Mother of a boy named at birth Karl Peter Ulrich, died shortly after his birth, having caught a cold during fireworks in honor of the birth of her son. At the age of 11, he lost his father. After his death, he was brought up in the house of his paternal great-uncle, Bishop Adolf of Eiten (later King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden). His teachers O.F. Brummer and F.V. Berkhgolts were not distinguished by high moral qualities and more than once cruelly punished the child. The Crown Prince of the Swedish Crown was flogged several times; many times the boy was placed with his knees on the peas, and for a long time - so that his knees became swollen and he could hardly walk; subjected to other sophisticated and humiliating punishments. His teachers cared little about his education: by the age of 13, he only spoke a little French.

Peter grew up fearful, nervous, impressionable, loved music and painting and at the same time adored everything military (however, he was afraid of cannon fire; this fear remained with him throughout his life). All his ambitious dreams were connected with military pleasures. He was not in good health, rather the opposite: he was sickly and frail. By character, Peter was not evil; often behaved innocently. Peter's penchant for lies and absurd fantasies is also noted. According to some reports, already in childhood he became addicted to wine.

Heir

At the first meeting, Elizabeth was struck by her nephew’s ignorance and upset by his appearance: thin, sickly, with an unhealthy complexion. His tutor and teacher was academician Jacob Shtelin, who considered his student quite capable, but lazy, at the same time noting in him such traits as cowardice, cruelty towards animals, and a tendency to boast. The heir's training in Russia lasted only three years - after the wedding of Peter and Catherine, Shtelin was relieved of his duties (however, he forever retained Peter's favor and trust). Neither during his studies, nor subsequently, Pyotr Fedorovich never really learned to speak and write in Russian. The Grand Duke's mentor in Orthodoxy was Simon of Todor, who also became a teacher of the law for Catherine.

The heir's wedding was celebrated on a special scale - so that before the ten-day celebrations, “all the fairy tales of the East faded.” Peter and Catherine were granted possession of Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg and Lyubertsy near Moscow.

Peter's relationship with his wife did not work out from the very beginning: she was intellectually more developed, and he, on the contrary, was infantile. Catherine noted in her memoirs:

(In the same place, Catherine mentions, not without pride, that she read the “History of Germany” in eight large volumes in four months. Elsewhere in her memoirs, Catherine writes about her enthusiastic reading of Madame de Sevigne and Voltaire. All memories are from about the same time.)

The Grand Duke's mind was still occupied with children's games and military exercises, and he was not at all interested in women. It is believed that until the early 1750s there was no marital relationship between husband and wife, but then Peter underwent some kind of operation (presumably circumcision to eliminate phimosis), after which in 1754 Catherine gave birth to his son Paul (the future Emperor Paul I) . The infant heir was immediately taken away from his parents after birth, and Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself took up his upbringing. However, Pyotr Fedorovich was never interested in his son and was quite satisfied with the empress’s permission to see Paul once a week. Peter was increasingly moving away from his wife; Elizaveta Vorontsova (sister of E.R. Dashkova) became his favorite. Nevertheless, Catherine noted that for some reason the Grand Duke always had an involuntary trust in her, all the more strange since she did not strive for spiritual intimacy with her husband. In difficult situations, financial or economic, he often turned to his wife for help, calling her ironically "Madame la Resource"(“Mistress Help”).

Peter never hid his hobbies for other women from his wife; Catherine felt humiliated by this state of affairs. In 1756, she had an affair with Stanisław August Poniatowski, then the Polish envoy to the Russian court. For the Grand Duke, his wife’s passion was also no secret. There is information that Peter and Catherine more than once hosted dinners together with Poniatovsky and Elizaveta Vorontsova; they took place in the chambers of the Grand Duchess. Afterwards, leaving with his favorite to his half, Peter joked: “Well, children, now you don’t need us anymore.” “Both couples lived on very good terms with each other.” The grand ducal couple had another child in 1757, Anna (she died of smallpox in 1759). Historians cast great doubt on the paternity of Peter, calling S. A. Poniatovsky the most likely father. However, Peter officially recognized the child as his own.

In the early 1750s, Peter was allowed to order a small detachment of Holstein soldiers (by 1758 their number was about one and a half thousand), and he spent all his free time engaging in military exercises and maneuvers with them. His other hobby was playing the violin.

During the years spent in Russia, Peter never made any attempt to get to know the country, its people and history better; he neglected Russian customs, behaved inappropriately during church services, and did not observe fasts and other rituals.

It is noted that Peter III was energetically engaged in state affairs (“In the morning he was in his office, where he heard reports<…>, then hurried to the Senate or collegium.<…>In the Senate, he took on the most important matters himself energetically and assertively." His policy was quite consistent; he, in imitation of his grandfather Peter I, proposed to carry out a series of reforms.

The most important affairs of Peter III include the abolition of the Secret Chancellery (Chancellery of Secret Investigative Affairs; Manifesto of February 16, 1762), the beginning of the process of secularization of church lands, the encouragement of commercial and industrial activities through the creation of the State Bank and the issuance of banknotes (Name Decree of May 25), adoption of a decree on freedom of foreign trade (Decree of March 28); it also contains a requirement to respect forests as one of the most important resources of Russia. Among other measures, researchers note a decree that allowed the establishment of factories for the production of sailing fabric in Siberia, as well as a decree that qualified the murder of peasants by landowners as “tyrant torture” and provided for lifelong exile for this. He also stopped the persecution of Old Believers. Peter III is also credited with the intention to carry out a reform of the Russian Orthodox Church along the Protestant model (In the Manifesto of Catherine II on the occasion of her accession to the throne dated June 28, 1762, Peter was blamed for this: “Our Greek Church is already extremely exposed to its last danger, the change of ancient Orthodoxy in Russia and the adoption of a law of other faiths").

Legislative acts adopted during the short reign of Peter III largely became the foundation for the subsequent reign of Catherine II.

The most important document of the reign of Pyotr Fedorovich is the “Manifesto on the Freedom of the Nobility” (Manifesto of February 18, 1762), thanks to which the nobility became an exclusive privileged class of the Russian Empire. The nobility, having been forced by Peter I to compulsory and universal conscription to serve the state all their lives, and under Anna Ioannovna, having received the right to retire after 25 years of service, now received the right not to serve at all. And the privileges initially granted to the nobility as a service class not only remained, but also expanded. In addition to being exempt from service, nobles received the right to virtually unhindered exit from the country. One of the consequences of the Manifesto was that the nobles could now freely dispose of their land holdings, regardless of their attitude to service (the Manifesto passed over in silence the rights of the nobility to their estates; while the previous legislative acts of Peter I, Anna Ioannovna and Elizaveta Petrovna regarding noble service, linked official duties and landownership rights). The nobility became as free as a privileged class could be free in a feudal country.

The reign of Peter III was marked by the strengthening of serfdom. The landowners were given the opportunity to arbitrarily resettle the peasants who belonged to them from one district to another; serious bureaucratic restrictions arose on the transition of serfs to the merchant class; During the six months of Peter's reign, about 13 thousand people were distributed from state peasants to serfs (in fact, there were more of them: only men were included in the audit lists in 1762). During these six months, peasant riots arose several times and were suppressed by punitive detachments. Noteworthy is the Manifesto of Peter III of June 19 regarding the riots in the Tver and Cannes districts: “We intend to inviolably preserve the landowners on their estates and possessions, and to maintain the peasants in due obedience to them.” The riots were caused by a rumor spreading about the granting of “liberty to the peasantry”, a response to the rumors and a legislative act, which was not accidentally given the status of a manifesto.

The legislative activity of the government of Peter III was extraordinary. During the 186-day reign, judging by the official “Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire,” 192 documents were adopted: manifestos, personal and Senate decrees, resolutions, etc. (These do not include decrees on awards and ranks, monetary payments and regarding specific private issues).

However, some researchers stipulate that measures useful for the country were taken “by the way”; for the emperor himself they were not urgent or important. In addition, many of these decrees and manifestos did not appear suddenly: they were prepared under Elizabeth by the “Commission for the Drawing up of a New Code”, and were adopted at the suggestion of Roman Vorontsov, Peter Shuvalov, Dmitry Volkov and other Elizabethan dignitaries who remained at the throne of Peter Fedorovich.

Peter III was much more interested in internal affairs in the war with Denmark: out of Holstein patriotism, the emperor decided, in alliance with Prussia, to oppose Denmark (yesterday's ally of Russia), with the goal of returning Schleswig, which it had taken from his native Holstein, and he himself intended to go on a campaign at the head of the guard.

Immediately upon his accession to the throne, Peter Fedorovich returned to the court most of the disgraced nobles of the previous reign, who had languished in exile (except for the hated Bestuzhev-Ryumin). Among them was Count Burchard Christopher Minich, a veteran of palace coups. The Emperor's Holstein relatives were summoned to Russia: Princes Georg of Holstein-Gottorp and Peter August Friedrich of Holstein-Beck. Both were promoted to field marshal general in the prospect of war with Denmark; Peter August Friedrich was also appointed as the capital's governor-general. Alexander Vilboa was appointed general-feldtzeichmeister (that is, commander of the artillery). These people, as well as the former educator Jacob Staehlin, appointed personal librarian, formed the emperor's inner circle.

Once in power, Peter III immediately stopped military operations against Prussia and concluded the St. Petersburg Peace Treaty with Frederick II on conditions extremely unfavorable for Russia, returning the conquered East Prussia (which had already been an integral part of the Russian Empire for four years); and abandoning all acquisitions during the actually won Seven Years' War. Russia's exit from the war once again saved Prussia from complete defeat (see also “The Miracle of the House of Brandenburg”). Peter III easily sacrificed the interests of Russia for the sake of his German duchy and friendship with his idol Frederick. The peace concluded on April 24 caused bewilderment and indignation in society; it was naturally regarded as a betrayal and national humiliation. The long and costly war ended in nothing; Russia did not derive any benefits from its victories.

Despite the progressiveness of many legislative measures, the unprecedented privileges for the nobility, Peter’s poorly thought-out foreign policy actions, as well as his harsh actions towards the church, the introduction of Prussian orders in the army not only did not add to his authority, but deprived him of any social support; in court circles, his policy only generated uncertainty about the future.

Finally, the intention to withdraw the guard from St. Petersburg and send it on an incomprehensible and unpopular Danish campaign served as a powerful catalyst for the conspiracy that arose in the guard in favor of Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Palace coup

The first beginnings of the conspiracy date back to 1756, that is, to the time of the beginning of the Seven Years' War and the deterioration of Elizabeth Petrovna's health. The all-powerful Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin, knowing full well about the pro-Prussian sentiments of the heir and realizing that under the new sovereign he was threatened by at least Siberia, hatched plans to neutralize Peter Fedorovich upon his accession to the throne, declaring Catherine an equal co-ruler. However, Alexei Petrovich fell into disgrace in 1758, hastening to implement his plan (the chancellor’s intentions remained undisclosed; he managed to destroy dangerous papers). The Empress herself had no illusions about her successor to the throne and later thought about replacing her nephew with her great-nephew Paul:

Over the next three years, Catherine, who also came under suspicion in 1758 and almost ended up in a monastery, did not take any noticeable political actions, except that she persistently multiplied and strengthened her personal connections in high society.

In the ranks of the guard, a conspiracy against Pyotr Fedorovich took shape in the last months of Elizaveta Petrovna’s life, thanks to the activities of three Orlov brothers, officers of the Izmailovsky regiment brothers Roslavlev and Lasunsky, Preobrazhensky soldiers Passek and Bredikhin and others. Among the highest dignitaries of the Empire, the most enterprising conspirators were N. I. Panin, teacher of the young Pavel Petrovich, M. N. Volkonsky and K. G. Razumovsky, Little Russian hetman, president of the Academy of Sciences, favorite of his Izmailovsky regiment.

Elizaveta Petrovna died without deciding to change anything in the fate of the throne. Catherine did not consider it possible to carry out a coup immediately after the death of the Empress: she was five months pregnant (from Grigory Orlov; in April 1762 she gave birth to a son, Alexei). In addition, Catherine had political reasons not to rush things; she wanted to attract as many supporters as possible to her side for complete triumph. Knowing well the character of her husband, she rightly believed that Peter would soon turn the entire metropolitan society against himself. To carry out the coup, Catherine preferred to wait for an opportune moment.

Peter III's position in society was precarious, but Catherine's position at court was also precarious. Peter III openly said that he was going to divorce his wife in order to marry his favorite Elizaveta Vorontsova. He treated his wife rudely, and on April 30, during a gala dinner on the occasion of the conclusion of peace with Prussia, a public scandal occurred. The Emperor, in the presence of the court, diplomats and foreign princes, shouted to his wife across the table "foll"(stupid); Catherine began to cry. The reason for the insult was Catherine’s reluctance to drink while standing the toast proclaimed by Peter III. The hostility between the spouses reached its climax. On the evening of the same day, he gave the order to arrest her, and only the intervention of Field Marshal Georg of Holstein-Gottorp, the emperor's uncle, saved Catherine.

Peterhof. Cascade "Golden Mountain". 19th century photolithography

By May 1762, the change of mood in the capital became so obvious that the emperor was advised from all sides to take measures to prevent a disaster, there were denunciations of a possible conspiracy, but Pyotr Fedorovich did not understand the seriousness of his situation. In May, the court, led by the emperor, as usual, left the city, to Oranienbaum. There was a calm in the capital, which greatly contributed to the final preparations of the conspirators.

The Danish campaign was planned for June. The emperor decided to postpone the march of the troops in order to celebrate his name day. On the morning of June 28, 1762, on the eve of Peter's Day, Emperor Peter III and his retinue set off from Oranienbaum, his country residence, to Peterhof, where a gala dinner was to take place in honor of the emperor's name day. The day before, a rumor spread throughout St. Petersburg that Catherine was being held under arrest. A great turmoil began in the guard; one of the participants in the conspiracy, Captain Passek, was arrested; the Orlov brothers feared that a conspiracy was in danger of being discovered.

In Peterhof, Peter III was supposed to be met by his wife, who, in the duty of the empress, was the organizer of the celebrations, but by the time the court arrived, she had disappeared. After a short time, it became known that Catherine fled to St. Petersburg early in the morning in a carriage with Alexei Orlov (he arrived in Peterhof to see Catherine with the news that events had taken a critical turn and it was no longer possible to delay). In the capital, the Guard, the Senate and the Synod, and the population swore allegiance to the “Empress and Autocrat of All Russia” in a short time.

The guard moved towards Peterhof.

Peter's further actions show an extreme degree of confusion. Rejecting Minich's advice to immediately head to Kronstadt and fight, relying on the fleet and the army loyal to him stationed in East Prussia, he was going to defend himself in Peterhof in a toy fortress built for maneuvers, with the help of a detachment of Holsteins. However, having learned about the approach of the guard led by Catherine, Peter abandoned this thought and sailed to Kronstadt with the entire court, ladies, etc. But by that time Kronstadt had already sworn allegiance to Catherine. After this, Peter completely lost heart and, again rejecting Minich’s advice to go to the East Prussian army, returned to Oranienbaum, where he signed his abdication of the throne.

The events of June 28, 1762 have significant differences from previous palace coups; firstly, the coup went beyond the “walls of the palace” and even beyond the guards barracks, gaining unprecedented widespread support from various layers of the capital’s population, and secondly, the guard became an independent political force, and not a protective force, but a revolutionary one, which overthrew the legitimate emperor and supported the usurpation of power by Catherine.

Death

Palace in Ropsha. Photo from the early 1970s

The circumstances of the death of Peter III have not yet been fully clarified.

The deposed emperor immediately after the coup, accompanied by a guard of guards led by A.G. Orlov, was sent to Ropsha, 30 versts from St. Petersburg, where he died a week later. According to the official (and most probable) version, the cause of death was an attack of hemorrhoidal colic, worsened by prolonged alcohol consumption, and accompanied by diarrhea. During the autopsy (which was carried out by order of Catherine), it was discovered that Peter III had severe cardiac dysfunction, inflammation of the intestines, and there were signs of apoplexy.

However, the generally accepted version names Alexei Orlov as the killer. Three letters from Alexei Orlov to Catherine of Ropsha have survived, the first two are in the originals. The third letter clearly states the violent nature of the death of Peter III:

The third letter is the only (known to date) documentary evidence of the murder of the deposed emperor. This letter has reached us in a copy taken by F.V. Rostopchin; the original letter was allegedly destroyed by Emperor Paul I in the first days of his reign. Recent historical and linguistic studies disprove the authenticity of the document (the original, apparently, never existed, and the real author of the fake is Rostopchin). Rumors (unreliable) also called the killers Peter G.N. Teplov, Catherine’s secretary, and guards officer A.M. Shvanvich (son of Martin Shvanvits; A.M. Shvanvich’s son, Mikhail, went over to the side of the Pugachevites and became the prototype of Shvabrin in “Captain’s daughter" of Pushkin), who allegedly strangled him with a gun belt. Emperor Paul I was convinced that his father was forcibly deprived of his life, but apparently he was unable to find any evidence of this.

Orlov's first two letters from Ropsha usually attract less attention, despite their undoubted authenticity:

From the letters it only follows that the abdicated sovereign suddenly fell ill; The guards did not need to forcibly take his life (even if they really wanted to) due to the transience of the serious illness.

Already today, a number of medical examinations have been carried out on the basis of surviving documents and evidence. Experts believe that Peter III suffered from manic-depressive psychosis in a weak stage (cyclothymia) with a mild depressive phase; suffered from hemorrhoids, which made him unable to sit in one place for a long time; A “small heart” found at autopsy usually suggests dysfunction of other organs and makes circulatory problems more likely, that is, creates a risk of heart attack or stroke.

Alexey Orlov personally reported to the Empress about the death of Peter. Catherine, according to N.I. Panin, who was present, burst into tears and said: “My glory is lost! My posterity will never forgive me for this involuntary crime.” Catherine II, from a political point of view, was unprofitable by the death of Peter (“too early for her glory,” E. R. Dashkova). The coup (or “revolution”, as the events of June are sometimes defined), which took place with the full support of the guard, nobility and the highest ranks of the empire, protected it from possible attacks on power by Peter and excluded the possibility of any opposition forming around him. In addition, Catherine knew her husband well enough to be seriously wary of his political aspirations.

Chimes of the Peter and Paul Cathedral

Initially, Peter III was buried without any honors in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, since only crowned heads were buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the imperial tomb. The full Senate asked the Empress not to attend the funeral.

But, according to some reports, Catherine decided in her own way; She arrived at the Lavra incognito and paid her last debt to her husband. In , immediately after the death of Catherine, by order of Paul I, his remains were transferred first to the house church of the Winter Palace, and then to the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Peter III was reburied simultaneously with the burial of Catherine II; At the same time, Emperor Paul personally performed the ceremony of coronation of the ashes of his father.

The head slabs of the buried bear the same date of burial (December 18, 1796), which gives the impression that Peter III and Catherine II lived together for many years and died on the same day.

Life after death

Impostors have not been a new thing in the world community since the time of the False Nero, who appeared almost immediately after the death of his “prototype.” False tsars and false princes of the Time of Troubles are also known in Russia, but among all other domestic rulers and members of their families, Peter III is the absolute record holder for the number of impostors who tried to take the place of the untimely deceased tsar. During Pushkin's time there were rumors about five; According to the latest data, in Russia alone there were about forty false Peter III.

Soon after, the name of the late emperor was appropriated by a fugitive recruit Ivan Evdokimov, who tried to raise an uprising in his favor among the peasants of the Nizhny Novgorod province and a Ukrainian Nikolay Kolchenko in Chernihiv region.

In the same year, shortly after Kremnev’s arrest, in Slobodskaya Ukraine, in the settlement of Kupyanka, Izyum district, a new impostor appears. This time it turned out to be Pyotr Fedorovich Chernyshev, a fugitive soldier of the Bryansk regiment. This impostor, unlike his predecessors, turned out to be smart and articulate. Soon captured, convicted and exiled to Nerchinsk, he did not abandon his claims there either, spreading rumors that the “father-emperor,” who incognito inspected the soldier’s regiments, was mistakenly captured and beaten with whips. The peasants who believed him tried to organize an escape by bringing the “sovereign” a horse and providing him with money and provisions for the journey. However, the impostor was unlucky. He got lost in the taiga, was caught and cruelly punished in front of his admirers, sent to Mangazeya for eternal work, but died on the way there.

In the Iset province, a Cossack Kamenshchikov, previously convicted of many crimes, was sentenced to have his nostrils cut out and eternal exile to work in Nerchinsk for spreading rumors that the emperor was alive, but imprisoned in the Trinity Fortress. At the trial, he showed as his accomplice the Cossack Konon Belyanin, who was allegedly preparing to act as emperor. Belyanin got off with whippings.

An extraordinary person turned out to be Fedot Bogomolov, a former serf who fled and joined the Volga Cossacks under the name Kazin. Strictly speaking, he himself did not impersonate the former emperor, but in March-June 1772 on the Volga, in the Tsaritsyn region, when his colleagues, due to the fact that Kazin-Bogomolov seemed to them too smart and intelligent, assumed that in front of them Emperor in hiding, Bogomolov easily agreed with his “imperial dignity.” Bogomolov, following his predecessors, was arrested and sentenced to have his nostrils pulled out, branded and eternal exile. On the way to Siberia he died.

In the same year, a certain Don Cossack, whose name has not been preserved in history, decided to benefit financially from the widespread belief in the “hiding emperor.” Perhaps, of all the applicants, this was the only one who spoke in advance with a purely fraudulent purpose. His accomplice, posing as a secretary of state, traveled around the Tsaritsyn province, taking oaths and preparing the people to receive the “father-tsar”, then the impostor himself appeared. The couple managed to profit enough at someone else’s expense before the news reached other Cossacks and they decided to give everything a political aspect. A plan was developed to capture the town of Dubrovka and arrest all the officers. However, the authorities became aware of the plot and one of the high-ranking military men showed sufficient determination to completely suppress the plot. Accompanied by a small escort, he entered the hut where the impostor was, hit him in the face and ordered his arrest along with his accomplice (“Secretary of State”). The Cossacks present obeyed, but when the arrested were taken to Tsaritsyn for trial and execution, rumors immediately spread that the emperor was in custody and muted unrest began. To avoid an attack, the prisoners were forced to be kept outside the city, under heavy escort. During the investigation, the prisoner died, that is, from the point of view of ordinary people, he again “disappeared without a trace.” In 1774, the future leader of the peasant war Emelyan Pugachev, the most famous of the false Peter III, skillfully turned this story to his advantage, assuring that he himself was the “emperor who disappeared from Tsaritsyn” - and this attracted many to his side. .

"The Lost Emperor" appeared at least four times abroad and enjoyed considerable success there. For the first time it emerged in 1766 in Montenegro, which at that time was fighting for independence against the Turks and the Venetian Republic. Strictly speaking, this man, who came from nowhere and became a village healer, never declared himself emperor, but a certain captain Tanovich, who had previously been in St. Petersburg, “recognized” him as the missing emperor, and the elders who gathered for the council managed to find a portrait of Peter in one from Orthodox monasteries and came to the conclusion that the original is very similar to its image. A high-ranking delegation was sent to Stefan (that was the name of the stranger) with requests to take power over the country, but he flatly refused until internal strife was stopped and peace was concluded between the tribes. Such unusual demands finally convinced the Montenegrins of his “royal origin” and, despite the resistance of the clergy and the machinations of the Russian general Dolgorukov, Stefan became the ruler of the country. He never revealed his real name, giving Yu. V. Dolgoruky, who was seeking the truth, three versions to choose from - “Raicevic from Dalmatia, a Turk from Bosnia and finally a Turk from Ioannina.” Openly recognizing himself as Peter III, he, however, ordered to call himself Stefan and went down in history as Stefan the Small, which is believed to come from the impostor’s signature - “ Stefan, small with small, good with good, evil with evil" Stefan turned out to be an intelligent and knowledgeable ruler. During the short time that he remained in power, civil strife ceased; after short friction, good neighborly relations with Russia were established and the country defended itself quite confidently against the onslaught from both the Venetians and the Turks. This could not please the conquerors, and Turkey and Venice made repeated attempts on Stephen’s life. Finally, one of the attempts was successful: after five years of rule, Stefan Maly was stabbed to death in his sleep by his own doctor, a Greek by nationality, Stanko Klasomunya, bribed by the Skadar Pasha. The impostor’s belongings were sent to St. Petersburg, and his associates even tried to obtain a pension from Catherine for “valiant service to her husband.”

After the death of Stephen, a certain Zenovich tried to declare himself the ruler of Montenegro and Peter III, who once again “miraculously escaped from the hands of murderers,” but his attempt was unsuccessful. Count Mocenigo, who was at that time on the island of Zante in the Adriatic, wrote about another impostor in a report to the Doge of the Venetian Republic. This impostor operated in Turkish Albania, in the vicinity of the city of Arta. How his epic ended is unknown.

The last foreign impostor, appearing in 1773, traveled all over Europe, corresponded with monarchs, and kept in touch with Voltaire and Rousseau. In 1785, in Amsterdam, the swindler was finally arrested and his veins were opened.

The last Russian “Peter III” was arrested in 1797, after which the ghost of Peter III finally disappeared from the historical scene.

Notes

1. Peskov A. M. Paul I. The author refers to:
   Kamensky A. B. The life and fate of Empress Catherine the Great. - M.: 1997.
   Naumov V. P. An amazing autocrat: the mysteries of his life and reign. - M.: 1993.
   Ivanov O. A. The mystery of Alexei Orlov's letters from Ropsha // Moscow magazine. - 1995. - № 9.
2. http://vivovoco.astronet.ru/VV/PAPERS/NYE/CENTURY/CHAPT06.HTM#1
3. http://festival.1september.ru/articles/502976/
4. http://www.mbnews.ru/content/view/3178/85/
5. http://www.simech.ru/index.php?id=1793
6. http://www.rustrana.ru/article.php?nid=22182
7. Alexey Golovnin. The word is infallible. Magazine "Samizdat" (2007). - Application of methods of structural hermeneutics to the text “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Retrieved December 17, 2008.

Reign of Peter III (briefly)

Reign of Peter 3 (short story)

There are many sharp turns in the biography of Peter the Third. He was born on the tenth of February 1728, but very soon he lost his mother, and eleven years later his father. From the age of eleven, the young man was prepared to rule Sweden, but everything changed when the new ruler of Russia, Empress Elizabeth, declared him her successor in 1742. Contemporaries note that Peter the Third himself was not very educated for a ruler and knew only a little Latin, French and Lutheran catechism.

At the same time, Elizabeth insisted on re-education of Peter and he persistently studied the Russian language and the foundations of the Orthodox faith. In 1745, he was married to Catherine II, the future Russian empress, who bore him a son, Paul I, the future heir. Immediately after the death of Elizabeth, Peter was declared Russian Emperor without coronation. However, he was destined to rule for only one hundred and eighty-six days. During his reign, Peter the Third openly expressed sympathy for Prussia during the era of the Seven Years' War and for this reason was not very popular in Russian society.

With his most important manifesto of February 18, 1762, the monarch abolishes compulsory noble service, dissolves the Secret Chancellery, and also issues permission for schismatics to return to their homeland. But even such innovative, bold orders could not bring Peter popularity in society. During the short period of his reign, serfdom was significantly strengthened. In addition, according to his decree, the clergy were to shave their beards, leaving only icons of the Savior and the Mother of God in the churches, and from now on dress like Lutheran shepherds. Also, Tsar Peter the Third tried to remake the regulations and life of the Russian army in the Prussian manner.

Admiring Frederick the Second, who was the ruler of Prussia at that time, Peter the Third withdraws Russia from the Seven Years' War on unfavorable terms, returning to Prussia all the lands conquered by the Russians. This caused general outrage. Historians believe that it was after this important decision that most of the king’s entourage became participants in a conspiracy against him. The initiator of this conspiracy, which was supported by the guards, was the wife of Peter the Third herself, Ekaterina Alekseevna. It was with these events that the palace coup of 1762 began, which ended with the overthrow of the Tsar and the accession of Catherine II.

Peter III Fedorovich, Emperor of All Russia (1761 - 1762), son of the daughter of Peter I Anna and Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Karl Friedrich.

He was born on February 10, 1728 in Holstein and received the name Karl Peter Ulrich at birth. The death of his mother and the chaotic life of his father, which followed 7 days later, affected the upbringing of the prince, which was extremely stupid and absurd. 1739 he was left an orphan. Peter's teacher was a rude, soldier-like man, von Brumer, who could not give anything good to his pupil. Peter was intended to be the heir to the Swedish throne, as the great-nephew of Charles XII. He was taught the Lutheran catechism, and was instilled with hatred of Muscovy, the original enemy of Sweden. But Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, immediately after her accession to the throne, began to take care of her successor, which was necessary to strengthen the throne for herself due to the existence of the Brunswick family (Anna Leopoldovna and Ivan Antonovich). Peter was brought from his homeland to St. Petersburg at the beginning of January 1742. Here, in addition to the Holsteiners Brumaire and Berchholz, Academician Shtelin was assigned to him, who, despite all his labors and efforts, could not correct the prince and bring his upbringing to the proper level.

Peter III. Portrait by Pfanzelt, 1762

In November 1742, the prince converted to Orthodoxy and was named Peter Fedorovich, and in 1744 he was matched with Princess Sophia Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, later Catherine II. In the same year, during a trip with the empress to Kyiv, Peter fell ill with smallpox, which distorted his entire face with mountain ash. His marriage to Catherine took place on August 21, 1745. The life of the young couple in terms of the mutual relations of the spouses was most unsuccessful; At Elizabeth's court, their situation was quite difficult. In 1754, Catherine gave birth to a son, Pavel, who was separated from his parents and taken into care by the empress. In 1756, Catherine gave birth to another daughter, Anna, who died in 1759. At this time, Peter, who did not love his wife, became close to the maid of honor, Count. Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova. At the end of her life, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was very afraid for the future that lay ahead during the reign of her heir, but she died without making any new orders and without officially expressing her last will.

Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (future Peter III) and Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna (future Catherine II)

Peter III marked the beginning of his reign with a number of favors and preferential government orders. Minich, Biron, and Lestok, Lilienfelds, Natalya Lopukhina and others, a decree was given to abolish the oppressive salt duty, granted certificate of liberty of the nobility, the secret office and the terrible “word and deed” were destroyed, schismatics who fled persecution under the Empresses Elizabeth and Anna Ioannovna were returned, and now received complete freedom of faith. But the reason for taking these measures was not Peter III’s actual concern for his subjects, but his desire to initially gain popularity. They were carried out inconsistently and did not bring popular love to the new emperor. The military and clergy began to be especially hostile towards him. In the army, Peter III aroused displeasure with his passion for the Holsteins and Prussian order, the destruction of the noble guard, influential in St. Petersburg, the change of Peter's uniforms to Prussian ones, and the naming of regiments after the names of their chiefs, and not as before - according to the provinces. The clergy was dissatisfied with the attitude of Peter III towards schismatics, the emperor’s disrespect for the Orthodox clergy and icon veneration (there were rumors that he was going to change all Russian priests from cassocks into civilian dress - according to the Protestant model), and, most importantly, with the decrees on the management of bishops’ and monastic estates, turning the Orthodox clergy into salaried officials.

Added to this was general dissatisfaction with the foreign policy of the new emperor. Peter III was a passionate admirer of Frederick II and completely submitted to the influence of the Prussian ambassador in St. Petersburg, Baron Goltz. Peter not only stopped Russian participation in the Seven Years' War, which constrained the Prussians to the extreme, but concluded a peace treaty with them to the detriment of all Russian interests. The Emperor gave Prussia all the Russian conquests (i.e., its eastern provinces) and concluded an alliance with it, according to which the Russians and Prussians were to provide assistance in the event of an attack on either of them in the amount of 12 thousand infantry and 4 thousand cavalry. They say that the terms of this peace treaty, with the consent of Peter III, were personally dictated by Frederick the Great. By secret articles of the treaty, the Prussian king pledged to help Peter acquire the Duchy of Schleswig from Denmark in favor of Holstein, to assist Prince George of Holstein in occupying the Ducal throne of Courland and to guarantee the then constitution of Poland. Frederick promised that after the death of the reigning Polish king, Prussia would contribute to the appointment of a successor pleasing to Russia. The last point was the only one that gave some benefit not to Holstein, but to Russia itself. The Russian army, stationed in Prussia under the command of Chernyshev, was ordered to oppose the Austrians, who had previously been allies of Russia in the Seven Years' War.

The troops and Russian society were terribly outraged by all this. The Russians' hatred of the Germans and the new order intensified thanks to the cruelty and tactlessness of the Emperor's uncle Georg Holstein, who arrived in Russia and was promoted to field marshal. Peter III began to prepare for a war for Holstein interests with Denmark. Denmark responded by entering Mecklenburg and occupying the area around Wismar. In June 1762, orders were given to the guards to prepare to go to war. The Emperor wanted to open the campaign after his name day on the 29th, this time not listening to the advice of Frederick II: to be crowned before the start of the war.

Emperor Peter III. Portrait by Antropov, 1762

Meanwhile, Peter III's relationship with his wife Catherine became increasingly strained. The tsar was not a deeply vicious person, as his wife later wrote about him, but he barely maintained an officially correct relationship with her, interrupting them often with rude antics. There were even rumors that Catherine was threatened with arrest. On June 28, 1762, Peter III was in Oranienbaum, and a conspiracy had already been prepared against him among the troops, to which some prominent nobles also joined. The accidental arrest of one of its participants, Passek, precipitated the 28 June coup. On the morning of this day, Catherine went to St. Petersburg and declared herself empress, and her son, Paul, heir. On the evening of the 28th, at the head of the guard, she moved to Oranienbaum. Confused, Peter went to Kronstadt, which was occupied by supporters of the Empress, and was not allowed there. Not heeding Minich’s advice to retire to Revel, and then to Pomerania to join the troops, the emperor returned to Oranienbaum and signed his abdication.

On the same day, June 29, Peter III was brought to Peterhof, arrested and sent to Ropsha, his chosen place of residence, until decent apartments were prepared for him in the Shlisselburg fortress. Catherine left with Peter her lover Alexei Orlov, Prince Baryatinsky and three guards officers with a hundred soldiers. On July 6, 1762, the emperor died suddenly. The cause of the death of Peter III in the manifesto published on this occasion was clearly mockingly called “hemorrhoidal sockets and severe colic.” At the burial of Peter III, held in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, Catherine was not at the request of the Senate, caused by the proposal of Count N. Panin, to postpone her intention to attend for the sake of health

Literature about Peter III

M. I. Semevsky, “Six months from Russian history of the 18th century.” (“Otech. Zap.”, 1867)

V. Timiryazev, “The six-month reign of Peter III” (“Historical Bulletin, 1903, Nos. 3 and 4)

V. Bilbasov, “The History of Catherine II”

"Notes of Empress Catherine"

Shchebalsky, “Political system of Peter III”

Brickner, “The Life of Peter III before Accession to the Throne” (“Russian Bulletin”, 1883).

While still alive in 1742, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna declared her nephew, the son of Anna Petrovna's late elder sister, Karl-Peter-Ulrich Duke of Holstein-Gothorp, to be the legal heir to the Russian throne. He was also a Swedish prince, as he was the grandson of Queen Ulrika Eleonora, who succeeded Charles XII and had no children. Therefore, the boy was raised in the Lutheran faith, and his teacher was the military to the core, Marshal Count Otto Brumenn. But according to the peace treaty signed in the city of Abo in 1743 after the actual defeat of Sweden in the war with Russia, Ulrika-Eleanor was forced to abandon plans to crown her grandson on the throne, and the young duke moved to St. Petersburg from Stockholm.

After accepting Orthodoxy, he received the name Peter Fedorovich. His new teacher was Jacob von Staehlin, who considered his student a gifted young man. He clearly excelled in history, mathematics, if it concerned fortification and artillery, and music. However, Elizaveta Petrovna was dissatisfied with his successes, since he did not want to study the basics of Orthodoxy and Russian literature. After the birth of her grandson Pavel Petrovich on September 20, 1754, the Empress began to bring the intelligent and determined Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna closer to her, and allowed her stubborn nephew to create the Holstein Guards Regiment in Oranienbaum “for fun.” Without a doubt, she wanted to declare Paul heir to the throne, and proclaim Catherine as regent until he came of age. This further worsened the couple's relationship.

After the sudden death of Elizabeth Petrovna on January 5, 1762, Grand Duke Peter III Fedorovich was officially crowned king. However, he did not stop those timid economic and administrative reforms that the late empress began, although he never felt personal sympathy for her. Quiet, cozy Stockholm, presumably, remained a paradise for him compared to the crowded and unfinished St. Petersburg.

By this time, a difficult internal political situation had developed in Russia.

The Code of 1754 of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna spoke about the monopoly right of nobles to own land and serfs. The landowners only did not have the opportunity to take their lives, punish them with a cattle whip, or torture them. The nobles received unlimited rights to buy and sell peasants. In Elizabethan times, the main form of protest among serfs, schismatics and sectarians was the mass escape of peasants and townspeople. Hundreds of thousands fled not only to the Don and Siberia, but also to Poland, Finland, Sweden, Persia, Khiva and other countries. Other signs of crisis appeared - the country was flooded with “bands of robbers.” The reign of “Petrova’s daughter” was not only a period of flourishing of literature and art, the emergence of a noble intelligentsia, but at the same time, when the Russian tax-paying population felt the increasing degree of their lack of freedom, human humiliation, and powerlessness against social injustice.

“Development stopped before its growth; in the years of courage, he remained the same as he was in childhood, he grew up without maturing, - wrote about the new emperor V.O. Klyuchevsky. “He was an adult, but always remained a child.” The outstanding Russian historian, like other domestic and foreign researchers, awarded Peter III with many negative qualities and offensive epithets that can be argued with. Of all the previous empresses and sovereigns, perhaps only he lasted 186 days on the throne, although he was distinguished by his independence in making political decisions. The negative characterization of Peter III goes back to the times of Catherine II, who made every effort to discredit her husband in every possible way and instill in her subjects the idea of ​​​​what a great feat she accomplished in saving Russia from the tyrant. “More than 30 years have passed since Peter III of sad memory went to his grave,” wrote N.M. with bitterness. Karamzin in 1797, - and deceived Europe all this time judged this sovereign from the words of his mortal enemies or their vile supporters.”

The new emperor was short, with a disproportionately small head, and a snub nose. He was immediately disliked because after the grandiose victories over the best Prussian army of Frederick II the Great in Europe in the Seven Years' War and the capture of Berlin by Count Chernyshev, Peter III signed a humiliating - from the point of view of the Russian nobility - peace, which returned all the conquered territories to defeated Prussia without any preconditions . They said that he even stood under the gun “on guard” for two hours in the January frost as a sign of apology to the empty building of the Prussian embassy. Duke Georg of Holstein-Gottorp was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army. When the emperor’s favorite Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova asked him about this strange act: “What do you think of this Friedrich, Petrusha - after all, we are hitting him in the tail and mane?”, he sincerely replied that “I love Friedrich because I love everyone! » However, most of all, Peter III valued reasonable order and discipline, considering the order established in Prussia as a model. Imitating Frederick the Great, who played the flute beautifully, the emperor diligently studied violin skill!

However, Pyotr Fedorovich hoped that the King of Prussia would support him in the war with Denmark in order to regain Holstein, and even sent 16,000 soldiers and officers under the command of cavalry general Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev to Brunswick. However, the Prussian army was in such a deplorable state that Frederick the Great did not dare to drag it into a new war. And Rumyantsev was far from delighted to have the Prussians, whom he had beaten many times, as his allies!

Lomonosov responded in his pamphlet to the accession of Peter III:

“Has any of those born into the world heard,

So that the triumphant people

Surrendered into the hands of the vanquished?

Oh, shame! Oh, strange turn!

Frederick II the Great, in turn, awarded the emperor the rank of colonel of the Prussian army, which further outraged the Russian officers, who defeated the previously invincible Prussians at Gross-Jägersdorf, Zorndorf, and Kunersdorf and captured Berlin in 1760. Russian officers received nothing but invaluable military experience, well-deserved authority, military ranks and orders as a result of the bloody Seven Years' War.

And openly and without hiding it, Peter III did not love his “skinny and stupid” wife Sophia-Frederica-Augustus, Princess von Anhalt-Zerbst, in Orthodoxy, Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna. Her father Christian Augustin was in active Prussian service and was the governor of the city of Stettin, and her mother Johanna Elisabeth came from an old noble Holstein-Gottorp family. The Grand Duke and his wife turned out to be distant relatives, and were even similar in character. Both were distinguished by a rare sense of purpose, fearlessness bordering on madness, unlimited ambition and exorbitant vanity. Both husband and wife considered royal power to be their natural right, and their own decisions to be the law for their subjects.

And although Ekaterina Alekseevna gave the heir to the throne a son, Pavel Petrovich, relations between the spouses always remained cool. Despite court gossip about his wife's countless adulterous affairs, Pavel was very similar to his father. But this, nevertheless, only alienated the spouses from each other. Surrounded by the emperor, the Holstein aristocrats invited by him - Prince Holstein-Beck, Duke Ludwig of Holstein and Baron Ungern - eagerly gossiped about Catherine’s love affairs with Prince Saltykov (according to rumors, Pavel Petrovich was his son), then with Prince Poniatovsky, then with Count Chernyshev, then with Count Grigory Orlov.

The emperor was irritated by Catherine’s desire to become Russified, to comprehend Orthodox religious sacraments, to learn the traditions and customs of future Russian subjects, which Peter III considered pagan. He said more than once that, like Peter the Great, he would divorce his wife and become the husband of the chancellor’s daughter, Elizaveta Mikhailovna Vorontsova.

Catherine paid him in full reciprocity. The reason for the desired divorce from his unloved wife was the “letters” of Grand Duchess Catherine fabricated in Versailles to Field Marshal General Apraksin that after the victory over the Prussian troops near Memel in 1757 he should not enter East Prussia in order to allow Frederick the Great to recover from defeats. On the contrary, when the French ambassador in Warsaw demanded from Elizabeth Petrovna the removal of the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stanislav-August Poniatowski from St. Petersburg, hinting at his love affair with the Grand Duchess, Catherine frankly declared to the Empress: “What is some de Bronny like compared to the Grand Duchess?” Russian Empress and how dare he impose his will on the mistress of the strongest European power?

It did not cost Chancellor Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov anything to prove the forgery of these papers, but, nevertheless, in a private conversation with the St. Petersburg Police Chief General Nikolai Alekseevich Korf, Peter III expressed his innermost thoughts: “I will tonsure my wife as a nun, as my great grandfather did.” Peter, with his first wife, let him pray and repent! And I will put them and their son in Shlisselburg...” Vorontsov decided not to rush things with slandering the emperor’s wife.

However, this catchphrase of his about “universal Christian love” and the performance of Mozart’s works on the violin at a very decent level, with which Peter III wanted to enter Russian history, did not add to his popularity among the Russian nobility. In fact, brought up in a strict German atmosphere, he was disappointed by the morals that reigned at the court of his compassionate aunt with her favorites, ministerial leapfrog, eternal ball ceremonies and military parades in honor of Peter's victories. Peter III, having converted to Orthodoxy, did not like to attend church services in churches, especially on Easter, make pilgrimages to holy places and monasteries, and observe obligatory religious fasts. Russian nobles believed that at heart he always remained a Lutheran, if not “a freethinker in the French style.”

The Grand Duke at one time laughed heartily at Elizabeth Petrovna’s rescript, according to which “the valet who is on duty at Her Majesty’s door at night is obliged to listen and, when the Mother Empress screams from a nightmare, put her hand on her forehead and say “white swan” , for which this valet complains to the nobility and receives the surname Lebedev.” As Elizaveta Petrovna grew older, she constantly saw in her dreams the same scene of her raising the deposed Anna Leopoldovna, who by that time had long since rested in Kholmogory, from her bed. It didn't help that she changed bedrooms almost every night. The Lebedev nobles became more and more numerous. To make it easier to distinguish them from the peasant class, they began to be called such after the next passportization during the reign of Alexander II by the Lebedinsky landowners.

In addition to “universal kindness” and the violin, Peter III adored subordination, order and justice. Under him, the nobles disgraced under Elizabeth Petrovna - Duke Biron, Count Minich, Count Lestocq and Baroness Mengden - were returned from exile and restored to their ranks and status. This was perceived as the threshold of a new “Bironovism”; the appearance of a new foreign favorite had simply not yet emerged. Military to the core, Lieutenant General Count Ivan Vasilyevich Gudovich was clearly not suitable for this role; the toothless and idiotically smiling Minikh and the forever frightened Biron, of course, were not taken into account by anyone.

The very sight of St. Petersburg, where among the dugouts and “church huts” of state serfs and townspeople assigned to the settlement, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Winter Palace and the house of the capital’s governor-general Menshikov rose, with cluttered dirty streets, aroused disgust in the emperor. However, Moscow looked no better, standing out only for its numerous cathedrals, churches and monasteries. Moreover, Peter the Great himself forbade the construction of Moscow with brick buildings and the pavement of streets with stone. Peter III wanted to slightly improve the appearance of his capital - “Venice of the north”.

And he, together with the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, Prince Cherkassky, gave the order to clear the cluttered construction site in front of the Winter Palace for many years, through which the courtiers made their way to the front entrance, as if through the ruins of Pompeii, tearing camisoles and dirtying boots. The residents of St. Petersburg cleared all the rubble in half an hour, taking away broken bricks, rafters, rusty nails, glass remains and fragments of scaffolding. The square was soon perfectly paved by Danish craftsmen and became a decoration of the capital. The city began to be gradually rebuilt, for which the townspeople were extremely grateful to Peter III. The same fate befell construction landfills in Peterhof, Oranienbaum, near the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and Strelna. The Russian nobles saw this as a bad sign - they did not like foreign orders and were afraid of them since the time of Anna Ioannovna. The new city blocks behind the Moika, where commoners opened “tenement houses,” sometimes looked better than the townspeople’s wooden huts, as if transferred from the boyar Moscow past.

The emperor was also disliked because he adhered to a strict daily routine. Rising at six o'clock in the morning, Peter III alerted the commanders of the guards regiments and organized military reviews with mandatory exercises in stepping, shooting and combat formation. The Russian guards hated discipline and military exercises with every fiber of their soul, considering free orders their privilege, sometimes appearing in regiments in dressing gowns and even nightgowns, but with a statutory sword at the waist! The last straw was the introduction of Prussian-style military uniforms. Instead of the Russian dark green army uniform with red stand-up collars and cuffs, uniforms in orange, blue, orange and even canary colors were to be worn. Wigs, aiguillettes and expanders became mandatory, because of which the “Preobrazhentsy”, “Semyonovtsy” and “Izmailovtsy” became almost indistinguishable, and narrow boots, the tops of which, as in the old days, could not fit flat German vodka flasks. In a conversation with his close friends, the Razumovsky brothers, Alexei and Kirill, Peter III said that the Russian "guard are the current Janissaries, and they should be eliminated!"

Enough reasons were accumulating for a palace conspiracy among the guards. Being an intelligent man, Peter III understood that trusting the “Russian Praetorians” with his life was dangerous. And he decided to create his own personal guard - the Holstein regiment under the command of General Gudovich, but managed to form only one battalion consisting of 1,590 people. After the strange end of Russia's participation in the Seven Years' War, the Holstein-Gothorp and Danish nobles were in no hurry to St. Petersburg, which clearly sought to pursue an isolationist policy that did not promise any benefits to the professional military. Desperate scoundrels, drunkards and people of dubious reputation were recruited into the Holstein battalion. And the emperor’s love of peace alarmed the mercenaries - double salaries were paid to Russian military personnel only during the period of hostilities. Peter III was not going to deviate from this rule, especially since the state treasury was thoroughly emptied during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna.

Chancellor Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov and the actual Privy Councilor and at the same time life secretary Dmitry Ivanovich Volkov, seeing the liberal sentiments of the emperor, immediately began to prepare the highest manifestos, which Peter III, unlike Anna Leopoldovna and Elizaveta Petrovna, not only signed, but also read. He personally corrected the text of the draft documents, inserting his own rational critical judgments into them.

Thus, according to his Decree of February 21, the sinister Secret Chancellery was liquidated, and its archive “to eternal oblivion” was transferred to the Governing Senate for permanent storage. The formula “Word and deed!”, fatal for any Russian citizen, was enough to “test on the rack” everyone, regardless of his class affiliation; it was forbidden to even pronounce it.

In his programmatic “Manifesto on the liberty and freedom of the Russian nobility” dated February 18, 1762, Peter III generally abolished physical torture of representatives of the ruling class and provided them with guarantees of personal integrity, unless it concerned treason against the Fatherland. Even such a “humane” execution for nobles as cutting the tongue and exile to Siberia instead of cutting off the head, introduced by Elizaveta Petrovna, was prohibited. His decrees confirmed and expanded the noble monopoly on distillation.

The Russian nobility was shocked by the public trial of General Maria Zotova, whose estates were sold at auction in favor of disabled soldiers and crippled peasants for their inhumane treatment of serfs. The Prosecutor General of the Senate, Count Alexei Ivanovich Glebov, was ordered to begin an investigation into the case of many fanatical noblemen. The Emperor issued a separate decree in this regard, the first in Russian legislation, qualifying the murder of their peasants by landowners as “tyrant torture,” for which such landowners were punished with lifelong exile.

From now on, it was forbidden to punish peasants with batogs, which often led to their death - “to do this, use only rods, with which to flog only soft places, in order to prevent self-mutilation.”

All fugitive peasants, Nekrasov sectarians and deserters, who fled in tens of thousands mostly to the border river Yaik, beyond the Urals, and even to the distant Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Khiva during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, were amnestied. According to the Decree of January 29, 1762, they received the right to return to Russia not to their previous owners and barracks, but as state serfs or granted Cossack dignity in the Yaitsky Cossack army. It was here that the most explosive human material accumulated, from now on fiercely devoted to Peter III. The schismatic Old Believers were exempt from taxes for dissent and could now live their own way of life. Finally, all debts accumulated from the Council Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich were written off from privately owned serfs. There was no limit to the people's rejoicing: prayers were offered to the emperor in all rural parishes, regimental chapels and schismatic hermitages.

The merchants were also treated kindly. The emperor's personal decree allowed duty-free export of agricultural goods and raw materials to Europe, which significantly strengthened the country's monetary system. To support foreign trade, the State Bank was created with a loan capital of five million silver rubles. Merchants of all three guilds could receive long-term credit.

Peter III decided to complete the secularization of church land holdings, begun by Peter the Great shortly before his death, by decree of March 21, 1762, limiting the real estate of all rural parishes and monasteries to their fences and walls, leaving them the territory of cemeteries, and also intended to prohibit representatives of the clergy from owning serfs and serfs. artisans. Church hierarchs greeted these measures with open dissatisfaction and joined the noble opposition.

This led to a situation between the parish priests, who were always closer to the masses, and the provincial nobles, who restrained government measures that somehow improved the situation of the peasants and working people, and the “white clergy,” who constituted a stable opposition to the strengthening absolutism since Patriarch Nikon, an abyss has opened. The Russian Orthodox Church no longer represented a single force, and society was split. Having become empress, Catherine II canceled these decrees in order to make the Holy Synod obedient to her authority.

The decrees of Peter III on the full encouragement of commercial and industrial activities were supposed to streamline monetary relations in the empire. His “Decree on Commerce,” which included protectionist measures to develop grain exports, contained specific instructions on the need for energetic nobles and merchants to treat forests with care as the national wealth of the Russian Empire.

No one will be able to find out what other liberal plans were swarming in the emperor’s head...

By a special resolution of the Senate, it was decided to erect a gilded statue of Peter III, but he himself opposed this. A flurry of liberal decrees and manifestos shook noble Russia to its foundations, and touched patriarchal Rus', which had not yet completely parted with the remnants of pagan idolatry.

On June 28, 1762, the day before his own name day, Peter III, accompanied by the Holstein battalion, together with Elizaveta Romanovna Vorontsova, left for Oranienbaum to prepare everything for the celebration. Catherine was left in Peterhof unattended. Early in the morning, having missed the Emperor's ceremonial train, the carriage with Sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov and Count Alexander Ilyich Bibikov turned to Mauplaisir, took Catherine and galloped off to St. Petersburg. Everything was already prepared here. Money for organizing the palace coup was again borrowed from the French ambassador Baron de Breteuil - King Louis XV wanted Russia to again begin military operations against Prussia and England, which was promised by Count Panin in the event of the successful overthrow of Peter III. Grand Duchess Catherine, as a rule, remained silent when Panin colorfully outlined to her the appearance of a “new Europe” under the auspices of the Russian Empire.

Four hundred “Preobrazhentsy”, “Izmailovtsy” and “Semyonovtsy”, pretty much warmed up by vodka and unrealistic hopes of eradicating everything foreign, greeted the former German princess as an Orthodox Russian Empress, as “Mother”! In the Kazan Cathedral, Catherine II read the Manifesto on her own accession, written by Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin, which stated that due to the severe mental disorder of Peter III, reflected in his frantic republican aspirations, she was forced to take state power into her own hands. The Manifesto contained a hint that after her son Paul came of age, she would resign. Catherine managed to read this point so vaguely that no one in the jubilant crowd really heard anything. As always, the troops willingly and cheerfully swore allegiance to the new empress and rushed to the barrels of beer and vodka that had been previously placed in the gateways. Only the Horse Guards Regiment tried to break through to Nevsky, but guns were positioned tightly wheel to wheel on the bridges under the command of the master (lieutenant) of the guards artillery and the lover of the new empress, Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, who vowed to lose his life, but not to let the coronation be disrupted. It turned out to be impossible to break through the artillery positions without the help of infantry, and the Horse Guards retreated. For his feat in the name of his beloved, Orlov received the title of count, the rank of senator and the rank of adjutant general.

In the evening of the same day, 20,000 cavalry and infantry, led by Empress Catherine II, dressed in the uniform of a colonel of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, moved to Oranienbaum to overthrow the legitimate descendant of the Romanovs. Peter III simply had nothing to defend himself against this huge army. He had to silently sign the act of renunciation, arrogantly handed out by his wife right from the saddle. On the maid of honor, Countess Elizaveta Vorontsova, Izmailov’s soldiers tore her ball gown into shreds, and his goddaughter, the young princess Vorontsova-Dashkova, boldly shouted in Peter’s face: “So, godfather, don’t be rude to your wife in the future!” The deposed emperor sadly responded: “My child, it doesn’t hurt you to remember that hanging out with honest fools like your sister and me is much safer than with great wise men who squeeze the juice out of lemons and throw the peels under your feet.”

The next day, Peter III was already under house arrest in Ropsha. He was allowed to live there with his beloved dog, a black servant and a violin. He had only a week to live. He managed to write two notes to Catherine II with a plea for mercy and a request to release him to England along with Elizaveta Vorontsova, ending with the words “I hope for your generosity that you will not leave me without food according to the Christian model,” signed “your devoted lackey.”

On Saturday, July 6, Peter III was killed during a card game by his voluntary jailers Alexei Orlov and Prince Fyodor Baryatinsky. Guardsmen Grigory Potemkin and Platon Zubov were constantly on guard, who were privy to the plans of the conspiracy and witnessed the abuse of the disgraced emperor, but were not interfered with. Even in the morning, Orlov wrote, drunk and swaying from insomnia, in handwriting, probably right on the flag officer’s drum, a note to “our All-Russian Mother” Catherine II, in which he reported that “our freak is very ill, as if he would not die today.”

The fate of Pyotr Fedorovich was predetermined; all that was needed was a reason. And Orlov accused Peter of distorting the map, to which he shouted indignantly: “Who are you talking to, slave?!” There followed a precise, terrible blow to the throat with a fork, and with a wheeze, the former emperor fell backward. Orlov was confused, but the resourceful Prince Baryatinsky immediately tied the dying man’s throat tightly with a silk Holstein scarf, so much so that the blood did not drain from the head and clotted under the skin of the face.

Later, Alexei Orlov, who had sobered up, wrote a detailed report to Catherine II, in which he pleaded guilty to the death of Peter III: “Merciful Mother Empress! How can I explain, describe what happened: you won’t believe your faithful slave. But before God I will tell the truth. Mother! I’m ready to die, but I don’t know how this disaster happened. We perished when you did not have mercy. Mother - he is not in the world. But no one thought of this, and how can we think of raising our hands against the sovereign! But disaster struck. He argued at the table with Prince Fyodor Boryatinsky; Before we [Sergeant Potemkin and I] had time to separate them, he was already gone. We ourselves don’t remember what we did, but we are all guilty and deserve to be executed. Have mercy on me at least for my brother. I brought you a confession, and there is nothing to look for. Forgive me or tell me to finish soon. The light is not nice - they angered you and destroyed your souls forever.”

Catherine shed a “widow’s tear” and generously rewarded all participants in the palace coup, while simultaneously awarding extraordinary military ranks to the guards officers. The Little Russian Hetman, Field Marshal General Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky began to receive “in addition to his hetman’s income and the salary he receives” 5,000 rubles a year, and the actual state councilor, senator and chief captain Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin - 5,000 rubles a year. The actual chamberlain Grigory Grigorievich Orlov was granted 800 souls of serfs, and the same number of seconds to the major of the Preobrazhensky regiment Alexei Grigorievich Orlov. Captain-lieutenant of the Preobrazhensky regiment Pyotr Passek and lieutenant of the Semenovsky regiment Prince Fyodor Boryatinsky were awarded 24,000 rubles each. Second Lieutenant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, Prince Grigory Potemkin, who received 400 serf souls, and Prince Pyotr Golitsyn, who was given 24,000 rubles from the treasury, were not deprived of the empress’s attention.

On June 8, 1762, Catherine II publicly announced that Peter III Fedorovich had died: “The former emperor, by the will of God, suddenly died from hemorrhoidal colic and severe pain in the intestines” - which was absolutely incomprehensible to most of those present due to widespread medical illiteracy - and even organized magnificent “ funeral" of a simple wooden coffin, without any decorations, which was placed in the Romanov family crypt. At night, the remains of the murdered emperor were secretly placed inside a simple wooden house.

The real burial took place in Ropsha the day before. The murder of Emperor Peter III had unusual consequences: because of a scarf tied around his throat at the time of death, there was... a black man in the coffin! The guard soldiers immediately decided that instead of Peter III they had put a “blackamoor,” one of the many palace jesters, especially because they knew that the guard of honor was preparing for the funeral the next day. This rumor spread among the guards, soldiers and Cossacks stationed in St. Petersburg. A rumor spread throughout Russia that Tsar Peter Fedorovich, who was kind to the people, miraculously escaped, and twice they buried not him, but some commoners or court jesters. And therefore, more than twenty “miraculous deliverances” of Peter III took place, the largest phenomenon of which was the Don Cossack, retired cornet Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, who organized a terrible and merciless Russian rebellion. Apparently, he knew a lot about the circumstances of the double burial of the emperor and that the Yaik Cossacks and fugitive schismatics were ready to support his “resurrection”: it was no coincidence that the banners of Pugachev’s army depicted an Old Believer cross.

The prophecy of Peter III, expressed to Princess Vorontsova-Dashkova, turned out to be true. All those who helped her become empress soon became convinced of Catherine II’s great “gratitude.” Contrary to their opinion, so that she would declare herself regent and rule with the help of the Imperial Council, she declared herself empress and was officially crowned on September 22, 1762 in the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin.

A dire warning for the probable noble opposition was the restoration of the detective police, which received the new name of the Secret Expedition.

Now a conspiracy was drawn up against the empress. Decembrist Mikhail Ivanovich Fonvizin left an interesting note: “In 1773..., when the Tsarevich came of age and married the Darmstadt princess, named Natalya Alekseevna, Count N.I. Panin, his brother Field Marshal P.I. Panin, Princess E.R. Dashkova, Prince N.V. Repnin, one of the bishops, almost Metropolitan Gabriel, and many of the then nobles and guards officers entered into a conspiracy to overthrow Catherine II, reigning without a [legal] right [to the throne], and instead elevate her adult son. Pavel Petrovich knew about this, agreed to accept the constitution proposed to him by Panin, approved it with his signature and took an oath that, having reigned, he would not violate this fundamental state law limiting autocracy.”

The peculiarity of all Russian conspiracies was that the oppositionists, who did not have the same experience as their Western European like-minded people, constantly sought to expand the boundaries of their narrow circle. And if it concerned the higher clergy, then their plans became known even to the parish priests, who in Russia had to immediately explain to the common people changes in state policy. The appearance of Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev in 1773 cannot be considered an accident or a mere coincidence: he could have learned about the plans of the high-ranking conspirators from this very source and, in his own way, used the opposition sentiments of the nobility against the empress in the capital, fearlessly moving towards the regular regiments of the imperial army in the Ural steppes, inflicting defeat after defeat on them.

No wonder Pugachev, like them, constantly appealed to the name of Pavel as the future successor of his “father’s” work and the overthrow of his hated mother. Catherine II learned about the preparation of a coup that coincided with the Pugachev war, and spent almost a year in the admiral’s cabin of her yacht “Standard,” which was constantly stationed at the Vasilyevskaya Spit, guarded by two new battleships with loyal crews. In difficult times, she was ready to sail to Sweden or England.

After the public execution of Pugachev in Moscow, all the high-ranking St. Petersburg conspirators were sent to honorable retirement. The overly energetic Ekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova went to her own estate for a long time, Count Panin, while formally remaining the President of the Foreign Collegium, was actually removed from state affairs, and Grigory Grigorievich Orlov, allegedly secretly married to the Empress, was no longer allowed to have an audience with Catherine II, and later exiled to his own fiefdom. Admiral General Count Alexei Grigorievich Orlov-Chesmensky, a hero of the first Russian-Turkish war, was relieved of his post as commander of the Russian fleet and sent to diplomatic service abroad.

The long and unsuccessful siege of Orenburg also had its reasons. Infantry General Leonty Leontievich Bennigsen later testified: “When the Empress lived in Tsarskoe Selo during the summer season, Pavel usually lived in Gatchina, where he had a large detachment of troops. He surrounded himself with guards and pickets; patrols constantly guarded the road to Tsarskoye Selo, especially at night, in order to prevent any unexpected enterprise. He even determined in advance the route along which he would retire with his troops if necessary; the roads along this route were examined by trusted officers. This route led to the land of the Ural Cossacks, from where came the famous rebel Pugachev, who in... 1773 managed to form a significant party for himself, first among the Cossacks themselves, assuring them that he was Peter III, who had escaped from the prison where he was kept, falsely announcing his death. Pavel really counted on the kind reception and devotion of these Cossacks... He wanted to make Orenburg the capital.” Paul probably got this idea from conversations with his father, whom he loved very much in infancy. It is no coincidence that one of the first inexplicable - from the point of view of common sense - actions of Emperor Paul I was the solemn act of the second “wedding” of the two most august dead in their coffins - Catherine II and Peter III!

Thus, palace coups in the “unfinished temple by Peter the Great” created a constant basis for imposture, which pursued the interests of both noble Russia and serf Orthodox Rus', and occurred almost simultaneously. This has been the case since the Time of Troubles.

In 1762, another palace coup took place in Russia, for which the 18th century was so rich. In the 37 years after the death of Peter the Great until the accession of Catherine II, the throne was occupied by six monarchs. All of them came to power after palace intrigues or coups, and two of them - Ivan Antonovich (Ivan VI) and Peter III were overthrown and killed..

Few of the Russian autocrats have earned so many negative and absurd assessments in historiography - from “tyrant” and “toady of Frederick II” to “hater of everything Russian” - as Peter III. Domestic historians did not honor him with any praise in their works. The authoritative professor Vasily Klyuchevsky wrote: “His development stopped before his growth, in the years of courage he remained the same as he was in childhood, he grew up without maturing.”

A paradoxical thing has developed in Russian history courses: the reforms of Peter III - the Manifesto on the freedom of the nobility and the liquidation of the ominous Secret Chancellery, which was engaged in political investigation - were all called progressive and timely, and their author - weak-minded and narrow-minded. In the people's memory, he remained a victim of his royal wife, Catherine the Great, and his name was given to the most formidable rebel who brought fear to the house of the Romanovs - Emelyan Pugachev.

Kin of Three Monarchs

Before the adoption of Orthodoxy in Russia, the name of Peter III sounded like Karl Peter Ulrich. By the will of fate, he was the heir to three royal houses at once: Swedish, Russian and Holstein. His mother, the eldest daughter of Peter I, Tsarevna Anna Petrovna, died three months after the birth of her son, and the boy was raised by his father, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Karl-Friedrich, until he was 11 years old.

The father raised his son in a military way, in the Prussian way, and the young man’s love for military engineering remained with him throughout his life. At first, the boy was being prepared for the Swedish throne, but in 1741, Elizaveta Petrovna came to power in Russia, who did not have any children of her own, and she chose her nephew as the future heir to the Russian throne.

After moving to Russia and accepting the Orthodox faith, he was named Peter Fedorovich, and to emphasize the continuity of power on the throne, the words “Grandson of Peter the Great” were included in his official title.

Pyotr Fedorovich when he was Grand Duke. Portrait by G. H. Groot Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Heir to Elizabeth Petrovna

In 1742, during the solemn coronation, Elizaveta Petrovna declared him her heir. Soon a bride was found - the daughter of an impoverished German prince - Sophia-Frederica-Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst. The marriage took place on August 21, 1745. The groom was 17 years old, and the bride was 16. The newlyweds were granted possession of palaces in Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg and Lyubertsy near Moscow. But their family life did not work out from the very first days. Soon both began to have hobbies on the side. And even the fact that at first both were in the same position in Russia, in a foreign land, forced to change their language (Ekaterina and Peter were never able to get rid of a strong German accent) and religion, get used to the orders of the Russian court - all this did not bring them closer.

The wife of Pyotr Fedorovich, who received the name Ekaterina Alekseevna at baptism, was more willing to learn Russian, did a lot of self-education, and, most valuable, she perceived her move to Russia as an incredible fortune, a unique chance that she did not intend to miss. Natural cunning, ingenuity, subtle intuition and determination helped her gain allies and attract the sympathy of people much more often than her husband managed.

Short reign

Peter and Catherine: a joint portrait by G. K. Groot Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

In 1762, Elizabeth died and Peter III Fedorovich ascended the throne. Peter Fedorovich waited almost 20 years for his reign, but lasted only 186 days.

Immediately after his accession, he developed vigorous legislative activity. During his short reign, almost 200 pieces of legislation were adopted!

He pardoned many criminals and political exiles (among them Minikh and Biron), abolished the Secret Chancellery, which had operated since the time of Peter I and was engaged in secret investigation and torture, declared forgiveness to repentant peasants who had previously disobeyed their landowners, and prohibited the prosecution of schismatics. Under him, the State Bank was created, which encouraged commercial and industrial activities. And in March 1762 he issued a decree, which, in theory, was supposed to attract the noble class in Russia to his side - he abolished compulsory military service for nobles.

In reforms, he tried to imitate his great grandfather, Pyotr Alekseevich. Today, historians note that in many ways, the reforms of Peter III became the foundation for the future transformations of Catherine the Second. But it was precisely the wife who became the first source for unflattering characterizations of the personality of the Russian Emperor Peter III. In her notes, and in the memoirs of her closest friend, Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, Pyotr Fedorovich first appears as a stupid and eccentric Prussian who hated Russia.

CONSPIRACY

Despite active lawmaking, the emperor was much more interested in war than laws. And here the Prussian army was his ideal.

After his accession to the throne, Peter introduced the Prussian uniform into the Russian army, the strictest discipline and daily training according to the Prussian model. In addition, in April 1762, he concluded the unfavorable St. Petersburg Peace Treaty with Prussia, according to which Russia withdrew from the Seven Years' War and voluntarily gave up to Prussia the territory occupied by Russian troops, including East Prussia. But the Russian guard was outraged not only by the unusual Prussian order, but also by the disrespectful attitude towards the officers of the emperor himself, who did not hide his intention to disband the guard regiments, considering them the main culprits of all conspiracies. And in this Emperor Peter was right.

Portrait of Peter III by the artist A.P. Antropov, 1762 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Most likely, a conspiracy against Pyotr Fedorovich began to take shape long before the death of Elizaveta Petrovna. The hostile relationship between the spouses was no longer a secret to anyone. Peter III openly declared that he was going to divorce his wife in order to marry his favorite Elizaveta Vorontsova.

On the eve of Peter's Day, June 28, Peter III went to Peterhof to participate in large festivities; Ekaterina Alekseevna, the main organizer of this celebration, did not meet him at the residence. The Emperor was informed of her early morning escape to St. Petersburg with guards officer Alexei Orlov. It became clear that events had taken a critical turn, and suspicions of treason were confirmed.

In St. Petersburg, the main government institutions - the Senate and the Synod - swore allegiance to Catherine. The Guard also supported Catherine. On the same day, Peter III, who had never decided to take any retaliatory actions, signed his abdication of the Russian throne. He was arrested and sent to Ropsha, where he died a few days later. The circumstances of his death still remain unclear.

According to the official version, the cause of death was an attack of “hemorrhoidal colic.” This version was questioned during Catherine’s lifetime, suggesting that the emperor was simply strangled. Some scientists believe that death was the result of a massive heart attack. What is certain is that neither the guard nor Ekaterina Alekseevna, his wife, needed Emperor Peter III alive. According to Catherine’s contemporaries, the news of her husband’s death left her in shock. Despite her steely character, she remained an ordinary person and feared retribution. But the people, the guard and posterity forgave her for this crime. She remained in history, first of all, as an outstanding statesman, in contrast to her unfortunate husband. After all, history, as we know, is written by the winners.