Peter the Great

Peter I of Russia is one of those few European leaders who have been accredited with the title The Great’. As Tsar of Russia, Peter earned this accolade through his modernisation and westernisation of the country, turning it from a minor country to major European power within his lifetime. His methods may not always have been moral but his results were impressive.

Peter was born Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov in Moscow on the 30th May 1672. Peter was one of a number of children of the Russian Tsar, Alexis I. Peter’s mother was the Tsar’s second wife, Nataliva Kyrillovna Naryshkina. Peter’s early childhood was a privileged one, but not a particularly happy one.

Alexis I died in 1676, when Peter was just four. The role of Tsar was passed to Peter’s half-brother, Feodor III. This transition was relatively smooth as the line of succession was clear. Problems arose though when Feodor died in 1682. Feodor had no children and as such the throne should have passed to another of Peter’s half-brother’s Ivan V. Ivan though was a sickly child. Thus the Russian nobles declared that Peter was to become the Tsar.

This declaration incited a dispute between the families of Alexis I’s two wives, the Naryshkin and Miloslavsky, about which of their sons should become Tsar. Sophia Alekseyevna, Peter’s step-sister and a Miloslavsky, organised a rebellion with the backing of the Russian elite military corps, the Streltsy. The rebellion was a bloody one, and Peter himself witnessed the butchering of a number of his friends and family. Seeing his best friend and uncle killed are often seen as a cause of some of Peter’s mental and physical problems in later years.

With military backing it was Sophia who was ultimately successful with her rebellion. Sophia insisted on a joint Tsar-ship, with her brother Ivan as the senior Tsar. As both Tsars were underage, Sophia acted as regent exercising complete rule, with the Tsars purely used as her mouth pieces. Sophia, was influenced herself by her lover, Prince Golitsin. It is not certain who actually came up with the Russian policies. During Sophia’s consortship there were unpopular domestic policies, as well as ineffectual foreign campaigns, including two disasters in the Crimea.

Peter was not actually too concerned about ruling the country. He was of course still a child, and would spend most of his time playing with his toy soldiers. Even into his teenage years, he found more enjoyment in travels to Germany and learning about ship building and sailing, than any element of government. Peter’s mother attempted to force him to take more of an interest in affairs of state. One method she adopted was a marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689. The marriage though was a disaster from the start and Eudoxia soon found herself deserted by her husband.

Peter’s mother though was successful in getting him more interested in politics. Sophia’ seven years of rule came to an end in 1689 as Peter saw the unsuccessful Crimean campaigns as the tool he needed to take power. Using the Triotsky monastery as a seat of power, he gathered supporters to him. This time he also had the backing of most of the Streltsy.

At the age of 17, Peter had successfully unseated Sophia, although in name he was still co-Tsar with Ivan. Peter banished Sophia to a convent, and set about minimising the influence of Ivan. He did though have to deal with the interference of his mother, and in truth it was only with the death of Nataliva Naryshkina in 1694 that could exert his true power. Power which was made ultimate with the death of Ivan in 1696, when Peter was declared Sovereign of all Russia.

Peter’s travels to Western Europe in his youth, had taught Peter of the advancements available. He brought in advisors from these countries and started to implement reforms designed to modernise the country. One of the first areas he focused on was the nation’s army and navy. To make a fulltime navy worthwhile, Peter saw that Russia required maritime ports. The Baltic though was controlled by Sweden whilst the Black Sea was controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

Peter turned his forces to the Black Sea, which required the defeat of the Tatars and the Crimean Khan. The main fortress was that of Azov, it took Peter almost a year before the fortress fell to his forces. The fall of the fort allowed the creation of the first Russian naval base on the Black Sea’s coastline. Once won though the fortress had to be held, the Russian army was in no position to fight the might of the Ottoman Empire in a long drawn out war, thus Peter went on a diplomatic mission to the west to find support.

Diplomatically the mission was far from a success, Austria and France would not assist him. In other ways though the mission helped Peter, he advanced his knowledge of shipbuilding in Amsterdam, as well as sailing and navigation spending four months in the Dutch East India Company’s main shipyard. Peter also learnt about fire fighting, city building and much other western advancements.
He was though forced to return home to suppress a rebellion which sought to put Sophia back on the throne. The rebellion was ruthless crushed by Peter, who had 1200 of the rebels executed after a period of torture. Peter still recognised the need for military advancement. So in 1698 sent a party to the Knights of Malta, to learn their techniques and also to form an alliance.

Peter was now totally convinced that European customs were far more advanced than Russian ones. One of the more weird requirements that Peter made to ensure that Russia fell in line with Europe, was to make all civil servants and courtiers clean shaven. Anyone refusing to shave was to pay an annual beard tax. The other major alteration Peter made from this period was the changing of the New Year celebrations from the 1st September to 1st January.

With no alliance from Western governments, Peter made peace with the Ottoman Empire. Such was his diplomacy though he was even able to keep the captured Azov fort. Peter then looked to the north to assist his vision of Russian maritime supremacy. Peter wanted an all weather port, which meant the acquisition of a port on the Baltic. This though meant war with King Charles XII of Sweden. At the time the Swedish empire was a powerful force. Twenty-one years of fighting followed the declaration of war.

The war didn’t start well and but for the distraction of Charles XII, the Russian force could well have been wiped out in 1700. Success though followed and Peter took Izhora, which he promptly made the site of his new capital, St Petersburg, in 1703.

During this period he also decided to end his first marriage, Eudoxia Lopukhina was forced to become a nun, annulling his marriage, despite his wife bearing him three children. Of the three sons born, Alexei, Alexander and Pavel, only Alexei lived past his first birthday. Peter took a mistress, Martha Skavronskaya, and this time it appeared to be a relationship of love. Martha converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and changed her name to Catherine. The couple were secretly married in 1707, and then publicly married in 1712.

Catherine bore Peter seven children; Anna, Elizabeth, Natalia, Margarita, Peter, Pavel, and another Natalia. Anna and Elizabeth though were the only children to survive into adulthood.
Alexei from the first marriage didn’t live long into adulthood himself, as in 1718 he was convicted of high treason by his father. Secretly executed it is not clear whether it was for an attempted coup or failure to follow Peter’s orders and official policies.

The war against Sweden though took a turn for the worse in 1706, when Peter’s Polish ally King August II was forced to abdicate following Charles’ victory. Swedish forces marched into Russia although the loss of he reserve forces at the Battle of Lesnaya stopped the Swedish advance. In the summer of 1709 the Russian forces defeated the Swedish army at the Battle of Poltava forcing King Charles XII into exile within the Ottoman Empire.

Peter then turned his attention back to the Ottoman Empire, he did though over estimate his strength and army’s ability. The Russian forces were crushed and the ensuing peace treaty saw the loss of most of his Black Sea possessions. Charles XII was also returned to power in Sweden and so the battle to the north continued once again.

Peter though had made good usage of the years of control of the north and by 1714, the Russian navy was the most powerful in the Baltic arena. This power attached to more diplomacy from Peter ensured that some European nations, Hanover and Prussia, joined his force. It was though three years after Charles XII’s death in 1718 before peace with Sweden was achieved. The Great Northern War ended in 1721, with Russia acquiring Estonia and Livonia as well as Finnish lands around his new capital of St Petersburg. The war also ensured that Russia had ports open all year round, ensuring continual trade with the rest of Europe.

St Petersburg is worthy of note, as in 1712 Peter moved the Russian capital to the new city. The whole city was designed to be a modern European one, as opposed to the more traditional Moscow. It was here that Peter also built his main palace, Peterhof’ designed to compete with Versailles.
Following 1721 Russia had a period of peace, aside from excursions into Persia. In October 1721 Peter was acclaimed as Emperor of All Russia, Great Father of the Fatherland and The Great’. This period of peace allowed Peter to continue his reformation of the country.

Peter turned his attention to the Church. The Russian Orthodox Church was placed under the control of the state, and a new law was passed to ensure that no Russian man could become a monk before the age of 50.

In 1722, Peter created a Table of Ranks’ where position within the Russian Empire was determined on ability and services provided, no longer would birth guarantee a position. Peter also introduced a new parliament the Senat/Duma which would deal with the governing of the country in the absence of Peter. Peter introduced education to a proportion of the population. A law was passed to make all children of the nobility, government officials and clerk, between the ages of 10 and 15, would have to learn mathematics and geometry.

Peter also introduced new taxes to fund Peter’s projects to improve Russia. New head taxes were to be paid by all, but land taxes were reformed so that they were only payable by those who owned land and property. He put into use everything he had learnt during his lifetime.

Peter though had a mean streak. He had his first wife executed and was not averse to torture in case where he believed uprising was planned. There are also tales that he used his own servants in war games, where he used live ammunition in recreations of his toy soldier battles.

There is also one other notable fact about Peter. Peter was almost seven foot tall. He towered over his subjects and also his rival European leaders. Peter, in common with many Russian Tsars, though was not the healthiest of individuals. In 1724 he was forced into an operation to remove urine block.

Despite the need for recovery he went on a tour of Russia engineering projects. Legend has it that it was at a project along the Finnish Gulf that he personally rescued some drowning soldiers. The time in the water though is said to have brought about a bout of pneumonia, which caused his death on the 28th January 1725. A later autopsy though revealed gangrene in his bladder.

Peter died at the age of 52, following forty-two years of Russian rule. Peter though died without nominating an heir; as a result his wife took up the position of Empress.

Peter deserves the title Great’; he transformed Russia from a minor European country into a European power. An uneducated and uncivilised country was transformed into a modern nation with a modern army to enforce its will.

Copyright - First Published 28th March 2008