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In 1875 John Constantine Williams of Detroit, Michigan moved to Tampa and bought 2,500 acres of warm waterfront land that would eventually become St. Petersburg. Thirteen years later, he transferred part of that land to Peter Demens, an exiled Russian aristocrat.
Mar 29, 2019 · St. Petersburg is steeped in history and tradition. John C. Williams, formerly of Detroit; and Peter Demens, a Russian immigrant, are credited as cofounders of the city. Williams purchased the...
- Overview
- Youth and accession
- External events
- The Azov campaigns (1695–96)
Peter the Great modernized Russia—which, at the start of his rule, had greatly lagged behind the Western countries—and transformed it into a major power. Through his numerous reforms, Russia made incredible progress in the development of its economy and trade, education, science and culture, and foreign policy.
What was Peter the Great’s childhood like?
Peter’s father, Tsar Alexis, died when Peter was four years old. At age 10 Peter became joint tsar with his half brother and, because of power struggles, often feared for his safety. He did not receive the usual education of a tsar. He grew up in a free atmosphere and especially enjoyed military games.
Who were Peter the Great’s wives?
In 1689 Peter wed Eudoxia, but the marriage ended in 1698. He later became involved with the future Catherine I, a Baltic woman who had been taken prisoner during the Second Northern War. They married in 1712, and in 1724 she was crowned empress-consort. After Peter died in 1725, she became empress.
How did Peter the Great die?
When Alexis died in 1676, Peter was only four years old. His elder half-brother, a sickly youth, then succeeded to the throne as Fyodor III, but, in fact, power fell into the hands of the Miloslavskys, relatives of Fyodor’s mother, who deliberately pushed Peter and the Naryshkin circle aside. When Fyodor died childless in 1682, a fierce struggle for power ensued between the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins: the former wanted to put Fyodor’s brother, the delicate and feebleminded Ivan V, on the throne; the Naryshkins stood for the healthy and intelligent Peter. Representatives of the various orders of society, assembled in the Kremlin, declared themselves for Peter, who was then proclaimed tsar, but the Miloslavsky faction exploited a revolt of the Moscow streltsy, or musketeers of the sovereign’s bodyguard, who killed some of Peter’s adherents, including Matveyev. Ivan and Peter were then proclaimed joint tsars, and eventually, because of Ivan’s precarious health and Peter’s youth, Ivan’s 25-year-old sister Sophia was made regent. Clever and influential, Sophia took control of the government; excluded from public affairs, Peter lived with his mother in the village of Preobrazhenskoye, near Moscow, often fearing for his safety. All this left an ineradicable impression on the young tsar and determined his negative attitude toward the streltsy.
One result of Sophia’s overt exclusion of Peter from the government was that he did not receive the usual education of a Russian tsar; he grew up in a free atmosphere instead of being confined within the narrow bounds of a palace. While his first tutor, the former church clerk Nikita Zotov, could give little to satisfy Peter’s curiosity, the boy enjoyed noisy outdoor games and took especial interest in military matters, his favourite toys being arms of one sort or another. He also occupied himself with carpentry, joinery, blacksmith’s work, and printing.
Britannica Quiz
Kings and Emperors (Part III) Quiz
Near Preobrazhenskoye there was a nemetskaya sloboda (“German colony”) where foreigners were allowed to reside. Acquaintance with its inhabitants aroused Peter’s interest in the life of other nations, and an English sailboat, found derelict in a shed, whetted his passion for seafaring. Mathematics, fortification, and navigation were the sciences that appealed most strongly to Peter. A model fortress was built for his amusement, and he organized his first “play” troops, from which, in 1687, the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky Guards regiments were formed—to become the nucleus of a new Russian Army.
Early in 1689 Natalya Naryshkina arranged Peter’s marriage to the beautiful Eudoxia (Yevdokiya Fyodorovna Lopukhina). This was obviously a political act, intended to demonstrate the fact that the 17-year-old Peter was now a grown man, with a right to rule in his own name. The marriage did not last long: Peter soon began to ignore his wife, and in 1698 he relegated her to a convent.
At the beginning of Peter’s reign, Russia was territorially a huge power, but with no access to the Black Sea, the Caspian, or the Baltic, and to win such an outlet became the main goal of Peter’s foreign policy.
The first steps taken in this direction were the campaigns of 1695 and 1696, with the object of capturing Azov from the Crimean Tatar vassals of Turkey. On the one hand, these Azov campaigns could be seen as fulfilling Russia’s commitments, undertaken during Sophia’s regency, to the anti-Turkish “Holy League” of 1684 (Austria, Poland, and Venice); ...
To begin with, Peter himself chose the site of the new city, laying the foundation stone for the Peter Paul Fortress and the city at its walls in May 1703. According to one legend, Peter and his associates were boating around the Neva Delta, inspecting various islands. He came ashore on Zaychiy Ostrov (Hare Island), and suddenly noticed an ...
Nicknamed “The Sunshine City,” St. Petersburg, Florida offers a vibrant mix of tropical weather, arts and culture, shopping, dining, sports, and outdoor recreation all along a stunning shoreline that features some of the nation’s top-ranked beaches.
After returning to Russia, he introduced Western technology, modernized the government and military system, and transferred the capital to the new city of St. Petersburg (1703). He further increased the power of the monarchy at the expense of the nobles and the Orthodox church.
Peter I the Great (1672–1725), Russia’s first emperor and the most celebrated one of the Romanov dynasty. The world history knew not many brilliant reformers like Peter. His sweeping reform modernized all sides of Russia including legislation, courts, finances, cities, church, army and social life.
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