Peter III was a very extraordinary emperor. He did not know the Russian language, loved to play toy soldiers and wanted to baptize Russia according to the Protestant rite. His mysterious death led to the emergence of a whole galaxy of impostors.
Heir to two empires
Already from birth, Peter could lay claim to two imperial titles: Swedish and Russian. On his father's side, he was the great-nephew of King Charles XII, who himself was too busy with military campaigns to marry. Peter's maternal grandfather was Karl's main enemy, Russian Emperor Peter I.
The boy, who was orphaned early, spent his childhood with his uncle, Bishop Adolf of Eitin, where he was instilled with hatred of Russia. He did not know Russian and was baptized according to Protestant custom. True, he also did not know any other languages besides his native German, and only spoke a little French.
Peter was supposed to take the Swedish throne, but the childless Empress Elizabeth remembered the son of her beloved sister Anna and declared him heir. The boy is brought to Russia to meet the imperial throne and death.
Soldier games
In fact, no one really needed the sickly young man: neither his aunt-empress, nor his teachers, nor, subsequently, his wife. Everyone was only interested in his origins; even the cherished words were added to the official title of the heir: “Grandson of Peter I.”
And the heir himself was interested in toys, primarily soldiers. Can we accuse him of being childish? When Peter was brought to St. Petersburg, he was only 13 years old! Dolls attracted the heir more than state affairs or a young bride.
True, his priorities do not change with age. He continued to play, but secretly. Ekaterina writes: “During the day, his toys were hidden in and under my bed. The Grand Duke went to bed first after dinner and, as soon as we were in bed, Kruse (the maid) locked the door with a key, and then Grand Duke I played until one or two in the morning.”
Over time, toys become larger and more dangerous. Peter is allowed to order a regiment of soldiers from Holstein, whom the future emperor enthusiastically drives around the parade ground. Meanwhile, his wife is learning Russian and studying French philosophers...
"Mistress Help"
In 1745, the wedding of the heir Peter Fedorovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna, the future Catherine II, was magnificently celebrated in St. Petersburg. There was no love between the young spouses - they were too different in character and interests. The more intelligent and educated Catherine ridicules her husband in her memoirs: “he doesn’t read books, and if he does, it’s either a prayer book or descriptions of torture and executions.”
Peter’s marital duty was also not going smoothly, as evidenced by his letters, where he asks his wife not to share the bed with him, which has become “too narrow.” This is where the legend originates that the future Emperor Paul was not born from Peter III, but from one of the favorites of the loving Catherine.
However, despite the coldness in the relationship, Peter always trusted his wife. In difficult situations, he turned to her for help, and her tenacious mind found a way out of any troubles. That’s why Catherine received the ironic nickname “Mistress Help” from her husband.
Russian Marquise Pompadour
But it was not only children's games that distracted Peter from his marital bed. In 1750, two girls were presented to the court: Elizaveta and Ekaterina Vorontsov. Ekaterina Vorontsova will be a faithful companion of her royal namesake, while Elizabeth will take the place of Peter III’s beloved.
The future emperor could take any court beauty as his favorite, but his choice fell, nevertheless, on this “fat and awkward” maid of honor. Is love evil? However, is it worth trusting the description left in the memoirs of a forgotten and abandoned wife?
The sharp-tongued Empress Elizaveta Petrovna found this love triangle quite funny. She even nicknamed the good-natured but narrow-minded Vorontsova “Russian de Pompadour.”
It was love that became one of the reasons for the fall of Peter. At court they began to say that Peter was going, following the example of his ancestors, to send his wife to a monastery and marry Vorontsova. He allowed himself to insult and bully Catherine, who, apparently, tolerated all his whims, but in fact cherished plans for revenge and was looking for powerful allies.
A Spy in Her Majesty's Service
During Seven Years' War, in which Russia took the side of Austria. Peter III openly sympathized with Prussia and personally with Frederick II, which did not add to the popularity of the young heir.
But he went even further: the heir gave his idol secret documents, information about the number and location of Russian troops! Upon learning of this, Elizabeth was furious, but she forgave her dim-witted nephew a lot for the sake of his mother, her beloved sister.
Why heir Russian throne so openly helping Prussia? Like Catherine, Peter is looking for allies, and hopes to find one of them in the person of Frederick II. Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin writes: “The Grand Duke was convinced that Frederick II loved him and spoke with great respect; therefore, he thinks that as soon as he ascends the throne, the Prussian king will seek his friendship and will help him in everything.”
186 days of Peter III
After the death of Empress Elizabeth, Peter III was proclaimed emperor, but was not officially crowned. He showed himself to be an energetic ruler, and during the six months of his reign he managed, contrary to everyone’s opinion, to do a lot. Assessments of his reign vary widely: Catherine and her supporters describe Peter as a weak-minded, ignorant martinet and Russophobe. Modern historians create a more objective image.
First of all, Peter made peace with Prussia on terms unfavorable for Russia. This caused discontent in army circles. But then his “Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility” gave the aristocracy enormous privileges. At the same time, he issued laws prohibiting the torture and killing of serfs, and stopped the persecution of Old Believers.
Peter III tried to please everyone, but in the end all attempts turned against him. The reason for the conspiracy against Peter was his absurd fantasies about the baptism of Rus' according to the Protestant model. The Guard, the main support and support of the Russian emperors, took the side of Catherine. In his palace in Orienbaum, Peter signed a renunciation.
Life after death
Peter's death is one big mystery. It was not for nothing that Emperor Paul compared himself to Hamlet: throughout the entire reign of Catherine II, the shadow of her deceased husband could not find peace. But was the empress guilty of the death of her husband?
By official version Peter III died of illness. He was not in good health, and the unrest associated with the coup and abdication could have killed a stronger person. But sudden and so imminent death Petra - a week after the overthrow - caused a lot of talk. For example, there is a legend according to which the emperor’s killer was Catherine’s favorite Alexei Orlov.
The illegal overthrow and suspicious death of Peter gave rise to a whole galaxy of impostors. In our country alone, more than forty people tried to impersonate the emperor. The most famous of them was Emelyan Pugachev. Abroad, one of the false Peters even became the king of Montenegro. The last impostor was arrested in 1797, 35 years after the death of Peter, and only after that the shadow of the emperor finally found peace.
Peter III Fedorovich (1728-1762) - Russian ruler from 1761 to 1762. He was born in the Duchy of Holstein (Germany). When his aunt Elizaveta Petrovna ascended the Russian throne, he was brought to St. Petersburg in November 1742, at which time his aunt declared him her heir. Having converted to Orthodoxy, he was named Peter Fedorovich.
He ascended the throne after the death of Elizabeth Petrovna. He was the first representative from the Holstein-Gottorp Romanov family to the Russian throne. Grandson of Peter I and sister of Charles XII, son of Tsarevna Anna Petrovna and Duke Karl Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp. At first he was raised as the heir to the Swedish throne, forced to learn the Swedish language, Lutheran textbooks, Latin grammar, but they instilled in him hatred of Russia, Sweden's old enemy.
Peter grew up as a timid, nervous, receptive and not evil child, he loved music, painting and adored everything military, while being afraid of cannon fire. He was often punished (flogged, forced to stand on peas).
Having ascended the Russian throne, Pyotr Fedorovich began studying Orthodox books and the Russian language, but otherwise Peter received virtually no education. Suffering constant humiliation, he mastered bad habits, became irritable, quarrelsome, learned to lie, and in Russia, even drink. Daily feasts surrounded by girls were his entertainment.
In August 1745 he married Princess Sophia, who later became Catherine II. Their marriage was not successful. They didn't have children for a long time. But in 1754, a son, Pavel, was born, and 2 years later, a daughter, Anna. There were various rumors about her paternity. Elizaveta Petrovna herself was involved in raising Pavel as an heir, and Peter was not at all interested in his son.
Peter III reigned for only six months and was overthrown as a result of a coup, the soul of which was his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna. As a result palace coup, power was in the hands of Catherine II.
Peter abdicated the throne and was exiled to Ropsha, where he was kept under arrest. Peter III was killed there in July, 6th 1762. He was first buried in the church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. But in 1796, the remains were transferred to the Peter and Paul Cathedral and reburied along with the burial of Catherine II.
In assessments of Peter's reign III Fedorovich No consensus. Much attention is paid to his vices and dislike for Russia. But there are also positive results from his short reign. It is known that Pyotr Fedorovich adopted 192 documents.
The biography of Peter the 3rd (Karl-Peter-Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp) is full of sharp turns. He was born on February 10 (21), 1728 and was left without a mother early. At the age of 11, he lost his father. The young man was being prepared for the Swedish throne. However, everything changed when Elizabeth, who became Empress in 1741, without having any children of her own, in 1742 declared her nephew Peter 3rd Fedorovich heir to the Russian throne. He was not very educated and, apart from Latin grammar and the Lutheran catechism, he knew only a little French. forced Peter to learn the basics Orthodox faith and Russian. In 1745, he was married to the future Empress Catherine 2nd Alekseevna, who gave birth to his heir -. In 1761 (1762 according to the new calendar), after the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter Fedorovich was declared emperor without coronation. His reign lasted 186 days. Peter the 3rd, who openly expressed sympathy for the King of Prussia, Frederick the 2nd, during the Seven Years' War, was not popular in Russian society.
With his most important manifesto of February 18, 1762 (Manifesto on the freedom of the nobility), Tsar Peter the 3rd abolished the compulsory service for nobles, abolished Secret Chancery and allowed the schismatics to return to their homeland. But these decrees did not bring popularity to the king. Behind a short time His reign strengthened serfdom. He ordered the clergy to shave their beards, dress in the manner of Lutheran pastors, and leave only icons in churches Mother of God and the Savior. The tsar’s attempts to remake the Russian army in the Prussian style are also known.
Admiring the ruler of Prussia, Frederick the 2nd, Peter the 3rd led Russia out of the Seven Years' War and returned all the conquered territories to Prussia, which caused nationwide indignation. It is not surprising that many of his entourage soon became participants in a conspiracy aimed at overthrowing the Tsar. The initiator of this conspiracy, supported by the guards, was the wife of Peter the 3rd, Ekaterina Alekseevna. Thus began 1762. G. Orlov, K.G. took an active part in the conspiracy. Razumovsky, M.N. Volkonsky.
In 1762, the Semenovsky and Izmailovsky regiments swore allegiance to Catherine. Accompanied by them, she arrived at the Kazan Cathedral, where she was proclaimed autocratic empress. On the same day, the Senate and Synod swore allegiance to the new ruler. The reign of Peter the 3rd ended. After the tsar signed his abdication, he was exiled to Ropsha, where he died on July 9, 1762. Initially, his body was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, but later, in 1796, his coffin was placed next to Catherine’s coffin in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. It is worth noting that during the reign
Years of life : 21 February 1 728 - June 28, 1762.
(Peter-Ulrich) Emperor of All Russia, son of Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Karl-Friedrich, son of the sister of Charles XII of Sweden, and Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great (born in 1728); He is, therefore, the grandson of two rival sovereigns and could, under certain conditions, be a contender for both the Russian and Swedish thrones. In 1741, after the death of Eleanor Ulrika, he was elected as the successor of her husband Frederick, who received the Swedish throne, and on November 15, 1742 he was declared by his aunt Elizaveta Petrovna heir to the Russian throne.
Weak physically and morally, Pyotr Fedorovich was raised by Marshal Brümmer, who was more of a soldier than a teacher. The barracks order of life, established by the latter for his pupil, in connection with strict and humiliating punishments, could not help but weaken Pyotr Fedorovich’s health and interfered with the development in him of moral concepts and a sense of human dignity. The young prince was taught a lot, but so ineptly that he received a complete aversion to science: Latin, for example, he was so tired of that that later in St. Petersburg he forbade placing Latin books in his library. They taught him, moreover, in preparation mainly for taking the Swedish throne and, therefore, raised him in the spirit of the Lutheran religion and Swedish patriotism - and the latter, at that time, was expressed, among other things, in hatred of Russia.
In 1742, after Pyotr Fedorovich was appointed heir to the Russian throne, they began to teach him again, but in the Russian and Orthodox way. However, frequent illnesses and marriage to the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst (the future Catherine II) prevented the systematic implementation of education. Pyotr Fedorovich was not interested in Russia and superstitiously thought that he would find his death here; Academician Shtelin, his new teacher, despite all his efforts, could not instill in him love for his new fatherland, where he always felt like a stranger. Military affairs - the only thing that interested him - was for him not so much a subject of study as amusement, and his reverence for Frederick II turned into a desire to imitate him in small things. The heir to the throne, already an adult, preferred fun to business, which became more and more strange every day and unpleasantly amazed everyone around him.
“Peter showed all the signs of arrested spiritual development,” says S.M. Soloviev; "he was an adult child." The Empress was struck by the underdevelopment of the heir to the throne. The question of the fate of the Russian throne seriously occupied Elizabeth and her courtiers, and they came to various combinations. Some wanted the Empress, bypassing her nephew, to transfer the throne to his son Pavel Petrovich, and to appoint Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna, the wife of Peter Fedorovich, as regent, until he came of age. That was Bestuzhev's opinion, Nick. Iv. Panina, Iv. Iv. Shuvalova. Others were in favor of proclaiming Catherine heir to the throne. Elizabeth died without having time to decide on anything, and on December 25, 1761, Peter Fedorovich ascended the throne under the name of Emperor Peter III. He began his activities with decrees, which, under other conditions, could have brought him popular favor. This is the decree of February 18, 1762 on the freedom of the nobility, which removed compulsory service from the nobility and was, as it were, a direct predecessor of Catherine’s charter to the nobility of 1785. This decree could make the new government popular among the nobility; another decree on the destruction of the secret office in charge of political crimes should, it would seem, promote his popularity among the masses.
What happened, however, was different. Remaining a Lutheran at heart, Peter III treated the clergy with disdain, closed home churches, and addressed the Synod with offensive decrees; by this he aroused the people against himself. Surrounded by Holsteins, he began to remodel in the Prussian way Russian army and thus armed the guard against himself, which at that time was almost exclusively noble in composition. Prompted by his Prussian sympathies, Peter III immediately after ascending the throne renounced participation in the Seven Years' War and at the same time all Russian conquests in Prussia, and at the end of his reign he began a war with Denmark over Schleswig, which he wanted to acquire for Holstein . This incited the people against him, who remained indifferent when the nobility, represented by the guard, openly rebelled against Peter III and proclaimed Catherine II empress (June 28, 1762). Peter was removed to Ropsha, where he died on July 7.
Russian Biographical Dictionary / www.rulex.ru / Wed. Brickner “The History of Catherine the Great”, “Notes of Empress Catherine II” (L., 1888); "Memoirs of the princesse Daschcow" (L., 1810); "Notes of Shtelin" ("Reading of the Society of Russian History and Antiquities", 1886, IV); Bilbasov "The History of Catherine II" (vol. 1 and 12). M. P-ov.
Peter III, born Karl Peter Ulrich, was born on February 21, 1728 in Kiel, in the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. The only son of Anna Petrovna and Karl Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the boy was also the grandson of two emperors, Peter the Great and Charles XII of Sweden. Karl's parents died when the boy was still just a child, leaving him in the care of educators and nobles of the Holstein court, who were preparing him for the Swedish throne. Karl grew up amid the cruelty of his mentors, who severely punished him for his poor academic performance: the boy, while showing an interest in art, lagged behind in almost all academic sciences. He loved military parades and dreamed of becoming a world-famous warrior. When the boy turned 14 years old, his aunt Catherine, who became empress, transports him to Russia and, giving him the name Peter Fedorovich, declares him heir to the throne. Peter did not like living in Russia, and he often complained that the Russian people would never accept him.
Ill-advised marriage
On August 21, 1745, Peter marries Sophia Frederica Augusta, Princess of Anhalt-Serbst in Saxony, who takes the name Catherine. But the marriage, arranged by Peter's aunt for political purposes, becomes a disaster from the very beginning. Catherine turned out to be a girl of amazing intelligence, while Peter was only a child in a man’s body. They had two children: a son, the future Emperor Paul I, and a daughter, who did not live to be 2 years old. Catherine would later state that Paul was not Peter’s son, and that she and her husband never entered into marital relations. For 16 years life together, both Catherine and Paul had numerous lovers and mistresses.
It is believed that Empress Elizabeth fenced Peter off from state affairs, probably suspecting his meagerness. mental abilities. He hated life in Russia. He remained loyal to his homeland and Prussia. He did not care in the slightest about the Russian people, and the Orthodox Church was disgusting. However, after the death of Elizabeth, on December 25, 1961, the throne Russian Empire Peter ascends. Most of what we know about Peter III comes from the memoirs of his wife, who described her husband as an idiot and a drunkard, prone to cruel jokes, with the only love in life - playing at being a soldier.
Controversial politics
Once on the throne, Peter III radically changed foreign policy his aunt, leading Russia out of the Seven Years' War and concluding an alliance with its enemy, Prussia. He declares war on Denmark and recaptures the lands of his native Holstein. Such actions were regarded as a betrayal of the memory of those who died for the Motherland, and were the cause of the alienation that arose between the emperor and the military and powerful palace cliques. But, although traditional history views such actions as treason against the interests of the country, recent Scientific research suggested that this was only part of a very pragmatic plan to expand Russian influence to the west.
Peter III carries out a whole series of internal reforms, which, from the point of view of today, can be called democratic: he declares freedom of religion, dissolves secret police and imposes punishment for the murder of serfs by landowners. It is he who opens the first state bank in Russia and encourages the merchants by increasing grain exports and imposing an embargo on the import of goods that can be replaced by domestic ones.
Many controversies arise around his abdication of the throne. It is traditionally believed that he causes discontent with his reforms Orthodox Church and a good half of the nobility, and that, since his policies, as well as his personality, were seen as alien and unpredictable, representatives of the church and noble cliques went to Catherine for help and conspired with her against the emperor. But recent historical research exposes Catherine as the mastermind of the conspiracy, who dreamed of getting rid of her husband, fearing that he might divorce her. On June 28, 1762, Peter III was arrested and forced to abdicate the throne. He is transported to the town of Ropsha near St. Petersburg, where on July 17 of the same year he is allegedly killed, although the fact of murder has never been proven and there is evidence that the former emperor could have committed suicide.