The early years of Peter 1. Peter the First

The sounds of the large bell of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin broke the morning silence of the capital. The gospel was picked up by hundreds of bells of Moscow churches and monasteries. The cheerful ringing and solemn prayers continued all day on May 30, 1672 - this is how, according to tradition, the addition of a family to the royal family was celebrated. The holiday was called the state's worldwide joy.

The father of the newborn, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, had special reasons to rejoice at the appearance of another son. The Tsar's first wife, Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, bore him many children. But, amazingly, the daughters grew up strong and healthy, and the sons grew frail and sickly. Of the five, three died young. The eldest, Fyodor, turned 10 years old in 1672, but he could not move his swollen legs, doctors were constantly fussing around him, and grandmothers - home-grown doctors - did not come out of his chambers and bedchamber. Doctors of those times believed that he suffered from “scorbutic disease.” The second son, the blind Ivan, was also not in good health. Although he was in his sixth year, he had difficulty expressing himself, was tongue-tied and lagged behind his peers in development. His father didn’t have high hopes for him either.

The widowed 42-year-old Tsar married again, taking as his wife the young, healthy Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. At the age of 21, she gave birth to his son, who was named Peter.

The birth of Peter was accompanied by the usual ritual: the tsar sent to announce his state joy to the patriarch, then to members of the Boyar Duma and rich merchants. In accordance with custom, the queen's father, her relatives and people close to her were promoted in rank. A month later, on June 30, the home table was held in the Faceted Chamber. The invited nobility and high clergy were treated to sweet dishes: a huge cake with the image of the state coat of arms and sugar products. On the table stood a sugar loaf weighing two and a half pounds, painted with patterns, and an eagle, a swan, a parrot, a dove and even a model of the Kremlin were cast from sugar. Guests presented gifts to the newborn - crystal mugs and cups, gold glasses, rings, crosses.

Peter was brought up according to a long-established custom. Until he was five years old, he was under the supervision of numerous women - a midwife and nurse, a mother and other servants. “And to raise a prince or princesses,” a contemporary testifies, “they choose from wives of all ranks a wife who is good and pure, and sweet with milk, and healthy.” Peter was not weaned for a long time, so he had two nurses.

The prince's chambers were filled with toys: wooden horses, drums, cannons, musical instruments made to special order, bows, arrows, and bells. Together with his father and mother, accompanied by a large retinue, Peter made leisurely trips to monasteries, as well as to residences near Moscow - Izmailovskoye and Preobrazhenskoye, where the tsar had fun with falconry, fishing, he had camouflage clothing for fishing. Three-year-old Peter had a small carriage painted gold, in which he was seated during ceremonial trips. The carriage was harnessed to tiny horses, and it was accompanied by foot and horse dwarfs. Peers of the same age were assigned to the princes for games, but the dwarves were also certainly present in the nursery - they amused the princes with their absurd antics and antics.

Peter was not four years old when his father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, unexpectedly fell ill and died. The death of his father caused great changes not so much in the life of the little prince, but in the position of his mother. Fedor ascended the throne in 1676. More precisely, he was carried out in the arms of the boyars, declared tsar and immediately swore allegiance to him.

The tense relationship between the stepmother and the numerous offspring from the first wife of Tsar Miloslavskaya, previously softened by the head of the family, now, unchecked by anyone, quickly spilled out. People close to Alexei Mikhailovich's second wife, Tsarina Natalya Naryshkina, were removed from the court, and first of all, her tutor, boyar Artamon Sergeevich Matveev, the first minister in the previous government and the tsarina's closest adviser after the death of her husband. He was first sent into honorable exile in Verkhoturye, and then imprisoned in Pustozersk. The disgrace also affected the closest relatives of Queen Natalia - her older brother Ivan Kirillovich was also expelled from Moscow. Key positions in the government were occupied by the Miloslavskys.

At the end of April 1682, at the age of 20, the sickly Fedor died, leaving no offspring. His successor could be either Ivan or Peter. Behind both minor princes there were groups that rushed into the fight as soon as Fyodor passed away. Ivan’s candidacy was supported by all the relatives of Tsar Alexei’s first wife, led by the boyar Ivan Mikhailovich Miloslavsky. The soul of this group was Princess Sophia - an intelligent, powerful and very energetic woman who secretly dreamed of a crown herself. On Peter's side were the Naryshkins, among whom there was not a single significant figure.

Formally, the priority right to the throne belonged to Ivan, since he was the eldest of the heirs. However, at the proposal of the patriarch, supported by some boyars, ten-year-old Peter was proclaimed tsar. According to custom, his mother, Tsarina Natalya, became regent. According to a contemporary, she was a woman “of a kind temperament, benevolent, but she was neither diligent nor skilled in business and had an easy mind.”

This contemporary, to whose testimony we will often refer, was Prince Boris Ivanovich Kurakin. Kurakin began his career in the military field, he commanded the Semenovsky Guards Regiment in the battle of Poltava. Poor health forced him to join the diplomatic service.

Kurakin generally approved of Peter’s activities, but with some reservations: the arrogant aristocrat was alien to the tsar’s behavior, and he was also critical of his, so to speak, democracy.

In his declining years, Kurakin began writing the history of the reign of Peter. This work, which remained unfinished, is notable for the fact that it contains sharp, sometimes devastating characteristics of his contemporaries. The author of these characteristics shows intelligence, subtle observation and boundless skepticism.

Queen Natalya, inexperienced in political intrigue, together with her incompetent relatives, was unable to take power into her own hands and organize a sufficiently authoritative government. Boyar Matveev was urgently summoned from exile, on whose advice the queen decided to rely. While he was getting to the capital from Pustozersk, the Naryshkins’ opponents, the Miloslavskys and Sophia, in the apt expression of the historian S.M. Solovyov, “boiled a conspiracy,” using the Streltsy army as an armed support in the fight against their opponents. Let us note that the interests of the Miloslavskys and Naryshkins were alien to the archers, just as, indeed, the interests of the archers were alien to both.

Under Alexei Mikhailovich, the archers were in the position of palace guard, enjoyed a number of significant privileges and systematically received handouts from the tsar. Under his son, they lost these privileges (exemption from city services, the right to duty-free trade). Moreover, the burden of service increased, and the income received from trade and trade, which was a significant help to their meager salary, was reduced. The discontent of the archers was aggravated by the complete arbitrariness of their commanders. The colonels appropriated the Streltsy's salary, subjected the Streltsy to cruel torture for the slightest offense, and widely used them for personal services. The muted murmur of the archers could at any moment develop into active protest.

On April 30, 1682, that is, three days after the death of Tsar Fedor, the archers came to the palace demanding that unwanted commanders be handed over to them for execution. Tsarina Natalya, taken by surprise, satisfied the ultimatum, 16 commanders of the Streltsy regiments were removed from office and whipped. Subsequently, the Miloslavskys managed to direct the wrath of the archers against their political opponents. A rumor spread through the Streltsy regiments, coming from the Miloslavskys and Sophia, that the Naryshkins had “harassed,” that is, killed, Tsarevich Ivan. The archers were given a list of boyars who were to be exterminated.

On May 15, at the call of the alarm bell, the rifle regiments, with drums beating and banners deployed, moved towards the Kremlin. Confident that Tsarevich Ivan was no longer alive, the archers prepared to carry out the plan suggested by Sophia and the Miloslavskys. The rumor, however, turned out to be false. The boyars, the clergy and Tsarina Natalya with her brothers Ivan and Peter came out onto the porch. This is how Peter’s first meeting with the archers took place: an angry crowd was raging below, and ten-year-old Peter stood on the porch, frightened and, of course, not understanding the significance of the events that were taking place.

The archers, discovering that they had been deceived, calmed down for a while, but then demanded reprisals against the “traitor-boyars.” They threw Prince Mikhail Yuryevich Dolgoruky from the porch onto the spears of their comrades. Boyar Matveev was also killed. In addition to several boyars and Duma clerks, the archers chopped up Ivan and Afanasy Kirillovich Naryshkin, and forced their father Kirill to become a monk. The corpses of the dead were dragged along the ground, saying: “Behold the boyar Artemon Sergeevich! Behold the boyar Romodanavsky! Behold Dolgoruky! Behold the Duma is coming, give way!”

The executions shocked young Peter. Grief fell primarily on the shoulders of the mother, but in the children's consciousness the events of May 15-17 were also imprinted for life.

Having devastated the ranks of the Naryshkin supporters, the archers demanded that both brothers reign, and a few days later they supplemented this demand with a new one - that the rule of the state under the minor kings be handed over to Princess Sophia.

As a result of the May events, the Naryshkins were killed, but Sophia, together with the Miloslavskys, acquired only a ghost of power, for the Streltsy, led by the new head of the Streletsky Prikaz, Prince Khovansky, turned out to be the masters of the situation in the capital. They dictated their will to Sophia and demanded that the Streltsy army be called the outbuilding infantry. They also categorically expressed their desire to have a “pillar” (obelisk) built in their honor on Red Square, on which their merits during the events of May 15-17 would be listed. The ruler tried to calm the archers by distributing money and promising rewards, but soon became convinced that those who provided her with power could deprive her of this power in the same bloody way as the coup of May 15-17 was carried out.

Sophia began to look for support for herself in wide circles of the nobility. On August 19, she and the kings left Moscow for the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. From there she turned to the nobles with a call to appear under the walls of the monastery. When the noble militia became so numerous that it turned into a formidable military force, Sophia summoned Prince Khovansky and, on the way to the monastery, ordered him to be captured and immediately executed.

Having learned about this, the archers initially decided to give battle to the nobles gathered at the monastery, but considered it more prudent to confess. The roles changed: it was not the archers who dictated Sophia’s will, but, on the contrary, Sophia presented the archers with an ultimatum demand to tear down the newly erected “pillar” on Red Square and not gather in Cossack circles.

Sophia's seven-year reign began. The head of the government was Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn, Sophia’s favorite, who stood out among his contemporaries for his erudition and knowledge of foreign languages. He “was a considerable person and had a great mind and was loved by everyone” - this is how his admirer spoke about him. As the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz, Golitsyn concluded an eternal peace with Poland in 1686. The agreement confirmed the accession of Kyiv to Russia. This was a major foreign policy success, which Sophia immediately took advantage of to strengthen her position: from 1687, Sophia’s name began to be mentioned in official documents along with the kings. However, other areas of the government’s foreign policy activities not only failed to consolidate the prestige of the princess achieved by the eternal peace, but caused obvious damage to it.

Russia, in return for the acquired Kyiv, pledged to join the anti-Turkish league consisting of Poland, Austria and Venice and carry out campaigns against the Crimean Tatars. The Allies assigned a auxiliary role to these campaigns: Russian troops were supposed to pin the Tatar cavalry to the Russian theater of military operations and thereby protect the Polish and Austrian lands from its devastating raids. The fight against the Crimeans also corresponded to the interests of Russia, whose southern districts were subject to their predatory invasions.

The first Crimean campaign led by Prince Golitsyn took place in 1687. The campaign was not popular among service people. Some of them came to the review in mourning dress and with black blankets on their horses, thereby expressing disbelief in the success of the matter. In May, a 100,000-strong army moved towards the Crimea. Without reaching it and without meeting the enemy on its way, the army, having suffered significant damage from lack of food and lack of water, returned back. Failure, however, did not prevent Golitsyn from sending a victorious report, the meaning of which was that the timid Tatars did not dare to engage in battle with the Russian army.

Two years later, in 1689, Golitsyn repeated the campaign. In order not to be exposed to the danger of steppe fires and not to lack water, the army went south in early spring. This time, however, skirmishes with the enemy took place, and the Tatars were driven away. In May, Golitsyn reached Perekop, but after standing for a day at its walls, he turned north. The second Crimean campaign, like the first, ended in vain. However, Sophia sent a tender letter to her favorite: “How can I pay you for such a necessary service, especially yours, my light’s, labors? If you didn’t work so hard, no one would do that.” In the spirit of the princess’s letter, an official letter to Golitsyn was drawn up, in which the tsars thanked the unlucky commander for his “many and diligent service”, for the fact that the Tatars “were defeated and driven out by our troops in their filthy dwellings”, that a “never unprecedented victory” was won "

The loud words of the letter, as well as the solemn meeting of the participants in the campaign, were supposed to create the appearance of success. But the noise, deliberately whipped up by Sophia, deceived no one. There were even rumors in Moscow that Golitsyn “took from the Tatars, standing at Perekop, two barrels of gold,” which, however, turned out to be only finely gilded copper money. A capable diplomat and gallant favorite turned out to be a worthless military leader.

...How did Peter's life proceed during these seven years? Together with his mother, Tsarina Natalya, he lived in the villages of Vorobyovo, Kolomenskoye, and Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow. At court, Peter, like Ivan, was assigned a decorative role: he participated in church ceremonies, visited Moscow and country monasteries with the court, and attended receptions of foreign ambassadors. A double throne was made for the reigning brothers, behind which the ruler was hiding to tell them how to behave when receiving ambassadors. One of these techniques was described in 1683 by the secretary of the Swedish embassy. This is the first currently known characteristic of young Peter. “In the reception chamber, upholstered in Turkish carpets, on two silver chairs under icons, sat both kings in full royal attire, shining with precious stones. The elder brother, with his hat pulled down over his eyes, his eyes down on the ground, not seeing anyone, sat almost motionless; the younger one looked at everyone; his face is open, beautiful, young blood played in him as soon as they addressed him with a speech.” Peter showed a keen interest in what was happening and was restless, which confused the sedate boyars. Eleven-year-old Peter looked like a 16-year-old boy in height and development. The author of the quoted lines managed to capture Peter’s character traits: mobility, childlike (spontaneity, curiosity.

What did Peter do in the interval between the tedious solemn rituals, which did not happen very often? I learned to read and write. He received a very modest, if not meager, education.

Even when Peter was eight years old, boyar Rodion Matveyevich Streshnev was assigned to him as a tutor. From this time on, Peter apparently began to be taught to read and write. His teachers from 1683 were clerk Nikita Zotov and Afanasy Nesterov. Both teachers were not educated and erudite people. Peter's lively and receptive mind could absorb an abundance of various scientific wisdom, but the mentors' own knowledge was only enough to teach him to read, write, recite by heart some texts of liturgical books and provide fragmentary information on history and geography. During his years of study, Peter did not even take the course that was usually taught to princes in the 17th century.

Meanwhile, in his mature years, he showed deep knowledge of history, geography, artillery, fortification, and shipbuilding. He owes this to his own talent, tireless thirst for knowledge and willingness to always learn. However, the tsar was not able to fill all the gaps in his education - he was at odds with spelling until the end of his life and made mistakes from which a competent clerk was free.

Most of the time Peter was left to his own devices. Three hobbies absorbed his energy.

From an early age he showed an affinity for crafts. The tools of a mason and carpenter, a carpenter and a blacksmith were delivered to him in Preobrazheaskoye. As an adult, Peter was fluent in at least a dozen crafts, and achieved particular virtuosity in working with an ax and on a lathe. His love for physical labor sharply distinguished Peter from his predecessors and successors. It is impossible to imagine that his pious father, the “quiet” Alexei Mikhailovich, freed from the magnificent royal attire, would wield a mason’s trowel or a blacksmith’s hammer.

Peter was even more fascinated by military affairs. The hobby grew out of his childhood fun. Over time, wooden cannons began to be replaced by military ones, and real sabers, protazans, halberds, squeaks and pistols appeared. The open spaces of Preobrazhensky allowed Peter to fire his favorite cannons and play war games with the participation of a significant number of peers. There, in 1686, a military town appeared with living quarters for Peter and amusing soldiers, barns for storing cannons and weapons. All these structures were surrounded by a wooden fence with towers and an earthen rampart. Amusing ones, at first intended for games, or, as they said then, fun, over the years they turned into a real military force. At the origins of the two regiments - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky, which would form the backbone of the future regular army, there were amusing battalions recruited from sleeping bags, grooms of the amusing stable, nobles, and falconers.

But nothing can compare with Peter’s passion for navigation and shipbuilding. According to the Tsar himself, the origins of this passion go back to the story of Prince Yakov Dolgoruky that he once had “an instrument that could be used to take distances or distances without reaching that place,” and to his acquaintance with an old boot, on which, as Peter was told, could sail against the wind.

The astrolabe was brought from France, and in the German settlement in Moscow, where foreign traders and craftsmen lived, there was a person who knew how to handle it. It turned out to be the Dutchman Franz Timmerman. There, in the German settlement, Peter found a navigator and shipbuilder who undertook to repair the boat, set sails and teach them how to control them. The first shipbuilding experiments were carried out on the Yauza River, a tributary of Moscow. Later, Peter recalled that on the narrow Yauza the boat kept bumping into the banks. Then he moved it to Prosyannaya Pond, but there was not the necessary space here either. The search for big water led 16-year-old Peter to Lake Pereyaslavl, where he went under the pretext of a pilgrimage to the Trinity Monastery.

Peter was not 17 years old when his mother decided to marry him. An early marriage, according to Queen Natalya’s calculations, was supposed to significantly change the position of her son, and with him, herself. According to the custom of that time, a young man became an adult after marriage. Consequently, married Peter should no longer need the tutelage of his sister Sophia; the time of his reign would come, he would move from Preobrazhensky to the chambers of the Kremlin.

In addition, by marrying, the mother hoped to settle her son down, tie him to the family hearth, and distract him from the German settlement and hobbies that were not characteristic of the tsar's office. With a hasty marriage, they finally tried to protect the interests of Peter’s descendants from the claims of the possible heirs of his co-ruler Ivan, who by this time was already a married man and was waiting for the addition of his family.

Tsarina Natalya herself found a bride for her son - the beautiful Evdokia Lopukhina, according to a contemporary, “a princess with a fair face, only an average mind and a dissimilar disposition to her husband.” The same contemporary noted that “there was a fair amount of love between them, but it only lasted for a year.” It is possible that the cooling between the spouses began even earlier, because a month after the wedding, Peter left Evdokia and went to Lake Pereyaslavl to engage in sea fun.

In the German settlement, the tsar met the daughter of a wine merchant, Anna Mons. One contemporary believed that this “girl was pretty and smart,” while another, on the contrary, found that she was “of mediocre sharpness and intelligence.” It’s hard to say which of them is right, but cheerful, loving, resourceful, always ready to joke, dance or support small talk, Anna Mons was the complete opposite of the Tsar’s wife - a limited beauty, depressing with her slavish obedience and blind adherence to antiquity. Peter preferred Mons and spent his free time in her company.

Several letters from Evdokia to Peter and not a single answer from the king have been preserved. In 1689, when Peter went to Lake Pereyaslavl, Evdokia addressed him with tender words: “Hello, my light, for many years. We ask for mercy, please, sir, come to us without delay. And by my mother’s grace I am alive. Your fiance Dunka hits him with his forehead.” In another letter addressed to “my sweetheart,” “your fiancé Dunka,” who was not yet aware of the imminent breakup, asked permission to come to her husband on a date. Two letters from Evdokia date back to a later time - 1694, and the last of them is full of sadness and loneliness of a woman who is well aware that she has been abandoned for the sake of another. They no longer refer to “sweetie,” the wife does not hide her bitterness and cannot resist reproaches, calls herself “merciless,” and complains that she does not receive “a single line” in response to her letters. The birth of a son in 1690, named Alexei, did not strengthen family ties.

Relations between Peter's court in Preobrazhenskoye and the official court in the Kremlin, correct in the first years of Sophia's reign, gradually, as Peter grew older, acquired a tinge of hostility. Both sides kept a watchful eye on each other's actions. In Preobrazhenskoe, the frequent appearances of the ruler Sophia in various ceremonies did not go unnoticed. On July 8, 1689, the ruler committed a defiant act - she dared to participate in the cathedral procession with the kings. The angry Peter told her that she, as a woman, should immediately leave, because it was indecent for her to follow the crosses. However, the princess ignored Peter’s reproach, and then he, in a state of extreme excitement, rushed off to Kolomenskoye, and from there to Preobrazhenskoye. Peter's entourage also caused dissatisfaction with the fact that the title of official acts mentioned the name of the ruler - “the blessed princess and Grand Duchess Sofia Alekseevna.” Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna openly expressed her indignation: “Why did she begin to write together with the great sovereigns? We have people, and they will leave this business.”

If in Preobrazhenskoe these actions of Sophia were viewed as an attempt to gain popularity and ultimately carry out a government coup, then in the Kremlin similar fears were caused by the increase in the number of the amusing army and Peter’s constant worries about his weapons. Let us stipulate, however, that the surviving documents do not provide grounds for asserting that Peter’s lust for power awoke at this time and he showed the same interest in power as, say, in shipbuilding or military fun. At first, ambition had to be fueled, which is what the queen did, guided by advisers more experienced in political intrigue.

About Sophia, on the contrary, it cannot be said that she lacked a love of power. Having become accustomed to the position of ruler and accustomed to power, Sophia gradually prepared a palace coup in order to deprive Peter of his rights to the throne. The ruler instructed her second favorite, Fyodor Shaklovity, who led the Streletsky Prikaz, to find out how the Streltsy would react to her accession to the throne. Shaklovity invited loyal Streltsy commanders to a country residence hidden from prying eyes and, without further discussion, invited them to write a petition asking that Sophia be crowned king.

To most of the Streltsy commanders, Shaklovity’s proposal to repeat the events of the spring and summer of 1682 seemed risky. They rejected the offer, citing their inability to write petitions. “He won’t write a petition, it’s hard to write a petition,” Shaklovity persuaded and immediately took out the finished petition, supposedly drawn up on behalf of the entire population of the capital, not just the Streltsy. What if Peter does not agree to accept such a petition? “If he doesn’t listen,” answered Shaklovity, “grab the boyar Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin and Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn, then he will accept the petition.” Shaklovity’s hothead imagined that the implementation of the plan to remove Peter from power would not meet resistance. “And the patriarch and the boyars?” - asked the meticulous bosses. “It’s easy to change the patriarch, and the boyars are a fallen, frozen tree,” Shaklovity reassured.

Shaklovity failed to attract the Streltsy chiefs to the conspiracy: after talking, they parted ways. The coup had to be postponed, although some archers were ready for decisive action. One of the archers imagined the change of the patriarch like this: “I’ll go into the patriarch’s room and scream, and he won’t find a place for me out of fear.” - “We need to leave Queen Natalya the bear.” - “And her son will stand up for her!” - the interlocutor objected. “Why should he let him down? Why did it happen? - came the answer. The most determined of the archers suggested killing Peter by throwing a grenade at him or placing it in the sleigh. Others were going to be slaughtered during the fire - the king loved to participate in putting out fires.

Rumors spread among the archers about the Naryshkins’ intention to “lime” Tsar Ivan and ruler Sophia. Some new fighting techniques were also used: at night, clerk Matvey Shoshin rode through the streets of Moscow, accompanied by armed men, dressed in exactly the same white satin caftan that Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin wore. He grabbed the archers standing guard and brutally beat them, saying: “You killed my brothers, and I will avenge the blood of my brothers on you.” One of Shoshin’s companions screamed: “Lev Kirillovich! Why beat him to death! Christian soul! The victims were taken to the Streletsky Prikaz, and during interrogations there, misled by the masquerade, they showed that they had become victims of Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin. In a similar way, Sophia and her supporters tried to arouse the bitterness of the archers against the Naryshkins.

The last public clash between Peter and Sophia occurred in July 1689 and was associated with the celebration of Golitsyn’s return from the Crimean campaign. This campaign, as noted above, did not bring glory to either the military men or their commander. Nevertheless, Sophia did not skimp on rewards for dubious military exploits, thereby seeking to enlist the support of the archers in the impending clash with Peter.

Peter pointedly refused to participate in the magnificent celebrations. The leader of the campaign and other military leaders, having arrived in Preobrazhenskoye, were not even received by Peter. Sophia considered these actions a direct challenge to herself. She appeals to the archers: “Are we fit for you? If you are suitable, you will stand for us, but if you are not suitable, we will leave the state.” With the last part of the phrase, Sophia emphasized the modesty of her intentions. In reality, in the Kremlin, as in Preobrazhensky, feverish preparations for the denouement were underway. As often happens in a tense environment full of anxiety and expectations, it happened completely unexpectedly.

On the night of August 7-8, the alarm was raised in the Kremlin, the archers took up their guns: someone started a rumor that the funny ones from Preobrazhenskoye were going to Moscow. Peter's supporters among the Moscow Streltsy, not understanding what was happening, believed that the Streltsy were preparing not for the defense of the Kremlin, but for a campaign to Preobrazhenskoye. Instantly they rushed to Peter's residence to warn him of the impending danger. The alarm turned out to be false, but the rumor nevertheless caused a chain reaction.

Peter was woken up to tell the news. You can imagine what thoughts flashed through Peter’s head and what he experienced in those short seconds. The events of seven years ago flashed by - an angry crowd of armed people, poles, halberds, pikes, on the tip of which they threw the Naryshkin supporters from the porch. The decision, caused by fear for life, was unexpected - to run away. He rushed in only his shirt into the nearest grove and in the silence of the night tried to catch the roar of the trampling of the moving archers. But it was quiet. He feverishly wondered where to run. They brought him clothes and a saddle, brought him a horse, and he rode all night, accompanied by three people, to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, behind whose thick walls Sophia had taken refuge seven years ago.

In his mature years, Peter was a man of great courage, and many times found himself in deadly situations. But at the age of seventeen, he left his wife and mother, abandoned his loved ones and amusing soldiers to the mercy of fate, without thinking that the walls of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, protected by no one, could not save him. Exhausted by the long ride, Peter arrived at the monastery on the morning of August 8, threw himself on his bed and, shedding tears, told the archimandrite about what had happened, asking for protection.

The next day, amusing soldiers and archers of the Sukharev regiment arrived from Preobrazhensky to Peter, and his mother also arrived.

The Kremlin learned about Peter's escape only on August 9 - the whole day before Sophia, accompanied by the archers, had been on a pilgrimage. The news caused alarm, which they tried to hide with feigned calm: “He’s free to run wild,” said Shaklovity.

Sophia made several unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation. At first, she sent Patriarch Joachim to the Trinity to resolve the conflict, but he, sympathizing with Peter, remained with him. “I sent the patriarch,” Sophia shared the results of her unsuccessful venture with the archers, “in order to get along with my brother, but he, having visited him, lives there and does not go to Moscow.” Then she went to the monastery herself, but on the way she received a categorical order from her brother to return to the Kremlin.

The military forces that Sophia was counting on to rely on were melting every day. Together with Shaklovit, she could not keep the soldier and rifle regiments in obedience, who did not risk entering into an armed conflict with the troops supporting Peter. At his call, regiment commanders arrived at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, led by soldiers and archers. There, the Streltsy chiefs informed the Tsar about a secret meeting convened by Shaklovity, about his attempt to carry out a palace coup. There was a demand to extradite Shaklovity.

Sophia's appeal to the archers remaining in Moscow and her call to defend their boss were unsuccessful. The ruler had to hand over the favorite, he was taken to the monastery on September 7, interrogated and tortured, and five days later executed along with his main accomplices.

The extradition of Shaklovity meant the complete defeat of Sophia. Peter and his supporters completely mastered the situation. The archers came out to meet the Tsar who was traveling to Moscow, as a sign of submission they lay down along the road on the block with axes stuck in them and loudly asked for mercy.

The search for Shaklovity was still ongoing, and Peter, while in Trinity, sent his brother Ivan a letter with a decision to remove Sophia from power. “It’s shameful, sir, at our perfect age for that shameful person to own the state bypassing us.” Further, Peter asked for permission “without sending to you, sovereign, to carry out the order of truthful judges, and not to change decent ones, so that our state would soon be calmed and made happy.”

The letter summed up the results of the court struggle and testified to the triumph of the Naryshkin group: Sophia was declared a “disgraceful person” and at the end of September she was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent. Another consequence of the coup should be considered the actual removal from affairs of the weak-minded brother Ivan. Although in the letter Peter expressed his readiness to honor his older brother “like a father,” Peter’s supporters took the solution to all practical issues into their own hands. They “did not send to Tsar Ivan” not only in this case, when a new government was being formed, but also in subsequent years. He nominally performed royal duties until his death in 1696: he was present at embassy receptions, participated in church ceremonies, and his name was mentioned in all official acts.

Sophia's removal changed little in Peter's behavior. Having achieved power, he immediately showed complete indifference to it. He limited his participation in state affairs to the implementation of a complex and monotonous program of Moscow palace life - trips to monasteries and cathedrals near Moscow and the capital, and presence at family celebrations. There was nothing to indicate his desire to delve into the affairs of government. Preobrazhenskoye remained his residence as before. At the insistence of his mother, Peter appeared in the Kremlin in heavy royal robes only at public ceremonies. Participants in some of the festivities were amazed by the innovation, which undoubtedly came from the young king - the silence was broken by rifle and cannon fire. But Peter left ceremonies and celebrations without any hesitation, as soon as the conversation turned to Mars and Neptune fun. The tsar organized one of the Mars amusements in the fall of 1690: a streltsy regiment “fought” against the amusements and noble cavalry. This opposition of new troops to old ones became a custom, and the streltsy regiments were always assigned the role of the vanquished. “Battles,” not without casualties, alternated with feasts.

Significant forces were involved in the next year's maneuvers. One army, consisting of amusing and soldier regiments, detachments of reiters and dragoons, was commanded by “Generalissimo” Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky (“Generalissimo Friedrich”), the other, the Streltsy army, was also “Generalissimo” Ivan Ivanovich Buturlin. The start of hostilities was preceded by a squabble; the opponents, as they said then, were “baiting”, that is, bullying each other. The maneuvers ended with the capture of Buturlin, the capture of the convoy and banners, and then a joint feast of the victors and the vanquished, with the thunder of volleys.

The passion for Martian fun alternated with fun on the water. In the winter of 1692, the Tsar went to Pereyaslavl. Huge quantities of food and materials for the construction of ships are delivered there. Peter also participates in the construction of the ship. He was so carried away by his work that the most prominent members of the government went to persuade him to come to Moscow - the Persian ambassador came to the capital, and the Tsar’s presence in the Kremlin was required by diplomatic etiquette.

In August, the ships set sail on Lake Pereyaslavl. Its water area limited the size of ships and the ability to maneuver them. Peter was drawn to the sea and real ships. Russia at that time had a single seaport - Arkhangelsk. Peter went there, accompanied by a large retinue - boyars, okolnichy, stolnikov and 40 archers. Here he first saw real sea ships - English, Dutch, German - delivering cloth, haberdashery, and paints. Other ships were waiting to load mast timber, leather, furs, hemp, and caviar. On a small yacht, Peter made his first short sea voyage.

The trip to the sea in 1693 was of a reconnaissance nature. The tsar came up with the idea of ​​repeating the trip to Arkhangelsk next year, and it was decided to prepare for it more carefully. The ship was laid down here, and Peter entrusted the supervision of its completion to the governor Fyodor Matveevich Apraksin.

In January 1694, the Tsar's mother Natalya Kirillovna died. Her death revealed two character traits of the king, which we will encounter many times in the future: disregard for customs and the desire to survive grief alone. On January 25, when the queen’s position became hopeless, the son said goodbye to her and immediately left for Preobrazhenskoye, where, according to contemporaries, he grieved in solitude over the loss. He was also absent from his mother's funeral. One can only guess how much gossip this behavior of Peter caused among Muscovites. Previously, Peter did not participate in the mourning ceremony of the funeral of his second son Alexander, who died at seven months old. If in this case Peter’s absence can be explained by his hostility towards his wife and his reluctance to be in the company of her relatives and loved ones, then he undoubtedly did not appear at the funeral of his dearly beloved mother for another reason - he did not want to show his weaknesses to others. On the third day after the funeral, he arrived at the grave and mourned her death alone. Peter told Voivode Apraksin about his grief briefly and expressively: “I dully announce my misfortune and final sadness, about which my hand cannot write in detail, but neither can my heart.”

The departure to Arkhangelsk from Moscow took place not in July, as in the previous year, but in April. In March, Peter writes a letter to the Arkhangelsk governor in that humorous tone that is characteristic of the tsar’s correspondence during these years. He gives orders not on his own behalf, but on behalf of Prince Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky, on land as a “generalissimo”, and at sea as an “admiral”.

2000 pounds of gunpowder and 1000 self-propelled guns were sent to Arkhangelsk. At the shipyard, the Tsar was waiting for a ship ready for launching, which had begun construction during his first visit. On it in June 1694, Peter made a voyage that almost cost him his life - on the way he was overtaken by a storm.

The Tsar returned to Moscow in September and immediately began preparing for the game on land. In the vicinity of the village of Kozhukhovo, a fortress was built with an earthen rampart 3.5 meters high, a deep ditch and loopholes. The armies were commanded by the same Buturlin and Romodanovsky, and Buturlin, led by the archers, had to defend the town, and the new regiments, whose number reached 7.5 thousand people, were entrusted with its siege, and then the assault. Both armies marched to their starting lines through Moscow. The march was of a clownish nature: ahead of Romodanovsky marched a company under the command of the Tsar's jester Yakov Turgenev. She had to fight under a banner with a goat on it. The bombardiers walked ahead of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, and among them was the bombardier Pyotr Alekseev, that is, the Tsar. Karls also took part in the procession. This whole procession moved to the sound of drums, flutes and timpani.

A humorous description of the maneuvers has been preserved, which, however, quite accurately describes what happened near Kozhukhov from September 30 to October 18. After both armies occupied the lines, they began to play out the previously drawn up scenario. The commanders-in-chief appeared on the opposite banks of the Moscow River and began a verbal skirmish. They were replaced by a duel between two heroes. After this, Romodanovsky’s troops went on the offensive, and quickly captured the city, which contradicted the drawn-up plan: the assault should have been preceded by a siege with digging, construction of redoubts, forays of the besieged, etc. It was necessary to withdraw Romodanovsky’s troops from the town, return the Buturlin archers there and repeat everything actions.

The Kozhukhov maneuvers were the longest, with 15 thousand people participating on both sides. They resembled a real battle: the attackers and defenders fired from rifles and cannons, threw clay grenades filled with gunpowder, laid mines under enemy fortifications and blew them up, and practiced siege and defensive operations. This was Peter's last military fun.

Peter, therefore, during these years did not look into either the Boyar Duma or the orders. The state was ruled by people from the circle of his mother and himself. What kind of people were these?

In the 17th century, among the associates of kings, the primary place was usually occupied by their closest relatives. Under the first Romanov - Mikhail Fedorovich - the de facto head of the government was the imperious and energetic father of the tsar - Patriarch Filaret. During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, the same role was played first by Boris Ivanovich Morozov, the tsar’s educator, his “uncle,” who secured his position by marriage with the sister of the tsar’s wife, and then, after the fall of Morozov, by the Miloslavskys, relatives of the tsar’s first wife. When Peter was a young man, the government was to be headed by his mother's relatives - the Naryshkins, and after his marriage - by representatives of the new family with which he became related - the Lopukhins.

Another source that supplied the kings with close associates were their peers, that is, the people with whom they grew up and were raised. The children of the most noble families were included in the heir's "robotki". He played with them, studied with them, they were in his service, and trusting relationships were established with some of them, which did not stop even in the years when the heir became king. The wealth of these “royal kids,” coupled with their proximity to the heir to the throne, ensured that they would have a brilliant career in the future.

Peter's relatives on the side of his mother and wife did not become his comrades-in-arms. The Naryshkins and their supporters were exterminated during the Streltsy rebellion of 1682. The queen's surviving brother, Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin, traditionally held high positions in the government, but with the death of his sister he found himself in a secondary role. He “was a man of much average intelligence and intemperate in drinking, also a proud man, and although not a villain, he was only not inclined and did good without reason.” This is how Prince Boris Ivanovich Kurakin spoke about him.

The relatives of the Tsar's wife, the Lopukhins, also did not put forward any noticeable political figures from their family, partly because this family was poor in them, partly due to the fact that Peter, who married early, quickly lost interest in his wife, and lost interest in the fate of her relatives.

There remained peers, from whose ranks many of the king’s associates emerged. But these people differed sharply from the “little kids” who surrounded Peter’s predecessors, both in their degree of nobility and in psychology.

The Kremlin Palace was the royal residence. In Peter's youth, this residence was occupied by Princess Sophia and co-ruler Ivan. It was to the Kremlin that the eyes of noble people were riveted, linking the careers of their offspring with the fates of the representatives of the reigning dynasty who were there. The government operated in the Kremlin, appointments were made from there, celebrations and diplomatic ceremonies were held there.

The courtyard in Preobrazhenskoe, where the queen lived with her son, was in a semi-disgraced position and, although it was located next to Moscow, it was a kind of province, where life flowed according to different laws, where court etiquette did not constrain Peter’s behavior and did not impose restrictions on Peter’s behavior with his deanery. the nature of his fun and entertainment. The composition of the court in Preobrazhenskoye was also different. Here we will hardly meet representatives of noble families. The young people surrounding Peter did not disdain the exhausting work that accompanied military fun; during these fun, special relationships developed, based on completely different principles than in the Kremlin Palace.

A boyar remained a boyar, even if he fell into disgrace and ended his life’s journey, brilliantly begun in Moscow, as a governor of some outlying district. Disgrace for him meant an infringement on the arrogance of a well-born man, the loss of the opportunity to receive new awards, but did not mean a complete catastrophe and deprivation of his livelihood. The career of the son of such a boyar was based on the rank and breed of his father. The people surrounding Peter did not have such support; there were no traditions of continuity. Menshikov, if he had not been in the company of Peter, at best would have become a rich merchant. Menshikov’s only asset at first was his intelligence, sharpness, boundless devotion to Peter, his ability to understand and even guess his desires and whims.

Later, military leaders and diplomats, engineers and administrators emerged from the entourage of young Peter. But all this happened later. In the meantime, in the first years of Peter's reign, they, together with him, were absorbed in war games, amusing battles, and maneuvers.

People of the older generation were occupied with administrative affairs and managing the work of the government mechanism. The only exception was Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin, who at the age of 25 headed the Ambassadorial Prikaz.

Domestic politics was led by boyar Tikhon Nikitich Streshnev, according to Kurakin, “a cunning man with an evil disposition, and a much average mind.”

The government of young Peter was poor in talent. The stamp of this scarcity lies on the surface - just flip through the pages on which the legislation of the first years of Peter's reign is captured - it is impossible to detect in it either a program or a firm guiding hand. It trailed behind events, somehow reacting only to what was caused by the needs of the day. Only Prince Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn had outstanding abilities. According to Kurakin, who was quoted many times, he was “a man of great intelligence, especially wit, but not diligent in business, he loved fun, and was especially inclined to drink.”

Golitsyn was Peter's main mentor in those days when the Tsar was in the Trinity Monastery. On the advice of the prince, he dealt irresistible blows to his sister.

Another environment that supplied Peter with close associates was the German Settlement. Among the merchants and artisans, doctors and military men of the German settlement, two people enjoyed Peter’s special favor: the Scot Patrick Gordon and the Genevan Franz Lefort. The first of them played the role of a military mentor, he was a participant in amusing battles and provided Peter with an invaluable service during the critical days of single combat with Sophia.

In another area he won the sympathy of Peter Lefort. Unlike Gordon, a respectable Catholic and family man who understood the intricacies of military affairs, Lefort did not know a single craft. A good-natured giant and a witty, merry fellow with refined manners and gentle humor, Lefort, who loved pleasure most of all, was indispensable in a cheerful company. “The aforementioned Lefort,” the same Kurakin wrote about him, “was a funny, luxurious person, or call it a French brawler.” He had the ability to be “day and night” in fun, communicate with ladies and drink incessantly. Lefort introduced Peter into the ladies' society of the German settlement and was his confidant in affairs of the heart with Anna Mons.

People close to Peter formed the so-called “company”, among whose members special relationships developed. The use of the royal title between them was prohibited. Peter was called in Russian, Latin, and Dutch in accordance with his ranks: bombardier, captain, captain, commander. Peter even reprimanded Fyodor Matveevich Apraksin twice for using the title when addressing him: “Perhaps, write simply, also in letters, without grandeur.” When Peter becomes a rear admiral, he will demand from everyone that during his stay on the ship everyone calls him schoutbenacht.

In addition to Apraksin, the tsar’s “company” included Menshikov, Golovin, Golovkin, Kikin. Prince Fyodor Yuryevich Romodanovsky occupied a special place in it. We saw that already in the amusing games of the early 90s, Romodanovsky appeared under the name of “Generalissimo Friedrich.” Somewhat later, he received the comic title of the king - “Prince Caesar”. All members of the “company,” including Peter, considered themselves subjects of the “prince Caesar” and gave him royal honors. In his letters, the tsar called Romodanovsky nothing more than “Konih” or “Sir” and each time he reported to him about his actions in a humorous manner.

The Tsar's turner Andrei Nartov tells how one day a “conflict” arose between the “Prince Caesar” and his “subject” - the Tsar because Peter did not take off his hat in front of the “Prince Caesar” who was driving along the road. He invited the king to his place, and, without getting up from his chair, scolded him: “What arrogance, what pride! Pyotr Mikhailov no longer takes off his hat to Caesar!”

Along with the masquerade position of “Prince Caesar,” Romodanovsky performed the by no means masquerade duties of the head of the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, an institution engaged in political investigation. A description of Prince Romodanovsky, filled with sarcasm, but close to the truth, has been preserved: “This prince had a particular character: he looked like a monster; an evil tyrant in character; great desirer of good to anyone; drunk all day; but His Majesty was so faithful that no one else.” The review of the Brauischweig resident Weber is quite consistent with the above description coming from Prince Kurakin. “He punished the defendants without asking anyone, and there was no point in complaining about his sentence.”

To the listed character traits of the “prince Caesar” it is necessary to add one more. He possessed the rarest quality among Peter’s contemporaries: his hands, dirty with a dirty craft, turned out to be immaculately clean when it came to the state treasury - he maintained his reputation as an incorruptible person, no one ever suspected him of embezzlement. This last quality allowed Romodanovsky to maintain the king’s favor until the end of his days. Until his death, the “prince Caesar” did not part with his addiction to wine. Anyone entering his house had to pay tribute to the tastes of the owner. In the entryway the guest was greeted by a well-trained large bear with a glass of very strong vodka infused with pepper in his paw. He obligingly handed the glass to the guest, and if he refused to accept the treat, the bear tore off his hat, wig, or even grabbed his dress.

In letters, Peter, addressing persons belonging to the “company,” called them simply, and the degree of familiarity reflected the degree of closeness of the correspondent. He writes to friends, as a rule, in his own hand, calling them by tender names. The tsar showed signs of attention not only to people belonging to his entourage, but also to carpenters, bombardiers, soldiers, skippers and foreign specialists.

He unfailingly accepted invitations to family holidays from people with whom he “served” in the regiment or worked at the shipyard. The officers and soldiers of the two guards regiments enjoyed his special favor, “among whom,” as a contemporary noted, “there was not a single one to whom he would not boldly decide to entrust his life.” The tsar knew the guards by sight; he gave important assignments to many officers, and quickly promoted those who were able to do so.

An undoubted influence on the forms of communication between the tsar and his entourage was exerted by the expansive, mobile, active character of Peter, who was not characterized by either long periods of solitude or idle pastime.

The king had too much energy. He sought to give her an outlet even during rest. It is no coincidence that Peter liked those entertainments in which he himself could actively participate, and he remained indifferent to those in which he was assigned the role of a spectator or a motionless sitting participant. Peter, for example, did not tolerate playing cards; he considered this activity empty. It is unlikely, however, that performing the duties of a protodeacon in the “most drunken cathedral” would have been more useful. But playing cards presupposed the need to sit, while fun in the “most drunken cathedral” was accompanied by movement. Peter showed no interest in the theater either. What happened on stage did not touch him, because it assigned him a passive role, depriving him of the opportunity to directly participate in the action. But he was fascinated by farcical performances or spectacles, in which he himself could become an accomplice.

Peter is shown a giant woman. He is not content with looking her over from head to toe, but asks her to spread her arms to the sides and walks freely under them, without bending. Some strong man holds a stick in his teeth and spins three men clutching the long end around him. Peter also decides to try his strength. No matter how hard the strong man tried, he could not move the king from his place - either the king’s muscles were really better developed than those of the three big spectators, or it was a gesture of politeness on the part of the strong man.

And yet the tsar’s sociability cannot be explained by upbringing and temperament. Power can quickly erase the past from memory; it creates fertile ground for arrogance and arrogance. Confirmation of this is Menshikov, who superbly mastered the entire arsenal of nobleman behavior and bullied those who stood below him. This did not happen to Peter.

He surrounded himself with people who knew how to be useful to the work to which he devoted himself endlessly. Having consciously taken on the responsibilities of a captain and a carpenter, an artilleryman and a skipper, Peter could fulfill them only by communicating with the same carpenters and artillerymen, officers and shipbuilders. He learned from some, taught others himself. Alone, it was possible to turn trinkets on a lathe, but it was impossible for one person to build a ship.

The wide circle of people with whom the king communicated allowed him to find capable assistants. “Kings do not make great ministers, but ministers make great kings,” Peter once said. He really knew how to spot talent. In the interests of his class, he often attracted any people capable of doing business, ignoring their “vile” origin. His nobleman could be a former pie maker, a Scot by birth and a Lutheran by faith.

According to an amateur historian who collected legends about the tsar and his time in the 18th century, Peter was discovered by Peter Pavlovich Shafirov in the shopping arcades of Moscow, where he was trading in a shop owned by the wealthy merchant Evreinov. In the conversation it turned out that the young prisoner knew German, French and Polish, that he was the son of the translator of the Ambassadorial Prikaz. Shafirov was enlisted in the service, he accompanies the tsar on his first trip abroad, and later becomes a senator and vice-chancellor. The son of a baptized Jew will receive the title of baron and the position of second in command in the foreign affairs department.

The talents of self-taught mechanic Mikhail Serdyukov, a baptized Kalmyk, were also discovered by Peter. He will instruct him to reconstruct the Vyshnevolotsky Canal, and Serdyukov will brilliantly cope with the task and make the canal accessible for navigation. The same find of the tsar was the Tula gunsmith Nikita Demidov, a famous builder of the Ural industry. The Tsar’s acquaintance with the gunsmith took place, according to rumors, under the following circumstances. Someone brought him an excellently made pistol from abroad, the trigger of which was broken. Peter searched for a long time and unsuccessfully for a repairman to fix the damage. He was advised to contact the Tula blacksmith Nikita Demidov.

On the way to Voronezh, Peter turned to Tula, found Demidov and left him a broken pistol. About two months later, on the way back to Moscow, the Tsar stopped by Demidov to pick up the finished work. Demidov handed him a working pistol. Peter, having carefully examined him, was pleased and, praising the blacksmith, said:

What a pistol! Will I live to see the time when they will work like this in Rus'!

“Perhaps we too will stand against the Germans,” answered Demidov.

Peter saw empty boasting in the master’s words and hit him in anger:

First do it, rascal, then boast!

And you, Tsar,” objected the unconfused Demidov, “first find out, then fight!” The one your Lordship has is my work, but this one is yours, overseas. - Demidov pulled a pistol from his foreign pocket and handed it to the king.

I am guilty before you, you, I see, are a smart little guy.

The Tsar instructed Demidov to build an arms factory in Tula and for this purpose ordered him to be given five thousand rubles.

Peter, of course, exalted Demidov not for his personal skill as a blacksmith, but for his demonstrated organizational talents and ability to rationally run an industrial economy. The Tsar ordered the transfer of a state-owned metallurgical plant in the Urals to Demidov. On its basis, the former gunsmith organized a powerful industrial economy there.

N.I. Pavlenko. Peter the First.

Introduction

Pyotr Alekseevich Romanov was perhaps the most outstanding Russian ruler. No wonder he was nicknamed Peter the Great. With the beginning of his reign, the history of Russia can be divided into two periods - pre-Petrine and post-Petrine. Compared to Europe in the pre-Petrine era, Russia was undoubtedly inferior in development in all areas. After Peter, everything changed dramatically: architecture, army, economy, fashion, culture, education, even chronology. Russia has now become an Empire - one of the greatest powers in the world, and the Tsar himself began to be called the Emperor.

This grandiose socio-economic and cultural revolution in Russia serves as the relevance of this topic. After all, if it were not for Peter I, it is not known how long Russia would have gone towards that high European development.

This work will examine the main reforms carried out by Peter I during his reign in such areas as: government, military and maritime areas, finance, culture, education and agriculture.

Many historians have been arguing for several centuries about the greatness of the transformations carried out by the first Russian emperor. Therefore, our task will be to understand whether the reforms carried out by Peter I were so good and grandiose.

But before we begin to consider Peter’s reforms, we will begin with the biography of Peter Alekseevich in order to restore a picture of the world and way of life in which he grew up and what served as the beginning of the reforms.

reform Peter the Great of Russia

Childhood and youth of Peter I

Romanov Pyotr Alekseevich (Peter I the Great) was born on May 30 (June 9), 1672 in Moscow. He was the Russian Tsar since 1682, but began to rule fully in 1689. And in 1721 he became the first Russian Emperor. The youngest son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from his second marriage to Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina.

Peter began his education at the age of five; the course was taught by clerk Nikita Zotov. The prince took an active part in the training. In his free time he liked to listen to stories and look at picture books. However, he never received a decent education; already in his mature years, Pyotr Alekseevich wrote with grammatical errors.

In 1676, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Peter's father, dies of a heart attack, and the boy is handed over to his older brother Fyodor Alekseevich to be raised. Six years later, in 1682, Fedor dies. Ivan Alekseevich should become the successor, but he was in poor health from birth and then the Naryshkin supporters proclaimed ten-year-old Peter tsar. But the Miloslavskys, who did not want to put up with the situation, relatives from Alexei Mikhailovich’s first marriage to Maria Ilyinichna, provoke a Streltsy riot, during which little Peter has to watch how people close to him are brutally killed.

It was decided to make concessions and place both Ivan and Peter on the throne, under the regency of Princess Sophia Alekseevna.

Sofya Alekseevna was the daughter of Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage and Peter was only a half-sister on his father’s side. She was Ivan’s sister. The princess played an important role in the life of Pyotr Alekseevich. Being smart, but greedy for power, she plotted against her brother.

Peter and his mother rarely appeared in the Kremlin, only for official ceremonies, and the rest of the time they lived in the villages of Preobrazhenskoye and Izmailovo. There Peter was left to his own devices, spending most of his time with his peers, playing out battles and maneuvers in “amusing” regiments. In the future, these regiments will become the basis of the Russian regular army.

In 1688, in Izmailovo, while walking through the Linen Yard, Peter discovered an old English boat, which, on his orders, was repaired, armed and tested on the Yauza River.

Soon he ended up in the German settlement, where he first became acquainted with German life, experienced his first passions 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 he heard a rumor 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.

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

Peter was attracted by sea fun, and he went for a long time to Pereslavl-Zalessky and Arkhangelsk, where he personally participated in the construction and testing of ships. In 1695, he decided to undertake a military campaign against the Turkish fortress of Azov, but it ended in failure. After this, a fleet was hastily built in Voronezh and in 1696, during the second campaign, Azov was taken. Taganrog was founded at the same time. This was Peter's first victory, which significantly strengthened his authority.

After returning to the capital, in 1697 the king went abroad with the Great Embassy. Peter visited Holland, England, Saxony, Austria and Venice, studied shipbuilding, worked in shipyards, got acquainted with the technical achievements of the then Europe, its way of life, and political structure. During his trip abroad, the basis for the alliance of Russia, Poland and Denmark against Sweden was laid. In 1698, Peter became aware of a new Streltsy revolt and he had to return to Russia, where he dealt with the rebels with extraordinary cruelty.

The future first Russian emperor was born on May 30 (old style) 1672. He was the 14th child of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, but the first from his second wife Natalia Naryshkina. A big role in the life of Peter was played by the three children of Tsar Alexei from Maria Miloslavskaya: Fyodor, who became king after the death of his father, Sophia, who claimed the role of ruler under her younger brothers, and Ivan, who, although older than Peter, turned out to be sickly and incapable of governing the state. . His father died when Peter was only 4 years old. Under Tsar Fyodor, the Miloslavsky clan strengthened, the Naryshkins were pushed out of power, and Peter spent his childhood years with his mother in the village of Preobrazhenskoye.

Peter was not even 10 years old when Tsar Feodor died in 1682. The question arose: who should be king: the older, sickly and feeble-minded Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich or the young, but healthy and promising Tsarevich Peter? The Zemsky Sobor was not convened to resolve this issue, but the patriarch came out to the people in the square and asked who they wanted to see as king. The almost unanimous answer was Petra.

After this, the boyars agreed that Peter should be king. But this haste in the election and failure to comply with the necessary procedures caused misunderstandings and discontent among part of the population. The relatives of Tsarevich Ivan, especially his sister Sophia, did not come to terms with the accession of Peter and the strengthening of the Naryshkins. With the help of her assistants, princes V.V. Golitsyn and Khovansky, Sophia provoked unrest among the archers. On May 15, 1682, the archers burst into the Kremlin, entered the palace and killed those whom Sophia considered dangerous to herself. As a result of the Streltsy rebellion, Tsarevich Ivan was proclaimed tsar, and Tsarevna Sophia became the ruler of the state under her young brothers. Peter and his mother again retired to Preobrazhenskoye.

The childhood and youth spent in Preobrazhenskoye were not lost for Peter. From an early age he was interested in military toys, and gradually a group of peers gathered around him, with whom Peter played war games. Over time, these games became more and more similar to real military training. Already at the age of 11, Peter and his “amusing” friends were engaged in real shooting from guns; in 1685, the “amusing” ones were dressed in foreign caftans and marched in regimental formation through Moscow from Preobrazhenskoye to Vorobyovo. Peter himself began his service as a drummer and rose through the ranks to general. From these “amusing” troops of Peter, two future best guards regiments of the Russian army grew - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky.

At the same time, Peter's interest in the fleet and ship building arose. He finds and restores a boat (a small ship), on which he sails along the Yauza, then goes to Lake Pleshcheyevo, where he builds larger ships and travels to the White Sea and goes out on the open sea on a ship for the first time. At the same time, Peter showed a greedy interest in everything new: he trained his “amusing” troops according to a foreign model, learned fortification, mastered geodetic instruments, etc.

In 1689, Princess Sophia, as a result of turbulent events in which the Streltsy were again involved, was removed from power, Peter became the de facto king, but for a long time he was little involved in state affairs. The turning point comes in 1695-1696. during the campaign to Azov. After the capture of Azov in 1696 with the help of Russian ships built on the Don near Voronezh, Peter decided to get to know Europe better and in 1697 he went there as part of the Great Embassy under the name of Peter Mikhailov. The purpose of the embassy was to conclude an alliance with European countries against the Turks. This goal could not be achieved, but another, implicit goal - acquaintance with European culture, science, industry, the skill of Europeans in various matters and especially in shipbuilding - was achieved.

At the beginning of his independent reign, Peter I still adhered to the traditional direction of Russian foreign policy at that time - protecting the southern borders from the Crimean Khanate and thereby creating conditions for the development of fertile black soil and steppe lands, the struggle for access to the Black Sea and the organization of a coalition against Turkey to achieve these goals. But after the capture of Azov and the failure of the Great Embassy, ​​Peter decisively changed his foreign policy course. And the point is not only the refusal of Poland and the German emperor to fight with Turkey - access to the Black Sea gave Russia little in geopolitical, military and foreign economic terms, since this sea is closed, the Black Sea straits were reliably controlled by Turkey, and the fight for them, given the strength of the then Turkey and the inevitable opposition of the European powers, promised to be long and unpromising.

Advancement to the south and development of fertile lands was in the interests of the landed aristocracy, and of Russia as a whole, as subsequent history showed. But the position of the landed aristocrats in Russia was always weak, and they were once again forced to come to terms with the policies of the autocrat, who acted in the geostrategic interests of the state, not society. And in this situation, the Baltic Sea was destined to become a new target for Peter’s energetic activities. It had long been clear to him that without the sea, Russia could not exist as a strong, powerful European state.

But the Baltic coast was owned entirely and indivisibly by the powerful Sweden, which had the best army in Europe at that time. And Sweden, naturally, was not going to cede the Baltic to Russia without a fight. The war with Sweden began in 1700 with a humiliating defeat near Narva, although Russian troops had numerical superiority. This defeat spurred the feverish activity of Peter I to modernize the Russian army.

Introduction

The era of Peter I in the history of Russia, the personality of this outstanding statesman, commander, diplomat and worker enjoy the constant attention of Russian and foreign historians, and not only historians.

In historical science, there are many different, often contradictory points of view on the history of Peter’s transformations, on the personality of Peter himself and the results of his activities. In writing this essay, I was helped by the works of Solovyov S.M., Pavlenko N.I., Molchanov N.N. and etc.

It is impossible to give a comprehensive description of the personality of Peter I in one abstract, therefore only the most important stages of the childhood and youth of the Russian emperor will be considered, respectively, in the first and second paragraphs of the main part.

Territorial scope of the abstract - Russian Empire: Moscow, p. Preobrazhenskoye, German settlement.

The chronological framework of the abstract is the end of the 17th century.

The purpose of the essay is to consider the events that occurred in the childhood and youth of Peter I.

Childhood years of Peter I

Peter I, the future first Russian emperor, was born on the night of May 30, 1672 in the Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin. For his father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, he was only the fourteenth child, but for his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna from the Naryshkin family, he was the first-born son. On the eve of Peter's Fast, this event was celebrated very modestly: with the ringing of bells and a dinner in the Tsarina Golden Chamber. On June 29, the day of Saints Peter and Paul, the child was baptized in the Chudov Monastery and named Peter. The Tsar-Father ordered to take a “measure” from the newborn - to measure the length and width of his body - and to paint an icon of the same dimensions. The icon was painted by the famous painter Simon Ushakov: on one side the Trinity was depicted, and on the other, the face of the Apostle Peter. Under no circumstances in life did Peter be separated from this icon, he took it with him everywhere, and after the death of the emperor it was hung over the royal tombstone.

From childhood, Peter was assigned mothers and nannies, but Natalya Kirillovna did not let go of her favorite “light-Petrushenka” for a moment. The baby was entertained with rattles, harps and cymbals, and he was drawn to toy soldiers, skates and cannons. When Peter was three years old, his father gave him a children's gun and saber.

Thanks to the first happy and calm years of his life spent in his mother’s little house, Peter forever fell in love with small rooms with low ceilings and small windows. Such rooms were in the houses that he built for himself and where he loved to live. Once, while on an official visit to France, Peter preferred a private mansion to the huge chambers prepared for him in the Louvre, ordering his bedroom to be arranged in a cramped and dark room that had previously served as a dressing room. Bogoslovsky M.M. Peter I. Materials for biography. T.1 - M.: OGIZ, 1942. - p.57

At the end of January 1676, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich died. Peter was only four years old. In the summer of the same year, fifteen-year-old Fyodor, Peter’s half-brother, the son of Alexei Mikhailovich from his first marriage to Maria Miloslavskaya, was crowned king. The “bookish” man, Fyodor, was worried that his brother was not being taught to read and write, and repeatedly reminded Queen Natalya about this. She believed that her son was still too young, and was in no hurry to educate him. Finally, after a year and a half, they found a suitable teacher, in the queen’s opinion. If the training of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich took place under the guidance of his grandfather, Patriarch Philaret, and boyar Boris Morozov - people educated and experienced in book wisdom, and the mentor of Fyodor and Sophia was Simeon of Polotsk - an outstanding writer, teacher and learned monk, then Peter was assigned nothing as a teacher the unremarkable clerk Nikita Moiseevich Zotov. The lack of education, however, was compensated by the fact that, being a patient and kind man, Zotov not only did not strive to suppress the natural curiosity and restlessness of the royal offspring, but also managed to win the trust of the prince. In addition, as Queen Natalya wished, he “knew the Divine Scripture,” the study of which he paid special attention to in his studies with Peter. Already as an adult, the king remembered these lessons and could freely quote the Holy Scriptures or argue about the interpretation of this or that place in the Gospel.

Zotov was charged with instilling in the boy royal majesty and stateliness. But the “uncle” did not try to force the lively, active child to sit for many hours with a straight back on a chair to develop the habit of the throne. He allowed the prince to climb into attics to his heart's content, play and even fight with noble and streltsy children. When Peter got tired of running around, Nikita Moiseevich sat down next to him and, slowly talking about incidents from his own life, carved wooden toys. The prince looked at the “uncle’s” deft hands and began to diligently sharpen the workpiece with a knife. Zotov did not possess any special craftsman skills; he did everything by eye. Peter adopted this skill and, always relying more on his own eye than on drawings and mathematical calculations, he was rarely mistaken.

The habit of filling his leisure time with various handicrafts, which little Peter developed when his teacher and tutor was clerk Nikita Zotov, remained throughout his life. Even when receiving foreign ambassadors, the tsar could, during a conversation, plan boards for covering a boat, turn chess pieces on a lathe, or tie knots on ship rigging. Rumor claims that once the Prussian ambassador von Prince had to climb to the top of the mast to present the tsar with his credentials - he was so carried away by the equipment of the battleship Predestination, the design of which was personally designed by Peter. Bogoslovsky M.M. Peter I. Materials for biography. T.1 - M.: OGIZ, 1942. - p.75

From the Armory, Nikita Zotov constantly brought books with illustrations to Peter, and later, as the student’s interest in “historical” subjects developed - military art, diplomacy and geography - he ordered for him “amusing notebooks” with colorful images of warriors, foreign ships and cities . In adulthood, Peter I more than once demonstrated diverse and deep historical knowledge. The prince learned everything willingly and subsequently wrote fluently, but with numerous errors.

Classes with Zotov left a mark on Peter’s memory for the rest of his life. As an adult, carrying out reforms in the country, he dreamed that a book would be written on the history of the fatherland; I myself compiled the alphabet of the Russian language, simple to write and easy to remember.

Tsar Fedor Alekseevich died in the spring of 1682 without naming the name of his successor. After him, two brothers could lay claim to the Russian throne - sixteen-year-old Ivan and ten-year-old Peter. Brothers on their father's side, they had different mothers, whose relatives began a fierce struggle for power. Having secured the support of the clergy, the Naryshkins and their supporters elevated Peter to the throne, and his mother, Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, was declared ruler. However, the relatives of Tsarevich Ivan and Princess Sophia, the Miloslavskys, did not want to come to terms with this, seeing in the proclamation of Peter as tsar an infringement of their interests. Dissatisfied, they found support among the archers, of whom there were more than 20 thousand people in Moscow.

Early in the morning of May 15, 1681, the alarm sounded in the Streltsy settlements. The archers, incited by the Miloslavskys, armed themselves and, shouting that the Naryshkins had killed Tsarevich Ivan, moved to the Kremlin. Ruler Natalya Kirillovna, hoping to calm the rioters, came out to them on the Red Porch, leading Ivan and Peter by the hands. In the first hours of the riot, major statesmen Artamon Matveev and Mikhail Dolgoruky were killed, and then many other supporters of Queen Natalia. For several days, archers went on a rampage in the capital, robbing and killing. Only on May 26 did they calm down and demand that Peter’s sickly and feeble-minded half-brother, Tsarevich Ivan, also be crowned king. Due to the youth of both kings, the governance of the country was entrusted to Princess Sofya Alekseevna.

Ten-year-old Peter witnessed the horrors of the Streltsy riot. For the rest of his life, the word “streltsy” became hateful to him, which evoked a burning desire to avenge the death of loved ones, tears and humiliation of his mother.

After the solemn ceremony of crowning the princes, named Tsars Ivan V and Peter I, took place, ruler Sophia, who suspected Natalya Kirillovna of intrigue, forced her and Peter to leave Moscow. Queen Natalya settled in a palace near Moscow in the village of Preobrazhenskoye.

Historical portrait of Peter I

42 school 7 "B" class

Kulikov Ilya

Peter I the Great, the youngest son of Alexei Mikhailovich from his second marriage to N.K. Naryshkina.

Years of reign: Russian Tsar from 1682 (reigned from 1689), first Russian Emperor (from 1721).
^ Childhood, youth, education of Peter I

After the death of his father (in 1676), Peter was brought up until the age of ten under the supervision of the Tsar’s elder brother Fyodor Alekseevich, who chose clerk Nikita Zotov as his teacher, who taught the boy to read and write.

Peter I began studying on March 22, 1677. According to old Russian custom, he began to be taught at the age of five. The Tsar and the Patriarch came to the opening of the course, served a prayer service, sprinkled holy water on the new student and sat him down to learn the alphabet. Nikita Zotov bowed to the ground to his student and began his course of study, and immediately received a fee: the patriarch gave him one hundred rubles, the sovereign promoted him to the nobility, and the queen mother sent two pairs of a rich outer and underdress, which he wore after the departure of the sovereign. and Patriarch Zotov immediately changed his clothes.

The prince studied willingly and smartly. In his spare time, he loved to listen to different stories and look at picture books. Zotov told the queen about this, and she ordered him to give him “historical books”, manuscripts with drawings from the palace library, and ordered several new illustrations from the masters of painting in the Armory Chamber. Noticing when Peter began to get tired of reading books, Zotov took the book from his hands and showed him these pictures, accompanying the review with explanations.

When Fedor died in 1682, the throne was to be inherited by Ivan Alekseevich, but since he was in poor health, the Naryshkin supporters proclaimed Peter Tsar. However, the Miloslavskys, relatives of Alexei Mikhailovich’s first wife, did not accept this and provoked a Streltsy riot, during which ten-year-old Peter witnessed a brutal massacre of people close to him. These events left an indelible mark on the boy’s memory, affecting both his mental health and his worldview.

The result of the rebellion was a political compromise: Ivan and Peter were placed on the throne together, and their elder sister, Princess Sofya Alekseevna, was named ruler. From that time on, Peter and his mother lived mainly in the villages of Preobrazhenskoye 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 church systematic education. He was left to his own devices and, active and energetic, spent a lot of time playing with his peers. Later, he was allowed to create his own “amusing” regiments, with which he played out 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 settlement, where he first became acquainted with European life, experienced his first passions 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 he heard rumors 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.

^ Why were reforms necessary?

At the end of the 17th century, when the young Tsar Peter I came to the Russian throne, our country was experiencing a turning point in its history. In Russia, unlike the main Western European countries, there were almost no large industrial enterprises capable of providing the country with weapons, textiles, and agricultural implements. It had no access to the seas - neither the Black nor the Baltic, through which it could develop foreign trade. Therefore, Russia did not have its own navy to guard its borders. The land army was built according to outdated principles and consisted mainly of noble militia. The nobles were reluctant to leave their estates for military campaigns; their weapons and military training lagged behind the advanced European armies.

There was a fierce struggle for power between the old, well-born boyars and the nobles. There were continuous uprisings of peasants and townspeople in the country, who fought against both the nobles and the boyars, because they were all feudal lords - serf owners. Russia was attractive to neighboring states, such as Sweden, which were not averse to seizing and subjugating Russian lands.

It was necessary to improve the army, build a fleet, take possession of the sea coast, create a domestic industry, and rebuild the country's governance system. To change the old way of life, Russia needed an intelligent and talented leader, an extraordinary person. This is how Peter I turned out. Peter, with his energy, inquisitiveness, and interest in everything new, turned out to be a man capable of solving the problems facing the country.

Peter was attracted by sea fun, and he went for a long time to Pereslavl-Zalessky and Arkhangelsk, 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. Taganrog was founded at the same time. This was the first victory of young Peter, which significantly strengthened his authority.

Soon after returning to the capital, the king went (1697) with the Great Embassy abroad to search for allies in the war with Turkey. Peter visited Holland, England, Saxony, Austria and Venice, studied shipbuilding while working in shipyards, and became acquainted with the technical achievements of Europe at that time, its way of life, and its political structure. During his trip abroad, the basis for the alliance of Russia, Poland and Denmark against Sweden was laid. The news of a new Streltsy revolt forced Peter to return to Russia (1698), where he dealt with the rebels with extraordinary cruelty (Streltsy uprising of 1698).

^ First transformations of Peter I

Abroad, Peter’s political program basically took shape. Its goal was to create a state based on universal service; the state was understood as the “common good.” The tsar himself considered himself the first servant of the fatherland, who was supposed to teach his subjects by his own example. This behavior of Peter, on the one hand, destroyed the image of the sovereign as a divine figure that had developed over centuries, and on the other, caused protest among part of society (primarily the Old Believers, whom Peter cruelly persecuted), who saw the Antichrist in the tsar.

The reforms of Peter I began with the introduction of foreign dress and the order to shave the beards of everyone except peasants and the clergy. So, initially, Russian society turned out to be divided into two unequal parts: one (the nobility and the elite of the urban population) was intended for the European culture imposed from above, the other preserved the traditional way of life.

In 1699, a calendar reform was also carried out. A printing house was created in Amsterdam to publish secular books in Russian, and the first Russian order was founded - St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle. The country was in dire need of its own qualified personnel, and the king ordered young men from noble families to be sent abroad to study. In 1701, the Navigation School was opened in Moscow. The reform of city government also began. After the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700, a new patriarch was not 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 remained until 1917. Simultaneously with the first transformations, preparations for war with Sweden were intensively underway, for which a peace treaty with Turkey was previously signed. Peter I also introduced the celebration of the New Year in Rus'.

^ Foreign Policy

The main direction of Russian foreign policy in the era of Peter 1 was the struggle for access to the Baltic Sea, and its content was the long Northern War with Sweden, which took up almost all the years of Peter’s reign. As a result of diplomatic efforts, Peter managed to attract the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as Saxony and Denmark, to the upcoming war with his northern neighbor as allies (the Northern Alliance was formalized in 1699).

To launch military operations against Sweden, it was necessary to achieve peace with Turkey in order to avoid a war on two fronts. Even during the reign of Sophia under the leadership of V.V. Golitsyn, Russian troops undertook eternal peace with Poland in 1687 and 1689. two unsuccessful campaigns against the Crimean Khanate. Having become the de facto ruler of the state, Peter 1 continued the war with Turkey and the Crimean Khanate.

In 1695, the Turkish fortress of Azov was besieged, but Russian troops were unable to take it. The absence of a fleet did not allow blocking the sea fortress, and it could receive outside help. From the autumn of 1995 to the spring of 1696, 30 warships were built in the Voronezh area, which were transferred along the Don to the Sea of ​​Azov. The second Azov campaign, undertaken in the same 1696, ended with the capture of Azov and the founding of the Taganrog fortress. Russia's allies (Austria and Venice) in the anti-Turkish coalition did not intend to assist Russia in the war with Turkey. Russia could not conduct further hostilities with Turkey; for this purpose, the embassy of clerk E.I. Ukraintsev was sent to Constantinople on a Russian 46-gun frigate, who on July 13, 1700 concluded a truce with the Sultan for 30 years, and defended the mouth of the river for Russia. Don with the Azov fortress and achieved the abolition of the payment of a humiliating tribute to the Crimean Khan. As soon as the message about the truce with Turkey reached Moscow, Peter declared war on Sweden. By this time, Charles XII had defeated Denmark and moved to the Baltic states. In October, Russian troops began the siege of the Swedish fortress of Narva. With an unexpected blow, a 12,000-strong detachment under the command of Charles XII on November 19, 1700 inflicted a crushing defeat on them, largely due to the betrayal of foreign officers and the poor training of the majority of Russian troops. But Charles XII did not continue military operations against Russia, considering it completely defeated, but sent an army to Poland against Augustus II.

However, Peter did not waste time, energetically improving the army. In Arkhangelsk, warships are built, which are transported through Karelia to Lake Ladoga. In 1702, with the help of these ships, the Russians took the Notenburg fortress. In the spring of 1703, the Nyenschanz fortress was taken at the mouth of the Neva, and St. Petersburg was founded in May of the same year. In 1704, the Russian army took Narva and Dorpat. As a result of these victories, Russia gained a strong foothold in the Eastern Baltic, gained access to the sea and offered peace to Sweden, but was refused. These victories, in general, did not make the proper impression on Charles XII, who continued military operations in Poland and Saxony. Karl's protégé Stanislav Leszczynski became the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1706, Augustus II renounced the Polish crown.

In the summer of 1708, having defeated Poland, Charles XII set out on a campaign against Russia. But he met strong resistance on the border with Russia. He moved to Ukraine, hoping to receive help there from Hetman of Ukraine Mazepa. But even there he failed to receive support, since Peter 1 sent a detachment with Menshikov to occupy the hetman’s headquarters in Baturn, which was defeated. As a result, only 2 thousand troops under the leadership of Mazepa joined Charles.

But the defeat on September 28, 1708 near the village of Lesnoy became fatal for the Swedish troops. The Swedes lost more than 9 thousand killed and wounded in this battle. But most importantly, a huge convoy with food and ammunition was captured, which significantly weakened the enemy’s forces.

In 1709 (April), Charles XII approached the Poltava fortress and began its siege, which lasted for 3 months, and at this time Russian troops tightened the strategic ring around the Swedes. On June 27, 1709, the Battle of Poltava took place, ending in the complete defeat of the Swedes. Charles 12 and Mazepa fled to Turkey. Having lost its land army, Sweden retained a powerful fleet in the Baltic and continued the war. After this victory, Denmark and Saxony renewed their alliance with Russia, and Prussia and Hanover joined them.

In 1710, instigated by Charles XII and diplomats from leading European states and unable to cope with the loss of Azov, Turkey declared war on Russia. At the end of June 1711, the Russian army under the command of Peter entered Moldavia, where the promised help from the Moldavian ruler turned out to be insignificant, and the Wallachian ruler, betraying Russia, issued a war plan to the Sultan. As a result, on July 9, 1711, 38 thousand. The Russian army was surrounded at the Prut River. In order to preserve the army, Peter was forced to sign the Prut Peace Treaty, which was humiliating for Russia, according to which Russia returned Azov to Turkey, tore down the fortresses of Taganrog and Kamenny Zaton on the Dnieper, and withdrew troops from Poland. Peace was restored on the southern borders of Russia.

In the northwest, Russia was preparing for naval battles with Sweden. The Baltic Fleet was being created, and combat training of its personnel was intensively carried out. On July 25-27, 1714, the Swedish fleet was defeated in the battle of Cape Gangut. At the beginning of 1720, a Russian detachment of five thousand landed in Sweden. On July 27 of the same year, Russian sailors M. M. Golitsyn defeated the Swedish fleet of Vice Admiral Sheblat off the island of Grengam.

Russian ground forces continued successful military operations in Sweden, which forced it to the negotiating table. On August 30, 1721, the Peace of Nystad was concluded between Russia and Sweden. Estland, Livonia, Ingria with St. Petersburg and part of Karelia went to Russia. Russia gained access to the Baltic Sea and became a great maritime power.

The Northern 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 served Peter well: he realized that the reason for the defeat, first of all, was the backwardness of the Russian army, and with even greater energy he began for its rearmament and the creation of regular regiments, first by collecting “dating people”, and from 1705 by introducing conscription. The construction of metallurgical and weapons factories began, supplying the army with high-quality cannons and small arms. The campaign of Swedish troops led by King Charles XII to Poland allowed the Russian army to win its first victories over the enemy, capture and devastate a significant part of the Baltic states.

Among Peter's other foreign policy activities, the Persian Campaign of 1722-1723 should be mentioned. Russia received the western shore of the Caspian Sea, but later it had to abandon its acquisitions.

Another thing of no less importance for Russia was the eastern direction of foreign policy. In 1714, Buchholz's expedition south of the Irtysh founded Omsk, Semipalatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk and other fortresses.
^ Governance reform of Peter I

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

In 1711, setting off on the Prut campaign, Peter I founded the Governing Senate, which had the functions of the main body of executive, judicial and legislative power. In 1717, the creation of collegiums began - 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 locally. In 1720, the General Regulations were published - 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 Single Inheritance was issued, which equalized 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, which began in 1718, was of paramount importance for the social sphere. In Russia, a poll tax was introduced for males, for which regular population censuses (“audits of souls”) were carried out. During 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.”

^ Transformations in the economy

Peter I used the experience of Western European countries in the development of industry, trade, and culture. He contributed to the creation of manufactories, metallurgical, mining and other factories, shipyards, marinas, and canals. He supervised the construction of the fleet and the creation of a regular army.

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 were the most famous. Many new plants and factories were built, and new industries emerged. However, its development in wartime conditions led to the priority development of heavy industry, 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 forced closure of the Arkhangelsk port and some other government measures were not conducive to the development of foreign trade. In general, the grueling war that lasted for 21 years, requiring large capital investments, obtained 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 a time of active penetration of elements of secular European culture into Russian life. Secular educational institutions began to appear, and the first Russian newspaper was founded. Peter made success in service for 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 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 culture with previously unfamiliar forms of life and pastime. The interior decoration of houses, the way of life, the composition of food, etc. changed. Gradually, a different system of values, worldview, and aesthetic ideas took shape in the educated environment. On Peter's initiative, the Academy of Sciences was founded in 1724, many educational institutions were opened, and the civil alphabet was adopted.

^ Results of Peter's reforms

Peter carried out a radical revolution and created a new Russia, unlike the old one.

The scale of changes that occurred during Peter's reign is enormous. The territory of the country has grown significantly, which, after many centuries of struggle, gained access to the sea and eliminated the state of political and economic isolation, entered the international arena, took a prominent place in the system of international relations and became a great European power. In Russia at this time a manufacturing industry arose, in which powerful metallurgy acquired particular importance. The nature and size of domestic and foreign trade and the volume of economic relations with other countries have changed radically. A powerful regular army and navy were created, and a huge step was taken in the development of culture and education. A strong blow was dealt to the spiritual dictatorship of the church in culture, education and other areas of the country's life. The old patriarchal way of life was being broken up.

Russia became a full participant in international relations, pursuing an active foreign policy. Russia's authority in the world grew significantly, and Peter I himself became for many an example of a reformer sovereign. Under Peter, the foundations of Russian national culture were laid. The Tsar also created a system of governance and administrative-territorial division of the country, which remained in place for a long time. At the same time, the main instrument of reform was violence. The reforms of Peter I were carried out by cruel means, through extreme strain of material and human forces (poll tax), which entailed uprisings (Streletskoye 1698, Astrakhan 1705-1706, Bulavinskoye 1707-1709), which were mercilessly suppressed by the government. This was the main contradiction of Peter’s reforms, the prerequisites for a future new crisis.

The implementation of reforms was to a large extent connected with the personality of Peter the Great himself, perhaps the greatest statesman of Russia, with his determination, energy, and courage with which he broke the old order and overcame countless difficulties. An outstanding politician, military leader and diplomat, he knew how to correctly assess the situation, highlight the main thing, and draw the right conclusions from mistakes and failures, from changes in the domestic and foreign political situation.

Possessing wide knowledge and showing great interest in literature, history, law, art, crafts and natural sciences, he had an excellent knowledge of military affairs, shipbuilding, navigation and artillery. He knew how to select active and energetic associates in each of the industries and spheres of government activity. Peter the Great spared neither strength nor health for the sake of the prosperity of Russia, and tried to ensure that his associates and the entire Russian people followed his example.