against the Crimea. The Tartars had burned the steppes, and the
Russians suffered such severe hardships that they were forced to
retreat. The hetman of the Cossacks was accused of treachery, and
deported to Siberia, when Mazeppa, who had been his secretary, was
appointed hetman. In the spring of 1689, the Russians under Galitsyne
and the Cossacks under Mazeppa started again for the Crimea, but they
had no better success than before.
Peter, who was born in 1673, was then sixteen years old, but being
tall and strongly built, he looked much older. He was bright and
anxious to learn, and at an early age had shown that he possessed (p. 148)
a will of his own. He had read much, but his tutor, a man named Zorof,
had allowed him to have his own way, and when the boy grew up to be a
man, he made that tutor "the arch-priest of fools." When the boy was
tired, Zorof would allow him to put his work aside, and would read to
him about the great deeds of his father Alexis, and of those of Ivan
the Terrible, their campaigns, battles, and sieges; how they endured
privations better than the common soldiers, and how they added other
territory to Russia. He also learned Latin, German, and Dutch. He
afterwards complained that his education was neglected, because he was
allowed to do as he pleased. He chose his own companions, and as he
did not like to be confined within the palace grounds, he roamed in
the streets and often became acquainted with men whom he would not
have met in the palace, Russians, Dutch, Swiss, English, and Germans.
His usual attendants were Boris Galitsyne and other young nobles with
whom he played at soldier. He pressed the palace servants into the
ranks and had them drilled in European tactics. Peter took lessons in
geometry and fortification; he constructed small forts which were
besieged and defended by the young players. Sometimes the game became
earnest; blows were given and received, when Peter took his share
without a murmur, even when he was wounded as sometimes happened.
At first Peter did not like the water; no Russian does; but he
mastered his dislike. Once, when he saw a stranded English boat, he
sent for a boatbuilder to make him a sailboat and to teach him how to
manage it. He took a great fancy to sailing, and often took his (p. 149)
boat on the Yaousa, and afterwards on Lake Peréiaslaf, to the terror
of his mother. Thus Peter grew up, healthy in body and strong of mind,
until his ambitious half-sister Sophia began to think what would
become of her when the boy should be czar. She had styled herself
Autocrat of all the Russias and did not like the idea of surrendering
the title. For some time she was appeased when her courtiers told her
that the boy cared for nothing except to amuse himself.
When he was sixteen years old, Peter asserted himself. Sophia had
ordered a triumphal entry for Prince Galitsyne and the army of the
Crimea, when Peter forbade her to leave the palace. She paid no
attention to his orders, but headed the procession of the returned
army. Peter saw that this meant war to the knife, and left for
Préobajenskoé.
As soon as she heard of this, Sophia determined to seize the throne.
She intended to attack the palace, kill Peter's friends and arrest his
mother, and after that to deal with the young czar as circumstances
demanded. She sent for the commandant of the streltsi who agreed to
sound the men. He told them that Sophia's life was in danger, and that
she had fled to a convent. The latter part of the story was true, as
she had in fact retreated to such a place, from which she sent letters
to the streltsi to come to her rescue. The commandant failed to secure
more than 500 men; the other streltsi told him that there should be an
investigation.
Two of the streltsi went to Peter and reported to him what was going
on, whereupon he moved to the famous Troïtsa monastery. The (p. 150)
Patriarch, foreign officers serving in the army, his playmates, and
even a regiment of streltsi came to him to offer their services. Peter
issued orders for the arrest of Sophia's favorite, the commandant of
the militia. She begged the Patriarch to interfere but met with a
refusal. The commandant under torture confessed the plot, and was
beheaded. Sophia's other friends were arrested; some were executed
while others were sent to prison; she herself was confined in the
convent where she had found a retreat. Peter was now the czar,
although he conducted the government in his own name and in that of
his weak-minded brother Ivan.
If Sophia had shocked the Russians by leaving the seclusion of the
women's apartments, Peter's acts were likely to astonish them still
more and to give offense. Rowing in a boat, instead of sitting in it
surrounded by his grandees; working like a carpenter, instead of
merely giving his orders through a courtier, and fighting with
foreigners and grooms, were acts so unlike to what a czar should do,
that Peter made a host of enemies. Little did he care! No sooner was
he free to do as he pleased, than he rushed off to Archangel, the only
port Russia could call her own, and there he saw salt water for the
first time. He mingled freely with captains of the foreign merchant
vessels and went out in their boats. On one occasion, he was out in a
storm and came near being drowned; but this did not prevent "Skipper
Peter Alexievitch," from putting out to sea again. Once he piloted
three Dutch vessels. The young czar gave orders to construct a
dockyard and to have boats built.
Peter longed for ports on an open sea, a sea that would not freeze (p. 151)
in winter. There were three which Russia might reasonably hope to own
some day, the Baltic, the Black, and the Caspian Sea. The Baltic
belonged to Sweden, and Peter feared difficulties in that direction;
but the Black Sea belonged to the Turks, and Peter quite understood
that a war with the infidels would be popular in Russia. He wished to
visit Western Europe; to see for himself the wonders of which he had
heard foreigners speak; but he made up his mind not to go until he
could appear as a victorious general.
Thus Peter made preparations for war with the Khan of the Crimea. He
did not command his army; what he wanted, was to learn, and therefore
he went as the gunner Peter Alexievitch. That did not prevent him from
keeping a sharp eye on his generals. Chief-engineer Jansen received a
sound whipping from him and deserted to the enemy. For this and other
causes he was compelled to raise the siege of Azof and to fall back to
Russia. His mother died in 1694. He returned to Russia in 1695, and
notwithstanding his defeat, he ordered a triumphal entry into Moscow;
but he felt very sore. The following year, 1696, his half-brother Ivan
died, and Peter was the sole Autocrat of all the Russias.
[Illustration: Peter the Great] (p. 152)
XVIII--PETER THE GREAT AND HIS REIGN. (p. 153)
Far from being discouraged by his defeat, Peter was more than ever
resolved to have a port on the Black Sea. He introduced reforms in the
army, and while doing this, he ordered a fleet of boats to be built on
the Don, and set 26,000 men to work on them. He also sent to Holland
and other parts of Europe for officers and gunners, and superintended
everything. It was at this time that he wrote to Moscow that,
"following the command God gave Adam, he was earning his bread by the
sweat of his brow." When he was ready, the army and the boats went
down the Don; Azof was blockaded by sea and by land, and forced to
capitulate. When the news arrived at Moscow, there was general
rejoicing, and even at Warsaw in Poland the people cheered for the
czar. The army returned to Moscow under triumphal arches, the generals
seated in magnificent sledges. A young officer, Peter Alexievitch,
recently promoted to captain, was marching in the ranks.
Peter wished to make of Azof a Russian town in the shortest time
possible. He secured from the douma an order by which three thousand
families were moved to that port, and streltsi were dispatched to
garrison it. The czar wanted a naval force, and moved by his energy,
the Patriarch, the prelates, and the monasteries offered to give (p. 154)
one ship for every 5,000 serfs owned by them. This example was
followed by nobles, officials, and merchants, and once more Peter sent
to the west for competent men to help build them. At the same time
fifty young nobles were dispatched to Venice to learn shipbuilding.
When he was seventeen years old, Peter had married Eudoxia Lapoukine,
whose relatives abhorred all that was new; Peter's wife shared their
sentiments, so that his home life was far from happy. He had a son by
her, named Alexis; after the fall of Azof, Peter secured a divorce, an
act unheard of in Russia, where she remained czarina in the eyes of
the people. Busy as he was, Peter left his son and heir in charge of
his divorced wife, while he was making preparations for the long
expected visit to the west of Europe.
He determined that an embassy should be sent, and that it should be
worthy of Russia. Accordingly he appointed the Swiss Lafort and two
Russian generals "the great Ambassadors of the Czar." Among their
retinue composed of two hundred and seventy persons, was a young man
Peter Mikhaïlof, better known as Peter Alexievitch. When the embassy
came to Riga, that young man was insulted by the governor. Peter said
nothing, but made a note of it for future use. At Königsberg, "Mr.
Peter Mikhaïlof" was appointed master of artillery by the Prussian
Colonel Sternfeld. The progress of the embassy was too slow for Peter
who had an object in view. He went ahead to Holland where he hired a
room from a blacksmith at Zaandam, bought a workman's suit, and (p. 155)
went to work in a dockyard. He often visited Amsterdam where his good
nature and passion to learn gained him the good-will of the people.
Peter then crossed over to London where he spent three months.
Competent men of every profession and trade were engaged by him
everywhere. Returning to Holland, his ship was caught in a violent
gale, which frightened even the sailors. Peter kept cool, and,
smiling, asked them if they "had ever heard of a Czar of Russia who
was drowned in the North Sea?"
Peter did not forget Russia's political interests. He talked with
William of Orange, the great opponent of Louis XIV, and with other
influential men, but he did not visit the court of France. After
satisfying his curiosity, he went to Vienna where he intended to study
strategy; but his stay was cut short by bad news from home.
Peter had met with a sullen, obstinate opposition in Russia. It was
led by the priests who said, and perhaps believed, that Peter was the
anti-Christ. It was a cause for complaint that Peter often wore
clothes of a German fashion; was the Russian costume not good enough
for him? Again, why did he not devote his time to war, as the other
czars had done? He had made a bargain with British merchants to import
tobacco into Russia; what did the Russians want with this
"sacrilegious smell?" But the climax was that a _Czar of the Russias_
should leave Holy Russia to go among heretics and heathens. Geography
was not studied in the czar's empire, and all nations on earth were
thought to belong to either of the two classes.
The trouble began among the streltsi who had been sent to Azof. (p. 156)
These citizen soldiers looked upon their destination at the other end
of the empire as an exile,--which it may have been. Two hundred
deserted and made their way back to Moscow and their families; they
were promptly hunted down. When they returned to their regiments, they
brought with them a secret proclamation from Sophia. "You suffer," she
declared, "but it will grow worse still. March on Moscow! What are you
waiting for? There is no news of the czar!" There was a rumor that
Peter was dead and that his son Alexis had been murdered by the
boyards. Four regiments revolted and left the ranks. Generals Gordon
and Schein went after them with the regular troops, and after
overtaking the mutineers, tried to bring them to reason. In reply they
stated their grievances and persisted in their determination not to
return to duty. The government troops then fired and scattered the
streltsi. A number of them were arrested, tortured, and executed.
At this time Peter returned, furious at what had happened. He was
determined to strike at the head of the opposition, the Russians who
openly denounced innovations. He ordered that the face must be shaved.
This was hitting every adult Russian in a tender spot, because the
shaving of the face was considered in the light of a blasphemy. He
began to enforce his orders at his court, sometimes acting as a barber
himself, when he was none too gentle. A number of gibbets erected on
the Red Square, reminded the bearded noble that the choice lay between
losing the beard or the head. The Patriarch appealed to Peter, a (p. 157)
holy eikon of the Virgin in his hand. "Why did you bring out the holy
eikon?" asked the czar. "Withdraw and restore it to its place. Know
that I venerate God and His mother as much as you do, but know also
that it is my duty to protect the people and to punish the rebels."
The gibbets did not stand as an idle threat. The Austrian Minister
Korb was a witness of the executions, which he describes thus: "Five
rebel heads had been sent into the dust by blows from an ax wielded by
the noblest hand in Russia." Thus Peter did not hesitate to be his own
executioner. It was like him to do his own work, regardless of what
the people might think. A thousand men were sent to a gory grave, by
the highest officers of the court; the executions lasted a week. The
funeral of the executed was forbidden. Bodies were seen dangling from
the walls of the kremlin for five months, and for the same length of
time, the corpses of some of the streltsi hung from the bars of
Sophia's prison, clutching the secret proclamation. Peter's divorced
wife had joined Sophia's party; the two ladies had their head shaved
and were confined in convents. The streltsi were dissolved and
replaced by regular troops.
Peter then turned upon the Cossacks of the Don, who had shown greater
independence than pleased him. Prince Dolgorouki to whom the task was
confided of bringing them to order, wrote to the czar after he had
destroyed the Cossack camp: "The chief rebels and traitors have been
hung; of the others, one out of every ten; and all these dead
malefactors have been laid on rafts, and turned into the river, to (p. 158)
strike terror into the hearts of the Don people and to cause them to
repent."
Mazeppa, as we have seen, was at this time hetman of the Cossacks of
Little Russia. In his youth he had been a page of John Casimir, king
of Poland; it was then that he had that terrible adventure which is
connected indelibly with his name. After he was cut loose from the
back of the unbroken horse that had carried him in the steppes, he
entered among the Cossacks, and rose from the ranks by betraying every
chief who helped him. Although it was Sophia who made him hetman, he
was among the first to declare for Peter. His enemies, of whom he had
many, accused him before the czar, but Peter admired him, and
delivered his accusers up to him; they did not live long after Mazeppa
had them in his power.
It was Mazeppa's scheme to establish an independent kingdom, he had
the support of the Cossacks who did not care to work but preferred to
be supported by the people. The industrious classes longed to get rid
of this burden, and looked toward the czar to set them free. The
tribute which Little Russia paid to Moscow was quite heavy, and when
it was rumored that Peter was going to war with Sweden, Mazeppa
thought this was an opportunity to carry out his scheme. He entered
into negotiations with Stanislas Lecszinski whom Swedish influence had
placed upon the throne of Poland. Peter was informed of this in
detail, but he did not credit it, beheaded one of his informants, and
the others, were tortured and sent to Siberia.
The war broke out, Charles XII, the romantic king of Sweden (p. 159)
arrived in the neighborhood of Little Russia, and Peter called on
Mazeppa to join the Russian army with his Cossacks. He pretended to be
dying, but when the two hostile armies were drawing close, he crossed
the Desna with his most trusted Cossacks to join the Swedes. Peter's
eyes were opened; he gave orders to his general Menzikoff to take and
sack Mazeppa's capital. This was done and Mazeppa's friends, who had
remained behind, were executed. Mazeppa himself reached the Swedish
camp. He was compelled to seek safety in Turkey, where he died
miserably at Bender. His territory was annexed to Russia, the Cossacks
lost all their privileges, and 1,200 of them were set to work on the
Ladoga canal.
It was in 1700 that Peter, after concluding an alliance with Poland,
determined to declare war against Sweden where young Charles XII had
recently succeeded to the throne. Attacked at the same time by Russia,
Poland, and Denmark, this young hero invaded the last-named country
and compelled its king to conclude peace. After relieving Riga,
Charles marched into Russia at the head of 8,500 men, and on the 30th
of November defeated a Russian army of 63,000 men. This victory proved
a misfortune, because it inspired the King of Sweden with contempt for
Russian soldiers and made him careless, whereas Peter worked
cheerfully and hard to profit from the lesson. While Charles was
absent in Poland, his army was twice defeated.
Each of the two antagonists was worthy of the other's steel. Both were
brave, but Charles was impetuous, whereas Peter acted upon cool
judgment. The war continued until 1709 when Charles found himself (p. 160)
in Little Russia, far away from supplies and reinforcements, in a
Russian winter which happened to be exceptionally severe. In the
spring he laid siege to Pultowa. The czar arrived on the 15th of June
with 60,000 men; Charles had 29,000. On July 8, 1709, the battle of
Pultowa was fought and Charles was defeated; he narrowly escaped being
captured. With Mazeppa and the Pole Poniatowski, he made his way
across the Turkish frontier, and remained until 1713, in the territory
of the Sultan, whom he finally induced to declare war against Peter.
This victory gave Peter the longed-for port on the Baltic, since
Sweden was no longer in a condition to stop him.
What induced Sultan Ahmed III to risk war with Russia, was the hope of
regaining Azof. Peter, on the other hand, hoped for an opportunity to
capture Constantinople, the Czargrad of former times. He knew that he
had the sympathy of the many Christians of the Greek Church, who were
suffering under the yoke of the Turk. Trusting upon their support,
Peter arrived on the bank of the Pruth with 38,000 exhausted soldiers.
There he found himself surrounded by 200,000 Turks and Tartars. Peter
gained a slight success, but not of sufficient importance to extricate
or relieve him. Fearing an overwhelming calamity, Peter was prepared
to make immense sacrifices in return for peace, and even to surrender
Azof and the territory taken from Sweden, when his second wife
Catherine had a happy thought. She collected all the money and jewels
in the Russian camp, and sent them as a present to the Grand Vizier in
command of the enemy, asking at the same time, what terms he would (p. 161)
make. They were found unexpectedly reasonable: the surrender of Azof,
the razing of the Russian forts erected on Turkish territory, and that
Charles XII should be free to return to Sweden. Peter accepted
eagerly, much as he regretted the loss of Azof and the failure of his
schemes.
In 1713, a Russian fleet under Admiral Apraxine, with Peter serving
under him as vice-admiral, captured several cities on the Baltic, and
a Russian force entered north Germany. An alliance was formed against
him and Peter decided to make an attempt at an alliance with France.
In 1718, just as peace was being concluded with Charles XII, the King
of Sweden, died and war broke out anew, lasting until 1721, when, by
the Peace of Nystad, Sweden surrendered to Russia Livonia, Esthonia,
and part of Finland. Peter had his way: Russia had open ports.
Peter was greatly pleased, and Russia rejoiced with him. The senate
and Holy Synod conferred upon him the titles of "the Great, the Father
of his country, and Emperor of all the Russias." In 1722, Peter led an
expedition to the Caspian Sea. He captured Baku and five other
important towns. He died three years later, in 1725.
XIX--PETER THE GREAT AND HIS TIME. (p. 162)
Before judging Peter the Great, the time in which he lived, and the
conditions which prevailed should receive careful consideration.
Throughout Western Europe, in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, in
parliamentary England and republican Holland, the people, that is the
masses, toiled early and late for the privilege of paying the taxes;
all immunities were reserved for the favored few composing the
aristocracy.
There was no education among the people, with the exception perhaps of
Holland, then still a power of the first rank. The principle was that
the interests of the individual were unworthy of consideration by the
side of those of the State. That was the case in France as well as in
Russia. Peter inherited the idea of autocratic power, and his travels
in Europe conveyed to him nothing to upset or contradict that idea. He
cannot, therefore, be considered in the light of a tyrant. He acted,
so far as he could know, within his prerogative, and did his duty as
he saw it.
Russia, with a thin and scattered population largely engaged in
agriculture, felt no impulse toward progress. The moujik lived as his
father had lived. He never came in contact with people of a superior
civilization who, by introducing new wants, could make him (p. 163)
discontented with his lot. Knowing no desire but to satisfy his
physical craving, he bore the extremes of heat and cold with equal
fortitude; the soil and his labor provided for his subsistence. A life
so sordid must either brutalize man or feed his imagination with the
unknown and dreaded forces of nature; superstition, deep and strong,
became part of the peasant's existence. It is generations before a
traditional and deep-rooted belief can be eradicated.
But Peter the Great gave as little thought to the moujik as did Louis
XIV to the peasants of France. His influence was exerted upon the
boyards, and among them the opposition was the stronger as they had
been imbued with Asiatic ideas under the Tartar yoke. Here the great
muscular strength of Peter rendered him great service. He did not
hesitate to use a stick upon the highest officials any more than Ivan
the Terrible had used his iron-tipped staff. Even Menzikoff was
chastized in this manner. Frederick the Great of Prussia did the same
afterwards. Nor was this method of punishing without its use. One day
when Peter was looking over the accounts of one of his nobles, he
proved to him that, whereas the boyard had been robbing the
government, he in turn had been robbed by his steward. The czar took
the noble by the collar and applied the stick with a muscular arm and
great vigor. After he had punished him to his heart's content, he let
him go, saying, "Now you had better go find your steward and settle
accounts with him."
It was Peter's purpose to make the Russians again into Europeans. (p. 164)
He rightly deemed it best to begin with externals, because they are
the object lessons of changes. The Russian boyard was attached to the
long caftan or tunic adopted from the Tartars, but above all he was
devoted to the hair on his face. The beard was doomed by the czar. He
could not play barber to all his subjects, but he imposed a heavy tax
upon unshaven faces. Owners of beards paid from thirty to one hundred
rubles, and moujiks had to pay two pence for theirs every time they
entered a city or town.