The Early Years

Peter the Great is a man who, in many ways, defied description. The only son of Nataliia Naryshkina and Aleksei Mikhailovich, Peter's birth order would have made it seem impossible that he would have come to the throne. However, the sickliness of his two brothers, coupled with early deaths of several of his other male siblings, put Peter in line for the throne at the time of his birth. When Fyodor became tsar in 1676, no one expected him to survive for long, or to father a child, but there was an unspoken hope among many of the boyars that Fyodor might last until Peter was in his teens and therefore would be able to become tsar. Tragically, this was not the case. Fyodor actually surpassed expectations, surrounding himself with intelligent men and proving to be a devout and pious tsar. He even married a Polish noblewoman. Unfortunately, Fyodor's only child, Ilya, died a few days after birth, as did Fyodor's wife, and although Fyodor remarried, he died shortly thereafter in 1682, and the question of who would become the new tsar became paramount.

At the time of Fyodor's death, there were two claimants to the throne: Fyodor's younger brother Ivan, and his half brother Peter. Ivan, who was 15 at the time of Fyodor's death, was by all accounts a poor choice to rule: he was at least partially blind, and by all accounts was feeble both in body and mind. He was clearly not going to be able to rule on his own, and the Patriarch of Moscow convened an assmebly at which it was decided that the crown should pass to Peter, who was nine at the time, with his mother serving as regent until he was of age. The Miloslavskii family, which saw its chances for power dwindling, began a rumor that Ivan had been murdered, and riots broke out in Moscow. Several members of the Naryshkin family were murdered, including Nataliia's brother Ivan, who was killed in front of Peter, and eventually it was decreed that the two boys would rule jointly, under the regency of Sophia Alekseevna, one of Aleksei Mikhailovich's daughters. She had the support of the streltsy, or musketeers, and they held Moscow for her. Nataliia and Peter were exiled to Preobrazhenskoe, outside of Moscow, and the young tsarevich was recalled to the city only for official ceremonies. The official ceremonies were jointly presided over by the two tsars, who sat on a special dual seat throne and wore identical crowns; Sophia sat behind them given them directions. (The throne is currently on display at the Kremlin).

As a side note, Peter developed a noticeable tic on the right side of his face which remained with him for the rest of his life; when he was tired or agitated, it was even more apparent, so much so that foreign visitors commented on it. He also developed a lifelong hatred of the city of Moscow, and avoided it as much as possible; in fact, his decision to build St. Petersburg and move the capital there was based in part on his desire to leave Moscow behind. St. Petersburg would remain the capital of Russia until after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Sophia's Regency

Sophia proved to be a good regent, although her reign is frequently villified because she kept Peter out of power and broke many of the traditionally accepted roles for women. Born in 1657, she had essentially been kept in the terem for the first 14 years of her life, but following Aleksei's marriage to Nataliia, the terem had all but been eliminated. Opinionated, relatively well educated, and interested in politics, Sophia was a radical choice for regent, but she was the only agreeable choice.

Sophia and her lover, Vasilii Golitsyn, ruled jointly, and Golitsyn was a wise choice; well educated, intelligent, and compassionate, he liberalized Moscow's penal code and attempted to undertake even more radical projects, including the emancipation of the serfs, although those did not succeed. He also was responsible (on the Russian side) for the treaty of eternal peace that was signed with Poland in 1686, guaranteeing Russia the right to rule Kiev and the other areas of the right bank of the Dnieper.

However, the foreign policy successes in Poland were countered by failures against the Crimean Tartars, including strategic defeats in both 1687 and 1689. These defeats, coupled with the fact that Peter, now 17, appeared to be much more a threat for the throne, led several of Sophia's supports to attempt a coup to kill the young tsar (Ivan was to be left alone but forced to abdicate) and place Sophia solely on the throne. The plot failed when the streltsy failed to act, but Peter received news of it and terrified, fled to sanctuary in the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. News of the plot began to spread, and several critical factions, including Peter's boyhood friends (whom he had organized into regiments, forming the first Preobrazhenskii guard), the patriarch, and many of the boyars, placed themselves firmly behind Peter. The streltsy, on whom Sophia depended, did not side with Peter but did not come to her aid, and she was forced to resign as regent. She was sent to a convent; Vasilii Golitsyn and others were exiled, and several of the plot ringleaders were executed.

The Second Regency

The only problem with Peter's victory was that he was not really interested in ruling. Only 17, he had spent most of his teenage years in exile, drilling his troops and avoiding formal school lessons (although he was remarkably intelligent, and eventually picked up bits and pieces of several foreign languages, including Dutch and English). Peter at full height was nearly seven feet tall; he was muscular, handsome, and fascinated with the world around him. Throughout his life, Peter wanted to learn about new ideas and new things, but he had very little patience and did not suffer fools gladly. Were he living in the 21st century, he would probably be diagnosed as being hyperactive: his energy was boundless, and he rarely slept for more than two or three hours a night.

Upon the exile of Sophia and Golitsyn, Peter found himself forced into the role of tsar, and he ran away from that responsibility. He named his mother, Nataliia, as the new regent, and she served in that role until her death in 1694. Ivan continued to serve as co-tsar until his death, in 1696, but he was largely left to his own devices; despite his physical and mental difficulties, he succeeded in fathering at least 5 children, one of whom, his daughter Anna, became Empress in 1730. Peter also married, against his wishes but at his mother's insistence, in 1689; his new wife, Evdokiia, was not well educated, and Peter came to loathe her. He fathered three children with her, but appears to have deserted her fairly early in their marriage (their last child was born in 1693), and after his mother's death he forced Evdokiia into a convent, divorcing her in 1698.

Peter spent the years of his mother's regency having very little to do with the governing of Russia; he continued to drill troops, to form plans for a navy, and to generally have a good time. His mother, despite her interest in the West, ruled over the last flowering of Muscovite religiousity in Russia, when Western objects were suspect and the focus remained on the East. It is possible that such a view came directly from fears that Westernization had led to Sophia, but that is only speculation; regardless, the five years of Nataliia's regency were marked by conservativism and a disinterest in the West.

Peter's portrait, circa 1698, was painted during his visit to England

Foreign Policy Under Peter's Reign

Upon Nataliia's death in 1694, Peter had little choice but to begin acting as the tsar. One of his first acts was to go to war against Turkey and the Crimean Tartars. Defeated in his first attempt to take the city of Azov, Peter determined that the only way to beat the Turks was a combined effort on sea and on land. Unfortunately, Russia did not have a navy, but that was a minor inconvenience. Peter spent an entire winter overseeing the building of a fleet, and attacked Azov the following year with 30 vessels and about a thousand transport barges. Attacked on two fronts, by sea and by land, Azov capitulated in July, and Peter had his first victory.

It was not to be his last; Riasanovsky and other historians estimated that Peter spent all but two years of his time in power (1694-1725) at war with someone or another. Peter's most famous military campaign, the Great Northern War against Sweden and her allies, would alter the face of Russia. Charles XII, the new king of Sweden, was, despite his youth (he was 18 at the beginning of the war) was a military genius who seemingly was able to conquer all who attacked. He forced the Danish into surrendering early in the war, cutting off one of the fronts, and turned his forces around to attack the Russian troops at Narva. Despite the fact that the Russians were numerically superior, the Swedes carried the day, killing or wounding over 10,000 Russians. Rather than wiping Russia out completely, Charles then turned his attention to Poland, which he considered his most dangerous enemy. This gave Peter time to recover, and he did so, attacking areas that Charles had left unprotected, advancing into Livonia and Estonia, and in 1703 establishing the foundations of a new city on the mouth of the Neva River. Peter hastily built a fortress at Kronstadt, one of the islands outside the city, to protect it, and set about to build a new fleet on the Baltic, which he completed by 1706.

Charles eventually defeated the Poles and turned his attentions to Russia, but quickly learned that marching into Russia is a far more difficult task than it appears. He rested his troops in Ukraine during the winter of 1708-09, and then attacked the Russian army at Poltava. It was a spectacular mistake; the Russians crushed the Swedes, destroying the Swedish army. The majority of the officers of the Swedish army were forced to surrender on the field or were trapped when they tried to cross the Dnieper; only Charles and a few of his associates escaped.

The victory against the Swedes in 1709 was short lived; the next year, in 1710, the Turks declared war on Russia. Peter found himself facing a superior sized and equipped army, and was forced to return Azov and surrender his southern fleet to the Turks. However, it freed him to focus on the north, which he did over the next 15 years.

While the war against the Swedes had, for all intents and purposes, ended at Poltava, the actul negotiations dragged on for years, with Charles trying to make deals to secure addition support against Peter. It was not until Charles was killed, in 1718, that the Swedes finally began to consider surrendering, finally signing a peace treaty in 1721. By the terms of the treaty, Russia officially received Livonia, Estonia, and Latvia, and the southern gulf regions of Finland, which were essential for the protection of St. Petersburg. With this, the Russian Senate (the successor to the boyar duma and zemskii sobor) declared that Peter was an emperor, and it is from this point that most historians count the "Imperial" period.

Domestic Policy

Peter's domestic policy was, in a word, radical. The changes that he implemented were designed to drag Russia, kicking and screaming, into the 18th century. Some of the changes that he enacted are discussed below:

Peter became interested in the West at an early age; he began haunting the foreign quarters in Moscow, and hanging out with military men from Scotland, the Netherlands, and other European countries. His interest in the West led him to travel to Europe twice, something no previous tsar had done. His "Grand Embassy, from 1697-98, marked a turning point in his reign. Traveling incognito (when it suited him), he apprenticed for ship builders, studied Western manners and customs, learned to dance (badly) and came back to Russia with a desire to change virtually everything about his country. Part of this may have had to do with the fact that he was forced to return early, by yet another coup led by Sophia's streltsy. This time, Peter was merciless, hanging the leaders outside of Sophia's window (legend had it that she went mad upon seeing this, although that is disputed; the painting below helps give credence to the idea that she did go insane) and forcing many of his advisors to execute the various streltsy members (by cutting of their heads). It was a gruesome reminder that Peter was firmly in control, and a clear indicator that he would brook no argument for the changes he wanted to implement.

This picture of Sophia, painted by Ilya Repin, shows the body of one of the streltsy leaders hanging outside the window of her room in the Novodevichy convent

One of the first things that Peter did upon coming to power was to tear down the traditional system of promotion. Rather than focusing on the background of the people serving him, Peter focused on their abilities, creating, if you will, a meritocracy. Many of his closest advisors, most importantly Alexander Menshikov, were from the lower classes, and they brought a different perspective to his rule. He ultimately created what became known as the Table of Ranks, which listed, in order, fourteen ranks. These ranks could be achieved in one of three areas: military, civil, or court. The Table was to serve as the means by which advancement occurred until 1917, with only minor changes. Hereditary nobility was granted to those who reached the eighth rank in the civil service or the twelfth rank in the military; personal nobility (which was not passed on) could be achieved at lower levels.

Adminstrative Changes

The list of the changes that Peter implemented is a long one. He created a new body, called the Senate, in 1711 that supervised all judicial, financial, and administrative affairs. While all decisions had to be ratified by the monarch, it was still an important body.

He also established what were called collegia, or colleges, designed to help with the hierarchy that existed. Initially there were nine colleges: foreign affairs, war, navy, state expenses, state income, justice, finanfical inspection, and control/commerce and manufacturing. In later years, the colleges will be expanded and will become the ministries, which remained in place until the overthrow of the Romanovs.

Local government was also reformed, although most of the reforms were met with suspicion and not implemented; in fact, of all of Peter's reforms, the municipal reforms were among the least successful. He attempted to organize local government along the lines of how local governments were ordered in Europe (with mayors, etc) but neglected to take in the apathy of the Russian peasantry about these changes.

He also changed the organization of the Church; when the patriarch died, in 1700, he did not appoint a new one. Instead, he allowed the seat to remain vacant for 21 years and then created what became known as the Holy Synod, which was overseen by a secular offical known as the Ober-Procurator. The Holy Synod, and the secular control of the Church by the state, would remain intact until 1917.

Religious Changes

In addition to the changes in the administration of the Church, Peter also implemented other religious changes. He believed that monks were a drain on society and treated them as such. He limited ecclesiastical landholding and monetary expenditures. He was, however, far more tolerant of religious differences than any of his predecessors, and allowed all religions to practice, provided that they did not preach about the need to overthrow him. Several of the previously shunned groups, such as the Old Believers, were actually allowed to openly practice, provided they paid extra taxes and, in the case of the Vyg community in the north, provided him with the much needed iron ore that was abundant in that area. He ended the restrictions that prevented Orthodox Christians from marrying other Christians (such as Catholics and Lutherans) and generally forced the Orthodox into a program of far greater toleration, something that would be echoed by Catherine II, his most famous successor.

Societal Changes

Among some of the most significant changes were those that Peter brought to society. Upon his return from his first trip to Europe (his second, in 1717, brought even more changes, including the Table of Ranks, discussed above), Peter was determined to remake Russia in the image of a Western European power. The building of St. Petersburg, which began in 1703, was just the first step. St. Petersburg, named for Peter's name saint, was modeled after Amsterdam, the Venice of the North. It was (and still is) a beautiful city, with canals that weave through the city and buildings which would not be out of place in any other Western European city. The most famous building in St. Petersburg, the Winter Palace (modern home of the Hermitage) was not started until the reign of Peter's daughter Elizabeth, but it serves as a clear indicator of what Peter had in mind when the city was constructed.

Three great photos of St. Petersburg by Professor Barbara Engel, Professor of History at U. of Colorado

And while it was all well and good to build a new city, it did not make sense to allow the Russians to remain in the same clothing and styles that had been vogue for centuries. Peter forced men to shave their beards (and forced them to pay a tax if they did not), changed them out of the traditional caftan into Western styled shirts and breeches, and had men and women dance together, eat together, and generally be in each other's company. Most of these reforms impacted only the upper classes; there was simply no way to force the peasantry to wear Western styled clothing, and Peter wanted to devote his energies elsewhere. However, anyone coming into St. Petersburg was expected to conform; those who did not were fined.

The Succession

Along with the new reforms came changes in Peter's personal life. His marriage to Evdokiia had been arranged, and Peter could not stand her. After she gave birth to their second son (and third child) he forced her into a convent, eventually divorcing her. Their eldest son, Aleksei, was named heir, and Peter went merrily on his way; his reputation for having a prodigious sexual appetite was apparently well earned.
Peter spent several years as a single man, and then began a relationship with a Lithuanian woman named Catherine that he had met through Menshikov (according to tradition, she was one of the washerwomen for the household, and Peter had first seen her washing laundry and had been enchanted by her). They began to live together, and she eventually had several children together. They were secretly married in 1707, shortly after the birth of their first child, and were formally married in 1712. She was the perfect partner for him; interested in reforms, fascinated by the military (she even went on campaign with him) and generally in love with him. Their marriage lasted for the rest of his life.

Unfortunately, Peter's relationship with his son Aleksei was not as good. The young tsarevich had remained with his mother until she was forced into the convent, and was then raised by his maternal uncles in Moscow. He resented Peter's treatment of his mother, and became a willing pawn in the hands of those who opposed the reforms, including many Old Believers (some of whom had begun to refer to Peter as Antichrist). Peter had little tolerance for his oldest son; he married him to a German princess in 1712, and after the girl died in childbirth in 1715 (her son, named Peter, survived), the Emperor gave Aleksei a choice: either endorse the reforms, or renounce his rights to the throne. Aleksei did neither; he waited until Peter was out of the country, in Denmark, and fled to Austria, whose emperor was Aleksei's brother in law by marriage. Aleksei remained in Austria for a year, until emissaries from Peter persuaded him that it would be safe for him to return to Russia. Bad idea. Aleksei returned and was forced to renounce his rights to the throne in return for a pardon; in the subsequent investigation, while it was not proved that there was a plot to overthrow Peter, a number of scandals and other information came to light, and the pardon was revoked. Aleksei was imprisoned at the St. Peter and Paul fortress in St. Petersburg, and died before he could be executed. According to some sources, Peter himself participated in the torture that led to Aleksei's death, although that has never been conclusively proven.

This portrait obviously supports the idea of Peter torturing the young Tsarevich; it is one of the painting frequently used to depict Peter as an evil man bent on reforms at any cost.

The Late Years

With Aleksei's death in 1718, Peter's choices for a successor were limited. Catherine had borne him numerous children, but only girls had survived. Peter's half brother Ivan V had also had several children, but again, only daugthers survived. The other possibilities included his grandson Peter (Aleksei's son) who was only three in 1718, or Catherine herself. In 1722, Peter passed a law allowing the monarch to choose his own successor, thereby bypassing the traditional succession by the eldest. However, he never was able to use his own law; exhausted and suffering from a variety of ailments, he died in February 1725 without designating a successor. Catherine, who had been crowned as Empress in 1724, enjoyed the support of most of Peter's advisors, including Menshikov, and the guards units, and as a result her succession to the throne was accomplished without bloodshed. Her most important contribution to the legacy of Peter would be the creation of a Supreme Secret Council, which would become the primary advising body to serve the emperor. Catherine's reign lasted only two years; she died in 1727, leaving the throne to Peter's grandson, Peter Alekseivich.

Peter's Legacy

Peter's legacy cannot be underestimated. Mikhail Pogodin (1800-1875), the conservative historian from Moscow University who supported Nicholas I's repressive policies, nonetheless admired Peter the Great, writing:

"Yes, Peter the Great did much for Russia. One looks and one does not believe it, one keeps adding and one cannot reach the sum. We cannot open our eyes, cannot make a move, cannot turn in any direction without encountering him everywhere, at home in the streets, in church, in school, in court, in the regiment, at a promenade--it is always he, always he, every day, every minute, at every step!"

Perhaps no other paragraph captures the essence of what Peter did; he transformed Russia, dragging it, with great resistance, into the Western sphere. His successors, culminating in the reign of Catherine II, the Great, will continue to add to this tradition, but none will have the impact that Peter did.