The personality of Peter 1 rightfully occupies one of the leading places in the history of the Russian state. And the point is not that this man founded the Empire as such, but that during the reign of Peter the Great, Russia received a completely new vector of development. Thousands of historical and biographical books have been written that create the portrait of Peter the Great, but to this day, historians cannot unambiguously characterize the activities of this person. Some of them deify the first Russian emperor, describing his innovations in the state system and foreign policy. Others, on the contrary, try to show him a tyrant and a despot, referring to excessive harshness and cruelty towards their subjects. But the portrait of Peter 1, whose photo is presented below, depicts a purposeful and educated man.
The first emperor is also criticized for ill-conceived innovations aimed, according to historians, to eradicate the whole of Russian, replacing it with Western values. However, both of them unambiguously agree on one thing: it was a truly ambiguous, iconic and great figure in the history of the Russian state.
Judge not lest ye be judged
If you carefully study the historical portrait of Peter 1, created by the authors of countless works, you can come to a simple conclusion: such large-scale personalities cannot be judged one-sidedly. Strict demarcations of the “white and black” type are unacceptable here. Moreover, for criticism or, conversely, praise, it is necessary to clearly understand the laws and foundations that existed at that time. And what sometimes seems wild and terrible to our contemporaries was a simple routine for different segments of the population of Russia at the beginning of the 18th century.
The portrait of Peter the Great cannot be composed using modern moral values. This approach will be “flat” and emotional. It will prevent a sober assessment of the historical reality of the Moscow state, and then the Russian Empire of the 18th century.
Therefore, you just need to try to objectively focus on the neutral biography of the first Russian emperor and everything that was connected with him. After all, such individuals, as a rule, leave a mark not only in politics and government.
Education is the foundation of a future personality
Petr Alekseevich Romanov was born on May 30, 1672. Like all the royal offspring, the future sovereign received exclusively home education. And I must admit that, even in modern times, it was not bad. Educators revealed in the boy a great tendency to foreign languages and exact sciences. In other words, in the future emperor, from childhood, humanitarian and technical aspirations were combined. Although he preferred the practical sciences.
The youngest son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Natalya Naryshkina, little Peter, grew up as a surprisingly mobile and strong child. In addition to his penchant for science, he climbed fences with pleasure, fought with noble peers from his inner circle and made other mischief peculiar to this age.
Handicraft is an occupation worthy of kings
A particular surprise of all biographers, without exception, has always been the fascination of the tsar’s son with simple working crafts, to which he showed interest at a very young age. Not a single historical portrait of Peter 1 is complete without a description of how he could spend hours watching the work of a lathe or breathing with pleasure the hot fumes of the palace forge.
The interest of the royal offspring did not go unnoticed. Special craftsmen were singled out who began to teach Peter the basics of the simplest crafts: turning and forging. It should be borne in mind that this did not go to the detriment of the main curriculum of the young heir. Exact sciences, the study of languages, the foundations of military affairs have not been canceled. From early childhood, the future sovereign received a multilateral and high-quality education (contrary to the opinion of some Western historians that the home education of Russia in those years was one-sided and unprofessional).
However, you can’t call the emperor “simpleton” for anything, looking at the portrait of Peter 1 by the artist Antropov: tsar’s regalia, posture and gaze speak of a great and powerful man. And although at the time of the creation of the picture of the emperor had not been alive for almost 50 years, the author depicted it very reliably.
Coronation and reference
The political portrait of Peter 1 should begin to be written in 1682. After the death of the childless tsar Fedor Alekseevich young Romanov was enthroned. However, this happened bypassing his older brother Ivan, which the Miloslavsky party (relatives of the elder sister of Peter - Sophia) did not fail to take advantage of to organize a palace coup. The Miloslavskys successfully used streltsy unrest, and as a result the Naryshkin clan, to which Peter's mother belonged, was almost destroyed. Ivan was appointed "senior" king, and Sophia became the regent governor.
Streletsky revolt and outright cruelty of murders very seriously affected the personality of Peter the Great. Many historians associate precisely with these events the further, not always balanced, acts of the king.
Sophia, becoming the sole owner of the country, almost exiled the little king to Preobrazhenskoye - a small estate in the Moscow Region. It was here that Peter, collecting the noble algae of his inner circle, created the famous "amusing regiments." Military formations had a real form, officers and soldiers, and obeyed real army discipline. Peter, of course, was the commander in chief. For the amusement of the young king, a “funny fortress” was built, which, honing his “fighting skills”, was stormed by a funny army. However, few people then suspected that it was precisely this children's amusement of the boys who ran with wooden guns and sabers that would initiate the famous and formidable Petrovsky Guard.
Not a single portrait of Peter 1 is complete without the mention of Alexander Menshikov. They met there, in Preobrazhensky. The son of a groom in the following years became the emperor’s right hand and one of the most powerful people in the Empire.
Coup Miloslavsky
The weakness and soreness of the "senior" Tsar Ivan constantly made the ruler Sophia think of complete autocracy in the country. Surrounded by nobles from the strong clan of Miloslavsky, the ruler was in complete confidence that she would be able to usurp power. However, Peter stood on the way to the throne. He was the anointed of God and a full king.
In August 1689, Sophia decided on a coup, the purpose of which was the elimination of Peter and the capture of the throne. However, faithful people warned the young tsar, and he managed to leave Preobrazhenskoe, taking refuge in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The monastery was not chosen by chance. Powerful walls, ditches and underground passages constituted an insurmountable barrier for the foot archers of Sophia. According to all the rules of military science, Sophia had neither time nor money to storm. In addition, the elite of the command of the archery units openly hesitated, not knowing which side to choose.
Who owned the decision to retreat precisely to the Trinity-Sergievo? This is not mentioned by any historical portrait of Peter 1. In short, this place turned out to be fatal for Sophia and very successful for the king. The nobles supported Peter. The fighting detachments of the noble cavalry and the infantry of the "amusing" and faithful archers surrounded Moscow. Sophia was condemned and imprisoned in a monastery, and all associates of the Miloslavsky clan were executed or exiled.
After the death of Tsar Ivan, Peter became the sole owner of the Moscow throne. Perhaps it was precisely the events described that prompted him to a serious reorganization of the entire Russian way of life. After all, representatives of the “good old days” in the person of Sagittarius and Miloslavsky constantly tried to physically eliminate the young sovereign by instilling in him a subconscious fear, which, according to contemporaries, depicting the psychological portrait of Peter 1, was reflected on his face and pursued in his soul almost until his death. Even the painters noticed and recreated the unusually strong, but at the same time extremely tired face of the king. The artist Nikitin, whose portrait of Peter the Great is amazing in its simplicity and lack of imperial paraphernalia, just conveyed such a strong-willed and imperious, but deeply sincere person. True, art historians are inclined to “take away” part of the glory from Nikitin, referring to a drawing style that is not characteristic of the beginning of the century.
Window to Europe - German settlement
Against the background of these events, the aspirations of the young tsar to everything European look quite logical. It is impossible not to note the role of Kukuy - the German settlement, which the emperor liked to visit. Friendly Germans and their tidy life differed sharply from what Peter saw in the rest of Moscow. But the point, of course, is not in neat houses. The sovereign was imbued with the very lifestyle of this small piece of Europe.
Many historians believe that it was the visit to Kukuy that partly shaped the historical portrait of Peter 1. Briefly, the future pro-Western views. We must not forget about the acquaintances made by the tsar on the German reservation. There he met a retired Swiss officer Franz Lefort, who became the main military adviser, and charming Anna Mons - the future favorite of the first emperor. Both of these people played an important role in the history of Russia.
Access to the sea is a strategic task
Peter is more and more interested in the fleet. Specially hired Dutch and English craftsmen teach him the tricks and wisdom of building ships. In the future, when multi-gun battleships and frigates will fly under the Russian flag, knowledge of the nuances of shipbuilding will come in handy to Peter several times. All defects and defects in the construction, he determined himself. No wonder he was called the carpenter king. Peter 1 could really build a ship from bow to stern with his own hands.
However, during his youth, the Moscow state had only one access to the sea - in the city of Arkhangelsk. European ships, of course, called at this port, but geographically the place was too unsuccessful for serious trade ties (due to the long and expensive delivery of goods deep into Russia). This thought, of course, visited not only Peter Alekseevich. His predecessors also fought for access to the sea, mostly unsuccessfully.
Peter the Great decided to continue the Azov campaigns. Moreover, the war with Turkey that began in 1686 continued. The army, which he trained in a European way, was already an impressive force. Several military campaigns were carried out on the sea city of Azov. But only the latter was successful. True, the victory went dearly. A small, but built at that time, according to the latest engineering, fortress claimed many Russian lives.
And although the fact of the capture of Azov in Europe was perceived rather skeptically (precisely because of the ratio of losses), this was the first real strategic victory of the young king. And most importantly, Russia finally got access to the sea.
North War
Despite the frank skepticism of European politicians, Peter 1 begins to think about the Baltic. The ruling elite at that time was seriously concerned about the growing ambitions of another young strategist - the Swedish king Charles XII. This is partly why Europeans supported the tsar of Moscow in his quest to get part of the Baltic coastal lands to open shipyards and ports there. It seemed that having two or three ports of Russia could well be allowed, and the inevitable war for the Baltic would seriously weaken Sweden, which, although it would defeat the weak Russians, would seriously get bogged down in the mainland of wild Muscovy.
Thus began the long Northern War. It lasted from 1700 to 1721 and ended with the unexpected defeat of the Swedish army near Poltava, as well as the approval of the Russian presence in the Baltic.
Reformer
Of course, without serious economic and political changes in Russia, Peter the Great would not have cut through the famous “window to Europe”. Reforms affected literally the entire lifestyle of the Moscow state. If we talk about the army, then it got its formation precisely in the Northern War. Peter found resources for its modernization and organization according to the European model. And if at the beginning of hostilities the Swedes were dealing with unorganized, often poorly armed and untrained units, then at the end of the war it was already a powerful European army, able to win.
But not only the personality of Peter the Great, who had the remarkable talent of a commander, allowed him to win a great victory. The professionalism of his closest generals and ascetics is a topic for long and meaningful conversations. Entire legends are composed about the heroism of a simple Russian soldier. Of course, no army could have won without a serious rear. It was military ambitions that spurred the economy of old Russia and brought it to a completely different level. After all, the old traditions could no longer fully meet the needs of the growing army and navy. Almost every lifetime portrait of Peter 1 depicts him in military armor or with military paraphernalia. Artists paid tribute to the merits of the emperor.
Not a single army
The portrait of Peter 1 would not be complete if we confine ourselves only to economic and military victories. The emperor should be given credit for the development and implementation of reforms in the field of state administration. First of all, this is an institution of the Senate and colleges instead of the obsolete and working on the class principle of the Boyar Duma and orders.
Developed by Peter, the “Table of Ranks” gave rise to the appearance of the so-called social elevators. In other words, the Report card made it possible to receive benefits and nobility solely according to their deserts. The changes also affected diplomacy. Instead of the old fur coats and caps of the noble boyars who represented Russia, embassies appeared with diplomats of a European level.
Description of the portrait of Peter 1 will be incomplete, if we talk about him only in superlatives. It is worth noting that with the general geopolitical growth of Russia, the lives of ordinary people inside the country have not changed much, and in some cases (for example, recruit service) has become worse. The life of a simple serf cost less than the life of a horse. This was especially noticeable during the "global" Peter's construction sites. Thousands of people died, building the most beautiful city in Europe - St. Petersburg. No one considered the dead during the construction of the Ladoga Canal ... And many young guys did not become soldiers, having died under the sticks of officers introducing discipline in military units.
It is precisely for the complete neglect of human life that the first emperor is criticized for, imputing to him senseless cruelty and a huge number of unjustified victims. Moreover, we are everywhere confronted with the astonishing facts of the activity of Peter 1.
In defense of this man, only one thing can be said. The first emperor of Russia never moved away from his people at those distances that subsequent rulers allowed themselves to. A thousand times the enemy’s core could tear it to pieces. Dozens of times Pyotr Alekseevich Romanov could simply drown on imperfect sea vessels. And during global construction projects, he slept in the same huts with sick builders, at the risk of catching ailments, for which at that time there was no medicine.
Of course, the emperor was better protected from enemy bullets than an ordinary soldier, he was treated by good doctors, and he had a greater chance of not dying from the flu than an ordinary peasant. However, let us end the description of the portrait of Peter 1 with a memory of the cause of his death. The emperor died of pneumonia, which he received while rescuing from a cold water a simple guard soldier who had left the banks of the Neva. The fact, perhaps, is not so remarkable in comparison with the deeds of his whole life, but says a lot. It is unlikely that any of the modern "powers of this world" is capable of such an act ...