Peter 1 the Great (Born 1672 – died 1725) The first Russian Emperor, known for his public administration reforms.
How did the king die?
1725, January 27 - The Emperor's Palace in St. Petersburg was surrounded by reinforced guards. The first Russian emperor, Peter 1, was dying in terrible agony. For the last 10 days, convulsions were replaced by deep fainting and delirium, and in those minutes when Peter came to himself, he screamed terribly from unbearable pain. During the last week, in short moments of relief, Peter took communion three times. By his decree, all the arrested debtors were released from prisons and their debts were covered from royal sums. In all churches, including those of other faiths, about him
Origin. early years
Peter was the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Peter was born on May 30, 1672. From his first marriage with Maria Ilinichnaya Miloslavskaya, the tsar had 13 children, but only two of the sons survived - Fedor and Ivan. After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1676, Peter's upbringing was looked after by his elder brother, Tsar Fedor, who was his godfather. For young Peter, he chose Nikita Zotov as mentors, thanks to whose influence he became addicted to books, especially historical writings. Nikita told the young prince a lot about the past of the Fatherland, about the glorious deeds of his ancestors.
The real idol for Peter was Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Subsequently, Peter spoke of his reign: “This sovereign is my predecessor and model; I have always imagined him as the model of my government in civil and military affairs, but I did not go as far as he did. Fools only those who do not know the circumstances of his time, the properties of his people and the greatness of his merits, call him a tormentor.
Fight for the throne
After the death in 1682 of the 22-year-old Tsar Fedor, the struggle for the royal throne of two families, the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins, sharply escalated. The pretender to the kingdom from the Miloslavskys was Ivan, who was in poor health, from the Naryshkins, healthy, but the younger Peter. At the instigation of the Naryshkins, the patriarch proclaimed Peter the tsar. But the Miloslavskys were not going to reconcile themselves and they provoked a streltsy riot, during which many of the people close to the Naryshkins died. This made an indelible impression on Peter, had an impact on his mental health and worldview. For the rest of his life, he harbored a hatred for the archers and for the entire Miloslavsky family.
Two kings
The result of the rebellion was a political compromise: both Ivan and Peter were elevated to the throne, and Princess Sophia, the smart and ambitious daughter of Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage, became their regent (ruler). Peter and his mother did not play any role in the life of the state. They ended up in a kind of exile in the village of Preobrazhensky. Peter had to take part only in embassy ceremonies in the Kremlin. There, in Preobrazhensky, the military "fun" of the young tsar began. Under the leadership of the Scot Menesius, from Peter's peers, usually representatives of noble families, a children's regiment was recruited, from which in the early 90s. two guards regiments grew up - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky. The future field marshal M.M. Golitsyn, and the descendant of a noble family Buturlin, and the son of a groom, and in the future a friend and associate of Peter, A.D. Menshikov, served in them. The king himself served here, starting with a drummer. The officers in the regiments were usually foreigners.
In general, foreigners who lived not far from Preobrazhensky in the German Quarter (Kukui), who came to the country under Tsar Alexei, seekers of happiness and rank, masters, military specialists, played a huge role in the life of the king. From them, he studied shipbuilding, military affairs, and besides this, drink strong drinks, smoke, wear foreign dresses. From them, one might say, he absorbed a disdain for everything Russian. The Swiss F. Lefort became closer to Peter.
Riot attempt
In the summer of 1689, the struggle with the Miloslavskys intensified. Princess Sophia, realizing that soon Peter would push back the sick Ivan and take control into his own hands, began to incite the archers, led by Shaklovity, to revolt. However, this plan failed: the archers themselves handed over Shaklovity to Peter, and he, having named many of his associates under torture, was executed along with them. Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent. This was the beginning of his sole reign. Ivan's reign was nominal, and after his death in 1696, Peter became autocrat.
Streltsy rebellion
1697 - the tsar, as part of the Great Embassy of fifty people, under the guise of an officer of the Preobrazhensky regiment, Peter Mikhailov, went abroad. The purpose of the trip is an alliance against the Turks. In Holland and England, working as a carpenter in shipyards, Peter was engaged in the development of shipbuilding. On the way back, in Vienna, he was caught by the news of a new rebellion of archers. The tsar hurried to Russia, but on the way he received news that the rebellion was suppressed, 57 instigators were executed, and 4,000 archers were exiled. Upon his return, considering that the “seed” of Miloslavsky had not been exterminated, Peter gave the order to resume the investigation. Already exiled archers were returned to Moscow. Peter personally took part in torture and executions. He chopped off the heads of archers with his own hands, forcing his confidants and courtiers to do it.
Many archers were executed in a new way - they were wheeled. Peter's revenge on the Miloslavsky family was boundless. He gave the order to dig up the coffin with the body of Miloslavsky, bring him on pigs to the place of execution and place him near the chopping block in such a way that the blood of the executed would flow onto the remains of Miloslavsky. In total, more than 1000 archers were executed. Their bodies were dumped into a pit where the corpses of animals were dumped. 195 archers were hanged at the gates of the Novodevichy Convent, and three - near the very windows of Sophia, and for five months the corpses hung at the place of execution. In this terrible case, and in many others, the tsar surpassed his idol Ivan the Terrible in cruelty.
Reforms Peter 1
At the same time, Peter began to reform, intending to transform Russia along the Western European model, to make the country an absolutist police state. He wanted everything at once. With his reforms, Peter 1 put Russia on its hind legs, but how many people went on the rack, on the chopping block, on the gallows! How many were beaten, tortured… It all started with cultural innovations. It became obligatory for everyone, with the exception of the peasants and the clergy, to wear foreign dresses, the army was dressed in uniforms according to the European model, and everyone, again, except the peasants and the clergy, were obliged to shave their beards, while in Preobrazhensky the tsar cut off his beards with his own hands boyars. 1705 - a tax was introduced on beards: from servicemen and clerks, merchants and townspeople, 60 rubles each. per person per year; hundreds of wealthy merchants in the living room - 100 rubles each; from people of lower rank, boyar people, coachmen - 30 rubles each; from the peasants - 2 money every time they entered the city or left it.
Other innovations have also been introduced. They encouraged learning crafts, created numerous workshops, sent young men from noble families to study abroad, reorganized the city government, carried out a reform of the calendar, established the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, and opened the Navigation School. To strengthen the centralization of state administration, boards and the Senate were created instead of orders. All these transformations were carried out by violent methods. A special place was occupied by the relationship of the king with the clergy. Day after day he led the attack on the independence of the church. After the death of his mother, the king no longer took part in religious processions. The patriarch was no longer an adviser to Peter, he was expelled from the royal Duma, and after his death in 1700, the management of church affairs was transferred to a specially created Synod.
The temper of the king
And all these and other transformations were superimposed by the unbridled temper of the king. According to the historian Valishevsky: “In everything that Peter did, he brought a lot of swiftness, a lot of personal rudeness, and especially, a lot of passion. He hit right and left. And therefore, by correcting, he spoiled everything. Peter's fury, reaching the fury, his mockery of people knew no restraint.
He could attack Generalissimo Shein with wild abuse, and at the same time inflict severe wounds on those people close to him Romodanovsky and Zotov who were trying to appease him: one had cut fingers, the other had wounds on his head; he could beat his friend Menshikov for not taking off his sword at the assembly during the dances; could kill a servant with a stick for taking off his hat too slowly; he could order that the 80-year-old boyar M. Golovin be forced to sit naked, in a jester's cap for a whole hour on the Neva ice, because he refused, dressed as a devil, to participate in the jester's procession. After that, Golovin fell ill and quickly died. So Peter behaved not only at home: in the Copenhagen Museum, the tsar mutilated the mummy, because he was refused to sell it for the Kunstkamera. And many such examples could be cited.
Peter's era
The Petrine era is a time of constant wars. Azov campaigns of 1695–1696, Northern War of 1700–1721, Prut campaign of 1711, campaign to the Caspian Sea of 1722. All this required a huge amount of both people and money. A huge army and navy were created. Recruits were often brought into cities in chains. Many lands were depopulated. In general, during the reign of Peter 1, Russia lost almost a third of the population. Throughout the state, it was forbidden to cut down large trees, and for felling an oak they were generally executed. For the maintenance of the army, new requisitions were introduced: recruitment, dragoon, ship, household and stamp paper. New dues were introduced: for fishing, domestic baths, mills, inns. The sale of salt and tobacco passed into the hands of the treasury. Even oak coffins were transferred to the treasury and then sold at four times the price. But money was still not enough.
Personal life of Peter 1
The heavy character of the king was reflected in his family life. Even at the age of 16, his mother, in order to ward off the German settlement, married him to Evdokia Lopukhina, whom he never loved. Evdokia bore him two sons: Alexander, who died in infancy, and Alexei. After the death of Natalya Kirillovna, relations between the spouses deteriorated sharply. The tsar even wanted to execute his wife, but limited himself only to forcibly tonsure her as a nun in the Intercession Monastery in Suzdal. The 26-year-old queen was not given a penny for maintenance, and she was forced to ask her relatives for money. At the same time, the tsar had two mistresses in the German settlement: the daughter of the silversmith Betticher and the daughter of the wine merchant Mons - Anna, who became the first titled mistress of Peter. He gave her palaces, estates, but when her love affair with the Saxon envoy Keyserling surfaced, the vengeful king took almost everything donated, and even kept her in prison for some time.
A vindictive but not inconsolable lover, he quickly found a replacement for her. Among his favorites were at one time Anisya Tolstaya, and Varvara Arsenyeva, and a number of other representatives of noble families. Often, Peter's choice also stopped at simple maids. 1703 - another woman appeared who played a special role in the life of Peter - Marta Skavronskaya, who later became the wife of the tsar under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. After the occupation of Marienburg by the Russian army, she was a servant and mistress of Field Marshal B. Sheremetev, then A. Menshikov, who introduced her to Peter. Martha converted to Orthodoxy, bore Peter three daughters and a son, Peter Petrovich, who died in 1719. But only in 1724 the king crowned her. At the same time, a scandal broke out: Peter became aware of the love affair between Catherine and Willem Mons, the brother of the former favorite. Mons was executed, and his head in a jar of alcohol, on the orders of Peter, was in his wife's bedroom for several days. 
Tsarevich Alexei
Against the background of these events, the tragedy of Peter's son, Alexei, stands out clearly. His fear of his father reached the point that, on the advice of friends, he even wanted to renounce the inheritance. The king saw this as a conspiracy and gave the order to send his son to a monastery. The prince fled and hid with his mistress, first in Vienna, and then in Naples. But they were found and lured to Russia. Peter promised his son forgiveness if he gave out the names of his accomplices. But instead of forgiveness, the tsar sent him to the casemate of the Peter and Paul Fortress and ordered an investigation to begin. Alexei was tortured 5 times in a week. My father also took part in this. To end the torment, Alexei slandered himself: they say, he wanted to win the throne with the help of the troops of the Austrian emperor. 1718, June 24 - a court of 127 people unanimously sentenced the prince to death. The choice of execution was left to the discretion of Peter. Little is known about how Alexei died: either from poison, or from suffocation, or they cut off his head, or he died under torture.
And the participants in the investigation were awarded titles, villages. The next day, the tsar celebrated the ninth anniversary of the Battle of Poltava with grandeur.
With the end of the Northern War in 1721, Russia was proclaimed an empire, and the Senate awarded Peter the titles "Father of the Fatherland", "Emperor" and "Great".
Last years. Death
The turbulent life of Peter "gave" him a bouquet of diseases by the age of 50, but most of all he suffered from uremia. Mineral water did not help either. For the last three months, Peter spent most of his time in bed, although on the days of relief he took part in the festivities. By mid-January, the attacks of the disease became more frequent. Kidney dysfunction led to blockage of the urinary tract. The operation performed did nothing. Blood poisoning has begun. The question of succession to the throne arose sharply, because by this time the sons of Peter were not alive.
On January 27, Peter wanted to write an order for the succession to the throne. They gave him paper, but he could write only two words: “Give everything ...” In addition, he lost his speech. The next day he died in terrible agony. His body remained unburied for forty days. He was exhibited on a velvet bed embroidered with gold in the palace hall, upholstered with carpets that Peter received as a gift from Louis XV during his stay in Paris. His wife Ekaterina Alekseevna was proclaimed empress.
The personality of Peter 1 is associated with many important historical events for our state.
It is not surprising that almost every fact from the life and work of Peter 1 becomes the object of a heated debate among historians: which of the known facts about this extraordinary person is reliable, and which is fiction? Important facts of the biography of Peter 1 have come down to us, they reveal all his positive and negative sides, both the king and the common man. Important facts are the facts of the activities of Peter I, who left a serious mark on the history of the Russian Empire. Interesting facts about Peter 1 made up more than one volume of scientific research and filled the pages of numerous popular publications.
1. The great Russian Tsar, and later the Emperor, Peter 1 ascended the throne on August 18, 1682, and since then his long period of reign begins. Peter I successfully ruled the country for more than 43 years.
2.Peter 1 became Tsar of Russia in 1682. And since 1721 - Great Peter - the first Russian Emperor.
3. There is hardly a more controversial and mysterious figure among the Russian emperors than Peter the Great. This ruler has established himself as a talented, energetic and at the same time ruthless statesman.
4. Having ascended the Russian throne, Peter 1 managed to bring a backward and patriarchal country into the ranks of European leaders. His role in the history of our Motherland is invaluable, and life is full of amazing events.
5. Emperor Peter the Great, who deserved this title due to the outstanding role he played in the history of Russia, was born on May 30 (June 9), 1672. The parents of the future emperor were Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, who ruled in those years, and his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina.
6. All the previous children of his father were deprived of health by nature, while Peter grew up strong and never knew illness. This even gave rise to evil tongues to question the paternity of Alexei Mikhailovich.
7. When the boy was 4 years old, his father died, and the empty throne was taken by his elder brother, the son of Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage with Maria Ilinichnaya Miloslavskaya ─ Fedor Alekseevich, who went down in national history as the sovereign of All Rus' Fedor III.
Fedor Alekseevich
8. As a result of his accession, Peter's mother largely lost her influence at court and was forced, together with her son, to leave the capital, to go to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.
Peter 1 in childhood
9. In Preobrazhensky, the childhood and youth of Peter 1 passed, who, unlike the heirs of European thrones, from an early age surrounded by the most outstanding teachers of his time, was educated by communicating with semi-literate uncles. However, the gap in knowledge, inevitable in such cases, was compensated by the abundance of his innate talents.
10. During this period, the sovereign could not live without noisy games, to which he devoted most of his day. He could get so carried away that he refused to stop for food and drink.
Peter 1 becomes king at the age of 10 - 1682
11. It was in childhood that the king made friends with someone who throughout his life would be his devoted companion and confidant. We are talking about Alexander Menshikov, who participated in all the childish amusements of the future emperor. Interestingly, the ruler was absolutely not embarrassed by the lack of a good education from a statesman.
12. As for his personal life. At the age of 17, Peter, having taken it as a habit to visit the German Quarter, started an affair with Anna Mons, his mother, in order to break the relationship she hated, forcibly married her son to the daughter of the roundabout Evdokia Lopukhina.
13. This marriage, which the young people entered into under duress, turned out to be extremely unhappy, especially for Evdokia, whom Peter eventually ordered to be tonsured as a nun. Perhaps it was precisely the remorse of conscience that forced him to subsequently issue a decree forbidding the marriage of girls without their consent.
14. As you know, the king was married twice. His first wife was a girl of noble birth, while the second was a peasant daughter. Catherine I - the second wife of Peter was of low birth.
15. Empress Catherine was actually called Martha Samuilovna Skavronskaya. The mother and father of the empress were simple Livonian peasants, and she herself managed to work hard as a laundress. Marta was blonde from birth, she dyed her hair dark all her life. Such a low origin of the wife did not matter to the ruler. Catherine I is the first woman whom the Emperor fell in love with. The king often discussed important state affairs with her and listened to her advice.
16. The first who riveted skates to shoes was Peter the Great. The fact is that earlier skates were simply tied to shoes with ropes and straps. And the idea of skates, now familiar to us, attached to the soles of boots, Peter I brought from Holland during his trip to Western countries.
17. In order for the fighters of his troops to distinguish between the right and left sides, the king ordered hay to be tied to their left foot, and straw to their right. The sergeant-major during drill training gave commands: “hay - straw, hay - straw”, then the company printed a step. Meanwhile, among many European peoples, three centuries ago, the concepts of "right" and "left" were distinguished only by educated people. The peasants did not know how.
18. From Holland, Peter I brought many interesting things to Russia. Among them are tulips. The bulbs of these plants appeared in Russia in 1702. The reformer was so fascinated by the plants growing in the palace gardens that he established a "garden office" specifically for extracting overseas flowers.
19. In the time of Peter, counterfeiters worked at the state mints as a punishment. Counterfeiters were calculated by the presence of "up to one ruble five altyns of silver money of one coinage." In those days, even state mints could not issue uniform money. And those who had them were a 100% counterfeiter. Peter decided to use this ability of criminals to produce uniform coins for the good of the state. The unfortunate criminal was sent as a punishment to one of the mints to mint coins there. So, in 1712 alone, thirteen such "craftsmen" were sent to the mints.
20. Peter I is a very interesting and controversial historical figure. By the way, the emphasis, which was made over the following centuries, was precisely on the physical features of the sovereign. It was largely due to the legend about its substitution, which allegedly occurred during a trip abroad to the countries of Western Europe (1697 ─ 1698). In those years, rumors stubbornly circulated, fueled by secret oppositionists, about his substitution during the trip of young Peter with the Great Embassy. So, contemporaries wrote that a young man of twenty-six years old, above average height, dense build, physically healthy, having a mole on his left cheek and wavy hair, well-educated, loving everything Russian, an Orthodox Christian, who knew the Bible by heart, and so on, was leaving with the embassy. . But two years later, a completely different person returned - practically speaking no Russian, hating everything Russian, never learning to write in Russian until the end of his life, forgetting everything he could before leaving for the Grand Embassy and miraculously acquiring new skills and abilities . And, finally, he dramatically changed outwardly. His height increased so much that he had to re-sew his entire wardrobe, and the mole on his left cheek disappeared without a trace. In general, when he returned to Moscow, he looked like a 40-year-old man, although by that time he was barely 28 years old. All this allegedly happened during the two years of Peter's absence in Russia.
21. If historical documents do not lie, the emperor had a height that many modern basketball players can envy - more than 2 meters.
22. With such a high growth, it is all the more surprising that he had a “modest” shoe size: 38th.
23. It is strange that the legendary ruler of the Russian Empire could not boast of a strong physique. As historians managed to find out, Peter 1 wore clothes of the 48th size. The descriptions of the appearance of the autocrat, left by his contemporaries, indicate that he was narrow-shouldered and had a disproportionately small head.
24. Tsar Peter 1 belonged to the number of fierce opponents of alcoholism. In 1714, Vladyka began to fight the drunkenness of his subjects with his usual humor. He came up with the idea of "rewarding" incorrigible alcoholics with medals. Perhaps world history did not know a heavier medal than the one that was invented by the joker emperor. Cast iron was used to create it, even without a chain, such a product weighed about 7 kg or even a little more. The award was presented at the police station where alcoholics were taken. She was hoisted around her neck using chains. Moreover, they were securely fixed, excluding self-removal. The awarded drunkard had to pass in this form for a week.
25. A number of quite obvious facts make us doubt the reliability of the fact that Peter 1 was tall. Having visited the museums of the country, the expositions of which present personal items, clothes (48 sizes!) And the sovereign's shoes, it is easy to make sure that they would be impossible to use if the growth of Peter 1 was really such a significant growth. They would just be small. The same idea is suggested by several of his surviving beds, on which, with growth exceeding 2 m, one would have to sleep while sitting. By the way, authentic samples of the king's shoes allow us to determine the size of Peter 1's feet with absolute accuracy. So, it has been established that today he would buy shoes for himself ... size 39! Another argument that indirectly refutes the generally accepted idea of the growth of the king, can serve as a stuffed animal of his favorite horse Lisetta, presented in the St. Petersburg Zoological Museum. The horse was rather squat and would have been uncomfortable for a tall rider. And, finally, the last thing: could Peter 1 genetically achieve such a growth, if all of his ancestors, about whom there is fairly complete information, did not differ in special physical parameters?
26. What could give rise to the legend of the unique growth of the king? It has been scientifically proven that in the process of evolution over the past 300 years, people's height has increased by an average of 10-15 cm. This suggests that the sovereign was indeed much taller than those around him and was considered an unusually tall man, but not according to the current, but to those long gone in the past, to the standards, when a height of 155 cm was considered quite normal. Today, the size of the feet of Peter 1, established according to shoe samples, leads to the conclusion that his height hardly exceeded 170-180 cm.
27. Having issued his famous decree “Sea ships to be” in October 1696, he very quickly became convinced that, in addition to enthusiasm and financial investments, knowledge in the field of shipbuilding and navigation is required for the success of the business begun. It was for this reason that, as part of the Russian embassy (but incognito), he went to Holland, which was then one of the leading maritime powers of the world. There, in the small port city of Saardam, Peter 1 took a course in carpentry and shipbuilding, quite reasonably reasoning that before demanding from others, one must learn the secrets of the craft himself.
28. So, in August 1697, at the shipyard, owned by the Dutch shipbuilder Linstr Rogge, a new worker, Pyotr Mikhailov, appeared unusually similar to the Russian Tsar in facial features and valiant posture. However, no one raised suspicions, especially since the Dutch could hardly imagine a monarch in a working apron and with an ax in his hands.
29. This foreign voyage of the sovereign significantly enriched the palette of Russian life, since he tried to transfer much of what he had seen there to Russia. For example, Holland was exactly the country from where Peter 1 brought potatoes. In addition, from this small state, washed by the North Sea, tobacco, coffee, tulip bulbs, as well as a huge set of surgical instruments came to Russia in those years. By the way, the idea to force subjects to shave their beards was also born by the sovereign during a visit to Holland.
30. It should be noted the king's predilection for a number of activities that are not typical for other august persons. Well-known, for example, his passion for turning. Until now, visitors to the St. Petersburg Museum "House of Peter I" can see the machine on which the sovereign himself turned various wooden crafts.
31. An important step towards introducing Russia to the standards adopted in Europe was the introduction of the Julian calendar under Peter 1. The former chronology, originating from the creation of the world, became very inconvenient in the realities of life in the coming 18th century. In this regard, on December 15, 1699, the king issued a Decree, according to which the years began to be counted in accordance with the calendar generally accepted abroad, put into use by the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. Thus, on January 1, Russia, together with the entire civilized world, entered not into the year 7208 from the Creation of the world, but into the year 1700 from the Nativity of Christ.
32. At the same time, the Decree of Peter 1 came out on the celebration of the New Year on the first day of January, and not in September, as it was before. One of the innovations was the custom of decorating houses with Christmas trees.
33. Many interesting facts about Peter 1 are connected with his hobbies, among which there were also very unusual ones. Peter I was fond of medicine. He tried his hand at surgery and actively studied the anatomy of the human body. But most of all, the king was fascinated by dentistry. He liked to pull out bad teeth. It is known that with the help of tools brought from Holland, he often removed the bad teeth of his courtiers. At the same time, the king sometimes got carried away. Then their healthy teeth could also fall under the distribution.
34. The emperor was a perfect master of fourteen trades. However, not all the crafts that Peter tried to master during his long life were submitted to him. At one time, the emperor tried to learn how to weave bast shoes, but nothing came of it. Since then, he respectfully treated the "wise men" who managed to master the science, which seemed to him so difficult.
35. Behavior, appearance, habits of subjects - there is hardly a sphere of human life left that Peter 1 did not touch with his decrees.
36. The greatest indignation of the boyars was caused by his order regarding beards. The ruler, who wanted to establish European order in Russia, categorically ordered that facial hair be shaved off. The protesters were forced to submit over time, because otherwise they would face a huge tax.
37. Issued the most famous king and many other humorous decrees. For example, one of his orders was a ban on appointing people with red hair to government posts.
38. He also managed to become famous as a wrestler with national costumes. Interesting facts from the life of the sovereign confirm that among his decrees there is an order to wear European clothes. It was he who forced the fair sex to put on low-cut dresses instead of sundresses, and men - in camisoles and cropped trousers.
39. Many wonderful things would never have appeared in Russia if it were not for Peter 1. Interesting facts are related to potatoes. The inhabitants of our country were not familiar with this vegetable until the king brought it from Holland. The first attempts to introduce the potato as a daily food proved to be a failure. The peasants tried to eat it raw, not knowing to bake or boil it, and as a result they refused this tasty and nutritious vegetable. Also, during the time of Peter I, rice was first brought to the territory of Russia.
40. Tulips are beautiful flowers, the cultivation of which in the state also began at the request of Peter the Great. The autocrat brought the bulbs of these plants to the country from Holland, where he spent quite a lot of time. The emperor even organized a "garden office", the main purpose of which was the introduction of overseas flowers.
41. The first Museum of the Kunstkamera was founded by Peter, which contains his personal collections brought from different parts of the world. All the tsar's collections were transferred to the Summer Palace in 1714. This is how the Kunstkamera museum was created. Everyone who visited the Kunstkamera received alcohol free of charge.
42. Catherine I had many intrigues and often cheated on the tsar. The lover of the tsar's wife, Willim Mons, was sentenced to death on November 13, 1724 - he was executed by beheading on November 16 in St. Petersburg, and his head was put in alcohol and placed in the queen's bedroom.
43. The king issued a decree: all thieves who stole more than the value of a rope from the state treasury were to be hanged on this rope.
44. Peter 1 at a reception in Germany did not know how to use napkins and ate everything with his hands, which struck the princesses with his clumsiness.
45. Peter managed to make an excellent military career and as a result become an admiral of the Russian, Dutch, English and Danish fleets.
46. Naval and military affairs were the favorite areas of the king. Peter founded a regular fleet and army in Russia. He constantly studied and received new knowledge in these areas. The Naval Academy in Russia was founded by the Tsar in 1714.
47. The king introduced a tax on baths, which were privately owned. At the same time, the development of public baths was encouraged.
48. In 1702, Peter I managed to take powerful Swedish fortresses. In 1705, thanks to the efforts of the Tsar, Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea. In 1709, the legendary Battle of Poltava took place, which brought great glory to Peter 1.
49. Strengthening the military power of the Russian state was the life work of the emperor. During the reign of Peter I, compulsory military service was introduced. To create an army, taxes were collected from local residents. The regular army began to operate in Russia in 1699.
50. The emperor achieved great success in navigation and shipbuilding. He was also an excellent gardener, a bricklayer, he knew how to make watches and draw. Even Peter 1 often surprised everyone with his virtuoso piano playing.
51. The tsar issued a letter, which forbade wives to take drunken men from pubs. In addition, the king was against women on the ship, and they were taken only as a last resort.
52. Under Peter the Great, several successful reforms were carried out in education, medicine, industry and finance. The first gymnasium and many schools for children were opened during the reign of Peter I.
53. Peter was the first to make a long journey to Western European countries. Peter 1 allowed Russia to pursue a full-fledged foreign economic policy in the future thanks to his progressive reforms.
54. One of the activities of Peter I was the creation of a powerful fleet on the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, which he succeeded as a result. Access to the Baltic Sea was specially built for the development of trade. The emperor managed to conquer the coast of the Caspian Sea and annex Kamchatka.
55. The construction of St. Petersburg was started in 1703 by order of the tsar. Only in St. Petersburg it was allowed to build stone houses since 1703. The emperor made a lot of efforts to turn St. Petersburg into the cultural capital of Russia.
56. The king was asked to choose the title "emperor of the East", which he refused.
57. The exact cause of the king's death is not known today. According to one source, Peter suffered from a bladder disease. According to others, he fell ill with severe pneumonia. The king continued to rule the state until the last day, despite a severe illness. Peter 1 died in 1725. He is buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
58. The tsar did not have time to write a will, while leaving a serious mark on the history of the Russian Empire. Catherine 1 took over the rule of the Russian Empire after the death of Peter. After the death of the king, the era of palace coups began.
59. In many leading countries, monuments to Peter 1 were erected. The Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg is one of the famous monuments to Peter 1.
60. After the death of the king, cities began to be named after him.
photo from internet
The historian Klyuchevsky said that autocracy is quite unattractive, because the civil conscience will never reconcile with it. However, a person who combines this unnatural strength and self-sacrifice, risking himself for the good of the country, is worthy of exorbitant reverence.
Childhood
Peter, born on May 30, 1672, had almost no chance of the throne, since his father had older children. But fate constantly did everything so that this particular person, who went down in history as Peter the Great, was at the helm of Russia.
The villages - Vorobyevo and Preobrazhenskoye - witnessed the maturation of the future monarch, it was here that Peter's inquisitive mind and tough, purposeful temper were formed. He studied military affairs, mathematical sciences from experts from the German settlement, and at the age of 11 he even got his own amusing guard, conducting regular classes with her.
The beginning of the reign and the beginning of victories
It so happened that there were three contenders for the throne - Peter, his sickly brother Ivan and Princess Sophia, who until a certain time served as a regent. Starting from 1694, the sole power was in the hands of Peter Alekseevich, and the very next year was marked by the first attempt to pave the way for the country to the sea. This Azov campaign was unsuccessful, but the next one brought the desired result - largely thanks to the fleet built at the Voronezh shipyards, it was possible to split the Crimean Khanate.
"Great Embassy"
This is the name of Peter's long journey through Western Europe, which happened in 1697. One of the reasons for the trip was the desire to expand the anti-Turkish alliance. However, there were other tasks: to learn everything new that Europe had created, to hire skilful craftsmen to serve in Russia to train Russian people, as well as to acquire high-quality military equipment. The embassy consisted of 250 people, several dozen remained in Europe to study.
Start of reforms
In April of the following year, Peter was forced to return to suppress the Streltsy rebellion raised by his sister Sophia in order to seize power. The rebellion was brutally suppressed, and just as resolutely the tsar set about changing the age-old Russian foundations. Russia was considered a backward country, and Peter decides to radically change the order in order to make his state civilized. Noble people were now forced to go beardless and in European clothes, social life was enriched with various amusements, and they began to celebrate the new year on January 1.
Northern War and continuation of reforms
Russia fought with Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea. Having begun in 1700 with failures, this war, which lasted until 1721, glorified the country, bringing Russia into the ranks of the leading European powers. The Battle of Poltava is especially famous, sung at one time by A.S. Pushkin.
1721 - the time of the formation of the Russian Empire, and its ruler began to be called the emperor. Peter continued to strive to ensure that the country was strong in all respects. Boards were formed - prototypes of future ministries, a "Table of Ranks" based on serviceability was established, a new capital, St. Petersburg, was laid. And the Northern War, which ended in victory, increased the power of the state.
Peter was criticized a lot for breaking age-old traditions. But the breakthrough he made was necessary at that time, otherwise Russia would have remained a backward country, and this could lead to adverse consequences. Peter 1 died in 1725, remaining the Great in history.
Brief information about Peter 1
Peter I, nicknamed Peter the Great for his services to Russia, is not just a symbolic figure in Russian history, but a key one. Peter 1 created the Russian Empire, therefore he turned out to be the last tsar of all Rus' and, accordingly, the first All-Russian Emperor. The son of the king, the godson of the king, the brother of the king - Peter himself was proclaimed the head of the country, and at that time the boy was barely 10 years old. Initially, he had a formal co-ruler Ivan V, but from the age of 17 he already ruled independently, and in 1721 Peter I became emperor.
Tsar Peter the First | Haiku Deck
For Russia, the years of the reign of Peter I were a time of large-scale reforms. He significantly expanded the territory of the state, built the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, incredibly boosted the economy by founding a whole network of metallurgical and glass factories, and also reduced the import of foreign goods to a minimum. In addition, Peter the Great was the first of the Russian rulers to adopt their best ideas from Western countries. But since all the reforms of Peter the Great were achieved through violence against the population and the eradication of any dissent, the personality of Peter 1 among historians still evokes diametrically opposed assessments.
Childhood and youth of Peter I
The biography of Peter I initially implied his future reign, since he was born in the family of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov and his wife Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. It is noteworthy that Peter the Great turned out to be the 14th child of his father, but the firstborn for his mother. It is also worth noting that the name Peter was completely unconventional for both dynasties of his ancestors, so historians still cannot figure out where he got this name from.
Childhood of Peter the Great | Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias The boy was only four years old when the king-father died. His older brother and godfather Fyodor III Alekseevich ascended the throne, who took custody of his brother and ordered him to be given the best possible education. However, Peter the Great had big problems with this. He was always very inquisitive, but just at that moment the Orthodox Church started a war against foreign influence, and all Latin teachers were removed from the court. Therefore, the prince was taught by Russian clerks, who themselves did not have deep knowledge, and Russian-language books of the proper level did not yet exist. As a result, Peter the Great had a meager vocabulary and wrote with errors until the end of his life.
Childhood of Peter the Great | View map Tsar Fedor III reigned for only six years and died due to poor health at a young age. According to tradition, another offspring of Tsar Alexei, Ivan, was to take the throne, but he was very painful, so the Naryshkin family organized a virtual palace coup and declared Peter I the heir. It was beneficial for them, since the boy was a descendant of their family, but the Naryshkins did not take into account that the Miloslavsky family would raise an uprising because of the infringement of the interests of Tsarevich Ivan. The famous Streltsy rebellion of 1682 took place, the result of which was the recognition of two tsars at the same time - Ivan and Peter. The Kremlin Armory still has a double throne for the brother-kings.
Childhood and youth of Peter the Great | Russian Museum The favorite game of young Peter I was training with his army. Moreover, the soldiers of the prince were not at all toys. His peers dressed in uniform and marched through the streets of the city, and Peter the Great himself "served" in his regiment as a drummer. Later, he even started his own artillery, also real. The funny army of Peter I was called the Preobrazhensky regiment, to which the Semenovsky regiment was later added, and, in addition to them, the tsar organized a funny fleet.
Tsar Peter I
When the young tsar was still a minor, his older sister, Princess Sophia, and later his mother Natalya Kirillovna and her relatives, the Naryshkins, stood behind him. In 1689, co-ruler brother Ivan V finally gave all power to Peter, although he nominally remained co-tsar until he suddenly died at the age of 30. After the death of his mother, Tsar Peter the Great freed himself from the burdensome guardianship of the princes Naryshkins, and it was from that time that one can speak of Peter the Great as an independent ruler.
Tsar Peter the First | Culturology He continued military operations in the Crimea against the Ottoman Empire, conducted a series of Azov campaigns, which resulted in the capture of the Azov fortress. To strengthen the southern borders, the tsar built the port of Taganrog, but Russia still did not have a full-fledged fleet, so it did not achieve a final victory. The large-scale construction of ships and the training of young nobles abroad in shipbuilding began. And the tsar himself learned the art of building a fleet, even working as a carpenter on the construction of the ship "Peter and Paul".
Emperor Peter the First | Bookaholic While Peter the Great was preparing to reform the country and personally studied the technical and economic progress of the leading European states, a conspiracy was conceived against him, and the king's first wife was at the head. Having suppressed the streltsy rebellion, Peter the Great decided to reorient military operations. He concludes a peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire and starts a war with Sweden. His troops captured the fortresses Noteburg and Nienschanz at the mouth of the Neva, where the tsar decided to found the city of St. Petersburg, and placed the base of the Russian fleet on the nearby island of Kronstadt.
Wars of Peter the Great
The above conquests made it possible to open an exit to the Baltic Sea, which later received the symbolic name "Window to Europe". Later, the territories of the Eastern Baltic joined Russia, and in 1709, during the legendary Battle of Poltava, the Swedes were completely defeated. Moreover, it is important to note: Peter the Great, unlike many kings, did not sit out in fortresses, but personally led the troops on the battlefield. In the Battle of Poltava, Peter I was even shot through his hat, that is, he really risked his own life.
Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava | X-digest After the defeat of the Swedes at Poltava, King Charles XII took refuge under the patronage of the Turks in the city of Bender, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, and today is located in Moldova. With the help of the Crimean Tatars and the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, he began to escalate the situation on the southern border of Russia. Seeking the expulsion of Charles, Peter the Great, on the contrary, forced the Ottoman sultan to unleash the Russo-Turkish war again. Rus' found itself in a situation where it was necessary to wage a war on three fronts. On the border with Moldova, the king was surrounded and agreed to sign peace with the Turks, giving them back the fortress of Azov and access to the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov.
Fragment of Ivan Aivazovsky's painting "Peter I at Krasnaya Gorka" | Russian Museum In addition to the Russian-Turkish and northern wars, Peter the Great escalated the situation in the east. Thanks to his expeditions, the cities of Omsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk were founded, later Kamchatka joined Russia. The king wanted to carry out campaigns in North America and India, but he failed to realize these ideas. On the other hand, he conducted the so-called Caspian campaign against Persia, during which he conquered Baku, Rasht, Astrabad, Derbent, as well as other Iranian and Caucasian fortresses. But after the death of Peter the Great, most of these territories were lost, as the new government considered the region not promising, and maintaining the garrison in those conditions was too expensive.
Reforms of Peter I
Due to the fact that the territory of Russia expanded significantly, Peter managed to reorganize the country from a kingdom into an empire, and starting from 1721, Peter I became emperor. Of the numerous reforms of Peter I, the transformations in the army clearly stood out, which allowed him to achieve great military victories. But no less important were such innovations as the transfer of the church under the subordination of the emperor, as well as the development of industry and trade. Emperor Peter the Great was well aware of the need for education and the fight against an outdated way of life. On the one hand, his tax on wearing a beard was perceived as tyranny, but at the same time, there was a direct dependence of the promotion of the nobles on the level of their education.
Peter the Great cuts the boyars' beards | VistaNews Under Peter, the first Russian newspaper was founded and many translations of foreign books appeared. Artillery, engineering, medical, naval and mining schools were opened, as well as the first gymnasium in the country. Moreover, now not only the children of noble people, but also the offspring of soldiers could attend general education schools. He really wanted to create a compulsory elementary school for everyone, but he did not manage to realize this plan. It is important to note that the reforms of Peter the Great affected not only the economy and politics. He financed the education of talented artists, introduced a new Julian calendar, tried to change the position of women by banning forced marriage. He also raised the dignity of his subjects, obliging them not to kneel even before the tsar and to use their full names, and not to call themselves “Senka” or “Ivashka” as before.
Monument "Tsar Carpenter" in St. Petersburg | Russian Museum In general, the reforms of Peter the Great changed the value system of the nobles, which can be considered a huge plus, but at the same time, the gap between the nobility and the people increased many times over and was no longer limited only to finances and title. The main disadvantage of the tsarist reforms is considered to be the violent method of their implementation. In fact, it was a struggle of despotism with uneducated people, and Peter hoped to instill consciousness in the people with a whip. Indicative in this regard is the construction of St. Petersburg, which was carried out in the most difficult conditions. Many craftsmen rushed from hard labor to flee, and the king ordered their entire family to be imprisoned until the fugitives returned with a confession.
TVNZ Since not everyone liked the method of governing the state under Peter the Great, the tsar founded the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, an organ of political investigation and court, which later grew into the infamous Secret Chancellery. The most unpopular decrees in this context were the prohibition of taking notes in a closed room, as well as the prohibition of non-speech. Violation of both of these decrees was punishable by death. In this way, Peter the Great fought conspiracies and palace coups.
Personal life of Peter I
In his youth, Tsar Peter I liked to visit the German Quarter, where he not only became interested in foreign life, for example, he learned to dance, smoke and communicate in a Western manner, but also fell in love with a German girl, Anna Mons. His mother was very alarmed by such a relationship, so when Peter reached the age of 17, she insisted on his wedding with Evdokia Lopukhina. However, they did not have a normal family life: shortly after the wedding, Peter the Great left his wife and visited her only in order to prevent rumors of a certain kind.
Evdokia Lopukhina, first wife of Peter the Great | Sunday afternoon Tsar Peter I and his wife had three sons: Alexei, Alexander and Pavel, but the last two died in infancy. The eldest son of Peter the Great was to become his heir, but since Evdokia in 1698 unsuccessfully tried to overthrow her husband from the throne in order to transfer the crown to her son and was imprisoned in a monastery, Alexei was forced to flee abroad. He never approved of his father's reforms, considered him a tyrant and planned to overthrow his parent. However, in 1717 the young man was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and next summer he was sentenced to death. The matter did not come to execution, since Alexei soon died in prison under unclear circumstances.
A few years after the dissolution of the marriage with his first wife, Peter the Great took 19-year-old Marta Skavronskaya as his mistress, whom the Russian troops captured as spoils of war. She gave birth to eleven children from the king, half of them even before the legal wedding. The wedding took place in February 1712 after the woman adopted Orthodoxy, thanks to which she became Ekaterina Alekseevna, later known as Empress Catherine I. Among the children of Peter and Catherine are the future Empress Elizabeth I and Anna, mother, the rest died in childhood. Interestingly, the second wife of Peter the Great was the only person in his life who knew how to calm his violent temper even in moments of rage and fits of anger.
Maria Cantemir, favorite of Peter the Great | Wikipedia Despite the fact that his wife accompanied the emperor in all campaigns, he was able to get carried away by the young Maria Cantemir, the daughter of the former Moldavian ruler, Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich. Maria remained the favorite of Peter the Great until the end of his life. Separately, it is worth mentioning the growth of Peter I. Even for our contemporaries, a more than two-meter man seems very tall. But in the time of Peter I, his 203 centimeters seemed absolutely incredible. Judging by the chronicles of eyewitnesses, when the Tsar and Emperor Peter the Great walked through the crowd, his head towered over the sea of people.
Compared to his older brothers, born to a different mother from their common father, Peter the Great seemed to be quite healthy. But in fact, he was tormented by severe headaches almost all his life, and in the last years of his reign, Peter the Great suffered from kidney stones. The attacks intensified even more after the emperor, along with ordinary soldiers, pulled out the boat that had run aground, but he tried not to pay attention to the illness.
Engraving "Death of Peter the Great" | ArtPolitInfo At the end of January 1725, the ruler could no longer endure pain and fell ill in his Winter Palace. After the emperor had no strength left to scream, he only groaned, and the whole environment realized that Peter the Great was dying. Peter the Great accepted death in terrible agony. Doctors called pneumonia the official cause of his death, but later doctors had strong doubts about such a verdict. An autopsy was performed, which showed a terrible inflammation of the bladder, which had already developed into gangrene. Peter the Great was buried in the cathedral at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, and his wife, Empress Catherine I, became the heir to the throne.
I didn’t know a ruler who changed the country so dramatically as he did. What is the transformation of dense, wild Muscovy, trampled on all sides by the more developed kingdoms of that time, into a strong state with its own army and navy. Russia's access to the sea, and not just one, became the first major defeat for monarchical Europe in the entire history of relations with our country.
Great in everything
Undoubtedly, the transformation of a huge, resource-rich northern country, which does not have its own trade routes and is doomed to sell goods on the terms of foreign merchants, into a formidable, militant power was not desired in Europe. The Western rulers were more satisfied with dense Muscovy, unable to defend its rights. They tried with all their might to "drive it back into the forests and swamps," as it was then expressed abroad. And Peter the Great, on the contrary, longed to lead his people out of poverty and dirt into the civilized world. But the emperor had to fight not only with the stubborn rulers of Europe, but also with his own subjects, who were satisfied with their settled lazy life, and the unknown civilization of the mossy boyars was not at all interested. But the wisdom and fortitude of Peter turned the unhurried course of events in Russia.
Great ruler, reformer, reformer, helmsman. Throughout his reign and centuries after the death of the first Russian emperor, he was called by many epithets. But initially the invariable “Great” was attributed to them. The reign of Peter the Great seemed to divide the history of our state into segments “before” and “after”. The last decade of his reign, from 1715 to 1725, was especially significant. Educational institutions were established, which simply did not exist in the country before Peter, books were printed, not only manufactories and factories were built, numerous fortresses and entire cities were built. Thanks to the revolutionary ideas of the tsar, today we have the good fortune to visit the beautiful city on the Neva, named after him. It is impossible to list in a few chapters everything that was created by Peter during his reign. Volumes of historical works are devoted to this period.
Before sole rule
Where the boy, brought up by illiterate clerks, Nikita Zotov and Afanasy Nesterov, showed such a lively and perspicacious mind, the desire to exalt not himself, but the whole people entrusted to him, one can only guess. But the entire biography of Peter the Great confirms that his birth was a salvation for Russia. The most famous offspring of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the future reformer, was born on the night of May 30, 1672, presumably in the village of Kolomenskoye. Although some historians call the Terem Palace of the Kremlin the place of his birth, while others call the village of Izmailovo.
Peter's mother was Alexei's second wife, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. The newborn prince was the 14th child of his father. But all his older brothers and sisters are from the first wife of the ruler, and only he is from the second. The boy was brought up in the Kremlin chambers until the age of four, until the death of Alexei Mikhailovich. During the reign of Peter's half-brother, Fyodor Mikhailovich, who came to the throne, Natalya Kirillovna was sent with her son to the village of Preobrazhenskoye, where the future Tsar Peter the Great gathered his army years later.
The sickly Fyodor, who sincerely cared for his younger brother, died, having reigned for only six years. Ten-year-old Peter became his successor. But the Miloslavskys - relatives of the first wife of Alexei Mikhailovich - insisted on proclaiming his co-ruler frail and meek, but at the same time completely harmless Ivan - the younger half-brother of Fyodor. A sister was proclaimed their guardian. The struggle for power between her and Peter dragged on for many years, until he was so strong that he was forced to win back his right to the throne by force. The seven-year period of Sophia's reign was remembered by several failed campaigns in the Crimea and unsuccessful attempts to win over the archers to their side in order to prevent the accession to the throne of the hateful younger, and besides, his half-brother.
Rehearsal at amusing
Most of Peter's childhood and youth were spent in Preobrazhensky. Having distanced himself from real reign due to his age, he nonetheless prepared for it using all available means. Feeling a true passion for military sciences, he insisted that boys of his age be brought to him from all the surrounding villages for a kind of lively game of "toy soldiers".
For the amusement of the young king, wooden sabers, guns and even cannons were made, on which he honed his skills. Dressed in caftans of foreign troops, since in the time of Peter the Great it was almost impossible to get others, and he honored foreign military science above domestic, amusing regiments after a few years spent in entertaining battles, strengthened and trained, began to pose a very real threat to the regular army . Especially when Peter ordered to pour real cannons for him and supply other firearms and piercing weapons to his residence.
By the age of 14, here, on the banks of the Yauza, he had a whole amusing town with its own regiments - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky. Wooden weapons in this fortress, called Preshburg, were no longer remembered, practicing on the real one. The first teacher of the intricacies of military science in those years was for Peter firearms master Fedor Sommer. But more complete knowledge, including arithmetic, he received from the Dutchman Timmerman. He told the young king about sea vessels, merchant and military, after one day they both found a leaky English boat in an abandoned barn. This shuttle, repaired and launched, became the first floating ship in the life of the king. Descendants, remembering about Peter the Great, attribute great importance to the story with the found boat. Say, it was with him that the subsequently victorious Russian fleet began.
To be a maritime power!
Of course, the famous slogan of Peter the Great sounds somewhat different, but this does not change the essence. Once having fallen in love with naval military affairs, he never cheated on him. All of his most significant victories became possible only thanks to a strong fleet. The first rowing ships of the Russian flotilla began to be built in the fall of 1695 near Voronezh. And by May 1696, a 40,000-strong army, supported from the sea by several dozen different ships, led by the Apostle Peter, laid siege to Azov, the stronghold of the Ottoman Empire on the Black Sea. The fortress, realizing that it could not withstand the military superiority of the Russians, surrendered without a fight. So Peter the Great laid the foundation for his subsequent great victories. It took him less than a year to turn the idea into reality and build a combat-ready fleet. But these were not the ships he dreamed of.
For the construction of real warships, the king had neither money nor enough specialists. The first Russian fleet was created under the guidance of foreign engineers. Having captured Azov, Peter only slightly opened a loophole to the Black Sea for himself, the Kerch Strait - a strategically important shipping artery - still remained with the Ottomans. It was too early to fight with Turkey further, strengthening its superiority at sea, and there was nothing to do with it.
At the beginning of his independent reign, Peter the Great met more resistance than help from his subjects. The boyars, merchants and monasteries did not want to share their own wealth with the tsar, and the construction of the flotilla fell directly on their shoulders. The tsar had to literally approve a new business under duress.
But the more intensively he imposed construction on his subjects, the more acutely the problem of a shortage of shipbuilders became apparent. You could only find them in Europe. In March 1697, Peter sent the sons of the most well-born Russian noblemen abroad to study maritime affairs, where he himself went incognito under the name of the constable of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Peter Mikhailov.
A few years before the departure of the tsar to Europe, the first reform of Peter the Great was carried out in the country - in 1694, the weight of silver kopecks was reduced by several grams. The released precious metal provided much-needed savings for the minting of coins aimed at the war with Sweden. But more significant sums were needed, besides, the Turks propped up from the south. To fight them, it was necessary to enlist the support of allies abroad. With his voyage to the West, Peter pursued several goals at once: to learn shipbuilding skills and get his own specialists, as well as to find like-minded people in the confrontation with the Ottoman Empire.
We traveled thoroughly, for a long time, planning to visit all the leading capitals of Europe. The embassy consisted of three hundred people, 35 of whom went directly to learn the crafts necessary for shipbuilding.
Peter himself, among other things, longed to personally look at the Western "polites", about which he had heard so much from his chief adviser Life, culture, social orders - Peter absorbed them in Courland, Austria, England, Holland. Luxembourg especially impressed him. Peter brought potatoes and tulip bulbs from Holland to Russia. For a year and a half, as part of the embassy, the Russian tsar visited the English Parliament, Oxford University, the Mint in London, and the Greenwich Observatory. He especially valued his acquaintance with Isaac Newton. What he saw and heard in Europe largely influenced those who followed after returning to Russia. From August 1698, they literally fell on the heads of his subjects.
Import substitution royally
Peter could not carry out his plan in full measure. Not having time to agree with the monarchs of Europe on the creation of a coalition against Turkey, the tsar was forced to return to Russia - in Moscow, a rebellion fomented by Sophia broke out. They suppressed him severely - with torture and executions.
Having eliminated the objectionable, the tsar undertook the transformation of the state. The reforms of Peter the Great in those years were aimed at increasing the competitiveness of Russia in all areas: trade, military, cultural. In addition to the permission to sell tobacco, introduced in 1697, and the decree to shave beards, perceived by contemporaries as an outrage, recruitment for military service began throughout the country.
Streltsy regiments were disbanded, and not only Russians, but also foreigners were recruited as soldiers (recruits). Engineering, navigation and medical schools were established and developed. Peter also attached great importance to the exact sciences: mathematics, physics, geometry. They needed their own specialists, not foreign ones, but with no less knowledge.
In addition to raw products, there was practically nothing to trade with foreign merchants: neither their own metal, nor fabrics, nor paper - everything was bought abroad for a lot of money. The first reform of Peter the Great, aimed at developing their own industry, consisted in a ban on the export of several types of raw materials, such as flax, from the country. Cloth and other fabrics had to be produced in their own state. The tsar's wardrobe was sewn exclusively from Russian fabrics. Felt hats, stockings, lace, sailcloth - soon everything of its own appeared.
Built and developed, however, slowly and with virtually no tangible income, manufactories and factories. Only the mines turned out to be profitable. Factories were built in the vicinity of Moscow, where raw materials mined in Siberia were brought, and here cannons, guns, and pistols were cast. But it was unwise to develop mining far from the mountains. Ironworks were set up in Tobolsk and Verkhotur. Silver mines and coal mines were opened. Manufacturing plants opened throughout the country. By 1719, only in the Kazan province there were 36 foundries, three less than in Moscow itself. And in Siberia, the glory of Russia was forged by Demidov.
City of Petra
The protracted Northern War with Sweden required the strengthening of their positions in the initially conquered Russian lands. In 1703, on the banks of the Neva, the first stone of the fortress was laid, which later became the capital city of the Russian state. Briefly, he was called Peter, although the full name given to him in honor of the Apostle Peter was different - St. Petersburg. The king was directly involved in the construction of the city. It is there that the most famous monument to Peter the Great, the Bronze Horseman, still stands to this day.
Although by the time the city was practically erected, the land under it was still considered Swedish. In order to prove in practice who owns the possessions, to emphasize that the old Muscovy no longer exists and will not exist, that the country is developing according to European standards, the tsar ordered all important state institutions to be transferred here after the construction of the city was completed. In 1712 St. Petersburg was proclaimed the capital of the Russian Empire.
Peter retained his status for a little over a century. He personified everything new, modern and advanced that the tsar instilled in his people. The pro-European western city became a counterbalance to Belokamennaya, which was considered a relic of the past. The intelligent, cultural capital of Russia - this is how Peter the Great saw it. To this day, St. Petersburg is perceived by descendants in no other way than in the years of its first heyday. They say about him that even the homeless here behave like noble lords.
Wives and lovers
There were few women in Peter's life, and he valued only one of them so much that he listened to her opinion when making important political decisions - his second wife, Catherine. From the first, he was married at the behest of Natalya Kirillovna, who hoped to settle down her son with an early marriage, since the king was only 17 years old.
But nepotism did not affect his desire to act in the interests of the state, create an army, build a navy. He disappeared for months at shipyards, military exercises. Even the birth of a son a year after the marriage did not settle down Peter the Great. In addition, he did not have any special feelings for his wife, except for duty, since for many years his lover was the German Anna Mons.
With Catherine, nee Marta Skavronskaya, Peter met in 1703 during the Great Northern War. The 19-year-old widow of a Swedish dragoon was captured as war booty and was in the convoy of Alexander Menshikov, a faithful companion of the tsar for many years.
Despite the fact that Aleksashka liked Martha very much, he meekly gave her to Peter. She alone had a beneficial effect on the king, she could calm, calm down. After some events in the early years of his reign, during a confrontation with Sophia, in moments of great excitement, Peter began to have seizures like apoplexy, but in a milder form. In addition, he very quickly, almost lightning fast, raged. Only Martha, the legal wife of the tsar since 1712, could bring Peter out of a state of extreme psychosis. An interesting fact: when adopting Orthodoxy, the patronymic of the newly-made Christian was given to the son of Peter, Alexei, who became the godfather of the beloved tsar.
Such different descendants
In total, Peter the Great had three children from Evdokia Lopukhina and eight from Catherine. But only one daughter - the illegitimate Elizabeth - reigned, although she was not considered a pretender as such, since after the death of Peter he had male heirs. The first-born Alexei fled Russia in 1716, hid for some time in Austria with Emperor Charles, but two years later was extradited to his father. An investigation was carried out over the heir. There are documents confirming that torture was used against him. Alexei was found guilty of plotting against his father, but while awaiting execution, he died unexpectedly in the casemate. The two remaining children of the king from Evdokia, sons Alexander and Paul, died shortly after birth.
Death in infancy is a fairly common occurrence of that time. So, of the eight children born from Catherine, only Elizabeth, the Russian Empress, survived to a deep (as it was then believed) old age. Daughter Anna died at the age of 20, having managed to be married and give birth to two children. It was her son Peter, under Elizabeth, who was considered the heir to the throne, was married to the German princess Fika, later Catherine the Great. The remaining six - four girls and two boys - did not please their parents for long. But unlike Alexei, Anna and Elizabeth loved and revered their father. The latter, having ascended the throne, wanted to be like him in everything.
Unprecedented transformations
Peter the Great is listed as the first great reformer of Russia. The history of his reign is replete with many decrees, issued laws that affect all aspects of human life and the political system. After the inglorious conclusion, Peter adopted a new provision on the succession to the throne, according to which the first applicant could be anyone whom the ruler appointed at his discretion. Nothing like this had ever happened in Rus' before. However, 75 years later, Emperor Paul the First canceled this decree.
The purposeful line of Peter, asserting absolute, sole royal power, led to the elimination in 1704 of the Boyar Duma and the creation in 1711 of the Governing Senate, which deals with both administrative and judicial matters. In the early 20s of the 18th century, he weakened the power of the church by establishing the Holy Synod - a spiritual board - and subordinating it to the state.
Reforms of local and central self-government, monetary, military, tax, cultural - Peter changed almost everything. One of the latest innovations is the table of ranks, adopted three years before his death. The death of the king was so incredible that until the last few people believed in it. And his companions and associates were extremely confused: what to do next? The will of Peter the Great never existed, he did not have time to leave it, as he died suddenly, presumably from pneumonia, at dawn on January 28 (February 8), 1725. He also did not appoint a successor. Therefore, the legitimate wife of the king, crowned in 1722, Catherine the First, the former widow of the Swedish dragoon Marta Skavronskaya, was elevated to the throne.
