Peter Alekseyevich romanov (1672-1725), the fourth czar of Romanov dynasty in Russia, was known as Peter the Great. Born on May 3, 1672, in 1682, he acceded to the throne at the same time with his brother Ivan, and became the "second" czar, with his half-sister Sophia as regent. In 1696, Ivan died of illness, and Peter was the only monarch.
When Sophia was regent, Peter lived with his mother in the Imperial Village of preobrazhensky, a suburb of Moscow. Here, in addition to reading and reciting the Bible, young Peter loves to do three things: first, learn carpenters, blacksmiths, masons and sculptors, which cultivated his love for science since childhood; Second, the same group of children often dragged an old sailing boat to the nearby Hechi to practice sailing, and invited foreign nationals to teach him mathematics and navigation knowledge, which made him influenced by western European culture since childhood, laying an ideological foundation for him to establish a navy and seek the way of becoming a rich country in Qiang Bing from advanced European countries; Third, he often played military games of attacking the city and seizing the land with self-made wooden knives and guns with young attendants, grooms and noble children from the countryside and the court, and together with them, he formed two boy scouts-preobrazhensky Legion and Semyonovski Legion. Later, these two legions became his most elite direct troops.
in January p>1689, at the age of 17, Peter obeyed his mother's orders and married Lopsina, the daughter of a nobleman. According to the tradition of the imperial court, when the emperor is married, he should lead the government. However, the ambitious Sophia not only refused to hand over power, but instigated the rebellion of the shooting army, trying to kill Peter and make herself queen. Peter got the news in advance, decisively led his "Boy Scout Corps", suppressed the shooting army with lightning speed, captured Sophia, and put her in the Three Saints Monastery in Sheref. Then, he handed over the failure to his mother, naresh Jinna, his uncle, naryshkin, Boris Gorizin, and others, and he still returned to Huangcun to train his boy scouts.
at the beginning of Peter's administration, Russia was still an extremely backward inland country. In order to get through the sea to the west, the czars before him kept on fighting, but they failed to do so. After Peter came to power, in order to realize the last wish of the first emperor, he expanded his armaments and recruited talents. He found that fuerte, a Swiss expatriate, was proficient in military affairs in the Moscow expatriate area, so he was hired as a military adviser. When visiting Tula City, I found that Demidoff, the blacksmith, was good at repairing firearms and managing. He promised to allocate 5 rubles on the spot to set up an arsenal in the city, and later appointed him as the Russian Minister of Military Industry.
after some preparations, Peter, as the "first gunner", appointed Xie Ying as the commander in chief of the army, and led 3, Russian troops to compete with Turkey for the speed of the Black Sea in January 1695, in an attempt to pave the way for opening the sea to the Black Sea. However, as soon as the Russian army and the Turkish army exchanged fire, they were beaten out of the water by the Turkish army and fled. The "first gunner" caught in the middle of the Russian army hurriedly fired a shot at the pursuing Turkish army. Unexpectedly, the shells landed in the Russian army, killing a large number of Russian soldiers. Peter quickly ordered the withdrawal. The failure of the first expedition to Azov made Peter realize that the reason for the failure of the Russian army was that it could not block Azov from the sea without a navy; The cannons used by the Russian army are all old and rusted things. The reason for the victory of the Turkish army is that it has a navy, which can continuously transport reinforcements and munitions from the sea, and it is well equipped and uses advanced artillery. After summing up the lessons of failure, Peter immediately assigned Lefuerte to build a shipyard in Voronezh, Don. After half a year, fuerte built 3 warships, a number of transport ships and speedboats, and formed a naval fleet. In May, 1696, Peter appointed Le fuerte as the commander of the navy, and launched the war of attacking Azov again. Russian troops surrounded the Turkish army by water and land at the same time, forcing the Turkish army to surrender, and the Russian army finally occupied Azov.
In p>1697—1698, in order to make Qiang Bing rich, Peter formed a mission of 25 people, led by Lefuerte and Gorizin. He himself assumed the pseudonym "Mikhail", mixed in the middle of the mission, and visited European countries with the delegation. The mission first visited the Kingdom of Poland and concluded an alliance against Sweden with the King of Poland, and then inspected the politics, economy, military, culture, education and customs of the Netherlands, Britain and Austria. Wherever Peter went, regardless of the fatigue of the journey, he immediately took a few confidants and sometimes dressed as a craftsman and went to a shop, shipyard or foundry to learn from his teacher. Sometimes as a sailor, he slipped to the dock of the military port to watch naval exercises; Sometimes he calls himself a scholar and visits famous mathematicians, astronomers and shipbuilders; Sometimes pretending that foreign students blend into military academies and attend military courses; Sometimes, as tourists, I visit observatories, academies of science and libraries to collect foreign scientific materials and works of art. In order to understand the situation of the British Parliament, regardless of his identity, he secretly climbed to the next floor of the Parliament Building and looked down at the meeting of parliamentarians. As a result, he was caught by the guards. Although Peter made a fool of himself several times during his study abroad, he gained a lot. When the mission returned home, it purchased a large number of advanced weapons and machinery from European countries and hired thousands of sailors, gunners, craftsmen, technical experts and scholars. At the same time, it also opened Peter's eyes, increased his knowledge and changed his ideas.
as soon as Peter returned to China, he pursued the Europeanization policy in Russia. He started with "cutting beard and sleeves". At that time, Russians grew beards at a young age, so that foreigners called Russia a lifeless old country. According to legend, the beard is the most precious gift God has given men. Whoever has the longest beard has the noblest character; Whoever has the thickest beard is the most dignified, and some people even use it as a capital to show off their status and status. Therefore, when the news of shaving came out, it immediately caused people's panic. The church took the opportunity to spread rumors and said, "People who cut their beards will be punished by God!" " Peter doesn't believe in this evil. He personally cut off the beards of several recent ministers, and then issued an imperial edict: anyone who resists cutting beards must pay a beard storage tax. Rich businessmen pay 1 rubles a year, lords and officials pay 6 rubles a year, ordinary residents pay 3 rubles, and farmers pay one kopeck every time they go to town. Those who pay taxes will be given a bronze medal to hang around their necks as proof. As a result of this compulsory measure, fewer and fewer people grow beards. Next is "cutting sleeves". Russians have always liked to wear long robes (or gowns) that mop the floor and a long-sleeved vest. It's inconvenient to walk and work in this way, and it's bad for appearance. Peter hates this. So he ordered: "The length of Russian residents' coats should be connected with garters, while underwear should be shorter than the outer cover, and the sleeves should not exceed the wrists. Violation of the order will be severely punished. "
With a beard cut and sleeves cut short, Russians look much more energetic and agile. "Cutting beard and sleeves" seems to be two trivial things, but in Peter's view, it is an important measure to get rid of Russian stereotypes, get rid of old-fashioned ideas, innovate social atmosphere and carry out Europeanization policy, and it is also a test of whether his authority is established. Practice has proved that no one dares to openly challenge his authority.
After New Year's Day in p>17, Peter received a report from the Russian diplomatic envoys abroad: Turkey had agreed to sign a peace treaty with Russia for 1 years, and Denmark and Poland promised to support Russia against Sweden. Peter got the news, that is, in August of the same year, he led 35, Russian troops to attack Narwa, the fortress of the Baltic Sea in Sweden (known as the "Northern War" in history, 17-1721). As a result, it was defeated by the well-prepared Swiss army. All 18 cannons of the Russian army were discarded and 3 officers were captured. After Peter fled back to Moscow, he said to his ministers, "This attack is only the beginning of the war, not the end of it!" He immediately ordered that the clock in one of every three churches be moved to cast guns; If the number of soldiers is insufficient, young and middle-aged men among serfs can also be recruited as soldiers (in the past, only aristocratic children had the right to be soldiers); There were not enough ships, so he personally rushed to the shipyard, wielding an axe and building ships with workers; Lack of officers, that is, from his two "boy scouts", abnormality is promoted to young officers instead. After a year of intense preparation, an army of more than 5, people with more than 3 cannons and hundreds of ships was rebuilt.
In p>171, Peter took advantage of the war between Sweden and Poland to attack the Swedish fortress in the Baltic Sea again. After fierce fighting, Russian troops successively captured the castles of Notteborg, Ningsgantzburg, Dorbax, Narwa, Esland and some areas along the coast of neva river and the south bank of the Gulf of Finland. From May, 173, Peter began to build a new capital, Petersburg, in the occupied area of Ningsgantzburg.
In p>178—179, Peter personally commanded the Battle of Lesnaya and the Battle of poltava, and seized a large area of land along the Baltic Sea from the Swedes. After gaining absolute superiority on land, he ordered the newly-built Russian Baltic fleet to launch an offensive against the Swiss army from the sea. In 1714 and 172, during the two great naval battles of Hangut and Krongam, the Russian army completely defeated the Swiss army, forcing Sweden to sign the Nishtat Peace Treaty in Finland. The 21-year Northern War ended in Russia's victory. Russia not only seized the estuary of the Baltic Sea, but also acquired a large area of land along the Baltic Sea, such as the Gulf of Finland, gulf of riga, part of Karelia, Estonia and Latvia.
In October p>1721, the Privy Council of Russia awarded Peter I the title of "the Great" and "the Father of the Motherland". Therefore, the Russian name was renamed "Russian Empire".
The great victory of the Northern War was inseparable from a series of reforms carried out by Peter the Great here. On the economic front, Peter made great efforts to develop industries through loans and preferential measures, among which mining, metallurgy, textile and shipbuilding developed the fastest. In order to develop agriculture, Peter collected tens of thousands of serfs to dig canals; In order to develop commerce, new trading ports are built, export is rewarded, import is restricted and tariffs are protected. On the military side, the shooting army and aristocratic cavalry who had staged two coups in the early days of Peter's administration were abolished, and the mercenary system was replaced by the conscript system. Through conscription, shipbuilding, artillery and other measures, a regular army of 2, people consisting of infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers and a naval fleet of 895 ships of various sizes and 28, sailors were established. In terms of culture and education, Peter paid special attention to the training of specialized personnel, promoted the trend of running schools, and personally founded schools of arithmetic, shipbuilding, navigation, artillery, medical care, engineering technology, mining and naval academy. When sending international students abroad for further study, it is stipulated that the children of nobles must go to school to learn an arithmetic and a foreign language. Otherwise, they will be deprived of all privileges of nobles, and those who do not graduate may not get married. In addition, he also established the first printing house, museum, library and theater in Russia, established the Academy of Sciences, founded the first newspaper in Russia, News, and personally served as the editor-in-chief. Politically, Peter abolished the Duma, the Lord who opposed him, established the Privy Council, the highest organ of state power, and nine committees of central organs, re-divided the country into eight states and 5 provinces, abolished the post of archbishop, established a religious institute, and controlled religion in the hands of the state and himself. In the aspect of official appointment, he broke the aristocratic hereditary system of seniority according to family background, and established an official rank system, which selected and appointed officials according to each official's knowledge level, ability and contribution.
through the above-mentioned series of reform measures, the centralized system was strengthened, the autocratic system was consolidated, the development of Russian capitalism was promoted, and the victory of foreign wars was guaranteed. However, it caused strong dissatisfaction among the old nobles and monks. They gathered around the crown prince Alexei, who represented the old order and opposed the reform, and plotted to launch a coup and restore the old system. Peter fought resolutely against the forces opposed to reform, and without favoritism, deprived the prince of his right to inherit the throne, sent him to the special court and put him to death.
in the autumn of p>1724, Peter I fell ill and died in the new capital of Petersburg on January 28th, 1725. Peter I was one of the most successful feudal monarchs in Russian history. As far as his life is concerned, he carried out reforms, strengthened centralization, rewarded industry and commerce, and developed capitalism, which played a progressive role in Russian history. He launched a foreign war, strengthened autocratic rule, and expanded Russia from a poor and backward inland country to a powerful empire on the verge of the sea. In fact, it was based on cruel oppression of the broad masses of working people, and it also brought endless disasters to the invaded countries.