The Rise of Russia

[HistoryDude]

To truly know about why Russia rose, one must understand how it existed at all. Geography is destiny, according to a thousand historians. In Russia, this wasn’t true. Yes, early Russian civilization was centered around the Dnieper River - and that probably contributed to Russia’s eventual ascent. Still, the Dnieper didn’t make an empire on its own. If that had been the case, then a thousand states would have risen to prominence before Moscow did.

To begin with, the native inhabitants of the land around the Dnieper were Slavs. While Russia is often considered a Slavic nation, it is unlike the other Slavic nations in that its rulers were not originally Slavic - at least, legend says that they weren’t. Many Russian leaders in modern times would prefer if the rest of the world forgot that legend - and some have attempted to rewrite it.

Legend proclaims that Rurik was the first ruler of something resembling a united Russia. However, Rurik’s people weren’t the first inhabitants of Russia. The Greeks had some colonies on the edges of modern Russia (proper), and their texts speak of the ferocious Scythians - who traded with the Greeks themselves. They were defeated by both Philip and Alexander, who was known in every area between the Danube and the Dnieper. In truth, though, the Scythians - called Sarmatians by the Romans - were likely very diverse. Both terms seem to have been a general reference to every tribe in northern Eurasia.

Neither the Scythians nor the Sarmatians ever created a mighty nation. The Sarmatians did manage to extract tribute from the mighty Roman Empire. It is possibly - even likely - that the Goths and Alans and many other “Germanic” tribes were counted as Sarmatians.

In time, many empires of barbaric tribes were established to rule over Russia - first the Goths, then the Huns, then the Sclavonians (probably Slavs), and then the Avars. Thousands of tribes likely intermingled to form the people we know of as “Russians”.

Rurik was allegedly invited by the Russians to rule. They allegedly asked him to “come and govern us and reign over us”. He and his little-known brothers, Sineous and Truvor, divided the nucleus of Russia between them. Rurik made his capital Novgorod, situated on Lake Ilmen.

The three sovereigns of Russia ruled over a much smaller region than the mighty nation Russia is today. However, Rurik’s brothers quickly died, and Rurik became the sole ruler. He then managed to conquer land down to the Volga and the Dwina.

Rurik then implemented a system very similar to feudalism in western Europe. This would cause many problems, as he gave land to his sons, and they gave land to their sons, and so on.

Two adventurers - likely from Scandinavia - left for Constantinople to offer the emperor of that time their services. They soon found a small city on the Dnieper, though, named Kiev. They settled down there and began to rule. Many joined them.

Still, they eventually reached too far. They attacked Greece, and their initial attack was successful - they managed to besiege Constantinople. Unfortunately, a storm destroyed their fleet, and the adventurers, Ascolod and Dir, returned to Kiev. Legend says that they then sent a messenger to Constantinople to get baptized, terrified at the storm. This seems to have been how Christianity entered Russia.

Both Rurik and Ascolod and Dir expanded their kingdoms, until the two realms were adjacent to one another. Rurik reigned until 879 AD, and his son, Igor, was crowned in Novgorod. If the Dnieper was the key to Russia's glory, then this kingdom should have risen to far more glorious heights than it did.

However, Igor was only a child. His regent was another Rurikovich, Oleg. He immediately began his regency by seizing control of much of the rest of the modern day Republic of Rus. He then took Kiev by trickery.

Oleg, however, liked Kiev. He moved his capital there, where it would remain until the invasion of the Mongols.

Kiev’s conquest didn’t sever its ties to Constantinople, though, and, after multiple failed invasions, the Russians would convert to the Eastern Orthodox Church. Igor’s wife, Olga, was the catalyst for this, although it would ultimately be her grandson, Vladimir the Great, who converted the people of the Kievan Rus to Christianity.

The Russians converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church. This is likely a reason for its long division from the rest of Europe - which practiced Roman Catholicism.

 

[HistoryDude]

Another thing that separated Russia from the rest of Europe was their relationship with the Mongol Empire. Alone amongst European states, Russia was forced to pay tribute to the Mongols. Many Western historians believe this to be the main reason why Russia was (or even still is) “backwards” compared to Western and Central Europe.

Whether or not this is a true statement is… complicated. To answer that question, one must look at how the Mongols ruled Russia - and at how they ruled in general. In addition, we must consider why they were able to conquer Russia - and why they weren’t able to conquer beyond.

The easier of those two questions is why they weren’t able to conquer any of Europe beyond Russia. The answer is that it didn’t interest them after a certain point. They did almost conquer Europe, but their Khan’s death prevented that. Many Europeans consider this to be a good thing, but considering how well Russia turned out…

Still, the Mongols easily conquered Russia due to Russia’s already-existing division. The practice of splitting territory between sons meant that the great unified realms of Rurik and Oleg were long gone by the 13th century.

This shouldn’t have been a problem, but the Mongols were something that was completely unexpected everywhere they conquered - not just in Russia. After all, who could expect a small tribe on the edges of the Asiatic Steppe to conquer most of the Known World?

The Mongols were something that nobody planned for because nobody could plan for them. They were a problem that couldn’t be predicted. Why, though, were they able to subjugate Russia?
The answer is simple. United we stand, divided we fall.

And Russia was very divided. The glory days of a united Russia that could attack even the Queen of Cities with almost total impunity were long gone when the Mongols attacked. Instead of a single state ruled by a powerful monarch and centered at Kiev, Russia was a patchwork of different states that were united only by their religion and the dynasty of their rulers. The monarchs at Kiev were next to powerless.

The reason for this will be familiar to any student of the Middle Ages in Europe. In the simplest terms possible, the Russian rulers thought that each son of the monarch should receive a portion of that monarch’s land when they died. In theory, all of these new monarchs owed allegiance to the eldest member of the ruling dynasty.

As anybody who has ever studied German history could tell you, this wasn’t the case in practice. Indeed, Russia when it was subjugated by the Mongols looked very similar to the “Holy Roman Empire” in the aftermath of the Treaty of Westphalia. There was a theoretical leader, but it was truly a collection of independent states. Kiev’s power had withered until it was considered just another principality - the other states didn’t truly pay it any allegiance

When the Mongols invaded, the common enemy was, indeed, recognized by many of the numerous Russian principalities. The Cumans had warned them and even entered into a temporary alliance with the Rus. This showed that the Russians understood the threat posed by the Mongols - the Cumans and the Rus were old enemies. Of course, the Rus initially ignored the Cuman warning and only responded to the threat when they heard that the Mongols were marching up the Dniester River.

Truthfully, an earlier battle with the Mongols was unlikely to have had a different result. The Battle of the Kalka River was an utter disaster for the Rus. The amount of men fighting in it is disputed, as is the amount of men dead. The Rus army could have had anywhere from 11,000 to 100,000 men fighting on their side. The Mongols probably had around 20,000 men.

The Mongols apparently had no feud with the Rus up until this point. This means that the ruler of Kiev (and leader of the Rus coalition) could be blamed for the centuries of Mongol rule in Russia. This man, Mstislav III (“the Old”, not to be confused with Mstislav the Bold, another commander in this army) executed the ten Mongol envoys sent to deliver this message.

The amount of men dead might’ve been as few as 10,000 men or as many of 60,000 men. The Novgorodian First Chronicle cites that “only one in ten returned home”. Put simply, the battle was an utter disaster, but it wasn’t the direct cause of the subjugation of Russia by the Mongols.

No, that subjugation would occur some 14 years later. All the Russian states were then forced to pay tribute to the Golden Horde. Entire cities were destroyed.

Still, the Mongols kept the Russians under control by pitting the different principalities against each other. Notably, they favored the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which would backfire later. They also favored Tver until that city revolted. Moscow helped put down that revolt and was rewarded with the title of Grand Prince.

Some cities damaged by the Mongols took centuries to recover. This aided the cities spared by the Mongols who now had fewer rivals to compete with.

For all the declarations that the Mongols “separated Russia from Europe”, they weren’t actually a completely negative force. It was their influence that led to the rise of Moscow and allowed Novgorod to flourish. Indeed, Russian unity might not have been achieved without the Mongols at all.

The Tsardom of Russia was, fundamentally, a reaction to the Mongols. The Russians likely wouldn’t have united without the Mongols. Instead, Russia might have become a second Holy Roman Empire, a patchwork of states only theoretically united. Indeed, it might’ve been far worse, as Russia would still have to deal with raids by the Steppe tribes around them.

In truth, the Mongols created Russia, regardless of whether or not the Russians like to acknowledge it.

 

[HistoryDude]

For long stretches of time, Russia didn’t really involve itself in European affairs. Most Europeans viewed them as a backwards Asian country, not “true Europeans”. This can be ascribed to the successful Mongol conquest in Russia, as opposed to the rest of Europe, which was spared from Mongol rule.

Russia’s relative isolationism from Europe probably didn’t help with this image. For much of their early history, Russia preferred to expand east, towards former Mongol lands. The only real influence they had on the wider European stage was their wars with Lithuania and Poland, few of which anyone of note in Europe cared about.

This would change in the early 1700s, when Russia was ruled by Peter the Great. Peter heavily disliked the fact that he had upon foreigners to build ships, so he sent Russians to the seaports of Venice and Leghorn (in Italy) and to Holland to learn how to do that. He also sent men to Germany to learn their ways of war (he was specifically interested in their military discipline).

In order to learn how Western countries were governed, he went - personally and incognito - on a tour of numerous countries. He omitted Spain and France because he viewed Spain as uncultured and France as too pompous.

While he did this, he left two lords with whom he had utmost confidence with the regency. In matters of importance, these lords were to consult with the rest of the nobility. After he made these arrangements, he began his journey.

His first stop was Riga, and he wished to examine that city’s defenses. The governor refused, and Peter held a serious grudge. In those days, Riga was a Swedish port.

After that, he went to Konigsburg, then capital of a measly state called Brandenburg, although that state would grow into the mighty Kingdom of Prussia. The elector received the Russians extravagantly. Once they had left Konigsburg, they went to Berlin and Hamburg.

Their new destination was Amsterdam. Apparently the tsar grew impatient with his entourage, for he abandoned them on the Rhine and arrived weeks before them. He interested the Dutch by his actions there, and they kept a diary of his actions.

All of this was part of Peter’s efforts to Westernize Russia. A Westernized Russia, Peter figured, would be a force to be reckoned with on the European stage. Peter also visited England during his educational trip, where he apparently learned astronomy.

He also went to Vienna, both to learn of the military discipline present there and to form an alliance against the Ottoman Turks.

As Peter was leaving for Venice, he received news of unrest in Russia. His sister, Sophia, was taking advantage of his absence to attempt to claim the Russian throne. She appealed to Russia’s sense of isolationism, arguing that Russia was in danger of being overrun by Western foreigners, who would abolish Russia’s customs. She also appealed to Russia’s Eastern Orthodoxy, arguing that Peter’s policies would lead to its effective end.

This rebellion was quickly crushed, but it did cause Peter to return to Moscow. All of the rebels were punished harshly, either killed or exiled. However, Peter also abolished the strelitzes - Russian guards - and created a new guard on the German model.

This was only the beginning of his reforms to Russian court life, though. He also abolished robes in favor of a new uniform that was more similar to Western styles. He greatly curbed military nepotism, requiring that nobles’s sons be common soldiers before they were officers. The Russian tsar also took direct control of enforcing the taxes of the nobles. He also order the nobles to shave their beards.

The church was also reformed. Peter declared that the current patriarch should have no successor. He assumed personal control of his revenues and ruled the church through bishops who couldn’t oppose him. He abolished clerical celibacy, requiring that all clergy marry, and that, whenever a member of the clergy lost a wife, he wouldn’t be allowed to perform clerical functions until he got a new one. He forbade anyone from taking the monastic vow if they were under 50.

In those days, the Russian year began on September 1st. Peter brought the Russian year in synchronicity with the rest of Europe’s year in 1700.

The tsar established a great shipyard at Voronise on the Don River, which would allow him to build a fleet on the Sea of Azov. He hoped that this would allow him to take control of the Black Sea.

However, Peter was also interested in the Baltic. This is where they would establish their spot on the European Balance of Power.

The war that would cement this began with Livonia, which Sweden had annexed from Poland. The Livonians didn’t like how Sweden was governing them, so they complained to the Swedish king in Stockholm… and were executed for their trouble. A few survived and appealed to Poland, Russia, and Denmark. Peter (and Russia) was offered Ingria and Karelia, provinces that his ancestors had lost. These states answered the call, and they attacked Sweden, which had an eighteen-year old king and, therefore, should have been easily defeated.

This assumption would cause no end of trouble for the allies.

 

[HistoryDude]

First of all, it’s worth mentioning why the alliance thought Sweden would be easy pickings. The current king was Charles XII - a young man of 18. This meant that Sweden had an inexperienced monarch, and the allies assumed that also meant that Sweden had an incompetent monarch.

This was blatantly untrue. The assumption wasn’t a stupid one, but a smarter move might’ve been to wait to see what kind of monarch Charles would be like.

However, what’s done is done. Charles XII began the war by attacking Denmark, which was brought to heel within less than six weeks.

After that, he turned his attention to the Russians. He led his fleet across the Baltic and entered the Gulf of Finland. From there, he marched - through wintery terrain - to Narva.

Going by numbers alone, Russia should’ve utterly destroyed the Swedish army. They had somewhere between thirty thousand and eighty thousand men and more than a hundred pieces of artillery. In contrast, Charles XII had a paltry nine thousand men.

But, of course, in warfare, numbers aren’t everything. Tactics matter. Charles XII led his men personally, and, perhaps, that contributed morale to his soldiers, except that doesn’t explain his crushing victory because Peter - not yet known as great - was also present among the Russians. The battle was to be a clash of titans - the Swedish and Russian monarchs fighting against each other. That was not to be, however. Peter left Narva before the battle began.

No one is quite sure why this was. Contemporarily, his departure from the battlefield was viewed as an act of cowardice. Many modern historians doubt this, noting that the Tsar had put himself in physical danger before. They propose other explanations. Perhaps the Tsar didn’t believe the Swedes would have the sheer gall to attack such a numerically superior army, and that, if they did, they would be easily crushed. Maybe the Tsar was preparing for battle in other ways, such as preparing for reinforcement and planning on negotiating with his ally, the King of Poland.

Whatever the case, Peter the Great wasn’t present at Narva.

The Russians prepared for a defensive battle, as they believed that the Swedish force couldn’t have been the main Swedish army. It was clearly just a vanguard. There were too few soldiers in it for it to be anything else.

The Swedes, meanwhile, prepared their artillery. They sent their cavalry to cut off the retreat paths of the Russians.

At 2 pm, the battle began. The Swedes were hit by a stroke of luck here, though. The weather got colder, and the wind changed directions. Now, the snowstorm was blowing towards the Russians. Some of the Russian army probably cursed. Others might’ve thought that the Swedes wouldn’t attack in the middle of a snowstorm.

Indeed, even some Swedish soldiers wanted to wait until the end of the storm. They likely thought that the storm could change directions at any time, and it wasn’t worth the risk. Charles didn’t share these fears, though. He advanced, using the weather to his advantage.

They moved south and north, attacking the Russian defenders. It was here that a problem that Peter had overlooked made itself known. The Russians were inexperienced and unused to battle. Their lines were quick to break. In addition, some of the foreign officers that Peter had brought to train his soldiers were killed by their own soldiers. The man in charge hurried to surrender. Thousands of Russians attempted to escape over the Narova River. So many, in fact, that the bridge over that river collapsed from the pressure.

On the northern flank, two regiments did retain their lines. Charles attempted to attack this center of the resistance, but the Russians managed to force his retreat. On the southern flank, the general in charge, Weide, was wounded at the battle’s beginning, but the men under his command didn’t panic and held the line. Indeed, they even managed to counterattack the Swedes.
Still, these holdouts were the exception and not the rule. To make matters worse, they weren’t a united resistance - General Weide and his men weren’t able to escape to the northern flank. The Russian high command had already decided to surrender.

The northern flank capitulated first. The Swedes were tired, and they accepted this capitulation. It would take longer for General Weide’s men to capitulate, and, for that, they were forced to hand over their weapons and banners. The Swedish army also took control of artillery. The officers were captured and declared hostages.

After that, the Swedish army actually aided the Russians in repairing the bridge that had been destroyed. The cavalry marched south along the left bank of the Narva River and thereby escaped captivity.

The battle was a crushing defeat for the Russians. If Charles had capitalized on it, it is theorized by some that he could have defeated Russia then and there - an attack on Pskov and Novgorod would’ve done the trick.

It is also unique in history. It is one of the only battles in history where a force attacking Russia in the winter succeeded. Indeed, it is definitely the only battle in history where a European force attacking Russia managed to decisively defeat the Russians. Here, that was because the wintry weather aided the Swedes.

On that wintry night, Charles XII likely had the entire history of Russia within his palm. He could’ve easily crushed it, although he did not.

 

[HistoryDude]

When Peter heard this, he responded that, while the Swedes would have the advantage of them for quite some time, they would eventually teach the Russians how to beat them.

After that, he collected what was left of his army at Novgorod. He then sent orders to Moscow to melt many church bells so that they could cast into cannons and mortars. Peter waited for these new weapons at Novgorod, as he rallied his army.

Charles XII, meanwhile, likely believed Russia defeated. He turned his attention to Poland, where he hoped to dethrone Augustus. Peter, for his part, encouraged Augustus to fight on rather than seek a negotiated peace. To sweeten this offer, he sent the King of Poland twenty thousand soldiers.
Even despite this, Charles XII still continued to score constant over his enemies. Indeed, the Swedes were doing so well that Peter viewed it as surprising when a Russian force of eight thousand beat a Swedish force of four thousand.

Peter desperately wanted a port on the Baltic. That was the true reason why he fought against Charles XII. It is also likely that he hoped that, if Sweden lost the Baltic, they might be... more willing to negotiate a peace favorable to Russia. To achieve the goal of a Baltic fleet, the tsar launched a fleet upon an inland sea that connected to the Gulf of Finland by way of the River Neva - Lake Ladoga. However, if Peter hoped to cut Sweden off from the Baltic with this fleet, he would be sorely disappointed. The fleet was attacked by numerous Swedish fleets, although these were eventually beaten back.

Peter, meanwhile, was clearing Russia of Swedish forces. He knew that his opposing monarch viewed his soldiers with contempt, and that he saw his own forces as vastly superior. Therefore, he figured that Charles believed that further conflict with Russia was unnecessary. He used this information to assume that the Swedish king wouldn’t be invading again. This allowed him to defeat several small Swedish armies with impunity. Then, he made a move reminiscent of propaganda in future centuries - he ordered a celebration of these victories in Moscow. This allowed him to raise morale among his armies.

As soon as Peter had taken control of Lake Ladoga and the River Neva, he celebrated. His method of celebration was rather unique, though. He built a new city there, at the mouth of the Neva. He named this city St. Petersburg, a tribute to his ego, although he had won no great victories deserving of such a high honor as a city. The area was low and marshy, but it was, to Peter’s credit, easy to defend against naval attack.

Strategically, that was pretty much the only virtue of its location. Previous events had proven that the Lake itself wasn’t that hard to conquer, and it was extraordinarily close to Sweden. If Charles XII wasn’t so distracted with Poland, he could have easily taken the city, which would have humiliated the Russian tsar.


Short OOC Note: This is an in-universe document. The views reflected here don't necessarily match my own. They do, however, reflect the biases of the time in which the author lives.

 

[HistoryDude]

Livonia was a large province, but that wasn’t why Peter wanted it. Peter wanted to make Russia a maritime power, and owning Livonia would aid this goal greatly - the region was almost encircled by four bodies of water - the Gulf of Riga, the Baltic, the Gulf of Finland, and Lake Tchude.

The conquest began when the Russians took the city of Marienburg by storm. They were cruel in this instance, utterly destroying the town and slaughtering its inhabitants. This was likely a preemptive measure intended to discourage rebellion by other cities in Livonia once it was conquered. After all, Peter would later marry a Livonian - from Marienburg, actually. This was probably a political match intended to gain Livonia’s loyalty - his new wife was the adoptive daughter of a minister of Marienburg. Certain modern tales portray this as a great romance, but that’s dubious. You might’ve heard of her - she’s better known as Catherine the Great.

While all of this was happening, Charles XII was dealing with Poland. He soon succeeded in installing his own candidate upon the Polish throne and moved to attack the newly-built St. Petersburg and its defensive fort, Cronstadt. Interestingly, Peter didn’t lead the defense of his capital himself. Instead, he entrusted it to a former peasant from Moscow, named Menzikoff.

The Swedish fleet approached Cronstadt in spring 1705 with around sixty guns, six frigates, two bomb ketches, and two fire ships. In addition, many Swedish soldiers landed on the rear. The Swedish seemed to be attempting to surround the city. In response, Menzikoff attacked the Swedes while hiding his troops behind well-defended redoubts. The Swedes were defeated, and St. Petersburg was saved.

But Russia’s troubles were far from over.

 

[HistoryDude]

1706 began with bad omens. In the last four pitched battles that they had fought, the Russians had been defeated. Augustus had been forced to write a letter to Stanislaus congratulating him on his ascent to the Polish throne. Indeed, he was only allowed to keep Saxony by submitting to Charles XII. The new Polish king was a Swedish vassal - in fact, if not in name. Even the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph, implicitly obeyed Charles. In short, all of northern Europe except Russia was under Swedish control.

Even other European powers, such as France, wished to secure a peace between Sweden and Russia. It went unsaid that such a peace would be to Sweden’s favor. Peter, however, persevered despite the odds stacked against him. He is said to have proclaimed that, while Charles XII was an Alexander, he was no Darius. Peter had committed to fighting on, even against hopeless odds.

Charles XII accepted hia challenge. From Saxony, which he had brought to heel, he marched through a desolated Poland toward Moscow itself. He managed to defeat the Russians in their own territory, reaching even the great Dnieper, one of the central rivers of the Russian heartland. Peter the Great decided that was too far into Russia. Charles couldn’t be allowed to make further inroads into Russia, or all would be lost. Charles and Peter fought battle after battle, but neither managed to achieve a decisive victory.

And, in Russia, Peter had the advantage. Russia was his kingdom, and Charles was an invading conqueror. His supply lines were stretched thin. He was quickly losing men to both the Russians and the winter. Meanwhile, men were volunteering to fight for their tsar and their country. The cold was harsh, and the storms were worse. Neither side could fight for long in such conditions. Peasants were robbed - by both sides - so that the armies could survive.

As soon as the weather allowed it, both armies resumed their conflict. Charles, in his folly, had decided to attack Moscow by passing through the Ukraine. He believed that he could convince the locals to join him, but the locals had no interest in this offer.

By June, the two armies had joined together. Both were led by their sovereigns, the two greatest monarchs of the age. At Poltava, on the Vorskla River, near where it meets the Dnieper, four hundred miles south of Moscow, the battle would be fought.

It would be the stuff of legend. All of Europe knew that this was where history would be made. Two great monarchs, each determined to claim hegemony over the other, would fight. No matter who won, the war would be over, and the battle would be a place where history turned. One way or another, everything would be decided at Poltava.

 

[HistoryDude]

Both sides knew Poltava, or at least a battle like it, would be the end. It started with a lot of maneuvering and skirmishing by both sides. Peter the Great led sixty thousand troops, but he knew that the soldiers of his enemy were superior to his. As such, he hid behind his redoubts.

Two days before the Battle began, however, fortune smiled upon the Russians. A bullet struck Charles XII, injuring his heel. This was a stroke of luck for the Russians, who greatly feared the Swedish king. Now, however, he was injured. Even if he did lead his men into battle, he would be as mighty as he had been before.

Although Charles did suffer much pain through his wound, and even more through healing it, he would not go down lightly. He ordered his men to carry him in a litter to the frontlines and led the charge against the Russians. This was an impetuous move, but it is likely that both sides were getting tired of waiting for the great battle. Still, it was initially successful - although many Swedes perished, two of Peter’s redoubts were taken.

The Swedes thought themselves victorious, and some even gave shouts of victory. They boasted too soon - the action was far from over.

Indeed, it lasted for around two hours. Charles XII, pistol in hand, continued to lead his men, even from his litter. Eventually, one of the Russian cannons killed one of the men holding him, which shattered the litter and dropped the great Swedish king to the ground. Even this was not enough to do in that great monarch. Charles ordered another litter to be made - this time with pikes. He continued to direct his men, ignoring all weapons fired at him.

However, Charles wasn’t the only great monarch fighting in this great battle. Peter the Great was equally courageous. Part of him must have known that death would be a better fate for him than defeat, for he was aware of Poland’s fate. Still, that doesn’t diminish his courage, as he also ignored many weapons fired at him.
Neither king would give up. Both led their men, heedless of the danger to themselves, onwards. This would not be a battle of the wills between monarchs, but a true battle between armies. In the end, the Swedes gave way and were forced to flee.

Charles remained courageous even in the face of defeat. Despite his injury, he still managed to attempt to flee on horseback. He even managed to succeed, but he was left without an army. He crossed the Dnieper and fled to the lands of the Ottomans.

Word of his attempt reached the great Russian tsar, who was magnanimous in victory. He didn’t wish to see so great a foe reduced to such glorious infamy, and that he would take Charles prisoner. Instead, they could negotiate peace.

The courier dispatched to deliver this message was outrun, though. Peter was magnanimous with his imprisoned Swedish captives, toasting “to the health of my masters in the art of words”.

Despite these pretty words, Peter proved that he was not a saint. He exiled nearly all of these men to Siberia soon after.

Poltava destroyed Swedish power. Poland was soon restored to the Saxon elector. Charles XII was now trapped in the Ottoman Empire, and Sweden refused to accept him back at that moment.

Like the classical Achilles, Charles XII had been destroyed by a wound to his heel. He hadn’t killed him, but it had killed his power. However, Peter was no Hector, and he would not be destroyed by his Swedish enemies. There were no other Swedes to perform the function of the other Greek heroes in the sack of great Ilium for Russia. Russia was ascendant. From here, they would only rise for many years.

 

[HistoryDude]

After Poltava, Livonia was quickly annexed. However, the Great Northern War’s effects were not over. As is often the case with the Horseman of War, the other horsemen followed in his wake. In this case, that was pestilence. That spread from Livonia to Sweden. Thousands died in Stockholm, which probably caused some fear for Peter in all honesty. Sweden had been his enemy, but they were still geographically close to one another, so the plague could still spread.

To make matters worse, Charles XII was still in the Turkish lands, and he still wished to reclaim his kingdom. To do that, he needed to defeat Russia. Obviously, he couldn’t do this alone, so he asked the Turks for help. The Ottoman Sultan agreed and brought two hundred thousand men to Russia.

It was unlikely that any other European Christian power would aid Peter. Even if he could appeal to religious commonality - which was doubtful - all of the other European nations were busy fighting each other over the Spanish Succession.

Still, Peter was aware that the Ottomans were his foes, and he was prepared for that. He had raised an army of 125,000 men. When he heard of the Turkish move to Azov, he urged his men to rush toward the border. He moved his army to the Moldavian capital, and the Ottoman grand vizier crossed the Danube River with three times the soldiers.

For three days, the battle raged, but the tsar was losing. He was in a desperate position, and he was surrounded. Peter knew how bad his position was and so (at the behest of his wife) offered peace and money. The Ottoman Empire saw the might of Russia and agreed to peace.

Sweden was still at war with Russia, though. Russia wanted to rule Finland. Finland’s capital was quick to fall. The tsar let his generals manage most of this conquest. This was to Russia’s advantage, as the cold winter was familiar to them.

Charles XII escaped the Ottoman Empire in autumn, 1714, just after Finland was under Russian control. Charles, in disguise, traveled through Hungary and Germany in search of restored power. Charles did manage to reclaim Sweden.

Peter, however, was perhaps not as worried as he should have been about this. He decided to tour Europe - this time with Catherine - leaving the war to his generals.

 

[HistoryDude]

Peter’s son, Alexei, was a consistent thorn in the side of the great Emperor. He opposed the reforms of his father and even headed a party against him. Peter warned him that he would remove him from the succession if he didn’t change his ways, but that did nothing - Alexei replied that he didn’t want the crown.

When the tsar left for Denmark, he received news that Alexei was gathering all those who disliked his reforms. This made it look as if he was planning a rebellion, so Peter sent him a letter telling to change his ways or become a monk. Alexei more or less replied that he’d become a monk, then, although he couldn’t go with that.

Alexei ultimately fled to Germany, which was ruled by his brother-in-law. Unfortunately for him, he found no welcome there, so Alexei decided to flee once more - this time to Naples. There, he continued living as he had lived - in debauchery.

The good tsar thus sent two of his advisors in an effort to make his son see the error of his ways. Alexei was convinced to return, but not to abandon his ways. Peter talked with his son, but they couldn’t reconcile, so Alexei was forced to renounce his claim to the throne.

However, it clearly had no intention of keeping that promise. He led a conspiracy to seize the throne for himself, violently. He had even sought foreign aid from the German emperor for this enterprise. However, it seemed as if he planned to wait for his father’s death to begin this civil war. When news of this reached the good tsar, he decided that his son must be hanged for treason. His court agreed with him on this matter, and he was sentenced to death.

The former Crown Prince promptly died by his own terror, although he did receive pardon from Peter in the hour of his death.

However, Peter’s other son had died afterward, leaving Russia without an heir - except a young grandson, too young to rule. As a result, Peter decided to crown Catherine empress on May 18, 1724 - to succeed him when he died and to decide his successor.

 

[HistoryDude]

As the Russian royal family was busy with that drama, life went on. The war with Sweden, although far from the great conflagration it had been before Poltava, was still ongoing. Sweden’s territories were being invaded, particularly the region surrounding the Baltic Sea, whose peoples had once large portions of what had become the Russian state.

On November 29, 1718, Charles XII, the once-great King of Sweden brought low by his own hubris in believing that he could challenge almost all of Europe, was killed by a cannonball in Norway. It was a fitting end for him, in truth - those that lived by the sword often died by it.

This, naturally, changed many things. Notably, however, it destroyed any hope of Sweden defeating Russia. Charles had almost managed, but no other man lived up to him. He had no true successor in making life difficult for the Russians - or, at least, he wouldn’t for around a century, and that wasn’t a Swede.

In effect, everyone knew how the war would end after that point. Sweden would surrender - it was only a matter of time. This was finally accomplished, and Peter made the Swedes give up Livonia, Estonia, Ingria, and Karelia. This gave him access to a few ports, but it also opened up further invasion routes into Sweden if that people ever challenged him or his descendants.

After that, there was peace in the Russian realm… at least for a while. Peter could turn his focus to internal affairs.

 

[HistoryDude]

The tsar watched his administrators closely. He punished fraud, when he found it, as severely as possible.

Still, his internal ambitions weren’t so low. He wasn’t content merely to be just in his empire’s internal affairs. He had great projects to work on. The foremost among these was the construction of many canals. By doing so, he hoped to open direct communication between St, Petersburg and the Caspian Sea - and across the vertical length of his empire. He employed the most skillful of engineers to do this, causing the water of Lake Ladoga to flow into the Volga. He wanted to connect the Baltic with Persia via commerce over the seas.

He also endeavored to translate the Bible into Russian and spread throughout the empire. This could have been part of his westernization efforts - many Europeans could quote the Bible as a result of the Protestant Reformation, and many Russians likely couldn’t - Old Church Slavonic wasn’t a common language in the 1700s outside of, well, churches.

Peter also protected his merchants, who were being attacked by his nominal subjects by tribes on the Caspian shores. He sent a great army from Astrakhan - and managed it himself - to them, chastising them for their unruly behavior. It took twelve months to bring the tribes to heel, but Russia did manage to greatly expand its territory in Northern Asia this way.

St. Petersburg was now one of the most prominent of the European capitals. Peter had designed this city to be glorious, and it had not disappointed. It contained an astronomical observatory and a massive library. There were even enough men of considerable intellect to form an academy of arts and sciences, which Peter created himself.

While he was doing all of these projects, he was suddenly attacked by a sudden and dangerous sickness, confining him to his room. When he felt better, he went to visit Lake Ladoga, accompanied by his physicians. It was late October.

Everything was fine until November 5. The voyage proved too much for his health, and he was forced to return to St. Petersburg in great pain. After that, the disease progressed rapidly. His last mutterings were delirious and inarticulate. Catherine stayed by his bedside for three days and three nights, and, on January 28, 1725, Peter died in his wife’s arms.

Still, he had planned for the succession. He had assembled around his bed the chief dignitaries of Russia and asked them to acknowledge his wife as empress on his death - and, perhaps anticipating dissent, he made them swear oaths. It is a testament to Peter’s enduring popularity within Russia that this request was honored. Catherine - eventually to be known as “the Great” ascended the throne when her husband died.

 

[HistoryDude]

Right, so, you know how I said that Peter and Catherine were married, and both were known as the Great? That was technically a lie, but, in my defense, it was more dramatic. It is also something that’s really easy to get confused - Catherine the Great was Catherine’s relative. Both ruled very closely, at least temporally, together. Catherine I was a popular monarch, and she was arguably a great woman (Voltaire thought she had just as interesting a life as her husband), but she was not known as the Great - at least to history.

She did govern well and wisely and promoted her husband’s policies. This might be one of three reasons why she is confused with her granddaughter. The first was that, well, they had the same name, and the second was that she didn’t rule very long. The fact that she didn’t have a unique policy - either foreign or domestic - probably makes her less relevant than her husband.

She did, however, have good foreign policy. She married her daughter, Anne, to the Duke of Holstein, probably for an alliance. Also, and importantly, she knew how other monarchs and states viewed her - likely based, at least somewhat, on her gender. All saw an opportunity to attack.

To prevent that, Catherine adopted vigorous measures to augment the army and the fleet. This was to deter aggression from other states - primarily Denmark, Sweden, and Poland, whose lands had been taken by Russia.

She also promoted enlightenment ideas. The academy of sciences at St. Petersburg was heavily aided by her.

She also raised her heir, who was Peter, son of Alexei. This didn’t actually work that well, admittedly, but she did try.

She likely would have done a lot more, but her health was in decline even as she ascended to the throne. It only declined after that, but she didn’t let that stop her. She continued to involve herself in public affairs until April, 1727, when she was confined to bed rest. It took her four weeks to die.

Her successor was Alexei, but he was only twelve, so he needed a regency. His regent was Menzikoff, who had fought with Peter the Great. Catherine had named him general of all her armies - those on land and those in the navy. The nobles were envious of him, which proved his undoing. Alexei ended up banishing him to Siberia and confiscated his lands. He quickly died there.
His ruin, Peter II, didn’t long survive him. He died of smallpox at the age of fourteen and died on January 19, 1730. This was a huge problem for the succession. Only a single daughter of Peter and Catherine survived. Some of the nobility attempted to solve this by making Russia a republic. The reaction of the other European states would likely not have been positive to this, but it didn’t succeed. Russia was simply unprepared for such a vast and sudden reform. The nobles eventually decided to offer the throne to Anne, Duchess of Courland, who was Peter the Great’s niece.

She had an elder sister, Catherine, who was older than her and, therefore, first in line for the throne. However, she was the Duchess of Mecklenburg, and her husband was currently involved in a war against his nobles, which the Russians didn’t want to be involved in. Additionally, the nobles thought that Anne could be easily controlled. They even created a constitution to limit her power.

This was a case of celebrating too early. Anne immediately banished them and canceled the constitution and the limits upon her power.

Russia continued to expand and prosper under her rule. She allied with the Holy Roman Emperor against France. She defeated the Turks in a conflict over Azov and crushed the Crimean Tartars. This gave Russia access to Crimea.

Anne had succession problems, which she attempted to solve by marrying one of her nieces to one of her nobles. On August 12, 1740, this niece gave birth to a son, Ivan, who Anne named her heir. After that, she died in October 1740.

This was obviously a problem. The tsar was months old, and his regent was a noble who made himself unpopular. The nobles overthrew him and made Anne, the queen mother, regent.

Peter’s daughter, Elizabeth, was unmarried. A conspiracy arose to overthrow Anne’s regency and even Ivan’s reign entirely. They wanted to enthrone Elizabeth. This worked. On December 5, an armed force met Elizabeth and made her their leader. They marched to the barracks. It seemed as if the daughter had inherited some of her father’s spirit. The people accepted this joyfully.

Ivan and Anne were sent to Riga, where they became prisoners. They attempted to escape twice but failed.

This was actually a counter-revolution. It was done by those who disliked the foreigners that Peter had introduced. It was probably not a good plan, though, and it backfired. Elizabeth wasn’t a good ruler, as she quickly let power get to her head. She lived in extreme decadence, never marrying but taking many lovers.

Elizabeth also attempted to get rid of her rivals. Ivan was sent to a monastery, where he was kept illiterate. Anne lingered until 1746.

Still, Elizabeth didn’t reign unchallenged, but she wished to. A humane monk took pity on the young ex-tsar and attempted to escape with him. He managed to reach Smolensk and was sent to a dungeon in a castle, where he was allowed only a single lamp in his cell. He was given food, but no servants could talk to him. Naturally, Ivan wasn’t that intelligent. Elizabeth ordered him brought to St. Petersburg and talked to him, but she didn’t let him know her identity and did nothing to help him. Elizabeth’s successor, Peter III, would also talk with him, and he helped Ivan, allowing him to know air and light. Peter died after that, and Ican remained a living corpse.

Elizabeth had a confusing attitude towards foreigners. This was almost certainly due to pragmatism. When anti-foreigner sentiment got so bad that there was an idea to massacre them all, she disapproved of it in an official proclamation. It’s worth noting that this would’ve pissed off all of Europe, though, so it was very pragmatic.

Elizabeth also had pragmatic foreign policy. She fought Sweden and conquered much of Finland. She did ally with Austria against Prussia, but that, too, was pragmatic. Prussia’s king had (correctly) criticized her private life, but he had also disparaged her mother. All of that indicated that the Prussian king disapproved of her rule. Russia briefly occupied Prussia proper itself, and they did invade the realm multiple times.

In 1762, Elizabeth died, and the war with Prussia ended. The new tsar admired Frederic, and he changed sides in the war. Now, Russia was at war with Austria.

 

[HistoryDude]

Peter III was the grandson of Peter the Great. He was the son of the Duke of Holstein, as well, which meant that he also had the blood of Charles XII of Sweden. His father wanted to claim the throne of Sweden, but that king was killed by cannon before he could designate an heir.

Interestingly, the idea of his son ruling over Russia hadn’t occurred to the Duke, so the future Peter III was only educated for ruling over Holstein. In hindsight, this is actually pretty hilarious, considering the fact that he had been proclaimed King of Finland, heir presumptive to Russia, and King of Sweden… all in 1742. Of these, only heir presumptive of Russia ever came to anything. This was likely because Sweden and Russia were on bad terms. However, and probably due to the fact that he wasn’t educated for it, he wasn’t a very good heir. Elizabeth decided not to find a new heir. It’s possible that she didn’t want to pour over family trees. However, Elizabeth did decide to find a worthy empress for Russia.

Her ultimate decision was Sophia, who was his second cousin. Her father was the Duke of Anhalt-Zerbst, Christian Augustus. Elizabeth sent for her so that she could get acquainted with the Russian language and customs.

Both Peter III and Sophia (later Catherine the Great) were raised Protestant, specifically Lutheran, in Germany. This was indicative of the success of Peter the Great’s attempt to associate Russia with Europe as a whole, but it also required that they convert to Eastern Orthodoxy. This wasn’t actually that much of a problem.

Sophia renamed herself Catherine. When she met her future husband, she was fourteen and her betrothed was fifteen. Catherine decided to keep a journal about the Russian court, which is a good source for life in this time.

The picture she painted of the Russian court was… not great. The court apparently didn’t care about the Russian people much, and it was remarkable that they didn’t revolt at that moment.

At first, Catherine didn’t have the best view of her betrothed, which could be thought of as foreshadowing. She called him “weak, ugly, little and sickly”, and he was apparently an alcoholic. Peter was also excessively disagreeable to everyone around him.

Anyway, their marriage was likely unstable. Peter ignored Catherine, which did actually annoy her, apparently. She decided to gain the good will of everyone else, though, and she succeeded in this. Catherine was explicitly waiting for his death so that she would rule Russia, and she admits as much in her journals. Of course, a lot of that was turnabout - he did explicitly talk with her about how he was cheating on her. This is why royal marriages based on convenience are a terrible idea!

As soon as Peter ascended the throne, there were conspiracies to overthrow him and enthrone Catherine. This initially came to nothing because Peter wasn’t a total idea, and he let Catherine advise him, which she did wisely.

Peter’s ascension also changed the politics of the Seven Years War. This changed the European balance of power irreversibly. Peter admired Frederick the Great of Prussia, so he broke Russia’s alliance with Austria in order to ally with Prussia. This changed everything about that war, allowing Britain and Prussia to defeat Austria and France. The effects of that reverberated across the entire world - affecting not just the European balance of power, but also the American balance of power and the balance of power in India.

 

[HistoryDude]

Right, so we’re going to take a brief detour from the subject of Peter III and his reign. A brief look into what is to come.

First of all, Catherine is going to overthrow her husband. This was probably inevitable, but we’ll get to why that is later, although enough information has been provided that it should be somewhat obvious. We’ve already covered the extent of Catherine’s ambition.

Anyway, Catherine is quite an interesting character in her own right, but we aren’t covering her personal life or her reign yet, either. Instead, we’re going to be talking about perhaps one of the greatest events in the entirety of the eighteenth century. This event - or, rather, this series of events - destroyed a sovereign nation and heavily expanded the extent of Russian dominion. These events were the Partitions of Poland, and there were three of them.

While Russia was one of the nations doing the partitioning, it wasn’t really a driving force behind the idea of partitioning Poland. That was Prussia, and it was mainly based on pragmatism, as Catherine was close to the ruler of Poland. Prussia - and, to a lesser extent, Austria - was worried that Russia would soon annex all of Poland. They couldn’t allow this to happen. It would be a disaster of the highest kind. It would completely change the European balance of power in Russia’s favor. However, Russia was a powerful nation. The two German states would very much like to avoid annoying it. The solution to this dilemma was simple - give Russia part of Poland and take some for themselves. None of the three empires cared that this was a blatant power grab.

To be fair, Poland was on the verge of collapse anyway. In 1730, Prussia, Austria, and Russia signed a secret agreement to ensure that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth wouldn’t change. This worked for a short while, but it didn’t last. Poland-Lithuania allowed Russia access to their land to attack Prussia during the Seven Years’ War, and Frederick the Great retaliated by screwing up their economy.

In 1767, Catherine effectively forced her will upon Poland-Lithuania. Policies that allowed blatant foreign interference in Polish affairs were protected under a new constitution, as was toleration of certain religions and the guarantee of certain rights. This didn’t sit well with many Poles, who effectively revolted.

The result was the War of the Confederation of Bar, where many Poles attempted to drive out the Russians, who they presumably viewed as occupiers. It might’ve been an early instance of nationalism on their part.

The revolting Poles made foreign alliances, particularly with the Ottoman Empire, but it wasn’t enough. It was this defeat, more than anything else, that made Prussia and Austria consider partitioning Poland.

And so the backdrop was set for Russia to annex more territory and expand their Baltic lands.

 

[HistoryDude]

The first partition of Poland occurred in 1772. The most cause of this was jealousy - Austria had grown envious of Russian power and success, and they were even considering war. Prussia didn’t want that because it might disturb the balance of power - which could harm them - and Russia didn’t particularly want war. France was a neutral mediator, as they also had an interest in keeping the balance of power.

Prussia and Austria began annexation of Poland’s borders in 1769. It was not until August 1772 that military forces were sent into the regions of Poland that the partitioners had agreed were now theirs. The Bar Confederation, a group of revolting Poles that I have already covered, were still at large during this time, and it was only after that they were finally crushed by the powers.

It was only after the territory had been occupied and resistance crushed that the three partitioners attempted to make their actions legal. They “asked” the Sejm and King of Poland to approve their changes, which they did, but this was only a rubber stamp.

To be fair, Poland didn’t fold quietly. The King did request aid from Western Europe, but none came. No foreign help was coming, and Warsaw had fallen to Russian, Austrian, and Prussian forces. The king didn’t really have a choice and neither did the Sejm. This was made clear when protesting members of the Sejm were arrested, and some were sent to Siberia.

For Russia, this wasn’t a large gain - the territories gained were poor economically, although they were vast. However, the partition was still likely useful as propaganda. There is no evidence that Catherine used it in that way, but it wouldn’t be difficult to do so. The lands gained included much of the areas of the Kievan Rus that had since fallen away from Russian control. The lands gained were also mostly Lithuanian, not Polish - and Lithuania and the Duchy of Muscovy, Russia’s predecessor state, were ancient enemies. Their enmity had been caused by conflict over much of the lands of the Kievan Rus. Catherine could claim that she had, at long last, reunited the lands of the Sons of Rurik.

Admittedly, there’s no evidence that she did this, but there’s no evidence that she didn’t, either. It’s probable that the land gains improved her popularity even without outright state propaganda, though - victory and territorial gain has a way of doing that to nations… especially empires.

 

[HistoryDude]

By 1790, Poland was so weak that it had Prussia, with whom it didn’t really get along. A new constitution was created for Poland in an attempt to strengthen the nation. It introduced greater political equality between nobility and commoners and placed peasants under the government’s authority.

The new system set up by the Poles was very similar to the United States Constitution, interestingly, although this is probably a case of using similar sources. Poland was made into a monarchic republic where the objections of a single delegate couldn’t the Sejm, and the government was divided into executive, legislative, and judiciary branches.

Poland’s neighbors naturally disliked this for many reasons. For one, Poland’s neighbors were (mostly absolute) monarchies who feared republican influence. Prussia broke their new alliance with Poland over the Constitution, and Russia was annoyed, likely at the loss of influence. Even Poles disliked the Constitution - they formed the Targowica Confederation with Catherine’s support.

War broke out in 1792. Even if Poland had been a mostly functioning and united nation, it’s unlikely that it could defeat both Prussia and Russia. And Poland wasn’t united and, indeed, had a history of division. The fact that Prussia broke its alliance with Poland after war was declared only created more confusion. The war didn’t even last a single summer.

Part of the reason that Russia had to agree to a partition was due to other events in Europe. Prussia had recently been defeated at Valmy in France, and they wanted compensation in exchange for backing out of the First Coalition. Russia accepted this deal, despite its nature as blackmail.

The Second Partition was approved by the Grodno Sejm, which was the last sejm Poland ever had. It was also infamous for accepting bribes. Russia annexed lands that were mostly legally Lithuanian and used to belong to the Kievan Rus, such as Minsk and Kiev. Prussia gained Polish land, including Danzig.

After the Second Partition, Poland was effectively a Russian puppet state, bereft of any glory that it might have had. The members of the Targowica Confederation and the king both lost a lot of prestige for this, as they weren’t expecting another partition. Lack of popularity for the status quo soon grew.

The success of the French Revolution did nothing to quell this - indeed, it encouraged it. The people of Poland quickly turned against Prussia and Russia. On March 24, 1794, a man named Tadeusz Kościuszko seized control of the military and led them against the occupiers. Neither Catherine nor the Prussian King, Frederick William II, liked this, and they were quick to respond, crushing the revolt, but not before they won a few victories.

Representatives from Austria (which didn’t want to be left out of the Third Partition like they were excluded from the Second), Russia, and Prussia met to discuss the end of Poland-Lithuania. On January 26, 1797, they signed a treaty to finally finish partitioning Poland. Austria got Western Galicia and Southern Masovia. Prussia got the rest of Masovia, Podlachia, and Warsaw (not that they managed to keep it). Russia got everything else.

However, the representatives were feeling vindictive. They didn’t bother legalising their actions with a Polish representative, and the King of Poland was made to abdicate and live as Catherine’s prisoner in St. Petersburg. However, even that wasn’t enough - the representatives attempted to erase Poland’s very name from history. That didn’t turn out very well in the long run, though.

 

[HistoryDude]

Almost as soon as Peter III was crowned, there were plots hatched to cast him down and put his wife up in his place. Catherine herself certainly wanted this outcome, but it’s worth examining why anybody supported her. For one thing, sexism might’ve played into it. Women were viewed as weaker than men in those ages, especially in matters of politics. This was a problem during the reign of the first Catherine, if you remember. It is likely that nobles saw a female monarch as easier to manipulate.

Of course, Catherine the Great was also famous for her many lovers (although a horse probably wasn’t one of them). These would’ve supported her for the power they stood to gain in the new regime.

In addition, many nobles liked Catherine’s policies, but they didn’t like Peter, who was ostensibly the one issuing them. However, they were Catherine’s policies, and many nobles knew that, which meant that they had nothing to lose from Peter being overthrown. Some likely had a lot to gain.

Even foreign powers didn’t see Peter retaining the throne of Russia for too long. Frederick the Great of Prussia, who had won a war due to the ascension of Peter III, foresaw that the chances of him retaining the throne were slim. He ordered the Prussian ambassador to show Catherine the utmost respect.

Peter III didn’t help his own case much either. He had many mistresses and was frequently drunk. Sometimes, he would leave the entire administration of Russia in Catherine’s hands, but he would also often treat her with contempt.

Catherine, by probably deliberate contrast, held her court with dignity, despite her personal feelings. This earned her many friends and admirers. She respected religion and frequently prayed and treated the poor well, as well as publicly respected the clergy.

Peter III, meanwhile, was busy being an idiot again. He agreed to divorce Catherine and marry one of his mistresses, making her empress. She wasn’t very smart in handling that either, as she boasted about it. Those who would benefit from her rule began plotting to put her on the throne, and Catherine’s supporters plotted against them.

On July 8th, Catherine and her conspirators put their plan into action. Catherine woke early and traveled from her summer residence to St. Petersburg, where she appealed to the army for help. They agreed, and most of St. Petersburg also supported Catherine.

She went to the church, where the archbishop crowned her empress of all the Russias. She then went to the palace, which was opened to all, and most of the people of St. Petersburg swore allegiance to her there.

Meanwhile, her allies and friends were preparing the capital for a defensive battle. Most expected Peter III to attempt to retake the capital of Russia and undo this bloodless coup. No one even bothered to inform Peter III of what was going on.

 

[HistoryDude]

Eventually, however, messengers did inform Peter III that his wife had disappeared. He knew that this was a bad thing, apparently, but didn’t foresee why. Many in his retinue did, but they didn’t inform him for fear of alarming him further. A messenger handed him a note with the news, and so Peter reacted.

His reactions weren’t very effective. His chancellor went to St. Petersburg in an attempt to talk supporters of the tsar into launching a counterrevolution, but no one listened to him. Peter made many plans, but he couldn’t keep to any of them. He was too indecisive.

Ultimately, the choice was made for him. Catherine sent her troops to arrest her husband, and Peter III was convinced that he should make a stand at Cronstadt, which guarded the entrance to the Russian capital. However, Catherine was ahead of him in her plans, and she had already taken Cronstadt. When Peter arrived, he was refused entrance to the fort.

The former tsar’s advisors wanted him to take a stand. Peter III refused to challenge Cronstadt’s garrison and retreated into the water. Still, all wasn’t lost to Peter III. On the Gulf of Finland, there was a fleet at Revel, and his advisors wanted him to join them. From there, they were to go to Pomerania and attack Russia from there. This plan might’ve worked, although it could have been spun as a foreign invasion by Catherine, especially if Peter enlisted the aid of foreign powers like the Prussians he so admired. Still, this plan never even got attempted due to the tsar’s indecisiveness.

Peter's other advisors advised caution and reconciliation… and he attempted this as well. He confessed his faults to Catherine and promised to share sovereign authority with her.

Catherine didn’t trust her husband’s word one bit. She resolved to ignore his letter and press onward against him. This information reached Peter, and he was a coward. He disguised himself and resolved to escape to Poland.

For Peter, things got even worse. He was a very indecisive man, and he changed his mind about facing his wife. He ordered one of his fortresses (Oranienbaum) dismantled in order to convince her that he meant to come quietly. He also wrote another letter to her, surrendering to her in a most humiliating manner. He offered to hand Russia’s crown in exchange for his life and a pension with which to live in his native Holstein.

That wasn’t enough for Catherine, who wished for an unconditional surrender. She got it quickly. He was allowed to remain Duke of Holstein, although he lost all of Russia. He was imprisoned in the palace. The coup was complete. Peter III had lost all of Russia, and the throne was lost to him and all of his progeny in all likelihood. It’s unclear whether Catherine’s successor was actually her son with Peter - this was claimed, but it seems unlikely. He had reigned for a meager six months.

 

[HistoryDude]

“You philosophers are lucky men. You write on paper and paper is patient. Unfortunate Empress that I am, I write on the susceptible skin of living beings.” - Catherine the Great