Sovereign Peter 3. Peter III - biography, information, personal life. Personal life of Peter III
Fate famous people, their pedigree is always of interest to history buffs. Often the interest is in those who tragically died or were killed, especially if it happens at a young age. So, the personality of Emperor Peter III, whose fate was cruel to him from childhood, worries many readers.
Tsar Peter 3
Peter 3 was born on February 21, 1728 in the city of Kiel in the Duchy of Holstein. Today it is the territory of Germany. His father was a nephew and his mother was the daughter of Peter I. Being a relative of two sovereigns, this person could become a contender for two thrones at once. But life decreed otherwise: the parents of Peter 3 left him early, which affected his fate.
Almost immediately, two months after the birth of the child, the mother of Peter 3 fell ill and died. At the age of eleven, he also lost his father: the boy remained in the care of his uncle. In 1742 he was transferred to Russia, where he became the heir to the Romanov dynasty. After the death of Elizabeth, he was on the Russian throne for only six months: he survived the betrayal of his wife and died in prison. Who are the parents of Peter 3 and what is their fate? This question interests many readers.
III Fedorovich
The father of Peter III was Karl-Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. He was born on April 30, 1700 in the city of Stockholm and was the nephew of Charles XII - King of Sweden. He failed to ascend the throne, and in 1721 Karl-Friedrich went to Riga. All the years after the death of his uncle Charles XII and before coming to Russia, the father of Peter III tried to return Schleswig to his possessions. He really hoped for the support of Peter I. In the same year, Karl-Friedrich travels from Riga to Russia, where he receives a salary from the Russian government and expects support for his rights on the throne of Sweden.
In 1724 he was engaged to Anna Petrovna, a Russian princess. He soon died, and the marriage took place already in 1725. These were the parents of Peter 3, who displeased Menshikov and made other enemies in the capital of Russia. Unable to withstand the harassment, in 1727 they left St. Petersburg and returned to Kiel. Here a young couple next year an heir was born, the future Emperor Peter 3. Karl-Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, died in 1739 in Holstein, leaving his eleven-year-old son an orphan.
Anna - mother of Peter 3
Russian princess Anna, mother of Peter III, was born in 1708 in Moscow. She and her younger sister Elizabeth were illegitimate until their father, Peter I, married their mother (Marta Skavronskaya). In February 1712, Anna became the real "Princess Anna" - she signed her letters to her mother and father that way. The girl was very developed and capable: at the age of six she learned to write, then she mastered four foreign languages.
At fifteen, she was considered the first beauty in Europe, and many diplomats dreamed of seeing Princess Anna Petrovna Romanova. She was described as a beautiful brunette of angelic appearance with a beautiful complexion and a slender figure. Father, Peter I, dreamed of intermarrying with Karl-Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp and therefore agreed to the engagement of his eldest daughter Anna with him.
The tragic fate of the Russian princess
Anna Petrovna did not want to leave Russia and part with her close relatives. But she had no choice: her father died, Catherine I ascended the throne, who died unexpectedly two years later. The parents of Peter 3 were harassed and forced to return to Kiel. Through the efforts of Menshikov, the young married couple remained almost impoverished, and in this state they arrived in Holstein.
Anna wrote many letters to her sister Elizabeth, in which she asked to be rescued from there. But she didn't get any answers. And her life was unhappy: her husband, Karl-Friedrich, changed a lot, drank a lot, went down. Spent a lot of time in dubious establishments. Anna was alone in the cold palace: here in 1728 she gave birth to her son. After the birth, a fever occurred: Anna was ill for two months. On May 4, 1728, she died. She was only 20 years old and her son was two months old. So, Peter 3 first lost his mother, and 11 years later, his father.
The parents of Peter 3 had an unfortunate fate, which involuntarily passed on to their son. He also lived short life and died tragically, having managed to stay as emperor for only six months.
Emperor Peter III Fedorovich at birth was named Karl Peter Ulrich, since the future Russian ruler was born in the port city of Kiel, located in the north of the modern German state. On the Russian throne, Peter III lasted six months (the official years of reign are 1761-1762), after which he became a victim of a palace coup arranged by his wife, who replaced her deceased spouse.
It is noteworthy that in the following centuries, the biography of Peter III was presented exclusively from a pejorative point of view, so his image among people was unambiguously negative. But in recent times historians find evidence that this emperor had quite definite merits before the country, and more long term his reign would bring tangible benefits to the inhabitants Russian Empire.
Childhood and youth
Since the boy was born in the family of Duke Karl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp, the nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII, and his wife Anna Petrovna, the daughter of the king (that is, Peter III was the grandson of Peter I), his fate was predetermined from infancy. As soon as he was born, the child became the heir to the Swedish throne, and besides, in theory he could claim the Russian throne, although, according to the idea of his grandfather Peter I, this should not have happened.
The childhood of Peter III was not royal at all. The boy lost his mother early, and his father, obsessed with reclaiming the lost Prussian lands, raised his son like a soldier. Already at the age of 10, little Karl Peter was awarded the rank of second lieutenant, and a year later the boy was orphaned.
Carl Peter Ulrich - Peter III After the death of Karl Friedrich, his son ended up in the house of Bishop Adolf Eitinsky, his great uncle, where the boy turned into an object for humiliation, cruel jokes and where they regularly flogged. Nobody cared about the education of the crown prince, and by the age of 13 he could barely read. Karl Peter was in poor health, he was a frail and timid teenager, but at the same time kind and simple-hearted. He loved music and painting, although because of the memories of his father, he also adored the "military".
However, it is known that until his death, Emperor Peter III was afraid of the sound of cannon shots and rifle volleys. The chroniclers also noted the young man's strange predilection for fantasies and inventions, which often turned into outright lies. There is also a version that even in adolescence, Karl Peter became addicted to alcohol.
The life of the future All-Russian Emperor changed when he was 14 years old. His aunt ascended the Russian throne, who decided to secure the monarchy for the descendants of her father. Since Karl Peter was the only direct heir of Peter the Great, he was summoned to St. Petersburg, where the young Peter the Third, who already bore the title of Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, adopted the Orthodox religion and received the Slavic name Prince Peter Fedorovich.
At the first meeting with her nephew, Elizabeth was amazed at his ignorance and assigned a tutor to the royal heir. The teacher noted the excellent mental abilities of the ward, which debunks one of the myths about Peter III as a "feeble-minded martinet" and "mentally handicapped."
Although there is evidence that the emperor behaved in public in an extremely strange way. Especially in temples. For example, during the service, Peter laughed and spoke loudly. Yes and with foreign ministers behaved in a familiar manner. Perhaps this behavior gave rise to a rumor about his "inferiority".
Also in his youth, he had been ill with a severe form of smallpox, which could cause developmental disabilities. At the same time, Pyotr Fedorovich understood the exact sciences, geography and fortification, spoke German, French and in Latin. But he practically did not know Russian. But he didn't want to master it either.
By the way, smallpox severely disfigured the face of Peter III. But this defect in appearance is not displayed in any portrait. And then no one thought about the art of photography - the first photo in the world appeared only after more than 60 years. So only his portraits, painted from life, but “embellished” by artists, survived to his contemporaries.
Governing body
After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna on December 25, 1761, Peter Fedorovich ascended the throne. But he was not crowned, it was planned to do this after a military campaign against Denmark. As a result, Peter III was crowned posthumously in 1796.
He spent 186 days on the throne. During this time, Peter the Third signed 192 laws and decrees. And that's not even counting the award nominations. So, despite the myths and rumors around his personality and activities, even for such a short period, he managed to prove himself both in the external and in domestic politics countries.
The most important document of the reign of Peter Fedorovich is the “Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility”. This legislative act exempted the nobles from the mandatory 25-year service and even allowed them to travel abroad.
Slandered Emperor Peter IIIOf the other affairs of the emperor, it is worth noting a number of reforms on the transformation state system. He, being on the throne for only six months, managed to abolish the Secret Chancellery, introduce freedom of religion, abolish church supervision over the personal lives of his subjects, forbid giving away state lands to private ownership, and most importantly, make the court of the Russian Empire open. And he also declared the forest a national wealth, established the State Bank and introduced the first banknotes into circulation. But after the death of Pyotr Fedorovich, all these innovations were destroyed.
Thus, Emperor Peter III intended to make the Russian Empire freer, less totalitarian and more enlightened.
Despite this, most historians consider the short period and results of his reign to be among the worst for Russia. The main reason for this is the actual annulment of the results of the Seven Years' War by him. Peter developed a bad relationship with military officers, as he ended the war with Prussia and withdrew Russian troops from Berlin. Some regarded these actions as a betrayal, but in fact the victories of the guards in this war brought glory either to them personally or to Austria and France, whose side was supported by the army. But for the Russian Empire, this war was of no use.
He also decided to introduce the Prussian order into the Russian army - the guards had new form, and the punishments were now also in the Prussian manner - the cane system. Such changes did not add to his authority, but, on the contrary, gave rise to discontent and uncertainty about the future both in the army and in court circles.
Personal life
When the future ruler was barely 17 years old, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna hurried to marry him. The German princess Sophia Frederica Augusta was chosen as his wife, whom the whole world knows today under the name Catherine II. The wedding of the heir was played on an unprecedented scale. As a gift, Peter and Catherine were presented with the palaces of the count - Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg and Lyubertsy near Moscow.
It is worth noting that Peter III and Catherine II could not stand each other and were considered a married couple only legally. Even when his wife gave Peter the heir of Paul I, and then his daughter Anna, he joked that he did not understand "where she takes these children."
The infant heir, the future Russian Emperor Paul I, was taken away from his parents after birth, and Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself immediately took up his upbringing. However, this did not upset Pyotr Fyodorovich at all. He never showed much interest in his son. He saw the boy once a week, this was the permission of the empress. Daughter Anna Petrovna died in infancy.
The difficult relationship between Peter the Third and Catherine II is evidenced by the fact that the ruler repeatedly quarreled publicly with his wife and even threatened to divorce her. Once, after his wife did not support the toast he had uttered at the feast, Peter III ordered the woman to be arrested. Catherine was saved from prison only by the intervention of Peter's uncle, Georg of Holstein-Gottorp. But with all the aggression, anger and, most likely, burning jealousy for his wife, Pyotr Fedorovich had respect for her mind. In difficult situations, more often economic and financial, Catherine's husband often turned to her for help. There is evidence that Peter III called Catherine II "Madame Help".
It is noteworthy that the absence of intimate relations with Catherine did not affect the personal life of Peter III. Pyotr Fedorovich had mistresses, the main of which was the daughter of General Roman Vorontsov. Two of his daughters were presented to the court: Catherine, who would become a friend of the imperial wife, and later Princess Dashkova, and Elizabeth. So she was destined to become the beloved woman and favorite of Peter III. For her sake, he was even ready to terminate the marriage, but this was not destined to happen.
Death
On the royal throne, Peter Fedorovich stayed a little longer than six months. By the summer of 1762, his wife Catherine II inspired her henchman to organize a palace coup, which took place at the end of June. Peter, struck by the betrayal of his environment, abdicated the Russian throne, which he initially did not value and did not want, and intended to return to his native country. However, by order of Catherine, the deposed emperor was arrested and placed in a palace in Ropsha near St. Petersburg.
And on July 17, 1762, a week after that, Peter III died. The official cause of death was an "attack of hemorrhoidal colic" exacerbated by drug abuse. alcoholic beverages. However, the main version of the death of the emperor is considered to be a violent death by hand, the elder brother - the main favorite of Catherine at that time. It is believed that Orlov strangled the prisoner, although neither the later medical examination of the corpse, nor historical facts this is not confirmed. This version is based on the "repentant letter" of Alexei, which has survived in our time in a copy, and modern scientists are sure that this paper is a fake made by Fyodor Rostopchin, right hand Paul the First.
Peter III and Catherine IIAfter the death of the former emperor, there was a misconception about the personality and biography of Peter III, since all conclusions were made on the basis of the memoirs of his wife Catherine II, an active participant in the conspiracy, Princess Dashkova, one of the main ideologists of the conspiracy, Count Nikita Panin, and his brother, Count Peter Panin . That is, based on the opinion of those people who betrayed Pyotr Fedorovich.
It was precisely “thanks to” the notes of Catherine II that the image of Peter III was formed as a drunken husband who hanged a rat. Allegedly, the woman went into the emperor's office and was amazed at what she saw. There was a rat hanging over his desk. Her husband replied that she had committed a criminal offense and, according to military laws, was subjected to the most severe punishment. According to him, she was executed and will hang in front of the public for 3 days. This "story" was repeated by both, and, describing Peter the Third.
Whether this was in reality, or whether in this way Catherine II created her own positive image against its “unsightly” background, now it is not possible to find out.
Rumors of death have given rise to a considerable number of impostors calling themselves the "surviving king." Similar phenomena have happened before, it is worth remembering at least the numerous False Dmitrys. But in terms of the number of people who pretended to be the emperor, Pyotr Fedorovich has no competitors. At least 40 persons turned out to be "False Peters III", among which was Stepan Maly.
Memory
- 1934 - feature film "The Dissolute Empress" (as Peter III - Sam Jaffe)
- 1963 - feature film "Katerina from Russia" (in the role of Peter III - Raul Grassili)
- 1987 - the book "The Legend of the Russian Prince" - Mylnikov A.S.
- 1991 - feature film "Vivat, midshipmen!" (as Peter III -)
- 1991 - the book "The temptation of a miracle. "Russian Prince" and impostors "- Mylnikov A. S.
- 2007 - the book "Catherine II and Peter III: the history of the tragic conflict" - Ivanov O. A.
- 2012 - the book "The Heirs of the Giant" - Eliseeva O.I.
- 2014 - the series "Catherine" (in the role of Peter III -)
- 2014 - a monument to Peter III in the German city of Kiel (sculptor Alexander Taratynov)
- 2015 - series "The Great" (as Peter III -)
- 2018 - series "The Bloody Lady" (as Peter III -)
Even during her lifetime in 1742, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna declared her nephew, the son of Anna Petrovna's late elder sister, Karl-Peter-Ulrich, Duke of Holstein-Gotorp, to be the legitimate heir to the Russian throne. He was also a Swedish prince, as he was the grandson of Queen Ulrika Eleonora, who inherited the power of Charles XII, who had no children. Therefore, the boy was brought up in the Lutheran faith, and his tutor was the military marshal Count Otto Brumenn to the marrow of his bones. But according to the peace treaty signed in the city of Abo in 1743 after the actual defeat of Sweden in the war with Russia, Ulrika-Eleonora was forced from plans to crown her grandson to the throne, and the young duke moved to St. Petersburg from Stockholm.
After the adoption of Orthodoxy, he received the name of Peter Fedorovich. His new teacher was Jacob von Stehlin, who considered his student a gifted young man. He clearly excelled in history, mathematics, if it concerned fortification and artillery, and music. However, Elizaveta Petrovna was dissatisfied with his success, because he did not want to study the foundations of Orthodoxy and Russian literature. After the birth of Pavel Petrovich's grandson on September 20, 1754, the Empress began to bring the smart and determined Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna closer to her, and allowed her stubborn nephew to create the Holstein Guards Regiment in Oranienbaum "for fun". Without a doubt, she wanted to declare Paul heir to the throne, and proclaim Catherine regent until he came of age. This further worsened the relationship of the spouses.
After the sudden death of Elizabeth Petrovna on January 5, 1762, Grand Duke Peter III Fedorovich officially married the kingdom. However, he did not stop those timid economic and administrative reforms that the late empress began, although he never felt personal sympathy for her. Quiet, cozy Stockholm, presumably, remained a paradise for him in comparison with the crowded and unfinished St. Petersburg.
By this time, a difficult domestic political situation had developed in Russia.
In the Code of 1754, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna spoke of the monopoly right of nobles to own land and serfs. The landlords just did not have the opportunity to take their lives, punish them with a cattle whip and torture them. The nobles received an unlimited right to buy and sell peasants. In Elizabethan times main form The protests of serfs, schismatics and sectarians became mass escapes of peasants and townspeople. Hundreds of thousands fled not only to the Don and Siberia, but also to Poland, Finland, Sweden, Persia, Khiva and other countries. There were other signs of the crisis - the country was flooded with "robber bands". The reign of the "daughter of Petrova" was not only a period of flourishing of literature and art, the emergence of the noble intelligentsia, but at the same time, when the Russian tax-paying population felt an increase in the degree of their lack of freedom, human humiliation, impotence against social injustice.
“Development stopped before its growth; in the years of courage, he remained the same as he was in childhood, he grew up without maturing, - he wrote about the new emperor V.O. Klyuchevsky. “He was a grown man, forever remaining a child.” The outstanding Russian historian, like other domestic and foreign researchers, awarded Peter III with many negative qualities and offensive epithets that can be argued with. Of all the previous sovereigns and sovereigns, perhaps only he held out on the throne for 186 days, although he was distinguished by independence in making political decisions. The negative characterization of Peter III is rooted in the times of Catherine II, who made every effort to discredit her husband in every possible way and inspire her subjects with the idea of what a great feat she accomplished in saving Russia from the tyrant. “More than 30 years have passed since the sad memory of Peter III went to the grave,” wrote N.M. Karamzin in 1797 - and deceived Europe all this time judged this sovereign from the words of his mortal enemies or their vile supporters.
The new emperor was small in stature, with a disproportionately small head, and snub-nosed. He was disliked immediately because after the grandiose victories over the best Prussian army in Europe, Frederick II the Great in the Seven Years' War and the capture of Berlin by Count Chernyshev, Peter III signed a humiliating - from the point of view of the Russian nobility - peace, which returned to defeated Prussia all the conquered territories without any preconditions . It was said that he even stood under the gun "on guard" for two hours in the January frost as a token of apology in front of the empty building of the Prussian embassy. Duke George of Holstein-Gottorp was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army. When the emperor’s favorite, Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova, asked him about this strange act: “What did this Friedrich give you, Petrusha - after all, we beat him in the tail and mane?”, He sincerely replied that “I love Friedrich because I love everyone! » However, most of all, Peter III valued a reasonable order and discipline, considering the order established in Prussia as a model. Imitating Frederick the Great, who played the flute beautifully, the emperor diligently studied violin skills!
However, Pyotr Fedorovich hoped that the king of Prussia would support him in the war with Denmark in order to regain Holstein, and even sent 16,000 soldiers and officers under the command of cavalry general Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev to Braunschweig. However, the Prussian army was in such a deplorable state that to draw it into new war Frederick the Great did not dare. Yes, and Rumyantsev was far from delighted to have the Prussians beaten by him many times as allies!
Lomonosov reacted in his pamphlet to the accession of Peter III:
“Have any of those born into the world heard,
So that the triumphant people
Surrendered into the hands of the vanquished?
Oh shame! Oh, strange twist!
Frederick II the Great, in turn, awarded the emperor the rank of colonel in the Prussian army, which further outraged the Russian officers, who defeated the previously invincible Prussians near Gross-Jägersdorf, and near Zorndorf, and near Kunersdorf, and captured Berlin in 1760. As a result of the bloody Seven Years' War, Russian officers received nothing but invaluable military experience, well-deserved authority, military ranks and orders.
And frankly and without hiding it, Peter III did not love his "skinny and stupid" wife Sophia-Frederick-August, Princess von Anhalt-Zerbst, in Orthodoxy, Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. Her father Christian-Augustin was in active Prussian service and was the governor of the city of Stettin, and her mother Johanna-Elizabeth came from an old noble family of Holstein-Gottorp. The Grand Duke and his wife turned out to be distant relatives, and even were similar in character. Both were distinguished by a rare sense of purpose, fearlessness bordering on insanity, unlimited ambition and exorbitant vanity. Both husband and wife considered monarchy their natural right, and their own decisions - the law for subjects.
And although Ekaterina Alekseevna gave the heir to the throne a son, Pavel Petrovich, relations between the spouses always remained cool. Despite court gossip about his wife's countless adulteries, Paul was very much like his father. But this, nevertheless, only alienated the spouses from each other. Surrounded by the emperor, the Holstein aristocrats invited by him - Prince Holstein-Becksky, Duke Ludwig of Holstein and Baron Ungern - willingly gossiped about Catherine's love affairs either with Prince Saltykov (according to rumors, Pavel Petrovich was his son), then with Prince Poniatovsky, then with Count Chernyshev, then with Count Grigory Orlov.
The emperor was irritated by Catherine's desire to become Russified, to comprehend Orthodox religious sacraments, to learn the traditions and customs of future Russian subjects, which Peter III considered pagan. He said more than once that, like Peter the Great, he would divorce his wife and become the husband of the chancellor's daughter, Elizaveta Mikhailovna Vorontsova.
Catherine paid him in full reciprocity. The reason for the desired divorce from his unloved wife was the “letters” fabricated in Versailles by Grand Duchess Catherine to Field Marshal Apraksin that after the victory over the Prussian troops near Memel in 1757 he should not enter East Prussia in order to enable Frederick the Great to recover from defeat. On the contrary, when the French ambassador in Warsaw demanded from Elizaveta Petrovna the removal of the King of the Commonwealth, Stanislav-August Poniatowski, from St. Petersburg, alluding to his love affair with the Grand Duchess, Catherine frankly declared to the Empress: Russian empress and how dare he impose his will on the mistress of the strongest European power?
Chancellor Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov did not have to prove the forgery of these papers, but, nevertheless, in a private conversation with the St. Petersburg police chief Nikolai Alekseevich Korf, Peter III expressed his innermost thoughts: Peter, with his first wife - let him pray and repent! And I will put them with my son in Shlisselburg ... ". Vorontsov decided not to rush things with slander against the emperor's wife.
However, this catchphrase about "universal Christian love" and the performance of Mozart's works on the violin at a very decent level, with which Peter III wanted to enter Russian history, did not add popularity to him among the domestic nobility. In fact, brought up in a strict German atmosphere, he was disappointed with the morals that reigned at the court of his compassionate aunt with her favorites, ministerial leapfrog, eternal ball ceremonies and military parades in honor of Peter's victories. Peter III, having converted to Orthodoxy, did not like to attend church services in churches, especially on Easter, make pilgrimages to holy places and monasteries and observe obligatory religious fasts. The Russian nobles believed that at heart he always remained a Lutheran, if not even a "freethinker in the French manner."
The Grand Duke at one time laughed heartily at the rescript of Elizabeth Petrovna, according to which “the valet, who is on duty at the door of Her Majesty at night, is obliged to listen and, when the mother empress screams from a nightmare, put her hand on her forehead and say “white swan” , for which this valet complains to the nobility and receives the surname Lebedev. As she grew older, Elizaveta Petrovna constantly dreamed of the same scene, how she was raising the deposed Anna Leopoldovna from her bed, by that time long dead in Kholmogory. It didn't help that she changed her bedroom almost every night. There were more and more noble Lebedevs. For simplicity, they began to be called such people from the peasant class after another passportization in the reign of Alexander II by the landowners Lebedinsky.
In addition to "universal kindness" and the violin, Peter III adored subordination, order and justice. Under him, the nobles disgraced under Elizabeth Petrovna were returned from exile - Duke Biron, Count Minich, Count Lestok and Baroness Mengden and restored in rank and condition. This was perceived as the threshold of a new "Bironism"; the appearance of a new foreign favorite was simply not yet looming. Lieutenant-General Count Ivan Vasilievich Gudovich, military to the marrow of his bones, was clearly not suitable for this role, the toothless and idiotically smiling Minich and the forever frightened Biron were not taken into account by anyone, of course.
The very sight of St. Petersburg, where among the dugouts and "smoky huts" of state serfs and townspeople assigned to the settlement, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Winter Palace and the house of the governor-general of the capital Menshikov, with cluttered dirty streets, towered, disgusted the emperor. However, Moscow looked no better, standing out only for its numerous cathedrals, churches and monasteries. Moreover, Peter the Great himself forbade building up Moscow with brick buildings and paving the streets with stone. Peter III wanted to slightly ennoble the appearance of his capital - "Northern Venice".
And he, together with the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Prince Cherkassky, gave the order to clean up the construction site in front of the Winter Palace, littered for many years, through which the courtiers made their way to the main entrance, as if through the ruins of Pompeii, tearing camisoles and soiling boots. Petersburgers sorted out all the rubble in half an hour, taking for themselves broken bricks, and trimmings of rafters, and rusty nails, and the remains of glass and fragments of scaffolding. The square was soon ideally paved by Danish masters and became the decoration of the capital. The city began to gradually rebuild, for which the townspeople were extremely grateful to Peter III. The same fate befell the construction dumps in Peterhof, Oranienbaum, at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and on Strelna. The Russian nobles saw this as a bad sign - they did not like foreign orders and were afraid from the time of Anna Ioannovna. The new urban quarters beyond the Moika, where commoners opened "commercial houses" sometimes looked better than the town's wooden huts, as if transferred from the boyar Moscow past.
The emperor was also disliked for the fact that he adhered to a strict daily routine. Getting up at six o'clock in the morning, Peter III raised the commanders of the guards regiments on alarm, and arranged military reviews with mandatory exercises in stepping, shooting and combat formation. The Russian guardsmen hated discipline and military exercises with every fiber of their soul, considering it their privilege to free order, sometimes appearing in regiments in home dressing gowns and even in nightgowns, but with a charter sword at the waist! The last straw was the introduction of a Prussian-style military uniform. Instead of the Russian dark green army uniform with red standing collars and cuffs, uniforms of orange, blue, orange, and even canary colors should have been worn. Wigs, aiguillettes and espantons became obligatory, because of which the “Preobrazhenets”, “Semyonovtsy” and “Izmailovtsy” became almost indistinguishable, and narrow boots, in the tops of which, as of old, flat German vodka flasks could not fit. In a conversation with his close friends, the Razumovsky brothers, Alexei and Kirill, Peter III said that the Russian "guards are the current Janissaries, and they should be liquidated!"
Reasons for a palace conspiracy in the guard accumulated enough. Being a smart man, Peter III understood that it was dangerous to trust the “Russian Praetorians” with his life. And he decided to create his own personal guard - the Holstein Regiment under the command of General Gudovich, but managed to form only one battalion of 1,590 people. After Russia's strange end to its participation in the Seven Years' War, the Holstein-Gothorpe and Danish nobles were in no hurry to Petersburg, which clearly sought to pursue an isolationist policy that did not promise any benefits to the professional military. Desperate rogues, drunkards and people of dubious reputation were recruited into the Holstein Battalion. And the peacefulness of the emperor alarmed the mercenaries - double salaries were paid to Russian military personnel only during the period of hostilities. Peter III, however, was not going to deviate from this rule, especially since the state treasury was thoroughly devastated during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna.
Chancellor Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov and Actual Privy Councilor and at the same time Life Secretary Dmitry Ivanovich Volkov, seeing the liberal mood of the emperor, immediately began to prepare the highest manifestos, which Peter III, unlike Anna Leopoldovna and Elizabeth Petrovna, not only signed, but also read. He personally corrected the text of the draft documents, inserting his own rational critical judgments into them.
So, according to his Decree of February 21, the sinister Secret Chancellery was liquidated, and its archive "to eternal oblivion" was transferred to the Governing Senate for permanent storage. Fatal for any Russian filed formula "Word and deed!", Which was enough to "test on the rack" of anyone, regardless of his class affiliation; it was forbidden even to pronounce it.
In his programmatic “Manifesto on the Liberty and Freedom of the Russian Nobility” dated February 18, 1762, Peter III generally abolished physical torture of representatives of the ruling class and provided them with guarantees of personal immunity, if this did not concern treason to the Fatherland. Even such a "humane" execution for the nobles as cutting the tongue and exile to Siberia instead of cutting off the head, introduced by Elizaveta Petrovna, was prohibited. His decrees confirmed and expanded the noble monopoly on distillation.
Russian nobility was shocked by the public process in the case of General Maria Zotova, whose estates were sold at auction in favor of disabled soldiers and crippled peasants for the inhuman treatment of serfs. The Prosecutor General of the Senate, Count Alexei Ivanovich Glebov, was ordered to begin an investigation into the case of many fanatical nobles. In this regard, the emperor issued a separate decree, the first in Russian legislation, qualifying the murder of their peasants by landowners as "tyrannical torment", for which such landowners were punished with life exile.
From now on, it was forbidden to punish peasants with batogs, which often led to their death - "for this, use only rods, with which to whip only in soft places in order to prevent self-mutilation."
All fugitive peasants, Nekrasov sectarians and deserters who fled in tens of thousands for the most part to the border river Yaik, beyond the Urals, and even to the distant Commonwealth and Khiva in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, were amnestied. By Decree of January 29, 1762, they received the right to return to Russia not to their former owners and to the barracks, but as state serfs or were granted Cossack dignity in the Yaik Cossack army. It was here that the most explosive human material accumulated, from now on fiercely devoted to Peter III. The Old Believers-schismatics were exempted from the tax for dissent and could now live their way. Finally, all debts accumulated from the Cathedral Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich were written off from privately owned serfs. There was no limit to popular rejoicing: prayers were offered to the emperor in all rural parishes, regimental chapels and schismatic sketes.
The merchant class also turned out to be treated kindly. By personal decree of the emperor, duty-free export of agricultural goods and raw materials to Europe was allowed, which significantly strengthened the country's monetary system. To support foreign trade, the State Bank was established with a loan capital of five million silver rubles. Merchants of all three guilds could get a long-term loan.
Peter III decided to complete the secularization of church land holdings, begun shortly before his death by Peter the Great, by decree of March 21, 1762, limiting the immovable property of all rural parishes and monasteries to their fences and walls, leaving them the territory of cemeteries, and was also going to prohibit representatives of the clergy from owning serfs and artisans. Church hierarchs greeted these measures with frank discontent, and joined the noble opposition.
This led to the fact that between the parish priests, who were always closer to the masses, and the provincial nobles, who held back government measures that somehow improved the situation of the peasants and working people, and the "white clergy", who constituted a stable opposition to the growing absolutism from Patriarch Nikon, lay the abyss. The Russian Orthodox Church no longer represented a single force, and society was split. Having become Empress, Catherine II canceled these decrees in order to make the Holy Synod obedient to her authority.
The decrees of Peter III on the all-round encouragement of commercial and industrial activities were supposed to streamline monetary relations in the empire. His "Decree on Commerce", which included protectionist measures to develop grain exports, contained specific instructions on the need for energetic nobles and merchants to take care of the forest as the national wealth of the Russian Empire.
What other liberal plans swarmed in the head of the emperor, no one will be able to find out ...
By a special resolution of the Senate, it was decided to erect a gilded statue of Peter III, but he himself opposed this. The flurry of liberal decrees and manifestos shook noble Russia to its foundations, and touched patriarchal Russia, which had not yet completely parted with the remnants of pagan idolatry.
On June 28, 1762, the day before his own name day, Peter III, accompanied by the Holstein battalion, together with Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova, left for Oranienbaum to prepare everything for the celebration. Ekaterina was left in Peterhof unattended. Early in the morning, having missed the solemn train of the emperor, the carriage with the sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov and Count Alexander Ilyich Bibikov turned to Moplesir, took Ekaterina and rushed to St. Petersburg at a gallop. Here everything was already prepared. The money for the organization of the palace coup was again borrowed from the French ambassador Baron de Breteuil - King Louis XV wanted Russia to start hostilities again against Prussia and England, which was promised by Count Panin in the event of the successful overthrow of Peter III. Grand Duchess Catherine, as a rule, remained silent when Panin colorfully described to her the appearance of a “new Europe” under the auspices of the Russian Empire.
Four hundred "Preobrazhentsev", "Izmailovtsy" and "Semenovtsy", fairly warmed up by vodka and unrealizable hopes to eradicate everything foreign, welcomed the former German princess as an Orthodox Russian empress as a "mother"! In the Kazan Cathedral, Catherine II read out the Manifesto about her accession, written by Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin, where it was reported that due to the severe mental disorder of Peter III, reflected in his frantic republican aspirations, she was forced to accept state power into your own hands. The Manifesto contained a hint that after the coming of age of her son Paul, she would resign. Catherine managed to read this paragraph so indistinctly that no one in the jubilant crowd really heard anything. As always, the troops willingly and cheerfully swore allegiance to the new empress and rushed to the barrels of beer and vodka previously placed in the doorways. Only the Horse Guards Regiment tried to break through to the Nevsky, but on the bridges, wheel to wheel, cannons were placed tightly under the command of the zalmeister (lieutenant) of the guards artillery and the lover of the new empress, Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, who vowed to lose his life, but not to let him disrupt the coronation. It turned out to be impossible to break through the artillery positions without the help of the infantry, and the horse guards retreated. For his feat in the name of his beloved, Orlov received the title of count, the title of senator and the rank of adjutant general.
In the evening of the same day, 20,000 cavalry and infantry, led by Empress Catherine II, dressed in the uniform of a colonel of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, moved to Oranienbaum to overthrow the legitimate descendant of the Romanovs. Peter III simply had nothing to defend against this huge army. He had to silently sign the act of renunciation, arrogantly extended by his wife straight from the saddle. On the maid of honor, Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova, the Izmaylovo soldiers tore her ball gown into tatters, and his goddaughter, the young princess Vorontsova-Dashkova, boldly shouted to Peter in the face: “So, godfather, don’t be rude to your wife in the future!” The deposed emperor sadly replied: “My child, it does not hurt you to remember that driving bread and salt with honest fools like your sister and I is much safer than with great wise men who squeeze the juice from a lemon and throw the peel under their feet.”
The next day, Peter III was already under house arrest in Ropsha. He was allowed to live there with his beloved dog, a Negro servant and a violin. He only had a week to live. He managed to write to Catherine II two notes with a plea for mercy and a request to let him go to England together with Elizabeth Vorontsova, ending with the words “I hope for your generosity that you will not leave me without food according to the Christian model”, signed “your devoted lackey”.
On Saturday, July 6, Peter III was killed during card game by their voluntary jailers Alexei Orlov and Prince Fyodor Baryatinsky. Guardsmen Grigory Potemkin and Platon Zubov, who were privy to the plans of the conspiracy and witnessed the bullying of the disgraced emperor, carried the guard incessantly, but they were not hindered. In the morning Orlov wrote in a drunken handwriting, swaying from insomnia, probably right on the flag officer’s drum, a note to “our All-Russian mother” Catherine II, in which he said that “our freak is very sick, no matter how he died today.”
The fate of Pyotr Fedorovich was a foregone conclusion, all he needed was a pretext. And Orlov accused Peter of distorting the map, to which he shouted indignantly: "Who are you talking to, serf?!" An exact terrible blow followed in the throat with a fork, and with a wheeze, the former emperor fell back. Orlov was taken aback, but the resourceful Prince Baryatinsky immediately tightly tied the throat of the dying man with a silk Holstein scarf, so much so that the blood did not drain from the head and baked under the skin of the face.
Later, Alexei Orlov, who had sobered up, wrote a detailed report to Catherine II, in which he pleaded guilty to the death of Peter III: “Mother merciful Empress! How can I explain, describe what happened: you will not believe your faithful slave. But as before God I will tell the truth. Mother! I am ready to go to my death, but I myself do not know how this trouble happened. We died when you do not have mercy. Mother - he is not in the world. But no one thought of this, and how can we think of raising our hands against the sovereign! But disaster struck. He argued at the table with Prince Fyodor Boryatinsky; before we [with Sergeant Potemkin] had time to separate them, he was already gone. We ourselves do not remember what we did, but we are all guilty and worthy of execution. Have mercy on me for my brother. I brought you a confession, and there is nothing to look for. Forgive me or tell me to finish soon. The light is not sweet - they angered you and ruined your souls forever.
Catherine shed a “widow's tear” and generously rewarded all the participants in the palace coup, at the same time conferring extraordinary military ranks on the guards officers. The Little Russian hetman, Field Marshal Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky began to receive "in addition to his hetman's income and the salary he received" 5,000 rubles a year and a real state adviser, senator and chief officer Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin - 5,000 rubles a year. Actual chamberlain Grigory Grigorievich Orlov was granted 800 souls of serfs, and the same number of seconds-major of the Preobrazhensky regiment Alexei Grigorievich Orlov. Lieutenant-Captain of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Pyotr Passek and Lieutenant of the Semenovsky Regiment Prince Fyodor Boryatinsky were awarded 24,000 rubles each. The attention of the empress was also attended by Lieutenant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Prince Grigory Potemkin, who received 400 souls of serfs, and Prince Pyotr Golitsyn, who was given 24,000 rubles from the treasury.
On June 8, 1762, Catherine II publicly announced that Peter III Fedorovich had died: "The former emperor, by the will of God, suddenly died of hemorrhoidal colic and severe pain in the intestines" - which was absolutely incomprehensible to most of those present due to widespread medical illiteracy - and even arranged magnificent " funeral" of a simple wooden coffin, without any decorations, which was placed in the Romanov family vault. At night, the remains of the murdered emperor were secretly placed inside a simple wooden domina.
The real burial took place in Ropsha the day before. The assassination of Emperor Peter III had unusual consequences: because of the neck tied with a scarf at the time of death, a black man lay in the coffin! The soldiers of the guard immediately decided that instead of Peter III they had put a "black arap", one of the many palace jesters, all the more so because they knew that the guards of honor were preparing for the funeral the next day. This rumor spread among the guards, soldiers and Cossacks stationed in St. Petersburg. There was a rumor throughout Russia that Tsar Pyotr Fedorovich, kind to the people, miraculously escaped, and twice they interred not him, but some commoners or court jesters. And therefore, more than twenty “miraculous deliverances” of Peter III took place, the largest of which was the Don Cossack, retired cornet Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, who organized a terrible and merciless Russian revolt. Apparently, he knew a lot about the circumstances of the double burial of the emperor and that the Yaik Cossacks and runaway schismatics were ready to support his “resurrection”: it was no coincidence that the Old Believer cross was depicted on the banners of Pugachev’s army.
The prophecy of Peter III, expressed to Princess Vorontsova-Dashkova, turned out to be true. All those who helped her become empress soon had to be convinced of the great "gratitude" of Catherine II. Contrary to their opinion, in order for her to declare herself regent and rule with the help of the Imperial Council, she declared herself empress and was officially crowned on September 22, 1762 in the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin.
A terrible warning for the probable noble opposition was the restoration of the detective police, which received the new name of the Secret Expedition.
Now a conspiracy was drawn up against the Empress. The Decembrist Mikhail Ivanovich Fonvizin left a curious note: “In 1773 ... when the Tsarevich came of age and married a Darmstadt princess named Natalya Alekseevna, Count N.I. Panin, his brother Field Marshal P.I. Panin, Princess E.R. Dashkova, Prince N.V. Repnin, one of the bishops, almost Metropolitan Gabriel, and many of the then nobles and guards officers entered into a conspiracy to overthrow Catherine II, who reigned without a [legal] right [to the throne], and instead of her raise her adult son. Pavel Petrovich knew about this, agreed to accept the constitution offered to him by Panin, approved it with his signature and took an oath that, having reigned, he would not violate this fundamental state law that limited autocracy.
The peculiarity of all Russian conspiracies was that the oppositionists, who did not have such experience as their Western European associates, constantly sought to expand the limits of their narrow circle. And if the case concerned the higher clergy, then their plans became known even to the parish priests, who in Russia had to immediately explain to the common people the changes in state policy. It is impossible to consider the appearance of Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev precisely in 1773 as an accident or a mere coincidence: he could learn about the plans of high-ranking conspirators from this very source and in his own way use the opposition moods of the nobility against the empress in the capital, fearlessly moving towards the regular regiments of the imperial army in the Ural steppes, inflicting defeat after defeat on them.
No wonder Pugachev, like them, constantly appealed to the name of Pavel as the future successor of the "father's" work and the overthrow of the hated mother. Catherine II found out about the preparations for the coup, which coincided with the "Pugachevshchina", and spent almost a year in the admiral's cabin of her yacht Shtandart, which was constantly standing at the Vasilyevsky Spit under the protection of two newest battleships with faithful crews. In a difficult moment, she was ready to sail to Sweden or England.
After the public execution of Pugachev in Moscow, all the high-ranking St. Petersburg conspirators were sent into honorable retirement. The overly energetic Ekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova went to her own estate for a long time, Count Panin, formally remaining the President of the Foreign Collegium, was actually removed from state affairs, and Grigory Grigorievich Orlov, allegedly secretly married to the Empress, was no longer allowed to attend an audience with Catherine II, and later exiled to his own fiefdom. Admiral-General Count Aleksey Grigorievich Orlov-Chesmensky, hero of the first Russian-Turkish war, was relieved of his post as commander Russian fleet and was sent to the diplomatic service abroad.
The long and unsuccessful siege of Orenburg also had its reasons. Infantry General Leonty Leontyevich Bennigsen later testified: “When the Empress lived in Tsarskoye Selo during the summer season, Pavel usually lived in Gatchina, where he had a large detachment of troops. He surrounded himself with guards and pickets; patrols constantly guarded the road to Tsarskoye Selo, especially at night, in order to prevent her from any unexpected undertaking. He even determined in advance the route along which he would withdraw with the troops if necessary; the roads along this route were studied by trusted officers. This route led to the land of the Ural Cossacks, from where the famous rebel Pugachev appeared, who in ... 1773 managed to make himself a significant party, first among the Cossacks themselves, assuring them that he was Peter III, who had escaped from the prison where he was held, falsely announcing his death. Pavel counted very much on the kind reception and devotion of these Cossacks... But he wanted to make Orenburg the capital.” Probably, Paul got this idea in conversations with his father, whom he loved very much in infancy. It is no coincidence that one of the first little-explained - from the point of view of common sense - actions of Emperor Paul I was the solemn act of the second "marriage" of the two most august dead in their coffins - Catherine II and Peter III!
So the palace coups in the “temple unfinished by Peter the Great” created a constant ground for imposture, which pursued the interests of both noble Russia and serf Orthodox Russia, and even took place almost simultaneously. This has been the case since the Time of Troubles.
F. Rokotov "Portrait of Peter III"
“But nature was not as favorable to him as fate: the probable heir to two alien and large thrones, according to his abilities, he was not suitable for his own small throne” (V. Klyuchevsky)
Childhood
Before the adoption of Orthodoxy, the All-Russian Emperor Peter III Fedorovich bore the name Karl-Peter-Ulrich. He was the son of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Karl-Friedrich and Tsesarevna Anna Petrovna (daughter of Peter I). Thus, he was the grandson of Peter I and the great-nephew of the King of Sweden, Charles XII. Born in Kiel, the capital of Holstein. He was only 3 weeks old when his mother died and 11 years old when his father died.
His upbringing was entrusted to Marshal Brumer, it was reduced to barracks order and training with the help of a whip. Nevertheless, he was prepared to take the Swedish throne, so they brought up in him the spirit of Swedish patriotism, i.e. spirit of hatred towards Russia.
The current Empress Elizaveta Petrovna was childless, but she wanted the throne to be inherited by a descendant of Peter I, so for this purpose she brings her nephew, Karl-Peter-Ulrich, to Russia. He accepts Orthodoxy and, under the name of Peter Fedorovich, is declared Grand Duke, heir to the throne with the title of Imperial Highness.
L. Pfantzelt "Portrait of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich"
In Russia
Peter was sickly, did not receive proper upbringing and education. In addition, he had a stubborn, irritable and deceitful character. Elizaveta Petrovna was struck by the ignorance of her nephew. She assigned a new tutor to him, but he never made any significant progress from him. And a sharp change in lifestyle, country, environment, impressions and religion (before the adoption of Orthodoxy, he was a Lutheran) led to the fact that he was completely disoriented in the world around him. V. Klyuchevsky wrote: "... he looked at serious things with a childish look, and treated children's undertakings with the seriousness of a mature husband."
Elizaveta Petrovna did not give up her intention to secure the throne for a descendant of Peter I and decided to marry him. She herself chose his bride - the daughter of an impoverished German prince - Sophia-Friederike-Augusta (in the future Catherine II). The marriage took place on August 21, 1745. But their family life did not work out from the very first days. Peter insulted his young wife, repeatedly announced that she was being sent abroad or to a monastery, and was fond of the ladies-in-waiting of Elizabeth Petrovna. He developed a passion for carousing. However, Peter III had two children: son Paul (future Emperor Paul I) and daughter Anna. Rumor has it that the children were not his.
G.-K. Groot "Pyotr Fedorovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna"
Peter's favorite pastimes were playing the violin and war games. Already being married, Peter did not stop playing with soldiers, he had a lot of wooden, wax and tin soldiers. His idol was the Prussian King Frederick II and his army, he admired the beauty of the Prussian uniforms, the bearing of the soldiers.
Elizaveta Petrovna, according to V. Klyuchevsky, was in despair at the character and behavior of her nephew. She herself and her favorites were worried about the fate of the Russian throne, she listened to proposals to replace the heir with Catherine or Pavel Petrovich with the preservation of the regency for Catherine until he came of age, but the empress could not finally decide on a single proposal. She died - and on December 25, 1761, Peter III ascended the Russian throne.
Domestic politics
The young emperor began his reign by pardoning many criminals and political exiles (Minich, Biron, etc.). He abolished the Secret Chancellery, which had been operating since the time of Peter I and was engaged in secret investigation and torture. He announced forgiveness to the repentant peasants who had previously disobeyed their landowners. Prohibited the persecution of dissenters. Issued a Decree of February 18, 1762, according to which the compulsory military service for the nobles, introduced by Peter I, was abolished. Historians doubt that all these innovations were dictated by the desire for good for Russia - most likely, there are more actions of court dignitaries who tried to in this way to increase the popularity of the new emperor. But she continued to be very low. He was charged with disrespect for Russian shrines (he did not honor the clergy, ordered the house churches to be closed, the priests to take off their vestments and put on worldly clothes), as well as the conclusion of a “shameful peace” with Prussia.
Foreign policy
Peter led Russia out of the Seven Years' War, during the hostilities East Prussia was annexed to Russia.
The negative attitude towards Peter III intensified after he announced his intention to move to recapture Schleswig from Denmark. In his opinion, she oppressed his native Holstein. The guards were especially worried, which, in fact, supported Catherine in the upcoming coup.
coup
Having ascended the throne, Peter was in no hurry to be crowned. And although Frederick II in his letters persistently advised Peter to carry out this procedure as soon as possible, the emperor for some reason did not heed the advice of his idol. Therefore, in the eyes of the Russian people, he was, as it were, an unreal tsar. For Catherine, this moment was the only chance to take the throne. Moreover, the emperor has publicly stated more than once that he intends to divorce his wife and marry Elizaveta Vorontsova, the former maid of honor of Elizabeth Petrovna.
On June 27, 1762, P. Passek, one of the main organizers of the conspiracy, was arrested in the Izmailovsky barracks. Early in the morning, the brother of Ekaterina's favorite A. Orlov brought Ekaterina from Peterhof to St. Petersburg, where the Izmailovsky and Semenovsky regiments swore allegiance to her, and her Manifesto was urgently read out in the Winter Palace. Then the rest swore allegiance to her. Peter III at that time was in his favorite castle in Oranienbaum. Having learned about the events that had taken place, he hurried to Kronstadt (on the advice of Munnich), but by that time the soldiers had already sworn allegiance to Catherine. He returned lost and, despite the fact that Minich offered him various ways out of the situation, he did not dare to take any action and rewrote the act of abdication drawn up by Catherine. He was sent first to Peterhof, and then to Ropsha, where he was taken under arrest. While Catherine was thinking about what to do with the deposed emperor, her close associates killed him (by strangulation). It was announced to the people that Peter III had died of "hemorrhoidal colic."
L. Pfantzelt "Portrait of Emperor Peter III"
Frederick II commented on his death: He allowed himself to be overthrown like a child sent to sleep."
Peter III was Russian Emperor for only 186 days.
Peter III, born Karl Peter Ulrich, was born on February 21, 1728 in Kiel, in the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. The only son of Anna Petrovna and Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the boy was also the grandson of two emperors, Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden. Karl's parents died when the boy was still a child, leaving him in the care of educators and the nobility of the Holstein court, who prepared him for the Swedish throne. Karl grew up among the cruelty of his mentors, who severely punished him for poor academic performance: the boy, showing an interest in art, lagged behind in almost all academic sciences. He loved military parades and dreamed of becoming a world famous warrior. When the boy was 14 years old, his aunt Catherine, who became the empress, transports him to Russia and, giving him the name Pyotr Fedorovich, declares him the heir to the throne. Peter did not like living in Russia, and he often complained that the Russian people would never accept him.
Reckless marriage
August 21, 1745 Peter marries Sophia Frederick Augusta, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst in Saxony, who takes the name Catherine. But the marriage arranged by Peter's aunt in political purposes, from the very beginning becomes a disaster. Catherine turned out to be a girl of amazing intelligence, while Peter was just a child in a male body. They had two children: a son, the future Emperor Paul I, and a daughter who did not live to be 2 years old. Later, Catherine will state that Paul is not Peter's son, and that she and her husband never entered into a marital relationship. For 16 years life together, and Catherine and Paul had numerous lovers and mistresses.
It is believed that Empress Elizabeth fenced off Peter from public affairs, probably suspecting the paucity of his mental abilities. He hated life in Russia. He remained loyal to his homeland and Prussia. He did not have the slightest concern for the Russian people, and the Orthodox Church was disgusting. Nevertheless, after the death of Elizabeth, on December 25, 1961, Peter ascends the throne of the Russian Empire. Most of what we know about Peter III comes from the memoirs of his wife, who described her husband as an idiot and drunkard, prone to cruel jokes, with the only love in his life - to play a soldier.
Controversial politics
Once on the throne, Peter III radically changes the foreign policy of his aunt, withdrawing Russia from the Seven Years' War and entering into an alliance with her enemy, Prussia. He declares war on Denmark and wins back the lands of his native Holstein. Such actions were regarded as a betrayal of the memory of those who died for the Motherland, and were the cause of the alienation that arose between the emperor and the military and powerful palace cliques. But, although traditional history considers such actions as a betrayal of the interests of the country, recent Scientific research suggested that this was only part of a very pragmatic plan to expand Russia's influence to the West.
Peter III carries out a number of internal reforms, which, from the point of view of today, can be called democratic: he declares freedom of religion, dissolves the secret police and imposes punishment for the murder of serfs by landlords. It was he who opens the first state bank in Russia and encourages the merchants, increasing the export of grain and imposing an embargo on the import of goods that can be replaced by domestic ones.
A lot of controversy arises around his abdication. Traditionally, it is considered that he causes discontent with his reforms. Orthodox Church and a good half of the nobility, and that, since his politics, as well as his personality, were seen as alien and unpredictable, representatives of the church and noble cliques go for help to Catherine and collude with her against the emperor. But recent studies of history expose Catherine as the mastermind behind the conspiracy, who dreamed of getting rid of her husband, fearing that he might divorce her. On June 28, 1762, Peter III was arrested and forced to abdicate by force. He is transported to the town of Ropsha near St. Petersburg, where he is allegedly killed on July 17 of the same year, although the fact of the murder has never been proven and there is evidence that the former emperor could have committed suicide.
