Lesson 3 Peter

LeLesson 3 Peter the Great

Absolutism and Westernization of Russia

David Clayton, Instructor

1672- 1725r. 1682-1725

• Appointed co-Tsar with brother Ivan when he is 10 years old.

• Half-Sister Sophia made regent until boys grow up.

• Peter, witnessing the slaughter of many royal family members and friends by the Strelsky (Old Guard), had a lifetime distrust of traditional Russian ways and the Boyars.

• Peter chose to spend most his youth outside of the Kremlin and in the countryside near the Lake. A Dutchman introduces him to ship building and navigation

• He formed his own army at age 10 with the soldier’s children and house servant’s children. He had Western military advisors train his kid’s army as if it was real one.

• By the time he was a teenager his army numbered the 1000s and was the largest standing army in Russia.

• Peter’s military skills convinced him Russia must change its military skills to be more western.

• Develops a life long interest in shipbuilding and will eventually build Russia’s first navy to capture Turk port of Azov.

Peter’s Rise to Absolute Ruler of Russia

• Arranged marriage to Eudoxia at the age of 17. They have a son, Alexius. Peter ignores both.


• He has many western mistresses until he meets a maidservant of one of his Generals, Catherine. He will send Eudoxia to spend the rest of her life in a convent, ignore Alexius, and have 12 children with Catherine (only 2 will survive to adulthood).


• Peter, at age 17, knowing Sophia does not want to relinquish powers, overthrows her, and sends her to a convent for life.


• His brother, Ivan, is weak and sick, and is never a threat. He dies 7 years later, leaving Peter the sole ruler of Russia.


• Tall: 6’7”Wore western clothesMustache like “cat”Facial twitchMany skills: - ship building - furniture - glass & metal - dentist (not good) - surgery (good luck!)

Uniqueness of Peter

Uniqueness of Peter

• Love to get drunk “Drunken Synod”mocked Russian Orthodox Church.• Spent most of his time in the western suburbs of Russia among the western advisors to Russia.

Military Accomplishments

• Captures port of Azov from Turks. Signs 30 year peace treaty with Ottoman Turks.

• Troops put down a Strelsky revolt while he is in Europe. Personally tortures and executes many of the rebel leaders.


• Defeats his long time rival Charles XII of Sweden in 20 year war and gains the area now known as St. Petersburg.


• Expanded Russian borders


• Made the military officer position one that must be earned and not an inherited title. This plan was eventually used in the government as well (Table of Ranks)

Efforts of Reform

• Better education• Stopped tradition of arranged marriages (exception: his son Alexius had to marry Charlotte).• Boyars required to wear western clothes.• Boyar men had to shave long beards or pay tax.

Efforts of Reform

• Russian Orthodox church had to answer to the state.• Built St. Petersburg at great expense: - disease - high taxes (boyars) - forced labor (lower class) more died building city than all the combined wars under Peter.

Efforts of Reform

• Eliminated hereditary rights to the throne. Ruler can choose his successor.• Failed to make Dutch the official language of Russia.

Conspiracy and Succession

• Alexius, like his father, ignored his wife Charlotte, and had many mistresses. He had no interest in the military. Charlotte dies in childbirth.


• Peter demands that Alexius become committed to learning military skills or renounce his claim to the throne and enter a monastery.


• Alexius, conspiring with the Swedes and Austrians, flees from Russia. Peter promises Alexius and his friends that nothing will happen if they will return. He lied.


• When Alexius returns, Peter personally tortures him and then sentences him to death. Alexius dies prior to execution.


• Peter announces his wife, Catherine, as the Empress. She will eventually rule Russia after Peter’s death as the first woman ruler of Russia.


• Her namesake, Catherine the Great, will rule Russia 30 years later- not as an Absolute Ruler but and Enlightened One.

Spiritual

Lesson 3 Peter