Biography of Peter I begins June 9, 1672 in Moscow. He was the youngest son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from his second marriage to Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Peter was the youngest of 13 children in the large family of Alexei Mikhailovich. From one year he was brought up by nannies.

Before his death, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich blessed his eldest son Fedor, who was 14 years old at that time, to rule. After Fedor ascended the throne, Natalya Kirillovna decided to leave with her children to the village of Preobrazhenskoye.

Father

Alexei I Mikhailovich Romanov

Mother

Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina

Nikita Zotov took an active part in the upbringing of the young prince, but Peter initially did not care for the sciences and did not differ in literacy.

V. O. Klyuchevsky noted:

“More than once one can hear the opinion that Peter I was brought up not in the old way, differently and more carefully than his father and older brothers were brought up. As soon as Peter began to remember himself, he was surrounded in his nursery by foreign things; everything he played reminded him of a German. Over the years, children's Petra is filled with items of military affairs. It contains a whole arsenal of toy weapons. So in the nursery of Peter the Moscow artillery was quite fully represented, we meet a lot of wooden squeakers and cannons with horses. Even foreign ambassadors brought toy and real weapons as a gift to the prince. "In his spare time, he liked to listen to different stories and look at books with kunshtam (pictures)."

Revolt of 1682 and the coming to power of Princess Regent Sophia

The death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich in 1682 marked the beginning of an active confrontation between two clans of nobles - the Naryshkins (Peter's relatives from his mother's side) and the Miloslavskys (relatives of the first wife of Alexei Mikhailovich defending the interests of Ivan). Each of the families tried to promote their candidate, however, the boyar duma had to make the final decision and most of the boyars decided to make Peter the tsar, since Ivan was a sickly child. On the day of the death of Fyodor Alekseevich on April 27, 1682, Peter was proclaimed tsar.

Not wanting to lose power, the Miloslavskys spread a rumor that the Naryshkins had strangled Tsarevich Ivan Alekseevich. Under the blows of the alarm, many archers broke into the Kremlin, breaking the defense of the few royal guards. However, to their confusion, Tsarina Natalya appeared to meet them from the Red Porch along with Tsarevich Ivan and Peter. Ivan answered the questions of the archers:

“No one harasses me, and I have no one to complain about”

Tsarina Natalya goes out to the archers to prove that Ivan V is alive and well. Painting by N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky

The crowd heated to the limit was provoked by accusations of Prince Dolgorukov of treason and theft - the archers slaughtered several boyars, many from the Naryshkin clan and archery chiefs. Having placed their own guards inside the Kremlin, the archers did not let anyone out or let anyone in, in fact, taking the entire royal family hostage.

Realizing the high probability of revenge on the part of the Naryshkins, the archers filed several petitions (in fact, they were rather not requests, but an ultimatum) so that Ivan would also be appointed king (moreover, the eldest), and Sophia the ruler-regent. In addition, they demanded that the rebellion be legalized and that the persecution of its instigators be abandoned, recognizing their actions as lawful and protecting the interests of the state. The patriarch and the boyar duma were forced to comply with the requirements of the archers, and on June 25 Ivan V and Peter I were crowned kings.

Princess Sophia watches with pleasure as the archers drag Ivan Naryshkin out, Tsarevich Peter reassures his mother. Painting by A. I. Korzukhin, 1882

Princess Regent Sofya Alekseevna Romanova

Peter was seriously shocked by the events of 1682 described above, according to one of the versions, the nervous convulsions that distorted his face during the excitement appeared shortly after the experience. In addition, this rebellion and the future one, in 1698, finally convinced the tsar of the need to disband the streltsy units.

Natalya Kirillovna considered that it was very unsafe to stay in the Kremlin completely captured by the Miloslavskys and decided to move to the country estate of Alexei Mikhailovich - the village of Preobrazhenskoye. Tsar Peter could live here under the supervision of faithful people, sometimes going to Moscow to participate in ceremonies that are obligatory for the royal person.

funny shelves

Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was very fond of falconry and other similar entertainments - after his death, a large farm and about 600 servants remained. These devoted and intelligent people did not remain idle - having arrived in Preobrazhenskoye, Natalya Kirillovna set the task of organizing a military school for her son.

The prince received the first "amusing" detachment in the autumn of 1683. By the next year, the “amusing city” of Pressburg had already been rebuilt in Preobrazhensky, next to the royal palace. Peter received military training along with the rest of the teenagers. He began his service marching ahead of the Preobrazhensky Regiment as a drummer, and eventually rose to the rank of bombardier.

One of the first selected candidates for the "amusing army" was Alexander Menshikov. He had to fulfill a special role: to become the bodyguard of the young king, his shadow. According to the testimony of contemporaries of those events, Menshikov even slept at the feet of Peter near his bed. Being under the tsar almost relentlessly, Menshikov became one of his main associates, especially a confidant in all the most important matters relating to the management of a vast country. Alexander Menshikov received an excellent education and, like Peter I, received a shipbuilding certificate in Holland.

Menshikov A. D.

Personal life of young Peter I - first wife

The first wife of Peter I, Evdokia Lopukhina, was chosen by the mother of Peter I as his bride without agreeing this decision with Peter himself. The queen hoped that the Lopukhin family, although not considered especially noble, but numerous, would strengthen the position of the young prince.

The wedding ceremony of Peter I and Lopukhina took place on February 6, 1689 in the church of the Transfiguration Palace. An additional factor in the need for marriage was the Russian custom of that time, according to which a married person was a full-fledged and adult, which gave Peter I the right to get rid of the princess-regent Sophia.

Evdokia Fyodorovna Lopukhina

During the first three years of this marriage, two sons were born: the younger Alexander died in infancy, and the elder Tsarevich Alexei, born in 1690, will be deprived of his life on the orders of Peter I himself somewhere in the dungeons of the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg.

The accession of Peter I - the displacement of Sophia

The second Crimean campaign of 1689, led by Sophia's favorite, Prince Golitsin, was unsuccessful. General dissatisfaction with her rule added seventeen-year-old Peter's chances for the return of the throne - his mother and her faithful people began preparations for the removal of Sophia.

In the summer of 1689, his mother summoned Peter from Pereslavl to Moscow. At this turning point in his fate, Peter begins to show Sophia his own power. He sabotaged the procession planned for July of this year, forbidding Sophia to participate in it, and after her refusal to obey, he left, thus making a public scandal. At the end of July, he barely succumbed to persuasion to issue awards to the participants in the Crimean campaign, but refused to accept them when they came to him with thanks.

By the beginning of August, relations between brother and sister had reached such an intensity that the entire court expected an open confrontation, but both sides showed no initiative, focusing entirely on defense.

Sophia's last attempt to hold on to power

It is not known whether Sophia decided to openly oppose her brother, or whether she was frightened by rumors that Peter I, with his amusing regiments, plans to arrive in Moscow to remove her sister from power - on August 7, the princess's henchmen began to agitate archers in favor of Sophia. Adherents of the king, seeing such preparations, immediately informed him of the danger, and Peter, accompanied by three escorts, galloped away from the village of Preobrazhensky to the monastery of the Trinity Lavra. Starting from August 8, the remaining Naryshkins and all the supporters of Peter, as well as his amusing army, begin to gather in the monastery.

From the monastery, on behalf of Peter I, his mother and her associates put forward a demand to Sophia in a report on the reasons for arming and agitation on August 7, as well as messengers from each of the archery regiments. Forbidding the archers to send electives, Sophia sent Patriarch Joachim to her brother to try on, but the patriarch loyal to the prince did not return to the capital.

Peter I again sent a demand to the capital to send representatives from the townspeople and archers - they came to the Lavra despite Sophia's ban. Realizing that the situation is in favor of her brother, the princess decides to go to him herself, but already on the way she is persuaded to return, warning that if she comes to the Trinity, they will treat her “dishonestly”.

Joachim (Patriarch of Moscow)

Returning to Moscow, the princess-regent tries to restore the archers and townspeople against Peter, but to no avail. Archers force Sophia to give Peter her colleague, Shaklovity, who, upon arrival at the monastery, is tortured and executed. According to Shaklovity's denunciation, many of Sophia's like-minded people were caught and convicted, most of whom were sent into exile, and some were executed.

After the massacre of people who were devoted to Sophia, Peter felt the need to clarify his relationship with his brother and wrote to him:

“Now, sir, the time has come for our two persons, the kingdom given to us by God, to rule by ourselves, since we have come to the extent of our age, and we do not deign to be a third shameful person, our sister, with our two male persons, in titles and in the reprisal of deeds ... It is shameful, sir, at our perfect age, for that shameful person to rule the state past us.

Ivan V Alekseevich

Princess Sofia Alekseevna in the Novodevichy Convent

Thus, Peter I expressed an unequivocal desire to take the reins of government into his own hands. Left without people ready to take risks for her, Sophia was forced to obey the demand of Peter and retire to the Holy Spirit Monastery, and then move even further, to the Novodevichy Monastery.

From 1689 to 1696, Peter I and Ivan V ruled simultaneously, until the latter died. In fact, Ivan V did not take part in the reign, until 1694 Natalia Kirillovna ruled, after that Peter I himself.

The fate of Tsar Peter I after accession

First mistress

Peter quickly lost interest in his wife and from 1692 met in the German Quarter with Anna Mons, with the assistance of Lefort. When his mother was still alive, the king did not show open antipathy to his wife. However, Natalya Kirillovna herself, shortly before her own death, was disappointed in her daughter-in-law, in view of her independence and excessive stubbornness. After the death of Natalya Kirillovna in 1694, when Peter left for Arkhangelsk and even stopped corresponding with Evdokia. Although Evdokia was also called the queen and she lived with her son in the palace in the Kremlin, her Lopukhin clan fell out of favor - they began to be removed from leadership positions. The young queen tried to establish contacts with people who were dissatisfied with Peter's policies.

Supposed portrait of Anna Mons

According to some researchers, before Anna Mons became Peter's favorite in 1692, she was in connection with Lefort.

Returning in August 1698 from the Great Embassy, ​​Peter I visited the house of Anna Mons, and already on September 3 sent his legal wife to the Suzdal Intercession Monastery. There were rumors that the king even plans to officially marry his mistress - she was so dear to him.

The house of Anna Mons in the German Quarter in the painting by Alexandre Benois.

The tsar presented her with expensive jewelry or intricate little things (for example, a miniature portrait of the sovereign, adorned with diamonds worth 1 thousand rubles); and even built for her a stone two-story house in the German Quarter with state money.

Big amusing hike Kozhukhovsky

Miniature from the manuscript of the 1st half of the 18th century "The History of Peter I", a work by P. Krekshin. Collection of A. Baryatinsky. GIM. Military exercises near the village of Kolomenskoye and the village of Kozhukhovo.

Peter's amusing regiments were no longer just a game - the scope and quality of equipment fully corresponded to real combat units. In 1694, the tsar decided to hold his first large-scale exercises - for this, a small wooden fortress was built on the banks of the Moskva River near the village of Kozhukhovo. It was a regular pentagonal parapet with loopholes, embrasures and accommodated 5,000 garrison men. The plan of the fortress drawn up by General P. Gordon assumed an additional ditch in front of the fortifications, up to three meters deep.

To complete the garrison, archers were gathered, as well as all the clerks, nobles, clerks and other service people who happened to be nearby. The archers needed to defend the fortress, and the amusing regiments carried out the assault and carried out siege work - they dug trenches and trenches, blew up the fortifications, climbed onto the walls.

Patrick Gordon, who drew up both the plan of the fortress and the scenario for its assault, was Peter's main teacher in military affairs. During the exercises, the participants did not spare each other - according to various sources, there were up to 24 killed and more than fifty wounded on both sides.

The Kozhukhovsky campaign became the final stage of the military-practical studies of Peter I under the leadership of P. Gordon, which continued from 1690.

The first conquests - the siege of Azov

The urgent need for the trade routes of the Black Sea area for the economy of the state was one of the factors that influenced the desire of Peter I to extend his influence to the coasts of the Azov and Black Seas. The second determining factor was the young king's passion for ships and navigation.

Blockade of Azov from the sea during the siege

After the death of his mother, there were no people left who could dissuade Peter from resuming the fight against Turkey within the framework of the Holy League. However, instead of previously unsuccessful attempts to march on the Crimea, he decides to advance south, near Azov, which did not submit in 1695, but after the additional construction of a flotilla that cut off the supply of the fortress from the sea, Azov was taken in 1696.

Diorama "The capture of the Turkish fortress of Azov by the troops of Peter I in 1696"

The subsequent struggle of Russia against the Ottoman Empire within the framework of the agreement with the Holy League lost its meaning - the war for the Spanish Succession began in Europe, and the Austrian Habsburgs no longer wanted to reckon with the interests of Peter. Without allies, it was not possible to continue the war with the Ottomans - this became one of the key reasons for Peter's trip to Europe.

Grand Embassy

In 1697-1698, Peter I became the first Russian tsar to make a long trip abroad. Officially, the tsar participated in the embassy under the pseudonym of Peter Mikhailov, with the rank of scorer. According to the original plan, the embassy was supposed to go along the following route: Austria, Saxony, Brandenburg, Holland, England, Venice and, finally, a visit to the Pope. The actual route of the embassy passed through Riga and Koenigsberg to Holland, then to England, from England back to Holland, and then to Vienna; it was not possible to get to Venice - on the way, Peter was informed of the uprising of the archers in 1698.

Journey start

March 9-10, 1697 can be considered the beginning of the embassy - it moved from Moscow to Livonia. Arriving in Riga, which at that time belonged to Sweden, Peter expressed a desire to inspect the fortifications of the city fortress, but General Dahlberg, the Swedish governor, did not allow him to do so. The king, in anger, called Riga “a cursed place”, and leaving after the embassy to Mitava, he wrote and sent home the following lines about Riga:

We rode through the city and the castle, where the soldiers stood in five places, there were less than 1,000 of them, but they say that they were all there. The city is much fortified, but not completed. They are afraid of evil here, and they do not let them into the city and other places with guards, and they are not very pleasant.

Peter I in Holland.

Arriving on August 7, 1697 in the Rhine, Peter I went down to Amsterdam along the river and canals. Holland was always interesting to the tsar - Dutch merchants were frequent guests in Russia and talked a lot about their country, arousing interest. Not devoting much time to Amsterdam, Peter rushed to the city with many shipyards and shipbuilders' workshops - Zaandam. Upon arrival, he signed up as an apprentice at the Linst Rogge shipyard under the name of Peter Mikhailov.

In Zaandam, Peter lived on Crimp Street in a small wooden house. Eight days later the king moved to Amsterdam. The burgomasters of the city of Witsen helped him obtain permission to participate in work at the shipyards of the Dutch East India Company.

Seeing such interest of the Russian guests in the shipyards and the process of building ships, the Dutch on September 9 laid down a new ship (the frigate "Peter and Pavel"), in the construction of which Pyotr Mikhailov also took part.

In addition to teaching shipbuilding and studying local culture, the embassy was looking for engineers for the subsequent development of production in the Russian kingdom - the army and the future fleet were in dire need of rearmament and equipment.

In Holland, Peter got acquainted with many different innovations: local workshops and factories, whaling ships, hospitals, educational homes - the king carefully studied Western experience for its application in his homeland. Peter studied the mechanism of a windmill, visited a stationery factory. He attended lectures on anatomy in Professor Ruysch's anatomy room and expressed a particular interest in embalming corpses. In the anatomical theater of Boerhaave, Peter participated in the autopsy of corpses. Inspired by Western developments, in a few years Peter will create the first Russian museum of rarities - the Kunstkamera.

For four and a half months, Peter managed to learn a lot, but his Dutch mentors did not justify the hopes of the king, he described the reason for his discontent as follows:

At the East India shipyard, having put himself with other volunteers into the teaching of ship architecture, the sovereign in a short time accomplished what befits a good carpenter to know, and with his labors and skill he built a new ship and launched it into the water. Then he asked that shipyard bass Jan Paul to teach him the proportions of the ship, which he showed him four days later. But since in Holland there is no geometrical perfection for this skill, but just some principles, the rest from long-term practice, about which the aforementioned bass said, and that he can’t show everything on a drawing, then it became disgusting for him that such a long way for he perceived this, but did not reach the desired end. And for several days His Majesty happened to be at the country yard of the merchant Jan Tessing in company, where he sat much unhappy for the reason described above, but when between conversations he was asked why he was so sad, then he announced this reason. There was one Englishman in that company who, hearing this, said that they, in England, had this architecture as perfect as any other, and that one could learn in a short time. This word made his majesty angry, according to which he immediately went to England and there he graduated from this science four months later.

Peter I in England

Having received a personal invitation from William III in early 1698, Peter I went to England.

Having visited London, the king spent most of the three months of his stay in England in Deptford, where, under the guidance of the famous shipbuilder Anthony Dean, he continued to study shipbuilding.

Peter I talks with English shipbuilders, 1698

In England, Peter I also examined everything that was connected with production and industry: arsenals, docks, workshops, visited warships of the English fleet, getting acquainted with their device. Museums and cabinets of rarities, an observatory, a mint - England was able to surprise the Russian sovereign. There is a version according to which he met with Newton.

Leaving the picture gallery of Kensington Palace unattended, Peter became very interested in the device for determining the direction of the wind, which was present in the king's office.

During Peter's visit to England, the English artist Gottfried Kneller managed to create a portrait, which later became an example to follow - most of the images of Peter I common in Europe during the 18th century were made in the Kneller style.

Returning back to Holland, Peter could not find allies to fight against the Ottoman Empire and went to Vienna, to the Austrian Habsburg dynasty.

Peter I in Austria

On the way to Vienna, the capital of Austria, Peter received news of the plans of Venice and the Austrian king to conclude a truce with the Turks. Despite the long negotiations that took place in Vienna, Austria did not agree to the demand of the Russian kingdom for the transfer of Kerch and only offered to keep the already conquered Azov with the adjacent territories. This put an end to Peter's attempts to gain access to the Black Sea.

July 14, 1698 Peter I said goodbye to the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Leopold I and planned to leave for Venice, but news was received from Moscow about the rebellion of the archers and the trip was canceled.

Meeting of Peter I with the king of the Commonwealth

Already on the way to Moscow, the tsar was informed about the suppression of the rebellion. July 31, 1698 in Rava, Peter I met with the king of the Commonwealth, Augustus II. Both monarchs were almost the same age, and in three days of communication they managed to get closer and discuss the possibility of creating an alliance against Sweden in an attempt to shake its dominance in the Baltic Sea and adjacent territories. The final secret agreement with the Saxon elector and the Polish king was signed on November 1, 1699.

August II Strong

Having assessed the prospects, Peter I decides to focus on the Baltic instead of the Black Sea. Today, centuries later, it is difficult to overestimate the importance of this decision - the conflict between Russia and Sweden, which resulted in the Northern War of 1700-1721, became one of the most bloody and debilitating in the entire existence of Russia.

(to be continued)

Peter the Great got a bulky and clumsy country. The club and tongs were the symbols of his reforms. With the help of the first, he urged negligent officials and punished bribe-takers, and with the last, he tore hardened dogmas out of the heads of his subordinates, sometimes along with his teeth. His ideal is a state machine that works like a clock, has no material needs and physical defects. He admired the scientific and technological achievements of Europe, but did not accept liberal values ​​at all. With superhuman efforts, he laid the foundations for the might of the new Russia.

rebellious age

Until now, disputes about the origin of Peter the Great have not ceased. His actions were too unusual against the backdrop of the then Muscovy. In his time there were rumors of a substitution in Holland. Now there are opinions that Peter was not the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. But even if he is not the offspring of his father, what does it matter for the country he built?

The future Emperor Peter I was born on June 9, 1672 in the royal chambers in Moscow. His mother was from the seedy noble family of the Naryshkins. Male children from the first wife from the Miloslavsky family either died in infancy or, like Tsar Fedor and Ivan Alekseevich, were in poor health.

Petrusha's childhood was marred by violence. The struggle for power between the Naryshkins and the Miloslavskys ended in a Streltsy rebellion that brought Princess Sophia to power. Tsars Peter and Ivan rule nominally. Sophia is not afraid of the weak-minded Ivan, but Peter grew up as a strong and strong boy, arranged amusing battles with amusing troops. Subsequently, the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments will become the key to brilliant victories.

Young Peter poses a serious threat to Princess Sophia, but for the time being he is not interested in state affairs. He spends his free time in the German Quarter and sees with his own eyes the advantages of the Western way of life. On the Yauza River, he builds amusing ships, and trains his fellows in a European manner and supplies artillery. In the year of Peter's coming of age, Sofya again tries to provoke another streltsy revolt in order to kill the young tsar in a commotion. Peter flees to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he concentrates his forces. The Streltsy masses recognize its legitimacy and leave Sophia. The latter is imprisoned in the Novodevichy monastery.

Moscow period of government

After the overthrow of Sophia, little has changed in Peter's life. On his behalf, the Naryshkin clique rules, and Peter continues to take amusing fortresses and master crafts. He teaches arithmetic, geometry and military sciences. He is surrounded by foreigners, many of whom will become his associates in the transformation of the state. His mother is trying to bring him back into the bosom of tradition and marries Evdokia Lopukhina, from an old boyar family. But Peter also likes European women, therefore, having hastily fulfilled his marital duty, he disappears in the German Quarter. Anna Mons, the charming daughter of a German vintner, is waiting for him there.

When, after the death of his mother, Peter began to rule independently, he was already an adherent of the European way of life. More precisely, he admired the Dutch and Germans, while remaining almost indifferent to the Catholic countries. However, the new king is in no hurry to introduce new orders. He needs the halo of a successful commander, and in 1695 he is going on a campaign against Turkey. The fortress of Azov can only be taken the next year, when the newly created flotilla blocks it from the sea.

Grand Embassy

The tsar understands: Russia is suffocating without access to the sea. Building a fleet requires a lot of money. Heavy taxes are imposed on all estates. Leaving the country in the care of the boyar Fyodor Romodanovsky, to whom he invented the title of prince-caesar, Peter goes on a pilgrimage to Europe. The formal reason for the visit was the search for allies to fight Turkey. He entrusted this mission to Admiral General F. Lefort and General F. Golovin. Peter himself hid under the name of the constable of the Preobrazhensky regiment, Peter Mikhailov.

In Holland, he takes part in the construction of the ship "Peter and Paul", trying himself in all crafts. He is only interested in the technical achievements of the West. In matters of state administration, he was an oriental despot, he himself participated in executions and torture, and ruthlessly suppressed all manifestations of popular unrest. Tsar Peter also visited the cradle of European democracy, England, where he visited Parliament, a foundry, an arsenal, Oxford University, the Greenwich Observatory and the Mint, whose caretaker at that time was Sir Isaac Newton. Peter buys equipment and specialists in shipbuilding.

Meanwhile, a streltsy rebellion breaks out in the country, which is brutally suppressed until the return of the king. The conducted inquiry points to the inspirer of the rebellion - Princess Sophia. Peter's rage and his contempt for the old order only intensifies. He does not want to wait any longer and issues a decree banning beards for the nobility and introducing German dress. In 1700, the Julian calendar was introduced, instead of the Byzantine one, according to which Russia had the 7208th year from the creation of the world. It is interesting to read his instructions and decrees now. They have a lot of humor and peasant ingenuity. So in one of them we read that “a subordinate in front of the rulers should look dashing and foolish, so as not to embarrass the authorities with his understanding.”

North War

Peter the Great continued the work of Ivan the Terrible, who waged the Livonian War for access to the Baltic Sea. His military reforms begin with the introduction of recruitment, according to which soldiers were supposed to serve 25 years. Serfdom Russia sends the most violent and passionate peasants to the army. This is the secret of the brilliant victories of Russia in the eighteenth century. But noble children are also obligated to serve, who are given a Table of Ranks.

Preparing for war with Sweden, Peter put together the Northern Alliance, which included Denmark, Saxony and the Commonwealth. The start of the campaign is unsuccessful. Denmark is forced to withdraw from the war, and the Russians are defeated near Narva. However, military reforms continue, and already in the autumn of 1702, the Russians began to kick out the Swedes from the Baltic cities: Noteburg, Nieschanz, Derpt and Narva. The Swedish King Charles XII invades Ukraine to link up with Hetman Ivan Mazepa. Here, Russian weapons crowned themselves with victories in the Battle of Lesnaya (October 9, 1708) and in the Battle of Poltava (July 8, 1709).

The defeated Charles XII flees to Istanbul and incites the Sultan to war with Russia. In the summer of 1711, Peter sets out on the Prut campaign against Turkey, which ends with the encirclement of Russian troops. The Tsar manages to pay off with jewels, which were taken off by Peter's new wife Marta Skavronskaya, a pupil of the Lutheran pastor Ernst Gluck. Under the new peace treaty, Russia gave Turkey the fortress of Azov and lost access to the Sea of ​​Azov.

But failures in the east can no longer interfere with the successes of the Russian army in the Baltics. After the mysterious death of Charles XII, the Swedes no longer resist. According to the Nishtad Peace Treaty (September 10, 1721), Russia receives access to the Baltic Sea, as well as the territory of Ingria, part of Karelia, Estonia and Livonia. At the request of the Senate, Tsar Peter takes the title of the Great, Father of the Fatherland and Emperor of All Russia.

Pincers and club

The reforms of Peter the Great were aimed not only at the modernization of society and the state. The colossal expenses for the army and for the construction of the new capital St. Petersburg forced the tsar to introduce new taxes, ruining the already impoverished peasantry. An Asian gentleman entered the family of civilized peoples, hastily dressed in European clothes, armed with European technologies, but did not want to hear, in order to give his lackeys at least some human rights. Therefore, it is not surprising that even a hundred years after Peter's death, one could read in the capital's newspapers: "Puppies of a thoroughbred bitch and a 17-year-old girl, trained in women's crafts, are for sale."

The administrative-command system created by Peter the Great elevated him to the rank of an absolute monarch. Bringing people from the lower classes closer to him, he did not at all intend to break the social hierarchy. The enlightened leaders no longer saw their brothers in the peasants, as was the case in Muscovite Russia. The European way of life, to which the nobility was accustomed, required financial support, so the oppression and enslavement of serfs only intensifies. The once homogeneous society is divided into white and black bones, which in 200 years will lead to a bloody denouement of the revolution and civil war in Russia.

Death and aftermath

By abolishing the law of succession, Peter himself fell into its net. State concerns and immoderate libations crippled his health. To his credit, it must be said that he spared neither himself nor others. While inspecting the Ladoga Canal, the tsar throws himself into the water to save the stranded soldiers. The nephrolithiasis complicated by uremia is aggravated. There is neither time nor strength, but the emperor is slow with the will. It seems that he simply does not know to whom to transfer the throne. On February 8, 1725, Peter the Great died in terrible agony, without saying who he would like to see on the Russian throne.

The death of Peter opened the era of guard coups, when sovereigns and sovereigns were placed on the throne by a handful of nobles who enlisted the support of elite regiments. The last guard coup was attempted by the Decembrists on Senate Square in 1825.

The meaning of Peter's reforms is contradictory, but this is normal for all reformers in Russia. The country with the coldest climate and the most risky agriculture will always strive to minimize development costs, devoting all its strength to elementary survival. And when the lag becomes critical, society pushes forward the next "transformer", who will have to take the rap for the mistakes and excesses of accelerated development. It is a paradox, but reforms in Russia have always been in the name of preserving their own identity, in order to strengthen the state machine, through updating it with the latest technical achievements. For the sake of the survival of Russian civilization, which encompasses Europe and Asia, remaining unlike either one or the other.

The origin of the Russian marines dates back to the times of ancient times, when Slavic warriors on their swift boats made long trips across the Baltic and Black Seas, while capturing coastal cities and fortresses. The tactics of armed soldiers from warships were well understood and skillfully used by many Russian princes: Oleg in his campaign against Constantinople, Svyatoslav during the conquest of the Khazar Khaganate and in battles with the Byzantines

No less widely used was the mobility of troops, who could fight simultaneously both at sea and on land, and by the Cossacks in their numerous raids across the Black Sea. However, the creation of the Marine Corps as a branch of the armed forces became possible only with the beginning of the creation of the domestic Russian Navy.

In 1668, in connection with the construction of the first Russian sailing warship Orel at the shipyard in the village of Dedinovo on the Oka River, a party of 35 archers (“ship soldiers”) was provided as part of its crew. The Dutchman, captain of the Russian service, David Butler, took command of the ship. It provided for special tasks for this party. Special subdivisions of soldiers must be trained to conduct rifle fire in a naval battle, carry out ship guard duty, boarding combat, and disembarkation from ships.

In the early years of the Northern War, the tasks of the marines were carried out by ordinary army regiments. So, on May 31, 1702, a flotilla of Swedish ships on Lake Peipus was attacked by a detachment of soldiers on boats and an armed yacht was captured. On July 10 of the same year, in the same place, another yacht was captured by soldiers of the Semenovsky regiment on boats in a boarding battle with four enemy ships. In both cases, crews of rowboats located in the states of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky Guards Regiments participated in the seizures of ships.

At the end of 1704, Peter I wrote a "Proposal on the Beginning Fleet", where he formulated his thoughts on the prospects for creating naval forces in the Baltic. Concerning the creation of the Marine Corps, he wrote: “It is necessary to make regiments of naval soldiers (depending on the number of the fleet) and divide them into captains forever, to which corporals and sergeants should be taken from old soldiers for the sake of better training in formation and order.” In the same year, soldiers of 150 people each were assigned to the first seven galleys built, without bringing them into a single team.

On November 16 (November 27, according to the new style), 1705, there was the Highest Order to Admiral F. A. Golovin on the formation of the first regiment of naval soldiers, intended for ship service in landing and boarding teams. This date is considered to be the beginning of the formation of the Russian marines.

The first soldier's naval regiment differed significantly from ordinary army regiments and this was explained by the specifics of the activity of the formation being created. There were 38 officers in the army regiment, and 45 in the marine regiment, non-commissioned officers had the same ratio. The difference was explained by the fact that the naval regiment had to operate in more difficult conditions, in addition, each landing and boarding team acted separately and independently of the others, and each naturally needed clear guidance.

An equally significant feature of the soldier's naval regiment was that it did not have an artillery park and an artillery team in its composition. This was explained by the fact that during the landing, the naval soldiers had to be supported by the artillery fire of the ships, and during the conduct of hostilities on the shore they were equipped with ship guns with artillery sailors.

The first naval soldier's regiment had two battalions, each consisting of five companies. In the company - 125 ordinary soldiers. The total strength of the regiment: 45 staff and chief officers, 70 non-commissioned officers, 1250 privates. They were armed with: officers - swords and pistols, non-commissioned officers and privates - guns with baguettes (since 1709 baguettes were replaced with bayonets), grenades, boarding cleavers and nitrepel axes.

The first battle of the naval regiment was the battle in October 1706 in the Vyborg Bay. Then a detachment of Russian boats of Captain Bakhtiyarov with a team of naval soldiers attacked two Swedish boats anchored. Despite the large numerical superiority of the enemy (the Swedes had more than 200 people with eight guns, the attackers had only fifty), one Espern bot was captured after a fierce battle. Among the fallen was the bombardier Avton Dubasov, the ancestor of the future famous admiral and hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. F. V. Dubasova, among the wounded bombardier Naum Senyavin - the founder of the glorious naval dynasty, which gave the Fatherland many outstanding naval commanders.

In 1712, when the fleet increased significantly and began to consist of three squadrons, it became very difficult to distribute soldiers among ships, because a detachment had to be sent to each of the squadrons, which did not match the size of either the battalion or the company. In view of this, the first marine soldier regiment was immediately disbanded and five separate naval soldier battalions were created on its basis: the "vice admiral's battalion" for operations as part of landing and boarding teams on avant-garde ships, the "admiral's battalion", intended for the same purposes on ships corps de battalion (center), "rear admiral's battalion" for operations on the ships of the rear guard, "galley battalion" for landing and boarding parties on galleys and "admiralty battalion" for guard duty on the coast. The soldiers for the formed battalions were taken from the Kazan infantry regiment, two army regiments located in Moscow, as well as the Voronezh regiments: Vyazemsky, Khvostovsky, Korobsky.
According to the Naval Charter, when on board the ships, the landing and boarding team was subordinated directly to the commander of the ship, and in terms of special training, to the head of the squadron's soldier team, i.e., to its battalion commander. During landing operations, after landing on the shore, all teams united into a single battalion and acted together.

The uniform of the naval soldiers consisted of a teak bostrog, a sailor's caftan, canopy pants, a shirt with ports, a tie, stockings, shoes with boots, knitted and soldier's hats, a combat caftan and a camisole.

Soldiers' naval battalions Peter I sought to replenish at the expense of already experienced soldiers, and not recruits. This was explained, first of all, by the complexity of the tasks facing the battalions. So, for example, sending a recruit to a boarding dump was tantamount to killing him. Unlike recruits, experienced and fired soldiers, who went through all the difficulties of army service, quickly mastered the difficult “specifics” of naval regiments.

For the first time in full force, all naval soldier battalions were baptized in the famous Gangut battle on July 27 (August 7), 1714, when the "galley" Russian fleet under the leadership of Peter I utterly defeated a detachment of ships of the Swedish Rear Admiral N. Erenskiöld and captured the frigate, b galleys and 3 skherbots along with the admiral. This was the first naval victory of the young Russian fleet over the superior forces of an experienced enemy.

A special place in the history of the Russian marines is occupied by the landing corps, formed in 1713-1714 for the joint actions of the army and navy to capture southern Finland. Being a temporary unit, the corps numbered at different times from 16 to 26 thousand people. At the same time, Peter I made it a rule that the army regiments, unlike the permanent units of the marine corps, should not be crushed, but delivered to the landing site and landed only in full force. The reason for such an unequivocal decision is obvious - a lower level of training for action in such extreme conditions as landing than that of permanent naval soldier battalions who knew how to fight as part of companies and smaller teams. To facilitate the leadership and actions of army paratroopers who were little familiar with the peculiarities of maritime affairs, the combat formations of the galley fleet were organized according to the army model, subdivided into brigades, battalions and companies. One more condition was certainly carried out in the landing corps: instructors from naval soldier regiments were always present in all its regiments and battalions.

Describing the courage of naval soldiers and soldiers of the airborne corps in the Gangut battle, Peter I wrote: “Truly, it is impossible to describe the courage of the Russian troops, both initial and ordinary, because the boarding is so cruelly repaired that several soldiers from enemy cannons are not with cannonballs and buckshot, but with the spirit of gunpowder torn apart by cannons.

The boarding battle decided the outcome of another significant naval battle of the Northern War. On July 27, 1720, the galley fleet under the command of Prince General M. M. Golitsyn won a brilliant victory near Grengam Island over the Swedish naval squadron. As a result of a simultaneous attack by galleys from different directions, four enemy frigates were captured in a boarding battle.

During the war of 1700-1721, the forms and methods of using the marines were improved. Thus, in the landing operation to capture Helsingfors in 1712, the following were provided for: the order of landing troops on ships and the marching formation of galleys at the sea crossing, the order of battle of ships in the battle for landing and the battle order of troops on the coast. The direction of the main attack was also determined - the rear of the enemy garrison, in addition to the main one, provided for distracting and supporting strikes.

After the death of the founder of the Russian fleet, Emperor Peter the Great in 1725, his favorite brainchild quickly fell into disrepair, the hard times touched the naval soldier battalions. Already in 1727, by decision of the admiralties of the college, for lack of funds for maintenance, all battalions were disbanded with the exception of the admiralty and three galley companies. The rest of the personnel was distributed among ships and vessels in proportion to their ranks and displacement. The new organization received the name of the soldier's team of the fleet. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, detachments of the marines of the Russian squadron under the command of Admiral G. A. Spiridov liberated a number of islands of the Greek archipelago, fought in the Chesme naval battle of 1770, participated in the capture of the port of Navarin (1770), the fortress of Beirut (1772).

A special page in the history of the Marine Corps is the Mediterranean expedition of Admiral F.F. Ushakov in 1798-1800. Then, almost all naval soldiers of the Black Sea Fleet participated in the Russian squadron.

During this campaign, a number of islands of the Ionian archipelago, a first-class fortress on the island of Corfu, were taken, landings were made on the Italian coast, and all of southern Italy was liberated from Napoleonic troops. In one of his orders, F.F. Ushakov wrote: “I am sending troops to the motor coast ... 100 people a grenadier and a musketeer with one more officer and a decent number of sergeants ... I remind you, show such a view that the enemy considers you in in great numbers, and so intimidate him so that he would run from the distant fortifications into the fortress.

The most difficult operation of the entire campaign was the capture of the fortress of Corfu, which had a garrison of 3,000 people and more than 600 guns. During the capture of the fortress, the initial blow was directed at a key position - the island of Vido. The landing was carried out simultaneously in three directions. In the first echelon, built in the front line, there were boats, longboats and large boats. Here were the most experienced paratroopers, able to quickly occupy the landing points and gain a foothold in them. In the second echelon there were smaller boats. Along with the naval soldiers, the sailors of the ship's crews selected for the landing were walking in it. The third echelon carried artillery, ammunition, assault ladders. The entire landing was covered by naval artillery, conducting intensive rapid fire on the coastal fortifications. When the landing force landed on the shore, Ushakov transferred artillery fire on the main French fortifications. Unable to withstand such a massive blow, Corfu capitulated. The admiral himself reported to Emperor Paul that the naval soldiers fought during the capture of the fortress with "unparalleled courage and zeal." The capture of the fortress of Corfu in February 1799 (one of the strongest fortresses in Europe) from the sea in the absence of siege artillery and a sufficient number of troops, equipment and food is an unprecedented event in the history of wars.

In 1779, a soldier team of 80 people was formed on the Caspian Sea, in 1796, in connection with the next Caucasian war, the number of the team was increased to 150 people, and two years later the need for naval soldiers was 510 people. In this regard, in the summer of 1805, the Caspian Special Naval Battalion was formed on the flotilla, consisting of four companies.

In the Patriotic War of 1812, detachments of sailors from the Guards Naval Crew fought on the Borodino field, then with battles, together with the Russian army, reached Paris. In a number of battles of the campaign of 1813-1814, as well as in the capture of Paris, the 75th Black Sea naval crew participated.

At the beginning of the Crimean (Eastern) War in 1853, a freelance landing detachment was created in the Black Sea Fleet. When the Anglo-French troops landed in the Crimea and a threatening situation was created for Sevastopol, by order of Vice Admiral V. A. Kornilov, the formation of several amphibious assault battalions began at once. Their formation was facilitated by the fact that since the Lazarev times, special landing teams were created on ships, called "rifle parties", that is, in essence, non-standard marine corps units with combat experience of the Caucasian landings.

In March 1854, Kornilov ordered the formation of two additional landing battalions at the expense of the ship's "rifle parties". On July 1, two more battalions are formed, and one of them is a reinforced eight-company.

In total, seventeen airborne and rifle battalions took part in the heroic defense of Sevastopol. In addition, in the course of the defense, almost the entire personnel of the Black Sea, except for the teams of armed steamers, gradually descended to the land front.

The sailors also took a direct part in the defense of Petropavlovsk in 1854. Then four detachments were formed from the crews of the ships standing in the port. Together with armed local residents, the sailors threw an Anglo-French landing into the sea in a fierce hand-to-hand fight.

Despite the fact that the need to recreate the Marine Corps was repeatedly proven, throughout the 19th century, the leadership of the Naval Ministry did not try to organize such units.

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, amphibious assault detachments were used primarily in the defense of Port Arthur. In fierce battles, the sailors showed miracles of heroism, but the efforts of the defenders of Port Arthur were unsuccessful and on January 2, 1905, the fortress fell.

With the outbreak of the First World War, the need for the urgent organization of units of the Marine Corps for various purposes became obvious. Already in August 1914, the formation of the 1st battalion from the personnel of the 2nd Baltic crew began in Kronstadt. Two more battalions were formed on the basis of the guards crew. Several regiments of marines were formed in the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, in particular for landing on the coast of the Bosphorus. In addition to marine units, large ships had crew crews intended for use in amphibious operations.

In September 1914, the first battalion of the guards crew already took part in the fighting on the Neman River.

In addition to separate battalions intended for operations on the land front, the Headquarters demanded from the Ministry the creation of marine units for the defense of seaside fortresses and the defense of the coast.

During the civil war, about 170 airborne, expeditionary, or military detachments, formations and subunits of military sailors (including 2 marine expeditionary divisions) fought in the ranks of the Red Army. The crews of 40 armored trains and artillery armored vehicles were also equipped with them. In total, there were up to 75 thousand sailors decommissioned from ships at the fronts.

Since March 1930, the marines became part of the coastal defense forces, which became part of the Naval Forces.

In accordance with the directive of the Chief of the Main Military School of the Navy dated June 6, 1939, on the basis of the Separate Kronstadt Fortress Regiment of the Baltic Fleet, the formation of the Separate Special Rifle Brigade of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet was begun. The brigade took part in the landing on the islands of the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. Thus, organizationally, as a branch of the forces of the Navy of the USSR, the Marine Corps took shape only in 1939.

By order of the People's Commissar of the Navy dated April 25, 1940, the Special Special Rifle Brigade of the KBF was renamed the 1st Separate Marine Brigade of the KBF and redeployed to the Koivisto area. Simultaneously with its creation, it was planned to form formations and units of the Marine Corps in other fleets and flotillas.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, units and formations of the marine corps were urgently formed, only near Moscow in the autumn of 1941 more than a dozen formations of sailors fought, and four separate naval rifle brigades of the Pacific Fleet became the ram reserve of G.K. Zhukov, which ensured the success of the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops and extinguished the German "Typhoon" at the walls of the capital.

Black jackets on the white snow of the Moscow region and the sailor's "Polundra!" 1941 became symbols, a living legend of the war. That is why all the naval infantry units created since June 22, 1941 - 30 brigades (about 100 thousand people) - are traditionally called the marines by the people.

By August-September 1941, the Baltic Fleet allocated 2 naval brigades (including 1 cadet brigades), 4 regiments and over 40 separate battalions and companies of marines to defend Leningrad. The Black Sea Fleet, conducting continuous combat operations at sea, formed 8 brigades, several regiments and over 30 separate battalions and companies, in addition, the Black Sea Fleet fought as part of 12 naval rifle brigades. Only in the first months of the war, the Northern Fleet formed 16 different units and subunits of the Marine Corps. It was there, in the North, that during the entire war the rangers of General Dietl did not manage to cross the State Border of the USSR.

During the years of the war, the Pacific Fleet assigned 14,307 people to combat operations on land. Naval educational institutions during the war years seconded 8656 people to the land fronts, units of the Central Subordination of the Navy - 15569 people.

Few people know that the first attempt to conduct military operations "with little blood and on foreign territory" was made on the very first day of the war. The sailors of the Danube flotilla, a platoon of senior lieutenant M. Kozelbashev, crossed the Danube on June 22, 1941, and by June 26, with the main landing forces, border guards and one regiment of the Chapaev division, they cleared the Romanian coast from the enemy for 75 kilometers. "Madness of the brave" Marine Corps demonstrated repeatedly.

Today, the feat of the sailors of the Dnieper flotilla turned out to be forgotten, when our officer company steadfastly held the defense near Kyiv, and then broke through the encirclement in fierce battles in 10 days. During the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation in November 1943, the sailors of the 83rd and 255th marine brigades, the 369th and 386th separate battalions of the Black Sea Marine Fleet occupied a bridgehead near the village of Eltigen, for 36 days the paratroopers held the bridgehead without the support of the main forces, in winter, without food and on bare ice-covered stones, fighting with captured weapons.

On March 26, 1944, 68 paratroopers of Major K. Olshansky landed in the commercial port of the city of Nikolaev and held the bridgehead for 2 days. The sailors repulsed 18 German attacks: 3 infantry battalions, supported by 4 tanks, 2 mortars and 4 guns. The Olshans destroyed about 700 Nazis, 2 tanks and 4 guns. All received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Marines showed stamina and heroism in the defense of the Kola Peninsula, in the battles near Libava, Tallinn, on the Moonsund Islands, the Hanko Peninsula, near Moscow and Leningrad, they courageously fought for Odessa and Sevastopol, Kerch and Novorossiysk, destroyed the enemy near Stalingrad, defended the Caucasus.

“In the dusty Odessa trenches, in the pine forest near Leningrad, in the snow on the outskirts of Moscow, in the tangled thickets of the Sevastopol mountain oak forest,” wrote Leonid Sobolev in the story “Sea Soul,” “everywhere I saw through the open, as if by chance, collar of a protective overcoat, quilted jacket, short fur coat or tunic native blue-white stripes of the "sea soul". So the sailors lovingly called the vest. Naval units and formations were used by the command on the land fronts until the very end of the Great Patriotic War.

The actions of the marines of the Pacific Fleet are almost unknown to a wide circle of readers, primarily because they were very short-lived.

But it was the speed and Suvorov onslaught of the paratroopers of the 13th Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet, the 358th Marine Battalion, the 365th Separate Marine Battalion, the combined naval battalion of the Sovgavan Naval Base that made it possible to seize ports in Korea, on South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Pacific sailors captured the cities of Port Arthur and Dalniy.

In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, the marines participated in 122 landings in all theaters of military operations (a total of 330 thousand people with equipment and weapons).

It was from the personnel of the Marine Corps that the divisions and units of the first throw were formed to capture bridgeheads on the enemy's shore, and only after the success of the first throw units did the main landing forces land. The motherland highly appreciated the military merits of the marines in the Great Patriotic War: 5 brigades and 2 battalions of the marines were transformed into guards; 9 brigades and 6 battalions were awarded orders, many were given honorary titles. Tens of thousands of marines were awarded orders and medals of the USSR, and 122 of them were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After World War II, units of the Marine Corps were disbanded in 1956. The next real revival began in 1963, when the 336th Guards Rifle Regiment was transferred from the Belarusian District to the Baltic Fleet and a separate MP regiment was formed on its basis; the same regiments were also created in other fleets. Since 1967, the Marine Corps of the USSR Navy began to perform combat service tasks in the Mediterranean Sea, the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

In 1975-1977, the landing personnel and the crew of the BDK helped transport goods and food for the starving population of Socotra Island. In 1978, during difficult days for Ethiopia (there was a civil war), more than 600 people were evacuated and rescued by the Marines. Showing courage, the Marines helped the people of PDR Yemen.

A separate chapter in the history of the marines of the Northern Fleet is the war in Chechnya. Back in 1994, before the start of the First Chechen War, it became clear in the formation that the Marines of the Northern Fleet were included in the Federal Forces. And no one was surprised when, instead of the next review, which was supposed to take place on January 20, 1995, already on the 7th, on Christmas Day, the Northern Fleet Marine Corps Airborne Infantry Battalion was alerted and flew to Mozdok. From the Mozdok airport, the marines of the Federation Council immediately set off for Grozny, some on "turntables", some in a column. Thus began the first epic of the Marines of the Northern Fleet in Chechnya.

On the night of January, from 10 to 11, Marines of the Northern Fleet took the Main Post Office in Grozny without loss, and already on the 13th, a unit of the Marine Corps of the Northern Fleet went to the buildings of the Council of Ministers. Then there was an assault on the Presidential Palace.

On April 27, 1682, after 6 years of reign, Tsar Fedor Alekseevich died (read about Tsar Fedor Alekseevich). As soon as the ringing of the bell announced the death of Fyodor, the boyars gathered in the Kremlin to discuss which of the two brothers, Ivan Alekseevich or Pyotr Alekseevich, they would choose. Everyone knew Ivan's dementia, so they decided to elect Peter, the people also shouted Peter. Patriarch Joachim, the Naryshkins and their supporters went to Peter, who was in the mansion at the body of Fyodor, named him king and elevated him to the throne.

It was hard for Peter's sister Sofya Alekseevna to accept this (Sofia Alekseevna's reign). The only way to improve the situation was to rebel. And for this, combustible material was found - they were archers. Streltsy, of which there were more than 20 thousand in Moscow, have long shown discontent and willfulness. They were dissatisfied with their superiors, who tormented them with hard (tense, hard) work. The salary did not go to them for the second year. And they were not allowed to trade in the city, since the Germans, who lived in Moscow, took over all the trade. Streltsy longed for change, they wanted rebellion.

The Miloslavskys decided to take advantage of this, inciting additional archers. They started a rumor among the allied archers that the Naryshkins allegedly strangled the feeble-minded Ivan. Streltsy flared up and rushed to the Kremlin with screams, climbed into the boyar houses along the way, robbed them, killed them. Peter's mother (Natalya Kirillovna) was frightened, she did not know what to do. Then the patriarch suggested that they go out onto the porch and show them the whole Ivan. Which they did, but the crowd did not calm down, it was thirsty for blood. They killed right there, on the porch, the boyars close to the Naryshkins - Artamon Matveev and Mikhail Dolgorukov. And then they began to shout: "We want both kings, Ivan and Peter, we want Sophia, we want Sophia to reign."

Peter ⁠I Alekseevich the Great (g / f June 9, 1672 - February 8, 1725)

Rebellion of archers in 1682. Alexei Korzukhin.

After that, the elected representatives from the archery regiments came to the palace and demanded that Princess Sofya Alekseevna take over the government due to the infancy of her brothers. Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna was to retire from the court with her son Peter to a palace near Moscow in the village of Preobrazhensky.

Childhood of Peter. Funny troops.

Peter spent all his free time with amusing troops. Peter dressed and armed his amusing army in a foreign manner. And in 1686, 14-year-old Peter started artillery with his amusing troops. The gunsmith Fyodor Sommer showed the tsar grenade and firearms. 16 guns were delivered from the Pushkar Order. He ran away from Preobrazhenskoe a little before light, without throwing even a piece of bread into his mouth. He could for days, no matter rain or heat, night or morning, with his troops, shoot wooden cannonballs from cannons, beat drums, go hiking in the nearest villages, representing enemies there.

In Preobrazhensky, opposite the palace, on the banks of the Yauza River, a "fun town" was built. During the construction of the fortress, Peter himself worked, helped to cut logs, install guns. The fortress itself was named Preshburg, probably after the famous Austrian fortress of Presburg at that time, about which he had heard from Captain Sommer. Then, in 1686, the first amusing ships appeared near Preshburg on the Yauza. During these years, Peter became interested in the sciences that were associated with military affairs. Under the guidance of the Dutchman Timmerman, he studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences.

Walking one day with Timmerman in the village of Izmailovo, Peter went to the Linen Yard, in the barn of which he found an English boat (a small one-masted ship). In 1688, he instructed the Dutchman Brandt to repair, arm and equip this boat, and then lower it onto the Yauza River. However, the Yauza turned out to be not deep and cramped for the ship, so Peter went to Pereslavl-Zalessky, to Lake Pleshcheyevo, where he laid the first shipyard for the construction of amusing ships.

Marriage of Peter.

An increasing number of foreigners at the court of Tsar Peter came from the German Quarter. All this led to the fact that the inquisitive king became a frequent guest in the settlement, where he soon turned out to be a big fan of foreign life. Peter first tried tobacco, lighting a German pipe, began to attend German parties with dancing and drinking, where he met his main associate and friend Franz Lefort. And later, with the assistance of Lefort, he met Anna Mons, who was Peter's favorite for more than 10 years.

At this time, Peter's mother could not find a place for herself, worrying that Peter was spending all his time either in a funny war or in a German settlement. Then Natalya Kirillovna decided to marry him, thinking that this would bring him to reason. And she decided to marry him, to her favorite Evdokia Lopukhina, the daughter of the okolnichi.

Peter did not argue with his mother, and on January 27, 1689, the wedding of the future king was played. But as the mother did not hope for Peter, this did not come to his senses. Less than a month later, Peter left his wife and left for a long time on Lake Pleshcheyevo, where he was engaged in his amusing courts. From this marriage, Peter had two sons - the eldest Alexei and the younger Alexander, who died in infancy.

The overthrow of Sophia and the accession of Peter.

Peter's activity greatly disturbed Princess Sophia, who understood that with the coming of age of her brother, she would have to give up power. On July 8, 1689, on the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the first public conflict took place between the matured Peter and Sophia. The Moscow Metropolitan brought the image of the Lady of Kazan to Ivan, but he said: “I won’t convey it ....”, then Sophia rapaciously grabbed the image, but Peter said: give it back ... give the icon ... this is not a woman’s business. Sophia ignored Peter and carried the image herself.

Soon, rumors began to reach Peter that his sister wanted to assassinate him in order to become the sovereign queen. And on August 8, 1689. this was confirmed, several archers arrived in Preobrazhenskoye and informed Peter about the impending assassination attempt on him. He, frightened, in one shirt jumped on a horse and rushed off to Trinity. Peter decided to act and began to send letters, where it was ordered, without delay, to go to the king for a great state cause. Sophia, for her part, forbade the archers to leave Moscow on pain of death, but everything was useless - all the highest ranks went to the Trinity. Sophia's power steadily crumbled. Even Sophia's faithful favorite, Vasily Golitsyn, after an unsuccessful campaign against the Tatars, left for his estate near Moscow, Medvedkovo, and retired from the political struggle. The ruler had no adherents left ready to risk her head for her interests, and when Peter demanded that Sophia retire to the Holy Spirit nunnery in Putivl, she had no choice but to obey. Soon Peter transferred her to the Novodevichy Convent. So Peter overthrew his half-sister and took the throne of Russia.

Princess Sofya Alekseevna in the Novodevichy Convent. Painting by Ilya Repin

Azov campaigns of Peter I.

The priority of Peter I in the first years of his reign was the continuation of the war with the Ottoman Empire and the Crimea. Instead of marching on the Crimea, Peter I decided to strike at the Turkish fortress of Azov, located at the confluence of the Don River into the Sea of ​​​​Azov.

The first Azov campaign, which began in the spring of 1695, ended unsuccessfully, due to the lack of a fleet and the unwillingness of the Russian army to operate far from supply bases. However, already in the autumn of 1695, preparations began for a new campaign. In Voronezh, the construction of the Russian flotilla began. In a short time, a fleet was built from various ships, led by the 36-gun ship "Apostle Peter". In May 1696, the 40,000-strong Russian army under the command of Generalissimo Shein again laid siege to Azov, blocking the fortress from the sea. Peter I himself took part in the siege with the rank of captain. Without waiting for the assault, on July 19, 1696, the fortress surrendered. Thus, Russia's access to the southern seas was opened.

The result of the Azov campaigns was the capture of the Azov fortress, the construction of the Taganrog fortress was begun. However, Peter failed to get access to the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait: he remained under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Forces for the war with Turkey, as well as a full-fledged navy, Russia has not yet had.

Peter in Europe.

In order to keep Azov from the Turks and Tatars, a powerful fleet was needed. And the ships were built by foreigners, since the Russians had no experience. Therefore, Peter decided to send people to Europe (to the countries of Holland, England, etc.) to study shipboard art. And soon he himself joined them, leaving the country to Romodanovsky. Together with the king went 250 people.

Peter went under a fictitious surname so that no one would guess that he was the Russian Tsar. He visited Holland, England, Austria, the cities of Riga, Brandenburg, Koenigsberg. He personally studied the construction of ships, went to the autopsy, studied anatomy, the arrangement of various plants and factories, and much more. The British said that there was nothing that Peter would not like to learn or study.

Peter was about to go to Venice, when he received news of the impending conspiracy of his sister Sophia and the archers. Peter urgently returned to Moscow. The horrors of the Streltsy uprising in childhood forced him to brutally deal with the rebels. More than a thousand people were executed, and Sophia was tonsured a nun (strong guards were assigned to her).

Portrait of Peter I in the clothes of a Dutch sailor (during his stay in Europe)

Transformations of Peter I.

After returning from Europe, Peter I began reforms in the army, a navy was created, and a reform of church administration was carried out. A financial reform was also carried out, measures were taken to develop industry and trade (by the end of the reign of Peter I, there were already 233 factories). One of the transformations is:

• forced to put on European clothes, shave off beards (for those who refused to shave, fines were introduced).
• Established the beginning of the New Year from January 1, not September 1. In the New Year, he decided to put coniferous trees, launch rockets, shoot from cannons.
• Weddings were now only at the request of the husband and wife, and not with those with whom the parents wanted.
• They described all the forests and forbade the cutting of "secular" trees, and for cutting in the reserves there was the death penalty.
• January 14, 1701 A school of mathematical and navigational sciences was opened in Moscow. Artillery, engineering and medical schools were later opened. Compulsory education for nobles and clergy was introduced.
• It was forbidden to build wooden houses in Moscow.
• On December 30, 1701, Peter issued a decree ordering to write full names in documents instead of pejorative half-names (Ivashka, Senka, etc.), do not fall on your knees in front of the tsar, do not take off your hat in front of the house in which the tsar is located in the cold .
• New printing houses were created. Published books, engaged in cartography. In 1702 the first press-newspaper Chimes was published.
• In 1703 Petersburg was founded. But the construction of St. Petersburg was mainly carried out by working people. They felled the forest, filled up the swamps, built embankments. In 1704, up to 40 thousand serfs, landowners and state peasants, were summoned to St. Petersburg from different provinces. From such hard work, many died, many fled. Peter I ordered to take family members of the fugitives - fathers, mothers, wives, children and keep them in prisons until the fugitives were found.
• In 1718 assemblies were introduced - a new image of a noble ball, a celebration where people now socialized, danced, and not just sat and drank.

North War.

Having concluded the "Northern Alliance" with Denmark and Poland, Peter began to prepare for a war with Sweden for access to the Baltic Sea. On August 19, 1700, war was declared on Sweden, led by Charles XII. Denmark, without waiting for help from Russia, began independently military operations against Sweden. But Charles XII "showed his teeth", he landed 15 thousand infantrymen in the rear of the Danish army, and he himself with a huge fleet appeared in front of the forts of Copenhagen and demanded the surrender of the city. The frightened Christian had no choice but to start negotiations with Sweden, which ended with the conclusion of a peace treaty and withdrawal from the "Northern Union". Yes, and from Poland there was really no help, since King August only asked Peter to send money, weapons, cannons to raise people to war. Peter had no choice but to start waging war with Sweden themselves.

In 1700, Peter and his army invaded Sweden and laid siege to the fortress of Narva. But due to bad weather, the carts with food, gunpowder and other important things got stuck in the Novgorod region, which did not allow a full-fledged attack on Narva. The bread is all moldy, there is really no food, people are all exhausted. Moreover, Charles XII, having landed in Pernov and turning near Riga, pushed back the troops of King Augustus and moved towards the Russian army. Everyone understood that they would not have time to take the fortress of Narva and would have to take the battle with the Swedes.

On November 19, 1700, a battle took place between the Russian troops and the Swedes. Charles XII was victorious in this battle. The Russian officers had no choice but to ask for peace, there was no point in fighting anymore, people did not listen to orders, were frightened, did not understand why and for whom they were fighting on this cold land. Breaking down for honor, the Swedes agreed to release the entire Russian army with banners and weapons, but without guns and supplies, and kept all Russian generals and officers as a pledge. Considering that Russia was no longer a danger, Charles XII decided to direct all his forces against the Polish king Augustus II. August got scared and fled from Warsaw, Charles entered the capital of Poland without a fight.

However, Peter did not give up this idea, but leaving Sheremetyev’s advanced detachments to instill fear and horror in the Swedes, he set off to collect a stronger, more trained army, while simultaneously carrying out military reforms to strengthen the army.

To begin with, Peter decided to take the ancient fortress of Noteburg (fortress "Oreshek"). On the morning of September 26, 1702, the advance detachment of the Preobrazhensky Regiment numbering 400 people approached the fortress and began a firefight. At this time, the Russians dragged 50 ships from Lake Ladoga to the Neva and took the fortification on the other side of the Neva. After that, a bloody assault began, which ended successfully for the Russians. The old Russian city, formerly called Oreshok, returned to Russian hands and was renamed Shlisselburg (key-city).

Assault on the Noteburg fortress on October 22, 1702. Peter I is depicted in the center. A. E. Kotzebue, 1846

In the spring of 1703, the Nienschanz fortress at the mouth of the Neva was taken. And here in 1703 the construction of St. Petersburg began, and on the island of Kotlin the base of the Russian fleet was located - the fortress of Kronshlot (later Kronstadt). The exit to the Baltic Sea was open. In 1704, after the capture of Derpt and Narva, Russia gained a foothold in the Eastern Baltic.

After the overthrow of Augustus II in 1706 and his replacement by the Polish king Stanisław Leszczynski, Charles XII launched a fatal campaign against Russia. Enlisting the support of the Little Russian hetman Ivan Mazepa (whom Peter trusted and whom Mazepa betrayed), Charles moved his troops south.

In the battle near the village of Lesnoy on October 9, 1708, Peter personally led Menshikov's first corps and defeated the Swedish corps of General Levengaupt, who was going to join the army of Charles XII from Livonia. The Swedish army lost reinforcements and convoys with military supplies. This was the turning point in the Northern War.

In the next battle near Poltava, the largest battle took place between the Russian troops and the Swedish army. The battle took place on the morning of July 8, 1709, 6 versts from the city of Poltava, in which the army of Charles XII was utterly defeated. Peter personally commanded on the battlefield, and he was even shot through his hat. Charles fled, and Peter on the same day gave a big feast. After this battle, access to the Baltic Sea was finally secured.

Peter I in the Battle of Poltava. L. Caravaque, 1718

After the defeat in the Battle of Poltava, the Swedish king Charles XII took refuge in the possessions of the Ottoman Empire, the city of Bendery. The French historian Georges Houdart called the escape of Charles XII "an irreparable mistake" of Peter. Peter I concluded an agreement with Turkey on the expulsion of Charles XII from Turkish territory, but the mood at the Sultan's court changed - the Swedish king was allowed to stay and threaten the southern border of Russia with the help of part of the Ukrainian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars. Seeking the expulsion of Charles XII, Peter I began to threaten Turkey with war, but in response, on November 20, 1710, Sultan Ahmed III himself declared war on Russia.

Only after a while did Peter begin to demand that the Turkish sultan hand over Charles to him, otherwise Peter I would threaten him with war. But the Sultan himself had already declared war on Russia. Although the real reason for the war was that the Sultan wanted to regain Azov and remove the Russian fleet from the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov.

In 1711 The Russian army led by Peter entered Moldavia for the war against the Ottoman Empire. But the Russian troops failed to win, and Peter I with the generals decided to offer peace to the Turkish Sultan. Under the terms of the peace treaty, Azov was lost, Taganrog was destroyed, and it was necessary to freely let the Swedish king into Sweden.

As soon as Charles returned to Sweden he began to gather troops against Peter. Peter also focused on the war with the Swedes, and in 1713 the Swedes were defeated in Pomerania and lost all possessions in Europe. However, thanks to the dominance of Sweden at sea, the Northern War dragged on. In 1718 decided to start peace negotiations, but Charles XII unexpectedly died, the Swedish queen Ulrika Eleonora ascended the throne. She resumed the war, hoping for help from England. But the devastating landing of the Russians in 1720 on the Swedish coast discouraged the desire to wage war and pushed Sweden to resume negotiations. On September 10, 1721, the Treaty of Nystadt was concluded between Russia and Sweden, ending the 21-year war. Russia received access to the Baltic Sea, annexed the territory of Ingria, part of Karelia, Estonia and Livonia. Russia became a great European power, in commemoration of which on November 2, 1721, Peter, at the request of the senators, took the title Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia, Peter the Great.

Persian campaign.

After the end of the Northern War, Peter I decided to make a trip to the western coast of the Caspian Sea, and, having mastered the Caspian, lay a trade route from Central Asia and India to Europe through Russia, which would be very useful for Russian merchants and for enriching the Russian Empire. The path was supposed to pass through the territory of India, Persia, from there to the Russian fort on the Kura River, then through Georgia to Astrakhan, from where it was planned to deliver goods throughout the entire Russian Empire.

And there was a reason for this, on July 29, 1722, after the son of the Persian Shah Tokhmas Mirza asked for help, a 22,000-strong Russian detachment sailed from Astrakhan across the Caspian Sea. In August, the city of Derbent surrendered, but due to problems with provisions, the Russians returned back to Astrakhan. In the next 1723, the western coast of the Caspian Sea was conquered with the fortresses of Baku, Rasht, Astrabad. Further progress was stopped by the threat of the Ottoman Empire entering the war, which seized the western and central Transcaucasus.

On September 23, 1723, an agreement was concluded with Persia, according to which the western and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea with the cities of Derbent and Baku and the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Astrabad were included in the Russian Empire.

True, soon, during the reign of Anna Ioannovna, these possessions were lost, as people in the garrisons died from diseases caused by an unusual climate, and Queen Anna Ioannovna considered this region unpromising.

Death of Peter the Great.

In the last years of his reign, Peter was very ill. In the summer of 1724, his illness intensified, but in September he felt better, although after a while the attacks intensified. In October, Peter went to inspect the Ladoga Canal. At Lakhta (an area near St. Petersburg), he saw a boat (a small ship) with soldiers run aground and rushed to help them. Peter spent a long time waist-deep in cold water, pulling out the boat. The attacks of the disease intensified, but Peter, not paying attention to them, continued to deal with state affairs. On January 28, 1725, he had such a bad time that he ordered a camp church to be built in the room next to his bedroom. The strength began to leave the patient, he no longer screamed, as before, from severe pain, but only moaned.

On February 7, on his orders, all those sentenced to death or hard labor were amnestied (excluding murderers and those convicted of repeated robbery). On the same day, at the end of the second hour, Peter demanded paper, started to write, but the pen fell out of his hands; The tsar then ordered his daughter Anna Petrovna to be called so that she would write under his dictation, but when she arrived, Peter had already fallen into oblivion.

At the beginning of the sixth hour in the morning on February 8, 1725, Peter the Great died in terrible agony in his Winter Palace. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

I. N. Nikitin "Peter I on his deathbed"

On November 18, 1699, Peter I issued a decree "On admission to the Great Sovereign Service in soldiers from all free people" and the first recruitment. Initially, they tried to build an army on a mixed basis (voluntary and compulsory), they began to enroll free people fit for military service into it. Those who wished to become soldiers were promised an annual salary of 11 rubles and "bread and fodder supplies." Initially, the enrollment in the army was in a convoy soldier's hut in the village of Preobrazhensky and was led by Avton Golovin. Then recruitment into the army began to be made, not only in the capital, but also in Pskov, Novgorod, Smolensk, Belgorod and the Volga cities. The result of this decree was the formation of three infantry divisions, the commanders of which were Generals Golovin, Veide and Repnin. At the same time there was a process of formation of regular cavalry - dragoon regiments. Army recruits were armed and maintained at the expense of the state. The recruitment of 1699 was the first step on the way to a regular army manning system. The reform itself was completed already during the Great Northern War.

Tsar Peter considered the rise of the Russian state and the strengthening of its military power to be his life's work. From the very beginning of his state activity, he paid great attention to military affairs. Researchers note that militancy was undoubtedly an innate inclination of Peter Alekseevich. In the years of early youth, the prince was only interested in toys of a military nature. In the royal workshops, all kinds of children's clothes were made for the prince, which little Peter amused himself and armed children, "funny kids." I must say that such upbringing was traditional for Russian princes, since ancient times the rulers of Russia were warriors. The first military leader of the prince was the commander of one of the foreign soldier regiments - Menezius (the regiments of the "foreign system" began to form during the Time of Troubles Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, the second organization began in 1630).

After the Streltsy rebellion in May 1682, when the government passed into the hands of Princess Sophia, new living conditions were created for the young prince. Removed from the large court, removed from any participation in state affairs, freed from court etiquette, Peter received complete freedom. Living in the suburban villages of Vorobyov and Preobrazhensky, the prince indulged almost exclusively in military games. The “amusing” ones gather around Peter - the children of the boyars, the nobles who surrounded Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna, the children of the courtyard people. Peter, together with them, indulged in the "fun of Mars." Gradually, the "amusing" began to take on the appearance of a military unit.

In 1684, a fortress was built on the Yauza River, with towers, walls and a moat. "Pressburg" will become a collection point for the "amusing". An entire city is built around it. At this time, the prince went through a real military school: in any weather he defended on guard, built field fortifications together with everyone, was in the forefront in archery, musketry, javelin throwing, got acquainted with drumming, etc.

The absence of court rules allowed Peter Alekseevich to get close to foreigners, which contributed to his military education. Among foreigners, the commander of the Butyrsky soldier regiment, General Patrick Gordon, had a special influence on the king. The Scotsman Gordon searched for happiness in various European countries for a long time, went through an excellent military school in the Swedish army, and served in the Commonwealth. He took part in the fight against the Russians, but soon accepted the offer of the Russian diplomatic agent Leontiev and entered the Russian service as a major. He distinguished himself in the Chigirinsky campaigns, was awarded the rank of major general for military skills and valor and was appointed commander of the Butyrsky regiment. Having passed the practical combat school, Gordon also had great knowledge in theory - artillery, fortification, and the organization of the armed forces of European countries. Wise with great combat experience, Gordon was a very useful adviser and leader for the young king. Friendly relations were established between them.

In addition, Franz Lefort from Geneva had a great influence on Peter's military training. He served in the French army from the age of 14, gained combat experience in the wars with the Dutch. Lefort arrived in Russia at the suggestion of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and quickly mastered the Russian language, got acquainted with the customs of Russia. Comprehensively educated, cheerful, sociable Lefort could not fail to attract the attention of the king. He quickly took a place among the king's associates. The young tsar attentively listened to Lefort's stories about the life and customs of European countries, learned fencing, dancing, horseback riding, and received Dutch lessons. There were other foreign officers who had a significant influence on Peter, but Gordon and Lefort were the most prominent figures.

Soon, Peter from fun and entertainment began to move on to more serious matters. The "amusing" Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments are joined by the Moscow regiments of Gordon and Lefort. Peter, under the guidance of Gordon, acquires knowledge from the history of military art, at the same time he goes through a practical school, participating in the field exercises of his detachment. Conversations and lessons are combined with field exercises and maneuvers. Field maneuvers were held every year, from 1691 to 1694, and not only infantry, but also cavalry and artillery took part in them. The exercises ended with exemplary battles. One of these exercises is the Kozhukhov campaign of 1694 (it took place in the vicinity of the village of Kozhukhov). The defending detachment consisted of the troops of the old system - archers, and the attacking detachment - was mixed, from new troops and local cavalry. The attackers crossed the Moscow River and began to storm the fortification that the archers had built. The exercise almost turned into a real fight, everyone was so passionate about this action.

During the Azov campaigns, Peter received a lot of military practice. After the first unsuccessful campaign, the tsar energetically set about building a river and sea flotilla. At the hastily arranged Voronezh shipyards, under the leadership of the sovereign, work was in full swing. By the spring of 1696, thirty large ships were built and about 1000 small ones, for transporting troops, weapons and ammunition, were ready for the campaign. In May, the ground forces and the flotilla moved down the Don. As a result, the Turkish fortress, blocked from the sea and land, lasted only for two months. July 19, 1696 Azov capitulated. The Azov campaigns were the first personal combat experience for Peter. They became the best evidence that in order to fight the Ottoman Empire on the Black Sea or Sweden on the Baltic Sea, Russia needs a fleet. Peter also realized that the archery regiments and the local cavalry were no longer a first-class tool for implementing broad ideas in the field of foreign policy.

Peter's journey as part of the "great embassy" (the tsar went to foreign lands under the modest name of "Preobrazhensky Regiment of Sergeant Pyotr Mikhailov") was of great importance in terms of his personal improvement in various sciences. During the journey, the king paid special attention to military and naval affairs. The Polish-Lithuanian troops in Courland did not impress him. In Koenigsberg, "Pyotr Mikhailov" studied artillery, in the Dutch shipyards - shipbuilding practice, in England - the theory of building ships, in Austria - the organization of imperial troops. On the way back, the emperor studied the organization of the Saxon army.

Upon his return to the Russian state, the tsar immediately proceeds to reorganize the armed forces. General Adam Veide became an active assistant to Peter in the construction of the regular army. Peter begins to destroy the Streltsy army, starting with the mass executions of the participants in the Streltsy rebellion of 1698, and the transfer of part of the archers to "live" in county towns. Part of the archers was transferred to the position of soldiers, others were sent to remote cities to carry out garrison service (city archers in some places remained almost until the end of the century). The sovereign has an intention to form 60 thousand infantry troops at the maintenance of the state.

On November 8 (18), 1699, a royal decree was promulgated on voluntary registration in regular soldier regiments "from all free people" and the first recruitment. "Hunting" people (volunteers) were accepted with a salary of 11 rubles. per year on full government support. "Date" people (recruits) were recruited from a certain number of yards: one warrior from 100 sokh. In the village of Preobrazhensky, the Main Commission was established for the recruitment, formation of regiments, their supply and training. Its leader was Golovin. Repnin was given the task of recruiting people in the lower towns along the Volga. Recruitment began in December 1699. During the first recruitment, 32 thousand people were accepted, they were sent to form 27 infantry and 2 dragoon regiments.

The Russian army, before the defeat near Narva, received the following organization. The infantry regiment consisted of ten fusilier companies (from "fusil" - guns). In some regiments, one company was a grenadier. The composition of the infantry regiment: three staff officers, 35 chief officers and 1200 combat lower ranks. The infantryman was armed with a 14-pound gun, a baguette (a dagger with a flat, rarely faceted blade, used as a bayonet) and a sword. Part of the infantry was armed with pikes - pikemen. In addition, corporals, sergeants, corporals and non-combatant lower ranks were armed with pikes and halberds. There were about 1 thousand people in the dragoon regiments. The cavalry regiment was also divided into 10 companies. The dragoons were armed with 12-pound guns without bayonets, two pistols and a broadsword.

Back in 1698, General Weide, following the German model, drew up the first charter - the article. The main for the infantry was a system of six deployed ranks. Doubling rows and ranks was allowed. Rifle techniques were established for loading, firing, saluting, carrying a gun during a campaign, etc. Initially, there was no charter for the cavalry, the dragoons were guided by the infantry charter when training. The main formation for the cavalry was a deployed formation in three lines.

All formed regiments brought together the three highest tactical units - generalships (divisions). They were headed by Avton Golovin, Adam Veide and Anikita Repnin. The commanders of the formations were originally foreigners who had previously commanded the regiments of the "foreign system". Foreigners also predominated among the officers. This was a mistake, since often foreigners rushed to take a place of bread, having neither the relevant experience nor the desire to fight and, if necessary, die for Russia. Therefore, the chiefs tried to train Russians in order to quickly replace foreigners.

The newly formed military units were hastily trained, and after three months they showed positive results in combat training. However, the process of creating a new army was only gaining momentum. A real army, ready to hold back and deliver powerful blows, will be formed already during the Northern War. Within a few years, the Russian army will grow stronger, be tempered and surpass the first-class Swedish army in all major parameters.