In the history of the Russian state there were many different rulers: great diplomats, wonderful strategists and brilliant commanders. But only one of them combined all these qualities - Peter the Great. He was called a brilliant reformer, a madman, a bully and the Antichrist. How was the personality of Tsar Peter formed, what factors influenced this?
Unusual king
Peter Alekseevich Romanov was very different from his predecessors. Undoubtedly, between them there was a deep hereditary connection. But all the rulers of Russia were masters who anxiously guarded the country's wealth for themselves and used other people's hands for work. And the son of Alexei Mikhailovich was a tsar-worker in the literal sense of the word. Fourteen professions owned by Tsar Peter the Great is not a beautiful fairy tale, but the truth.
The character of the first Russian emperor
Peter the Great had a complex and controversial character. He inherited liveliness, indefatigable curiosity and quickness of thought on the maternal side. As a child, he was a smart and handsome boy, very different from his co-ruler, brother Ivan.
The main character traits of Peter were hot temper, impetuosity, sensitivity and incredulity. When he could not clearly explain something, he easily fell into a rage. In this state, he often clutched his cane. By the way, the king retreated quickly and in a few minutes could forgive the offender. But its simplicity was deceiving. Peter the First asked to turn to him without a title, but in the event of apparent disobedience, the verdict was swift and cruel.
How was the personality of Tsar Peter the Great formed? What made him so different from the rest of the Russian rulers? The answer must be sought in the earliest years of the little prince.
The childhood of Peter the Great
It is not known where the future first Russian emperor was born. Some alleged places are called, but the researchers have no exact data.
Trying to understand how the personality of Tsar Peter the Great was formed, one must first turn to his parents - those who had a direct influence on him from birth.
At 4 years old, he lost his father, who loved him very much. Alexei Mikhailovich, gifting his son with toy soldiers and pistols, aroused the child's first interest in weapons and military affairs. According to contemporaries of the king, as a child, he was not interested in any other toys and amusements except the military.
The father, wanting to give the youngest son the correct military training, assigned Colonel Menezius to him as a military mentor. So it turned out that Peter the Great began to study military affairs earlier than literacy. It was a minor heir then 4 years. Acquaintance with the letter began for him at the age of five.
Learning from church books for a living and restless child was a real torment, so Nikita Zotov, a teacher of a young tsar, also taught him from then-popular "funny" picture books. Mentor Peter paid much attention to the study of the military history of Russia, talking about the exploits of Alexander Nevsky, Prince Vladimir and Ivan the Terrible.
Until the age of ten, the prince lived calmly and carefree with his mother near Moscow, in the village of Preobrazhensky. Here, an earthen fortification with guns was built for him, where he, with his "amusing" army recruited from peers, could engage in military affairs, playing in the capture of the fortress.
The childhood of Peter the Great was not cloudless. The Streletsky rebellion of 1682, witnessed by the young Peter, could not but leave an imprint on the psyche of the child, becoming the cause of the nervous breakdown of the future emperor. Because of this, the face of the king in moments of intense excitement was distorted by convulsions.
After Sophia's sister came to power, he was again sent to Preobrazhenskoye. Zotov was removed from him, and the young heir was left to his own devices. Another idle lifestyle would have spoiled, but the integral and active nature of Peter did not allow to kill the curiosity and desire to learn new things. He himself later said that he really lacked the knowledge not received in childhood.
Tsar Peter Alekseevich studied until his death. At age 14, he learned about astrolabe and ordered him to bring it from France. Then he found a Dutchman who was able to outline how to handle the device. This was enough for a talented young man to further figure it out for himself. It has always been so. Seeing or learning about something unknown to him, the tsar immediately set about trying to learn a new business and did not calm down until he became an expert on it. So, having seen an abandoned bot, he learned to sail on it and even laid down his own shipyard.
Environment
How was the personality of Tsar Peter Alekseevich formed? This question is extremely interesting, given the fact how much it differed from its predecessors. The environment of the young heir played a huge role in the education of those qualities that were inherent in Peter the Great. He was lucky - at first his father, and after his death, his older brother Fedor paid much attention to the education and training of the heir to the throne. The teachers, Menezius, and the clerk Nikita Moiseyevich Zotov, later assigned to Peter, instilled in him a craving for knowledge and maintained an interest in everything new.
Companions and closest people to the tsar were Franz Yakovlevich Lefort, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, Pavel Yaguzhinsky, Jacob Bruce.
The first Russian emperor - a brilliant reformer or tyrant?
It is difficult to judge the personality of Peter the Great. Opposite traits of character were closely intertwined in it. Temper, cruelty, vengeance coexisted with industriousness, curiosity, an indefatigable thirst for life, a cheerful disposition. The uniqueness of the personality of Pyotr Alekseevich was that he possessed a strong thirst for knowledge and enormous capacity for work, with the help of which he sought to transform Russia backward in all respects and make it a great power.