Peter III (21 February 1728 – 17 July 1762), reigned from 1761 to 1962. During the reign of Peter III, the influence of German power in the Russian court reached its peak.
Peter was the grandson of Peter the Great, whose full name was Karl Peter Ulrich, and was born to Princess Anna, the eldest daughter of Peter the Great, and Carl Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. According to the patrilineal family tree, Peter was the grandnephew of King Carl XII of Sweden, so peter was always ready to inherit the Swedish throne. Princess Anna watched the fireworks at a celebratory party held after Peter's birth, but unfortunately fell ill with the wind and died soon after. When Peter was 11 years old, his father died of illness, so Peter's education was entirely the responsibility of his uncle Adolf Frederick. Adolf Frederick invited several court teachers to take charge of Peter's cultural education.
Although Peter was the heir to the Swedish throne, he was severely disciplined by his teachers, who physically punished him whenever he cheated, ordering him to kneel on a bean, and the corporal punishment was still very long. In fact, the teachers invited by Adolf Frederick did not teach Peter any cultural knowledge, and by the age of 13 Peter had only a slight understanding of French.
Growing up in such an environment, Peter's personality became timid, suspicious, and neurotic. Peter loved military games, and his favorite toy was a set of wooden soldier puppets. He also liked military uniforms and watched the army's parade performances, but he was extremely frightened by the sound of artillery. Peter is recorded to be frail and sickly, often lying, and accompanied by morbid fantasies. In addition, Peter has loved wine since childhood.
In 1741, Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, staged a palace coup and ascended the throne as Empress Elizabeth. In order to consolidate the Romanov dynasty of Peter the Great, Elizabeth decided to choose her nephew Peter, the son of her sister Anna, as her heir. In 1742, at Elizabeth's coronation ceremony, Peter was officially proclaimed Crown Prince. After Peter was taken to Russia, he was baptized and converted to Orthodox Christianity, whose name was Peter Fyodorovich. Growing up in Germany, Peter did not speak Russian and was not interested in Russian stuff, spending his days playing all kinds of military games and watching the army line up.
After meeting Peter, Empress Elizabeth was disappointed with her nephew. Peter looked thin, sick, and unhealthy. Elizabeth found the best teacher for him, but Peter was lazy by nature, cold to the things around him, and his style was pompous and vain. In this way, Peter studied under the guidance of his teacher for three years, and did not grow at all, not even mastering Russian.
In 1745, under the auspices of Empress Elizabeth, Peter married Princess Sophia of the Principality of Anhalt-Zelbust. The Principality of Anhalt-Zelbuster was a very small principality in central Germany, with a population of only 12,000 people. After Princess Sophia married Peter, she also converted to Orthodox Christianity and changed her name to Catherine Alexievna. Empress Elizabeth decreed that Peter and Catherine would be given two fiefs, One in Oranienbaum on the outskirts of St. Petersburg and the other in Lyubelzi on the outskirts of Moscow.
Peter's relationship with Catherine was cold at first. Catherine's culture is far above Peter's, and she behaves decently, while Peter's intellectual level still seems to be stuck in her infancy, like to play military games, soldier puppets are not left all day, and there is no interest in women. After 5 years of marriage, the two gave birth to a son, named Paul. As soon as Paul was born, he was ordered by Empress Elizabeth to be taken away, and a special person was assigned to take care of the grandson, and the Peters and his wife could only visit Paul once a week. Peter had never cared about his son,and visiting him once a week was already a lot for him. Later, Peter's relationship with his wife became even more frosty, and it developed into an open mistress, and Peter never hid this fact.
In early 1750, Empress Elizabeth allowed Peter to build a small army of soldiers all from Holstein. By 1758, Peter's Army of Holstein numbered more than fifteen hundred.
At this time Peter had no time to look around, and his main interest was focused on the training of this unit on how to operate the platoon.
During his life in Russia, Peter never tried to understand Russia, was not interested in Russian cultural traditions, never observed Orthodox canons, and even behaved in various religious ceremonies. After his uncle Adolf Frederick became King of Sweden, Peter complained: Dragging me to this cursed Russia, I would have been arrested; if I had been given freedom, wouldN't I now be sitting on the throne of a civilized country?
During the Seven Years' War, despite the fact that Russia and Prussia were hostile states, Peter openly expressed his support for King Frederick II of Prussia, making no secret that Frederick II was his idol, and repeatedly providing military intelligence to Frederick II.
Empress Elizabeth was well aware of her nephew's outrageous behavior, but again and again forgave Peter only because Peter was the child of Elizabeth's beloved and long-dead sister. But the Crown Prince was not favored inside or outside the Russian court, and Peter had little prestige among the nobility.
In early 1762, Empress Elizabeth died of illness, and Peter became the seventh emperor of the Russian Empire, known historically as Peter III. However, since Peter came from the Russian Romanov family according to the mother line, and the father line was from the German Holstein-Gottorp family, this branch of his was called the Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp family, which belonged to the famous Oldenburg family in Europe. Later, the descendants of Peter III remained on the throne of the Russian Empire, so the official name of the Romanov dynasty of the Russian Empire became the Romanov-Holstein-Gottop dynasty.
As Peter III ascended the throne, the dynasty belonged to the Oldenburg family, and the Russian royal family and many royal families in Europe became relatives. To this day, the British royal family and the Norwegian royal family still belong to the Oldenburg family in blood, although the official title of the British royal family is the Windsor Dynasty, but from the patrilineal family genealogy, the British Prince Charles is indeed the heir of the Oldenburg family.
After Peter III ascended the throne, he began active government activities. Peter III sat on the emperor's throne for a total of half a year, but signed a large number of decrees during this half year. Most people base their history on the canonical history handed down from the time of Catherine II, believing that Peter III was a neurotic eccentric whose intellectual development had remained in his childhood; as a monarch of a country, he was very cold to everything around him, including Russia under his rule, indifferent, and even betrayed the interests of the country. Others find this argument untenable, peter III certainly betrayed Russia's national interests, but it was not faint, and this canonical history was compiled in the time of Catherine, and Catherine can be said to be Peter III's enemy of heaven, knowing that there is no hidden plot.
During the six months of Peter III's reign, a large number of further reforms were introduced. According to the decree signed by Peter III, the secret criminal investigation gate was dissolved, the church land was confiscated, the national bank was established, industry and commerce were supported, the ban on foreign trade was approached, and the persecution of the Old Liturgical believers was stopped. According to the Declaration of The Freedom of the Nobility signed by Peter III, the Russian nobility did not have to serve for life as in the time of Peter the Great, or for 25 years as in the time of Empress Anna, and now the nobility is completely free of service and has received unprecedented privileges. One of them is that any nobleman can go abroad at any time and dispose of the fiefs under his name at will. It can be said that the freedom gained by the Russian aristocracy in the time of Peter III was the limit of a sub-feudal monarchy.
Historians believe that these historical merits should not all be recorded in Peter III's account: the reforms formulated by Volentsov and Shuvalov and others were ready in the time of Empress Elizabeth, and Peter III merely signed decrees. In any case, the reform measures that began in the era of Empress Elizabeth, signed and promulgated by Peter III, were popularized and implemented in the era of Yekaterina, and became an important prerequisite for the unprecedented prosperity of Russia in the 19th century.
One of Peter III's most criticized decisions was to abandon all the fruits of victory in the Seven Years' War and make peace with Prussia alone. As a loyal fan of King Frederick II of Prussia, Peter III's choice was reasonable, but the magnitude of his concessions was unexpected.
For peace negotiations, King Frederick II of Prussia sent a special envoy to Russia named Henri von Gritz. Peter III had always regarded prussia's military and political system as a guideline, so he could be said to have obeyed the advice of the envoy for peace talks, and almost entrusted him with the formulation of Russia's foreign policy.
The contract between Russia and Prussia stipulated that Russia would return all of East Prussia and all the lands occupied during the Seven Years' War, and Russia would withdraw from the war and instead ally itself with Prussia. As soon as the treaty came out, the whole of Russia was shaken and confused, and Peter III's approach caused many people to be dissatisfied.
As early as the end of Empress Elizabeth's reign, many ministers and generals of the Forbidden Army saw that Peter III would not plan for the interests of Russia in the future, so they repeatedly brewed palace coups, with the intention of deposing Peter as crown prince. However, these coups were repeatedly hidden, firstly because no suitable replacement was found, and secondly, because Empress Elizabeth was hindered. Catherine was also involved in planning these coup plans, offering to share power with Peter III and become emperor together. Some officers of the Noble Orlov Brothers, the Izmailovo Legion, and the Preabrazhensky Regiment actively participated in the coup d'état. Later, more and more people opposed Peter, and even The Prince Paul's teacher Panning, Duke Volkonsky and others sided with Catherine.
After Empress Elizabeth's death, Catherine did not stage a coup d'état because she was five months pregnant and in April gave birth to a boy whose father was Catherine's lover, Gregory Orlov. After the birth of the child, Peter III was so enraged that he threatened to depose Catherine and send her to the monastery.
Catherine did not feel fear in the face of her husband's threats, because she knew her own strength very well, knew that many people were dissatisfied with Peter III and were looking for a gap to depose him, so as long as she delayed as much as possible, she could win more supporters. All Catherine has to do is choose the right time to start. Peter III, on the other hand, did not pay any attention to Catherine at all, unaware of the impending coup d'état. Although Peter III's men repeatedly reported the coup plot to him, he still did not agree.
On June 28, 1762, Peter III, as usual, traveled to Oranien for a celebration. According to the schedule, Empress Catherine was supposed to be there waiting for him, but when Peter III arrived, Catherine was gone. It turned out that her lover's brother Alexei Orlov arrived ahead of schedule to inform Catherine that several forbidden officers had been arrested in St. Petersburg and that the coup d'état might be aborted, so it should be urgent to launch a coup ahead of time. Catherine and Alexei returned to St. Petersburg by boat.
As soon as Catherine arrived in St. Petersburg, the Forbidden Army, the Privy Council, the House of Elders, and the people of the capital swore allegiance to her, after which Catherine gathered the Forbidden Army and marched in the direction of Oranienbaum to capture Peter III.
Upon receiving news of the palace coup, Peter III panicked. His men advised him to leave immediately for Kronstadt, leading the navy and the forces loyal to him, relying on Prussia, to counterattack St. Petersburg. Peter III rejected this suggestion, and boyishly commanded his Army of Holstein to remain in a wooden castle that was usually used for training. Later, when she heard that Catherine had led the elite forbidden army, she changed her mind and fled to Kronstadt with her mistress and retinue. By the time he reached Kronstadt, the local garrison announced that they had sworn allegiance to Catherine and could not accept Peter III. Peter III then completely lost his fighting spirit and did not even have the courage to flee to Prussia, and obediently returned to Oranienbaum according to Catherine's wishes, signing the abdication edict.
A week later, Peter III died in Ropschu, thirty kilometers from St. Petersburg. The cause of death is still unknown.