Peter 1 the Great (Born 1672 – died 1725) First Russian Emperor, famous for his reforms government controlled.

How the king died

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 gave way to deep fainting and delirium, and in those minutes when Peter came to his senses, he screamed terribly from unbearable pain. During the last week, in short moments of relief, Peter received communion three times. By his decree, all arrested debtors were released from prison and their debts were covered from the 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 to Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, the tsar had 13 children, but only two of his sons survived - Fedor and Ivan. After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1676, Peter’s upbringing was supervised by his elder brother, Tsar Feodor, who was his godfather. For young Peter, he chose Nikita Zotov as a mentor, thanks to whose influence he became addicted to books, especially historical works. 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 about his reign: “This sovereign is my predecessor and example; I always imagined him as a model for my rule in civil and military affairs, but I did not get as far in that as he did. Only those who do not know the circumstances of his time, the properties of his people and the greatness of his merits are fools and call him a tormentor.”

The fight for the royal throne

After the death of 22-year-old Tsar Fyodor in 1682, the struggle for the royal throne between two families, the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins, sharply intensified. The contender for the kingdom from the Miloslavskys was poor health Ivan, from the Naryshkins - healthy, but younger Peter. At the instigation of the Naryshkins, the patriarch proclaimed Peter Tsar. But the Miloslavskys were not going to reconcile and they provoked a Streltsy riot, during which many of the people close to the Naryshkins died. This made an indelible impression on Peter and influenced his mental health and worldview. For the rest of his life he harbored hatred for the archers and 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 intelligent 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 found themselves in a kind of exile in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. Peter only had to take part in embassy ceremonies in the Kremlin. There, in Preobrazhenskoye, the military “fun” of the young tsar began. Under the leadership of the Scotsman Menesius, a children's regiment was recruited from Peter's peers, usually representatives of noble families, from which in the early 90s. Two guards regiments grew up - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky. The future field marshal M.M. Golitsyn, and a descendant of the noble family Buturlin, and the groom’s son, and in the future Peter’s friend and associate, A.D. Menshikov, served in them. The Tsar himself served here, starting as a drummer. The officers in the regiments were usually foreigners.

In general, foreigners who lived near Preobrazhensky in German settlement(Kukui), seekers of fortune and rank, craftsmen, military specialists who came to the country during the reign of Tsar Alexei, played a huge role in the life of the tsar. From them he studied shipbuilding, military affairs, and besides this, drink strong drinks, smoke, wear foreign dresses. From them, one might say, he absorbed disdain for everything Russian. The Swiss F. Lefort became closer to Peter.

Attempted riot

In the summer of 1689, the struggle with the Miloslavskys intensified. Princess Sophia, realizing that Peter would soon push aside the sick Ivan and take the government 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 like-minded people under torture, was executed along with them. Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent. This was the beginning of his sole rule. Ivan's rule was nominal, and after his death in 1696, Peter became autocrat.

Streltsy riot

1697 - the Tsar, as part of the Great Embassy of fifty people, under the guise of the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Pyotr 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 mastered shipbuilding. On the way back, in Vienna, he was caught by the news of a new mutiny of the archers. The Tsar hurried to Russia, but on the way he received news that the rebellion had been suppressed, 57 instigators had been executed, and 4,000 archers had been exiled. Upon his return, considering that Miloslavsky’s “seed” had not been exterminated, Peter gave the order to resume the investigation. The already exiled archers were returned to Moscow. Peter personally took part in torture and executions. He chopped off the heads of the archers with his own hands, forcing his close associates and courtiers to do it.

Many archers were executed in a new way - they were wheeled on the wheel. Peter's vindictiveness towards the Miloslavsky family was boundless. He gave the order to dig up the coffin with Miloslavsky's body, bring it on pigs to the place of execution and place it near the scaffold so that the blood of the executed would flow onto Miloslavsky's remains. In total, more than 1000 archers were executed. Their bodies were thrown into a pit where animal corpses were thrown. 195 archers were hanged at the gates of the Novodevichy Convent, and three were hanged near the very windows of Sophia, and for five months the corpses hung at the place of execution. In this terrible matter, and in many others, the tsar surpassed his idol Ivan the Terrible in cruelty.

Reforms Peter 1

At the same time, Peter began reforms intending to transform Russia along Western European lines, making 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 to the rack, to the scaffold, to the gallows! How many were beaten, tortured... It all started with cultural innovations. It became mandatory 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, was obliged to shave their beards, while in Preobrazhenskoe the tsar cut off the beards with his own hands boyars 1705 - a tax was introduced on beards: 60 rubles from servicemen and clerks, merchants and townspeople. per year per person; from rich merchants of the living room hundreds - 100 rubles each; from people of lower rank, boyars, coachmen - 30 rubles each; from the peasants - 2 money each time they entered or left the city.

Other innovations were also introduced. They encouraged training in crafts, created numerous workshops, sent young men from noble families to study abroad, reorganized city government, carried out a calendar reform, established the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle, opened Navigation school. To strengthen the centralization of government, instead of orders, collegiums and the Senate were created. All these transformations were carried out using violent methods. The relationship between the king and the clergy occupied a special place. Day after day he led an 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 Peter's advisor; he was expelled from the Tsar's Duma, and after his death in 1700, the management of church affairs was transferred to a specially created Synod.

The Tsar's Temper

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 impetuosity, a lot of personal rudeness, and especially, a lot of partiality. He hit left and right. And therefore, while correcting, he spoiled everything.” Peter's rage, reaching the point of fury, and his mockery of people could not be restrained.

He could have attacked Generalissimo Shein with wild abuse, and inflicted severe wounds on the people close to him, Romodanovsky and Zotov, who were trying to calm him down: one had his fingers cut off, the other had wounds on his head; he could beat his friend Menshikov because he did not take 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 give the order that the 80-year-old boyar M. Golovin be forced to sit naked on the Neva ice for a whole hour in a jester’s cap because he refused, dressed as the devil, to participate in the jester’s procession. After this, Golovin fell ill and quickly died. Peter behaved this way not only at home: in the Copenhagen museum, the tsar mutilated the mummy because they refused to sell it to him for the Kunstkamera. And many such examples could be given.

Peter's era

The era of Peter the Great was a time of constant wars. Azov campaigns 1695–1696, Northern War 1700–1721, Prut campaign 1711, campaign to the Caspian 1722. All this required a huge number of people and money. A huge army and navy were created. Recruits were often brought to cities in chains. Many lands were depopulated. In general, during the reign of Peter 1, Russia lost almost a third of its population. Throughout the state it was forbidden to cut down large trees, and people were executed for cutting down oak trees. To maintain the army, new taxes were introduced: recruit, dragoon, ship, household and stamp paper. New taxes were introduced: for fishing, home baths, mills, and inns. The sale of salt and tobacco passed into the hands of the treasury. Even the oak coffins were transferred to the treasury and then sold at four times the price. But there was still not enough money.

Personal life of Peter 1

The tsar’s difficult character also affected his family life. At the age of 16, his mother, in order to discourage him from 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 to only forcibly tonsuring her as a nun in the Intercession Monastery in Suzdal. The 26-year-old queen was not given a penny for her 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 Peter’s first titled favorite. He gifted her with palaces and 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 at one time were Anisya Tolstaya, Varvara Arsenyeva, and a number of other representatives of noble families. Often Peter’s choice stopped at ordinary maids. 1703 - another woman appeared who played a special role in the life of Peter - Marta Skavronskaya, who later became the tsar’s wife under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. After the Russian army occupied Marienburg, she was the servant and mistress of Field Marshal B. Sheremetev, then A. Menshikov, who introduced her to Peter. Martha converted to Orthodoxy and gave birth to Peter three daughters and a son, Peter Petrovich, who died in 1719. But only in 1724 the tsar 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, by order of Peter, was kept in his wife’s bedroom for several days.

Tsarevich Alexey

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 up the names of his accomplices. But instead of forgiveness, the king sent him to a dungeon. Peter and Paul Fortress and ordered an investigation to begin. During the week, Alexey was tortured 5 times. The father himself took part in this. To stop 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 consisting of 127 people unanimously sentenced the prince to death. The choice of execution was left to Peter's discretion. Little is known about how Alexei died: either from poison, or from strangulation, or his head was cut off, or he died under torture.

And the participants in the investigation were awarded titles and villages. The next day, the tsar magnificently celebrated the ninth anniversary of the Battle of Poltava.

Happy ending 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

Peter’s stormy life “gave” him a bunch of illnesses at the age of 50, but most of all he suffered from uremia. Mineral waters did not help either. Peter spent the last three months mostly in bed, although on days of relief he took part in festivities. By mid-January, attacks of the disease became more frequent. Impaired kidney function led to blockage of the urinary tract. The operation did not yield anything. Blood poisoning began. The question of succession to the throne arose acutely, because Peter’s sons were no longer alive by this time.

On January 27, Peter wanted to write a decree on the succession to the throne. They gave him a paper, but he could only write 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 displayed on a velvet bed embroidered with gold in a palace hall, upholstered in carpets that Peter received as a gift from Louis XV during his stay in Paris. His wife Ekaterina Alekseevna was proclaimed empress.

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

This fact greatly excited the writer, and he, taking advantage of his acquaintance with another great dictator, and remembering the fate of other, careless writers, decided to turn to him for advice, especially since the information was in some sense quite close to the leader.

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

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

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

The information after this meeting, it would seem, should have been buried forever, but no offense to Alexei Nikolaevich, and he, like any writer, was an extremely sociable person, was told to a narrow circle of acquaintances, and then, according to the snowball principle, it was spread like a virus throughout to all the minds of the intelligentsia of that time.

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

The letter talks about a certain prophecy she heard from the Georgian queen: “My mother told me about a certain Matveev, who saw prophetic dream, in which Saint George the Victorious appeared to him and said to him: You have been chosen to inform the king that a “KING OF KINGS” is to be born in Muscovy, who will make it great empire. He was supposed to be born from the visiting Orthodox Tsar of Iveron from the same tribe of David as the Mother of God. And the daughter of Kirill Naryshkin, pure in heart. If you disobey this command, there will be a great pestilence. The will of God is the will.”

The prophecy clearly hinted at the urgent need for such an event, but another problem could actually contribute to such a turn of events.

The beginning of the end of the Romanov family

To understand the reasons for such a written appeal, it is necessary to turn to history and remember that the kingdom of Moscow at that time was a kingdom without a king, and the acting king, the monarch Alexei Mikhailovich, could not cope with the role assigned to him.

In fact, the country was ruled by Prince Miloslavsky, mired in palace intrigues, a swindler and an adventurer.

Context

As Peter the Great bequeathed

Rilsoa 05/19/2011

How Peter I ruled

Die Welt 08/05/2013

Ivan Mazepa and Peter I: towards the restoration of knowledge about the Ukrainian hetman and his entourage

Day 11/28/2008

Vladimir Putin is a good tsar

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

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

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

After which it was Matveev who betrothed Alexei Mikhailovich to the Crimean Tatar princess Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, the daughter of the Crimean Tatar murza Ismail Narysh, who at that time lived in Moscow and for convenience bore the name Kirill, which was quite convenient for the local nobility to pronounce.

It remained to resolve the issue with the heir, since the children born from the first wife were as frail as the tsar himself, and were unlikely, in Matveev’s opinion, to pose a threat.

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

Who is Peter's father?

There are actually two theories; Peter’s fathers include two great Georgian princes from the Bagration family, these are:

Archil II (1647-1713) - king of Imereti (1661-1663, 1678-1679, 1690-1691, 1695-1696, 1698) and Kakheti (1664-1675), lyric poet, eldest son of the king of Kartli Vakhtang V. One of founders of the Georgian colony in Moscow.

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

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

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

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

At the christening of the future emperor, in 1672, Heraclius fulfilled his duty and named the baby Peter, and in 1674 he left Russia, taking the throne of the principality of Kakheti, although to receive this title he had to convert to Islam.

Version two, dubious

According to the second version, the father of the future autocrat in 1671 was the Imeretian king Archil II, who had been staying at court for several months and fled from the pressure of Persia, who was practically forced to visit the princess’s bedroom under pressure, convincing him that according to divine providence his participation was extremely necessary. a godly deed, namely, the conception of “the one they were waiting for.”

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

The relationship between Peter and Archil can be evidenced by the fact that the official heir of the Georgian monarch, Prince Alexander, became the first general Russian army of Georgian origin, served with Peter in amusing regiments and died for the emperor in Swedish captivity.

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

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

Although “our naughty boy” can be said about both Tsarevich Nicholas and Peter, as a representative of the Bagration family. The second version is also supported by the fact that Peter I was surprisingly similar to the Imeretian king Archil II. Both were truly gigantic for that time, with identical facial features and characters, although this same version can also be used as evidence of the first, since the Georgian princes were directly related.

Everyone knew and everyone was silent

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

Peter's mother, Natalya Naryshkina, was also terribly afraid of what she had done, and repeatedly stated: “He cannot be a king!”

And the tsar himself, at the moment when the Georgian princess was wooed for him, declared publicly: “I will not marry people of the same name!”

Visual similarity, no other evidence needed

This is a must see. Remember from history: not a single Moscow king was distinguished by either height or Slavic appearance, but Peter is the most special of them.

According to historical documents, Peter I was quite tall even by today’s standards, since his height reached two meters, but what’s strange is that he wore size 38 shoes, and his clothing size was 48! But, nevertheless, it was precisely these features that he inherited from his Georgian relatives, since this description accurately suited the Bagration family. Peter was a pure European!

But not even visually, but in character, Peter definitely did not belong to the Romanov family; in all his habits, he was a real Caucasian.

Yes, he inherited the unimaginable cruelty of the Moscow kings, but this feature could have been inherited from his mother’s side, since their entire family was more Tatar than Slavic, and it was precisely this feature that gave him the opportunity to turn a fragment of the horde into a European state.

Conclusion

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

Perhaps it was not his Horde origin that made him a reformer and actually an emperor, who turned the district Horde principality of Muscovy into the Russian Empire, even though he had to borrow the history of one of the occupied territories, but we will talk about this in the next story.

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

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 heated debate among historians: which of the known facts about this extraordinary person is reliable and which is fiction? Important facts from the biography of Peter 1 have reached us; they reveal all his positive and negative sides, both the king and 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 more than one volume was compiled about Peter 1 scientific research and filled the pages of numerous popular publications.

1. The great Russian Tsar, and later Emperor, Peter 1 ascended the throne on August 18, 1682, and from then on his long reign began. 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. Among the Russian emperors there is hardly a more ambiguous and mysterious figure than Peter the Great. This ruler 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 his life is full of amazing events.

5. Emperor Peter the Great, who earned 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. Nature deprived all of his father’s previous children of health, 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 Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya ─ Fyodor Alekseevich, who entered 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 and go to the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow.

Peter 1 in childhood

9. Peter 1 spent his childhood and youth in Preobrazhenskoe, who, unlike the heirs to European thrones, early years surrounded by the most outstanding teachers of his time, he received his education by communicating with semi-literate guys. However, the gap of 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 became friends with someone who would be his devoted companion and confidant throughout his life. We are talking about Alexander Menshikov, who participated in all the childish amusements of the future emperor. Interestingly, the ruler was not at all embarrassed by the absence good education from a statesman.

12. As for his personal life. At the age of 17, Peter, having made it a habit to visit the German settlement, started an affair with Anna Mons; his mother, in order to break off the relationship she hated, forcibly married her son to the daughter of a deviant, 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 a nun. Perhaps it was precisely remorse that forced him to subsequently issue a decree prohibiting girls from being married off without their consent.

14. As you know, the king was married twice. His first wife was a girl of noble birth, while his second was a peasant daughter. Catherine I, Peter's second wife, was of low birth.

15. Empress Catherine’s actual name was Martha Samuilovna Skavronskaya. The empress's mother and father were simple Livonian peasants, and she herself managed to work as a laundress. From birth, Martha was blonde; she dyed her hair dark all her life. Such a low origin of his 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 person to rivete skates to shoes was Peter the Great. The fact is that previously skates were simply tied to shoes with ropes and belts. And the idea of ​​skates, now familiar to us, attached to the soles of boots, was brought by Peter I from Holland during his trip to Western countries.

17. In order for the soldiers of his army to distinguish between the right and left sides, the king ordered hay to be tied to their left leg and straw to their right leg. During drill training, the sergeant-major gave the commands: “hay - straw, hay - straw,” then the company typed a step. Meanwhile, among many European peoples, three centuries ago, the concepts of “right” and “left” distinguished only educated people. The peasants did not know how to do this.

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 ordering overseas flowers.

19. During Peter's time, counterfeiters worked in state mints as a punishment. Counterfeiters were identified by the presence of “up to one ruble five altyns of silver money of the same coinage.” In those days, even state mints could not issue uniform money. And those who had them were 100% counterfeiters. Peter decided to use this ability of criminals to produce uniform coins with high quality for the benefit of the state. As punishment, the would-be criminal was sent to one of the mints to mint coins there. Thus, in 1712 alone, thirteen such “craftsmen” were sent to the mints.

20. Peter I – very interesting and controversial historical figure. By the way, the emphasis that was placed over the ensuing centuries was precisely on the physical characteristics of the sovereign. It was largely due to the legend of his substitution, which supposedly occurred during a trip abroad to the countries of Western Europe (1697 ─ 1698). In those years, rumors persisted, fueled by secret oppositionists, about his substitution during the trip of young Peter with the Great Embassy. Thus, contemporaries wrote that the person leaving with the embassy was a young man of twenty-six years old, above average height, thickly built, physically healthy, with a mole on his left cheek and wavy hair, well educated, loving everything Russian, an Orthodox Christian, knowing the Bible by heart, and so on. . But two years later a completely different person returned - he practically did not speak Russian, hated everything Russian, never learned to write in Russian until the end of his life, having forgotten everything he knew before leaving for the Grand Embassy and miraculously acquired new skills and abilities . And finally, he changed dramatically in appearance. His height increased so much that his entire wardrobe had to be re-sewn, 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 supposedly 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 tall stature, it is all the more surprising that he had a “modest” shoe size: 38.

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 size 48 clothes. Descriptions of the autocrat's appearance left by his contemporaries indicate that he was narrow-shouldered and had a disproportionately small head.

24. Tsar Peter 1 was one of the fierce opponents of alcoholism. The ruler began to fight the drunkenness of his subjects in 1714 with his characteristic humor. He came up with the idea of ​​“awarding” incorrigible alcoholics with medals. Perhaps, world history I did not know a heavier medal than the one 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 placed around her neck using chains. Moreover, they were securely fastened, excluding independent removal. The awarded drunkard had to pass in this form for a week.

25. A number of quite obvious facts cast doubt on the reliability of the fact that Peter 1 was tall. Having visited the country's museums, the exhibitions of which display personal belongings, clothes (size 48!) and shoes of the sovereign, it is not difficult to see that they would have been impossible to use if Peter 1 had really been so tall. They would simply be small. The same idea is suggested by several of his surviving beds, on which, if he was over 2 m tall, he would have had to sleep sitting up. By the way, authentic samples of the tsar’s shoes make it possible to determine with absolute accuracy the size of Peter 1’s feet. So, it has been established that in our days he would have bought himself shoes... size 39! Another argument that indirectly refutes the generally accepted idea of ​​the king’s height can be the stuffed animal of his favorite horse Lisette, 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 height if all his ancestors, about whom there is sufficiently complete information, did not differ in special physical parameters?

26.What could have given rise to the legend about the king’s unique height? It has been scientifically proven that in the process of evolution over the last 300 years, the height of people has increased by an average of 10-15 cm. This suggests that the sovereign was indeed significantly taller than those around him and was considered an unusually tall man, but not according to today, but according to those long gone in the past, when a height of 155 cm was considered quite normal. Today, the size of Peter 1’s feet, determined from shoe samples, leads to the conclusion that his height hardly exceeded 170-180 cm.

27.Having issued his famous decree “There will be sea-going vessels” in October 1696, he very quickly became convinced that, in addition to enthusiasm and financial investments, the success of the business he started required knowledge in the field of shipbuilding and navigation. 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 in 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 oneself.

28. So, in August 1697, at the shipyard owned by the Dutch shipbuilder Lynstru Rogge, a new worker, Pyotr Mikhailov, appeared, with facial features and dashing posture unusually similar to the Russian Tsar. However, no one had any suspicions, especially since the Dutch could hardly imagine a monarch in a work apron and with an ax in his hands.

29. This foreign voyage of the sovereign significantly enriched the palette Russian life, since he tried to transfer much of what he happened to see there to Russia. For example, Holland was exactly the country from which Peter 1 brought potatoes. Moreover, from this small state, washed by 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 of ​​forcing his subjects to shave their beards also came to the sovereign during a visit to Holland.

30. It should be noted that the king was partial to a number of activities that were not typical for other august persons. For example, his passion for turning is well known. Until now, visitors to the St. Petersburg Museum “House of Peter I” can see the machine on which the sovereign personally 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 previous 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, introduced into use by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. Thus, on January 1, Russia, together with the entire civilized world, entered not the year 7208 from the Creation of the world, but the 1700th year from the Nativity of Christ.

32. At the same time, the Decree of Peter 1 came out about celebrating 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 New Year trees.

33.Many interesting facts about Peter 1 are related to his hobbies, among which there were some very unusual ones. Peter I was interested in medicine. He tried his hand at surgery and actively studied anatomy 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 instruments brought from Holland, he often removed diseased teeth of his courtiers. At the same time, sometimes the king got carried away. Then their healthy teeth could also be given away.

34. The emperor was fluent in fourteen crafts. However, not all the crafts that Peter tried to master during his long life obeyed him. At one time, the emperor tried to learn how to weave bast shoes, but he failed. Since then, he respected the “sages” who managed to master the science that seemed so difficult to him.

35.Behavior, appearance, habits of his subjects - there is hardly any sphere of human life left that Peter 1 did not touch upon with his decrees.

36.The greatest indignation of the boyars was caused by his order regarding beards. The ruler, who wanted to establish European orders in Russia, categorically ordered that facial hair be shaved off. The protesters were forced to submit over time, since otherwise they would face a huge tax.

37. The most famous king issued many other humorous decrees. For example, one of his orders was a ban on appointing people with red hair to government positions.

38. He also managed to become famous as a fighter with national costumes. Interesting facts from the life of the sovereign confirm that among his decrees there is an order on wearing European clothing. It was he who forced the fair sex to wear low-cut dresses instead of sundresses, and men to wear camisoles and short pants.

39. Many wonderful things would never have appeared in Russia if it were not for Peter 1. Interesting facts are connected with potatoes. The inhabitants of our country were not familiar with this vegetable until the king brought it from Holland. The first attempts to introduce potatoes as everyday food were unsuccessful. The peasants tried to eat it raw, without thinking of baking or boiling it, and as a result they abandoned this tasty and nutritious vegetable. Also, during the time of Peter I, rice was first introduced into Russia.

40.Tulips are beautiful flowers, the cultivation of which also began in the state at the request of Peter the Great. The autocrat delivered 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 goal of which was the introduction of overseas flowers.

41. The first Kunstkamera museum was founded by Peter, where his personal collections brought from different parts of the world are kept. All the Tsar's collections were transported to the Summer Palace in 1714. This is how the Kunstkamera Museum was created. Everyone who visited the Kunstkamera received free alcohol.

42. Catherine I had many affairs 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 preserved 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 amazed the princesses with his clumsiness.

45. Peter managed to do an excellent job military career and as a result become an admiral of the Russian, Dutch, English and Danish fleets.

46. ​​Naval and military affairs were the king’s favorite areas. Peter founded a regular fleet and army in Russia. He constantly studied and gained new knowledge in these areas. Marine 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 I.

49. Strengthening military power Russian state was the emperor’s life’s work. During the reign of Peter I, compulsory military service was introduced. To create an army, taxes were collected from local residents. 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, mason, and knew how to make watches and draw. Peter 1 often surprised everyone with his virtuoso piano playing.

51. The king issued a letter that prohibited wives from taking drunk men from pubs. In addition, the king was against women on the ship, and they were taken only as a last resort.

52. Under Great Peter, several successful reforms were carried out in education, medicine, industrial and financial sectors. 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 areas of activity of Peter I was the creation of a powerful fleet on the Sea of ​​​​Azov, which he eventually succeeded in doing. Exit to Baltic Sea was specially built for the development of trade. The emperor managed to conquer the shores of the Caspian Sea and annex Kamchatka.

55. The construction of St. Petersburg began in 1703 by order of the Tsar. Only in St. Petersburg was it 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. Today the exact cause of the king’s death is not known. According to some sources, Peter suffered from a bladder disease. According to others, he fell ill with severe pneumonia. King before last day continued to rule the state despite 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 his will, but at the same time he left a serious mark on the history of the Russian Empire. Catherine 1 passed the rule of the Russian Empire after the death of Peter. After the death of the king, the era of palace coups began.

59. Monuments to Peter 1 were erected in many leading countries. 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 in his honor.

photo from the Internet

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Biography, life story of Peter I

Peter I the Great (Peter Alekseevich) is the last Tsar of All Rus' from the Romanov dynasty (since 1682) and the first All-Russian Emperor (since 1721).

The early years of Peter. 1672-1689

Peter was born on the night of May 30 (June 9), 1672 (in 7180 according to the then-accepted calendar “from the creation of the world”). The exact place of Peter's birth is unknown; Some historians indicated the Kremlin's Terem Palace as his birthplace, and according to folk tales, Peter was born in the village of Kolomenskoye, and Izmailovo was also indicated.

The father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, had numerous offspring: Peter I was the 14th child, but the first from his second wife, Tsarina Natalya Naryshkina. June 29, St. Day Apostles Peter and Paul, the prince was baptized in the Miracle Monastery (according to other sources in the Church of Gregory of Neocaesarea, in Derbitsy), by Archpriest Andrei Savinov and named Peter.

Education

After spending a year with the queen, he was given to nannies to raise. In the 4th year of Peter’s life, in 1676, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died. The Tsarevich's guardian was his half-brother, godfather and new Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. Peter received a poor education, and until the end of his life he wrote with errors, using poor lexicon. This was due to the fact that the then Patriarch of Moscow, Joachim, as part of the fight against “Latinization” and “foreign influence”, removed from the royal court the students of Simeon of Polotsk, who taught Peter’s older brothers, and insisted that less educated clerks would teach Peter. N. M. Zotov and A. Nesterov. In addition, Peter did not have the opportunity to receive an education from a university graduate or teacher high school, since neither universities nor secondary schools existed in the Moscow state during Peter’s childhood, and among the classes of Russian society only clerks, clerks and the highest clergy were taught to read and write. The clerks taught Peter to read and write from 1676 to 1680. Peter was later able to compensate for the shortcomings of basic education with riches practical exercises.

CONTINUED BELOW

Streletsky riot of 1682 and the rise to power of Sofia Alekseevna

On April 27 (May 7), 1682, after 6 years of reign, the sickly Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich died. The question arose of who should inherit the throne: the older, sickly Ivan, according to custom, or the young Peter. Having secured the support of Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins and their supporters enthroned Peter on April 27 (May 7), 1682. In fact, the Naryshkin clan came to power and Artamon Matveev, summoned from exile, was declared the “great guardian.”

This gave impetus to the start of the Streletsky revolt. Natalya Kirillovna, hoping to calm the rioters, together with the patriarch and boyars, led Peter and his brother to the Red Porch. The consequence of the horrors of the Streltsy demonstrations was Peter's illness: with strong excitement, he began to have convulsive facial movements. However, the uprising was not over. On May 26, elected officials from the Streltsy regiments came to the palace and demanded that the elder Ivan be recognized as the first tsar, and the younger Peter as the second. Fearing a repetition of the pogrom, the boyars agreed, and Patriarch Joachim immediately performed a solemn prayer service in the Assumption Cathedral for the health of the two named kings; and on June 25 he crowned them kings.

On May 29, the archers insisted that Princess Sofya Alekseevna take over control of the state due to the minor age of her brothers.

In the Kremlin Armory, a two-seat throne for young kings with a small window in the back was preserved, through which Princess Sophia and her entourage told them how to behave and what to say during palace ceremonies.

Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna was supposed to, together with her son Peter - the second Tsar - retire from the court to a palace near Moscow in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. At this time, in the biography of Peter 1, interest in military activities arose; he created “amusing” regiments. He is interested in firearms, shipbuilding, and spends a lot of time in the German suburbs.

First marriage of Peter I

The German settlement was the closest “neighbor” of the village of Preobrazhenskoye, and Peter had been keeping an eye on its curious life for a long time. More and more foreigners at the court of Tsar Peter, such as Franz Timmermann and Karsten Brandt, came from the German Settlement. All this imperceptibly led to the fact that the tsar became a frequent visitor to the settlement, where he soon turned out to be a big fan of relaxed foreign life. Peter lit a German pipe, began attending German parties with dancing and drinking, met Patrick Gordon, Franz Lefort - Peter's future associates, and started an affair with Anna Mons. Peter's mother strictly opposed this. In order to bring her 17-year-old son to reason, Natalya Kirillovna decided to marry him to Evdokia Lopukhina, the daughter of a okolnichy.

Peter did not contradict his mother, and on January 27, 1689, the wedding of the “junior” tsar took place. However, less than a month later, Peter left his wife and went to Lake Pleshcheyevo for several days. From this marriage, Peter had two sons: the eldest, Alexei, was heir to the throne until 1718, the youngest, Alexander, died in infancy.

Accession of Peter I

Peter's activity greatly worried Princess Sophia, who understood that with the coming of age of her half-brother, she would have to give up power.

On July 8, 1689, on the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the first public conflict occurred between the matured Peter and the Ruler. On that day, according to custom, a religious procession was held from the Kremlin to the Kazan Cathedral. At the end of the mass, Peter approached his sister and announced that she should not dare to go along with the men in the procession. Sophia accepted the challenge: she took the image of the Most Holy Theotokos in her hands and went to get the crosses and banners. Unprepared for such an outcome, Peter left the move.

In August 1689, Princess Sophia tried to turn the archers against Peter, but most of the troops obeyed the rightful king, and Princess Sophia had to admit defeat. She herself went to the Trinity Monastery, but in the village of Vozdvizhenskoye she was met by Peter’s envoys with orders to return to Moscow. Soon Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent under strict supervision.

The elder brother, Tsar Ivan (or John), met Peter at the Assumption Cathedral and actually gave him all power. Since 1689, he did not take part in the reign, although until his death on January 29 (February 8), 1696, he continued to be a co-tsar. At first, Peter himself took little part in the board, giving powers to the Naryshkin family.

Azov campaigns. 1695-1696

The priority of Peter I in the first years of autocracy was the continuation of the war with Ottoman Empire and Crimea. Peter I decided, instead of campaigning against the Crimea, undertaken during the reign of Princess Sophia, to strike at the Turkish fortress of Azov.
The first Azov campaign, which began in the spring of 1695, ended unsuccessfully in September of the same year due to the lack of a fleet and the unwillingness of the Russian army to operate far from supply bases. However, already in the fall of 1695, preparations for a new campaign began. Peter I took part in the siege with the rank of captain on a galley. Without waiting for the assault, on July 19, 1696, the fortress surrendered. Thus, Russia's first access to the southern seas was opened.

However, Peter failed to gain access to the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait: he remained under the control of the Ottoman Empire. To finance the construction of the fleet, new types of taxes are introduced. At this time, the first signs of dissatisfaction with Peter's activities appear. In the summer of 1699, the first large Russian ship “Fortress” (46-gun) took the Russian ambassador to Constantinople for peace negotiations. The very existence of such a ship persuaded the Sultan to conclude peace in July 1700, which left the Azov fortress behind Russia.

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

Grand Embassy. 1697-1698

In March 1697 in Western Europe The Grand Embassy was sent through Livonia, the main purpose of which was to find allies against the Ottoman Empire. In total, up to 250 people entered the embassy, ​​among whom, under the name of the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Peter Mikhailov, was Tsar Peter I himself. For the first time, a Russian Tsar undertook a trip outside the borders of his state.

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

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

In addition to negotiations, Peter devoted a lot of time to studying shipbuilding, military affairs and other sciences. Peter worked as a carpenter at the shipyards of the East India Company, and with the participation of the Tsar, the ship “Peter and Paul” was built. In England, he visited a foundry, an arsenal, parliament, Oxford University, the Greenwich Observatory and the Mint, of which Isaac Newton was the caretaker at that time. He was primarily interested in the technical achievements of Western countries, and not in the legal system. They say that having visited Westminster Hall, Peter saw there “lawyers”, that is, barristers, in their robes and wigs. He asked: “What kind of people are these and what are they doing here?”. They answered him: “These are all lawyers, Your Majesty.” “Legalists! - Peter was surprised. - What are they for? In my entire kingdom there are only two lawyers, and I plan to hang one of them when I return home.”. True, having visited the English Parliament incognito, where the speeches of the deputies before King William III were translated for him, the Tsar said: “It’s fun to hear when the sons of the patronymic tell the king the obvious truth; this is something we should learn from the English.”.

Return. Crucial years for Russia 1698-1700

In July 1698, the Grand Embassy was interrupted by news of a new Streltsy rebellion in Moscow, which was suppressed even before Peter’s arrival. Upon the tsar’s arrival in Moscow (August 25), a search and inquiry began, the result of which was the one-time execution of about 800 archers (except for those executed during the suppression of the riot), and subsequently several hundred more until the spring of 1699. Princess Sophia and Peter's unloved wife, Evdokia Lopukhina, were tonsured as nuns and sent to a monastery.

During his 15 months abroad, Peter saw a lot and learned a lot. After the return of the king on August 25, 1698, his transformative activities began, first aimed at changing external signs that distinguish the Old Slavic way of life from the Western European one. In the Preobrazhensky Palace, Peter suddenly began cutting off the beards of nobles, and already on August 29, 1698, the famous decree was issued “On wearing German dress, on shaving beards and mustaches, on schismatics walking around in the attire specified for them”, who banned the wearing of beards from September 1.

The new year 7208 according to the Russian-Byzantine calendar (“from the creation of the world”) became the 1700th year according to the Julian calendar. Peter also introduced the celebration on January 1 of the New Year, and not on the day of the autumn equinox, as was previously celebrated. His special decree stated:
“Because in Russia they consider New Year in different ways, from now on, stop fooling people and count the New Year everywhere from the first of January. And as a sign of good beginnings and fun, congratulate each other on the New Year, wishing prosperity in business and in the family. In honor of the New Year, make decorations from fir trees, amuse children, and ride down the mountains on sleds. But adults shouldn’t commit drunkenness and massacres - there are enough other days for that.”

Creation of the Russian Empire. 1700-1724

To develop trade, access to the Baltic Sea was required. So the next stage of the reign of Peter 1 was the war with Sweden. Having made peace with Turkey, he captured the fortress of Noteburg and Nyenschanz. In May 1703, construction of St. Petersburg began. In the next one, Narva and Dorpat were taken. In June 1709, Sweden was defeated in the Battle of Poltava. Soon after death Charles XII Peace was concluded between Russia and Sweden. New lands were annexed to Russia, and access to the Baltic Sea was gained.

After the victory in the Northern War and the conclusion of the Peace of Nystadt in September 1721, the Senate and Synod decided to present Peter with the title of Emperor of All Russia. The population of the Russian Empire amounted to up to 15 million subjects and was second in Europe only to France (about 20 million).

Also during his reign, Kamchatka was annexed and the shores of the Caspian Sea were conquered. Peter 1 carried out military reform several times. It mainly concerned the collection of money for the maintenance of the army and navy, and was carried out by force.

Transformations of Peter I

All of Peter’s internal state activities can be divided into two periods: 1695-1715 and 1715-1725.
The peculiarity of the first stage was haste and not always thought out, which was explained by the conduct of the Northern War. In the second period, reforms were more systematic.

Peter carried out a reform of public administration, transformations in the army, a navy was created, and a reform of church government was carried out, aimed at eliminating the church jurisdiction autonomous from the state and subordinating the Russian church hierarchy to the Emperor. Financial reform was also carried out, and measures were taken to develop industry and trade.
After returning from the Great Embassy, ​​Peter I waged a struggle against the external manifestations of an “outdated” way of life (the ban on beards is most famous), but no less paid attention to introducing the nobility to education and secular Europeanized culture. Secular people began to appear educational establishments, the first Russian newspaper was founded, translations of many books into Russian appeared. Peter made success in service for the nobles dependent on education.

Peter was clearly aware of the need for enlightenment, and took a number of decisive measures to this end. The goals of mass education were to be served by digital schools created by decree of 1714 in provincial cities, designed to “teach children of all ranks to read and write, numbers and geometry”. It was planned to create two such schools in each province, where education was to be free. Garrison schools were opened for soldiers' children, and a network of theological schools was created for the training of priests in 1721. Peter's decrees introduced compulsory education for nobles and clergy, but a similar measure for the urban population met fierce resistance and was cancelled. Peter's attempt to create an all-class primary school failed (the creation of a network of schools ceased after his death, most of the digital schools under his successors were repurposed as estate schools for training the clergy), but nevertheless, during his reign the foundations were laid for the spread of education in Russia.

Peter created new printing houses, in which 1,312 book titles were printed between 1700 and 1725 (twice as many as in the entire previous history of Russian printing).

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

In 1724, Peter approved the charter of the organized Academy of Sciences (opened in 1725 after his death).

Of particular importance was the construction of stone Petersburg, in which foreign architects took part and which was carried out according to the plan developed by the tsar. They created a new urban environment with previously unfamiliar forms of life and pastime (theater, masquerades). The interior decoration of houses, lifestyle, food composition, etc. have changed.

By a special decree of the tsar in 1718, assemblies were introduced, representing a new form of communication between people in Russia.

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

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

Peter tried to change the position of women in Russian society. By special decrees (1700, 1702 and 1724) he prohibited forced marriage. It was prescribed that there should be a period of at least six weeks between betrothal and wedding, “so that the bride and groom can recognize each other”. If during this time, the decree said, “The groom doesn’t want to take the bride, or the bride doesn’t want to marry the groom,” no matter how the parents insist on it, “there will be freedom in that”. Since 1702, the bride herself (and not just her relatives) was given the formal right to dissolve the betrothal and upset the arranged marriage, and neither party had the right to “beat the forfeit.” Legislative regulations 1696-1704. on public celebrations, mandatory participation in celebrations and festivities was introduced for all Russians, including the “female sex.”

In general, Peter's reforms were aimed at strengthening the state and introducing the elite to European culture while simultaneously strengthening absolutism. During the reforms, the technical and economic lag of Russia from a number of other European countries was overcome, access to the Baltic Sea was won, and transformations were carried out in many spheres of life of Russian society. Gradually, a different system of values, worldview, and aesthetic ideas took shape among the nobility, which was radically different from the values ​​and worldview of the majority of representatives of other classes. At the same time, the popular forces were extremely exhausted, the preconditions were created (Decree on Succession to the Throne) for a crisis of supreme power, which led to the “era of palace coups.”

Orders

1698 - Order of the Garter (England) - the order was awarded to Peter during the Great Embassy for diplomatic reasons, but Peter refused the award.

1703 - Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (Russia) - for the capture of two Swedish ships at the mouth of the Neva.

1712 - Order of the White Eagle (Rzeczpospolita) - in response to the awarding of the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Augustus II with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.

1713 - Order of the Elephant (Denmark) - for success in the Northern War.

Character

Peter I combined practical ingenuity and dexterity, gaiety, and apparent straightforwardness with spontaneous impulses in the expression of both affection and anger, and sometimes with unbridled cruelty.
In his youth, Peter indulged in crazy drunken orgies with his comrades. In anger, he could beat those close to him. He chose “notable persons” and “old boyars” as victims of his evil jokes - as Prince Kurakin reports, “fat people were dragged through chairs where it was impossible to stand, many had their dresses torn off and left naked...”. The All-Joking, All-Drunken and Extraordinary Council that he created was engaged in mockery of everything that was valued and revered in society as primordial everyday or moral-religious foundations. He personally served as executioner during the execution of participants in the Streltsy uprising.
During the fighting on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on July 11, 1705, Peter attended vespers in the Basilian monastery in Polotsk. After one of the Basilians called Josaphat Kuntsevich, who was oppressing the Orthodox population, a holy martyr, the king ordered the monks to be seized. The Basilians tried to resist and four of them were hacked to death. The next day, Peter ordered the hanging of a monk who was distinguished by his sermons directed against the Russians.

Family of Peter I

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

Alexei Petrovich, the official heir to the Russian throne, condemned his father's reforms, and eventually fled to Vienna under the patronage of his wife's relative (Charlotte of Brunswick), Emperor Charles VI, where he sought support in the overthrow of Peter I. In 1717, the prince was persuaded to return home, where he was taken into custody. On June 24 (July 5), 1718, the Supreme Court, consisting of 127 people, sentenced Alexei to death, finding him guilty of treason. On June 26 (July 7), 1718, the prince, without waiting for the sentence to be carried out, died in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

From his marriage to Princess Charlotte of Brunswick, Tsarevich Alexei left a son, Peter Alekseevich (1715-1730), who became Emperor Peter II in 1727, and a daughter, Natalya Alekseevna (1714-1728).

In 1703, Peter I met 19-year-old Katerina, whose maiden name was Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya, captured by Russian troops as booty during the capture of the Swedish fortress of Marienburg. Peter took a former maid from the Baltic peasants from Alexander Menshikov and made her his mistress. In 1704, Katerina gave birth to her first child, named Peter, and the following year, Paul (both died soon after). Even before her legal marriage to Peter, Katerina gave birth to daughters Anna (1708) and Elizabeth (1709). Elizabeth later became empress (reigned 1741-1761).
Katerina alone could cope with the king in his fits of anger; she knew how to calm Peter’s attacks of convulsive headaches with affection and patient attention. The sound of Katerina's voice calmed Peter; then she:
“she sat him down and took him, caressing him, by the head, which she lightly scratched. This had a magical effect on him; he fell asleep within a few minutes. So as not to disturb his sleep, she held his head on her chest, sitting motionless for two or three hours. After that, he woke up completely fresh and cheerful.”

The official wedding of Peter I and Ekaterina Alekseevna took place on February 19, 1712, shortly after returning from the Prut campaign. In 1724 Peter crowned Catherine as empress and co-regent. Ekaterina Alekseevna bore her husband 11 children, but most of them died in childhood, except for Anna and Elizaveta.

Death of Peter

IN last years During his reign, Peter was very ill (presumably from kidney stones complicated by uremia). In the summer of 1724, his illness intensified; in September he felt better, but after a while the attacks intensified. In October, Peter went to inspect the Ladoga Canal, contrary to the advice of his physician Blumentrost. From Olonets, Peter traveled to Staraya Russa and in November traveled by water to St. Petersburg. Near Lakhta, he had to stand waist-deep in water to save a boat with soldiers that had run aground. The attacks of the disease intensified, but Peter, not paying attention to them, continued to engage in government affairs. On January 17, 1725, he had such a bad time that he ordered a camp church to be erected in the room next to his bedroom, and on January 22 he confessed. The patient’s strength began to leave him; he no longer screamed, as before, from severe pain, but only moaned.

On January 27 (February 7), all those sentenced to death or hard labor (excluding murderers and those convicted of repeated robbery) were amnestied. That same day, at the end of the second hour, Peter demanded paper and began to write, but the pen fell out of his hands, and only two words could be made out from what was written: "Give it all...". The Tsar then ordered his daughter Anna Petrovna to be called so that she could write under his dictation, but when she arrived, Peter had already fallen into oblivion.

When it became obvious that the emperor was dying, the question arose as to who would take Peter's place. The Senate, the Synod and the generals - all institutions that did not have the formal right to control the fate of the throne, even before Peter's death, gathered on the night of January 27-28, 1725 to resolve the issue of Peter the Great's successor. Guards officers entered the meeting room, two guards regiments entered the square, and to the drumbeat of troops withdrawn by the party of Ekaterina Alekseevna and Menshikov, the Senate made a unanimous decision by 4 o'clock in the morning on January 28. By decision of the Senate, the throne was inherited by Peter's wife, Ekaterina Alekseevna, who became the first on January 28 (February 8), 1725 Russian empress under the name Catherine I.

At the beginning of six o'clock in the morning on January 28 (February 8), 1725, Peter the Great died in his Winter Palace near the Winter Canal, according to the official version, from pneumonia. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

Peter I Alekseevich is the last Tsar of All Rus' and the first All-Russian Emperor, one of the most outstanding rulers of the Russian Empire. He was a true patriot of his state and did everything possible for its prosperity.

From his youth, Peter I showed great interest in various things, and was the first of the Russian tsars to make a long journey through European countries.

Thanks to this, he was able to accumulate a wealth of experience and carry out many important reforms that determined the direction of development in the 18th century.

In this article we will take a closer look at the characteristics of Peter the Great, and pay attention to his personality traits, as well as his successes in the political arena.

Biography of Peter 1

Peter 1 Alekseevich Romanov was born on May 30, 1672 in. His father, Alexei Mikhailovich, was the Tsar of the Russian Empire, and ruled it for 31 years.

Mother, Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, was the daughter of a small nobleman. Interestingly, Peter was the 14th son of his father and the first of his mother.

Childhood and youth of Peter I

When the future emperor was 4 years old, his father Alexei Mikhailovich died, and Peter’s older brother, Fyodor 3 Alekseevich, took the throne.

The new tsar began raising little Peter, ordering him to be taught various sciences. Since at that time there was a struggle against foreign influence, his teachers were Russian clerks who did not have deep knowledge.

As a result, the boy was unable to receive a proper education, and until the end of his days he wrote with errors.

However, it is worth noting that Peter 1 managed to compensate for the shortcomings of basic education with rich practical training. Moreover, the biography of Peter I is notable precisely for his fantastic practice, and not for his theory.

History of Peter 1

Six years later, Fedor 3 died, and his son Ivan was to ascend to the Russian throne. However, the legal heir turned out to be a very sick and weak child.

Taking advantage of this, the Naryshkin family, in fact, organized a coup d'etat. Having secured the support of Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins made young Peter king the very next day.

26-year-old Peter I. The portrait by Kneller was presented by Peter in 1698 to the English king

However, the Miloslavskys, relatives of Tsarevich Ivan, declared the illegality of such a transfer of power and the infringement of their own rights.

As a result, the famous Streletsky revolt occurred in 1682, as a result of which two kings were on the throne at the same time - Ivan and Peter.

From that moment on, many significant events occurred in the biography of the young autocrat.

It is worth emphasizing here that from an early age the boy was interested in military affairs. On his orders, fortifications were built, and real military equipment was used in staged battles.

Peter 1 put uniforms on his peers and marched with them along the city streets. Interestingly, he himself acted as a drummer, walking in front of his regiment.

After the formation of his own artillery, the king created a small “fleet”. Even then he wanted to dominate the sea and lead his ships into battle.

Tsar Peter 1

As a teenager, Peter 1 was not yet able to fully govern the state, so his half-sister Sofya Alekseevna, and then his mother Natalya Naryshkina, became his regent.

In 1689, Tsar Ivan officially transferred all power to his brother, as a result of which Peter 1 became the only full-fledged head of state.

After the death of his mother, his relatives, the Naryshkins, helped him manage the empire. However, the autocrat soon freed himself from their influence and began to independently rule the empire.

Reign of Peter 1

From that time on, Peter 1 stopped playing war games, and instead began to develop real plans for future military campaigns. He continued to wage war in Crimea against the Ottoman Empire, and also repeatedly organized the Azov campaigns.

As a result of this, he managed to take the Azov fortress, which became one of the first military successes in his biography. Then Peter 1 began building the port of Taganrog, although there was still no fleet as such in the state.

From that time on, the emperor set out to create a strong fleet at all costs in order to have influence on the sea. To do this, he made sure that young nobles could study ship craft in European countries.

It is worth noting that Peter I himself also learned to build ships, working as an ordinary carpenter. Thanks to this, he gained great respect among ordinary people who watched him work for the good of Russia.

Even then, Peter the Great saw many shortcomings in the state system and was preparing for serious reforms that would forever inscribe his name in.

He studied government system major European countries, trying to adopt the best from them.

During this period of biography, a conspiracy was drawn up against Peter 1, as a result of which a Streltsy uprising was supposed to occur. However, the king managed to suppress the rebellion in time and punish all the conspirators.

After a long confrontation with the Ottoman Empire, Peter the Great decided to sign a peace agreement with it. After this he started a war with Sweden.

He managed to capture several fortresses at the mouth of the Neva River, on which the glorious city of Peter the Great would be built in the future.

Wars of Peter the Great

After a series of successful military campaigns, Peter 1 managed to open access to the Baltic Sea, which would later be called the “window to Europe.”

Meanwhile military power The Russian Empire was constantly growing, and the fame of Peter the Great spread throughout Europe. Soon the Eastern Baltic states were annexed to Russia.

In 1709, the famous battle took place, in which the Swedish and Russian armies fought. As a result, the Swedes were completely defeated, and the remnants of the troops were taken prisoner.

By the way, this battle was superbly described in the famous poem “Poltava”. Here's a snippet:

There was that troubled time
When Russia is young,
Straining strength in struggles,
She dated the genius of Peter.

It is worth noting that Peter 1 himself took part in battles, showing courage and bravery in battle. By his example he inspired Russian army, which was ready to fight for the emperor to the last drop of blood.

Studying Peter's relationship with the soldiers, one cannot help but recall famous story about a careless soldier. Read more about this.

An interesting fact is that at the height of the Battle of Poltava, an enemy bullet shot through Peter I’s hat, passing just a few centimeters from his head. This once again proved the fact that the autocrat was not afraid to risk his life to defeat the enemy.

However, numerous military campaigns not only took the lives of valiant warriors, but also depleted the country's military resources. It's gotten to the point where Russian empire found herself in a situation where it was necessary to fight on 3 fronts simultaneously.

This forced Peter 1 to reconsider his views on foreign policy and make a number of important decisions.

He signed a peace agreement with the Turks, agreeing to give them back the fortress of Azov. By making such a sacrifice, he was able to save many human lives and military equipment.

After some time, Peter The great one began organize trips to the east. Their result was the annexation of such cities as Omsk, Semipalatinsk and Kamchatka to Russia.

Interestingly, he even wanted to organize military expeditions in North America and India, but these plans were never destined to come true.

But Peter the Great was able to brilliantly carry out the Caspian campaign against Persia, conquering Baku, Derbent, Astrabad and many fortresses.

After his death, most of the conquered territories were lost, since their maintenance was not profitable for the state.

Reforms of Peter 1

Throughout his biography, Peter 1 implemented many reforms aimed at the benefit of the state. Interestingly, he became the first Russian ruler who began to call himself emperor.

The most important reforms concerned military affairs. In addition, it was during the reign of Peter 1 that the church began to submit to the state, which had never happened before.

The reforms of Peter the Great contributed to the development of industry and trade, as well as a departure from an outdated way of life.

For example, he imposed a tax on wearing a beard, wanting to impose European standards on the boyars appearance. And although this caused a wave of discontent on the part of the Russian nobility, they still obeyed all his decrees.

Every year, medical, maritime, engineering and other schools were opened in the country, in which not only the children of officials, but also ordinary peasants could study. Peter 1 introduced the new Julian calendar, which is still used today.

While in Europe, the king saw many beautiful paintings that captured his imagination. As a result, upon arriving home, he began to provide financial support to artists in order to stimulate the development of Russian culture.

To be fair, it must be said that Peter 1 was often criticized for the violent method of implementing these reforms. Essentially, he forced people to change their thinking and also to carry out the projects he had in mind.

One of the most striking examples of this is the construction of St. Petersburg, which was carried out under difficult conditions. Many people could not withstand such stress and ran away.

Then the families of the fugitives were put in prison and remained there until the culprits returned back to the construction site.

Winter Palace of Peter I

Soon Peter 1 formed a body of political investigation and court, which was transformed into the Secret Chancellery. Any person was prohibited from writing in closed rooms.

If anyone knew about such a violation and did not report it to the king, he was subject to the death penalty. Using such harsh methods, Peter tried to fight anti-government conspiracies.

Personal life of Peter 1

In his youth, Peter 1 loved to be in the German settlement, enjoying foreign society. It was there that he first saw the German Anna Mons, with whom he immediately fell in love.

His mother was against his relationship with a German woman, so she insisted that he marry Evdokia Lopukhina. An interesting fact is that Peter did not contradict his mother and took Lopukhina as his wife.

Of course, in this forced marriage they family life could not be called happy. They had two boys: Alexey and Alexander, the latter of whom died in early childhood.

Alexei was to become the legal heir to the throne after Peter 1. However, due to the fact that Evdokia tried to overthrow her husband from the throne and transfer power to her son, everything turned out completely differently.

Lopukhina was imprisoned in a monastery, and Alexei had to flee abroad. It is worth noting that Alexei himself never approved of his father’s reforms, and even called him a despot.

Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei. Ge N. N., 1871

In 1717, Alexei was found and arrested, and then sentenced to death for participating in a conspiracy. However, he died in prison, and under very mysterious circumstances.

Having divorced his wife, in 1703 Peter the Great became interested in 19-year-old Katerina (nee Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya). A whirlwind romance began between them, which lasted for many years.

Over time, they got married, but even before her marriage she gave birth to daughters Anna (1708) and Elizabeth (1709) from the emperor. Elizabeth later became empress (reigned 1741-1761)

Katerina was a very smart and insightful girl. She alone managed, with the help of affection and patience, to calm the king when he had acute attacks of headache.

Peter I with the sign of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called on a blue St. Andrew's ribbon and a star on his chest. J.-M. Nattier, 1717

They officially got married only in 1712. After that, they had 9 more children, most of whom died at an early age.

Peter the Great truly loved Katerina. The Order of St. Catherine was established in her honor and the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals was named. The Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (built under her daughter Elizaveta Petrovna) also bears the name of Catherine I.

Soon, another woman, Maria Cantemir, appeared in the biography of Peter 1, who remained the emperor’s favorite until the end of his life.

It is worth noting that Peter the Great was very tall - 203 cm. At that time, he was considered a real giant, and was head and shoulders taller than everyone else.

However, the size of his feet did not correspond to his height at all. The autocrat wore size 39 shoes and had very narrow shoulders. As an additional support, he always carried a cane with him on which he could lean.

Death of Peter

Despite the fact that outwardly Peter 1 seemed to be a very strong and healthy person, in fact he suffered from migraine attacks throughout his life.

In the last years of his life, he also began to suffer from kidney stones, which he tried to ignore.

At the beginning of 1725, the pain became so severe that he could no longer get out of bed. His health condition worsened every day, and his suffering became unbearable.

Peter 1 Alekseevich Romanov died on January 28, 1725 in the Winter Palace. The official cause of his death was pneumonia.

The Bronze Horseman is a monument to Peter I on Senate Square in St. Petersburg

However, an autopsy showed that death was due to inflammation of the bladder, which soon developed into gangrene.

Peter the Great was buried in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, and his wife Catherine 1 became the heir to the Russian throne.

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