Lucas Conrad Pfandzelt. Portrait of the Russian Emperor Peter III
formed public opinion:
An admirer of the Prussian system of Frederick II, Peter III, contrary to the national interests of Russia, stopped military operations against Prussia in the Seven Years' War of 1756-63 in 1762, made peace with Frederick II. An ignorant man, occupied mainly with court entertainments, Peter III provided the management of the court nobility and the highest administration (A. I. Glebov, M. I. Vorontsov, D. V. Volkov, etc.), who carried out a number of important events in the interests of the nobility (decree on the freedom of the nobility in 1762, the liquidation of the Secret Chancellery). Some changes caused dissatisfaction among the clergy (the establishment of the College of Economy, preparations for the secularization of monastic estates, etc.). anti-national foreign policy Peter III, disregard for Russian customs, the introduction of Prussian orders in the army created opposition to the guard, which was headed by his wife Catherine. Peter III was deposed from the throne, arrested, sent to the Ropsha manor, where he was soon killed with the knowledge of Catherine. The palace coup of 1762 gave rise to unfounded rumors that Peter III was overthrown by the nobles for his intention to free the peasants. Many impostors spoke under the name of Peter III (including E. I. Pugachev).
In 1728, in the city of Kiel, the capital of the North German Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, a son, Prince Karl Peter Ulrich, was born into the family of the ruling Duke Karl Friedrich. Karl Friedrich, the father of the newborn, belonged to the most ancient, known from the 11th century. Oldenburg Dynasty. Being the nephew of the Swedish King Charles XII, he was the heir to the Swedish crown and an outstanding politician. In the interests of his Duchy, Karl Friedrich entered into an alliance with Russia and Emperor Peter I. In 1725, the Duke married Peter's daughter, Tsesarevna Anna Petrovna. Their son Karl Peter Ulrich became the successor of the Romanov Dynasty, ascending the throne under the name of Emperor Peter III Feodorovich.
With the death in 1730 of Emperor Peter II (son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich), the Romanov family in male offspring was cut short, and with the accession of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1741, the question of succession to the throne and the continuation of the dynasty sharply arose.
On February 5, 1742, by order of the Empress, her nephew, the 14-year-old Duke of Holstein, was brought to St. Petersburg. As the only descendant of Peter the Great, he was declared the Heir, converted to Orthodoxy and became GRAND DUKE Pyotr Feodorovich.
Thus began his journey to the Russian Golgotha - the All-Russian Imperial Throne.
In the history of our country there is, most likely, no more slandered monarch than Emperor Peter III. How his enemies and detractors did not scoff at him. What kind of dirty slander was not on his account both in the past and in our days: "insignificance", "reveler", "soldafon", "destroyer of Orthodoxy", " lackey of Frederick II of Prussia". And this is a far from complete set of similar epithets used by slanderers and enemies of Russia. And few then, and even now, tried to ask themselves the question, what was all this slander and dirt for, and how was it really?
Having become the heir to the Russian Throne, the young Grand Duke completed a course of study under the guidance of Academician Jacob Stehlin.
In the memoirs of his teacher, Pyotr Feodorovich appears as a capable student, with an excellent memory. The academician especially emphasized Peter's love for mathematics and military sciences, in particular, fortification and artillery.
The heir also loved music (he played the violin well and collected a good collection of them), knew the theater, understood painting. The large library of the Grand Duke was located first in Oranienbaum, and then in the Winter Palace. Numismatics was also a passion of Peter.
In 1745, Pyotr Feodorovich became an adult and, at the insistence of his aunt, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, married his second cousin, Princess Sophia Frederica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbstka. Having converted to Orthodoxy, she became Ekaterina Alekseevna. The heir and his wife could not stand each other. Pyotr Fedorovich had mistresses. His last passion was Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova, daughter of General-in-Chief Roman Illarionovich Vorontsov. Ekaterina Alekseevna had three constant lovers - Count Sergei Saltykov, Count Stanislav Poniatovsky and Count Chernyshev. Soon, the officer of the Life Guards Grigory Orlov became the favorite of the Grand Duchess. However, she often had fun with other guards officers.
September 24, 1754 Catherine gave birth to a son, who was named Paul. It was rumored at court that the real father of the future emperor was Catherine's lover, Count Saltykov ...
Pyotr Fyodorovich himself smiled bitterly:
God knows where my wife gets her pregnancy from. I don't really know if this is my child or if I should take it personally...
On December 25, 1761, Empress Elizabeth died. With her, the Russian branch of the Romanov Dynasty was finally cut short.
But Russia was not orphaned. A descendant of the Romanovs, Emperor Peter III, entered the ancestral Throne, and in his person a new dynasty reigned - the HOLSHTEIN-GOTTORP HOUSE. History let go of the reign of Peter III, which could have been brilliant, only 186 days. First of all, the new Sovereign stopped the unpopular and unnecessary for Russia war with Prussia and ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops from this country. As you know, the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763 was caused by the intensification of the struggle between France and England for overseas colonies. For various reasons, seven more states were drawn into the war (in particular, Prussia, which was in conflict with France and Austria). But what interests the Russian Empire pursued, speaking in this war on the side of France and Austria, is completely incomprehensible. It turned out that Russian soldiers died for the right of the French to rob the colonial peoples. Peter III stopped this senseless slaughter. For which he received a "severe reprimand with an entry" from grateful descendants.
In that war, the Russian soldier was used as cannon fodder by our allies Austria and France. Having concluded a favorable peace with one of the great commanders of Europe, Peter III and his entourage (Chancellor M.I. Vorontsov, Field Marshal Prince N.Yu. Trubetskoy, General Melgunov, who returned from exile Minikh, D.V. Volkov, General Gudovich) amounted to a broad program of reforms that were supposed to bring the country to a more high level among world powers, strengthen its economy and raise the welfare of its subjects. The sovereign supposed, but did not have time to release his cousin Antonovich, Emperor John VI, who was in Shlisselburg.
The first manifestoes of Peter aroused wide enthusiasm in society. The emperor abolished the Secret Chancellery - the famous secret state police, which terrified all the subjects of the empire without exception - from commoners to high-born nobles.
According to one denunciation, agents of the Secret Chancellery could seize any person, imprison him in casemates, betray him to the most terrible torture, and execute him. The emperor freed his subjects from this arbitrariness. After his death, Catherine II restored the secret police - under the name "Secret Expedition".
Denunciations and torture were banned, an amnesty was held, and many returned from exile. In church life, it was forbidden to persecute the Old Believers, the supervision of personal life was abolished, the restriction on the number of marriages for widowers was lifted, and a ban was introduced on taking monastic vows for men under 50 years old, and for women under 45 years old. The authorities demanded that babies be baptized not in cold, but in warm water. Drunkenness, public fights, indecency and ignorance of part of the clergy were cited as an example of the way of life of German pastors.
To improve the moral atmosphere in life Russian society cultured Germany was an example for the new government.
Peter III freed, a hundred years before 1861, the monastery peasants from serfdom. He gave them the monastic arable land for perpetual use, declared them state peasants and imposed an annual dues of 1 ruble. Clergy Orthodox Church The king appointed a state salary.
Peter issued a decree on the "non-silverness of service", forbidding senators and state officials to present gifts with peasant souls and state lands. Promotion signs senior officials there should have been only orders and medals. Having ascended the throne, Catherine first of all endowed her associates and favorites with peasants and estates. Peter announced the introduction to Russian Empire public court. Catherine canceled the publicity of legal proceedings.
Peter declared freedom of religion for all his subjects: "let them pray to whom they want, but - do not have them in reproach or in a curse." It was an almost unthinkable step for that time.
Even in enlightened Europe there was no complete freedom religion.
After the death of the emperor, Catherine II, a friend of the French enlighteners and a "philosopher on the throne", canceled this decree.
Peter abolished church supervision over the personal lives of his subjects: "for adulterous sin, no one should be condemned, for even Christ did not condemn." After the death of the king, church espionage was revived.
A special manifesto was announced "On the Liberty of the Nobility". The nobles were given the right to freely join or not join the military and civil service, retire, and travel abroad. Peter allowed the nobles unhindered travel abroad. After his death, the "Iron Curtain" was restored.
In addition, the emperor prepared a host of other manifestos and decrees, including on limiting the personal dependence of peasants on landlords, on the optionality of military service, on the optionality of observing religious fasts, etc.
And all this was done in less than six months of the reign! Knowing this, how can one believe the fables about the "unrestrained drunkenness" of Peter III?
The new emperor also took care of the economy of the state. Decree on Commerce addressed Special attention on the need to expand the export of bread, to maintain production in Russia, it was forbidden to import sugar and raw materials for domestic manufactories.
The country's authorities paid attention to the careful treatment of forests. Military reforms also began. Peter III was distrustful of the guard, rightly considering it the driving force palace coups 1st half of the eighteenth century.
The government took measures to strengthen military discipline. The Emperor also demanded that the civil bureaucracy observe order. The crackdown on corruption has begun. During his short reign, Peter Feodorovich often and unexpectedly made raids on the Senate, the Synod and other institutions, checking their work.
In his personal life, the Sovereign strove to imitate grandfather Peter I. He got up at 7 o’clock in the morning, listened to the reports of dignitaries from 8 to 10 o’clock, personally held a watch parade at 11 o’clock, after which he examined government agencies and enterprises.
At 1 pm, Peter III had dinner and, as a rule, invited people to the table, regardless of their position or origin. Then came the receptions of diplomats and associates. The evening was reserved for rest. The Tsar loved concerts and often played the violin himself. By nightfall, courtiers and guests were invited to dinner. The emperor was a man of complex character. He was observant, reckless, hasty in action. Kind, open and mocking, the Tsar was careless and imprudent in conversations. Contemporaries also noted his irascibility and anger, which, however, quickly passed.
From his youth, Peter III disliked the courtiers and the falsehood of high society. But the Tsar willingly communicated with ordinary people.
Having become the Emperor, Pyotr Feodorovich walked and traveled around St. Petersburg alone, without guards, visiting his former servants or their families. By decree of May 25, 1762, Peter III allowed "people of all ranks to freely walk around the Summer Garden" in a decent, and not in a vile dress.
In his desire to implement the proposed reforms, the Emperor found not only supporters (for example, M.V. Lomonosov), but also opponents.
So, the emperor was engaged in state affairs, in between which, according to historians, he smoked in Oranienbaum.
And what was the young empress doing at that time?
Ekaterina Alekseevna with her numerous lovers and hangers-on settled in Peterhof. There she actively intrigued against her husband: she gathered supporters, spread rumors through her lovers and their drinking companions, and attracted officers to her side. In April 1762, she successfully gives birth to an illegitimate son from her favorite Grigory Orlov, the future founder of the Bobrinsky family, named Alexei Bobrinsky. And two months later, in June 1762, a conspiracy arose, the soul of which was the empress. Influential dignitaries and commanders were involved in the conspiracy:
Count Nikita Panin, actual Privy Councilor, chamberlain, senator, tutor of Tsarevich Pavel; his brother Count Pyotr Panin, General-in-Chief, hero of the Seven Years' War; Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, nee Countess Vorontsova, Ekaterina's closest friend and companion; her husband, Prince Mikhail Dashkov, one of the leaders of the St. Petersburg Masonic organization; Count Kirill Razumovsky, marshal, commander of the Izmailovsky regiment, hetman of Ukraine, president of the Academy of Sciences; Prince Mikhail Volkonsky, diplomat and commander of the Seven Years' War; Baron Korf, head of the St. Petersburg police, as well as numerous officers of the Life Guards, led by the Orlov brothers.
According to a number of historians, influential Masonic circles were involved in the conspiracy. In Catherine's inner circle, the "freemasons" were represented by a certain mysterious "Mr. Odar". According to an eyewitness to the events of the Danish envoy A. Schumacher, under this name the famous adventurer and adventurer Count Saint-Germain was hiding. Events hastened the arrest of one of the conspirators, Captain-Lieutenant Passek.
On June 26, 1762, the Orlovs and their friends began to solder the soldiers of the capital's garrison. With the money that Catherine borrowed from the English merchant Felten, allegedly to buy jewelry, more than 35 thousand buckets of vodka were bought. On the morning of June 28, 1762, Catherine, accompanied by Dashkova and the Orlov brothers, left Peterhof and headed for the capital, where everything was already ready. The dead drunken soldiers of the guard regiments swore an oath to "Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna", a heavily drunken crowd of townsfolk greeted the "dawn of a new reign". Peter III with his retinue was in Oranienbaum. Upon learning of the events in Petrograd, the ministers and generals betrayed the emperor and fled to the capital. Only the old Field Marshal Munnich, General Gudovich and a few close associates remained with Peter.
On June 29, the emperor, struck by the betrayal of the most trusted people and having no desire to get involved in the struggle for the hateful crown, abdicated. He wanted only one thing: to be released to his native Holstein with his mistress Ekaterina Vorontsova and faithful adjutant Gudovich. However, by order of the new ruler, the deposed king was sent to the palace in Ropsha.
On July 6, 1762, the brother of the Empress' lover, Alexei Orlov, and his drinking buddy, Prince Fyodor Baryatinsky, strangled Peter. It was officially announced that the emperor "died of inflammation in the intestines and apoplexy" ...
The reign of Peter III was short, life was short - only 34 years. But even after the martyr's death, Peter was not given rest. Streams of dirty slander swept over the memory of him, of the Emperor, whose thoughts were for the good of Russia, and whose deeds would have brought our country to such a level that there were no revolutions and upheavals of the 20th century. The simple Russian people only retained a good memory of this Sovereign. Truly, the Holstein Dynasty made incredible sacrifices to GOD and the ALTAR for our HOLY Rus' - PETER III, his son PAUL I, great-grandson ALEXANDER II and great-great-great-grandson NICHOLAS II. So, the facts do not give any grounds to consider Peter III as a "nonentity" and a "martinet". Why do historians so stubbornly blaspheme this sovereign?
St. Petersburg poet Viktor Sosnora decided to look into this problem.
First of all, he was interested in the question: from what sources did the researchers scoop (and continue to scoop!) Dirty gossip about the "dementia" and "insignificance" of the emperor? And this is what was discovered: it turns out that the sources of all the characteristics of Peter III, all these gossip and fables are the memoirs of the following persons:
Empress Catherine II - who hated and despised her husband, who was the inspirer of a conspiracy against him, who actually directed the hand of Peter's murderers, who, finally, as a result of a coup, became an autocratic ruler;
Princess Dashkova - a friend and associate of Catherine, who hated and despised Peter even more (contemporaries gossip: because Peter preferred her older sister, Ekaterina Vorontsova), who was the most active participant in the conspiracy and after the coup became "the second lady of the empire";
Count Nikita Panin, a close associate of Catherine, who was one of the leaders and the main ideologist of the conspiracy against Peter, and soon after the coup became one of the most influential nobles and headed the Russian diplomatic department for almost 20 years;
Count Pyotr Panin, brother of Nikita, who was one of the active participants in the conspiracy, and then became a commander trusted and favored by the royal grace (it was Pyotr Panin that Catherine instructed to suppress the uprising of Pugachev, who, by the way, declared himself "Emperor Peter III").
Even without being a professional historian and not being familiar with the intricacies of source study and criticism of sources, it can be safely assumed that the above-mentioned persons are unlikely to be objective in assessing the person they betrayed and killed.
It was not enough for the Empress and her "accomplices" to overthrow and kill Peter III. To justify their crimes, they had to slander their victim!
And they zealously lied, heaping vile gossip and dirty fiction.
Catherine:
"He spent his time in childishness unheard of ...". "He was stubborn and quick-tempered, was weak and frail in build."
"From the age of ten he was addicted to drunkenness." "He mostly showed disbelief ...". "His mind was childish..."
"He despaired. It often happened to him. He was a cowardly heart and weak in head. He loved oysters..."
In her memoirs, the empress portrayed her murdered husband as a drunkard, a reveler, a coward, a fool, an idler, a tyrant, an imbecile, a debauchee, an ignoramus, an atheist...
"What kind of slop does she pour over her husband just because she killed him!" exclaims Viktor Sosnora.
But, oddly enough, pundits who wrote dozens of volumes of dissertations and monographs did not at all doubt the veracity of the killers' memories of their victim.
Until now, in all textbooks and encyclopedias, one can read about the "insignificant" emperor, who "brought to naught the results of Russian victories" in the Seven Years' War, and then "drunk with the Holsteiners in Oranienbaum."
Lies have long legs...
Personalities who, by their actions, make descendants (and in some cases even their contemporaries) shrug their shoulders in surprise and ask the question - “Have people brought this country at least some benefit?”
Unfortunately, among such figures there are also people who, by virtue of their origin, fell to the very top of the Russian state power, bringing confusion and discord to the progressive movement of the state mechanism, and even frankly harming Russia on the scale of the country's development. These people include the Russian Emperor Peter Fedorovich, or simply Tsar Peter III.
The activities of Peter III as emperor were inextricably linked with Prussia, which in the middle of the 18th century was a major European power and played an important role in the major military conflict of that time - the Seven Years' War.
The Seven Years' War can be briefly described as a war against Prussia, which had become too strong after the division of the Austrian inheritance. Russia participated in the war within the framework of the anti-Prussian coalition (consisting of France and Austria according to the Versailles Defensive Alliance, and Russia which joined them in 1756).
In the war, Russia defended its geopolitical interests in the Baltic region and northern Europe, on the territory of which Prussia fixed its greedy gaze. The short reign of Peter III, due to his excessive love for Prussia, had a detrimental effect on Russian interests in this region, and who knows how the history of our state would have developed if he had lingered on the throne longer? Indeed, following the surrender of positions in the almost won war with the Prussians, Peter was preparing for a new campaign - against the Danes.
Peter III Fedorovich was the son of the daughter of Peter I Anna and the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Charles Friedrich (who was the son of the sister of the Swedish king Charles XII and this created a well-known paradox for the reigning houses of the two powers, since Peter was the heir to both the Russian and Swedish thrones).
The full name of Peter sounded like Karl Peter Ulrich. The death of his mother, which followed a week after his birth, left Peter virtually an orphan, since the disorderly and reckless life of Karl Friedrich did not allow him to properly raise his son. And after the death of his father in 1739, a certain marshal O. F. Brummer, an old-school stern martinet, who subjected the boy to all kinds of punishments for the slightest offense, and instilled in him the ideas of Lutheran meekness and Swedish patriotism (which suggests that Peter was originally prepared still to the Swedish throne). Peter grew up as an impressionable, nervous person who loved art and music, but most of all adored the army and everything that was somehow connected with military affairs. In all other areas of knowledge, he remained a complete ignoramus.
In 1742, the boy was brought to Russia, where his aunt, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, took care of him. He was baptized under the name of Peter Fedorovich, and Elizabeth chose the daughter of Christian-August Anhalt of Zerbst and Johanna-Elizabeth - Sophia Augusta Frederick (in Orthodoxy - Ekaterina Alekseevna) as a candidate for the role of his wife.
Peter's relationship with Catherine did not work out from the very beginning: the infantile young man was much inferior in intelligence to his wife, was still interested in children's war games and did not show any signs of attention to Catherine at all. It is believed that until the 1750s there was no relationship between the spouses, however, after a certain operation, Catherine gives birth to a son, Pavel, from Peter in 1754. The birth of a son did not help to bring together essentially strangers, Peter has a favorite, Elizaveta Vorontsova.
Around the same time, a regiment of Holstein soldiers was issued to Pyotr Fedorovich, and almost all of his free time he spends on the parade grounds, completely surrendering to the military drill.
During his stay in Russia, Peter almost never learned the Russian language, he did not like Russia at all, did not try to learn its history, cultural traditions, and simply despised many Russian customs. His attitude towards the Russian Church was just as disrespectful - according to contemporaries, during church services he behaved inappropriately, did not observe Orthodox rites and fasts.
Empress Elizabeth deliberately did not allow Peter to resolve any political issues, leaving behind him the only position of director of the gentry corps. At the same time, Pyotr Fedorovich did not hesitate to criticize the actions of the Russian government, and after the start of the Seven Years' War, he openly showed sympathy for Frederick II, the Prussian king. All this, of course, did not add either popularity or any little respect for him from the circles of the Russian aristocracy.
An interesting foreign policy prologue to the reign of Pyotr Fedorovich was an incident that “happened” with Field Marshal S. F. Apraksin. Russia, which entered the Seven Years' War, quite quickly seized the initiative from the Prussians in the Livonian direction, and throughout the spring of 1757 pushed the army of Frederick II to the west. Having driven the Prussian army across the Neman River with a powerful onslaught after a general battle near the village of Gross-Egersdorf, Apraksin suddenly turned the Russian troops back. The Prussians, who woke up only a week later, quickly made up for their lost positions, and pursued the Russians on the heels right up to the Prussian border.
What happened to Apraksin, this experienced commander and veteran warrior, what kind of obsession came over him?
The explanation is the news received in those days by Apraksin from Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin from the capital of the Russian Empire about the sudden illness of Elizabeth Petrovna. Logically judging that in the event of her death, Pyotr Fedorovich (who was crazy about Frederick II) will take the throne and for military actions with the Prussian king he will definitely not pat him on the head, Apraksin (most likely, on the orders of Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who also decided to play it safe ) retreats back to Russia.
At that time, it worked out, Elizabeth recovered from her illness, the chancellor who fell into disfavor was sent to the village, and the field marshal was put on trial, which then lasted three years and ended with the sudden death of Apraksin from apoplexy.
Portrait of Peter III works artist A. P. Antropov, 1762
However, later Elizaveta Petrovna still dies, and on December 25, 1761, Pyotr Fedorovich ascends the throne.
Literally from the very first days after his accession, Peter III developed a vigorous activity, as if proving to the entire royal court and to himself that he could rule better than his aunt. According to one of Peter's contemporaries, - “already in the morning he was in his office, where he listened to reports ..., then he hurried to the Senate or collegiums. ... In the Senate, he took on the most important cases himself energetically and assertively. As if in imitation of his grandfather, the reformer Peter I, he proposed a series of transformations.
In general, during the 186 days of his reign, Peter managed to issue many legislative acts and rescripts.
Among them, the decree on the secularization of church land property and the Manifesto on granting "liberties and freedom to the entire Russian noble nobility" (thanks to which the nobles received an exceptionally privileged position) can be called somewhat serious. In addition, Peter seemed to have begun some kind of struggle with the Russian clergy, issuing a decree on the obligatory shaving of priests' beards and prescribing for them a dress code very similar to the uniform of Lutheran pastors. In the army, Peter III everywhere planted the Prussian order of carrying military service.
In order to somehow raise the steadily declining popularity of the new emperor, his confidants insisted on the implementation of certain liberal laws. So, for example, signed by the king, a decree was issued on the abolition of the Secret Investigation Office.
On the positive side, one can characterize the economic policy of Pyotr Fedorovich. He created the State Bank of Russia and issued a decree on the issuance of banknotes (which entered into force already under Catherine), Peter III decided on the freedom of Russia's foreign trade - all these initiatives, however, were fully realized already in the reign of Catherine the Great .
As interesting as Peter's plans were in the economic sector, things were just as sad in the foreign policy sphere.
Soon after the accession of Peter Fedorovich to the throne, the representative of Frederick II, Heinrich Leopold von Goltz, arrives in St. Petersburg, whose main goal was to negotiate a separate peace with Prussia. The so-called "Petersburg Peace" of April 24, 1762 was concluded with Frederick: Russia returned all the eastern lands conquered from Prussia. In addition, the new allies agreed to provide each other with military assistance in the form of 12,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry units in case of war. And this condition was much more important for Peter III, since he was preparing for a war with Denmark.
As contemporaries testified, the grumbling against Peter, as a result of all these dubious foreign policy "achievements", was "nationwide". The instigator of the conspiracy was the wife of Pyotr Fedorovich, with whom relations have recently worsened utterly. The speech of Catherine, who declared herself Empress on June 28, 1762, was supported among the guards and a number of court nobles - Peter III Fedorovich had no choice but to sign a paper on his own abdication.
On July 6, temporarily located in the town of Ropsha (before being transferred to the Shlissedburg fortress), Peter suddenly dies "from hemorrhoidal lapses and severe colic."
Thus ended the inglorious short reign of the non-Russian in spirit and deeds of Emperor Peter III.
On January 5, 1762, Peter III became Russian Emperor. He made faces during ceremonies, played with soldiers and declared that he would rather rule civilized Sweden than wild Russia. Under his name, Yemelyan Pugachev will "rake up Russia".
Alien among their own
At birth, Pyotr Fedorovich received the name Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp. His mother was the daughter of Peter I, Tsesarevna Anna Petrovna. She died almost immediately after the birth of her son, having caught a cold during the celebrations in honor of little Peter. At the age of 11, he also lost his father, the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Karl Friedrich. On the paternal side, Peter III was the great-nephew of the King of Sweden Charles XII and for a long time was brought up as the heir to the Swedish throne in the house of his uncle, Bishop Adolf of Eitinsky, who later became the Swedish king Adolf Fredrik. At the age of 14, the boy was taken by his aunt from Russia, Empress Elizabeth, who was trying to secure the throne for the Romanovs.
Main enemy
After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1762, Peter III was proclaimed emperor. Contemporaries painted an impartial portrait of the new ruler. With his antics, he led the whole court into confusion. It was said that from his grandfather he inherited only a passion for strong drinks, which he began to drink, supposedly, in early childhood. In front of foreign ministers, he behaved familiarly and spoke such absurdity and nonsense that "his heart bled with shame." It was believed that the main enemy of the new sovereign is himself.
Developmental delay?
The strange behavior of the emperor gave rise to rumors about his inferiority. In his youth, he had been ill with a severe form of smallpox, which could cause developmental disabilities. At the same time, Petr Fedorovich received an excellent technical education. He was well versed in the exact sciences, geography and fortification, spoke German, French and in Latin. The only problem is that he hardly knew Russian, and, apparently, he did not really want to master it - the prospect of ruling Russia irritated him in general. However, many educated nobles spoke Russian no better. However, he was not an evil person, but rather a simple-minded one. He liked to lie or fantasize. Especially "strangeness" "overcame" Pyotr Fedorovich in the temple. During worship, he could giggle, turn around, talk loudly. He forced the ladies of the court to bow instead of bowing.
"Fever"
As soon as Peter III ascended the throne, he enthusiastically plunged into state affairs. During the 186 days of his reign, he signed 192 documents. He abolished the Secret Chancellery, banned denunciations and torture, announced an amnesty, returning 20 thousand people from exile, issued a decree on freedom of religion and a ban on the persecution of Old Believers. Pyotr Fedorovich transferred the lands seized from the monasteries to the state, declared the forest a national wealth, established the State Bank and put into circulation the first banknotes. He issued a manifesto on the freedom of the nobility, according to which the nobles were exempted from compulsory military service and from corporal punishment. Among the important, and, at times, progressive laws, there were both not very relevant (the emperor ordered babies to be baptized only in heated water), and really frightening - there were rumors that the new emperor wanted to carry out a church reform along the Protestant model.
Unloved wife
At the age of 17, Peter was married to Princess Anhalt-Zerbst, the future Empress Catherine II. Probably, Pyotr Fedorovich tried to “make friends” with his 16-year-old wife, but they were too different: she is lively and curious, he is infantile and maniacally passionate about playing soldiers, hunting, wine. After 10 years of marriage, their son Pavel, the future emperor, was born. The outward resemblance of father and son, meanwhile, did not interfere with the gossip that the real father of the heir is Catherine's favorite, Sergei Saltykov. They no longer argued that the father of Catherine’s subsequent children was definitely not her lawful spouse, because the emperor himself stated that he did not know where his wife’s “pregnancies come from”. However, the emperor himself was not distinguished by marital fidelity. He seriously intended to marry his favorite, Elizaveta Vorontsova, for which it was necessary to eliminate his unloved wife. For Catherine and her son Pavel, special chambers were already prepared in the Shlisselburg fortress. But the Empress will get ahead of her slow husband.
Do not make yourself an idol!
The idol and object of imitation for Peter Fedorovich was the Prussian king Frederick II - an unfortunate choice, given that for several years Russia had been at war with Prussia. To everyone's amazement, Peter III not only concluded a peace unfavorable for Russia with Prussia, but also introduced Russian army Prussian form. The popularity of the emperor was not promoted by the introduced cane system of punishments in the Prussian manner. Soon the guards began to openly express their displeasure.
A helpless victim of circumstance
It is the guards who will help Catherine ascend the throne: the Senate, troops and fleet will swear allegiance to the new ruler, and Peter will agree to sign the abdication. Catherine will be able to give the coup a decent look, so that everything looks like the fulfillment of the people's will. The manifesto will say so: "at the request of all our loyal subjects." Meanwhile, the deposed emperor was awaiting his fate in the Ropsha Palace, 30 kilometers from St. Petersburg. A week later, Ekaterina Alekseevna received a letter stating that her husband had died. What happened in Ropsha is still unknown. It was announced to the people that the emperor had died of hemorrhoidal colic. However, there is a well-known version that Alexei Orlov killed Pyotr Fedorovich, faithful man empresses. The mysterious death of the emperor will allow the most famous false tsar, Emelyan Pugachev, to enter Russian history.
Peter III Fedorovich (born Karl Peter Ulrich, born February 10 (21), 1728 - death July 6 (17), 1762) - Russian emperor in 1762. The grandson of Peter I is the son of his daughter Anna.
Origin
The mother of Peter III, Anna Petrovna, died of consumption two months after his birth in the small Holstein town of Kiel. She was crushed by life there and her unhappy family life. Peter's father, Duke of Holstein Karl Friedrich, nephew of the Swedish King Charles XII, was a weak, poor, ugly sovereign, of small stature and weak build. He died in 1739, and custody of his son, who was about 11 years old at that time, was taken over by his cousin Duke of Holstein and Bishop of Lübeck Adolf Friedrich, who later ascended the Swedish throne. Peter was by nature a weak, frail and plain-looking child.
Childhood, youth, upbringing
The main educators were the marshal of his court Brummer and the chief chamberlain Berchholtz. None of them fit the role. According to the testimony of the Frenchman Millais, Brummer was fit only to "bring horses, not princes." He treated his pupil extremely rudely, subjecting him to humiliating and painful punishments, forcing him to kneel on peas scattered on the floor, leaving him without dinner and even beating him up.
Humiliated and embarrassed in everything, the prince acquired bad tastes and habits, became irritable, absurd, stubborn and false, acquired a sad tendency to lie, believing with ingenuous enthusiasm in his own fiction. At the same time, Peter remained frail and unattractive, both physically and morally. He had a strange, restless soul, enclosed in a narrow, anemic, prematurely emaciated body. Even in childhood, he discovered a tendency to drunkenness, because of which the educators were forced to closely monitor him at all receptions.
Heir to the throne
At first, the prince was prepared for the accession to the Swedish throne, while forcing him to learn the Lutheran catechism, Swedish and Latin grammar. However, having become the Russian empress and wanting to ensure the inheritance through her father, she sent Major Korf with an order to take her nephew from Kiel at any cost and deliver it to St. Petersburg.
Arrival in Russia
Peter arrived in the Russian capital on February 5, 1742 and was soon declared Grand Duke and heir to the Russian throne. After talking with her nephew, Elizabeth was struck by his ignorance and ordered him to immediately start training. Little good came of this good intention. From the very beginning, the Russian language teacher Veselovsky rarely appeared, and then, having convinced himself of the complete inability of his ward, he completely stopped walking. Professor Shtelin, who was instructed to teach mathematics and history to the heir, showed great perseverance. And soon he realized that Grand Duke"Doesn't like deep thinking."
Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich
He brought picture books, ancient Russian coins to the lessons and told about them ancient history Russia. By medals Shtelin told about the history of his reign. Reading the newspapers to him, he went through universal history in this way.
However, it was much more important for the empress to introduce her nephew to Orthodoxy. On this side, they also met with considerable difficulties, because from childhood Peter learned the rules of the most strict and least tolerant Lutheranism. In the end, after many troubles for himself, he obeyed the will of the empress, but at the same time he said several times that it would be more pleasant for him to leave for Sweden than to remain in Russia.
One occupation, which the prince indulged in with selfless persistence, was the game of soldiers. He ordered to make for himself a lot of different soldiers: wax, lead and wood, and placed them in his office on tables with such devices that if you pull the strings stretched across the tables, then sounds were heard similar to a quick rifle fire. On service days, Peter gathered his household, put on a general's uniform and made a parade review of his toy troops, pulling the laces and listening with pleasure to the sounds of battle. The Grand Duke kept his love for these childish games for a long time even after his marriage to Catherine.
Catherine about Peter
From Catherine's notes it is known what kind of fun he liked to indulge in soon after the wedding. In the village, he set up a doghouse for himself and began to train dogs himself.
“With amazing patience,” Catherine wrote, “he trained several dogs, punishing them with stick blows, shouting out hunting terms and walking from one end of his two rooms to the other. As soon as a dog got tired or ran away, he subjected it to cruel tortures, which made it howl even louder. When these exercises, unbearable to the ears and the tranquility of his neighbors, finally bored him, he took up the violin. Peter did not know music, but he had a strong ear and considered the main advantage of the game to lead the bow more strongly and to make the sounds as loud as possible. His playing tore apart the ear, and often the listeners had to regret that they did not dare to plug their ears.
Then again there was the training of dogs and their torture, which truly seemed to me extremely cruel. Once I heard a terrible, incessant squeal. My bedroom, where I sat, was near the room where the dog training took place. I opened the door and saw how the Grand Duke lifted one of the dogs by the collar, ordered the Kalmyk boy to hold her by the tail and beat the poor animal with a thick stick of his whip with all his might. I began to ask him to spare the unfortunate dog, but instead he began to beat her even harder. I went to my room with tears in my eyes, unable to bear such a cruel sight. In general, tears and cries, instead of arousing pity in the Grand Duke, only made him angry. Pity was for his soul a painful and, one might say, unbearable feeling ... "
Through Madame Kruse, Peter got himself dolls and children's trinkets, for which he was a passionate hunter. “During the day, he hid them from everyone under my bed,” Catherine recalled. - The Grand Duke immediately after dinner went into the bedroom, and as soon as we were in bed, Madame Kruse locked the door, and the Grand Duke began to play until one and two in the morning. I, along with Madame Kruse, glad not glad, had to take part in this pleasant activity. Sometimes I amused myself with it, but much more often it tired me and even bothered me, because dolls and toys, others very heavy, filled and filled up the whole bed with them.
Contemporaries about Peter
Is it any wonder that Catherine gave birth to a child only 9 years after the wedding? Although there were other explanations for this delay. Champeau, in a report drawn up for the Court of Versailles in 1758, wrote: “The Grand Duke, without suspecting it, was unable to produce children, due to the obstacle removed from Eastern peoples by circumcision, but considered incurable by him. The Grand Duchess, who did not love him and was not imbued with the consciousness of having heirs, was not saddened by this.
For his part, Castera wrote: “He (the Grand Duke) was so ashamed of the misfortune that struck him that he did not even have the determination to admit it, and the Grand Duchess, who accepted his caresses with disgust and was at that time as inexperienced as he did not think to console him, nor to encourage him to seek means to return him to his arms.
Peter III and Catherine II
If you believe the same Champeau, the Grand Duke got rid of his shortcoming with the help of Catherine's lover Sergei Saltykov. It happened like this. Once the whole court was present at a big ball. The Empress, passing by the pregnant Naryshkina, Saltykov's sister-in-law, who was talking to Saltykov, told her that she should have passed on a little of her virtue Grand Duchess. Naryshkina replied that it might not be as difficult to do as it seemed. Elizabeth began to question her and thus learned about the physical handicap of the Grand Duke. Saltykov immediately said that he enjoyed the trust of Peter and would try to persuade him to agree to the operation. The empress not only agreed to this, but made it clear that by doing so he would have rendered a great service. On the same day, Saltykov arranged a dinner, invited all of Peter's good friends to it, and in a merry moment they all surrounded the Grand Duke and asked him to agree to their requests. Immediately the surgeon came in - and in one minute the operation was done and was a great success. Peter was finally able to enter into normal communication with his wife and soon after that she became pregnant.
But if Peter and Catherine united to conceive a child, after his birth they felt absolutely free from marital obligations. Each of them knew about the love interests of the other and treated them with complete indifference. Catherine fell in love with August Poniatowski, and the Grand Duke began courting Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova. The latter soon took full power over Peter.
Contemporaries unanimously expressed bewilderment on this score, because they absolutely could not explain how she could bewitch the Grand Duke. Vorontsova was completely ugly and even more than that. “Ugly, rude and stupid,” Masson said of her. Another witness put it even harsher: "She swore like a soldier, mowed down, stank and spat when talking." There were rumors that Vorontsova encouraged all the vices of Peter, got drunk with him, scolded and even beat her lover. By all accounts, she was an evil and ignorant woman. Nevertheless, Peter wanted nothing more than to marry her, having previously divorced Catherine. But while Elizabeth was alive, one could only dream of this.
Everyone who more or less knew the Grand Duke had no doubt that with his coming to power, Russian policy would change dramatically. Peter's Prussian affections were well known, because he did not consider it necessary to hide them (and indeed, by his very nature, he could not keep secrets and immediately blurted them out to the first person he met; this vice, more than any others, later damaged him).
Accession to the throne of Peter III
1761, December 25 - Elizabeth died. On the very first night of his accession to the throne, Peter sent messengers to various corps of the Russian army with orders to stop hostile actions. On the same day, the brigadier and chamberlain Andrei Gudovich, the favorite of the new emperor, was sent to the prince of Anhalt-Zerbst with a notice of the accession to the throne of Peter III and took the emperor's letter to Frederick. In it, Peter III offered Frederick to renew harmony and friendship. Both were accepted with the greatest gratitude.
Foreign and domestic policy of Peter III
Friedrich immediately sent his adjutant Colonel Goltz to Petersburg. On April 24, peace was concluded, while on the most favorable terms for Frederick: the Prussian king was returned all his lands occupied by Russian troops in former war; a separate paragraph proclaimed the desire of both sovereigns to conclude a military alliance, which, obviously, was directed against the former ally of Russia, Austria.
Elizabeth Vorontsova
Peter behaved in the same radical way in domestic politics. February 18 published a manifesto on the freedom of the nobility. From now on, all the nobles, no matter what service they were in, military or civil, could continue it or retire. Prince Pyotr Dolgorukov tells an anecdote about how this famous manifesto was written. One evening, when Peter wanted to cheat on his mistress, he called the Secretary of State Dmitry Volkov to his place and turned to him with the following words: “I told Vorontsova that I would work with you part of the night on a law of extreme importance. Therefore, I need a decree tomorrow, which would be discussed at court and in the city. After that, Volkov was locked in an empty room with a Danish dog. The unfortunate secretary did not know what to write about; in the end, he remembered what Count Roman Larionovich Vorontsov often repeated to the sovereign - namely, about the freedom of the nobility. Volkov wrote a manifesto, which was approved by the sovereign the next day.
On February 21, a very important manifesto is issued, abolishing the Privy Chancellery, an office known for its many abuses and outright atrocities. On March 21, a decree on the secularization of church properties appears. According to him, the monasteries were deprived of their numerous land holdings, and the monks and priests were given fixed state salaries.
Meanwhile, Goltz, who, even after the signing of the peace, continued to remain in St. Petersburg and had great influence on the sovereign in all matters, anxiously reported to Friedrich about the growing discontent against the emperor. Bolotov wrote about the same thing in his notes. Mentioning some of the decrees of the new reign, which aroused the pleasure of the Russians, he further writes:
“But other orders of the emperor that followed later aroused strong murmuring and indignation in the subjects, and most of all, that he intended to completely change our religion, to which he showed special contempt. He called on the leading Bishop (Novgorod) Dmitry Sechenov and ordered him that only the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God be left in the churches, and there would be no others, and that the priests shave their beards and wear dresses, like foreign pastors. It is impossible to describe how amazed Archbishop Dmitry was at this order. This prudent elder did not know how to proceed with the fulfillment of this unexpected command, and saw clearly that Peter had the intention of changing Orthodoxy to Lutheranism. He was forced to declare his will to the sovereign's most distinguished clergy, and although the matter stopped there for the time being, it produced strong displeasure in all the clergy.
Palace coup
To the displeasure of the clergy was added the displeasure of the troops. One of the first deeds of the new reign was the dissolution of the Elizabethan Life Company, in the place of which they immediately saw a new, Holstein, guard, who enjoyed the sovereign's clear preference. This aroused grumbling and indignation in the Russian guards. As Catherine herself later admitted, she was offered a plan to overthrow Peter III soon after the death of Elizabeth. But she refused to take part in the conspiracy until June 9th. On this day, when there was a celebration of peace with the Prussian king, the emperor publicly insulted her at dinner, and in the evening gave the order to arrest her. Uncle Prince George forced the sovereign to cancel this order. Catherine remained at large, but no longer excused herself and agreed to accept the help of her volunteer assistants. Chief among them were the guards officers, the Orlov brothers.
The coup was carried out on June 28, 1762, and was crowned with complete success. Upon learning that the guards unanimously supported Catherine, Peter was confused and abdicated the throne without further ado. Panin, who was instructed to convey to the deposed sovereign the will of his wife, found the unfortunate man in the most miserable condition. Peter tried to kiss his hands, begged him not to be separated from his mistress. He wept like a guilty and punished child. The favorite threw herself at the feet of Catherine's messenger and also asked that she be allowed not to leave her lover. But they were still separated. Vorontsova was sent to Moscow, and Petra was assigned as a temporary stay a house in Ropsha, "a very secluded area, but very pleasant," according to Catherine, and located 30 miles from St. Petersburg. Peter was supposed to live there until a suitable room was prepared for him in the Shlisselburg fortress.
Death
But, as it soon became clear, he did not need these apartments. On the evening of July 6, Ekaterina was handed a note from Orlov, written in an unsteady and hardly sober hand. Only one thing could be understood: that day Peter had an argument at the table with one of his interlocutors; Orlov and others rushed to separate them, but they did it so awkwardly that the frail prisoner turned out to be dead. “We didn’t have time to separate, but he was already gone; we don’t remember what we did,” wrote Orlov. Catherine, in her words, was touched and even amazed by this death. But none of the perpetrators of the murder was punished. The body of Peter was brought directly to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery and there they were modestly buried next to the former ruler Anna Leopoldovna.
February 21, 1728 Count Heinrich Friedrich Bassevich, the first minister of the Holstein court, left a note: “Born between noon and the first hour of the day, healthy and strong. It was decided to name it Carl Peter". The newborn in question is destined to become Russian Emperor Peter III.
We have a misconception about this figure. So much so that you wonder: how “a national traitor and an openly imbecile drunkard” generally lasted for Russian throne even this short time? Many people get the impression that the main and even the only historical role Peter III - it's time to marry the future Catherine the Great, and then die to clear the way for the brilliant "mother-empress".
1. Works and days
Some find the language of numbers to be the most persuasive. In some ways they are right: this is how you can offhand determine, if not the effectiveness, then the efficiency and activity of the ruler. If you look at Peter III from this point of view, you get an interesting proportion. He spent 186 days on the throne. During this time, he signed 192 laws and decrees: this is not counting any trifles like submissions for awards. On average, about 30 decrees are issued per month, even a little more. Thus, he confidently enters the top 3 rulers of the 18th century. And even takes an honorable second place in it after his son Paul I. He published an average of 42 legislative acts per month. For comparison: Catherine the Great published 12 laws per month, and Peter the Great- 8 each. A curious fact should be especially noted: some of these laws are attributed to the “philanthropy and enlightenment” of Catherine II, his widow. In particular, the "Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility", giving the murder of serfs by the masters the status of "tyrannical torment" and the abolition of the sinister Secret Chancellery. Although, in fact, all the merit of Catherine is only that she did not cancel the orders of her late husband.
2. Not from relatives, but to relatives
One of the hook phrases Bulgakov- Woland's words from The Master and Margarita: “Yes, how bizarrely the deck is shuffled! Blood!" It is fully applicable to Peter III. In his case, however, the deck was shuffled by hand. Several seemingly promising dynastic marriages - and now, if you please, our hero was born. By the way, remember the name given to him at birth? It is also from this series. Carl Peter. Peter - in honor of his maternal grandfather, Russian Emperor Peter I. And Karl - for the reason that on the paternal side the baby was the great-nephew of the Swedish king Charles XII. Two great grandfathers who fought each other for almost a quarter of a century and redrawn the map of Europe. Peter III was well aware of this. Moreover, he behaved in such a way that many people noticed his resemblance to both Peter I and Charles XII at the same time. For example, a French diplomat in Russia Jean-Louis Favier:“He imitates both in the simplicity of his tastes and in clothes ... Immersed in luxury and inactivity, the courtiers are afraid of the time when they will be ruled by the sovereign, equally severe to himself and to others.”
3. Coronation after death: late or never?
One can agree with those who say that Peter III was inferior. But only in one. He, perhaps, really was not a full-fledged emperor during his lifetime. Since he did not live to see the coronation, which marks the fullness of power. In June 1762, the proclaimed but not crowned emperor signed the abdication.
The situation was corrected by Paul I, his son. He did something unique and unprecedented. 34 years after Peter's death III new the emperor opened his coffin and crowned the remains of the late father in accordance with all the rules. An elegant touch: the Great Imperial Crown was forced to hold Alexey Orlov, one of the alleged murderers of Peter III. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Count Orlov after that "went into a dark corner and wept sobs, his hands trembled." The coronation of the deceased and at the same time revenge on his killers - this Russian history has not yet known. Peter III is the only Russian tsar who truly became such after his death.
Exhumation of Peter III. Allegorical engraving by Nicholas Ancelin. Source: Public Domain
4. Won Seven Years
Most of all complaints are caused by the termination of the war with Prussia. That same Seven Years' War, where the genius of the future brilliant commanders of the "golden age of Catherine" manifested itself: Petra Rumyantseva And Alexandra Suvorova. Claims are something like this: “Ours took Berlin a year earlier, and all of Prussia was in our pocket. Even Koenigsberg had been a Russian city for four years, and Russian students studied at its university. And then Peter III appeared, servile to the Prussian order and personally to the Prussian King Friedrich. And he let everything go down the drain: ours were obliged to withdraw the troops and give everything they had conquered.
In fact, it was almost the opposite. At the time of the death of Peter III, Russian troops still occupied this entire territory. Moreover, the food depots and their ammunition were replenished, and a Russian squadron was sent to Koenigsberg.
In addition, according to the agreement, Frederick was obliged to recapture from Denmark and transfer to Russia the province of Schleswig. But Peter retained the right to stop the withdrawal of Russian troops "due to ongoing unrest in Europe."
And the withdrawal of troops from East Prussia, and the fact that Russia never got what Frederick promised her is entirely the work of Catherine II. Rather, the consequences of her inaction. She was so busy first with the coup and the elimination of her husband, and then with the strengthening of her own power, that she did not follow the terms of the contract.
5. Failed Russian breakthrough
In the status of heir to the Russian throne, Peter stayed for almost twenty years. And, speaking frankly, during this time he did not show himself in anything, except for a penchant for drunkenness, playing soldiers and drill according to the Prussian model. In any case, that's how it's supposed to be. As a rule, details are also dispensed with when describing a short time period: from February 1759 to January 1762.
Meanwhile, it was perhaps the brightest stage in the life of the heir. He was finally allowed to do the real thing. Yes, with a big creak and seemingly small business. But still. In February 1759, Peter was appointed general director of the land gentry corps.
Documents related to this educational institution and signed by the heir to the throne, clearly show that he was a reasonable, sober, sane person, capable of thinking on a national scale. That he is primarily concerned material base body, of course. Expansion and reconstruction of the dormitory barracks, the establishment of a corps printing house, “in order to print all the necessary books in Russian, German and French”, an attentive attitude to nutrition and uniforms ... And, besides this, far-reaching ideas. In particular, a large-scale project to create “a complete geographical and historical description of Russia, so that the young people brought up in this building not only foreign lands would thoroughly know the geography that they are really taught, but also have a clear understanding of the state of their fatherland.”
