AT Russian historiography since the 19th century. formed different views on the causes and results of Peter's reforms and assessment of the personality of Peter I. Some historians believed that he wanted to "make Russia Holland", violated the "natural" course of development, "turned Russia off its historical path." Other researchers believed that Russia was prepared for transformations by the course of history. This was figuratively expressed by the largest Russian historian S. M. Solovyov: “The people were going on the road. They were waiting for the leader, and the leader appeared. V. O. Klyuchevsky considers the activities of Peter and its influence on the subsequent course of Russian history, both in positive and negative manifestations. Modern historiography develops a predominantly multilateral assessment of this period, focusing on the ability of the authorities to modernize society and respond to the challenge of the times in new historical conditions.
Predecessors of Peter I, the first steps of modernization
The reign of Peter I (as well as another reformer - Ivan IV) was preceded by a significant period of "dynastic uncertainty". After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, the 14-year-old Fyodor (1676 - 1682) was elevated to the throne, the boyars Miloslavsky (relatives of the first wife of Alexei Mikhailovich) took the leading place under him. Painful Fedor Alekseevich active participation in public affairs did not accept, loved reading books, composing music. Brought up by Simeon of Polotsk, he knew Latin and Polish. Western influence was noticeable in his environment. Under Fedor, parochialism was abolished and access to state administration was opened for people from the nobility and clerks (officials of orders). In 1682, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was established. The reorganization of the army continued.
Wars with Western neighbors prompted, and the general economic recovery and growth government revenue allowed in the second half of the XVII century. to establish "foreign regiments" - soldiers (infantry), Reiters (cavalry), dragoons (mixed formations), which were formed during the war from Russian free "eager" people and were trained by hired foreign officers. Streltsy army (permanent) was increasingly intended for internal tasks. A major event in the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich was the war with Turkey (1677 - 1681). Turkey, having conquered Podolia from Poland, tried to establish itself on Right-Bank Ukraine. Russia, together with the Cossacks, defended the Ukrainian lands. According to the Treaty of Bakhchisaray in 1681, Turkey recognized the reunification of the Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia, the neutrality of the lands between the Dnieper and the Bug, the citizenship of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks to the Russian Tsar.
After the death of Fyodor, Patriarch Joachim and the boyars decided to proclaim not the next oldest sick brother Ivan, but the son from the second wife of Alexei Mikhailovich N.K. Naryshkina, healthy and intelligent Peter, as the king. The Miloslavskys entered the struggle for power using the uprising of the Streltsy. At their request, Ivan was proclaimed the first king, Peter the second, and until they came of age, a regent, Princess Sophia, was appointed. Streltsy tried to put the head of the Streltsy order, Prince Khovansky, at the head of state, but he was captured by Sophia's supporters and executed. Under Sophia (1682 - 1689), her favorite, Prince V.V. Golitsyn, actually ruled. Sophia and Golitsyn were well-educated people. Sophia's plays were later highly appreciated by the historian and writer Karamzin. Golitsyn showed himself to be a capable diplomat and military organizer. In 1686 concluded " Eternal Peace with Poland. The Russian army undertook two large campaigns against Crimean Khanate. They did not bring success, but showed Russia's ability to conduct hostilities on the southern borders of the state and the change in the balance of power in the region.
During the reign of Sophia, Peter I experienced both the shock of the Streltsy rebellion and the omnipotence of the boyars. During the war games, the teenager Peter created "amusing regiments" from the peasants of the palace villages - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky (which later became guards), as well as a "amusing fleet" on Lake Pereyaslavsky. On the August night of 1689, under the threat of the Streltsy massacre, Peter, with the help of his "amusing regiments", with the support of the boyars, nobles and the Moscow Patriarch, imprisoned Sophia in a monastery. The throne passed to Peter and brother Ivan. With the death of Ivan, the autocracy of Peter I was established.
On the formation of Peter I as statesman already in his younger years, the Western European influence of the German settlement (Gordon, Bruce, Lefort, including Anna Mons) had an effect. But a special role in this was played by his trip to Europe as a private person (incognito) in 1697 - 1698, when he visited Holland and England (at that time already bourgeois states). The fight against Sophia and the Streltsy riots strengthened autocratic despotism (like Ivan IV) in the character of the future first emperor of Russia. This despotism became a tool for breaking the medieval foundations in Russian society. The last, third streltsy rebellion in 1698 was brutally suppressed by the reigning Peter, after which the streltsy army was liquidated. Peter and his associates took a personal part in the execution of the archers.
Warriors of Peter, the formation of the Russian Empire
All stormy state activity Petra is associated with the urgent national task of the Russian state - access to the coast of the seas. The first stage of this struggle was an attempt to reach the Black Sea in the fight against Turkey. The Azov campaigns with the participation of the young tsar led to the creation of the first in the history of Russia regular fleet. After an unsuccessful first campaign and the siege of Azov from the land, Peter creates at the shipyards of Voronezh in 1695 - 1696. Azov flotilla. By a siege from land and a blockade from the sea, Azov was taken in 1696, and in October of this year Boyar Duma decided: "There will be a Russian fleet." The Azov campaigns showed Peter the need for fundamental reforms in the army and society as a whole and became an important stage in his development as a military and statesman.
During a trip to Western Europe, Peter realized that major states Europe is busy preparing for the war "for the Spanish heritage", which broke out in 1701 - 1714. This made it possible to enter into a struggle with Sweden for access to the shores of the Baltic. Having concluded a truce with Turkey, Russia, in alliance with Saxony (its monarch, Elector August II, was simultaneously the Polish king) and Denmark, declared war on Sweden in 1700. The King of Sweden, Charles XII (one of the great European commanders of the feudal period), first withdrew Denmark from the war, then repulsed the attempt of Augustus II to take Riga and defeated the Russian army near Narva, after which he moved troops to Poland. When in 1704 power in Poland passed into the hands of Leshchinsky, a protege of Sweden, Russia was forced to wage war with Sweden alone.
After the defeat near Narva, Peter took extraordinary measures to reorganize the army (to recreate artillery, he ordered the bells to be removed from many churches and poured into cannons). In 1702, a new offensive of Russian troops began off the coast of the Gulf of Finland. May 16, 1703 at the mouth of the river. The city of St. Petersburg was founded on the Neva (“from here we will threaten the Swede”), the construction of the fleet and its access to the Baltic Sea began. "The window to Europe has been cut." The offensive continued, in 1704 Narva was taken, then Dorpat (Tartu). The main battle unfolded in Ukraine, where Charles XII, counting on the betrayal of Hetman Mazepa, planned to inflict a decisive defeat on the Russian army. The victory near Poltava on June 27, 1709 determined Russia's victory in the Northern War. Poland and Denmark again went over to its side, as well as Prussia and Hanover. Hostilities against Sweden continued for another 12 years. Russia has firmly established itself in the Baltics, Finland and the Baltic Sea in the course of a successful offensive on land and at sea.
After the victory over Sweden, Peter transfers military operations against Turkey, which has entered the war. But the Prut campaign (1711) was unsuccessful for the Russian army, peace with Turkey was achieved by the transfer of Azov to it and the destruction of the Taganrog fortress. The Caspian campaign in 1722-1723 led to Russia securing the western coast of the Caspian Sea with the cities of Baku, Resht and Astraban.
During the long Northern War (1700 - 1721), Peter carried out radical reforms, modernizing medieval Russian society. The victory over Sweden, the expansion of the territory and the transformations carried out determined the new quality of the Russian state, which became known as the Russian Empire from 1721. The Moscow Tsar became the emperor of Russia - a Eurasian power of world importance with a capital on the Baltic Sea, called St. Petersburg.
The victory in the Battle of Poltava brought Peter I the glory of a great commander. It was the result of a long and purposeful preparation of the Russian army. The recruiting system became the most advanced form of creating the armed forces of that time. The national Russian army in this battle showed its superiority over the first-class European mercenary army of Sweden. The strategy and tactics of Peter I surpassed the art of the previously invincible Charles XII. The Swedish king lost his entire army, 19 thousand people surrendered, all the generals and more than a thousand officers. Russia was recognized as a great European power.
The creation of a powerful fleet in the Baltic, the skillful interaction of the army and navy made it possible to transfer military operations to the territory of Sweden. The victory in the naval battle at Cape Gangut became the basis for the recognition of Peter I as a great naval commander. This is a rare case in military history. The victorious Treaty of Nishtad with Sweden in 1721 secured the Baltic lands for Russia. Russia received a wide outlet to Europe along the Baltic Sea, relying on a powerful fleet.
Reforms of Peter I. Strengthening of serfdom, Europeanization of noble culture
The main goal and core of all the reforms of Peter 1 was the creation of a regular modern army and, practically from scratch, a navy capable of achieving superiority over the first-class Swedish fleet. The historical role of Russia as a major land and sea power is clearly formulated by Peter: "Every potentate that has an army has one hand, and that has a navy has two hands." To achieve this, Peter needed to carry out a set of reforms affecting all aspects of the organization and life of Russian society. Reforms in economic life became the basis for the economic growth of the state. On his initiative, shop organizations handicraft and industrial production, as well as numerous manufactories of the Western European type are being built with the involvement of foreign specialists. Mining and the metallurgical industry are being organized; the textile, cloth industry, cannon and weapons production are developing; gunpowder companies. By the end of his reign, Russia was completely self-sufficient in the production of everything modern production, coming out on top in the world in iron smelting. The number of enterprises has reached over 100 (from several dozen). However, most of them belonged to the treasury (the state), and almost all of them worked on the basis of serf labor (the workers of manufactories and factories were assigned to them), in contrast to Western European ones, who had a free labor force.
Peter paid great attention to the expansion of foreign trade, seeing in it a source of financial savings and the possibility of expanding ties with Europe. Agricultural production was one of the leading sources of exports. It developed mainly through the development of new lands and increased exploitation of peasant labor. By decree of Peter I, innovations were also introduced into rural labor - the use of scythes (instead of sickles) and rakes, the cultivation of potatoes as a new food crop; plantings of industrial crops expanded.
Reforms - social, public administration and military - led the developed Russian feudalism to the highest form. Serfdom was further tightened as a result of the introduction of a poll tax (instead of a tax on households), recruitment duty from the peasant community to the regular army, and revision censuses. Serfs and serfs were equalized in their position; all "free, walking people" also became obliged to pay taxes; the inhabitants of the city were attached to the place of payment of the poll tax. Serfs could be sold, exchanged by landlords, and state peasants could be transferred to estates along with land. However, it was pointed out that it was inadmissible to separate families, since “this does not exist anywhere in Europe.” The European "second edition of serfdom" manifested itself in Russia as well.
In 1714, the "Decree on Single Inheritance" was issued, according to which the noble estate was equalized in rights with the boyar estate, which meant the final merger of the two estates into a single feudal class (estate) - nobles (landlords, "gentry"). Estates were inherited only by one of the sons. Nobles are obliged to serve in the army or the state apparatus, to manage their estates, ensuring that the peasants fulfill the established state taxes. All class society is subordinate to the sovereign. The "Table of Ranks" established a strict hierarchical service system. However, it had the opportunity social movement depending on personal merits before the state.
The administrative reform created a solid structure of the feudal state, which made it possible to manage society primarily in the interests of strengthening military power and the inviolability of the autocracy. There was a sharp breakdown of the entire state apparatus. The Boyar Duma and orders were cancelled. Supreme government agency was appointed by Peter the Senate, which had judicial, administrative and sometimes legislative power. Decisions were made collectively, but the Senate was under the personal control of Peter and the Prosecutor General, appointed by him. Peter led the country through the Senate, subordinate central institutions (colleges) and regional institutions.
The country was divided into 8 provinces. At the head of the province was the governor appointed by the emperor, in whose hands all power was concentrated: administrative, political, judicial, financial. The governors had their own apparatus. An army unit was quartered and formed in each province. To control officials, to combat bribery, a “fiscal service” was organized - fiscal positions were introduced in central institutions and in the field. They informed the Senate and the tsar about violations and negligence (principle: punishment for non-information, and not for false denunciation).
Military reform has become the main core of the transformation. From a permanent mercenary army (streltsy), Peter I moves to the recruitment of the regular army and navy on the basis of recruitment (conscription of the peasants) and the compulsory officer service of the nobles. The creation in a short time of a permanent, powerful, trained army with a single organization, the same type of modern weapons, uniforms, clear control, developed tactics and an education system is one of the main achievements of Peter.
In 1708, at the height of the Northern War, Peter brought the army to 52 infantry and 33 cavalry regiments (130 thousand people), built and equipped a powerful modern sailing and rowing fleet. State system and the economy ensured the maintenance of the army and navy and their conduct of hostilities long time. For services to Russia, the Senate awarded Peter the title of "Great" and "Father of the Fatherland."
Conducted and church reform in the interests of strengthening the centralized management of feudal society. With the formation of the Synod, the church was finally subordinated to the state, since the composition of the Synod was determined by the decision of the emperor. This position of the church as part of the state apparatus continued until 1917.
Reformatory activity touched education, science and culture. First of all, military educational institutions were opened - artillery, naval, engineering, and studies abroad were also organized. Everything that the West could give for Russia, Peter took, but adapting his experience to Russian reality. As V. O. Klyuchevsky notes, the reforms did not have a premeditated plan. Often they were introduced without sufficient elaboration. Decrees were in some cases contradictory and had unclear wording, which led to serious costs.
In carrying out the reforms, Peter I relied on a galaxy of devotees devoted to duty and to him personally associates ("chicks of Petrov's nest"). "The Most Serene Prince" A. D. Menshikov, a nugget from the "low estate", became an outstanding commander and administrator of the Petrine era. A man recklessly brave and just as recklessly devoted to his master, the Tsar, he became famous as the most prominent embezzler of the Peter the Great era. The Generalissimo and the de facto head of government after the death of Peter, with the accession of Catherine I, he became a "semi-power ruler." The second brightest representative of this era, Field Marshal B.P. Sheremetev, is the exact opposite of Menshikov, a slow and cautious man, a prudent, but outstanding commander who won battles with the Swedes more than once. Widely involved Peter in the service and foreigners. But by the end of his reign, he did not appoint them to the highest posts in the army and navy. Peter himself served as an example of the fulfillment of duty to the Fatherland, efficiency and skill in the production activities necessary for the state (“both the king and the carpenter”). At the same time, his cruelty, unbridled despotism, hasty decisions and rampant drunkenness affected the style public life and moral character of the upper strata of society. These qualities, combined with an offensive disregard for the church and Slavic traditions, were condemned in society.
Through the efforts of Peter, the rapprochement of the cultures of Russian civilization and Western European (German, Dutch, English) was carried out - a new calendar was introduced, a civil font. He also planted a European way of life with a mechanical imitation in clothing and behavior, especially in the highest circles of the guards nobility. The active Europeanization of the upper nobility began the process of dismembering a single Russian culture into a Europeanized noble and patriarchal culture of the peasantry. This deepened the split of society along social lines, creating, along with the social antagonisms of serfdom, the cultural alienation of the upper and lower classes.
Strengthening of serf oppression caused resistance of the population. In 1705 - 1706. there was an uprising in Astrakhan, then in Bashkiria (1705 - 1711). The largest was the uprising on the Don led by Kondraty Bulavin (1707 - 1708), to suppress which regular troops were sent, led by Prince V. Dolgoruky.
The Petrine era was a turning point in Russian history. Reforms in all areas of public life have modernized Russian medieval feudalism using the achievements of Western European civilization. AT short time the country’s military and economic power, education and development of science have grown, which has made it possible in many ways to overcome the lag behind European states. With victory over Sweden and assertion in the Baltic Russian empire established strong economic and cultural ties with Europe and established itself as a great European power.
The modernization of society, however, was only of a technical, economic, cultural and educational nature. It did not affect the social structure of the Russian society of developed feudalism, but brought it to higher form at a time when capitalist relations were developing in Europe in those countries where Peter studied European experience (Holland and England). The implementation of reforms with the strengthening of serfdom led to the impoverishment of the population.
“Having cut through a window to Europe”, Peter at the same time “opened the doors” for the penetration of foreigners into Russia - into public administration, army, economy, trade, finance. As modern studies of historians (E. V. Anisimova, O. O. Serova) show, he created difficult conditions for the Russian merchants, since the main export goods fell into the hands of foreigners, bringing them enormous wealth. The era of Peter's reforms bred a lot of bribe-takers and embezzlers of public funds, the practice of transferring wealth to foreign (London and Amsterdam) banks was born. Menshikov kept a huge amount in them - 9 million rubles and jewelry for 1 million rubles. The Solovyov brothers (one bought goods for export from the state, and the second was in charge of their sale in Europe) not only kept their capital from smuggling in an English bank, but also bought up real estate in Holland. Osip Solovyov also had citizenship in Amsterdam (in the modern concept - dual citizenship).
In the state system under Peter I, the Russian autocracy finally lost its estate-representative character and took the form of absolutism, which survived until the beginning of the 20th century. The church lost its independence, became part of the state, completely subordinate to the absolute monarch, ensuring the ideological domination of the feudal class. The bureaucracy has grown and strengthened. The standing army, and especially the guards' high nobility, became a political force capable of influencing government decisions and succession to the throne. Peter's change in the order of succession to the throne exposed the dynastic succession of power to chance. All the innovations of the Petrine era, both positive and negative, had a great influence on the subsequent development of Russian society.
Serfdom multiplied two ways - affidavit and award. The postscript was that people who did not have time to join the main classes of society, choosing for themselves permanent gender life, by decree of Peter I, they were obliged to find a master and a position, to enroll in a capitation salary for any person or society. Otherwise, when they did not find such a person or society, they were recorded by a simple police order. Thus, according to the II and III revisions (1742 and 1762), various small categories of persons who were previously free gradually fell into serfdom - illegitimate, freedmen, who do not remember kinship and other vagabonds, children of soldiers, provincial clergymen, adopted children, captured foreigners etc. In this regard, both revisions continued the purification and simplification of the social composition, which began in the 17th century. Since the attribution was sometimes made against the will of the attributed persons, many abuses were allowed here. Subsequently, the law recognized all these abuses, depriving those who were forcibly assigned the right to complain about the illegality of their registration. The noble Senate, acting in the interests of the ruling class, turned a blind eye to these violence, so that the postscript, undertaken with a police purpose - in order to eliminate vagrancy, then received the character of plundering society by the upper class. The number of serfs increased even more by means of grants, which I will now speak about.
The award developed from the former manor dachas; but the award differed from the estate dacha and the subject of ownership and the amount of ownership rights. Before the Code, a manorial dacha provided a serviceman with only the use of government land; ever since serf bondage to the peasants was established, hence from the middle of the 17th century, the estate dacha provided the landlords with the use of the compulsory labor of the serfs settled on the estate. The landowner was the temporary owner of the estate, having ordered for the landowner, or the serf written for him in the cadastral book was strengthened by all his successors, because he was attached to the taxable peasant union, or society, on the landowner's land. As attached to a taxed peasant society, the serf was obliged to work for any landowner to whom the land was given into possession. So, I repeat, the landowner acquired the right to part of the compulsory land work of the serf through the land. To the extent that estates were mixed with estates, this obligatory labor of a serf peasant also came into the possession of the landowner on the same right as land - on the right of full hereditary property. This confusion led to the replacement of local dachas with awards - from Peter I. The totality of duties that fell under the law on a serf, both in relation to the lord and in relation to the state under the responsibility of the lord, constituted what was called from the first revision fortress soul. The estate dacha provided the landowner with only temporary use of state land and peasant labor, and the grant gave possession of state land together with the peasant souls listed on it. In the same way, a local dacha differs from an award and according to scope of law. In the 17th century, a manorial dacha gave state land to the landowner in conditional and temporary possession, namely, in possession, conditioned by the service and continued after the death of the owner with a limited right to dispose - neither to let go, nor to bequeath, nor to refuse to his liking. But after the law of March 17, 1731, which finally mixed estates with estates, the award provided state lands with serfs in full and hereditary ownership without such restrictions. The award was in the XVIII century. the most common and active means of reproduction of the serf population. From the time of Peter the populated state and palace lands were given into private ownership on various occasions. Retaining the character of the former local dacha, the award sometimes had the value of a reward or a pension for service. So, in 1737, officers-nobles who served at state mining factories were granted, in addition to their monetary salaries, ten households in palace and state villages; officers from raznochintsy - half as much. Then in the yard it was considered an average of four revision souls; these forty or twenty souls were given to the officers in hereditary possession, but with the condition that not only they, but also their children, must serve at state-owned factories. By the middle of the XVIII century. such conditional grants with a local character also ceased, and only simple distributions of populated lands into full ownership continued on various occasions: peasants with land complained about the victory, for the successful end of the campaign to the generals, or simply “for fun”, on the cross or tooth of the newborn. Every important event at court, palace coup, each feat of Russian weapons was accompanied by the transformation of hundreds and thousands of peasants into private property. The largest landowning states of the XVIII century. were created by grant. Prince Menshikov, the son of a court groom, after the death of Peter had a fortune that, according to stories, stretched to 100 thousand souls. In the same way, the Razumovskys became large landowners during the reign of Elizabeth; Count Kirill Razumovsky also acquired by granting up to 100 thousand souls.
Peasants.
The heaviest burden of the forced development of the country's economy, and even during a difficult war, was, of course, borne by the bulk of the population - the peasantry. It constituted at that time 92% of the total population of Russia and was divided by feudal orders into a number of rows. categories (state, palace, monastic and landlord).
The introduction of capitalist technologies into a feudal country brought to life even more difficult and sophisticated varieties of serfdom: “bought” to factories (possession peasantry), forever given away, etc.
The resettlement of peasants in the country by the end of the first quarter of the 18th century. happened as follows.
If the state peasants lived mainly in the Chernozem region (342 thousand male souls), the Middle Volga region (336 thousand), the Urals with Siberia (292 thousand) and in the north European Russia(about 120 thousand male souls), then the landlord peasants were concentrated in the historical center of the country. In the Central Industrial Region, there were 1 million 465 thousand male souls. There were noticeably fewer landlord peasants in the Central Agricultural Region (893 thousand male souls). The largest number of serfs was concentrated in the future Oryol, Tula, Kursk and Ryazan provinces. Almost twice as weakly populated was the Tambov region, and the development of the future Voronezh province under Peter I, in fact, was just beginning (38 thousand male souls), and the main inhibitory factor in the settlement was, despite the defensive lines, the danger of Tatar and Nogai raids from the south. For the same reason, the regions of Saratov and Astrakhan were very poorly populated (in the future Saratov province there were only 1.1 thousand male landlord peasants and about 500 state peasants). When in 1718-1720. after a brutal raid by the Kuban horde of the Nogais who penetrated to Penza, Peter I built a fortified line between Tsaritsyn and the Don (an earthen rampart and a moat with defensive towns), the region immediately began to "multiply settlements" and agriculture appeared ("now bread is enough to be born" ). "So, with God's help, Grassroots Ukraine has been calmed down from those Kuban raids." There were very few landlord peasants in the north of European Russia - just over 68 thousand male souls (Olonets, Arkhangelsk and Vologda). But in the north-west (in the region of St. Petersburg - Novgorod - Pskov) there were over 254 thousand male souls. There were a total of 509,000 male palace peasants in Russia.
The Baltic States were in a special position, giving an increase in the population of Russia of only about 278 thousand male souls. The population of Left-bank Ukraine within the Kyiv province, divided into ten regiments, was 220,282 male souls (including Cossack widows). Of these, there were 106,000 Commonwealths (peasants), and about 69,000 Cossacks, male souls. Finally, on the lands of the Don Cossacks there are only 29 thousand male souls of free Cossacks. These lands were constantly subjected to raids, and therefore settled down with great difficulty.
Thus, at the end of the XVII - the first quarter of the XVIII century. intensively developed, mainly, the lands of the Central agricultural region and the Middle Volga region (2.3 million male souls) and only partly - the Northern Urals (Vyatka and Perm provinces - 277 thousand male souls) and Siberia (the future Tobolsk, Tomsk and Irkutsk provinces had over 241 thousand male souls, and the so-called heterodox population reached 71.7 thousand). In the future Orenburg province, there were only 16 thousand male serfs and over 92 thousand male souls of the non-taxable population. As a result, in Russia as a whole by the beginning of the 20s of the XVIII century. the total population was 15.6 million people (calculated by V.M. Kabuzan).
It is quite obvious that, despite all the attractiveness of the deserted most fertile, albeit arid southern regions of the Black Sea region, their development by Russia was still premature and unbearable. It was necessary to have in the Black Sea region not only human resources, food and industrial bases, but also much more powerful military forces than those created by Peter I, in order to enter not only the Black Sea, but also to achieve the possibility of ships passing through the straits. And this was opposed not only by Turkey, but also by Europe.
Therefore, the reorientation of Peter I towards the development of the Baltic coast was not accidental, although, in turn, the orientation of the country's economy towards access to the Baltic ports was fraught with enormous difficulties.
One of them is the need to build and improve waterways and their access to the new St. Petersburg port. Tens of thousands of peasants, forcibly mobilized by the state, for many years dug huge canals, built shipyards, locks and dams, paved roads, built a large number of fortresses, factories, factories. In the swamps and swampy plains at the mouth of the Neva, huge masses of peasants, gathered from all over the country, built new capital Russia - St. Petersburg.
The peasants of Russia also formed the main backbone of the army and partly of the navy. From 1699 to 1714, more than 330 thousand people and recruits were taken into the army. But these were, as a rule, the strongest and most active people in character. Since 1705, one recruit was taken from 20 households, which for the peasantry was a considerable burden on human resources. Only from 1714 did the norm decrease to the level of one recruit from 40 households, and from 1715 even from 75 households. During the Great Northern War, state peasants fell under the responsibility of underwater duty, which was especially difficult during the Northern War (delivery of food, fodder, ammunition, etc. to the army). recruits, supplying horses with food, etc.
The organization of the main system of water transport, which boils down mainly to raising ships against the current of rivers, has brought to life the ever-increasing withdrawal of large masses of the peasantry to the river navigation industry. From the distant Urals, the stock of iron products accumulated over the whole year in thousands of carts was pulled up to rivers and rivers, more or less suitable for rafting, immersed in ships and barges and, literally in 12-15 days, went down the Chusovaya and Kama to the Volga through spring water. You're late - wait for next year.
The severity of labor, the cruel conditions of the eternally wandering, field life at work, the lack of food - all this claimed thousands and thousands of lives. It would seem that the goal was extremely simple: to take advanced equipment and technology from Western Europe. But in reality, this turned into a sharp tightening of the serf regime, the birth of such a phenomenon as industrial labor on a serf basis.
There is reason to believe that the first decade of the Northern War led to a noticeable reduction in the country's population. From 1678 to 1710, the taxable population decreased from 791 thousand to 637 thousand in household terms. In areas closest to hostilities, this decline reached 40%.
By the end of the second decade, according to the first revision of 1719-1722, total number of all Russian peasants paying the state tax amounted to 6,552,377 male souls. Of these, only the landlord peasants had 3,193,085 male souls. The poll tax introduced by Peter 1 for a huge number of state peasants (1 million 700 thousand male souls) meant a sharp increase in payments. After all, in addition to the usual seven-hryvnia capitation salary, they were assigned four more hryvnias “instead of the landowner's income”. In other words, the state peasants began to pay both tax and feudal rent (rent) in favor of the state.
The mechanism for collecting the poll tax was reduced to the fact that after the first revision census of the population, and it took into account the entire male population, the concept of "revision soul" was introduced. Such a “soul” paid taxes until the next revision (“it paid” even if the real person died).
In reality, the amount of payments from each peasant household was established, based on the amount lowered from above, by the peasant community (after all, both infant boys and very old people formally paid taxes). In reality, the payments to the state were higher and aggravated by the arbitrariness and extortion of the tax collectors. So, the peasants of the Iversky monastery in the Starorussky district for 1700-1708. actually paid from each yard for 16 rubles. 12 kop. In 1719, in the Kashin estate of P. Buturlin, the total expenses of the court for the treasury reached 15 rubles, and in his Vorotyn and Przemysl estates - 12 rubles. in year. But the landlord peasants, who pay to the treasury, file 74 kopecks. from the male soul, there were considerable duties in favor of their feudal lord. The landowner's quitrent was often not 40 kopecks, but higher. The bulk of the peasants (about 62%), in addition to dues, performed corvee work for the landowner. In the same place where the Monetary quitrent was, the peasants also supplied the landowner with table supplies. The heaviest burden for the peasants was the landlord corvée, especially during the summer work period.
It is quite logical that the peasants often could not bear the burden of exploitation and went on the run. And, of course, they fled to the south: to where there was freedom, to where there was more land, to where it was warmer. Only for 1719-1727. it was recorded during the audit of 198.8 thousand souls of fugitive peasants. However, by the end of the reign of Peter I, the detective system was so strong that quite often the fugitive was returned to the owner. In addition, a whole series of decrees toughened the punishment for concealing a fugitive peasant (from a fine, confiscation of property to exile in the galleys). In 1700-1710. 6 decrees on fugitives were issued, in 1711-1720. - 10, and in 1720-1725. - 30 decrees.
Cities and merchants.
According to I.K. Kirilov, there were 336 cities in Russia. In 125 of them there were wooden, and occasionally stone fortresses. Over 30 cities had earthen fortifications and ramparts, the rest either did not have fortifications at all, or lost them as a result of fires. Some of the cities were purely military fortresses. The commercial and fishing population was only in 189 cities of Russia. At the beginning of the XV11I century. the population of cities was small, and the cities themselves, as a rule, were small. According to the results of the first audit, with the filling of all concealments, the taxable urban population (its commercial and fishing part) totaled only 295,793 males (including Left-Bank Ukraine). Thus, the settlement was only about 3-4% of the country's population. On average, there were slightly more than 1.5 thousand male souls per city. More than two thousand male souls had only three dozen cities in Russia.
Russian cities were, as a rule, without dense buildings. More precisely, such buildings occupied only the center of the city. In the rest of these were quite spacious settlements with numerous gardens and orchards. In small towns there were arable lands and pastures for livestock.
The distribution of the townspeople by region (within the borders of the future Catherine's provinces) was as follows. In the Central Industrial Region (7 provinces), there were 80,151 male souls (3.5% of the total population of the region). The largest posad population was in Moscow (5.3%), Yaroslavl (4.25%), Kaluga (4%) and Tver (3.9%) provinces. The smallest number of townspeople was in Vladimir (1.9%) and Nizhny Novgorod (2.3%) provinces. At the same time, it was in this region that since the 17th century. trade and fishing villages were greatly developed.
The urban taxable population had approximately the same proportion in the Central Agricultural Region (54,572 males, or 3.5%). Tula (6.4%), Voronezh (4.58%) and Orel provinces (4.1%) are in first place. The smallest number of townspeople was in Kursk (2%) and Ryazan provinces (2.2%). The north-west of Russia (the future St. Petersburg, Pskov, Novgorod and Olonets provinces) had the largest percentage of the urban population - 5 (in Olonets even 6.6%). However, in the latter case, the increase in the proportion of the urban taxable population is explained by the overall low population density of the region. The same is true for the Lower Volga region, where the urban population reached 9.2% (and even 66% in the desert Saratov province!). Especially high for the same reasons was the proportion of the urban taxable population in Eastern Siberia (Tomsk province - 14%, and Irkutsk - 20%). The centuries-old orders of urban self-government of shtetls largely explain the high proportion of the taxable population in Left-Bank Ukraine (7%).
Although in general the proportion of the urban population in Russia remained very small, the actual population of the cities was significantly larger due to the seasonal influx of commercial peasantry into the city. Formally not belonging to the urban population, many thousands of peasants lived and worked in the cities for a significant part of the year.
Unfortunately, there is no data on the exempt, privileged part of the population of Russian cities. Its share can be determined only very approximately. According to the most complete data, the share of the non-taxable population of the entire country (according to the first revision) reached 6.1%, or 444 thousand males (N.I. Pavlenko gives a figure of 5.5 thousand males). Of course, only a part of him lived in the cities. For example, according to the data of 1728, the non-taxable part of the population of the city of Tver was 31.1%, and in 1701 in Moscow the taxable population of the settlement was about 42% (6903 households), the non-taxable population - 53.7%. Of course, in most cities of Russia, the non-taxable population was very small. But in the southern cities of Russia, its share increased sharply at the expense of the military people.
As already mentioned, at the end of the XVII century. The township structure of the Office has undergone significant changes. Zemstvo elders, customs and tavern heads were replaced by stewards and zemstvo huts. But in 1708-1710. zemstvo elected burmisters began to obey the governors, and the collection of taxes passed to the provincial offices. "Temple of the Russian merchants" was "scattered." About 8 years later, changes broke out again. City magistrates were created. Elections in them were held under the supervision of local governors, the results were approved in the capital, in the Main Magistrate. Burmisters and ratmans were elected for life, and for merits they could be granted to the nobility (i.e., to the nobility).
The magistrates kept a statistical record of the population, distributed taxes and duties, stationed troops, monitored the activities of the city's enterprises, supervised the election of city elders and foremen, organized fairs, etc. The magistrates conducted and decided criminal cases, various kinds of lawsuits; they controlled the procedures for weighing and measuring the dimensions of goods, etc. The magistrates were entrusted with the function of controlling the entry and exit from the city, passport control etc. In 1727, the magistrates were again turned into town halls.
According to the regulations of the Chief Magistrate in 1721, the entire population was divided into non-taxable and taxable. The former included the nobility, the clergy, the military, foreigners and the most skilled artisans who received the status of a master (from the moment the workshops were organized). The rest of the population of the city, paying the state to submit 1 rub. 20 kopecks, divided into "regular" and "vile". The most wealthy people belonged to the regular, consisting of two guilds. The first guild included the largest merchants (guests), usurers, as well as silversmiths, goldsmiths, icon painters, painters, pharmacists, doctors, etc. The second guild included petty traders and artisans. Since the 1920s, artisans have been separated into a special organization - workshops. The rest of the people of the city - "feeding on menial work", deprived of the right to participate in township self-government.
Merchants and artisans were sued in their city magistrates, but merchants-industrialists, owners of manufactories were subject to trial in the Berg Collegium and Manufactory Collegium. Moreover, they were exempted from government and city services.
The position of the trade and craft part of the city in the era of Peter I was unusually difficult. The settlements, as well as the peasantry, were burdened with large taxes and duties. From the beginning of the century, along with the old taxes (streltsy money, yamsky money, Polonian money, etc.), new ones were also imposed (dragoon money, ship money, recruit money, etc.). In addition to constant, although less numerous taxes, the townspeople were pestered by all sorts of "request fees." New payments were invented by special "profits". For example, the famous Petrine levy for wearing old Russian clothes, for wearing beards - from merchants for 100 rubles, and from noblemen for 60, from ordinary citizens for 30 rubles. However, they were ordered trading fees. Their diversity was replaced by a single "ruble duty" (5% of the transaction price). heavy burden on township community lay various kinds of mobilization for work and service in government and city structures.
Many years of heavy tax pressure and the burden of duties led to the fact that at the beginning of the century the population of cities, like the peasantry, began to decrease considerably. Only towards the end of the reign of the king-transformer did the level of the urban population begin to gradually recover.
Nobility.
According to incomplete and not entirely accurate data, at the end of the 17th century. there were more than 15 thousand nobles-landowners. According to clearly underestimated information, they owned 360-380 thousand households. The clergy at the end of the XVII century. there were 126-146 thousand households.
Already by the end of the XVII century. a very small number of the largest landowners and owners of serf souls stands out sharply. Only 69 people (0.46%) had 500 or more households, and only 13 people (0.09%) had owners of 1-2 thousand households. The largest magnates, who had more than 2 thousand households, were only 5 people (of which Prince M.Ya. Cherkassky had more than 9 thousand households). Among the two dozen largest soul owners were representatives of ancient princely clans: P.A. Golitsyn, P.M. Dolgoruky, Yu.Yu. Odoevsky, Ya.N. Odoevsky, A.P. Prozorovsky, P.I. Prozorovsky, A.I. Repnin, N.P. Repnin, I.T. Troekurov and others. They were joined by relatives less well-born, but close to Tsar Peter (the Naryshkins - over 7 thousand households, the Lopukhins - over 3 thousand households, etc.). In 1696-1698. nobles who owned 100 or more households, there were 535 people (3.5%). They had 45% of all households (170 thousand). Estimating the population of the court at 6 male souls, we got the total number of serfs from this group of nobles - 1 million 20 thousand (which, apparently, is close to the truth).
Unfortunately, the data on the ownership of serfs cannot be supplemented with information on land ownership, since the specificity of Russian society consisted, in particular, in the fact that many possessions were joint or partially joint for two, three, four or more landowners.
Nevertheless, the main feature in the development of noble land and soul ownership over the first quarter of a century is quite clearly visible. First of all, the size of the largest soul holding remained almost unchanged. This group of nobility in 1719-1727. numbered 617 people, and, apparently, its increase was due to
the immediate circle of the king. By the beginning of the 1920s, they had 788 thousand male souls, which, translated into households, counting 4 male souls per household, will be approximately 197 thousand households. On average, the owner will have 319 households (or 1277 male souls). With a very slight increase in this group, the nature of the distribution of serf souls did not change (as, probably, land ownership did not change).
Of course, the growth of the nobility of the soul and land ownership came at the expense of the state and palace peasantry. For 28 years (1682-1710), 273 palace volosts were distributed, in which there were 43.9 thousand households. At the beginning of the century, Peter I generously endowed his associates of by no means noble origin (A.D. Menshikov until 1710 received 2157 households, B.P. Sheremetev - 2408, Admiral F.A. Golovin - 110, Ya.V. Bruce - 634 yards, etc.). Carrying out extensive diplomatic maneuvers, Peter I also gave gifts to noble immigrants (the Georgian tsar Archil Vakhtangovich received 3.3 thousand households, the Moldavian ruler Dm. Cantemir - 700, the sons of Prince M.Ya. Cherkassky - 7 thousand households, Georgian princes received Russian peasants Dadianovs, Bagrationi, Manvelovs, etc.). By the end of the reign of Peter I, his favorite, His Serene Highness Prince A.D. Menshikov, acquired by hook or by crook about 100 thousand male souls. There are opinions of scientists that only from the palace fund Peter I distributed about 175 thousand male souls. For 1719-1727. there is also data on the middle stratum of the noble landowners, who had from 100 to 500 male souls. There were 5019 people (7.9%). At the same time, landowners who had no more than 100 male souls, in the early 20s, there were 58,835 people, or 91.3% of all landowners in European Russia. Among them, the vast majority of landowners - 38,310 people, or 59.5% - had no more than 20 male souls. They owned a total of 304,874 male souls (9.5% of all landlord serfs)
Here we are faced with the main feature in the development of the noble class - sharp increase its numbers (although to determine exact numbers growth is risky). By 1719-1727. the total number of landowners in Russia reached 64,471 (with late XVII in. increase by 2-4 times). It is quite clear that the intensive colonization and land acquisitions of Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century. underlie such a rapid increase in the nobility. The ranks of the Petrine nobility, apparently, were replenished in considerable numbers by military people. Finally, another solid source of growth of small soul owners consisted in the process of fragmentation of estates.
In any case, the decree on uniform inheritance issued on March 23, 1714 was dictated by real processes among the ruling class. Peter I sought to stop the element of grinding estates by introducing the rule of transferring the estate to only one of the sons (and if there is only one daughter in the family, then to her), so that the rest go to state, civil or military service. However, the nobles unanimously ignored the innovation, and already in 1739 it was canceled. On the other hand, the provision of the decree on the final equalization of the status of the estate with the status of the estate was strongly supported. Despite the fact that in this part the decree was practically implemented only in the 30s of the 18th century, it was of great importance in strengthening the material and social status wide circles of the nobility and, above all, those petty and smallest nobility, which received in distribution the newly developed lands of the south and the Middle Volga region.
The equalization of the status of the estate and the patrimony was of considerable economic importance, stimulating the development of the patrimonial master's economy. After all, in the XVII century. in a large part of the estates, especially small ones, there were no manor estates, i.e. there was no proper master's economy. With the decree of 1714, an incentive appeared to increase the number of such farms. In the first quarter of the XVIII century. the first economic instructions of the owners of estates for their stewards-clerks appear.
Among the most important events in the life of the Russian nobility of the Petrine era was the adoption on January 24, 1722 of the "Table of Ranks" - state law, who created a kind of hierarchy of official ranks and a system for the promotion of government officials, the military and persons belonging to the royal court. All positions were divided into two categories: military and civilian. In each of the categories there were 14 ranks, or classes, strictly correlated with each other, each civilian position had a certain military equivalent. The first rank in all categories was the highest (field marshal general, generalissimo, admiral, admiral general, infantry general, artillery general, cavalry general, as well as a real state adviser and chancellor). The last, 14th, class consisted, respectively, of the positions of cornet, ensign and collegiate registrar. From now on, the principle of the priority of nobility and generosity when occupying a position forever gave way to the principle of length of service and the complete sequence of passing through all ranks.
Peter I introduces a number of measures that force the nobles to correspond to the ranks that they are in force compulsory service should have occupied. From 1714 all children of the nobility had to learn numbers and geometry. Although most nobles had to start military service from the soldier's "foundation", the road to the Naval, Artillery and Military academies was opened in front of them. Service in privileged regiments (Preobrazhensky, Semenovsky, etc.) also served as a kind of educational stage in a career. The functions of control over the service of the nobility and education were performed by the noble reviews (for example, reviews of 1721-1722) and the King of Arms service.
With "Table of Ranks" the bureaucratic class sharply separated from the lower bureaucracy. Under Peter I, an official already from the 14th grade received personal, and from the 8th - hereditary nobility. For military ranks, hereditary nobility was already acquired from the 12th grade.
Officials of all ranks, as well as noble landowners, were included in the category of non-taxable groups of the population. This group was, including women in number, equal to the number men, approximately 7-8% of the population of Russia. But the main part of it was a kind of supporting structures of the entire structure of the self-organization of society, performed all state functions (administrative and economic management, judicial and legal regulation, finance, internal and external security, religious and religious functions, etc.) - So insignificant the size of this layer clearly reflects the extreme simplification of the very system of self-organization of Russian society. Such simplification was a direct consequence of the weak development of the productive forces, the low volume of the total surplus product received by society. On the eve of the reform of 1861, these groups of society already accounted for about 12% of the country's population.
And it is no coincidence that, due to this simplification, from the functions of self-organization of society at the beginning of the 18th century. and in earlier eras, military, punitive-protective and religious were most pronounced. And the state levers, carrying the functions of management, went into the thickness of numerous structures of community self-government. This, apparently, was the most important feature Russian statehood.
The statement of the primitiveness of the structures of self-organization of Russian society emphasizes even more sharply the colossal effectiveness of the Peter the Great reforms, which led to a sharp rise in the most important industries, the build-up of the state’s military power and the creation of the spatial and geographical conditions of its economic development. Along with the working people, the peasantry, the Russian nobility also played a significant role in this.
AdminMain articles: Russian peasants, Society under Peter I
see Tax reform of Peter I
First census and introduction of passports
In order to take into account the number of the population in the country that must pay the poll tax, a census (audit) of the population was carried out for the first time in the history of Russia. These lists were called revision tales. In 1724, passports were introduced, which allowed the state to provide a system of control over subjects and limit the possibility of movement around the country.
Demidov factories. During the time of Peter I, one of the largest private owners of manufactories was Nikita Demidov. He produced iron at the Ural Nevyanovsk plants, which he sold to the state for the needs of the army. Fugitive people were often used at Demidov's factories. They thus evaded justice, and Demidov did not pay taxes for them, because they were not taken into account anywhere. The life of such workers was very difficult. They lived in basements that could easily be flooded if a state check of the number of employees suddenly came.
State peasants
Under Peter the Great, the composition of the state peasants changed. These included, as before, the black-haired peasants of the Russian North; local population and Russian settlers in Siberia; peoples of the Volga region. However, some of the former servicemen, according to the order, also passed to the position of state peasants, who paid a capitation tax. Thus, under Peter, all rural residents who did not belong to secular and church owners were united into a single estate. The state peasants bore the burden. They were considered free subjects of the state.
Serfs
However, the monarch could “grant” (donate) his entourage for the merits of state lands. And the state peasants who lived on them could thus become serfs. This began to happen in the post-Petrine era.
Privately owned peasants (patrimonial, monastic, patriarchal, etc.) became a single group of serfs. Slavery as an estate was liquidated. The serfs merged with the serfs. The country became almost entirely serfdom.
Ascribed peasants
The growth in the number of state manufactories under Peter I required the provision of their labor force. The tsar's decree followed - to "assign" the black-shed peasants to the manufactories, so that they would work there for several months a year. And due to them wages counted as a tribute to the state. Such serfs were called "affiliated". Material from the site http://wikiwhat.ru
Possession peasants
Tsar Peter I encouraged the development of private manufactories, the owners of which were close to him. Their owners were allowed to buy entire villages, own them and use the peasants of these villages to work in manufactories. Such peasants began to be called possessive (from the word "possessio" - I own). "Eternally given" was the name given to the students whom the owners enslaved "in payment" for training in working specialties.
Life of people under Peter I
see Life of people under Peter I
Material from the site http://WikiWhat.ru
On this page, material on the topics:
State peasants under Peter Veoik
Rights and obligations of peasants under Peter 1 table
The life of local residents under Peter 1
The life of peasants in the 18th century in Shadrinsk
What did the peasants eat in the time of Peter 1
Transformations required constant cash. The tax burden constantly increased and reached such proportions that almost immediately after the death of the emperor (by the way, he was proud that he was giving his heirs a state without a public debt), the Senate (an unprecedented case) recognized the impossibility of fulfilling all financial obligations to the State in full.
e. "de facto" wrote off a significant part of the existing debts to the treasury.
Since the agricultural sector remained the economic basis for the formation of the budget, land policy measures were oriented in the interests of increasing the efficiency of tax collection.
Instead of estates and estates, a new concept of "immovable property" or "estate" was introduced.
In 1714, the landowners received the right to full and unlimited disposal of land, without being obliged, as before, to serve in government positions and maintain a local army.
In order to strengthen feudal landownership and protect it from fragmentation in order to maintain the profitability of estates, the Decree "On Uniform Inheritance in Real Estate" was issued, according to which landownership was to be inherited by one (usually the eldest) of the sons of the owner.
(This innovation did not take root in life. Until 1917, fragmentation and mergers (but more often, fragmentation) were an "economic scourge" that did not allow the landowners' households to switch to capitalist production, and led to the impoverishment of a significant part of the nobility.
Under Peter I, the land tax collection system was changed. With the introduction of the per capita tax instead of the land tax, the system of tax collection was greatly simplified, since there was no need for quantitative and qualitative accounting of land, the cost of tax collection was reduced, the entire able-bodied population was involved in payments, which served to increase state revenues.
Another transformation of land relations carried out by Peter I was the secularization (withdrawal in favor of the state) of part of the monastic, church and synod lands, a number of decrees were issued limiting the growth of church and monastic land ownership.
Previously, the government protected the peasants from a direct transition to servitude by establishing "peasant eternity", that is, a ban on the transition of peasants to other class ranks, not excluding serfs.
Slaves did not pay taxes. Protecting the peasants from becoming serfs, the government retained the payers of state taxes.
In 1695, by decree of Tsar Peter, they began to take taxes from the lands cultivated by the serfs. Laying on the plowed serfs the same burden that the peasants bore, the government, one might say, equated one with the other.
By decree of January 22, 1719, only peasants and arable serfs were included in the tax rolls. In subsequent years, the census further expands its scope and captures in its lists or tales of serfs of all denominations.
peasants under Peter 1
In 1723, all households were included in the census, even if they did not plow the land and were only in the personal service of the masters.
In 1722, after the states of the clergy were established at the churches of rural and urban, all clergymen and clerks were recorded in poll tales for the owners on whose lands they lived)
