Part one
The main "icons" of the tsarist period under Soviet rule were Peter the Great and 1812. And it is understandable why: 1812 was suitable for the military doctrine “retreat is a maneuver of luring the enemy deep into an immense territory” (necessary to justify the failure of 1941-42), and the exaltation of Peter gave a whole bunch of attitudes “big reforms need big sacrifices”, “little people not a pity - women are still giving birth "and" victory at any cost "and others. Inspire, remind and do - history will write off everything….
Lifetime portraits of the Romanovs.
Meanwhile, around the history of his reign, not everything is so simple. The materials for the article were taken from the book by V. Kukovenko "How Peter the Great was replaced", the works of the candidate of physical and mathematical sciences G. Nosovsky and the article by P. Milyukov, links for those who want to study in more detail will be given below.
The main intrigue is the possible substitution of Tsar Peter by another person. It sounds wild at first glance, but under certain circumstances it has the right to study. The fierce struggle of various "parties" during his adolescence was literally for the right either to remain alive and in power, or on the peaks of the archers. Let me remind you that after the death of the elder brother Fyodor Alekseevich in 1862, at first the young Peter was proclaimed tsar, but then the rebellious archers insisted that two tsarevich Ivan ("elder tsar") and Peter ("younger tsar") rule the country, during the regency of Princess Sofia Alekseevna. At the age of 17, Peter got married by the decision of his mother, but was not interested in anything other than amusing regiments and drunks in a German settlement. In 1689, having removed Sophia, he began to reign virtually alone.
With ridiculous regiments, training campaigns were often conducted, albeit with real killed and wounded. On the first campaign in the summer of 1690, a hand grenade burst, scorching Peter's face and wounding several officers; during the second Semenovsky campaign, in the fall of 1691, according to some historians, Peter was mortally wounded. His closest associates, headed by F. Romodanovsky, decided to take decisive measures to save their position at court and power. They chose one of the Dutch carpenters to replace Peter, who had recently arrived with a group of craftsmen from the town of Saardan who had been ordered to build ships. Probably, with the lifestyle of Peter and the support of his entourage, the plan could have worked.
- Several of the stewards closest to him were urgently removed from the court, he stopped visiting his wife and mother. Suddenly, he suddenly spoke Dutch well (the princes at that time were taught compulsory Latin and Polish). The tension at the court is demonstrated by the episode when Peter in November 1692 fell ill with dysentery, and in December during a period of exacerbation, Lefort, Apraksin, Golitsyn and Pleshcheev kept saddled horses in order to urgently leave Moscow in the event of his death. - From childhood, Peter suffered from hydrophobia (he didn’t even walk along the footbridges over streams!), But after 1691 it turned out that he swims perfectly and with pleasure, loves the sea in general and warships in particular. Therefore, in 1963 he was sent to Pereyaslavl - Zalessky to build ships (this is instead of ruling the country … and so it was during his entire reign!),where the Dutchman Franz Timmermann was summoned to him to continue his studies (in general, before and after him the clergy was always engaged in this), and also the statutes of the church service were requested (!) (The Dutch carpenter was a Lutheran and was not familiar with Orthodox rites).
- In 1692 his youngest son Tsarevich Alexander died, and later in 1694 his mother died, but Peter was not present either at the funeral service or at the funeral (at the same time, he participated in the funeral of a Dutch carpenter - remember this). He flatly refused to participate in the ceremony of receiving ambassadors of other countries (did he actually rule in fact?).
Promotional video:
- In 1694, during the first visit to Solovki, when leaving the mouth of the Northern Dvina into the White Sea, the ship got into a violent storm, the tsar already took the sacrament, but thanks to the helmsman, they managed to escape. After that, on one of the islands, Peter installed a cross made with his own hand with an inscription in Dutch (!) “Dat Kruus maken kaptein Piter van a. Chr. 1694 (This cross was made by the skipper Peter in the year of Christ 1694).
- His father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, introduced the rule to record every day of the Tsar in the "Daily Schedule" - the records from 1672 to 1697 mysteriously disappeared.
- Like all aristocrats, from birth, Peter was enrolled in the equestrian regiment, which after 1691 was disbanded (they learn horseback riding from childhood - you cannot learn that in a few months), and Peter signed up as a drummer in the infantry.
Are these portraits of different people or one?
- In 1967, he went to the Grand Embassy in different countries of Europe, to search for allies, including waiting for him in Vienna, where peace with the Ottoman Empire was discussed. Instead, Peter, not listening to anyone, rushed to the Dutch states, and having sailed there, past Amsterdam he went straight to the town of Saardan, where the carpenters of one of the groups working in Russia came from (there were craftsmen from other cities, but for some reason he ignored them). And he was so unbearable that he landed there from the ship at night on a dinghy (in this town only boats and merchant ships were made - what is there to learn?).
Arriving, on the very first day, he visited the relatives of those same carpenters, especially singled out the widow of Klaas Mush, a carpenter who had left for Moscow with his son and died there (remember the funeral of a Dutch carpenter?), Wrote her a huge amount and did so later (but only to her). It is believed that her son Jaan Mush was the Dutch carpenter who looked like the king.
- During the entire Grand Embassy, I paid attention only to the study of various handicrafts useful for the king (in the official version, an ideological emphasis was placed on this), I learned to smoke a pipe. True, allies were never found, at the negotiations in Vienna we were "thrown", but undoubtedly Saardan's carpenters were worth it …
Part two
In the first part of the article, they began to consider one of the versions about the substitution of the king. Continue …
During trips to hospitable Europe, the news came of another rifle revolt, in connection with which I had to return home.
Painting by V. I. Surikov Morning of the Strelets' execution.
On the way, Peter held a secret meeting with the King of Poland, the essence of the negotiations remained unknown, only three days of parties and balls were documented. The capital was preparing to receive the tsar: the generalissimo (was later produced) A. S. Shein suppressed the revolt, even not so - he destroyed all the foot soldiers of Moscow, the infantry was then re-created, recruited, trained and armed. I wonder what forces he coped with several tens of thousands of archers? Not with two amusing regiments of Semenovtsy and Preobrazhentsev … archers have never been distinguished by their complaisance. And Tsar Peter, having returned, without meeting with his family, proceeded to urgent business - he chopped off the beards of the first persons in the state and carried out an investigation into the participation of the court in the riot.
- As a result, not finding an obvious conspiracy, he forced Sophia to take monastic vows, and at the same time his wife, who is generally “not a dream, not in spirit” …
- Then he pays to the King of Poland an indemnity of 1,500,000 gold efimks (the income of the entire state for a year! Why such a gift? Probably a valuable service was provided).
- Issued a decree on the transfer of all ancient manuscripts from monasteries to Moscow, ostensibly for copying, after that no one has ever seen the manuscript.
- Forbidden to keep chronology according to the ancient Slavic calendar (stole 5,508 years of our history) and transferred the country to the Julian calendar, and the new year on January 1. The argument “to simplify ties with Europe” does not hold water; how does your calendar get in the way of the Chinese, Jews, Arabs and other peoples?
- Peter sincerely, with all his heart, hated everything Russian and scoffed at his subjects as best he could: chopped off heads, tore his teeth himself (he wore them in a bag on his chest!), Loved anatomical theater very much (when one courtier showed disgust, he made him tear muscles with his teeth near the corpse), surrounded himself with "vile" people and drunks, forced everyone around him to participate in drunkenness, humiliation and debauchery (one "most drunken cathedral" was worth what!).
- In 1717 he sent Catherine to Holland to give birth to a child (home?).
- In the same year, Romodanovsky died, who was a relative of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, immediately after that a special operation was carried out to lure out Peter's son from his first wife from Austria (supposedly, loyal troops are waiting for him in Russia to take the oath).
- In 1718, the day after Alexei's death, Peter threw the holidays for several days with fireworks on the occasion of "getting rid of danger", a festive medal was issued, the Menshikovs ordered a thanksgiving prayer service (the reason was officially called the anniversary of the Battle of Poltava).
Nikolai Ge's painting Peter is interrogating his son.
Wars
Peter spent 3 large military campaigns: the Northern War (with Sweden), the Turkish (with the Ottoman Empire) and the Persian (with Persia).
- I will not re-transmit the events of the Northern War - a lot has been written and said about them. I just don't understand the value of the Baltics for Russia, probably prestige again; or simply the "boy" did what he could - he fought, he had no desire to rule … ….. (as a result, for the conquests in the Baltic States, Peter paid Sweden 2,000,000 gold efimks).
- The Persian war also does not deserve special attention (it seems that they won, but all the conquests in the Caucasus were lost after 10 years).
- The Turkish company ended in disgrace altogether, according to the Prut peace, Russia gave away the previously captured Azov and all the lands around, destroyed its fleet (!), Was deprived of the opportunity to influence affairs in Poland and the Cossack lands, gave Pskov instead of Petersburg under construction. To redeem herself and the tsar from captivity (there was an encirclement), the future Empress Catherine took off all her ornaments to bribe the Turkish pasha … more than 40,000 soldiers died of hunger, thirst and disease (“we had a nice walk” - read on the internet for anyone interested). Peter is a great military leader, they told us …..
Illustration of the results of the first campaign near Narva.
- Already during his Grand Embassy, rumors began to circulate about Peter's substitution, it all started with the archers, and then as his "accomplishments", the rumor became more and more strengthened among the people. A decree was even issued on the punishment of those who speak about it out loud and the punishment of those who heard and did not inform the speaker (there is no smoke without fire?).
Short
- over decades of wars and military extortions, the population of Russia has decreased by 20%, and in the regions bordering on theaters of military operations by 40%;
- taxes increased 3.5 times and became unaffordable, the country was ruined;
- during the years of his reign, Peter was on the road almost all the time: now in Europe, now in Russia, then at the wars, then at the construction site of St. Petersburg - he actually did not govern his country, the very elite of those close to him, the “party”, ruled. which possibly made the substitution of the king;
- with the death of Peter Alekseevich, the royal dynasty of the Romanovs was interrupted.
Output
It is not known for certain whether the tsar was substituted or not, on the other hand, this does not negate those huge human sacrifices and all that was created with the country with the richest traditions during his "reign". No wonder, oh, no wonder the schismatics called him the Antichrist. However, let everyone make a conclusion for themselves.
Part three
This part contains the most interesting excerpts from the article of the famous Russian historian and publicist, professor emeritus at Cambridge University (although of course, the article deserves a FULL reading), a link to it at the end of the test
Illustration of the Battle of Poltava.
PETER I THE GREAT (article by PN Milyukov from the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron", 1890 - 1907), (quotes from the text).
“Over the years, the center of Peter's riotous life has become the house of his new favorite, Lefort, in the German settlement. "Here began a rowdy, drunkenness so great that it is impossible to describe that for three days, locked in that house, they were drunk and that many happened to die because of this" (Kurakin)."
"Peter" himself was compelled to enter the administration, but he did not want to bear the work and left the entire government of his state to his ministers "(Kurakin)."
“The boyars entrusted the construction of the ships to the" kumpanstva "secular and spiritual landowners who had at least 100 households; the rest of the population had to help with money. The ships built by the "kumpanstvami" later turned out to be useless, and this entire first fleet, which cost the population about 900 thousand rubles of that time, could not be used for any practical purposes."
“For eight years, he recruits about 200,000 soldiers and, despite the losses from the war and from the military order, increases the size of the army from 40 to 100 thousand. The cost of this army in 1709 costs him almost twice as much as in 1701.: 1 810 000 rub. instead of 982,000. For the first 6 years of the war, it was paid, in addition: subsidies to the Polish king of about one and a half million. If we add here the costs of the navy, artillery, and the maintenance of diplomats, then the total expenditure caused by the war would be 2.3 million. in 1701, 2.7 million. in 1706 and 3.2 million. in 1710 already the first of these figures was too great in comparison with the funds that were delivered to the state by the population before Peter."
“We had to look for additional sources of income. At first, Peter cares little about this and simply takes for his own purposes from the old state institutions - not only their free remnants, but even those amounts of them that were previously spent on other purposes; this upsets the correct course of the state machine. And yet, large items of new expenses could not be covered by the old funds, and Peter was forced to create a special state tax for each of them. The army was supported from the main revenues of the state - customs and tavern duties, the collection of which was transferred to a new central institution, the town hall. For the maintenance of the new cavalry, recruited in 1701, it was necessary to appoint a new tax ("dragoon money"); exactly the same - and to maintain the fleet ("ship"). Then here comes the tax on the maintenance of workers for the construction of St. Petersburg, "recruiting", "underwater"; and when all these taxes have already become customary and merged into the total amount of permanent ("salary"), they are joined by new emergency taxes ("request", "non-payable"). And these direct taxes, however, soon turned out to be insufficient, especially since they were collected rather slowly and a significant part remained in arrears. Therefore, other sources of income were invented next to them. "that they were collected rather slowly and a significant part remained in arrears. Therefore, other sources of income were invented next to them. "that they were collected rather slowly and a significant part remained in arrears. Therefore, other sources of income were invented next to them."
“A new measure to increase state revenues was the re-processing, in 1704, of old quitrent articles and the return on new quitrent; all proprietary fishing, home baths, mills, inns were taxed, and the total amount of government receipts under this item had risen by 1708 from 300 to 670 thousand annually. Further, the treasury took over the sale of salt, which brought it up to 300 thousand annual income, tobacco (this enterprise was unsuccessful) and a number of other raw products, which gave up to 100 thousand annually. All these private events served the main task - to get through some difficult time. " (Does the latest events in the collection and revision of taxes, deductions and pensions remind you of anything? "Everything for the front, everything for victory" - both then and now, the enemy did not set foot on our land … but pay us anyway)
“The census of 1710 showed that, as a result of incessant recruiting and escapes from taxes, the paying population of the state has greatly decreased: instead of 791 thousand households that were listed before the census of 1678, the new census counted only 637 thousand; throughout the north of Russia, which carried the main part of the financial burden to Peter, the decline reached even 40%."
“In the first thirty years of his reign, Peter I cared little or not at all about internal improvements in the state - legal proceedings, economy, income and trade, and he was satisfied if only his admiralty and army were sufficiently supplied with money, firewood, recruits, sailors, provisions and ammunition (and again analogies come to mind).
“New dress and 'assemblies' do not lead to the assimilation of European social habits and decency; likewise, the new institutions borrowed from Sweden do not rely on the corresponding economic and legal development of the masses. Russia is one of the European powers, but for the first time only to become an instrument in the hands of European politics for almost half a century. Of the 42 digital provincial schools opened in 1716-22, only 8 survive until the middle of the century; out of 2,000 recruited, mostly by force, students, by 1727, only 300 are actually trained in the whole of Russia.
Higher education, despite the project of the "Academy", and lower, despite all the orders of Peter I, remain a dream for a long time. " A. B. Kamensky, Encyclopedia Cyril and Methodius
Link to full article.