine. We need this ... "He establishes a school at a foundry in Moscow, where two hundred and fifty children of boyars, townsmen and even "mean" ranks studied casting, mathematics, fortification and history. "Cudgel" Peter drives the noble undergrowth into science, but immensely rejoices, seeing the fruits of his labor, especially when an energetic, quick-witted - to match the tsar himself - a Russian man "from the bottom" rises. “They didn’t take them by birth, others need to take them,” Ivan Brovkin, yesterday’s “serf,” explains. And Peter, “suddenly” fired up to give Rurikovna, Princess Buinosov, for one of Brovkin’s six sons - Artamoshka, rushes to kiss and clap the young man when he answers him in French (“like he sprinkled with peas”), in German and in Dutch. It is understandable, therefore, that Peter's decision "to favor counts for the mind."
receiving contrast. Tolstoy resorts in the novel to the technique of contrast, comparing and contrasting Peter with Prince Vasily Golitsyn, and later with the Swedish King Charles XII and the Polish Elector Augustus. This not only gives bulge and brightness to the image of the protagonist, but also sharply sets off his dignity, readiness for the activities of the great reformer of Russia. For seven years Golitsyn ruled the country, fully aware of the need for fundamental changes. “In all Christian countries - and there are those that even our districts are not worth it - trade is growing fat, the peoples are getting richer, everyone is looking for their own benefits ... - he says bitterly to the boyars. “Only we alone doze soundly ... Soon the Russian land will be called a desert!” Ho not him, but Peter is destined to "raise Russia on its hind legs." Why? Golitsyn is smart, graceful, good-looking, but weak. The prince either issues a decree in order to punish the guilty, or “out of kindness” cancels it. The insightful Princess Sofya thinks: “Oh, handsome, but weak, female veins.” He lacks energy, will, perseverance in achieving the goal - just what was inherent in Peter. This contrast is especially clearly seen in the example of two unsuccessful Azov campaigns - under the leadership of Golitsyn and under the leadership of Peter. Tolstoy convexly shows the behavior of each of them during the battle: “Vasily Vasilyevich, on foot, rushed around the convoy, beat the gunners with a whip, grabbed the wheels, pulled out the wicks”; “Peter threw off his cloak, caftan, rolled up his sleeves, took the bannik from the gunner, cleared the sooty muzzle with a strong movement ... threw a pood round projectile in his hands, rolled it into the muzzle, leaning on the bannik, hammered tightly,” etc. Even verbs are important here forms used by the writer. “All the verbs successfully found by Tolstoy,” writes N. A. Demidova in her manual about the novel “Peter the Great”, “help to reveal Golitsyn’s state of mind, his complete helplessness, confusion, ignorance of military affairs. Drawing Golitsyn, Tolstoy uses all verbs in an imperfect form. Peter is concentrated, his calmness is transmitted to others, he is not a novice in military affairs, so all his actions are confident. Drawing Peter, Tolstoy uses perfective verbs, emphasizing the completeness of the action.
He is less contrasting comparison: Peter - Charles XII. The Swedish king is impudent, resolute, hot; but this is an adventurer king. Tolstoy accumulates details that paint a portrait of a gulena, an anemone, a reckless boy. Self-respecting citizens are already preparing for a dinner meal, and Karl has not left his bed yet, reading Racine, next to him is the adventuress Countess Desmont: “A cup of chocolate was cold by his bed on a table between bottles of golden Rhine wine ... head of a golden cupid ... silk skirts and lingerie are scattered on the chairs. On a hunt, a military officer who brought an important letter "looked with a grin at his [Karl's] boyish stooped back, at the proudly tense back of his head." Even the "extraordinary determination and restraint" of the Swedish king is the impulse of a "spoiled youth." Another kind of contrast - Peter and August the Magnificent. This is a pampered sybarite, "it seemed, created by nature for luxurious festivities, for the patronage of the arts, for love joys with the most beautiful women in Europe, for the vanity of the Commonwealth." In both cases, Tolstoy unobtrusively, by the power of artistic details, leads to the idea that Charles XII and Augustus were born kings, and Peter forged a giant king in himself.
Acceptance of an internal gesture. Creating a portrait of Peter, the writer resorts to the technique of internal gesture as the most important means of artistic expression. At the beginning of the novel, Tolstoy thus conveys the shyness and spontaneity of his protagonist. Here he is among the educated ladies. N. A. Demidova comments: “Peter covers his face with his palm, then by an effort of will he forces himself to tear his hand away from his face: out of embarrassment, she seemed to be rooted to him. He not only bowed, he folded himself like a pole - he was ridiculous in his embarrassment and this made him even more embarrassed. Peter does not speak, but mutters in a low voice, all the German words jumped out of his memory. However, we note that Tolstoy does not for a moment forget that his shy, spontaneous, easy-to-handle Peter is cruel and terrible. It is no coincidence that the author shows the changes in Peter's face, caused by memories of the hut in Preobrazhensky, sour with blood, where he recently tortured Tsykler. His (Peter's) mouth twisted, his cheek jumped, his bulging eyes glazed for a moment, ”and Peter is again in front of us on the day of Tsykler’s execution. He tries to dismiss the vision, smiles guiltily at the women.
Peter's speech is characteristic, expressing his "quick temper" - emotional, aphoristic, lively, folk. Most often - this is a short, chopped phrase, spiced with vernacular: "Our boyars, the nobles - the peasant's gray hair - sleep, eat and pray"; "Confusion is a good lesson"; “I will lead the siege myself. Myself. Start digging tonight. Bread to be ... I will hang. This speech is skillfully woven into the language of the author, who himself, as it were, becomes a participant in the ongoing events.
Characters. After reading the first book of the novel, Bunin said: “Menshikov is beautiful and the delicate and gentle charming Anna Monet. Still, these are the remnants of some kind of heroic Rus'. Numerous historical and fictional heroes surrounding Peter, his associates and opponents - all these are living human characters. Such is selflessly devoted to Peter Menshikov. This is a rogue, money-grubber, cunning and at the same time a brave and simple nature. The dominant of his character is love for Peter: “What can I tell you? Again, some kind of stupidity - tyap-blunder in a peasant way. - Menshikov stomped, hesitated and raised his eyes - Pyotr Alekseevich's face was calm and sad, he rarely saw him like that. Aleksashka, like a knife through the heart, was slashed with pity. “Min hertz,” he whispered, raising his eyebrows, “min hertz, well, what are you doing? Give me time until evening, I’ll come to the tent, I’ll think of something ... ”“ Happiness is a minion of a rootless, semi-powerful ruler” written out with stereoscopic brightness, like other heroes - Ivan Brovkin, Prince Buynosov, smart and cunning Princess Sophia.
I must say that the female images in the novel are depicted with amazing penetration into their psychology. The magical gift that Tolstoy possessed allows him to create a whole gallery of portraits - Princess Natalya, Sanka Brovkina, and finally, Anna Monet and her "female sly love." “Anna's eyes trembled, they saw him at the door before anyone else. It rose and flew across the waxed floor... And the music was already merrily singing about good Germany, where pink almond blossoms in front of the clean, clean windows, good father and mother with kind smiles look at Hans and Gretel, standing under this almond, which means - love forever, and when their sun sinks behind the blue of the night, with a peaceful sigh, both will go to the grave ... Ah, the impossible distance!
Pyotr, embracing Ankhen, warm under pink silk, danced silently and for so long that the musicians went out of tune ... Walking around the hall, Pyotr said: - I am happy with you ... "
people in the novel. And outside the window of a cheerful, cozy German house - Rus', tragic fates. Peter appeared at the ball after he ordered to shoot, so as not to suffer, a woman buried up to her throat, who killed her husband with a knife. The people in the novel are not a crowd, but fates, either crippled by an ordinary person (“bone from malice” Fedka Wash with Mud, a Gypsy warrior “all overgrown with an iron beard, an eye is knocked out, a shirt, trousers rotted on the body”), then enlightened by an inescapable talent ( skillful blacksmith Zhemov, hero, Valdai blacksmith Kondrat Vorobyov, Palekh icon painter Andrey Golikov), then rushed into the abyss of violent riots (participants in the uprising of Stepan Razin, Ataman Ivan Vasilievich and Ovdokim). The element of the people spills out in mass scenes - on Red Square or near the walls of Narva, under the fire of Swedish artillery. From the peasant's hut, and not from the palace, a wonderful beginning of the novel is being conducted: “Sanka jumped off the stove, hit the swollen door with her back. Yashka, Gavrilka and Artamoshka quickly dismounted after Sanka; suddenly everyone was thirsty, they jumped into the dark passage following the cloud of steam and smoke from the sour hut. A slightly bluish light shone in the window through the snow. Studeno. A tub of water was iced over, a wooden ladle was iced over. The children jumped from foot to foot - everyone was barefoot. Sanka's head is tied with a scarf. Gavrilka and Artamoshka in the same shirts up to the navel.
Door, Announcements! - shouted the mother from the hut. Mother was standing by the stove ... "
The power of representation. Already in these lines, that pictorial, to the point of hallucination, power, which is inherent in Tolstoy the artist, is clearly manifested. The metaphorical, sometimes deliberately "zoological" beginning penetrates into all the cells of prose, up to the names and nicknames of the characters, causing an almost sensual clarity in the reader. “The black-earth inner strength sticks out in the expressive surname of one of the episodic characters of the first volume - Ovsey Rzhov,” A. V. Alpatov notes in his study “Alexey Tolstoy - the master of the historical novel”.
Ovsey Rzhov- “Archer of the Pyzhov Regiment”, about which the author says that he “in the basement smells strongly of a hearty spirit, meat soup ...”. And the hero of the second book of the novel is a runaway peasant from Kashirsk, Fedka, nicknamed Wash Yourself With Mud?! And the Mytishchi fortune teller woman Vorobikha with her nimble "mouse" eyes or the eminent boyars Endogurov, Svinin, Buynosov, Lykov sitting in the Order of the Grand Palace - in all these surnames and nicknames there is a visual objectivity, emphasized figurative expressiveness. The yard Styopka Medved, a gloomy, tall guy, who, having “knocked his knives into them, ran up the stairs like a stallion,” is forced to break in new boots of Peter. “The executioner Emelyan Svezhev, with an indifferent horse face, punishes the girl Mashka Selifontova, who screams like a pig ...”
The paintings created by Tolstoy are striking in what could be called the "presence effect". You see clearly and seem to participate in what is happening. This is achieved, in addition to other artistic means, by the fact that the writer combines his own view of the depicted with the view "from the inside", as if emanating from the depicted persons. Here are the daughters of the boyar Buynosov in everyday boredom: “The Buynosov maidens, waiting for balls and fireworks, languished at the window ... Neither the grove - for a walk, nor the banks - to sit, all around - mud, garbage, wood chips ... Of course, you could have fun with the maidens, sitting on other wings: with Princess Lykova, foolish - across themselves wider, even eyes swam, or with Princess Dolgorukova - Black Sea Gordia (do not hide - all Moscow knew that she had hairy legs), or eight princes Shakhovsky - these broods are malicious - they just whispered among themselves, scratched their tongues. Olga and Antonida did not like the woman.
The novel about Peter and the lessons of Tolstoy."Peter the Great" is the result of Tolstoy's work and, as it were, his artistic testament. The novel crystallized the deeply national beginning of the writer's talent, the extraordinary, holographic brightness in recreating a distant era, the skill in depicting characters, the courage of metaphorization and the primogeniture of the language.
The novel about Peter can be called a treasury of native speech. Movement, pressure, muscularity of the word reach the highest point here. Tolstoy's diamond Russian language is one of the main facets of his enormous gift as a writer. And can there really be a work of art without language! Language is not just as a person's ability to express his thoughts in words, but language as a set of words and expressions used by an entire people. Both the artistic practice and the direct precepts of Alexei Tolstoy to us, the descendants, are topical and valuable in this sense.
His precepts are addressed primarily to those who want to write, that is, to young writers. But their meaning is immeasurably wider. “Pushkin,” Tolstoy reminded, “learned the language from the prosviren, Leo Tolstoy - the way of speech - from the village peasants. What did it mean? A person who has not yet risen into the complex world of abstract concepts, a person whose ideas are inseparable from the tools of labor and do not outgrow the simple world of surrounding things - this person thinks in images, objects, their movements, their gestures, he sees what he is talking about . His speech is figurative. A city person, and even an armchair person, often loses the connection between ideas and things. Language becomes only an expression of an abstract thought. It's good for a mathematician. For a writer, this is bad - the writer must see first of all and, having seen, tell what he saw - to see the current world of things as a participant in the flow of life.
A lover of life, to whom nothing earthly is alien, and a great worker in the literary field. A light, cheerful pen seems to be running across the sheet itself, and dozens of drafts, editing and editing, the true selfless devotion of the artist of the word. Even a fatal illness - a malignant tumor of the lung - and terrible physical suffering could not tear him away from work: with a truly heroic effort, Tolstoy wrote the third and last book of Peter. “It is hard to believe,” says his biographer, “that the lines, sparkling with life, love, full of cheerful colors and great optimism, were created by a dying person.”
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Introduction
1. The personality of the reformer
2. Foreign policy
3. Economic and social policy
4. Reforms of authorities, administration
5. Military reforms
6. New phenomena in the spiritual realm
7. Economic transformation
8. Changes in the field of science, culture and life
Conclusion
List of used literature
Introduction
In the history of the Russian state, Peter I played a key role. His reign is considered a kind of frontier between the Muscovite kingdom and the Russian Empire. The frontier clearly delimits the forms of state power: from Ivan III to Peter I and from Peter I to Soviet Russia.
1 . The identity of the reformsator
Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov (1645-1676) had 13 children from his first wife, Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya. But if the daughters grew up strong and healthy, then the sons - frail and sickly. During the life of the king, three of his sons died at an early age, the eldest son Fedor could not move his swollen legs, and the other son Ivan was "poor in mind" and blind.
Having been widowed, 42-year-old Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich married again and married the young, healthy Natalya Naryshkina, who on May 30, 1672 gave birth to his son Peter. Peter was three and a half years old when Tsar Alexei suddenly fell ill and died. The throne was taken by Fedor Alekseevich (1676-1682). Having reigned for 6 years, the sickly Fyodor died, leaving no offspring, no memory of himself among his contemporaries and subsequent generations. Ivan, Peter's elder brother, was supposed to be the successor, but the Consecrated Cathedral and the Boyar Duma opposed the weak-minded heir. The situation was complicated by the fact that after the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, the relatives of his first wife - the Miloslavskys - became masters of the situation, removing from the court of persons close to the queen-widow Natalya Naryshkina. The prospect of Peter's accession did not suit the Miloslavskys, and they decided to use the discontent of the archers, who complained about the delay in salaries. The Miloslavskys and Peter's sister Tsarevna Sofya managed to direct the streltsy rebellion in a beneficial direction for themselves - against the Naryshkins. Some of the Naryshkins were killed, others were exiled.
As a result of the Streltsy rebellion, Ivan was declared the first tsar, Peter the second, and their elder sister Sophia became regent under the infant tsars. During the reign of Sophia, Peter and his mother lived mainly in the villages of Kolomenskoye, Preobrazhenskoye, Semenovskoye near Moscow. From the age of three, Peter began to learn to read and write from the deacon Nikita Zotov. Peter did not receive a systematic education (in his mature years he wrote with grammatical errors). When Peter was 17 years old, Tsarina Natalya decided to marry her son and, thus, get rid of Sophia's guardianship. After the marriage, hostility between Sophia and Peter intensified. Sophia again tried to use the archers for her own purposes, but a new streltsy revolt in August 1689 was suppressed. Sophia, under the name of sister Susanna, was exiled to the Novodevichy Convent, where she lived for 14 years - until her death in 1704.
Formally, Peter began to rule jointly with Ivan, but the ailing Ivan did not take any part in state affairs - with the exception of official ceremonies. Young Peter was absorbed in military amusements, and princes Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn, Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky and Tsarina Natalya decided the current affairs of state. Peter, although he felt indomitable energy in himself, did not yet imagine the role that he was to play in the history of Russia.
Before considering Peter's reform activities, let us recall what Russia was like at the end of the 17th century.
The vast territory and "dissimilarity" of Russia to Western countries immediately caught the eye of foreigners who visited Russia. Many of them, including foreigners, associates of Peter, Patrick Gordon, Franz Lefort, the Muscovite state seemed backward and even "semi-savage". This lag was due to a number of reasons. It took many years to overcome the devastation caused by the Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 17th century, when many regions of the country were devastated. But devastating wars were not the only and not the main reason for this lag. The decisive influence on the development of the country was exerted by its natural, geographical and social conditions, the severity of the climate, the small (compared with developed countries) population, and isolation from trade routes. Surrounded by strong enemies, the Russian state was forced to direct all its forces to the needs of defense. Hence the tendency to turn all classes into servants of the state, to form and strengthen serfdom.
In addition to internal, there were also external factors: Russia's lack of access to the seas made it difficult to communicate with the developed countries of Europe. Two seas - the Black and the Baltic - were closed to external relations by the Ottoman Empire and Sweden. Arkhangelsk, a port on the White Sea, remained the only sea gate to Russia, but it was ice-bound for most of the year, and the way here from Western Europe was twice as long as to the Baltic.
To carry out the transformations, an impulse, a push, was needed. The experience of national history shows that almost all epoch-making perestroika in Russia began from above. The greatness of Peter, says S.M. Solovyov, that, although by torture and batogs, he forced the inhabitants of "barbarian Muscovy" to adopt the beginning of European culture from Europe. Instead of the barbarian Moscow kingdom, Peter in the shortest possible time created, according to the high standards of Europe of that time, the Russian Empire.
Peter was a figure of enormous historical proportions, a complex and highly controversial figure. He was smart, inquisitive, hardworking, energetic. Having not received a proper education, he nevertheless possessed extensive knowledge in the most diverse fields of science, technology, crafts, and military art. There is no doubt that everything he did was directed, in the opinion of Peter himself, for the benefit of Russia, and not for his, the Tsar, personally. But many of Peter's personal qualities were due to the nature of the harsh era in which he lived, and to a large extent determined his cruelty, suspicion, lust for power, etc. It is very significant that Peter liked it when he was compared with Ivan the Terrible. In achieving his goals, he did not disdain any means, he was not just cruel to people (personally, for example, chopped off the heads of archers in 1689), he generally looked at a person as a tool, material for creating what he had conceived for the good empire. During the reign of Peter in the country, taxes increased three times and the population decreased by 15%. Peter did not stop before using the most sophisticated methods of the Middle Ages: torture, surveillance, encouraging denunciations. He was convinced that in the name of the state "benefit" moral norms can be neglected.
So, at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries. Russia was on the threshold of transformations. These transformations could take different forms and lead to different results. The personality of the reformer played a huge role in choosing the forms of development.
2 . Foreign policy
The name of Peter is associated with the transformation of Russia into an empire, a Eurasian military power.
Peter back in the 90s. The 17th century came to the conclusion that in order to eliminate relative international isolation, access to the seas - the Black and the Baltic - or at least to one of them is necessary. Initially, Russian expansion rushed south - in 1695 and 1696. Azov campaigns took place. Having failed near Azov in 1695, Peter, with his characteristic energy, set about building a fleet. The fleet was built on the Voronezh River at its confluence with the Don. During the year, about 30 large ships were built, lowered down the Don. As a result of the second campaign, Azov was taken, access to the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov was secured. However, the Turks refused to allow Russian ships to pass through the Kerch Strait, and even more so through the Bosphorus - the exit to the trade routes remained closed as before.
After the "great embassy" to Europe (1697-1698)2 it became clear to Peter that the center of gravity in Russia's foreign policy should shift to the West. The main goal was access to the Baltic Sea, where Sweden completely dominated. The origins of Russia's territorial claims to Sweden lead to the Pillar Peace of 1617, according to which Sweden received the territory from Lake Ladoga to Ivangorod (Yam, Koporye, Oreshek and Korela). The main damage for Russia was that it was closed access to the Baltic Sea. But it was impossible to cope with Sweden alone. Allies were needed. They managed to be found in the face of Denmark and Saxony, who were dissatisfied with the dominance of Sweden in the Baltic. In 1699, Russia established allied relations with Denmark and Saxony. Characteristically, Peter managed to hide the true intentions of Russia. The Swedish king Charles XII, who was interested in the war between Russia and Turkey, even gave Peter 300 cannons.
The Northern War (1700-1721) was divided into two stages: the first - from 1700 to 1709 (before the Battle of Poltava), the second - from 1709 to 1721 (from the Poltava victory to the conclusion of the Peace of Nystadt). The war began unsuccessfully for Russia and its allies. Denmark was immediately withdrawn from the war. In November 1700, 8,000 Swedes defeated a 60,000-strong Russian army near Narva3. This was a serious lesson, and Peter was forced to embark on hasty transformations, to create a new European-style regular army. Already in 1702-1703. Russian troops won the first victory. The fortresses Noteburg (renamed Shlisselburg - Klyuch-city), Nienschanz were taken; the mouth of the Neva was in the hands of the Russians.
Nevertheless, at the first stage of the war, the strategic initiative remained in the hands of Sweden, whose troops occupied Poland, Saxony and invaded Russia. The battle of Poltava5 (June 27, 1709), victorious for the Russian army, became the turning point in the war. The strategic initiative passed into the hands of Russia. But the nature of the war on the part of Russia has changed. Peter renounced his previous promises to the Allies to confine himself to the return of the old Russian territories. In 1710, Karelia, Livonia, Estonia were liberated from the Swedes, the fortresses of Vyborg, Revel, and Riga were taken. If not for the war with Turkey in 1710-1713, the Northern War would have ended faster. The Allies ousted Sweden from all its overseas territories. The Swedish empire collapsed.
The final fate of the Northern War was decided at sea in the battles of Gangut (1714), the Ezel Islands (1719) and Grengam (1720). Moreover, Russian troops repeatedly landed on the Swedish coast. Charles XII could not accept defeat and continued to fight until his death in Norway in 1718. Frederick I, the new king of Sweden, had to sit down at the negotiating table. On August 30, 1721, the Treaty of Nystadt was signed, according to which Estland, Livonia, Ingermanland, the cities of Vyborg and Kexholm passed to Russia. Sweden retained Finland, received compensation for Livonia (2 million efimki) and negotiated the right to buy bread duty-free in Riga and Reval.
Peter considered his victory the greatest joy of his life. In October 1721, the month-long festivities in the capital ended with the solemn ceremony of the tsar's acceptance of the title of emperor of all Russia. During Peter's lifetime, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Holland, and Venice recognized his new status as emperor.
Russia has solved the main foreign policy task that the Russian tsars have been trying to accomplish for two centuries - access to the sea. Russia has firmly entered the circle of European powers. Permanent diplomatic relations were established with major European countries.
After the end of the Northern War, the eastern direction of Russian politics became more active. The goal was to capture the transit routes of eastern trade going through the Caspian regions. In 1722-1723. the western and southern coast of the Caspian Sea, which previously belonged to Persia, passed to Russia.
Thus, Russia's foreign policy evolved in the direction of imperial policy. It was under Peter I that the Russian Empire was created, imperial thinking was formed, which persisted for almost three centuries.
3 . Economicand social policy
The reforms of Peter I are a huge conglomeration of government measures that were carried out without a clearly developed long-term program and were conditioned both by the urgent, momentary needs of the state and by the personal preferences of the autocrat. The reforms were dictated, on the one hand, by the processes that began to develop in the country in the second half of the 17th century, on the other, by Russia's failures in the first period of its war with the Swedes, and on the third, by Peter's attachment to European ideas, orders and way of life. .
The concept of mercantilism had a decisive influence on the economic policy of the early 18th century. According to the ideas of mercantilism, the basis of the wealth of the state is the accumulation of money through an active balance of trade, the export of goods to foreign markets and restrictions on the import of foreign goods into its own market. This involved state intervention in the economic sphere: encouraging production, building manufactories, organizing trading companies, and introducing new technology.
Another important stimulus for active state intervention in the economy was the defeat of the Russian troops at the initial stage of the war with Sweden. With the outbreak of the war, Russia lost its main source of iron and copper supplies. Possessing large financial and material resources for that time, the state took over the regulation of industrial construction. With his direct participation and with his money, state-owned manufactories began to be created, primarily for the production of military products.
The state also seized trade - by introducing a monopoly on the procurement and sale of certain goods. In 1705, a monopoly on salt and tobacco was introduced. Profit on the first doubled; for tobacco - 8 times. A monopoly was introduced for the sale of goods abroad: for bread, lard, flax, hemp, resin, caviar, mast wood, wax, iron, etc. The establishment of a monopoly was accompanied by a strong-willed increase in prices for these goods, and the regulation of the trading activities of Russian merchants. The consequence of this was the disorganization of free, based on market conditions, entrepreneurship. The state achieved its goal - revenues to the treasury increased sharply, but the violence against entrepreneurship systematically ruined the most prosperous part of the merchant class.
By the end of the Northern War, when the victory was obvious, certain changes took place in the commercial and industrial policy of the government. Measures were taken to encourage private entrepreneurship. "Berg-privilege" (1719) allowed to search for minerals and build factories to all residents of the country and foreigners without exception. The practice of transferring state-owned enterprises (primarily unprofitable ones) to private owners or companies has become widespread. The new owners received various benefits from the treasury: interest-free loans, the right to sell goods duty-free, etc. The state abandoned its monopoly on the sale of goods on the foreign market.
However, entrepreneurs did not receive real economic freedom. In 1715, a decree was adopted on the creation of industrial and trading companies, whose members, having given their capital to a common pool, were bound by mutual responsibility and bore common responsibility to the state. The company did not actually have the right to private property. It was a kind of lease, the terms of which were determined by the state, which had the right to confiscate the enterprise in case of violation. Fulfillment of government orders became the main responsibility of the owner of the plant. And only the surplus could be sold on the market. This reduced the importance of competition as the main incentive for business development. The lack of competition also hindered the improvement of production.
Control over domestic industry was exercised by the Berg and Manufactory Colleges, which had exclusive rights: they gave permission to open factories, set prices for products, had a monopoly right to purchase goods from manufactories, and exercised administrative and judicial power over owners and workers.
The government of Peter I was very attentive to the development of its own industry, protecting it from futile competition with the products of developed European countries. In terms of quality, the products of Russian manufactories were still inferior to foreign ones, so Peter forbade the import into the country of those foreign goods, the production of which was mastered in Russia. Thus, according to the customs tariff of 1724, a huge - 75% - duty was imposed on those European products, the demand for which could be satisfied by home means. The same duty was imposed on raw materials exported from Russia. In the first quarter of the 18th century, the policy of mercantilism became a powerful weapon in the hands of the government and a reliable defense of domestic entrepreneurship.
The active intervention of the state in the sphere of the economy deformed social relations. First of all, this was manifested in the nature of the use of labor force. During the Northern War, the state and the owners of manufactories used both civilian labor, "runaway and walking", and ascribed peasants who worked out state taxes at the factories. However, in the early 20's. In the 18th century, the problem of labor force escalated: the struggle against the escapes of peasants intensified, the mass return of the fugitives to their former owners began, an audit of the population was carried out, followed by fixing the social status of each person by fixing forever to the place of entry in the tax cadastre. Outlaws were placed "free and walking", who were equated with fugitive criminals.
In 1718-1724. a poll census was carried out. Instead of a peasant household, the unit of taxation was the “male soul”, which could be both a nursing baby and a decrepit old man. The dead were listed in the lists ("fairy tales") until the next revision. The soul tax was paid by serfs and state peasants, townspeople. Nobles and clergy were exempted from paying the poll tax. In 1724 the passport system was established. Without a passport, peasants were forbidden to move further than 30 versts from their place of residence. In 1721, Peter signed a decree allowing serfs to buy from factories. Such peasants began to be called possessive (ownership). Peter I clearly understood that the treasury alone could not solve grandiose tasks. Therefore, government policy was aimed at involving private capital in industrial construction. A striking example of such a policy was the transfer in 1702 of the Nevyansk plant in the Urals, which had just been built by the treasury, to private hands. By this time, Nikita Demidov was already a well-known and major entrepreneur of the Tula Arms Settlement. The justification of such a step is confirmed by the mutually beneficial terms of the deal: the breeder had to significantly increase production, supply military supplies to the treasury at preferential prices, “build schools for children, and hospitals for the sick” and much more, and in return he was allowed to look for ores in the vast territory of the Urals “ and build all sorts of factories. The Demidovs fulfilled their obligations and created a grand economy. Hundreds of people rushed to build factories. Many failed, but by the middle of the 18th century there were already more than 40 private factories in the Urals, and large "iron-making complexes - the complexes of the Stroganovs, Demidovs, Mosolovs, Osokins, Tverdyshevs and Myasnikovs" had formed.
A feature of the development of Russian industry in the first half of the 18th century was the widespread use of forced labor. This meant the transformation of industrial enterprises, where the capitalist way of life could be born, into enterprises of the feudal economy. In the first quarter of the 18th century, a relatively powerful economic base was created - about 100 manufacturing enterprises, and at the beginning of the reign there were 15 of them. By the 1740s, the country produced 1.5 times more iron than England.
4 . Reforms of authorities, administration
V.O. Klyuchevsky wrote: "The transformation of management is perhaps the most ostentatious, facade side of Peter's transformational activity; all this activity was especially willingly appreciated for it." Klyuchevsky, who was generally very critical of Peter's activities, believed that management reforms were carried out hastily, without a program. These or other changes in state administration, the administrative-territorial division of Russia were dictated by military necessity, and their main task was to extort funds from the people as efficiently as possible to cover ever-growing military expenses (Peter himself called money "the artery of war"). Peter the reformer was also characterized by the desire to transfer military principles to the sphere of civil life and public administration. In this regard, the Decree of April 10, 1716, sent by the emperor to the Senate, is very indicative: "Lord Senate! I am sending you the book Military Ustaf (which was conceived in Petersburg and is now completed) ... And even though it is the basis of military people, it also applies to to all the rulers of the land." Peter treated the state institution as a military unit, the regulations - as a military charter, and the official - as a soldier. The American researcher D. Kraykraft noted: "Peter not only dressed like a soldier, but also acted and thought like a soldier."
Lack of system and haste often led to confusion: regulations, orders were replaced by one another, often directly opposite, or nullified by endless changes in state institutions, sometimes institutions duplicated each other in their functions. Many positions, military and civil, only changed their old Russian names to European ones, essentially remaining the same. Already in the first years of Peter's reign, the style and methods of management changed: instead of the Boyar Duma (which Peter doomed simply to physical extinction, by his decree stopping the replenishment of the thought with new members), decisions began to be made by a kind of "team" composed of the closest associates of the king. At the first stages, Peter's chief adviser was Prince Fyodor Romodanovsky, according to a contemporary, "an evil tyrant, drunk all day long."
The first administrative reform was the creation in 1699 of a special department of cities. Decrees introduced self-government for the urban merchants, as well as for the population of Pomeranian cities. The power of governors was abolished, from now on, elected burmisters were in charge of court and tax collection. The Moscow City Hall, elected by the merchants of Moscow, was placed at the head of the new bodies. The City Hall was in charge of the main state revenues from the cities, as well as general supervision of the actions of self-government bodies. At the head of the Town Hall was the chief inspector of the town hall board. The first person to hold this position was Sheremetev's former butler Alexei Kurbatov. But with the growth of public spending, Peter is gradually losing confidence in the financial capabilities of the Town Hall. The king comes to the decision to transfer the bulk of the administration to the localities, since "it is difficult for a person to understand and rule everything for the eyes." Such a management organization ensured a higher degree of satisfaction of the financial needs of the state, and after the end of the Northern War, it was supposed to simplify the process of deploying and providing regular troops.
At the end of 1707, the implementation of a new reform began, and in 1708 the creation of eight provinces was proclaimed, which in turn were divided into provinces: Moscow, Ingermanland (later St. Petersburg), Kiev, Smolensk, Arkhangelsk, Kazan, Azov and Siberia. At the head of the border provinces were governors-general, the rest - governors. The provinces were ruled by voivods, while the governors and voivodes had a zemstvo office as a body that enforced orders and orders; since 1710 governors began to be called district commandants. Subordinate to the governor were the vice-governor (deputy), the landrichter, who was in charge of the court, the food master and other officials. Thus, the provincial reform actually abolished the reforms of 1699, and the Moscow City Hall turned from a nationwide into a provincial institution.
In 1710, a household census was conducted and a special payment unit was established in 5536 households, which was supposed to provide one "share" of the funds needed to cover military expenses. Commandantships were abolished, and instead new "shares" were created, headed by landrats - in large provinces, 12 each, in medium ones - 10 each, in smaller ones - 8 each. It was envisaged that, in accordance with the number of "shares", each province would contain a certain amount regiments. However, this reform did not give the desired effect, the Northern War dragged on, and it was not possible to place the regiments assigned to them in the provinces. Money was still not enough, which created fertile ground for various frauds. So, the governor of the Kazan province, Apraksin, invented the amounts of "income" and provided the tsar with false statements on them, demonstrating his zeal for government profits.
These two reforms caused a complete breakdown of public administration. As a result of the provincial reform, the system of orders was destroyed, at the beginning of the 18th century. Russia was actually left without a capital, since Moscow has ceased to be one, and St. Petersburg has not yet become. All power was still concentrated in the hands of the "team", which was called either the "close office" or the "council of ministers."
The turning point was the Decree of March 2, 1711, which proclaimed the creation of a new body of state power - the Senate. The formal reason was the departure of Peter to the war with Turkey. The decree read: "Decree, what to do after our departure. The court should have a non-hypocritical and unjust judges punish with the removal of honor and all property, and so it will follow; perhaps, to take, because money is the artery of war; 4. Nobles gather young for reserve in afitser, and especially those who are hidden, to find; also a thousand people of boyar literate people for the same; 5. Correct bills and keep in one place; 6 To inspect and witness the goods that are farmed out or in the offices and provinces; 7. On the salt of the staratsa to give at the mercy and the profit-maker from it; 8. Trade with the Chinese, having made good company, to give; perhaps to caress and lighten, in what is proper, so that they will give a hunt for the Bolsheviks to their arrival.
Peter. 1" At first, the Senate consisted of nine of the closest employees of the king, and Peter insisted on recognizing the Senate as the highest state body, to which all persons and institutions should obey, as the king himself.
In order to establish strict control over the administration, Peter in 1711 created a system of fiscals who were subordinate to the chief fiscal. They were charged with reporting to the Senate and the tsar about all abuses and unseemly actions of officials. Fiscals were practically unpunished, but if their denunciation was confirmed, the fiscal received half of the property of the guilty. The Institute of Fiscals created the conditions for the flourishing of corruption and provided ample opportunities for settling scores. Ober-fiscal Nesterov became infamous for this. However, Peter did not stop there - in 1722 the post of prosecutor general was introduced to lead the fiscals. His main role was to oversee the Senate, now only he could propose questions to the Senate for discussion. Thus, the role of the Senate as an organ of state power was sharply reduced. But the new centralized apparatus of power with the establishment of the Senate was just beginning to be created, and Peter chose the Swedish state system as a model for further reform of public administration. Considering this reform, as well as many other transformations of Peter, one cannot but touch upon the question of the degree to which he borrowed Western European experience.
The Swedish state system was built on the principles of cameralism - the doctrine of bureaucratic management, which became widespread in Europe in the 16th-17th centuries. Cameralism contained a number of features that were very attractive to Peter: 1) This is a functional principle of management, which provided for the creation of institutions that specialized in any area; 2) This is the organization of the institution on the basis of collegiality, a clear regulation of the duties of officials, specialization of clerical work, the establishment of uniformity of staff and salaries.
Using the Swedish experience and Swedish models, Peter, as a rule, made changes due to the peculiarities of Russia. Peter's decree of April 28, 1718 reads: "1 All colleges must now, on the basis of the Swedish charter, compose in all matters and procedures point by point, and which points in the Swedish regulations are inconvenient, or are dissimilar to the system of this state, and put them according to their reasoning. And, stating about them, report whether they are so.
In 1712, Peter got the idea to create a collegium following the Swedish model. The first note of the king on the number of colleges refers to March 23, 1715 - only six colleges without deciphering their duties: Justice, Foreign Affairs, Admiralty, Military, Chambers and Commerce Colleges. The reform began in late 1717 - early 1718, when Peter drew up a kind of program for the upcoming transformations: he determined the number and competence of the colleges, and also staffed them with leadership. Decree of December 15, 1717 appoints presidents and vice-presidents of the colleges.
Document dated December 12, 1718: "Register of colleges. On the position in which the manager should ...
11. Foreign affairs (what is now the Ambassadorial order). All foreign and embassy business and shipment with all neighboring states and the arrivals of ambassadors and envoys, and the arrivals of couriers and other foreigners.
12. Kamor (or government fees). Any disposition and maintenance of the monetary income of the whole state.
13. Justice (that is, the reprisal of civil cases). Judicial and search cases, in the same collegium, the Local Order is also in charge.
14. Revision. An account of all government receipts and expenditures.
15. Military. The army and garrisons and all military affairs that were conducted in the Military Order and which are carried out throughout the state.
16. Admiralteyskaya. A fleet with all naval military servants, including maritime affairs and management.
17. Commercial. Watch over all trades and trading action.
18. State offices (Treasury house). Manage all government spending.
19. Berg and Manufaktura. Mining factories and all other crafts and needlework, and factories thereof, and reproduction, and artillery, moreover.
With the advent of the collegiums, many of the surviving orders ceased to exist, and some of them became part of the new institutions, for example, seven orders were included in the College of Justice. A feature of the collegial system was a clearer delineation of areas of activity and an advisory procedure for doing business. Peter himself wrote: “In the college, the proposed need is analyzed by many minds, and what one does not comprehend, the other will comprehend, and what this one does not see, he will see.” The collegiate system had flaws, and the composition of the collegiums during the life of Peter changed several times. In 1721, the Spiritual Collegium - the Synod, was formed, which was removed from the subordination of the Senate, in 1722 Berg and the Manufactory College were divided into the Berg College and the Manufactory College, the Little Russian Collegium was formed to improve the management of Ukraine, and the patrimonial office The College of Justice received the status of a college.
In 1720, the General Regulations were adopted - a document defining the staff of the collegiums, definitively delimiting their functions and competence. The formation of the collegial system was completed. It functioned for almost a century - from 1717 to 1802.
After the establishment of the collegiums, Peter decided to reform the local government, following the Swedish model. Another reform of the local administrative-territorial structure has begun. In 1719-1720, "shares" and positions of landrats were abolished, the provinces were now divided into provinces, and those, in turn, into districts, headed by zemstvo commissars appointed by the Chamber Collegium. City government was transferred to the hands of the city leaders. The position of burmisters was abolished. The entire urban population was divided into three parts: the 1st guild (wealthy merchants and owners of handicraft workshops), the 2nd guild (small merchants, wealthy artisans) and the "mean people", who made up the vast majority of the urban population. Only representatives of the "regular" population - members of the guilds - were given the right to elect to the new bodies of city self-government - magistrates, only members of the 1st guild could be elected. The activities of all city magistrates were controlled by the Chief Magistrate, created in 1720. Along with the division of the urban population, transformations were also carried out in relation to the large class of the non-serf population - it was united into the estate of state peasants with a significant narrowing of rights and opportunities. The census of 1719-1724 eliminated serfdom by merging it with serfs.
The new system of governing bodies created a powerful layer of the bureaucratic nobility in Russia, and an extensive bureaucratic apparatus of nobility was formed. After the complete equalization of the land holdings of the nobles (estates) and boyars (estates), the noble land ownership finally turned into the dominant one, and the decree on the majorate of 1714 prevented the fragmentation of possessions. But this measure has not been fully implemented.
The General Regulations and other decrees of Peter I consolidated the idea of the service of the Russian nobility as the most important form of fulfilling duties to the sovereign and the state. In 1714, a decree on single inheritance was adopted, according to which the noble estate was equalized in rights with the estate. He contributed to the completion of the process of unification of the estates of the feudal lords into a single class-estate, which had certain privileges. But the title of nobility could only be privileged when its holder served. The Table of Ranks (1722) introduced a new hierarchy of ranks. All military and civil positions were divided into 14 ranks. To get the next rank, you had to go through all the previous ones. A military or civil official who reached the eighth rank, corresponding to a collegiate assessor or major, received hereditary nobility. The new position of the bureaucracy, other forms and methods of its activity gave rise to a completely special psychology of the bureaucracy. The idea of Peter I that a person would receive a rank corresponding to his knowledge and diligence, and according to the rank - and position, did not work from the very beginning.
There were far more employees who received the same ranks than the positions they applied for. Instead of the old, boyar, a new, bureaucratic localism began to flourish, expressed in the promotion to a new rank by seniority, that is, depending on who had previously been promoted to the previous class. In Russia, a cult of institutions has developed, and the pursuit of ranks and positions has become a national disaster. A kind of "bureaucratic revolution" is the main result of imposing the European idea of rationalism on Russian soil. The principle of generosity in appointment to the civil service was finally replaced by the principle of length of service. mercantilism reform power absolutism
For refusal to serve, the possessions of the nobles were confiscated. If in the West service was a privilege, in Russia it was a duty. In this regard, the opinion is expressed in the literature that it is hardly possible to consider the nobility, completely dependent on the state, as the ruling class. Rather, it was a privileged class-estate of the military and civilian servants of the autocracy, whose advantages existed as long as they served. The "emancipation" of the nobility occurred later - in the 30-60s. XVIII century.
5 . Military reformss
Military reforms occupy a special place among the Petrine reforms. They had the most pronounced class character. The essence of the military reform was the elimination of the noble militias and the organization of a permanent, combat-ready army with a uniform structure, weapons, uniforms, discipline, and charters. The tasks of creating a modern, efficient army and navy occupied the young king even before he became a sovereign sovereign. It is possible to count only a few (according to different historians - in different ways) peaceful years during the 36-year reign of Peter. The army and navy have always been the main concern of the emperor. However, military reforms are important not only in themselves, but also because they had a very large, often decisive, impact on other aspects of the life of the state. The course of the military reform itself was determined by the war. Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky wrote: "The war indicated the order of the reform, told it the pace and the very methods." "Playing with soldiers", to which young Peter devoted all his time, from the end of the 1680s. becomes more and more serious. In 1689, Peter built on Lake Pleshcheyevo, near Pereslavl-Zalessky, several small ships under the guidance of Dutch craftsmen. In the spring of 1690, the famous "amusing regiments" - Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky - were created. Peter begins to conduct real military maneuvers, the "capital city of Preshburg" is being built on the Yauza. The Semyonovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments became the core of the future permanent (regular) army and proved themselves during the Azov campaigns of 1695-1696. Peter I pays great attention to the fleet, the first baptism of fire of which also falls at this time. The treasury did not have the necessary funds, and the construction of the fleet was entrusted to the so-called "kumpans" (companies) - associations of secular and spiritual landowners. With the outbreak of the Northern War, the focus shifts to the Baltic, and with the founding of St. Petersburg, shipbuilding is carried out almost exclusively there. By the end of Peter's reign, Russia became one of the strongest maritime powers in the world, having 48 linear and 788 galley and other ships. The beginning of the Northern War was the impetus for the final creation of a regular army. Before Peter the Great, the army consisted of two main parts - the noble militia and various semi-regular formations (archers, Cossacks, regiments of a foreign system). The revolutionary change was that Peter introduced a new principle of manning the army - periodic convocations of the militia were replaced by systematic recruiting sets. The basis of the recruiting system was based on the estate-serf principle. Recruitment kits were extended to the population that paid taxes and carried state duties. In 1699, the first recruitment was made, since 1705, the sets were legalized by the relevant decree and became annual. From 20 yards they took one person, a single person aged 15 to 20 years (however, during the Northern War, these terms were constantly changing due to a shortage of soldiers and sailors). The Russian village suffered most of all from recruiting sets. The service life of a recruit was practically unlimited. The officers of the Russian army were replenished at the expense of the nobles who studied in the guards noble regiments or in specially organized schools (Pushkar, artillery, navigation, fortification, Naval Academy, etc.).
In 1716, the Military Charter was adopted, and in 1720 - the Naval Charter, a large-scale rearmament of the army was carried out. By the end of the Northern War, Peter had a huge strong army - 200 thousand people (not counting 100 thousand Cossacks), which allowed Russia to win a grueling war that stretched for almost a quarter of a century.
The main results of the military reforms of Peter the Great are as follows:
Creation of a combat-ready regular army, one of the strongest in the world, which gave Russia the opportunity to fight and defeat its main opponents;
The emergence of a whole galaxy of talented commanders (Alexander Menshikov, Boris Sheremetev, Fedor Apraksin, Yakov Bruce, etc.);
Creation of a powerful navy;
A gigantic increase in military expenditures and covering them through the most severe squeezing of funds from the people.
However, the reverse side of the reforms was the accelerating militarization of the imperial state machine. Having taken a very honorable place in the state, the army began to perform not only military, but also police functions. The colonel oversaw the collection of per capita money and funds for the needs of his regiment, and also had to eradicate "robbery", including suppressing peasant unrest. The practice of participation of professional military personnel in state administration has spread. The military, especially the guards, were often used as emissaries of the king, and were endowed with emergency powers.
It can be seen from the foregoing that a powerful military-bureaucratic system was formed in Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century. At the top of the cumbersome pyramid of power was the king. The monarch was the only source of law, had immense power. The apotheosis of autocracy was the assignment of the title of emperor to Peter I.
6 . Newphenomenain the spiritual realm
Peter's church reform played an important role in establishing absolutism. In the second half of the XVII century. the positions of the Russian Orthodox Church were very strong, it retained administrative, financial and judicial autonomy in relation to the royal power. The last patriarchs Joachim (1675-1690) and Adrian (1690-1700) pursued a policy aimed at strengthening these positions.
Peter's church policy, like his policy in other areas of public life, was aimed primarily at using the church as efficiently as possible for the needs of the state, and more specifically, at squeezing money out of the church for state programs, primarily for the construction of the fleet (about " see Section 1). After Peter's journey as part of the Great Embassy, he is also occupied with the problem of the complete subordination of the church to his authority.
The turn to the new policy took place after the death of Patriarch Hadrian. Peter orders to conduct an audit for the census of the property of the Patriarchal House. Taking advantage of the information about the revealed abuses, Peter cancels the election of a new patriarch, at the same time entrusting Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky of Ryazan with the post of "locum tenens of the patriarchal throne." In 1701, the Monastic order was formed - a secular institution - to manage the affairs of the church. The church begins to lose its independence from the state, the right to dispose of its property.
Peter, guided by the enlightening idea of the public good, which requires the productive work of all members of society, launches an offensive against monks and monasteries. In 1701, the royal decree limited the number of monks: now one had to apply to the Monastic order for permission to be tonsured. Subsequently, the king had the idea to use the monasteries as shelters for retired soldiers and beggars. In the decree of 1724, the number of monks in the monastery is directly dependent on the number of people they look after.
The existing relationship between the church and the authorities required a new legal formalization. In 1721, Feofan Prokopovich, a prominent figure in the Petrine era, drew up the Spiritual Regulations, which provided for the destruction of the institution of the patriarchate and the formation of a new body - the Spiritual College, which was soon renamed the "Holy Government Synod", officially equalized in rights with the Senate. Stefan Yavorsky became president , vice-presidents - Theodosius Yanovsky and Feofan Prokopovich. The creation of the Synod was the beginning of the absolutist period of Russian history, since now all power, including church power, was concentrated in the hands of Peter. A contemporary reports that when Russian church leaders tried to protest, Peter pointed out to them the Spiritual Regulations and declared: "Here is the spiritual patriarch for you, and if you don't like him, then here you (throwing a dagger on the table) the damask patriarch."
The adoption of the Spiritual Regulations actually turned the Russian clergy into state officials, especially since a secular person, the chief prosecutor, was appointed to supervise the Synod.
The reform of the church was carried out in parallel with the tax reform, the registration and classification of priests were carried out, and their lower strata were transferred to the head salary. According to the consolidated statements of the Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Astrakhan provinces (formed as a result of the division of the Kazan province), only 3044 priests out of 8709 (35%) were exempt from tax. A stormy reaction among the priests was caused by the Resolution of the Synod of May 17, 1722, in which the clergy were charged with the obligation to violate the secrecy of confession if they had the opportunity to communicate any information important to the state. As a result of the church reform, the church lost a huge part of its influence and turned into a part of the state apparatus, strictly controlled and managed by secular authorities.
7 . Economic transformation
During the Petrine era, the Russian economy, and above all industry, made a giant leap. At the same time, the development of the economy in the first quarter of the XVIII century. followed the path outlined by the previous period. In the Muscovite state of the XVI-XVII centuries. there were large industrial enterprises - the Cannon Yard, the Printing Yard, the arms factories in Tula, the shipyard in Dedinovo, etc. Peter's policy in relation to economic life was characterized by a high degree of command and protectionist methods.
In agriculture, opportunities for improvement were drawn from the further development of fertile lands, the cultivation of industrial crops that provided raw materials for industry, the development of animal husbandry, the advancement of agriculture to the east and south, as well as the more intensive exploitation of the peasants. The increased needs of the state for raw materials for Russian industry led to the widespread use of crops such as flax and hemp. The decree of 1715 encouraged the cultivation of flax and hemp, as well as tobacco, mulberry trees for silkworms. The decree of 1712 ordered the creation of horse breeding farms in the Kazan, Azov and Kyiv provinces, sheep breeding was also encouraged.
In the Petrine era, the country was sharply divided into two zones of feudal economy - the lean North, where the feudal lords transferred their peasants to quitrent, often letting them go to the city and other agricultural areas to earn money, and the fertile South, where landowning nobles sought to expand corvee .
The state duties of the peasants also increased. They built cities (40 thousand peasants worked on the construction of St. Petersburg), manufactories, bridges, roads; annual recruiting was carried out, old fees were increased and new ones were introduced.
The main goal of Peter's policy all the time was to obtain the largest possible financial and human resources for state needs. Two censuses were carried out - in 1710 and 1718. According to the census of 1718, the male "soul" became the unit of taxation, regardless of age, from which the poll tax was levied in the amount of 70 kopecks per year (from state peasants - 1 rub. 10 kopecks per year). This streamlined the tax policy and sharply raised state revenues (by about 4 times; by the end of Peter's reign, they amounted to 12 million rubles a year).
In industry, there was a sharp reorientation from small peasant and handicraft farms to manufactories. Under Peter, at least 200 new manufactories were founded, he encouraged their creation in every possible way. The policy of the state was also aimed at protecting the young Russian industry from competition from Western Europe by introducing very high customs duties (Customs Charter of 1724)
Russian manufactory, although it had capitalist features, but the use of predominantly the labor of peasants - possession, ascribed, quitrent, etc. - made it a serf enterprise. Depending on whose property they were, manufactories were divided into state, merchant and landowner. In 1721, industrialists were granted the right to buy peasants to secure them to the enterprise (possession peasants).
State state factories used the labor of state peasants, bonded peasants, recruits and free hired craftsmen. They mainly served heavy industry - metallurgy, shipyards, mines. The merchant manufactories, which produced mainly consumer goods, employed both sessional and quitrent peasants, as well as civilian labor. Landlord enterprises were fully provided by the forces of the serfs of the landowner.
Peter's protectionist policy led to the emergence of manufactories in various industries, often appearing in Russia for the first time. The main ones were those who worked for the army and navy: metallurgical, weapons, shipbuilding, cloth, linen, leather, etc. Entrepreneurial activity was encouraged, favorable conditions were created for people who created new manufactories or rented state ones. In 1711, in a decree on the transfer of linen manufactory to Moscow merchants A. Turchaninov and S. Tsynbalshchikov, Peter wrote: "And if they multiply this plant with their zeal and make profit in it, and for that they ... will receive mercy."
There are manufactories in many industries - glass, gunpowder, paper, canvas, linen, silk weaving, cloth, leather, rope, hat, colorful, sawmill and many others. A huge contribution to the development of the metallurgical industry of the Urals was made by Nikita Demidov, who enjoyed the special favor of the king. The emergence of the foundry industry in Karelia on the basis of the Ural ores, the construction of the Vyshnevolotsk Canal, contributed to the development of metallurgy in new areas and brought Russia to one of the first places in the world in this industry. At the beginning of the XVIII century. about 150 thousand poods of pig iron were smelted in Russia, in 1725 - more than 800 thousand poods (from 1722 Russia exported cast iron), and by the end of the 18th century. - more than 2 million pounds.
By the end of the reign of Peter in Russia there was a developed diversified industry with centers in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Urals. The largest enterprises were the Admiralty shipyard, Arsenal, St. Petersburg powder factories, metallurgical plants of the Urals, Khamovny yard in Moscow. There was a strengthening of the all-Russian market, the accumulation of capital thanks to the mercantilist policy of the state. Russia supplied competitive goods to world markets: iron, linen, yuft, potash, furs, caviar. Thousands of Russians were trained in Europe in various specialties, and, in turn, foreigners - weapons engineers, metallurgists, locksmiths were hired into the Russian service. Thanks to this, Russia was enriched with the most advanced technologies in Europe. As a result of Peter's policy in the economic field, a powerful industry was created in an extremely short period of time, capable of fully meeting military and state needs and not dependent on imports in anything.
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Comparative analysis of the personality and activities of Peter I based on the scientific works of historians V. Klyuchevsky, S. Solovyov, N. Karamzin. Evaluation of state reforms and their consequences, the foreign policy of Emperor Peter I, his way of life and thoughts, character.
People should know the history of their country in order to know what to do in this or that case in the future. Alexei Tolstoy, inspired by the era of Peter the Great, decided to show us all the subtleties and difficulties of the Peter the Great era. As you know, he put almost 10 years of his life into work and spent many hours to study exactly the era of transformation and change in our country.
Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy was very interested in the fate of Emperor Peter 1, for more than twenty years the writer studied the biography and historical facts from the life of the ruler. This case can be called one of those when the author's work, in an attempt to convey the character of the era and personality, borders on scientific historical literature.
Initially, the work was conceived as an epic novel, which would allow, with its volume, to show all the positions and change of thoughts of a Soviet person. The writer fully succeeded in this, because through the image of Peter, the personality of Tolstoy's patron and admirer, I.V. Stalin, peeps through. In his novel, Tolstoy wanted to show the value of the transformations of that time, he describes how the wisdom of the ruler determines the further development of the state. But it is not at all difficult for the reader to grasp the connection between that time and the new Soviet era, where it is also not easy for the people to change for the better, where people do not want to accept the need for change. In such a situation, the country needs a cruel, but strong and far-sighted leader, whom the author saw both in Peter the Great and in the General Secretary of the CPSU Party.
Genre, direction
"Peter the Great" is a historical novel that includes elements of the novel of formation and heroic narration. You can also find features of a biographical novel.
essence
In the first book, Peter the Transformer appears before us. A personality that was still fully formed, but striving to become on the true and correct path. The author shows us the king as a person close to his people, able to understand all problems and try to find their solution.
- The first volume shows us the still very young Peter, frightened by the coming difficulties of government. From this moment begins our acquaintance with the formation of the future king, able to change the fate of his country. We can observe how the little ruler learns to cope with palace intrigues, betrayals, experiences the first failures, learns to correct his mistakes and solve complex, even seemingly insoluble problems.
- In the second volume, we see Peter already grown up, capable of working on an equal footing with the common people for the benefit of the country's prosperity. A lot of time has passed, the young ruler is preparing for the first transformations and signing of laws. Peter takes care of his people, trying not to allow arbitrariness on the part of the boyars. So, page after page, before our eyes, the king is becoming, from a small, frightened boy into a mature, wise ruler.
- In the third volume, a man, a king, a man, who has already taken place as a person, appears before us. Petersburg is already standing on the banks of the Neva, long-term wars have been stopped. Like Peter, the country is embarking on a new path of change and improvement. The third volume is the final and an indicator of the positive consequences of the reforms, there is a cultural upsurge in people's lives, and the military power of the state is also growing.
Main characters
- Petr Alekseevich- Tsar of Russia. The writer tried to reveal the image of the ruler in a multifaceted and full way, showing both positive and some negative qualities of Peter. The monarch appears before us in a different light, starting from a young age, ending with the peak of successful reforms of an accomplished historical figure. The hero is distinguished by diligence, determination, foresight and willpower.
- Alexander Danilovich Menshikov- Peter's comrade-in-arms, ready for anything for the sake of the ruler, Peter trusted him completely, considered him his right hand. Menshikov ran away from the family, being quite young, survived as best he could, living from penny to penny. Thanks to his mind, he ended up in the palace, where he worked as a bed-keeper. When Peter realized the true value of this man, he became the right hand of the sovereign. He was distinguished by intelligence, efficiency and the ability to assimilate new trends.
- Franz Lefort- Peter's mentor, his friend, who helped to unlock the potential of the king. Franz appears before us as a mature man, we can say that he was in charge of all the affairs of foreigners in Russia. Lefort served as Peter's adviser on military issues, on social and economic affairs, suggested how best to proceed during the palace struggle with Sophia.
There are other heroes of the novel who are no less important for the plot, but there is no way to describe each one, we do not have an epic article. But if you missed someone, feel free to write about it in the comments, we will add.
Topics and issues
- The main theme is patriotism. The author shows that our land is rich in various natural deposits, but they are wasted. Thus, there is potential in our country, but it is either not being used or is being used incorrectly. This can only be changed by a strong and strong-willed person, according to the writer. Each of us, for the sake of our homeland, for the sake of our future, must become such a person.
- The main problem is power and its influence on the individual. Peter had to face family intrigues, native people were ready to get rid of him, if only to take the throne. The craving for power knocks out all the best from a person, leaving a scorched field in place of the soul.
- The problem of social injustice. Peter put himself in the place of an ordinary worker and realized how hard the life of the people under the yoke of boyar arbitrariness. Therefore, he took up arms against the nobility, who, with their greed, pulled the country back, exhausting the peasant and living at his expense.
- Social issues also includes the issue of people's readiness for change. It is very difficult for innovators to change the world, they are constantly faced with misunderstanding and aggression from those who are used to living the old fashioned way.
the main idea
The main idea of the novel is that a large country needs a far-sighted, purposeful and decisive leader who, by the force of his will, will direct the country forward. Without a strong and firm hand, effective management is impossible. Without it, the elite will never agree to change anything, because they already live well, and the people, out of fear of change or ignorance, will gradually sink into stagnation. Thus, a true leader is a tough and adamant person who must make sacrifices in order to make history.
One can disagree with this message, it is very controversial. The author, who returned from exile and (thanks to Gorky's patronage) settled down under a regime hostile to him, could carry out a political order, the meaning of which is to justify Stalin's cruel dictatorship, covering the repressions with historical necessity.
What does it teach?
Beneficial changes are always needed. Life cannot stand still, especially in such a large state as our country. But at least some significant transformations cannot happen by themselves, without our readiness for them. The book teaches people to take responsibility for the future of the country into their own hands and look to the future.
Often the people themselves hinder progress, and they really have to be pushed from above, such is the direct purpose of the government. But the person himself must go towards positive changes, must develop and adapt in modern times, and not stand still and rest against what is already there. Then you don't have to push anyone.
Criticism
Contemporaries highly appreciated the work "Peter the Great" and regretted that the author did not finish it to the end. For example, Korney Chukovsky wrote that before his death, the author's imagination began to border on clairvoyance. Judging by his memoirs, Tolstoy planned to write a historical literary epic dedicated to the era of palace coups and the reign of Ivan the Terrible. All this would be a continuation of the story already written by him.
I. Ehrenburg pointed out that the work of Tolstoy was similar to the work of Dostoevsky. The author himself did not know what the heroes would do, they came to life in his head and did what they themselves considered necessary. These writers never knew how this or that book would end.
V. Inber recalled that Tolstoy was a surprisingly wholesome nature and he chose a hero to match. He also loved Russia, like its first emperor.
Yu. Olesha noted the authenticity of his colleague's prose. He often imagined what was written in the novel, and the lines came to life in his head. The text of the trowel described everything that the writer wanted to say.
V. Lidin said that in Tolstoy he appreciates, above all, nationality. His king is like a man of the people, living in the interests of ordinary people. The author masterfully conveyed the Russian spirit, paying attention to lively Russian speech, which adorns the text and conveys the subtlest shades of meaning.
L. Kogan described the details of conversations with the writer, who believed that the Poltava battle was a turning point in Russian history, it was there that the tsar and the people united in a single impulse.
G. Ulanova believed that Tolstoy lived in the souls of his heroes, as if he himself experienced their emotions, as if he saw history with his own eyes.
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