Peter I of Russia
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Peter was a tall figure, with an extremely striking build of 1.98 meters (6 feet 7 inches), and large, green eyes. |
Peter I the Great (
Russian: Пётр I Алексеевич or
Pyotr I Alekseyevich) (Peter Alexeyevich Romanov). (
9 June 1672–
8 February 1725 [30 May 1672–
28 January 1725 O.S.
] [Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style.]) ruled
Russia from
7 May (
27 April O.S.)
1682 until his death, before 1696 jointly with his weak and sickly half-brother,
Ivan V. Peter carried out a policy of "
Westernization" and expansion that transformed
Muscovite Russia into a major
European power.
Peter, the son of
Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia and his second wife,
Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, was born in
Moscow. Alexei I had previously married
Maria Miloslavskaya, having five sons and eight daughters by her, although only two of the sons—
Fyodor III[There is some general confusion over transliterations into the Latin alphabet from the Russian Cyrillic. Although the variant "Feodor" often appears as in the title of the referenced article, "Fyodor", as the name is rendered here, is a more accurate representation. The Russian Cyrillic equivalent is Фёдор, the second letter of which [ё] takes the sound "yo". It should be noted passim that one very rarely sees the form ё in print. The dieresis is almost always omitted leaving a bare e, unless the text is a primer with a target audience of young children who have not yet learned to read.] and
Ivan V—were alive when Peter was born. Alexei I died in
1676, to be succeeded by his eldest surviving son, who became Fyodor III.
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Young Peter with royal regalia. |
Fyodor III's uneventful reign ended within six years; as Fyodor did not leave any children, a dispute over the succession between the Naryshkin and Miloslavskyi families broke out. Properly, Ivan was next in the line of succession, but he was an invalid and of infirm mind. Consequently, the
Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the ten-year old Peter to become Tsar, his mother becoming regent. But one of Alexei's daughters by his first marriage,
Sophia Alekseyevna, led a rebellion of the
Streltsy (Russia's élite military corps). In the subsequent conflict, many of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered—Peter even witnessed the butchery of one of his uncles by a mob. The memory of this violence may have caused trauma during Peter's earlier years.
Sophia insisted that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint czars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior of the two. Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the two sovereigns and exercised all power. In addition, a large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, also feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems. This throne can be seen in the Kremlin museum in Moscow. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat. Peter, meanwhile, was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his own name. He engaged in such pastimes as ship-building and sailing. The ships he built were used during mock battles. Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt a more conventional approach and arranged his marriage to
Eudoxia Lopukhina in
1689. The marriage was an utter failure, and ten years later Peter forced her to become a nun and thus freed himself from the marriage.
By the summer of 1689, Peter had planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by the unsuccessful two Crimean campaigns. When she learnt of his designs, Sophia began to conspire with the leaders of the
streltsy. Unfortunately for Sophia, Peter, warned by Stretsy, escaped in the middle of the night to the impenetrable monastery of Troitsky; there he slowly gathered his adherents and others, who perceived, he will win the power struggle. She was therefore overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-czars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name and position as a member of the royal family.
Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Nataliya Naryshkina. It was only when Nataliya died in
1694 that Peter became truly independent. Formally, Ivan V remained a co-ruler with Peter, although he was still ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in
1696.
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Peter the First Looking at the Baltic Sea. |
Peter implemented sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia. Heavily influenced by his western advisors, Peter reorganized the Russian army along European lines and dreamt of making Russia a maritime
power. He faced much opposition to these policies at home, but brutally suppressed any and all rebellions against his authority,the rebelling of streltsy, Bashkirs, Astrakhan and including the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the
Bulavin Rebellion.
To improve his nation's position on the seas, Peter sought to gain more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the
White Sea Arhangelsk. The
Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by
Sweden in the north, the Ottoman empire posessed the
Black Sea in the south. Peter attempted to acquire control of the Black Sea, but to do so he would have to expel the
Tatars from the surrounding areas. He was forced, as a part of agreement between Poland and Russia, which ceded Kiev to Russia, to wage war against the
Crimean Khan and against the Khan's overlord, the
Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of
Azov, near the
Don River. In the summer of
1695, Peter organized the
Azov campaigns in order to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure. Peter returned to Moscow in November of that year, and promptly began building a large navy. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in
1696, capturing
Azov in July of that year. On
September 12,
1698 Peter The Great officially founded the first
Russian Navy base,
Taganrog.
Peter knew that Russia could not face the mighty
Ottoman Empire alone. In
1697, he traveled to Europe incognito with a large Russian delegation - the so-called
"Grand Embassy"—to seek the aid of the European monarchs. Peter's hopes were dashed;
France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and
Austria was eager to maintain peace in the east whilst conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen the most inopportune moment; the Europeans at the time were more concerned about who would succeed the childless Spanish King
Charles II than about fighting the Ottoman Sultan.
The "Grand Embassy", although failing to complete the mission of creating an anti-Ottoman alliance, still continued to travel across Europe. In visiting
England, the
Holy Roman Empire and France, Peter learned much about Western culture. He studied shipbuilding in
Deptford (seeing a
Fleet Review, Royal Navy in
1700),
Amsterdam and
Zaandam, and artillery in
Königsberg. Thanks to the mediation of
Nicolaas Witsen, mayor of
Amsterdam and expert on Russia par excellence, the Tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in the largest private shipyard in the world, belonging to the
Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam, for a period of four months. The Tsar helped with the construction of an Eastindiaman especially laid down for him: Peter and Paul. During his stay in the
Netherlands the tsar engaged, with the help of Russian and Dutch assistants, many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights and seamen. The best-known sailor who made the journey from the
Netherlands to
Russia was
Cornelis Cruys, a vice-admiral who became the Tsar's most important advisor in maritime affairs. The visit of Peter was cut short in
1698, when he was forced to rush home by a
rebellion of the streltsy. The rebellion was, however, easily crushed before Peter returned; of the Tsar's troops, only one was killed. Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers. Over 1200 of them were tortured and executed, with Peter acting as one of the executioners. The
streltsy were disbanded, and the individual they sought to put on the Throne—Peter's half-sister Sophia—was forced to become a
nun.
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A statue of Peter I on the bank of the Moskva River is one of the tallest outdoor sculptures in the world. |
Also, upon his return from his European tour, Peter sought to end his unhappy marriage. He divorced the
Tsaritsa, Eudoxia Lopukhina, whom he had deserted long earlier. The Tsaritsa had borne Peter three children, although only one—the
Tsarevich Alexei—had survived past his childhood.
In 1698, Peter sent a delegation to Malta under boyar Boris Petrovich
Sheremetyev, to observe the training and abilities of the
Knights of Malta and their fleet. Sheremetyev also investigated the possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base. [
1]
Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to cut off their long beards and wear European clothing. Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual tax of one hundred
rubles. In
1699, Peter also abolished the traditional Russian calendar, in which the year began on
1 September, in favor of the
Julian calendar, in which the year began on
1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from the purported
creation of the World, but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the
birth of Christ. Russia moved to the Julian calendar just as the rest of Europe was moving to the
Gregorian calendar. Russia would stay on the Julian calendar until the
October Revolution in 1918.
Peter made peace with the
Ottoman Empire and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by
Sweden a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on
Sweden, which was at the time led by King
Charles XII. Sweden was also opposed by
Denmark,
Norway,
Saxony and
Poland.
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Peter I interrogating his son Alexei. |
Russia turned out to be ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the
Battle of Narva in
1700. In the conflict, the forces of Charles XII used a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle,
Charles XII, decided to concentrate his forces against the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, giving Peter I time to reorganize the Russian army.
As the Poles and Swedes fought each other, Peter founded the great city of
Saint Petersburg (named for
Saint Peter the Apostle) in
Izhora (which he had re-captured from Sweden) in
1703. He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg — which he intended to become Russia's capital — so that all the stonemasons could participate in the construction of the new city. He also took
Martha Skavronskaya as a mistress. Martha converted to
Orthodox Christianity and took the name Catherine, allegedly marrying Peter in secret in
1707.
Following several defeats, the Polish King
August II abdicated in
1706. Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in
1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at
Golovchin in July. In the
Battle of Lesnaya, however, Charles suffered his first ever loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from
Riga. Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on
Moscow.
Charles XII refused to retreat to
Poland or back to
Sweden, instead invading
Ukraine. Peter withdrew his army southward, destroying any property that could assist the Swedes along the way. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of
1708–
1709. In the summer of
1709, they nevertheless resumed their efforts to capture
Ukraine, culminating in the
Battle of Poltava on
27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in
Ukraine and forcing him into exile in the
Ottoman Empire. In Poland, August II was restored as King.
Peter foolishly attacked the Ottomans in
1711. Normally, the Boyar Duma would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the Boyars; he abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire was disastrous; in the ensuing peace treaty, Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697. In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII from his territory.
Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of
Livonia (the northern half of modern
Latvia, and the southern half of modern Estonia), driving the Swedes back into
Finland. Most of Finland was occupied by the Russians in
1714. The Tsar's navy was so powerful that the Russians could penetrate Sweden. Peter also obtained the assistance of
Hanover and the
Kingdom of Prussia. Still, Charles refused to yield, and not until his death in battle in
1718 did peace become feasible. Sweden made peace with all powers but Russia by
1720. In
1721, the
Treaty of Nystad ended what became known as the
Great Northern War. Russia acquired
Ingria,
Estonia,
Livonia and a substantial portion of
Karelia. In turn, Russia paid two million
Riksdaler and surrendered most of Finland. The Tsar was, however, permitted to retain some Finnish lands close to Saint Petersburg, which he had made his capital in
1712.
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Diamond order of Peter the Great. |
Peter's last years were marked by further reforms in Russia. On
22 October 1721, soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was acclaimed
Emperor of All Russia. Some proposed that he take the title
Emperor of the East, but he refused.
Gavrila Golovkin, the State Chancellor, was the first to add "the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias" to Peter's traditional title
Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of
Pskov in 1721.
Peter's imperial title was recognized by
Augustus II of Poland,
Frederick William I of Prussia and
Frederick I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word
emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over "mere" kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had once claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations.
Peter also reformed the government of the Orthodox Church. The traditional leader of the Church was the
Patriarch of Moscow. In 1700, when the office fell vacant, Peter had refused to name a replacement, allowing the Patriarch's Coadjutor (or deputy) to discharge the duties of the office. Twenty-one years later, in 1721, Peter followed the advice of
Feofan Prokopovich and erected the
Holy Synod, a council of ten clergymen, to take the place of the Patriarch and Coadjutor.
In
1722, Peter created a new
order of precedence, known as the
Table of Ranks. Formerly, precedence had been determined by birth. In order to deprive the
Boyars of their high positions, Peter directed that precedence should be determined by merit and service to the Emperor. The Table of Ranks continued to remain in effect until the Russian monarchy was overthrown in
1917.
Peter also introduced new taxes to fund improvements in Saint Petersburg. He abolished the land tax and household tax, and replaced them with a
capitation. The taxes on land on households were payable only by individuals who owned property or maintained families; the new head taxes, however, were payable by
serfs and paupers.
In
1724, Peter had his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler. All of Peter's male children had died—the eldest son,
Alexei, had been tortured and killed on Peter's orders in
1718 because he had disobeyed his father and opposed official policies. Alexei's mother Eudoxia had also been punished; she was dragged from her home and tried on false charges of adultery. A similar fate befell Peter's beautiful mistress,
Anna Mons, in
1704.
In
1725, construction of
Peterhof, a palace near St Petersburg, was completed. Peterhof (
Dutch for "Peter's Court") was a grand residence, becoming known as the "Russian
Versailles" (after the great French Palace of Versailles).
In the winter of
1723, Peter began having problems with his
urinary tract and
bladder. When these problems reoccurred in the summer of 1724, a team of doctors performed surgery. The following November, according to tradition, while on a visit along the Finnish Gulf in Peter saw a group of soldiers drowning near
Lakhta and assisted in their rescue. The cold water rescue is said to have exacerbated Peter's bladder problems and caused his death on
January 28,
1725. The story has been viewed with skepticism by some historians. German chronicler
Jacob von Stählin is the only source for the story, and it seems unlikely that no one else would have documented such an act of heroism. However, the story may still be true, but not reported because of Peter's modesty (Hughes, 198). Whether the rescue took place or not, Peter did die of bladder problems (Hughes, 200), and the story of his heroic sacrifice is wide spread and often reported as unquestioned fact.
A law of
1721 had allowed Peter to choose his own successor, but he failed to take advantage of it before his death. The lack of clear succession rules led to many succession conflicts in the subsequent "
era of palace revolutions".
Peter was succeeded by his wife Catherine, who had the aid of the imperial guards. Upon her death in
1727, the Empress Catherine was succeeded by Alexei's son,
Peter II, bringing the direct male line of Romanov monarchs to an end. Thereafter, inheritance of the throne was generally chaotic—the next two monarchs were descendants of Peter I's half brother Ivan V, but the throne was restored to Peter's own descendants by his daughter Elizabeth through a
coup d'état in
1741. No child would simply and directly succeed his or her parent until
Paul followed
Catherine the Great in
1796, over seventy years after Peter had died.Controversies about Peter the Great are endless; the debates drag on without consensus. However, recently the Russian people voted Peter the Great as the best-loved Russian of all times.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|
| By Eudoxia Lopukhina |
| HIH Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia | 18 February 1690 | 26 June 1718 | married 1711, Princess Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel; had issue |
| HIH Alexander Petrovich, Grand Duke of Russia | 13 October 1691 | 14 May 1692 | |
| HIH Pavel Petrovich, Grand Duke of Russia | 1693 | 1693 | |
| By Catherine I |
| HIH Anna Petrovna, Tsesarevna of Russia | 7 February 1708 | 15 May 1728 | married 1725, Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp; had issue |
| HIM Empress Elizabeth | 29 December 1709 | 5 January 1762 | reputedly married 1742, Alexei Grigorievich, Count Razumovsky; no issue |
| HIH Natalia Petrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia | 20 March 1713 | 27 May 1715 | |
| HIH Margarita Petrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia | 19 September 1714 | 7 June 1715 | |
| HIH Peter Petrovich, Grand Duke of Russia | 15 November 1715 | 19 April 1719 | |
| HIH Pavel Petrovich, Grand Duke of Russia | 13 January 1717 | 14 January 1717 | |
| HIH Natalia Petrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia | 31 August 1718 | 15 March 1725 | |
|
Monument to Peter the carpenter in St. Petersburg. |
*
Peterhof - Peter the Great's summer palace
*
Russian history, 1682-1796*
Caesaropapism*
History of the administrative division of Russia*
Government reform of Peter I* Other
Tsars of Russia
*
RFS Pyotr Velikiy, a Russian Navy battlecruiser named after Peter the Great
*
Peter I Monument in Taganrog*
Picture of his throne*
Peter the Great: His Life and World (Knopf, 1980) by
Robert K. Massie, ISBN 0394500326 (also Ballantine Books, 1981, ISBN 0345298063 and Wings Books, 1991, ISBN 0517064839). Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Peter I.
*
Peter the Great (Yale University Press, 2004) by Lindsey Hughes, ISBN 030010300X
