| LECTURE#8 |
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Peter I: good, bad or Great? Peter the I childhood and background. The Northern War (1700 1721). The creation of Russian army and fleet. The foundation of St.-Petersburg. The Battle of Poltava (1709). Victories on sea. Becoming an Emperor. The Jack of all trades. Peters economical & administration reforms. The Table of Ranks. Setting up Boards, Senate & Holy Sinod. The new calendar & alphabet. As a father: Alexiss story.
PETER THE GREAT Peter the Great was born in 1672 and he died in 1725. Peter was tsar of Russia from 1682 to 1725. His self-given title was Peter the Great though he was officially Peter I. Peter the Great is credited with dragging Russia out of the medieval times to such an extent that by his death in 1725, Russia was considered a leading eastern European state. He centralised government, modernised the army, created a navy and increased the subjugation and subjection of the peasants. His domestic policy allowed him to execute an aggressive foreign policy. Without doubt, Peter the Greats childhood toughened his outlook on life and people. His life was constantly under threat from factions surrounding the two widows of his father. When his father, Alexis, died in January 1676, Peters elder brother succeeded as Theodore III. His succession was legal and no-one could dispute it. Theodore died in 1682. Problems over the succession came on the death of Theodore. The mother of Peter came from the Naryshkin family. They wanted Peter as sole tsar of Russia. Alexiss first wife came from the Miloslavkys family. They did not want Peter alone to succeed. The Miloslavkys were supported by the Moscow Musketeers (the Streltsy) and they both wanted a joint rule by Peter and Ivan, his mentally deficient half-brother. The Streltsy gave the Miloslavkys family the military backing to succeed in this case and Peter and Ivan were accepted as joint rulers. However, in 1682 both were under age and a regent, their sister Sophia, was appointed to this position. In effect, Sophia did little as she was besotted by her lover Prince Golitsin who was appointed Chief Minister by Sophia and ruled as he wished. He embarked on a highly unpopular domestic policy. He persecuted the Old Believers for spiritually holding Russia back. Many Russian people looked up to the Old Believers as the true symbol of religious devotion and disapproved of what he did. Golitsin also pursued a lack-lustre foreign policy. In 1687 and 1689, he launched two disastrous campaigns against the Crimean Tartars. With such chaos at government level, Peter the Great felt strong enough to challenge Golitsin. This he did in August 1689 aged 17 when he removed both Sophia and Golitsin from power and ruled as Russias sole leader. In theory he shared the throne with Ivan until Ivan died in 1696, but in reality, Ivan played no part in the government of Russia. Peter the Greats sheer physical presence seemed to indicate the way his rule would go. He was nearly 7 feet tall and very broad. He was massively powerful, "loud-mouthed, violent, ruthless and impetuous". He always wanted to learn and was always active. He learned how to be carpenter, talked to mathematicians and learned how best to train soldiers- including how to torture people. While Sophia had been regent, he had lived in Germany and had spent time living with soldiers learning about fortifications and ballistics. When back in Russia he formed a small army out of his servants and used them in live ammunition firing war games. Military reforms Peter the Great''s military reforms massively modernised Russias Army and Navy. By his death in 1725, Russia''s military was a force to be reckoned with. These reforms supplemented the reforms that were going on at a general domestic level. The Russian army was both enlarged and made into a professional unit by Peter the Great. Peter had a very clear idea about the direction of his foreign policy and he needed a strong army to execute this. A strong army would also make his own position much stronger and free him from the threat of coups. Before the rule of Peter the Great, the Russian army had been amateur. It was basically based on villagers going into battle to defend the Motherland, lead by village elders with no or little knowledge about military leadership. There were some professionals in the army but they were few and far between. The Streltsy and the Cossacks were professional units but they were officered by foreigners. Peter the Great took the best parts of both systems and introduced a standing army in 1699. All soldiers received similar training so that the army had uniformity. The Streltsy was abolished. Peter the Great had hated it ever since it had backed a joint rule between Peter and Ivan. Two new elite Guards regiments were created - the Preobrazhenskii and the Semeovskii. These were officered by an elite. From 1705 on, both nobles and serfs could be conscripted for life long service in the army. By 1725, Russia had 130,000 men in the army. Discipline was savage but by the death of Peter, the army was up to European standards though untested in western Europe. The navy was essentially Peter the Greats creation. The navy was based on the mouth of the River Don and then expanded to the Baltic Sea. As Russia lacked the necessary expertise, Peter the Great brought in foreign experts and by 1725, Russia had 48 ships of the line and 800 galleys. The officers in the navy were foreign but the crews were Russian. The Russian Navy defeated Swedens navy under Charles XII and its potential for success sufficiently alarmed George I of Britain. Military expenditure was high but it was met out of direct taxation. Revenue was expanded three times to pay for the military and wars. 85% of royal income was taken up in this way. Direct taxation was levied on households but this could be avoided by a number of houses grouping together as one house and therefore paying the demands of just one house. Thus, the collected revenue did not keep up with the growth in population and therefore the growth in required houses. In November 1718, Peter the Great introduced a soul tax on all males (except the clergy and nobility) with the Old Believers paying double. Peter the Great, as with the overthrown Golitisin, saw the Old Believers as a throw back to a time in Russia Peter wanted to move on from. If a male from a village took flight to avoid paying the tax, the village itself had to make up the loss. Therefore, neighbours had a very good reason to keep a close eye on the whereabouts of a male neighbour when the soul tax was due for collection. It became the armys responsibility to compile a list of all males in Russia. This was such a vast task, that it was not completed until 1724. Military reforms were also financed by indirect taxes on beards, horse-collars, bee-hives etc. Royal monopolies were farmed out. Peter the Great, it seemed, would do anything to raise the necessary capital to finance his military reforms. Domestic policy Peter the Great was determined to reform the domestic structure of Russia. He had a simple desire to push Russia - willingly or otherwise - into the modern era as existed then. While his military reforms were ongoing, he reformed the church, education and areas of Russia''s economy. One of the bastions to change from Peter''s point of view was the Church. In bygone years it had been semi-autonomous. For someone who believed in royal absolutism this was unacceptable. The subordination of the church within Russia was completed without a problem. There were other reasons to explain Peter''s interest in the Church. - it was a very rich institution and Peter wanted this wealth - it refused to be modernised - it owned vast amounts of land and serfs and, as such, could be seen to be a rival to the tsar. In 1700, the head of the church, Patriach Adrian, died. Peter did not replace him. In 1701, the control of church property was handed over to a government department called the Monastyrskii Prikaz. This received monastic revenues and paid monks a salary. The simple fact that it was a government department meant that it was subordinate to the will of Peter. In 1721, the church hierarchy was officially abolished by the Ecclesiastical Reservation and the church was placed under the control of the Holy Synod and was fully linked to the state. The 1721 Regulation specifically stated what the clergy could do; in essence, it was designed to control their daily life so that they became an apparatus of the state. The task of the clergy was seen as two-fold: to work for the state and to make their congregations totally submissive to the state by convincing them that Peter was all but God-like to ensure the population of Russia''s total subordination to the crown. Education also had to be modernised if Russia was going to survive as a power in Europe. Peter wanted a modern army and navy that would be feared throughout Europe. The officers in the military had to be educated or this would never be achieved. While on his travels as a youth, Peter had seen the importance of the knowledge of science and maths for military success. The correct use of artillery needed a knowledge of angles; the building of fortifications needed a knowledge of engineering. Naval officers needed to know how to navigate. In 1701, the School of Navigation and Maths was founded in Moscow. This was run by British teachers. In the same year, similar schools were created for artillery and languages. In 1707, a School of Medicine was created and in 1712 a School of Engineering. Thirty maths schools were created in the provinces and in 1724, a year before Peter''s death, a School of Science was established though the lack of scientists in Russia meant that it had to be initially staffed by foreigners. For the educated public, a newspaper was established in 1703 called the "Vedomosti". It was issued by the state. Peter believed that military leaders had to be educated but that a loyal public should also be if Russia was to shake off its reputation of being steeped in medievalism. Many young noblemen were encouraged to do as Peter had done - go to western Europe and experience what it was like and also learn. Young Russian noblemen were encouraged to learn about the latest technology, economic theory and political science. A broadening of knowledge was not seen as being a threat by Peter; on the contrary, he believed that these young educated noblemen were of great benefit to Russia''s development. Peter also expected the young and educated to shun Russian traditions and adopt what he considered to be western values. Beards were shaved off; western clothes were encouraged; the nobility were expected to hold western style tea parties and social gatherings. Peter was also aware that the internal economy of Russia needed reforming. His travels abroad had convinced Peter that Russia was too backward. As tsar he wanted to apply western mercantilism to stimulate agriculture, industry and commerce. A richer Russia could only benefit the position of the tsar as more could be taxed and invested into the military. A further strengthened military would further enhance his power. In fact, Peter achieved less than he would have liked to but he did kick start the economic growth of Russia that was witnessed in the Eighteenth Century. The state dominated all forms of industry. The state was the source of capital, raw materials and labour. The state was also the main purchaser of finished goods. In 1718, two colleges were created for commerce and mines and manufacturing. Under state direction, factories of all types were developed. Prices were fixed by the state and the state had the right to be the first purchaser from the producers - but at a price fixed by the state. Private businesses could make a profit only on the surplus of produce which the state did not want and many successful enterprises were simply taken over by the state. Little was achieved in agriculture which simply remained medieval. The superstitious and conservative attitude of those in agriculture and the sheer size of the country, meant that government officials had great difficulty getting out to rural areas and imposing the will of the tsar on those who lived there. The supremacy of the local lord over his people was deeply entrenched. The state did what it could to encourage those in farming to use modern equipment such as harrows and ploughs but to little avail. Human labour doing the bulk of the work carried on into the Nineteenth Century and was an issue Stalin tried to deal with in the 1930''s. For someone to successfully reform agriculture in the 1720''s, the problem proved too great. Reforms of the Government Peter the Great saw the government in the same light as the military and the general domestic situation - in need of major reform. However, by the time Peter died in 1725, there had been no lasting improvements. Russia was essentially divided into three with regards to divisions of government: local, provincial and central. Local government: In January 1699, towns were allowed to elect their own officials, collect revenue and stimulate trade. The gift of greater powers of local government was deliberately done in an effort to reduce the power of provincial governments. The work of local government was co-ordinated by the Ratusha based in Moscow. In 1702, towns were governed by an elective board which replaced the old system of elected sheriffs. By 1724, this was again changed so that towns could govern themselves through elected guilds of better off citizens. On paper these reforms were fine. But in reality the power of the local landlord and the provincial governor was immense and difficult to break. Provincial government: In December 1707, Russia was divided into 8 guberniia. Each was lead by a Gubnator who had full power within his guberniia. Each guberniia was further divided into districts called uzeda. By November 1718, the number of guberniia had increased to 12 and each one was divided into 40 provintsiia which were then further divided into districts (uzedas). A Gubernator was directly answerable to Peter the Great. Central government: To begin with, Peter was advised by a council and his orders were carried out by 40 departments in the Prikazy. Some had specific functions while others had vague responsibilities which could overspill into other departments making for inefficiency. In 1711, Peter appointed a 9 man senate which evolved into a chief executive and the highest court of appeal. It was supervised by army officers on Peter''s behalf until 1715 when an Inspector-General was appointed who in turn was replaced in 1722 with a Procurator-General who was the most powerful man in Russia after Peter. The Prikazy was abolished in 1718 and replaced with a scheme borrowed from Sweden whereby 9 colleges were established with a specific function to cover the whole of Russia. Each college was run by 10 to 12 men and all their decisions were collective. As early as 1711, an Oberfiscal was appointed aided by a staff of fiscals who had to be secret appointments as they had the task of checking the honesty and integrity of government officials. All careers were open to the talented and educated - though, invariably, this favoured the side of the nobility. Promotion in the civil administration or the military in theory was on merit. There were 14 steps in the military''s promotional ladder whereas the civil service had just 8. Those who reached the top step in both ladders were automatically granted hereditary noble status. However, the system did not operate as it should have as those at the top or nearing the top of the promotion ladder did nothing to encourage those mid way up the ladder in terms of developing their career as they were seen as a threat to those at the top. How effective were these reforms? In theory they were major achievements. Russia, pre-Peter, had a backward and barely functioning structure of government. Peter attacked this as he believed it hindered Russia''s progress and modernisation. However, by 1725, little had changed. Why was this? Peter has to take some of the blame here. He was an autocrat and he believed that everything should go through him. He was unwilling to delegate and allow people to take a final decision. He stifled initiative and such was his reputation, everybody worked in the way Peter wanted them to work. Few had the courage to buck the system in case they incurred the well-known wrath of the tsar. Also Peter favoured using the army for policy initiation rather than his civil service. The civil service was in place but it was never given the opportunity to function at its best. Another major failing was that once an order had been issued by Peter, no-one evaluated whether that order had been carried out and if it had, to what extent it was successful. It was assumed that if an order came from Peter it would be carried out and that it would be carried out well. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/peter_the_great.htm |
