Peter I was one of the most accomplished tsars in Russian history; he left Russia a testament to the direction of the country's development, and the Europeans saw the silence, and the Russians saw it and did not dare to admit it.
First, he was born a threat
Peter I, whose original name was "Peter Alexievich", was the son of the old Tsar Alexei I. Alexei I had more than a dozen children, and Peter I was the son of him and his second wife. Alexei I was also a reliable tsar in the Romanov dynasty, and his first wife was Maria, the daughter of the great noblemiroslav family, who raised thirteen children, including Princess Sophia, Fedor III, and Ivan V; the second wife was Natalia Nareshkina, daughter of the noble Naryshkin family, who had three children, including Peter I.
Alexei I chose the empress
During the time of Alexei I, Russia was still very feudal, women wore veils and had little contact with the outside world, and the royal family had strict rules; the successor princes also had strict rules, generally giving priority to the eldest son, that is, the descendants of the first queen had greater advantages; and the possibility of illegitimate children was even less likely.
After the death of Maria, the first queen of Alexei I, he made Natalia Nareshkina empress, and when their son Peter I was born, he theoretically took over the position very low, not at all comparable to the son of Queen Maria, but the Naryshkin family behind Natalia was very powerful, so the Miloslav family and the children of Queen Maria regarded Peter I as a threat.
In January 1676, Alexei I died, and the son of the first empress, Fedor, succeeded to the throne, known in history as "Fedor III", but Fedor III was frail and sick from an early age, and had been lying in a hospital bed, and in 1682, after several years as Tsar, Fedor III died at the age of 21.
At this time, the next successor should be Ivan, the son of the first queen, but this Ivan is a lowly man who cannot convince the public. At this time, the powerful Naryshkin family united many nobles and archbishops to put Peter, who was only ten years old, on the throne. The miroslav family of the former empress and the eldest daughter of the former empress, Sophia, of course, did not intervene, spreading rumors that Fedor III was killed by the Naryshkin family, and using this to launch a coup d'état that imprisoned Peter I and his mother, Empress Natalia, who had reigned for less than half a year.
Princess Sophia and the "Two Little Tsars"
Second, all Russians know that Peter is the most powerful one
Princess Sophia is more famous in Russian history, and in order to push Peter I, she contacted everywhere, and also complained to her uncle, Alexei I's brother, saying that Queen Natalia had poisoned Fedor III; as a result, this reckless emperor actually went to the queen with a sword and cut off the queen's arm with a sword. Sophia also bribed Khovansky, the leader of the Shooting Army, to ensure the success of the coup.
After the success of the coup, it was really impossible for this mentally handicapped Ivan to be tsar, and he himself was not acceptable, and the situation at that time was unacceptable, soPhia thought of a workaround: her brother Ivan was the first tsar, Peter was the second tsar, and she was regent as a princess. When all was settled, Sophia drove Empress Natalia, second Tsar Peter, to the outskirts of Moscow and put her under house arrest.
After the coup d'état was successful, the commander of the "Shooting Army" who helped Sophia, Khovansky, felt that he had made a great contribution, and he asked the high-ranking official Houlu to ask Sophia to erect a monument to the shooting army, which made Sophia's head bigger; she did not stop doing two things, found a reason to behead Khovansky, and then arranged for her lover Golitsyn to take charge of the shooting army and assist her in ruling.
During Sophia's regency, it was the early Kangxi Dynasty in China; in order to calm the chaotic discussion of her regency at home, Sophia launched many wars of aggression and expansion, but all of them failed. The more she failed, the more she had to earn it back; the more she tried to earn it back, the greater the defeat that came, and that was when the Treaty of Nebuchadnezzar was signed.
Driven out of Moscow, Peter was a determined, daring man who had been obsessed with fighting since he was a child, with war drums and machetes; his favorite character was "Ivan the Terrible". He knew early on that his half-sister Sophia wanted to kill himself and Queen Natalia, so he had pulled a bunch of henchmen by his side early on. The political circles in Moscow also knew that there was a "boy army" around the second Tsar Peter, and there was a "Peter gang".
Gradually, Peter grew up and was getting married. According to the regulations, when the Tsar married, the princess had no regency reason. Unconvinced, Sophia carried out another coup d'état in August 1689, sending troops to the small village of Peter's mother and son under house arrest, on the pretext that the "Boy Scouts" were in danger of rebellion. However, Peter had long anticipated this day, and had already bought off the commanders of the army and the nobles who opposed Sophia; the army sent by Sophia was against the water, and the coup d'état was naturally directed against Sophia.
Peter, who led the "Boy Scouts" back to Moscow, imprisoned his sister Sophia in the monastery, let Ivan continue to be the titular Tsar, and left the regency to his mother and uncle, while Peter himself concentrated on training the "Junior Army" and the navy, but at this time, all Russians knew that Peter was the most powerful one.
Peter I was a man who did not play cards according to the rules
Peter I was a man who did not play by the rules, and his influence on Russia was great, specifically in several aspects: the southern conquest of the northern war, laying the foundation of Russia; inheriting the past and promoting political reform in Russia; focusing on the sea and establishing the Russian Navy; and ingeniously building the new city of St. Petersburg in the barren land.
In terms of personal family, he was also a maverick, and his first wife was a conservative aristocratic Lady Eudosia, who did not like the rude Peter, and Peter did not look down on miss Eudosia, who had a bunch of aristocratic faults, and he was angry and imprisoned Eudosia in the monastery.
Later, in the home of his confidant Menshkov, he met the beautiful Lithuanian girl Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya, although the bitter Marta had changed many men and worked as a prostitute for a while, but Peter I was shocked and married her back home, and later this bitter woman began a different life, until she became the Russian Tsar - Catherine I.
Peter I's southern conquests, mainly against Turkey and Sweden, the signing of the Treaty of Nistat, the capture of large areas of territory and the outlet of the Baltic Sea, the huge victory made him an idol of the Russians, he was named "The Great" and "Father of the Fatherland" by the Russian Privy Council; Peter I also launched a war of aggression against Persia, seizing most of the southwestern part of the Caspian Sea and expanding eastward to the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands.
The Russian Navy was first established during the time of Peter I. He was driven out of Moscow by his sister when he was a child, playing in the countryside with his friends, with no aristocratic taste, but more of an adventurous spirit and rude personality. When he saw a large ship on the seashore that could move against the wind, he immediately developed a strong desire to conquer the sea, and it was his lifelong ideal to keep Russia's access to the sea four oceans.
To this end, as a tsar, he took people to study in the shipyards of the Netherlands and Britain in anonymity, worked with the workers, and resolutely implemented naval policy after returning to Russia, and he also regarded himself as a "captain". Peter I went abroad to learn shipbuilding and driving, which is a legend that shocked the European royal family, and those princes and nobles who were well-bred and well-treated could not figure it out, and a tsar actually ate and slept and worked with the workers, which was very admirable. During the time when Peter I left Russia, the conservative forces in the country were eager to move, and as soon as he returned home, he resolutely attacked, and the methods were as cruel as Ivan the Terrible, and it is said that he personally took a large axe and killed more than forty people.
During the Northern War, Peter I built a church and a castle on a swamp at the mouth of the Neva River, which is now the center of St. Petersburg. Because it is close to the sea, there is also a wonderful high-latitude feature: there are two months of the year without night; so Peter I, who does not play by the rules and has an infinite yearning for the sea, has made this the capital of the country, and now the log cabin he made decisions is still in the city center and has become the city's business card.
Peter I's reform was a huge project, and to some extent it determined the direction of Russia's development. Mainly: comprehensive learning from Western European countries, including small things such as "shaving beards", a bit like the "Hufu Riding Shooting" of King Wuling of Zhao during the Warring States period of China. Through the reforms, everything in Russia has changed drastically, including education, military service, trade tariff system, serfdom, provincial system, official promotion system, ... And so on, many measures to strengthen the centralization of power, rich countries and strong troops.
Peter I's will made Europe tremble and Russia embarrassed to preach
In 1725, Peter I fell ill and died of a wind chill from saving a sailor. Before he died, he wrote a will and told him all his thoughts. The main meaning of this will is as follows:
Peter I, given that most of the peoples of Europe were decaying and decaying, all a strong people with young people could and should do was conquer them. History has proven that this is the will of God and the arrangement of fate.
The last words are as follows:
(i) to keep Russia in a state of war for a long time. While enriching countries and strengthening their armies, they should know what is the most favorable time and launch wars, use wars to win peace, and use the opportunity of peace to cultivate stronger war capabilities; through war and expansion, maximize Russian interests;
(b) to recruit European talents by all possible means, to bribe their officers in wartime, and to bribe those who can be bribed in peacetime, regardless of whether it is harmful to other countries or not, and whether it has interests in Russia;
(c) to participate in European affairs and discussions whenever possible, and to pay special attention to Germanic affairs, which are most direct and vital to Russia;
(iv) The occupation of Poland, before it can be completely occupied, may be divided with other countries. Buy with gold, influence with policy, conquer with armies, rule with cultivated men; and finally the day of eternal occupation will come, along with what is divided among other nations, and it will be taken back.
(v) To separate Denmark and Sweden and to fight each other; to lure Sweden into attacking Russia, and then to fight back fiercely and occupy as much Swedish territory as possible;
(vii) to give priority to allying with England and trading, exchanging our products for the gold of England; learning from England and building our own fleet;
(viii) To enable our country to continue to expand northward along the Baltic Sea and southward along the Black Sea.
(ix) As close as possible to Constantinople and India, whoever rules there will be the true ruler of the world. When we advance to India, we no longer need England's gold, because India is the storehouse of the world;
(x) Careful efforts were made to maintain an alliance with the Austrian Crown, which wanted to unify the Germans, and our support would put their princes at odds. Our protection is the reason why Austria cannot do without our control;
(xi) to make the Austrian Crown interested in expelling Turkey from Europe; to support Austria's war with European countries;
(xii) to strive to reunite all the politically and religiously divided Greeks scattered in Hungary, Turkey and central Poland around us; to make them the centre and pillar of these countries, and the advantage they have gained is Russia's advantage throughout the world;
(xiii) After the dismemberment of Sweden, the crushing of Persia, the destruction of Poland, the conquest of Turkey, and the control of the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea by our ships, we can calmly propose to France and Germany to share the world and establish a world empire; and these two countries can be broken by each other, and there is no danger of such a war;
If both powers reject Russia's proposal (which is not impossible), they can first quarrel and weaken each other; then we can advance from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic at the same time to conquer these two countries, and the rest of Europe will be vulnerable, and we will be able to conquer Europe, and we should be able to conquer Europe.
This is the gist of Peter I's will circulating on the Internet. I don't know if it's true, I turned over the pile of old paper for half a day, and I didn't see anything like this. Maybe it's a country, a certain power, dividing The relationship between Russia and Europe.
But, in any case, Peter I was indeed an unprecedented tsar in Russia, and his martial arts deserved to be boasted by Russians.
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