Peter I, nicknamed Peter the Great for his services to Russia, is not just a symbolic figure in Russian history, but a key one. Peter 1 created the Russian Empire, therefore he turned out to be the last tsar of all Russia and, accordingly, the first All-Russian Emperor. The son of the king, the godson of the king, the brother of the king - Peter himself was proclaimed the head of the country, and at that time the boy was barely 10 years old. Initially, he had a formal co-ruler Ivan V, but from the age of 17 he already ruled independently, and in 1721 Peter I became emperor.

Tsar Peter the First | Haiku Deck

For Russia, the years of the reign of Peter I were a time of large-scale reforms. He significantly expanded the territory of the state, built the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, incredibly boosted the economy by founding a whole network of metallurgical and glass factories, and also reduced the import of foreign goods to a minimum. In addition, Peter the Great was the first of the Russian rulers to adopt their best ideas from Western countries. But since all the reforms of Peter the Great were achieved through violence against the population and the eradication of any dissent, the personality of Peter 1 among historians still evokes diametrically opposed assessments.

Childhood and youth of Peter I

The biography of Peter I initially implied his future reign, since he was born in the family of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov and his wife Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. It is noteworthy that Peter the Great turned out to be the 14th child of his father, but the firstborn for his mother. It is also worth noting that the name Peter was completely unconventional for both dynasties of his ancestors, so historians still cannot figure out where he got this name from.

Childhood of Peter the Great | Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

The boy was only four years old when the king-father died. His older brother and godfather Fyodor III Alekseevich ascended the throne, who took custody of his brother and ordered him to be given the best possible education. However, Peter the Great had big problems with this. He was always very inquisitive, but just at that moment the Orthodox Church started a war against foreign influence, and all Latin teachers were removed from the court. Therefore, the prince was taught by Russian clerks, who themselves did not have deep knowledge, and Russian-language books of the proper level did not yet exist. As a result, Peter the Great had a meager vocabulary and wrote with errors until the end of his life.

Childhood of Peter the Great | View map

Tsar Fedor III reigned for only six years and died due to poor health at a young age. According to tradition, another offspring of Tsar Alexei, Ivan, was to take the throne, but he was very painful, so the Naryshkin family organized a virtual palace coup and declared Peter I the heir. It was beneficial for them, since the boy was a descendant of their family, but the Naryshkins did not take into account that the Miloslavsky family would raise an uprising because of the infringement of the interests of Tsarevich Ivan. The famous Streltsy rebellion of 1682 took place, the result of which was the recognition of two tsars at the same time - Ivan and Peter. The Kremlin Armory still has a double throne for the brother-kings.

Childhood and youth of Peter the Great | The Russian Museum

The favorite game of young Peter I was training with his army. Moreover, the soldiers of the prince were not at all toys. His peers dressed in uniform and marched through the streets of the city, and Peter the Great himself "served" in his regiment as a drummer. Later, he even started his own artillery, also real. The funny army of Peter I was called the Preobrazhensky regiment, to which the Semenovsky regiment was later added, and, in addition to them, the tsar organized a funny fleet.

Tsar Peter I

When the young tsar was still a minor, his older sister, Princess Sophia, and later his mother Natalya Kirillovna and her relatives, the Naryshkins, stood behind him. In 1689, co-ruler brother Ivan V finally gave all power to Peter, although he nominally remained co-tsar until he suddenly died at the age of 30. After the death of his mother, Tsar Peter the Great freed himself from the burdensome guardianship of the princes Naryshkins, and it was from that time that one can speak of Peter the Great as an independent ruler.

Tsar Peter the First | Culturology

He continued military operations in the Crimea against the Ottoman Empire, conducted a series of Azov campaigns, which resulted in the capture of the Azov fortress. To strengthen the southern borders, the tsar built the port of Taganrog, but Russia still did not have a full-fledged fleet, so it did not achieve a final victory. The large-scale construction of ships and the training of young nobles abroad in shipbuilding began. And the tsar himself learned the art of building a fleet, even working as a carpenter on the construction of the ship "Peter and Paul".

Emperor Peter the First | Bookaholic

While Peter the Great was preparing to reform the country and personally studied the technical and economic progress of the leading European states, a conspiracy was conceived against him, and the king's first wife was at the head. Having suppressed the streltsy rebellion, Peter the Great decided to reorient military operations. He concludes a peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire and starts a war with Sweden. His troops captured the fortresses Noteburg and Nienschanz at the mouth of the Neva, where the tsar decided to found the city of St. Petersburg, and placed the base of the Russian fleet on the nearby island of Kronstadt.

Wars of Peter the Great

The above conquests made it possible to open an exit to the Baltic Sea, which later received the symbolic name "Window to Europe". Later, the territories of the Eastern Baltic joined Russia, and in 1709, during the legendary Battle of Poltava, the Swedes were completely defeated. Moreover, it is important to note: Peter the Great, unlike many kings, did not sit out in fortresses, but personally led the troops on the battlefield. In the Battle of Poltava, Peter I was even shot through his hat, that is, he really risked his own life.

Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava | X-digest

After the defeat of the Swedes at Poltava, King Charles XII took refuge under the patronage of the Turks in the city of Bender, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, and today is located in Moldova. With the help of the Crimean Tatars and the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, he began to escalate the situation on the southern border of Russia. Seeking the expulsion of Charles, Peter the Great, on the contrary, forced the Ottoman sultan to unleash the Russo-Turkish war again. Russia found itself in a situation where it was necessary to wage a war on three fronts. On the border with Moldova, the king was surrounded and agreed to sign peace with the Turks, giving them back the fortress of Azov and access to the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov.

Fragment of Ivan Aivazovsky's painting "Peter I at Krasnaya Gorka" | Russian Museum

In addition to the Russian-Turkish and northern wars, Peter the Great escalated the situation in the east. Thanks to his expeditions, the cities of Omsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk were founded, later Kamchatka joined Russia. The king wanted to carry out campaigns in North America and India, but he failed to realize these ideas. On the other hand, he conducted the so-called Caspian campaign against Persia, during which he conquered Baku, Rasht, Astrabad, Derbent, as well as other Iranian and Caucasian fortresses. But after the death of Peter the Great, most of these territories were lost, as the new government considered the region not promising, and maintaining the garrison in those conditions was too expensive.

Reforms of Peter I

Due to the fact that the territory of Russia expanded significantly, Peter managed to reorganize the country from a kingdom into an empire, and starting from 1721, Peter I became emperor. Of the numerous reforms of Peter I, the transformations in the army clearly stood out, which allowed him to achieve great military victories. But no less important were such innovations as the transfer of the church under the subordination of the emperor, as well as the development of industry and trade. Emperor Peter the Great was well aware of the need for education and the fight against an outdated way of life. On the one hand, his tax on wearing a beard was perceived as tyranny, but at the same time, there was a direct dependence of the promotion of the nobles on the level of their education.

Peter the Great cuts the boyars' beards | VistaNews

Under Peter, the first Russian newspaper was founded and many translations of foreign books appeared. Artillery, engineering, medical, naval and mining schools were opened, as well as the first gymnasium in the country. Moreover, now not only the children of noble people, but also the offspring of soldiers could attend general education schools. He really wanted to create a compulsory elementary school for everyone, but he did not manage to realize this plan. It is important to note that the reforms of Peter the Great affected not only the economy and politics. He financed the education of talented artists, introduced a new Julian calendar, tried to change the position of women by banning forced marriage. He also raised the dignity of his subjects, obliging them not to kneel even before the tsar and to use their full names, and not to call themselves “Senka” or “Ivashka” as before.

Monument "Tsar Carpenter" in St. Petersburg | The Russian Museum

In general, the reforms of Peter the Great changed the system of values ​​among the nobles, which can be considered a huge plus, but at the same time the gap between the nobility and the people increased many times over and was no longer limited only to finances and titles. The main disadvantage of the tsarist reforms is considered to be the violent method of their implementation. In fact, it was a struggle of despotism with uneducated people, and Peter hoped to instill consciousness in the people with a whip. Indicative in this regard is the construction of St. Petersburg, which was carried out in the most difficult conditions. Many craftsmen rushed from hard labor to flee, and the king ordered their entire family to be imprisoned until the fugitives returned with a confession.

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Since not everyone liked the method of governing the state under Peter the Great, the tsar founded the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, an organ of political investigation and court, which later grew into the infamous Secret Chancellery. The most unpopular decrees in this context were the prohibition of taking notes in a closed room, as well as the prohibition of non-speech. Violation of both of these decrees was punishable by death. In this way, Peter the Great fought conspiracies and palace coups.

Personal life of Peter I

In his youth, Tsar Peter I liked to visit the German settlement, where he not only became interested in foreign life, for example, he learned to dance, smoke and communicate in a Western manner, but also fell in love with a German girl Anna Mons. His mother was very alarmed by such a relationship, so when Peter reached the age of 17, she insisted on his wedding with Evdokia Lopukhina. However, they did not have a normal family life: soon after the wedding, Peter the Great left his wife and visited her only in order to prevent rumors of a certain kind.

Evdokia Lopukhina, first wife of Peter the Great | Sunday afternoon

Tsar Peter I and his wife had three sons: Alexei, Alexander and Pavel, but the last two died in infancy. The eldest son of Peter the Great was to become his heir, but since Evdokia in 1698 unsuccessfully tried to overthrow her husband from the throne in order to transfer the crown to her son and was imprisoned in a monastery, Alexei was forced to flee abroad. He never approved of his father's reforms, considered him a tyrant and planned to overthrow his parent. However, in 1717 the young man was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and next summer he was sentenced to death. The matter did not come to execution, since Alexei soon died in prison under unclear circumstances.

A few years after the dissolution of the marriage with his first wife, Peter the Great took 19-year-old Marta Skavronskaya as his mistress, whom the Russian troops captured as spoils of war. She gave birth to eleven children from the king, half of them even before the legal wedding. The wedding took place in February 1712 after the woman accepted Orthodoxy, thanks to which she became Ekaterina Alekseevna, later known as Empress Catherine I. Among the children of Peter and Catherine are the future Empress Elizabeth I and Anna, mother, the rest died in childhood. Interestingly, the second wife of Peter the Great was the only person in his life who knew how to calm his violent temper even in moments of rage and fits of anger.

Maria Cantemir, favorite of Peter the Great | Wikipedia

Despite the fact that his wife accompanied the emperor in all campaigns, he was able to get carried away by the young Maria Cantemir, the daughter of the former Moldavian ruler, Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich. Maria remained the favorite of Peter the Great until the end of his life. Separately, it is worth mentioning the growth of Peter I. Even for our contemporaries, a more than two-meter man seems very tall. But in the time of Peter I, his 203 centimeters seemed absolutely incredible. Judging by the chronicles of eyewitnesses, when the Tsar and Emperor Peter the Great walked through the crowd, his head towered over the sea of ​​people.

Compared to his older brothers, born to a different mother from their common father, Peter the Great seemed to be quite healthy. But in fact, he was tormented by severe headaches almost all his life, and in the last years of his reign, Peter the Great suffered from kidney stones. The attacks intensified even more after the emperor, along with ordinary soldiers, pulled out the boat that had run aground, but he tried not to pay attention to the illness.

Engraving "Death of Peter the Great" | ArtPolitInfo

At the end of January 1725, the ruler could no longer endure pain and fell ill in his Winter Palace. After the emperor had no strength left to scream, he only groaned, and the whole environment realized that Peter the Great was dying. Peter the Great accepted death in terrible agony. Doctors called pneumonia the official cause of his death, but later doctors had strong doubts about such a verdict. An autopsy was performed, which showed a terrible inflammation of the bladder, which had already developed into gangrene. Peter the Great was buried in the cathedral at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, and his wife, Empress Catherine I, became the heir to the throne.

Peter the Great briefly

The content of the article

• Childhood years of Peter the Great
  
• The beginning of the reign
• Azov campaigns
• Reforms of Peter I
• Second trip to Europe
• Caspian campaign
• North War
• Significance of Peter I for Russia

Addendum to the article:

Peter's childhood I Training Peter 1 A trip abroad Peter 1 Military affairs of Peter 1. Passion for Peter 1 Shipbuilding under Peter 1 Brother of Peter I- Ivan

Sister Petra I- Sofia Azov campaigns of Peter 1 Foreign trip of Peter 1 Reforms of Peter I Army Petra 1 Fleet under Peter 1 Peter 1 - Northern War - St. Petersburg formation of Peter I

The era of the reign of Peter I (the Great) short biography for children

Peter I - briefly about the life of the most amazing Russian ruler.
The history of Russia has known a variety of rulers: stupid, cruel, wise, generous, vindictive, courageous. But such as Peter I, in short, never existed. Therefore, the Great people gave him the name - for merits and deeds aimed at the good of the country.

The honorary name of the Great was carried by another ruler who lived many centuries before Peter Alekseevich - the Frankish emperor Charles. But even he did not accomplish even a tenth of what was done during the years of the reign of the Russian ruler.

Considering the biography of Peter I, we briefly need to dwell on his childhood years. It was then that the character of the future great ruler began to take shape.

Childhood

• He was the youngest son of the king Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, nicknamed the Quietest. Born from a second marriage.
• The father of Peter the Great had numerous offspring - 16 children, three of whom reigned after his death.
• 
  An interesting fact is that the name Peter was never used in the Romanov dynasty.
• In early childhood, the boy was distinguished by good health, frisky character and great curiosity.
• Unfortunately, the level of literacy that existed in those years did not make it possible for the future king to get a good education, which he later regretted greatly.
• Peter's training began according to ancient Russian custom from the age of five
• His first teacher was Nikita Zotov, who taught the royal child to read, mainly theological literature.
• In training, the mentor paid much attention to the history of the Fatherland, told the young prince about the affairs of the tsars of the Russian State, showed pictures - illustrations dedicated to the figures and events of world powers.
  Much later, he began to teach Peter and writing.
• However, the future emperor could not master this science perfectly - he was too keen on more practical matters.
• Until the end of his life, he retained a huge thirst for knowledge.
• Peter I constantly replenished his knowledge, especially at the first trip abroad.
• His favorite toys were drums, banners, pistols.
• From childhood, the main passion of the king manifested itself - to military affairs. When he was 4 years old, his father ended, and the elder brother Fedor ascended the throne.
• Peter's mother was removed from business and went with her son to Moscow. Here, in the village, the future great king grew up.
• He was friends with ordinary peasant children.
• Even then, he looked not at the position of a person, but at his skills.
• He turned his peers into soldiers, creating two regiments for military fun.
• For this, a small fortress was built, and Peter I took the most active part in its construction, and several small, but working cannons were cast.
• Together with his small army, Peter studied military and artillery. Growing up, he continued to consider artillery one of the main military sciences.
• Peter's passion for military affairs and the attraction of foreigners became the reason that he decided to significantly expand his education. The future king studied geometry and arithmetic with great zeal. Another hobby of young Peter, which grew into a serious matter, was shipbuilding. On the lake near Pereyaslavets, he founded his first shipyard.

The beginning of the reign

• At the age of 10, after the death of Tsar Fedor, Peter had to witness the terrible death of his closest relatives during Streltsy rebellion, which was raised by supporters of the reign of his brother Ivan and sister Sophia.
• Contemporaries noted the incredible firmness of spirit and courage of the young prince, calmly watching the massacre.
• He never forgave his older sister for this, and he hated the archers.
  It was decided that they would rule the country together with the sickly Ivan.
• In fact, the power was in the hands of Sophia because of the young age of Peter and the poor health of Ivan.
• But Sophia, even when Peter reached the age of 17, was not going to give him the throne.
• She tried again to arrange streltsy unrest, but the troops obeyed the rightful heir.
• Peter devoted more and more time to his passion for military affairs. He visits Arkhangelsk and makes his first sea voyage. Military exercises and games Peter undertakes not just for fun. He is gradually preparing for real military clashes.

Azov campaigns

• In 1695, the first campaign against the fortress of Azov was made. Peter gathered an impressive army (about 30 thousand people), during the siege he himself participated in the shelling of the fortress.
• However, after several attempts to storm Azov, it was not possible to take. The failure did not disappoint Peter at all.
• During the winter, the Russian fleet was replenished with 2 large ships, 23 galleys and 4 banderas.
• In addition, more than 1,000 plows and small craft were built and equipped. F. Lefort was appointed commander of the fleet.
  More than 25 thousand people mobilized from the surrounding villages took part in the creation of the flotilla.
• Specially invited Austrian shipbuilders helped them in this.
• One of his main qualities was the steady pursuit of the goal. The young king explained the failure of the campaign by insufficient preparation and set about organizing another attempt with great energy.
  At the shipyard organized in Voronezh, many ships were manufactured in a few months.
• Moreover, during the construction, Peter himself took up the ax.
• In the spring of 1696, forty thousandth army and fleet moved to the fortress. The siege and assault were carefully prepared.
• The Turks were able to beat off the first attack, but realized that surrender was inevitable. Azov capitulated.
• To continue the war with the Ottoman Empire, Peter needed allies. To this end, he made his famous diplomatic trip.

Foreign trip of the young king

• In 1697, an embassy was sent to European countries to look for allies in the war against the Ottoman Empire.
• Under the name of Peter Mikhailov, the young tsar also rode in it.
• Despite the fact that Peter was traveling as if incognito, his identity was not a secret for anyone in Europe. Sophisticated European high society was amazed extravagant behavior of the new Russian ruler. Peter was absolutely not shy about trying to do any profession, if she seemed useful to him.
• This was the first trip of Peter I outside of Russia. In addition to the political, the embassy still had many tasks: hiring foreign craftsmen, purchasing machine tools, visiting military factories.
• In addition, the tsar stayed in Holland to learn ship craft.
• At the same time, Peter worked for about a week as an ordinary carpenter, communicating with ordinary workers, until his real position was revealed. A big place in the trip of Peter took a visit to England. He examined many institutions of interest to him, paying particular attention to shipbuilding.
• The embassy was suddenly interrupted by the news of a new Streltsy revolt, the instigator of which was again Princess Sophia, who did not leave hope for the removal of her younger brother from the throne.
• Peter I had to hastily return home.
• The uprising was crushed, the archers were executed, Sophia was tonsured a nun.
• At the same time, Peter got rid of his wife, whom his mother forcibly imposed on him.
• She was also implicated in a conspiracy against her husband.
• Queen Evdokia was forcibly sent to a monastery.

Reforms of Peter I

• After returning home, impressed by what he saw, the tsar decides to change the country's life routine, which has been established for centuries, to translate it into a European way.
• The difference between Europe and traditional Russia seemed too big to him.
• The reforms of Peter I, in short, were numerous.
• They touched all spheres of the country's life. Was introduced Julian calendar, the tsar ordered that the beginning of the new year was not September, as it was before, but the beginning of January.
• It was ordered to celebrate the New Year holiday.
• Apart from administrative and military, the biggest reforms were:
  - provincial. Carried out in two stages, it contributed to the centralization of power in the state;
  - the judiciary, which established the rule of law. But brought confusion because of the large number of those who had the right to judge;
  - church, as a result of which the patriarchate was abolished, and the church itself submitted to the king;
  - financial, which served to increase income to the treasury due to the oppression of the common population.
• In addition, thanks to the reorganization of the old, obsolete system, the foundation was laid for the development of industry and manufacturing.
• Many changes affected the appearance of the Russian people, especially the boyars. Shaving beards, wearing European-style clothes, introducing new foreign habits into everyday life (drinking coffee, attending assemblies) aroused dissatisfaction among the vast majority of the population with the changes that the sovereign made.
• These changes were not the mindless inventions of an energetic king. Peter is great I understood that the traditions of Russian society, which had been established for centuries, became a brake on its development.
• Russian well-born people were hostile to everything foreign, so a necessary condition for progress was the radical breaking of obsolete habits.
• Peter I valued people primarily for their personal qualities and skills. Before him, the main condition for the occupation of higher state the position was noble origin and pedigree.
• Introduction in 1722 Tables of ranks allowed really talented and capable figures to break through "to the people".
• When carrying out reforms, Peter I, in short, acted quite harshly, and sometimes cruelly.
• He saw no other way to make Russia a progressive state capable of competing with other countries.
• The most important and necessary reforms for the country concerned the army, navy and public administration. The Northern War, undertaken by the tsar against Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea, showed how much Russia lags behind European countries in almost everything.
• The reforms of Peter I, summarized, helped to create a combat-ready army and navy in the shortest possible time.

Foundation of Petersburg. Transfer of the capital

• One of the "trophies" of the Russian army in the Northern War was the Nyenschanz fortress (the correct Swedish name is Nyenkas). In order to further strengthen his position near her, Peter orders the founding of a new city near her.
• As in everything that interested him, he took the most active and active part in choosing the territory for construction. It had to meet two main requirements: the proximity of the sea (since the city was bound to be a port) and suitability for life.
• As a result of research, the choice fell on the island, located at the widest point of the mouth of the Neva, called Hare.
• Soon the construction of the first fortifications of the Peter and Paul Fortress began here. This moment became the starting point of the history of St. Petersburg.
• The new fortress was located in such a way that it allowed complete control of the sea and watch for ships approaching the shore. If necessary, it was possible to open fire on these ships from the walls of the citadel.
• The fortress itself was surrounded on all sides by water, which increased its security and inaccessibility to the enemy.
• Having issued an order to build a city on the Neva, the tsar cut down a small wooden house in which he settled in order to be closer to the construction and personally monitor all the work.
• It was wartime, so construction was carried out at an accelerated pace (like almost everything in the Petrine era). In record time (just three years), the fortress was completely built.
• Initially, it was called St. Petersburg. However, after the Cathedral of Peter and Paul was erected in its courtyard, the fortress was renamed Peter and Paul.
• The next step in the construction of the new city was the construction of a shipyard - the Admiralty. The place for it was chosen as carefully as for the fortress.
• Soon the territories around these two strategic structures began to be built up. Construction work has also begun on neighboring islands. All buildings were built according to the example of European ones, seen by Peter during the Great Embassy.
• To speed up the work, by order of the king, labor service is introduced. But without waiting for the completion of the work, he transferred here the most important administrative state organizations. The city, which received the name Petersburg (in honor of the Holy Apostle Peter), becomes the capital of Russia.

Second trip to Europe

• Peter I made his second trip to Europe during the heyday of his reign, when the world powers had already recognized Russia as one of the most powerful states of our time, which must be reckoned with.
• And this time the main official purpose of the trip was the search for allies. Only now, to fight against the Swedish king.
• And Peter really wanted to visit France. He was very interested in this country, which had become the most powerful and influential world power. This desire appeared during the first European tour. However, Louis XIV, who was ruling at that time, preferred not to notice the subtle hints of Russian diplomats.
• Now the ruler had changed, and the Russian autocrat hoped to find in him a reliable ally and counted on his financial support. He also had matrimonial plans: he wanted to see his daughter Elizabeth as the wife of Louis XV and the French queen.
• Simultaneously with political and diplomatic plans, the Russian tsar wanted to get acquainted with the world-famous cultural heritage. By the way, this is his second trip was strikingly different from the perfect 20 years ago. On his first visit to Europe, Peter was not at all interested in culture and art.
• He did not disregard during his trip to the cities of France and various fortifications, fortifications, device locks and canals.
• Having set foot on French soil at Dunkirk, he also visited Calais, Boulogne, Abbeville and many other cities. Walking around them, he saw the sights and everything that could interest him. In Abbeville, for example, he did not fail to look at the cloth factory and get acquainted with its device.
• In the Louvre, the Russian ruler, on the orders of the regent F. Orleans, was greeted with great pomp. However, she did not impress Peter, and he even refused to spend the night in the palace.
• After courtesy visits and protocol negotiations, Peter went on a tour of Paris. Arsenal and foundries, squares with statues of French kings located on them, carpentry and carpentry workshops, where he did not fail to show off his skills - nothing escaped the monarch's keen gaze.
• He was also interested in the Botanical Garden, and the pharmacy garden with pharmacies, and the anatomical theater. At the same time, no matter where he went, no matter what the king examined, according to eyewitnesses, he always had a pencil with him, with which he made notes on paper.
• Several times Peter visited the Paris Observatory, and among the Versailles treasures presented to his attention, he especially noted only an unusual map of France. I visited the Academy of Sciences, the Royal Library.
• All these movements around the French capital once again demonstrated the king's unusual craving for everything new, unusual, interesting.
• Negotiations with the French monarch did not bring the expected result, but the trip could not be considered unsuccessful. After all, its result was the acquisition of a large number of books, the invitation of local scientists. Architects and artists to Russia and much more.
• Having left France, Peter I, accompanied by his entourage through Amsterdam and Danzig, returned to his homeland.

Caspian campaign

• Among the priority areas of the policy of Peter I were the development of the country's economy and trade. Therefore, after the end of the war with Sweden, he turned his gaze to the west - towards the Caspian Sea. He set out to restore the trade route between Central Asia, India and Europe, which was supposed to enrich the Russian state.
• These plans were the first attempt by Russia to penetrate into a sphere of influence alien to it, into a civilization completely different from the usual one. And this was the beginning of a long struggle for the annexation of the Caucasus.
• A few years earlier, Peter sent a detachment led by Bekovich-Cherkassky to the Bukhara and Khiva possessions, the purpose of which was to conclude an agreement with the khan and the emir. Peter wanted to see the Khan of Khiva as his subjects, and to make friends with the Emir of Bukhara. However, the ruler of Khiva tricked the Russian representative into dividing the troops, and, taking them by surprise, exterminated them. The plan failed.
• But Peter was not used to giving up, and did not leave his intentions.
• As part of the preliminary preparations, which were carried out even before the end of the Northern War, maps of the shores of the Caspian Sea were drawn up.
• They were supposed to act from Astrakhan along the seashore, capturing Derbent and Baku on the way. Having reached the Kura, it was planned to build a fortress there, get to Tiflis, help Georgia in the fight against the Ottoman Empire, and return to Russia. At the same time, they did not forget to enlist the support of some rulers of those regions along which they had to go.
• Kazan was supposed to serve as another starting point for the campaign. For these purposes, more than 200 ships were built in her Admiralty. General Apraksin commanded the fleet.
• The ground forces consisted of 22,000 infantrymen and 196 artillery pieces. Kalmyk, Ukrainian, Don and Tatar military formations were also involved.
• During the first campaign, Derbent was captured. But this time it didn't work out. Since with strong excitement at sea, all ships with provisions sank. Leaving a garrison of his loyal soldiers in the captured city, Peter returned to Astrakhan. Thus ended the last campaign, in which the Russian emperor, now already personally participated.
• Preparations for the second campaign began.
• For the second time, a much smaller army was sent on a campaign against Persia. Peter himself remained in Russia, and from here directed his actions.
• This time both Baku and the mouth of the Kura were taken.
• The result of the Caspian campaign was the conclusion of peace between Russia and Persia. According to him, Derbent, Baku, Rusht and several provinces remained behind Russia.
• However, Peter was forced to abandon plans to advance to the center of Transcaucasia due to the invasion of the Ottoman troops into this region.

North War

• If at the beginning of the war (1700) the Russian troops were defeated, then already in 1709 the army reorganized by Peter I defeated the Swedes near Poltava.
• Before an astonished Europe, a new force appeared, which won a significant victory over one of the best armies of the time. From that moment on, Russia began to be regarded as one of the leading players in European and world politics.
• Only the created Russian fleet also won victories at sea. The war ended in 1721.
• The main task of Peter the Great in it was completed - Russia received access to the Baltic coast.

Significance of Peter I for Russia

• The significance of Peter I for Russia is invaluable.
• Thanks to his actions, the country turned into a strong empire, one of the best armies in the world was created, a fleet was built from scratch. A second northern capital appeared - St. Petersburg.
• The first schools and higher educational institutions began to open, and noble children got the opportunity to study abroad.
• Peter I founded the Academy of Sciences, which opened a year after his death.
• He was the first of the Russian rulers who tried to change the disenfranchised position of women in society.
• Peter I, by his personal example, showed the importance of education.
• Many of his actions were too cruel, but thanks to them, the Russian nobility was able to take its rightful place in Europe.
• The proclamation of Russia as an empire was not a personal whim of Peter I, it directly followed from the position that our country was able to occupy in the world.
• He died in 1725 from severe inflammation that turned into gangrene.
• He did not have time to appoint an heir.

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

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

According to the old Russian custom, Peter began to be taught from the age of five. The tsar and the patriarch came to the opening of the course, served a prayer service with the blessing of water, sprinkled the new stude with holy water and, having blessed, sat down at the alphabet. Nikita Zotov bowed to his student to the ground and began the course of his teaching, and he immediately received a fee: the patriarch gave him a hundred rubles (more than a thousand rubles for our money), the sovereign granted him a court, made him a nobleman, and the queen mother sent two pairs of rich top and bottom dresses and “the whole outfit”, into which, upon the departure of the sovereign and the patriarch, Zotov immediately dressed up. Krekshin also noted the day when Peter's education began - March 12, 1677, when, therefore, Peter was not even five years old.

Who is cruel is not a hero.

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

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

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

Money is the artery of war.

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

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

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

Childhood, youth, education of Peter I

For recognition - forgiveness, for concealment - there is no pardon. Better sin is open than secret.

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

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

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

Beginning of independent government

To be afraid of misfortune is not to see happiness.

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

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

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

The first transformations of Peter I

The world is good, but at the same time, one should not doze, so that their hands are not tied, and the soldiers so that they do not become women.

Peter's political program was basically formed abroad. Its ultimate goal was the creation of a regular police state based on universal service to him, the state was understood as the "common good". The tsar himself considered himself the first servant of the fatherland, who had to teach his subjects by his own example. The unconventional behavior of Peter, on the one hand, destroyed the image of the sovereign as a sacred figure that had been developing for centuries, and on the other hand, it provoked a protest from a part of society (primarily among the Old Believers, whom Peter cruelly persecuted), who saw the Antichrist in the king.

The reforms of Peter I began with the introduction of foreign dress and the order to shave beards to everyone except the peasants and the clergy. Thus, initially, Russian society was divided into two unequal parts: for one (the nobility and the top of the urban population), the Europeanized culture implanted from above was intended, the other retained the traditional way of life.

In 1699, the calendar reform was also carried out. A printing house was set up in Amsterdam to publish secular books in Russian, and the first Russian order, St. Andrew the First-Called, was founded. The country was in dire need of its own qualified personnel, and the king ordered to send young men from noble families to study abroad. In 1701, the Navigation School was opened in Moscow. The reform of city government has also begun. After the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, no new patriarch was elected, and Peter created the Monastic Order to manage the church economy. Later, instead of the patriarch, a synodal government of the church was created, which lasted until 1917. Simultaneously with the first transformations, preparations were intensively made for a war with Sweden, for which a peace treaty with Turkey was previously signed.

Peter I also introduced the celebration of the New Year in Russia.

Lessons of the Northern War

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

Management reform of Peter I

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

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

Transformations in the economy

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

Transformations of Peter I in the field of culture

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

The personal life of the king

Upon his return from the Great Embassy, ​​Peter I finally broke with his unloved first wife. Subsequently, he became friends with the captive Latvian Martha Skavronskaya (the future Empress Catherine I), whom he married in 1712.

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

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

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

Marta Skavronskaya gave birth to several children to Peter I, of whom only daughters Anna and Elizabeth (future Empress Elizabeth Petrovna) survived. Peter, apparently, was very attached to his second wife and in 1724 crowned her with the imperial crown, intending to bequeath the throne to her. However, shortly before his death, he learned about his wife's infidelity with V. Mons. Nor did the relationship between the tsar and his son from his first marriage, Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, who died under circumstances that were not fully clarified in the Peter and Paul Fortress in 1718 (for this purpose, the Secret Chancellery was created by the tsar). Peter I himself died of a urinary tract disease without leaving a will. The emperor had a whole bunch of diseases, but uremia plagued him more than other ailments.

The results of Peter's reforms

Forgetting service for a woman is unforgivable. To be a prisoner of a mistress is worse than a prisoner in war; the enemy is more likely to have freedom, but the woman's fetters are long-term.

The most important result of Peter's reforms was to overcome the crisis of traditionalism by modernizing the country. Russia became a full-fledged participant in international relations, pursuing an active foreign policy. Significantly increased the authority of Russia in the world, and Peter I himself became for many a model of the sovereign-reformer. Under Peter, the foundations of Russian national culture were laid. The tsar also created a system of administration and administrative-territorial division of the country, which was preserved for a long time. At the same time, violence was the main tool for carrying out reforms. Not only did Peter's reforms fail to rid the country of the previously established system of social relations embodied in serfdom, but, on the contrary, conserved and strengthened its institutions. This was the main contradiction of the Petrine reforms, the prerequisites for a future new crisis.

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

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

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

Do not trust three: do not trust a woman, do not trust a Turk, do not trust a non-drinker.

Until the end of his life, Peter continued to ignore grammar and spelling. As a child, he gets acquainted with the "exercise of the soldier's system" and adopts the art of beating the drum; this is what his military knowledge is limited to military exercises in the village. Vorobyov (1683). This autumn Peter still plays with wooden horses. All this did not go out of the pattern of the then usual "fun" of the royal family. Deviations begin only when political circumstances throw Peter out of the rut. With the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich, the dull struggle between the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins turns into an open clash. On April 27, the crowd that had gathered in front of the red porch of the Kremlin Palace called out Peter the Tsar, bypassing his elder brother John; On May 15, on the same porch, Peter stood in front of another crowd that had thrown Matveev and Dolgoruky onto archery spears. The legend portrays Peter as calm on this day of revolt; it is more likely that the impression was strong and that Peter's well-known nervousness and his hatred of archers originate from here. A week after the beginning of the rebellion (May 23), the victors demanded from the government that both brothers be appointed kings; a week later (on the 29th), at the new demand of the archers, due to the youth of the kings, the reign was handed over to Princess Sophia.

The party of Peter was removed from any participation in state affairs; Natalya Kirillovna during the entire time of Sophia's regency came to Moscow only for a few winter months, spending the rest of the time in the village of Preobrazhensky near Moscow. A significant part of the noble families, who did not dare to link their fate with the provisional government of Sophia, were grouped around the young court. Left to his own devices, Peter unlearned to endure any constraint, to deny himself the fulfillment of any desire. Tsaritsa Natalia, a woman of "mindless", in the words of her relative Prince. Kurakina, apparently cared exclusively about the physical side of her son's upbringing.

From the very beginning we see Peter surrounded by "young children, simple people" and "young people of the first houses"; the first, in the end, prevailed, and the "noble persons" were distant. It is very likely that both simple and noble friends of Peter's childhood games equally deserved the nickname "naughty ones" given to them by Sophia. In 1683-1685, two regiments were organized from friends and volunteers, settled in the villages of Preobrazhensky and neighboring Semenovsky. Little by little, interest in the technical side of military affairs develops in Peter, which made him look for new teachers and new knowledge. "For mathematics, fortification, turning skills and artificial fires" is under Peter a foreign teacher, Franz Timmermann. The surviving (from 1688?) study notebooks of Peter testify to his persistent efforts to master the applied side of arithmetic, astronomical and artillery wisdom; the same notebooks show that the foundations of all this wisdom remained a mystery to Peter 1. But turning art and pyrotechnics have always been Peter's favorite pastimes.

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

The new occupation of shipbuilding - distracted him even further; from the Yauza, Peter moved with his ships to Lake Pereyaslavskoe, and had fun there even in winter. Peter's participation in state affairs was limited, during the regency of Sophia, to the presence at solemn ceremonies. As Peter grew up and expanded his military amusements, Sophia began to worry more and more about her power and began to take measures to preserve it. On the night of August 8, 1689, Peter was awakened in Preobrazhenskoye by archers who brought news of a real or imaginary danger from the Kremlin. Peter fled to the Trinity; his adherents ordered to convene the noble militia, demanded to themselves the chiefs and deputies from the Moscow troops and committed a short massacre with the main supporters of Sophia. Sophia was settled in a monastery, John ruled only nominally; in fact, power passed to the party of Peter. At first, however, "the royal majesty left his reign to his mother, and he spent his time in the amusements of military exercises."

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

The reign of Tsaritsa Natalia was presented to contemporaries as an epoch of reaction against the reform aspirations of Sophia. Peter took advantage of the change in his position only to expand his amusements to grandiose proportions. So, the maneuvers of the new regiments ended in 1694 with the Kozhukhovsky campaigns, in which “Tsar Fyodor Pleshbursky (Romodanovsky) defeated “Tsar Ivan Semenovsky” (Buturlin), leaving 24 real dead and 50 wounded on the amusing battlefield. The expansion of sea amusements prompted Peter to make a trip to the White Sea twice, and he was in serious danger during his trip to the Solovetsky Islands. Over the years, the center of Peter's wild life has become the house of his new favorite, Lefort, in the German Quarter. “Here a debauchery began, drunkenness so great that it is impossible to describe that for three days, having locked themselves in that house, they were drunk and that many happened to die because of this” (Kurakin).

In Lefort's house, Peter "began to deal with foreign ladies and Cupid began to be the first to visit one merchant's daughter." “From practice”, at the balls of Lefort, Peter “learned to dance in Polish”; the son of the Danish commissioner Butenant taught him fencing and horseback riding, the Dutchman Vinius taught him the practice of the Dutch language; during a trip to Arkhangelsk, Peter changed into a sailor's Dutch suit. In parallel with this assimilation of European appearance, there was a rapid destruction of the old court etiquette; ceremonial exits to the cathedral church, public audiences and other "yard ceremonies" fell into disuse. "Swearing to noble people" from royal favorites and court jesters, as well as the establishment of "the most joking and most drunken cathedral", originate in the same era. In 1694 Peter's mother died. Although now Peter "himself was forced to enter the administration, however, he did not want to bear the labor of that and left all his government to his ministers" (Kurakin). It was difficult for him to give up the freedom to which years of involuntary retirement had taught him; and subsequently he did not like to bind himself with official duties, entrusting them to other persons (for example, “Prince Caesar Romodanovsky, before whom Peter plays the role of a loyal subject), while himself remaining in the background. The government machine in the first years of Peter's own reign continues to run its course; he intervenes in this move only when and insofar as it proves necessary for his naval amusements.

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

The playful tone soon disappears; Peter's letters become more concise, as the unpreparedness of the troops and generals for serious actions is revealed. The failure of the first campaign forces Peter to make new efforts. The flotilla built in Voronezh, however, turns out to be of little use for military operations; foreign engineers ordered by Peter are late; Azov surrenders in 1696 "on a contract, and not by war." Peter noisily celebrates the victory, but he well feels the insignificance of success and the lack of strength to continue the struggle. He invites the boyars to seize "fortune by the hair" and seek funds to build a fleet in order to continue the war with the "infidels" at sea.

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

I point out to the gentlemen senators that they should not speak according to the written word, but in their own words, so that everyone can see the nonsense.

On March 9, 1697, the embassy moved from Moscow, with the intention of visiting Vienna, the kings of England and Denmark, the pope, the states of Holland, the Elector of Brandenburg and Venice. Peter's first foreign impressions were, in his words, "little pleasant": the Riga commandant Dalberg took the tsar's incognito too literally and did not allow him to inspect the fortifications: later Peter made a casus belli out of this incident. A magnificent meeting in Mitau and a friendly reception of the Elector of Brandenburg in Konigsberg improved matters. From Kolberg, Peter went ahead, by sea, to Lübeck and Hamburg, striving to reach his goal as soon as possible - a secondary Dutch shipyard in Saardam, recommended to him by one of his Moscow acquaintances.

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

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

The embassy's return route lay through Vienna. Here Peter experienced a new diplomatic setback, as Europe was preparing for the war of the Spanish Succession and was busy with the reconciliation of Austria with Turkey, and not with a war between them. Restricted in his habits by the strict etiquette of the Viennese court, and not finding new lures for curiosity, Peter was in a hurry to leave Vienna for Venice, where he hoped to study the structure of galleys.

Speak briefly, ask little, leave quickly!

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

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

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

On the night of November 17-18, the Russians learned that Charles XII was approaching Narva. Peter left the camp, leaving command to Prince de Croix, unfamiliar with the soldiers and unknown to them - and the eight thousandth army of Charles XII, tired and hungry, defeated the forty thousandth army of Peter without any difficulty. The hopes aroused in Petra by a trip to Europe are replaced by disappointment. Charles XII does not consider it necessary to further pursue such a weak enemy and turns against Poland. Peter himself characterizes his impression with the words: “then captivity drove away laziness and forced day and night to industriousness and art.” Indeed, from that moment Peter is transformed. The need for activity remains the same, but it finds a different, better application for itself; all Peter's thoughts are now focused on defeating the opponent and gaining a foothold in the Baltic Sea.

In eight years, he recruits about 200,000 soldiers and, despite losses from the war and from military orders, brings the size of the army from 40 to 100 thousand. The cost of this army in 1709 costs him almost twice as much as in 1701: 1810000 R. instead of 982,000. For the first 6 years of the war, more than that was paid; subsidies to the King of Poland about one and a half million. If we add here the expenses for the fleet, for artillery, for the maintenance of diplomats, then the total expense caused by the war will be 2.3 million in 1701, 2.7 million in 1706 and 3.2 billion in 1710 Already the first of these figures was too great in comparison with the funds that before Peter the Great were delivered to the state by the population (about 11/2 million).

A subordinate in the face of those in authority should look dashing and foolish, so as not to embarrass the authorities with his understanding.

We had to look for additional sources of income. For the first time, Peter cares little about this and simply takes for his own purposes from the old state institutions - not only their free remnants, but even those amounts that were previously spent on another purpose; this upsets the correct course of the state machine. Nevertheless, large items of new expenses could not be covered by the old funds, and Peter was forced to create a special state tax for each of them. The army was maintained from the main income of the state - customs and tavern duties, the collection of which was transferred to a new central institution, the town hall. To maintain the new cavalry, recruited in 1701, it was necessary to impose a new tax (“dragoon money”); in the same way - and to maintain the fleet ("ship"). Then the tax on the maintenance of workers for the construction of St. Petersburg, "recruited", "underwater" is added here; and when all these taxes become already customary and merge into the total amount of permanent (“salary”), new emergency fees (“request”, “non-salary”) join them. And these direct taxes, however, soon turned out to be insufficient, especially since they were collected rather slowly and a significant part remained in arrears. Next to them, therefore, other sources of income were invented.

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

A new measure for raising state revenues was the repayment, in 1704, of old quitrent articles and the return of new quitrents; all the owner's fishing, domestic baths, mills, inns were taxed, and the total amount of state revenues under this item rose by 1708 from 300 to 670 thousand annually. Further, the treasury took over the sale of salt, which brought it up to 300 thousand annual income, tobacco (this enterprise was unsuccessful) and a number of other raw products, which gave up to 100 thousand annually. All these private events served the main task - to survive somehow a difficult time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, state necessity forced him to change the former direction of Russian trade policy - and the advice of knowledgeable people played an important role in this. Already in 1711-1713. a number of projects were presented to the government, in which it was proved that the monopolization of trade and industry in the hands of the treasury harms, in the end, the fiscus itself and that the only way to increase state revenues from trade is to restore freedom of commercial and industrial activity. Around 1715 the content of the projects becomes wider; foreigners take part in the discussion of issues, verbally and in writing inspire the tsar and government with the ideas of European mercantilism - about the need for a favorable trade balance for the country and about the way to achieve it by systematic patronage of national industry and trade, by opening factories and plants, concluding trade agreements and establishing trade consulates Abroad.

Once he has assimilated this point of view, Peter I, with his usual energy, carries it out in a multitude of separate orders. He creates a new trading port (Petersburg) and forcibly transfers trade there from the old one (Arkhangelsk), begins to build the first artificial waterways to connect Petersburg with central Russia, takes great care to expand active trade with the East (after his attempts in the West turned out to be of little success in this direction), gives privileges to the organizers of new factories, writes out craftsmen from abroad, the best tools, the best breeds of livestock, etc.

Peter I is less attentive to the idea of ​​financial reform. Although in this respect life itself shows the unsatisfactoriness of the current practice, and a number of drafts submitted to the government discuss various possible reforms, nevertheless, he is only interested here in the question of how to distribute the content of a new, standing army to the population. Already at the establishment of the provinces, expecting, after the Poltava victory, an imminent peace, Peter I proposed to distribute the regiments between the provinces, following the model of the Swedish system. This idea resurfaces in 1715; Peter I orders the Senate to calculate how much the maintenance of a soldier and an officer will cost, leaving the Senate itself to decide whether this expense should be covered with the help of a house tax, as it was before, or with the help of a poll tax, as various "informers" advised.

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

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

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

On January 17, 1711, Peter I left St. Petersburg on the Prut campaign, then went straight to Karlsbad, for treatment with water, and to Torgau, to be present at the marriage of Tsarevich Alexei. He returned to St. Petersburg only by the new year. In June 1712, Peter again leaves St. Petersburg for almost a year; he goes to the Russian troops in Pomerania, in October he is treated in Karlsbad and Teplice, in November, having been in Dresden and Berlin, he returns to the troops in Mecklenburg, at the beginning of the next 1713 he visits Hamburg and Rendsburg, passes in February through Hannover and Wolfenbüttel in Berlin, for a meeting with the new King Friedrich Wilhelm, then returns to St. Petersburg.

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

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

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

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

The bustling life goes on as usual until the end of January, when, finally, one has to resort to doctors, whom Peter I did not want to listen to until that time. But time turns out to be missed and the disease is incurable; On January 22, an altar is erected near the patient’s room and communed, on the 26th “for health” he is released from the prisons of convicts, and on January 28, at a quarter past six in the morning, Peter I dies, not having time to dispose of the fate of the state.

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

The judgments of contemporaries of Peter I about this undertaking of his can be read in Fokerodt. Opinions on the reform of Peter I were extremely divergent even during his lifetime. A small handful of close associates held the opinion, which Mikhail Lomonosov later formulated with the words: "he is your God, your God was, Russia." The masses of the people, on the contrary, were ready to agree with the schismatics' assertion that Peter I was the Antichrist. Both proceeded from the general idea that Peter made a radical revolution and created a new Russia, not like the old one. A new army, navy, relations with Europe, finally, a European appearance and European technology - all these were facts that caught the eye; they were recognized by everyone, differing only in a fundamental way in their assessment.

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

Both views could bring factual evidence in their favor, since both elements were mixed in the reform of Peter I - both necessity and chance. The element of chance came out more, as long as the study of the history of Peter was limited to the external side of the reform and the personal activity of the reformer. The history of the reform, written according to his decrees, should have seemed exclusively Peter's personal affair. The study of the same reform in connection with its precedents, as well as in connection with the conditions of contemporary reality, should have yielded other results. A study of the precedents of the Petrine reform showed that in all areas of public and state life - in the development of institutions and estates, in the development of education, in private life - long before Peter I, the very tendencies that the Petrine reform gives triumph are revealed. Being thus prepared by the entire past development of Russia and constituting the logical result of this development, the reform of Peter I, on the other hand, even under him still does not find sufficient ground in Russian reality, and therefore after Peter in many respects remains formal and visible for a long time.

New dress and "assemblies" do not lead to the assimilation of European social habits and propriety; likewise, the new institutions borrowed from Sweden are not based on the corresponding economic and legal development of the masses. Russia enters the ranks of European powers, but for the first time only to become an instrument in the hands of European politics for almost half a century. Of the 42 numbered provincial schools opened in 1716-22, only 8 survive until the middle of the century; out of 2,000 students recruited, mostly by force, by 1727, only 300 were actually studying in all of Russia. Higher education, despite the Academy project, and lower education, despite all the orders of Peter I, remain a dream for a long time.

According to the decrees of January 20 and February 28, 1714, the children of nobles and clerks, clerks and clerks, must learn tsifiri, i.e. arithmetic, and some part of geometry, and was supposed to be “such a fine that he would not be free to marry until he learned this,” coronal memories were not given without a written certificate of learning from the teacher. To this end, it was prescribed in all provinces at bishops' houses and in noble monasteries to open schools, and as teachers to send there students of mathematical schools established in Moscow around 1703, then real gymnasiums; the teacher was given a salary of 300 rubles a year with our money.

The decrees of 1714 introduced a completely new fact into the history of Russian education, the compulsory education of the laity. The case was conceived on an extremely modest scale. Only two teachers were assigned to each province from among the students of mathematical schools who had learned geography and geometry. Tsifir, elementary geometry and some information according to the law of God, placed in the primers of that time - this is the entire composition of elementary education, recognized as sufficient for the purposes of the service; expanding it would be at the expense of the service. The children had to go through the prescribed program at the age of 10 to 15, when the teaching was sure to end, because the service began.

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

This character of the then school in the composition and program of the Naval Academy stands out even more clearly. In this predominantly noble and specially technical institution, out of 252 students, there were only 172 from the gentry, the rest were raznochintsy. In the upper classes, big astronomy, flat and round navigation were taught, and in the lower classes, 25 raznochintsy taught the alphabet, 2 hours from the gentry and 25 raznochintsy, 1 psalter from the gentry and 10 raznochintsy, and 8 raznochintsy writing.

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

The school, which turned the upbringing of youth into the training of animals, could only push away from itself and helped develop among its pupils a peculiar form of resistance - escape, a primitive, not yet perfected way for schoolchildren to fight with their school. School runaways, along with recruiting ones, have become a chronic ailment of Russian public education and Russian state defense. This school desertion, then a form of educational strike, will become a completely understandable phenomenon for us, without ceasing to be sad, if the hard-to-imaginable language in which the prescribed foreign teachers taught, clumsy and, moreover, difficult to obtain textbooks, and the methods of the then pedagogy, which did not at all want to please students, let us add the government's view of schooling not as a moral need of society, but as a natural duty of youth, preparing them for compulsory service. When the school was considered as the threshold of the barracks or the office, then the youth also learned to look at the school as a prison or hard labor, from which it is always pleasant to escape.

In 1722, the Senate published an imperial decree for public information ... This decree of His Majesty the Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia announced publicly that 127 schoolchildren fled from the Moscow navigation school, which depended on the St. these schoolchildren are scholarship holders, "living for many years and taking their salary, they fled." The decree delicately invited the fugitives to come to school at the specified time, under the threat of a fine for the children of the gentry and a more sensitive "punishment" for the lower ranks. A list of fugitives was also attached to the decree, as persons deserving the attention of the entire empire, which was notified that 33 students fled from the gentry, and among them Prince A. Vyazemsky; the rest were children of reiters, guards soldiers, raznochintsy up to 12 people from boyar serfs; so heterogeneous was the composition of the then school.

Things did not go well: children were not sent to new schools; they were recruited by force, kept in prisons and behind guards; at the age of 6, these schools were few in places; townspeople asked the Senate for their children from digital science, so as not to distract them from their father's affairs; of the 47 teachers sent to the province, eighteen did not find students and returned back; In the Ryazan school, opened only in 1722, 96 students were recruited, but 59 of them fled. The Vyatka governor Chaadaev, who wanted to open a digital school in his province, met opposition from the diocesan authorities and the clergy. In order to recruit students, he sent soldiers from the voivodship office around the district, who grabbed all those fit for school and delivered them to Vyatka. The case, however, failed.

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

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

In our time, there are a large number of books and records about the life of Peter 1. In this article we will tell a brief biography of the first Emperor of All Russia - Peter Alekseevich Romanov (Peter 1). A large number of large and significant transformations for the Russian state are associated with his name.

Date and place of birth

The last Tsar of All Russia was born on June 9, 1672, according to folk tales, Peter was born in the village of Kolomenskoye.

Family and parents of Peter 1

Peter 1 was the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Parents were of different social status. His father is the second Russian Tsar from the Romanov dynasty, while his mother is a small noblewoman. Natalya Kirillovna was the second wife of Alexei Mikhailovich, his first wife, Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, died in childbirth.
Peter 1 had two wives: the first was Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, the second was Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova (Ekaterina 1). During his life, the Emperor of Russia had 10 children (2 from his first marriage and 8 from his second). Unfortunately, most of the children died in childhood.

Childhood of Peter the Great

From an early age, Peter was very fond of playing with military toys, seeing this, his father appointed the experienced Colonel Menesius as a mentor in military affairs. It is worth noting that Alexei Mikhailovich organized the “Petrov regiment”, a small military association that served as the basis for teaching military affairs in a playful way. This regiment had a real uniform and weapons. Later, such associations began to be called "amusing regiments." Here Peter passed his first real military-practical training. At the age of ten, Peter 1 had already begun to rule Russia. It was 1682.

The reign of Peter 1. Briefly

Peter the Great finally transformed the Muscovite kingdom into the Russian Empire. Under him, Russia became Russia: a multinational power with access to the southern and northern seas.
Peter 1 is the creator of the Russian fleet, the date of foundation of which can be called 1696. Forever in the history of Russia there was a memory of the Battle of Poltava, in which Russia won. In the war with Turkey, he conquered Azov, and the Northern War with Sweden ensured Russia's access to the Baltic Sea.
Another great deed is the founding of St. Petersburg. Under him, the first printed domestic newspaper Vedomosti began to appear. He created the conditions for the development of various sciences, urban planning industry. The indomitable energy of Peter allowed him to master many professions - from carpentry to sailor. One of them was that while in Holland, the emperor learned the basics of dental treatment (namely, he learned how to pull them out).
Ordered to celebrate the New Year on the first of January. It is to him that we owe the cheerful custom of decorating Christmas trees for this holiday.
Peter 1 died in 1725 after a long illness, which he received while rescuing people from a sinking ship, pulling them out of the icy water.

The study of the topic "The Personality of Peter 1" is important for understanding the essence of the reforms he is carrying out in Russia. Indeed, in our country, it was often the character, personal qualities and education of the sovereign that determined the main line of socio-political development. The reign of this king covers a rather long period of time: in 1689 (when he finally removed his sister Sophia from public affairs) and until his death in 1725.

General characteristics of the era

Consideration of the question of when Peter 1 was born should begin with an analysis of the general historical situation in Russia at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. It was a time when the prerequisites for serious and profound political, economic, social and cultural changes were ripe in the country. Already during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, there was a clear trend towards the penetration of Western European achievements into the country. Under this ruler, a number of measures were taken to transform some aspects of public life.

Therefore, the personality of Peter 1 was formed in an environment where the idea of ​​the need for serious reforms was already clearly outlined in society. In this regard, it is necessary to understand that the transformative activity of the first emperor of Russia did not arise from scratch, it became a natural and necessary consequence of all the previous development of the country.

Childhood

Peter 1, a brief biography, whose reign and reforms are the subject of this review, was born on May 30 (June 9), 1672. The exact birthplace of the future emperor is unknown. According to the generally accepted point of view, this place was the Kremlin, but the villages of Kolomenskoye or Izmailovo are also indicated. He was the fourteenth child in the family of Tsar Alexei, but the first from his second wife, Natalya Kirillovna. on the maternal side came from the Naryshkin family. She was the daughter of small estate nobles, which, perhaps, subsequently predetermined their struggle with the large and influential boyar group of the Miloslavskys at court, who were relatives of the tsar by his first wife.

The childhood of Peter 1 passed among nannies who did not give him a serious education. That is why until the end of his life he did not learn how to read and write properly and wrote with errors. However, he was a very inquisitive boy who was interested in everything, he had an inquisitive mind, which determined his interest in practical sciences. The end of the 17th century, when Peter 1 was born, was the time when European education began to spread in the highest circles of society, but the early years of the future emperor passed away from the new trends of the era.

Teenage years

The life of the prince proceeded in the village of Preobrazhenskoye, where he, in fact, was left to his own devices. No one was seriously involved in the upbringing of the boy, so his studies in these years were superficial. Nevertheless, the childhood of Peter 1 was very eventful and fruitful in terms of the formation of his worldview and interest in scientific and practical studies. He became seriously interested in the organization of troops, for which he arranged for himself the so-called amusing regiments, which consisted of local yard boys, as well as the sons of small estate nobles, whose possessions were located nearby. Together with these small detachments, he took improvised bastions, arranged battles and gatherings, and made attacks. In relation to the same time, we can say that the fleet of Peter 1 arose. At first it was just a small boat, but it is nevertheless considered to be the father of the Russian flotilla.

First serious steps

It has already been said above that the time when Peter 1 was born is considered to be a transitional one in the history of Russia. It was during this period that the country was in a position where all the necessary prerequisites for its entry into the international arena arose. The first steps were taken in this direction during the foreign travel of the future emperor through the countries of Western Europe. Then he was able to see with his own eyes the achievements of these states in various areas of life.

Peter 1, whose brief biography includes this important stage in his life, appreciated Western European achievements, primarily in technology and weapons. However, he drew attention to the culture, education of these countries, their political institutions. After his return to Russia, he made an attempt to modernize the administrative apparatus, the army, and legislation, which was supposed to prepare the country for entering the international arena.

The initial stage of government: the beginning of reforms

The era when Peter 1 was born was a preparatory time for major changes in our country. That is why the transformations of the first emperor turned out to be so out of place and outlived their creator for centuries. At the very beginning of his reign, the new sovereign abolished which was the legislative body of power under the former kings. Instead, he created the Senate on the Western European model. It was supposed to hold meetings of senators to draw up laws. It is significant that initially it was a temporary measure, which, however, turned out to be very effective: this institution lasted until the February Revolution of 1917.

Further transformations

It has already been said above that Peter 1 on the maternal side comes from a not very noble noble family. However, his mother was brought up in a European spirit, which, of course, could not but affect the personality of the boy, although the queen herself, when raising her son, adhered to traditional views and measures. Nevertheless, the tsar was inclined to transform almost all spheres of life in Russian society, which was literally an urgent need in connection with the conquest of access to the Baltic Sea by Russia and the country's entry into the international arena.

And so the emperor changed the administrative apparatus: he created collegiums instead of orders, a Synod to manage church affairs. In addition, he formed a regular army, and the fleet of Peter 1 became one of the strongest among other maritime powers.

Features of transformative activity

The main goal of the emperor's reign was the desire to reform those areas that he needed to solve the most important tasks in the conduct of hostilities on several fronts at once. He himself apparently assumed that these changes would be temporary. Most modern historians agree that the ruler did not have any premeditated program of activities to reform the country. Many experts believe that he acted on the basis of specific needs.

The Importance of the Emperor's Reforms for His Successors

However, the phenomenon of his reforms lies precisely in the fact that these seemingly temporary measures outlived their creator for a long time and existed almost unchanged for two centuries. Moreover, his successors, for example, Catherine II, were largely guided by his achievements. This suggests that the reforms of the ruler came to the right place and at the right time. The life of Peter 1 was, in fact, devoted to changing and improving the most diverse areas in society. He was interested in everything new, however, borrowing the achievements of the West, he first of all thought about what benefit this would bring to Russia. That is why his reforming activity served as an example for reforms during the reign of other emperors for a long time.

Relationships with others

When describing the character of the tsar, one should never forget to which boyar family Peter 1 belonged. On the maternal side, he came from a not very well-born nobility, which, most likely, determined his interest not in nobility, but in the merits of a person before the fatherland and his ability serve. The emperor valued not the rank and rank, but the specific talents of his subordinates. This speaks of the democratic approach of Pyotr Alekseevich to people, despite his harsh and even tough character.

mature years

In the last years of his life, the emperor sought to consolidate the successes achieved. But here he had serious problems with the heir. subsequently had a very bad effect on political administration and led to serious difficulties in the country. The fact is that the son of Peter, Tsarevich Alexei, went against his father, not wanting to continue his reforms. In addition, the king had serious problems in the family. Nevertheless, he took care to consolidate the successes achieved: he took the title of emperor, and Russia became an empire. This step raised the international prestige of our country. In addition, Peter Alekseevich achieved recognition of Russia's access to the Baltic Sea, which was of fundamental importance for the development of trade and the fleet. Subsequently, his successors continued the policy in this direction. Under Catherine II, for example, Russia gained access to the Black Sea. The emperor died as a result of a complication after a cold and did not have time to draw up a will before his death, which led to the appearance of numerous contenders for the throne and repeated palace coups.