PETER THE GREAT 

 
Peter the Great, the first Russian Emperor, who started building the powerful Russian Empire was born on May 30th, 1672. He was the son of his widowed father Alexei Mikhailovich’s second marriage to Natalia Naryshkina. When Tsar Alexei married for the second time, his numerous children by his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya, gave their stepmother a cold shoulder. Alexei Mikhailovich bent over backwards to take the edge off the strained relations between the two families. 

Peter was not even 4 years old when his father fell ill and died unexpectedly. His death removed all checks, and the long restrained animosity between the two families spilt over into the open. This couldn’t but cause a major change in the life of the little Peter and his mother. Alexei’s eldest son Fyodor ascended the throne, but his reign proved brief. He died unexpectedly, leaving no heir. Although Peter was proclaimed Tsar together with his half-brother Ivan, both Peter and his mother had to live in a country residence, rather than in the Kremlin Palace in Moscow. 

Isolated from the Moscow Kremlin and the Russian Tsars’ century-old way of life, Peter was growing amid fields and forests and struck up friendships with the children of the local servants. This prevented him from receiving a good systemic education, but his endowments, inquisitiveness and craving for knowledge made up for the deficiency. Peter studied different subjects on his own and when already a mature man, revealed an intimate knowledge of history, geography, artillery, fortification and shipbuilding. 

Peter developed a liking for handicrafts ever since he was a boy. By the time he had grown up he mastered at least a dozen crafts, especially carpentry, where he boasted an inimitable use of the axe, and lathe-operating. Peter’s love of manual labour made him markedly different from all of his predecessors and successors. 

But he was even more interested in soldiering. His enthusiasm for military science developed from the time when he played games as a child. He even had an entire cantonment built, with guns and soldiers at his disposal. But his grandest passions were ships. Once during a stroll he came across a destroyed English boat in a barn. He repaired the boat and set out on his first travel along rivers and across lakes in the countryside near Moscow. 

Peter lived in the “Preobrazhenskoye” village near Moscow, and close by was a so-called German settlement, home to emigrants from European countries, blacksmiths, merchants, chemists, craftspeople and soldiers. Peter was a frequent guest in the settlement. He asked foreigners numerous questions and learnt many interesting things about the European lifestyle and ways. In the German settlement he met Patrick Gordon of Scotland and Franz Lefort from Geneva. Later they became his companions-in-arms and took up high government offices. The settlement exerted enormous influence on Peter and made him get used to some Western lifestyles. He sported European clothes and performed “German dances”. In the German settlement he found the object of his passion, Anne Mons, the daughter of a vintner. 

But the Muscovites censured the young Tsar’s friendship with the foreigners, his eccentric behaviour and his contempt for the Russian customs and etiquette. Nor did they approve of his character. He was too hot-tempered, sometimes would go to the deep end for actually no reason. At times he could treat his subjects quite cruelly. 

Peter had not yet turned 17 when his mother decided that he should marry. She thought that her son’s early marriage would largely change for the better his and her own situation. At that time a young man came to be seen as a grown-up after he married. Also, if Peter married, he would get rid of his sister Sophia’s guardianship and could move to the Kremlin to start ruling Russia. Peter’s mother hoped that if he married, he would become staid, concentrate on his family and give up his interests in the German settlement that were incompatible with his royal position. She even found a girl for him, so Peter yielded to her requests and married the girl he did not love. But he stayed with his young wife for just one month and then left to engage in naval games. 

As the young Tsar was maturing, his relations with his half sister Sophia were growing increasingly tense. Very soon the two became bitter enemies. Once in 1689, late at night, he was woken up and told that Sophia had plotted to kill him. The scared Peter jumped on his horse wearing just his night dress and galloped to Holy Trinity’s Monastery. He was followed by his mother, the boyars, the regiments that were faithful to him and the foreigners. Although the alarm turned out to be false, it brought the conflict to a head. Sophia gave up further struggle, was removed from power and exiled to a convent. But Peter was in no rush to take the reigns of government, which he offered to his mother, his half brother (who died shortly afterwards) and the boyars, and engaged, in the following ten years, in military science and shipbuilding. He had a longing for the sea. So in 1693 Peter left for the City of Archangel, Russia’s only port at that time, which was located on the White Sea shore, in Russia’s north. 

He was enjoying a sea voyage for the first time. 

Standing on decks, he watched as a fantastic dawn spread behind the layers of gloomy cloud… A sun of incredible size had risen over the dark fringes of the forests; its ray had darted across the sky, impinging on he bank, the rocks and the pines. There were jetty walls on piles along the bank, wooden embankments, mountains of bales, sacks and barrels under awnings. Rolls of cable. Stacks of timber. About two dozen sea-going ships were moored at the walls and three times as many were at anchor out in the river. The enormous masts with their spider’s webs of rigging towered overhead, the high, elaborately carved poops rocking gently. The flags hung almost down to the water – Holland, England, Hamburg. Guns poked out of the open ports tarred sides with the broad wide stripe running from bows to stern… 

Looking at them Peter thought: “Oh, we could do with at least a couple like that”… He decided to build a shipyard in the City of Archangel without delay: “I’ll do the carpentering myself and I’ll make my boyars hammer the nails in…” 

The young Tsar was so very much engulfed by the sea and warships that he forgot about everything else. Peter dreamt about a battle fleet, one that Russia badly needed to put an end to its alienation from seas, a factor that negatively told on Russia’s trade and, consequently, its development. And yet, there had been a time when Russian ships furrowed the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea until the neighbouring Sweden availed itself of Russia’s weakness in the early 17th century to seize Russia’s lands in the Baltic Sea area and cut Russia off the sea. This fact per se was evidence of European countries’ future expansion eastwards. On the Black Sea Russia was locked by Turkey, which had achieved a dominant position in the area. 

Tsar Peter made an attempt to break through to the sea by capturing in 1696 the Turkish fortress Azov, the gate into the Black Sea. But the seizure triggered off a major war with Turkey. To fight a full-scale war, Russia needed a powerful fleet, which was exactly what it lacked. From that time on Peter saw as his topmost state security objective building up a strong regular Army and Navy, which was pretty hard to achieve, given that Russia had no military experts of its own. To invite foreigners would have cost a lot of money. But even if they had helped build a battle fleet, who would have commanded the ships in fighting? Russia clearly needed its own, Russian, naval officers. And Peter takes a daring decision - to have Russians master European achievements, make use of these achievements to boost Russia’s military might. The Tsar ordered 50 young people to be chosen from the noblest of families and sent to England, Italy and Holland to learn shipbuilding and navigation. 

The fathers were reluctant to obey, while the mothers of the 50 young men bewailed as if their sons had been dead. But Tsar Peter was adamant. Besides, he made a point of always blazing a trail in learning whatever there was to be learnt, so others could follow suit. Peter himself left abroad to study seafaring. He travelled under an assumed name. And this happened in 1697. 

But however hard he tried to remain incognito, he failed. No sooner had he reached Germany than rumours spread that the young Russian Tsar had come to master shipbuilding and gunnery. Peter shunned state receptions or other meetings at the court, yet he did meet two German Princesses. The two nice ladies made some very interesting observations about their meeting with Tsar Peter, for future generations to enjoy. 

“His posture is a strikingly noble one, and he is also quite witty. His replies are invariably prompt to come forth and always exquisitely precise. Whatever his inborn gifts, however, one would only wish that there were more urbanity about his ways. A righteous monarch he appears to be, a virtuous man as well, but an irretrievable sinner at all that. As a specimen judged morally, he represents the whole of his nation to the fullest possible extent. Given his unquestionable merits and the intelligence of utmost brilliance, he would have most certainly emerged as an impeccable gentleman, had he only been thoroughly bred.” 

From Germany Peter went to Holland, which boasted advanced shipbuilding technologies and industrial equipment. In Saardam he got the job of an ordinary carpenter at a shipyard. Yet, his plan to disguise himself as a Dutch worker by putting on a Dutch worker’s uniform fell through. He was annoyed to see that the locals had recognized him, and soon crowds of those curious began to follow him. That was quite a hindrance, and in a week’s time Peter left Saardam for Amsterdam to master shipbuilding at the East India Company shipyard. 

In Holland Peter familiarized himself with the Dutch way of life, visited factories, theatres, the observatory, education centres etc. He showed interest in only what he thought could be useful for Russia. 

From Holland Peter went to London, where he stayed for a whole month. The English said there was probably no art of craft that the Russian Tsar would not take an interest in. The British King made him a present of a yacht. 

Peter left London for Vienna but some bad news from Russia forced him to discontinue his travel. 

It was not only to master seafaring that the Russian Tsar went to Western Europe for, but also to analyze carefully the important political developments there. Peter realized that, given the West-European countries’ attitude to Russia, he could not rely on their assistance, whether technical or financial, for Russia in a war against Turkey. 

His travel to Europe proved of great importance to the Tsar in that it helped him gain knowledge, experience and practical skills, and also think up a clear-cut idea that he should use the experience of the West to make Russia just as powerful as the great powers of Europe. 

Once Peter is back from his travel, he gets down to his transformations. 
The travel to Europe that Tsar Peter made in 1697 exerted an enormous influence on all of his subsequent royal activities. Apart from knowledge and impressions he brought back home the idea that he formulated like this: to use western experience to make Russia as powerful as any great European state of the time. Once Peter was back home he wasted no time to launch his transformations. 

Tsar Peter started with implanting West-European ways in Russian society in complete disregard for the age-old traditions of the Russian people, brought up in the Orthodox faith. During the state reception in honour of his arrival home Peter cut his boyars’ beards with his own hands and ordered them to wear European-style clothes. 

This is how Alexei Tolstoy depicts the episode in his novel “Peter the Great”. 

“He was receiving in a big newly decorated room at a long table, set with flasks, glasses, mugs and cold snacks. Tobacco smoke swirled in the sunbeams. The Tsar’s appearance was somehow un-Russian: a foreign kaftan of fine cloth, feminine lace round his neck, his face drawn-looking with the dark moustaches curled-up and a silky periwig on his head, he was sitting with one stockinged leg bent foreign style under his chair. 

In their long fur coats, their beards protruding, their eyes rolling, the boyars came up to the Tsar and bowed to the feet or to the waist, according to rank. Only then did they notice at Peter’s feet those two abominations unto the Lord, the dwarfs Thomas and Seka, each holding a pair of sheep shears. 

According the bow, Peter raised some up and kissed them, or slapped others on the shoulder, saying merrily: “Look at that! What a beard he’s grown! My dear Sir, they laugh at beards in Europe… Pray allow me the pleasure of its company!” 

Boyar, Prince, Governor, old and young, all stood rigid with horror. Thomas and Seka reached up on tiptoe and with their sheep shears cut off the combed and well-groomed beards. The antique beauty fell to the ground at the Tsar’s feet. Shaking, the humiliated boyar silently covered his face with his hand, but the Tsar personally brought him a more than generous tumbler of triple strength pepper vodka. “Drink to our health for many years to come! Samson had his hair shorn, too… Whence this beard shaving? It is agreeable to the fair sex, for it comes from Paris. Ha-ha! If you miss your beard, have it buried with you in your grave! It will attach itself again, in the next world!” 

Humiliated and depressed, the boyars were leaving the Tsar’s palace, clutching the severed beards in their fists. The 17th century Russian man saw his beard as a sign of dignity and godliness, rather than a decoration. The Russian Orthodox Church also condemned beard shaving. 

But Peter thought differently. For him it was nothing but a manifestation of a religious prejudice. He decreed that those who would not part with their beards had to pay annual taxes. It was only the clergy and peasants that were exempted from the tax even if they chose to have beards. 

Peter’s divorce was another event that made a big stir in Russian society and that defied the commonly shared idea of that one needed to be pious. Peter was quite young when he got married, and it was no love-match. He married the girl whom his mother had picked out for him. Tsarina Eudochia, brought up in olden-day traditions, was the direct opposite to Peter, who rushed to rearrange life in Russia in keeping with European ways. The Tsar decided to persuade her, or, if necessary, use force to make her take the veil. The Tsarina refused and was taken to a convent on his orders. 

Certainly, the Tsar’s transformations were not limited to a fight against the obsolete beards. In 1699 he carried out his first important reform by introducing self-government in cities, a move that he thought would boost trade and industrial production. Later in the same year the Tsar surprised people by yet another novelty of his: he decreed that the Christian era should replace the era starting with the creation of the world, and consequently that New Year should begin on January 1st, as was the case in Europe, rather than on September 1st, the day the Russians had always celebrated it on. Moscow saw the year 1700 in a new fashion: with fireworks, fir-trees and greetings, the way they did in Europe. 
 
Peter’s vehemence and rashness in implanting foreign customs that were totally alien to Russians caused aversion and even smoldered discontent. What was good for Europe was unacceptable to Russia, a country with an immense territory, a harsh climate, which made it impossible to wear the German kaftan, a country, besides, that boasted its own age-old traditions, based on Orthodox Christianity. 

But Tsar Peter had his own idea of how Russia should be rearranged, and he used his iron will to “prance the country”, as poet Alexander Pushkin put it. 

Peter’s first-hand experience of Europe, which prospered thanks to traffic by sea, made him realize that Russia by all means had to gain access to the Baltic Sea, which provided the shortest trade way to Europe. In older times Russia possessed a considerable part of the lands along the Gulf of Finland. Later, Sweden took advantage of a Russia, weakened by internecine strife, and seized these lands, pushing Russia away from the Baltic Sea. With no access to the sea, Russia had neither a fleet nor harbours, which was fraught with the danger of territorial expansion from sea powers and the loss of national sovereignty. Tsar Peter was shrewd enough to realize this and made it a point to win back the old Russian lands. 

In the year 1700 Russia went to war against Sweden, a war that went down in history as the Great Northern War and that lasted for 21 years. The Great Northern War became Tsar Peter’s main concern and occupation. 

In 1703 Russian troops captured the Swedish fort Nienshanz, at the mouth of the Neva river. Close by Peter ordered the construction of the fortress of Petersburg, the future capital of the Russian Empire. 

In his poem “The Bronze Horseman”, dedicated to Tsar Peter, the Great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin aptly described Petersburg as “a window to Europe”. 

Where lonely waters, struggling, sought 

To reach the sea, he paused, in thought 

Immersed, and gazed ahead. The river 

Swept grandly past. In midstream caught, 
 
A peeling bark did bounce and shiver 
 
Upon the waves. And here and there, 
 
On moss-grown, boggy shores a rare, 

Ramshackle hut loomed dark, the dwelling 

Of humble Finn… The sun’s bright glare 

In milky fog was shrouded; falling 

On forests dense, its sickly ray 
 
Ne’er pierced their murk. 

Thought he: the haughty 

Swede here we’ll curb and hold at bay 

And here, to gall him, found a city. 

As nature bids so must we do: 

A window will we cut here through 

On Europe, and a foothold gaining 

Upon this coast, the ships we’ll hail 

Of every flag, and freely sail 

These seas, no more ourselves restraining. 
 

It is not after himself, but after his Saint Patron, Peter the Apostle, that Tsar Peter named the new fortress. He saw the name of St. Peter the Apostle, the holder of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, as a symbol, so he thought that a fortress named after the Saint would surely become the key to the Baltic Sea. 

The Tsar decided to have a port city built speedily and ordered up to 40,000 workers to be sent in from all over Russia annually. Construction teams had to exert themselves to protect what they built against frequent floods, amidst the heavily waterlogged terrain. Construction workers died by the thousand because of bad foodstuffs, a damp climate, diseases and grueling work. The construction of St.Petersburg took a heavy toll on the Russian people. 

Peter thought that since Russia had fought its way to the Baltic Sea, it should build a fleet by the sea. The city’s Admiralty dockyard was built from his drawings to become the cradle of Russia’s fleet. 

St.Petersburg, a new capital city, started arising on the swampy banks of the Neva River with a wave of Peter’s strong arm. He became deeply attached to the city and called it his paradise. In 1712 the Tsar moved the Russian capital from Moscow to St.Petersburg. 

The year 1709 brought Russia a great victory over Sweden. On June 27th the Russian army routed the Swedish army near the town of Poltava, in Ukraine, an event that largely weakened Sweden’s military might. The Poltava victory was of great importance to Russia: on the one hand, it boosted the Russian people’s morale, on the other, it displayed the growing power of a Russia that Europe had never known before. From then on Russia’s influence on developments in the Baltic Sea area was steadily on the increase. 

Yet, Sweden, which was still strong, refused to sign a peace treaty. The war lasted up to 1721 and ended in signing the Treaty of Nystad, under which Russia received a considerable part of the Baltic Sea coast, currently the territory of Estonia, Latvia, Karelia and Petersburg, with the adjacent region. For Tsar Peter it was a dream come true. From then on Russia could freely trade with European states. 

Peter rejoiced at the signing of the peace treaty and ordered celebrations to mark the event. During the festivities he was granted the title of “The Father of the Fatherland” and Emperor of All Russia. 

The Northern War did not only extend the borders of Russia. In fact, it became the driving force behind all Russian reforms. The war required more troops, and Peter carried out military reform and opened new schools to train officers, military engineers and physicians. 

The war required money and armaments, and the Tsar built new factories and plants at the expense of the state and then handed them over to private owners. 

Booming industries needed educated people, so the Tsar invited foreign teachers and masters or sent Russian youngsters to study at foreign schools and universities. 

Fully aware of the importance of sciences and education, Peter went to great lengths to disseminate knowledge in Russia. It was during his reign that the first Russian newspaper, theatre, library and museum appeared in this country; that books of scientific and secular contents were published and schools were opened for children from different layers of society. His transformations were tremendous, involving all aspects of social life. 

But it took the nation enormous efforts and sacrifices to destroy the old routine and introduce the new one. Dozens of thousands of people perished at the construction sites of St.Petersburg. New taxes proved a heavy burden on peasants, craftsmen and merchants, prices went steadily up in a country that was exhausted by the protracted war. 

Public discontent was running deep. People cursed the Tsar for the hardships of their life and hated his reforms. Peter the Great saw the cause of discontent and realized there was a limit to the nation’s endurance. But he would not give in, determined to make Russia a powerful country. State interests came first with Peter, and he could justify any cruelty if he thought the state could benefit from it. This attitude of his had a tragic impact on the fate of his son and successor, tsarevitch Alexei. 

You remember, of course, that Peter divorced his first wife, Alexei’s mother, and banished her to a convent. He was forty when he married for a second time. Martha Skavronskaya was a Lithuanian girl of humble origin. She adopted Orthodoxy and was baptized Yekaterina (Catherine). She bore Peter many children, all of whom died in childhood except for Anna and Elizabeth (later Elizabeth the First, Empress of Russia from 1741 to 1762). This made tsarevitch Alexei heir apparent. Originally Peter had high hopes for his son. But as Alexei was growing up, Peter could see increasingly clearer that his son was unable to take over from him. A direct opposite to his father, Alexei preferred a quiet life. He was quite pious and read a lot of religious books. He had no wish at all to help Peter with his transformations. The tsarevitch feared and disliked his father, and even wanted him to die. 

Those who bore a deep-seated grudge against the Tsar used the involved relationship between Alexei and Peter to set Alexei against his father by stirring his petty ambitions and impressing it on him that one day his father would die and things would be different. They advised him to have patience, show obedience and even renounce the throne, if the Emperor so demanded. 

It was no secret to Peter that all those who resented his reforms placed hopes on the tsarevitch. Finally the Emperor demanded that his son should either come to his senses or take monastic vows. Alexei said he was ready to retire to a monastery. Peter decided not to rush things. He gave his son six months to think things over and went abroad. But Alexei took advantage of his father’s absence and fled abroad in the hope of finding shelter there. But Peter’s agents found Alexei and persuaded him to return to Russia. 

On February 3rd, 1718, in front of a large gathering in the palace, the Emperor forgave his son on condition that he abdicated the throne and named all those who ill-advised him to leave Russia. The tsarevitch did as he was told. But when shortly afterwards the investigators found out about malicious intent against the Emperor, Peter backed out of his promise to forgive Alexei and put him on trial. The court sentenced the tsarevitch to death. But the sentence was not fated to be carried out. Exhausted by terrible emotional shocks and torture, the tsarevitch died in the Fortress of Peter and Paul on June 27th, 1718. 

Now that Alexei was dead, Peter had no one to succeed him. This prompted him to issue a decree on succession to the throne. Under the decree the Tsar had the right to appoint a successor and strip the appointee of the throne if the person proved to be unworthy of it. Unfortunately, the decree had the most negative consequences for the Russian state, while Peter the Great himself had never applied it. 

Hard work, the war and personal tragedies undermined the Emperor’s health. At the age of 53 he fell seriously ill and died in terrible pains on January 28th, 1725. 

Shortly before his death Peter demanded a piece of paper to write a will, but the pen fell out of his hands. It was possible to make out only the words: “Give everything to…” 

Peter the Great ruled Russia for 42 years. His reign brought Russia both glory and hardships. But whatever the faults of his reign, the first Russian Emperor went down in history as a great statesman who provided a fresh impulse for Russia’s development and transformed the country into a powerful state. In historian Vassily Klyuchevsky’s words: “…in this way people reconcile themselves to a violent spring thunderstorm that breaks age-old trees, freshens the air and whose showers help crops come up…” 

__________________________ 

Illustrations: 

N.Pavlenko, The Life of Famous People, “Peter I”, Molodaya Gvardiya, Moscow,1975 

N.Orlova. “History of Russia. Tsars and Emperors”, Bely Gorod, Moscow, 2001