St. Petersburg did not become the capital overnight. For a long time he competed with Moscow, where the traditions of patriarchal Russia were still strong. The decision to move the capital was taken ambiguously.
Fateful decision
For Peter I, the decision to move the capital was by no means an idle whim. There were several reasons for this, and one of them was the specific attitude of Peter to the First See. "Peter did not like Moscow, - wrote Pushkin, - where at every step he met memories of riots and executions, ingrained antiquity and stubborn resistance of superstition and prejudice."
The young tsar's passion was ships, and "land" Moscow did not allow his grandiose plans for the construction and development of the fleet to come true.
Peter needed a residence on the seaside. However, not only the residence, but also the capital - "so that guests from other countries can sail to the king by sea, and not overcome the dangerous road to Moscow."
The swampy delta of the Neva was not the most successful place for the construction of a city, but almost the only one that made it possible to connect Russia and Europe by the shortest sea route. The foundation stone of the Peter and Paul Fortress in 1703, from which St. Petersburg began, met not only the military-strategic interests of Peter I, but also his aspirations to establish comprehensive contacts with European countries.
Promotional video:
When did the capital transfer take place?
The city on the Neva in Peter's mind became the capital at the very beginning of its construction. Already in 1704, in a letter to Menshikov from the Olonets shipyard, the tsar wrote: "We end up with tea on the second or third day of the next month and leave to leave, and if God willing, we will be in the capital (Piterburkh) in three days or four".
In many sources, the transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg dates back to 1712: it was by this year that the royal court, high officials and senators, as well as some government services and foreign embassies, were moving to the northern capital.
It is interesting that the transfer of the capital to the Neva took place at a time when these lands did not formally belong to Russia.
Only in 1721, according to the Treaty of Nystad, signed after the end of the Northern War, St. Petersburg, de jure in the possession of Sweden, was already legally transferred to Russia. So, for 9 years, Peter ruled the country actually from the territory of another state!
Why the city of Petra?
Many people mistakenly believe that the new capital of Russia got its name in honor of Peter I, on whose initiative the city was founded. But historical documents indicate that the king himself connected the name of the new city with the name of the Apostle Peter, considering the saint to be his heavenly patron. The name "Peter" is translated as "stone".
Strictly according to plan
St. Petersburg was originally conceived as a European city, to the construction of which Peter attracted the best Western experts. Its rectangular layout with wide avenues and straight lines of streets radically differed from the tight and chaotic radial-ring development of Moscow.
The city was built strictly according to plan literally in front of one generation.
To maintain a high rate of construction, up to 40 thousand "working people" were sent to St. Petersburg every year, and many artisans, artisans and merchants moved to permanent residence. No wonder they say: "Moscow was created for centuries, Petersburg - in millions!"
Haven of commerce
The primary task for St. Petersburg was the development of defense industries that meet the needs of the army and navy. But the growing needs of the city's population caused a rapid growth in trade relations with the rest of Russia.
Much attention was paid to the construction of roads connecting St. Petersburg with various shopping centers of the country - Novgorod, Riga, Moscow.
However, they did not forget about the main purpose of the new capital. Thanks to the initiative of Peter, who strove to turn the city into a “haven of commerce,” St. Petersburg is rapidly reorienting itself to trade relations with Europe. In a matter of years, the capital is overgrown with living rooms, customs and stock exchanges.
Criticism and defense
Not all prominent Russian figures were enthusiastic about the move of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. So, Karamzin called "a brilliant mistake of Peter the Great, the founding of a new capital on the northern edge of the state, amid swell swamps, in places condemned by nature to sterility and lack."
Many contemporaries of Peter had a similar opinion, who believed that Petersburg was far behind the center of the country, thereby nullifying its importance as a capital.
However, Bishop Gabriel Buzhinsky did not agree with such thoughts, spread, in his opinion, by “poisonous echidnas who sharpened their slate teeth”. Arguing against the critics of Peter I, the bishop praises the location of the new city, points to its strategic and economic importance, and recalls the glorious history of the Neva banks.
Capital or residence?
The plan of St. Petersburg, published during the life of Peter I, bears the designation "Russischen Haupt-Residenz und See Stadt". This gave some researchers a reason to consider Petersburg in the 1710s – 1920s. not the capital, but the "Main Residence" of the royal court. Peter's words, written in a comic form to Prince Romodanovsky on the occasion of the Poltava victory, indirectly confirm this hypothesis: "Now, without hesitation, your Majesty's desire to have a residence for you in Petersburg was accomplished through this decline of the ultimate enemy."
Indeed, at first the functions of the two main cities of Russia were separated.
“Moscow province. Moscow is the Russian capital. Saint Petersburg province. In St. Petersburg in the Russian residence”, - such a record appeared in 1727 in a statistical essay by the Chief Secretary of the Senate Ivan Kirilov.
However, Peter I nevertheless conceived the capital on the banks of the Neva in all its senses. For this, he built the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, where he transported the relics of the legendary Prince Alexander Nevsky from Vladimir. It was in St. Petersburg that the tsar wanted to see the center of the military, political, economic and spiritual life of the state.
Moscow, and Petersburg again
In 1727, under Peter II, Moscow again, although for a short time, became the main city of the country. Alexander Menshikov, who was the regent under the minor emperor, fell out of favor with the pro-Moscow boyars and was sent into exile. At the same time, the only living relative of Peter II, his grandmother Evdokia Lopukhina, was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent, which prompted the tsar to move to Moscow, which regained the title of capital for 3 years.
After the death of Peter II, Petersburg continued to remain a residence for some time, but from 1737 on the plans it was already designated as a capital city. The final change in the status of St. Petersburg is associated with Anna Ioanovna, for whom Moscow was an unsafe place.
The English diplomat wrote that "the yard for the winter (1731-32) will move to St. Petersburg, since the favorites hope to avoid the daily complaints there, and find life there less dangerous than here." Since that time, St. Petersburg has gradually begun to turn into a city capable of competing with the largest European capitals.