290 years ago, Alexander Menshikov, one of the most influential statesmen of the Peter the Great era, was sent into exile in Siberia. An associate of the tsar, president of the Military Collegium of Russia, the first governor-general of St. Petersburg, generalissimo and admiral, was arrested by order of the young grandson of Peter the Great and was stripped of all positions, titles and titles. Experts note that Menshikov's role in Russian history “is easier to underestimate than overestimate”. About the life, merits and reasons for the disgrace of a powerful courtier.
On April 11, 1728, Alexander Menshikov was sent into exile in Siberian Berezov. In Peter's era, he actually ruled all of Russia, but after the death of the great reformer, he fell out of favor with his young grandson. According to historians, the great strategist and master of political games fell victim to personal animosity.
Becoming a courtier
Historians do not have reliable data on the origin of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov today. According to the official version of Peter's times, the father of the future prince was a Lithuanian nobleman from an ancient family, was captured during the Russian-Polish war and entered the service of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and his mother was the daughter of a famous merchant. However, Menshikov's noble origin was questioned by many historians, in particular by Professor Nikolai Pavlenko. According to the testimony of contemporaries, Menshikov traded in pies as a child.
“Menshikov, even if he was the son of a clerk and a merchant's wife, as a child could easily sell pies somewhere. This story lived in Moscow for many years. Its reliability has been attested by many people, including well-known diplomats, Pavel Krotov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of St. Petersburg State University, said in an interview with RT.
At the age of 14, Alexander became the orderly of Peter I and quickly won his trust. Menshikov participated in the creation of amusing troops, in the Azov campaigns and the suppression of the Streletsky revolt, traveled with the tsar in Western Europe, helped him create a navy. In 1700, he received an extremely high for those times rank of lieutenant of the Bombardier Company of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment, whose captain was Peter himself.
Peter I with the sign of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called / J.-M. Nattier (1717).
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For Menshikov, nothing was impossible. He always took up the execution of any order of the sovereign. A valuable quality for the courtier was that he knew how to amuse the hot-tempered monarch and quickly "extinguish" his anger. According to the story of the historian Andrei Nartov, Peter somehow got angry with Menshikov and promised to send him back to sell pies. Alexander Danilovich immediately jumped out into the street and defiantly returned to the tsar with a box of pies in his hands. Peter laughed and forgave his companion.
War glory
Menshikov took an active part in the Northern War and achieved considerable success in military affairs. In 1702, he provided serious support to Prince Mikhail Golitsyn in the capture of Nottenburg (now the Oreshek fortress), bringing the guardsmen to the aid of the commander at the decisive moment of the battle on his own initiative. In 1703, he, together with Peter, participated in the naval battle with the Swedes at the mouth of the Neva, which ended with the victoria of the Russian fleet. In the same year, even before the official foundation of St. Petersburg, Menshikov became its governor-general. He held this position for many years, supervising the construction of the city, shipyards and arms factories.
In 1702 Menshikov was elevated to the rank of count, and in 1705 to the rank of prince.
For actions near Narva and Ivangorod Menshikov in 1704 was promoted to lieutenant general. In 1705, he became a general of the cavalry, and a year later he was entrusted with the leadership of all the regular military cavalry of the country.
In October 1706, Menshikov defeated the superior Polish-Swedish forces at Kalisz. Moreover, at a difficult moment in the battle, he personally led the attack and was even wounded. Only a few hundred von Krassov's cavalrymen escaped from the thousands of Swedish army. This was the largest victory over the Swedes in six years of war, the prologue to success in the Battle of Poltava.
In 1708 Menshikov took part in the battle with the Swedes at Lesnaya. After Mazepa's betrayal, he seized his residence in Baturin and stopped the reunification of the hetman's supporters with the Swedish army.
"Peter I in the Battle of Poltava" / L. Karavak (1718).
“During the Battle of Poltava, Menshikov defeated Schlippenbach and commanded the left flank of the army, against which the main forces of the Swedish cavalry were concentrated,” said Krotov.
For his successes in the Battle of Poltava, Menshikov was promoted to field marshal general and received the city of Pochep and Yampol. At the final stage of the Northern War, he commanded Russian troops in the Baltic States. Since 1714, Peter's closest associate worked mainly in the civilian field.
Great expectations
In 1715 Menshikov was accused of economic abuse, the investigation of which dragged on for several years. Peter at this time began to treat his old friend worse, but Menshikov's participation in the investigation against Tsarevich Alexei returned him to the Tsar's favor.
In 1719, Peter appointed Menshikov president of the Military Collegium, and in 1721 promoted him to vice admiral. True, three years later, due to new accusations of abuse, the monarch again became angry with Menshikov and deprived him of the posts of governor-general and president of the Military Collegium. Peter forgave his comrade only when he was on his deathbed.
After the death of the tsar, the clan nobility wanted to immediately elevate the young grandson of Peter the Great, Peter Alekseevich, to the throne, but Menshikov prevented this by bringing the monarch's widow, Catherine I, to power by the forces of the guards and the higher bureaucracy. Catherine returned to Menshikov all the positions that Peter I had deprived him of, and in fact gave him all the levers of government.
He betrothed his daughter Maria Menshikov to the son of the great Lithuanian hetman Peter Sapega, with whom the girl truly fell in love. However, after Catherine came to power, Alexander Danilovich had a new idea. He persuaded the empress to bless the marriage of his daughter Maria with the grandson of Peter I - Peter Alekseevich. The teenagers were not at all delighted with each other, but Menshikov was not interested: this marriage opened up just fabulous prospects for him - to become the father of the empress.
In 1727, the Empress died of a lung disease. Shortly before her death, Menshikov persuaded the tsarina to sign an indictment against his ill-wishers at court, in particular against Count Peter Tolstoy. After Peter II came to the throne, Menshikov retained his influence at court for some time, but soon the confidence in the knowledge of human nature let down the experienced dignitary.
"Menshikov did not take into account the peculiarities of the character of the teenage emperor Peter II," Krotov said.
According to the historian, adolescence generated a spirit of contradiction in the young monarch. In addition, he was the grandson of the hot-tempered and domineering Peter I and, feeling like a tsar, he could not endure that someone would command him.
“An interesting story has come down to our days. Some woman from the people showed respect to the tsar, presenting him with a chicken, he, moved, ordered to give her 10 rubles - a huge amount for those times, the annual salary of a worker. Menshikov tried to dissuade Peter from such spending. The young monarch flew into a rage and said that he was ordering to give the woman even more money. With his remarks Menshikov was preparing a thunderstorm on his own head,”said Krotov.
According to the historian, Menshikov, who was well versed in politics, made a personal mistake this time, which in the end cost him dearly.
Companion of Peter the Great has lost influence over his grandson. In September 1727 Menshikov was arrested without trial and sent into exile in the Ranenburg fortress. And then he was officially deprived of all posts, titles and awards, and in April 1728, together with his family, he was exiled to Siberia. Maria's betrothal to Peter Alekseevich was canceled.
“Considering that Peter II died, having corrected only less than three years, Menshikov - not to lose his affection and marry him to his daughter - had a chance to try to become in fact the founder of a new royal dynasty, but he missed it, not understanding the teenage psychology”, - said Krotov.
Days of exile
Menshikov's wife Darya Mikhailovna died on the way to exile. In Berezovo, a man who until recently actually ruled all of Russia, together with several servants, built himself a hut and a small church. At the age of 56, Menshikov died. Soon, his daughter Maria also died, with whom, according to some sources, Prince Fyodor Dolgoruky, who had been in love with her for many years, had been married shortly before, having specially come to Siberia for this.
"Menshikov in Berezovo" / V. I. Surikov (1883).
The Menshikov family was pardoned by Empress Anna Ioannovna. Menshikov's son, Alexander Alexandrovich, joined the Guard in 1731, and in 1762 he swore the residents of Moscow to Catherine II and rose to the rank of general-in-chief. The great-grandson of Peter's comrade-in-arms, Alexander Sergeevich, became already in the 19th century the naval minister of the Russian Empire and the governor-general of Finland.
During his lifetime and after his death, many rumors discrediting him were spread about Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. One of the most unpleasant is about the illiteracy of Peter I's assistant. Historian Pavel Krotov completely refutes these statements.
“Such conversations are the fruit of the activities of Menshikov's political opponents. And even a part of modern researchers believed in them, who drew attention to the fact that the documents instead of Menshikov himself, as a rule, were written by his assistants. However, the fact that the courtier did not write himself is most likely a consequence of the fact that in this way Menshikov emphasized his high status, as well as the fact that he had very little time. We have received signatures made by Menshikov personally, drawn with a clearly confident hand. In addition, his very speech, recorded in the documents, and his fluency in German testify to the fact that he was a literate person. Although his main teacher, of course, was life itself,”said Krotov.
According to the expert, Menshikov's contribution to the history of Russia "is easier to underestimate than overestimate."
“Without such an assistant, Peter, most likely, would never have become the Great, but would have remained simply the First,” Krotov concluded.
According to the head of the HSE School of Historical Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Alexander Kamensky, the principled assessment of the activities of Alexander Menshikov depends on the assessment of the reforms of Peter I.
“Menshikov is difficult to assess in the categories of“positive”or“negative”. He was a prominent statesman, one of the tsar's closest associates, on whom the monarch could always rely. The reforms of Peter themselves are today the subject of heated debate among historians. And if we evaluate them positively, then we must evaluate Menshikov's activities in the same way, if somehow differently, then the activities of Peter's associate appear before us in a different light, the historian summed up.
Svyatoslav Knyazev