The Romanovs are a brief history of the Russian dynasty. The main secrets of the Romanov dynasty

A little background. The first reigning dynasty in Rus' was the Rurikovichs. Without going into details of the Norman theory of the ruling elite of Russia, we note that, despite its disgusting form for the Russian spirit, it was confirmed both during the choice after the “Troubles” and during the three-hundred-year reign of the Romanov dynasty. In the 17th century there were purely Russian tsars (the assumption that this was originally a Prussian family is not confirmed by anything except the statements of some court historians). In the 18th century, starting with Peter III and Catherine II, the German “spirit” began to prevail. What can we say about the 19th century, when the heirs to the throne married exclusively German princesses, having an ever-decreasing share of Russian blood. But an interesting and very important point is the influence of the Russian spirit and everything Russian. Being almost 100% German by blood, they acted like almost 100% Russians. And just like the Russians, they could love Russia, hate it, or be quite indifferent to everything, but they lived and worked for the benefit of Russia.

The Romanov dynasty and the history of Russia

Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov was elected to the throne by the Zemsky Sobor in 1613 as a compromise figure due to his young age and not very distant mind. A common political move for all times and peoples to achieve at least some kind of agreement and a temporary cessation of conflicts in an open form. But the dynasty took place due to the prevailing circumstances, since the Russian people strove for peace and order, wisdom and influence of the father of Michael I Philaret, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', as well as through the efforts of the subsequent Romanovs.

The first to call himself Romanov was the father of Mikhail I in honor of the names of his grandfather and father, who respectively bore the name Roman and patronymic Romanovich. But actually they were Zakharyins or Zakharyins-Yuryevs. The surnames are also clearly taken from the names of their ancestors, so there was nothing strange or special in Fyodor Nikitich’s action for that time. The history of the Romanovs can be reliably traced back to the reign of Ivan Kalita, and it came from the son of the Moscow boyar Andrei Kobyla (Kambila) - Fyodor Koshka.

Line of succession

The direct line of succession was interrupted with the death of Empress Elizabeth I. Starting with her declared heir to Peter III, this was already the Romanov dynasty of Holstein-Gottorp.

The first Romanovs

Let's consider the history of the first Romanovs. Mikhail I was poorly educated, susceptible to the influence of close relatives, and a kind person by nature. Despite poor health, he reigned for 32 years. Under him, the possibility of repeating the “troubled” times had already disappeared, the borders were expanded, the state and army were strengthened, and the so-called “Kukui” was founded, which had a huge influence on the self-education of the future Emperor Peter I.

Consider the story of Alexei Romanov. Alexey I Mikhailovich, although he was nicknamed the Quietest, annexed Ukraine, and the colonization of Siberia continued. A passionate lover of falconry and hound hunting, a good-natured and gentle person, nevertheless did not succumb to Patriarch Nikon’s demands for the “division” of power and won this confrontation, however, having caused a split in society by actions to continue church reform, which gave rise to such a phenomenon as "schismatics". His monetary reform led to the "Copper" rebellion. Father of 16 children, three of whom reigned, and Sophia was ruler. He died in 1676, appointing his son Fedor as successor.

Feodor III reigned for just under six years, leaving no heir, no will, no noticeable mark in the history of the Romanov family, except for the legal annexation of Left Bank Ukraine and Kyiv to Russia. Under him, the courtiers began to shave their beards and dress in Polish, which his brother Peter clearly saw.

Two tsars sat on the throne - the elder Ivan V (he was weak in mind, but formally ruled equally with Peter I until his death) and the younger Peter I. They even made the throne double. But the regent and de facto sovereign ruler under the two kings for 7 years was their very ambitious and powerful older sister Sophia - the first woman in power in this dynasty. This is all the more surprising since this was not the “enlightened” 18th century, but the century preceding it, if not of “house building,” then at least of strict “Moscow” morals and customs. Of her deeds, the most memorable is the “dispute” with the ideologists of the schism, her victory in it and the subsequent repressions against schismatics. Peter I, having reached adulthood, took advantage of the circumstances and deposed the regent, sending her to a monastery, where she was subsequently tonsured a nun and accepted the “great schema.”

Tsar Peter

Consider the story of Peter Romanov. Tsar, and since 1921 Emperor of All Russia, Peter I Alekseevich (reign 1789-1825) is a very controversial figure. Possessing an unbridled character, an “iron” will and an explosive temperament, he not even allegorically, but actually walked toward his goals “over corpses,” breaking established orders, morals and destinies of people throughout Russia. Yes, he often became scattered over trifles, fell into petty topics, regulated everything and everyone, sometimes crossing the line of reason, but he achieved his main goal - to make Russia a great modern power. And this is what he is famous for. Many of his actions predetermined the fate of our, and not only our, country for centuries. We feel and celebrate them even now, in the 21st century. People of such stature as Peter the Great are born once every century, or even twice.

What happened next?

Let's consider the history of the Russian Romanov dynasty after Peter I. Crowned during her lifetime, her wife Catherine I became empress only thanks to the favorite of Peter I - His Serene Highness Prince Menshikov. The “age” of palace coups had begun, in which the main thing was who the guard would support. As always, during his reign, it was Peter the Great himself who caused confusion, who issued a decree that the ruling emperor would designate the heir, and who himself did not leave a written order, but only managed to say in words: “Give up everything...”. His grandson, the future Emperor Peter II, had every chance, but Menshikov had more guards in this place and at this time. Catherine I ruled for two years under the supervision of the Supreme Privy Council (sovereigns), which included only one noble family - the Golitsyns, and the rest were like Menshikov - “chicks” of Petrov’s nest.

Also, under the supervision of the supreme leaders, the son of the murdered Tsarevich Alexei, Peter II Alekseevich, ruled for a little less than two years. His greatest act was the removal from power for “theft” and the exile of the almighty Menshikov, which neither Peter I nor Catherine I could do. However, in practice this only led to the redistribution of power in the Supreme Privy Council in favor of the Dolgorukys. Soon the emperor died of smallpox.

John V

What was the life story of the Romanovs from the branch of Tsar John V? Believing in their omnipotence, the leaders decided to introduce a limited monarchy in Russia. The Prince of Holstein (future Emperor Peter III) and “Petrov’s daughter” Elizabeth, indicated in the will of Catherine I, were not suitable for this purpose. Not giving a damn about the will of some “port washer”, they made an offer to become empress to Ivan V’s daughter Anna, but with the conditions (conditions) that her power would be partially limited by the Supreme Privy Council. She happily agreed and signed them. But here the high-born and non-high-born nobility became indignant, and everything was decided, again, by the guard, who supported not the leaders, but Anna Ioannovna. On March 1, 1730, the empress broke the “conditions” and ruled as an autocrat for ten years. The Supreme Privy Council was disbanded (its place was taken by Anna Ioannovna's favorite, the Courlander Biron), and the Governing Senate was restored. Biron was in charge of everything, and she amused herself with shooting, very accurately, and the outfits and antics of the jesters.

Brunswick family

Consider the history of the Romanov family from the Brunswick family. Despite the fact that anything happened during the reign of the Romanovs, as, indeed, in the history of foreign reigning families, the tragic fate of the infant Emperor Ivan VI and his family is the most sad and terrible. Anna Ioannovna really wanted to consolidate the “branch” of the Romanovs in power, coming from her father Ivan V. Therefore, in her will, she not only indicated as the heir the two-month-old baby (1940), born of her niece Anna Leopoldovna and Prince Consort Anton Ulrich of Brunswick, but and her children according to seniority, if any are born (regent, of course, beloved Biron). But her hopes were not destined to come true. First, Field Marshal Minikh overthrew Biron and himself became the de facto regent (formally, the emperor’s mother was appointed regent), and a year later, in November according to the old style, he was overthrown by Elizabeth I. Ivan Antonovich spent the remaining incomplete 23 years in captivity, most of it (19 years) - in solitary confinement in the Shlisselburg fortress as an unknown prisoner (like a character in the famous novel by Dumas, only without an iron mask on his face). His suffering can only be imagined, since there is no evidence of this left. Killed according to the instructions of Catherine II, during an attempt to free him by Second Lieutenant Mirovich and the soldiers subordinate to him. The story is very murky and looks like a set-up provocation, where Mirovich was “played” in the dark.

The fate of close relatives of Ivan VI is no less sad and evokes deep compassion. Although only his parents died in custody in Kholmogory, and two brothers and two sisters were allowed, after almost forty years of very strict imprisonment, to go to their father’s homeland in Denmark, the circumstances of their existence in Kholmogory plunge one into horror and at the same time into admiration for the strength of their spirit . The empress's niece, the generalissimo of the Russian army, the princes and princesses lived like commoners and prepared their own food (mostly porridge and salted cabbage, which they fermented themselves), were dressed in very poor patched and patched clothes, had freedom of movement only inside the former bishop's courtyard , very similar to a fortress. The children really wanted to pick up and smell the flowers that were sometimes visible in the meadow near their “home,” but they never got to do it. The mother died early after another birth, and the father supported them in every possible way and raised them to be persistent and courageous people. He guessed about the fate of his eldest son and, showing extreme courage, refused to Catherine II when in 1776 she finally decided to let him go, but only him alone - without children.

Elizabeth I and Peter III

We continue to study the history of the Romanovs. The Guard also brought Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth to power. As a girl, she was wooed by the Bourbons, but they politely refused; the groom who came to Russia died a short time before reaching the altar. So the future Empress Elizabeth I Alekseevna will remain unmarried.

Dressed in a guards uniform at the head of three hundred guards, she entered the Winter Palace. Little blood was shed, but she made a vow to herself during her reign not to execute anyone and fulfilled it even in relation to her main rival, Emperor Ivan VI.

It was rumored that she was in a secret morganatic marriage with Alexei Razumovsky (Princess Tarakanova is one of the impostors based on these rumors). She chose as her heir the grandson of Peter the Great, Ulrich, a representative of the family of the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp. In 1742 he arrived in Russia, where he was named Peter Fedorovich. She doted on him, and Ulrich did not like everything Russian and, adoring the military genius of the Prussian king Frederick the Great, preferred to be his general than the All-Russian Emperor. Easy to communicate to the point of familiarity, swearing obscenely when angry, Elizabeth I was usually kind and hospitable. She did not skimp on government affairs and delved into everything quite deeply. In 1744, she invited Princess Anhalt of Zerbst Fike to Russia as a bride for Peter, who was named Ekaterina Alekseevna. She, unlike her husband, really wanted to become an empress and did everything for this. Russia, under the leadership of Mother Elizabeth, had almost won the Seven Years' War against Prussia when the Empress passed away. Peter III, who ascended the throne in December 1761, immediately made peace and gave up everything the Russians had conquered earlier, thereby negatively inciting the Russian military and especially the guards against him. This was the age of palace coups. It was enough for Catherine to make acquaintances in the guard, dress in its uniform, give a signal and lead the coup. The deposed emperor, who ruled for less than a year, was “accidentally” killed in Ropsha by the favorites of Empress Catherine II.

Catherine II and Paul I

Like Peter I, Catherine deservedly received her title “Great”. Purposefully, with German tenacity and hard work, she, seeking her enthronement, also until the last years of her life personally worked for the good and greatness of the Russian state, forcing everyone to do this, to the best of their ability, of course. She placed her ill-wishers in the highest positions if they could do their job best, meticulously delved into state affairs and always listened to different opinions, even those that were personally unpleasant to her. Not everything did not always work out as it seemed to her rational and pedantic mind (this is Russia, after all, not Germany), but she persistently sought to achieve her goals, attracting all possible forces and means in her position. Under her, the problem of the Wild Field and Crimea was finally resolved. The subjugation and division of the territory of Russia's primordial enemy - Poland - was carried out repeatedly. She was a great educator and did a lot for the internal development of Russia. Having given the letter of grant to the nobility, she still did not dare to free the peasants. The sword of Damocles of illegitimacy hung over her all the time, and she was afraid of losing power as a result of the discontent of the nobles and the guard. At first, Ivan Antonovich may be in solitary confinement, but alive. The Pugachev uprising only intensified these fears. There was a son nearby who had rights to the throne, but she did not. It's good that he didn't like the guards. Even the sun has spots. And she had shortcomings, like all people, regardless of positions and titles. One of them is favorites, especially at the end of her life. But in Russia, in the history of the Romanovs, Catherine II remained in memory as the Mother Empress, caring for all her subjects.

Paul I Poor

What was the story of the Romanov Tsar Paul I Poor? He was not loved by his mother, who did not have the right to the throne, while he did. Of the 46 years he lived, he spent less than 5 years as emperor. He was a romantic and an idealist who believed that life could be changed by decrees. A little eccentric (though he was far from Peter I), he quickly made decisions and just as quickly canceled them. Paul I quickly turned the guards against himself, not attaching importance to the lessons that life taught, including the example of his father. And when he left the zone of influence of English politics, realizing that they would not help him with Malta and the Order of Malta, which he had sworn to help, he stopped the war with France and was going to send an expeditionary force to India (via Central Asia and Afghanistan) to live he didn't have much time left. The conspiracy was led by the head of the secret police, the last favorites of Catherine II, the Zubov brothers (their sister was the mistress of the English ambassador), commanders and officers of the guards regiments participated. He knew about the conspiracy, did not participate, but did not interfere with it, Pavel’s eldest son Alexander. On a March night in 1801, the conspirators, either with a blow to the temple with something heavy, or with the help of a scarf, killed Emperor Paul I. In the coming century, there will be no more successful coups.

The Romanovs: the history of the Russian dynasty in the 19th century

Emperor Alexander I Pavlovich the Blessed, who “discovered” the 19th century, an aristocrat, a liberal and a very indecisive man, tormented throughout his reign by pangs of conscience for his secret participation in the murder of his father, did not leave an heir. By this, after his death in 1925, he provoked an uprising of the “Decembrists” whose activities he knew, but, again, did nothing except encourage espionage and denunciation against the conspirators. Proclaiming the need for reforms, he found thousands of excuses not to engage in them. Having accomplished his greatest deed - the defeat of Napoleon's Grand Army, he did not heed the advice of the old and wise commander Kutuzov (not to go to Europe and leave the enemy barely alive to alarm England) and continued to pull chestnuts out of the fire for England, Austria-Hungary and even Prussia. His innate talent for pleasing everyone crystallized into the idea of ​​a holy union of European monarchs. While the Russian emperor, with his head in the clouds, was giving balls in Vienna and talking about serving higher interests, his more practical “colleagues” were tearing Europe apart piece by piece. In his last years on the throne, he fell into mysticism and his death (or departure from the duties of the emperor) is shrouded in mystery.

Having come to power after the refusal of his brother Constantine and the execution of the rebel units of the “Decembrists,” Nicholas I Pavlovich the Unforgettable ruled for almost thirty years. The owner of a name unprecedented in the royal house, popularly nicknamed Palkin, was a pedant and a bookworm. Having taken his brother’s idea of ​​a sacred union of monarchs literally, passionately loving Russia and imagining himself the arbiter of European affairs, he participated in the suppression of a number of revolutions and so annoyed everyone in Europe that he received the intervention of 4 countries and lost the Crimean War, including due to the enormous technical Russia's lag. The power, based on restraining reforms, which, in his understanding, should have been replaced by discipline, order and proper execution of orders by the military and officials, was cracking at the seams and falling apart. Nicholas I did not live to see the end of the war, he was depressed by what had happened, and the cold only gave him the opportunity to leave, since he could no longer change, but it was no longer possible to rule as before.

The great reformer Alexander II Nikolaevich the Liberator drew conclusions from the dying instructions of his father and the “efforts” for reforms of his uncle. He had a completely different character than Peter I, and the time was different, but his reforms, like Peter’s, were designed to last for many decades. He carried out reforms in almost all areas of life, but the most fundamental and effective were reforms in the military field, zemstvo and judicial reforms and, of course, the abolition of serfdom and a set of reforms regarding land use. But the prepared constitutional reform could not be implemented due to his murder by the Narodnaya Volya.

Emperor Alexander III Alexandrovich the Peacemaker, who began to rule after the murder of his father in 1881, reigned for thirteen years and during all this time did not wage a single war. It’s a little strange for a politician who declared an official course to curtail the reforms of his father, openly “conserved” society and declared that Russia has only two allies - its army and navy, which, by the way, through his efforts, took 3rd place in the world . In foreign policy, he made a sharp turn from the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, to an alliance with republican France.

No less controversial than Peter I is the figure of the last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II Alexandrovich. True, the scale of their personalities is incomparable. And the result of their activities is the opposite: the birth of Russia as an empire for one and the collapse of the Russian Empire for the other. In general, the Russian people are sharp-tongued and precise in their nicknames. Nicholas II the Bloody - this is the nickname of the last emperor. “Khodynka”, “Bloody Sunday”, the suppression of the first Russian revolution of 1905 and rivers of blood in the First World War. Our natural allies, the German and Japanese empires, became our enemies forever, and the centuries-old enemy and rival the British Empire became our ally. True, we must pay tribute, not only Nicholas II is to blame for this. A wonderful family man, skillfully splitting logs into firewood, he turned out to be no “master” of the Russian land.

XX century

In short, the history of the Romanovs in the 20th century was as follows: under strong pressure from the military elite and the Duma members, the Emperor of All Rus' on March 2 (old style) 1917 decided to abdicate the throne for himself and his son (which he did not do). in law) in favor of brother Mikhail. He abdicated the throne and called for submission to the Russian Provisional Government only the next day, thereby formally becoming Emperor Michael II for one day.

Innocently murdered by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg, the last de facto emperor and his entire family are canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) as passion-bearers. A month earlier, near Perm, security officers also killed Mikhail II (canonized in the host of Russian New Martyrs).

What does the book “House of Romanov” by Grebelsky and Mirvis say about the history of the Romanovs? After the February Revolution, 48 members of the Russian Imperial House emigrated to the West - this does not take into account those who entered into morganatic marriages. In our century, this house is headed by Grand Duchess Maria I Vladimirovna, and the heir is the Tsarevich and Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich (branch of the Kirillovichs). Their supremacy is challenged by the prince of the imperial blood, Andrei Andreevich Romanov, who is supported by all branches of the Romanov family, except for the “Kirillovichs”. This is what the history of the Romanovs was like in the 20th century.

On Ivan IV the Terrible (†1584) The Rurik dynasty in Russia was interrupted. After his death it began Time of Troubles.

The result of the 50-year reign of Ivan the Terrible was sad. Endless wars, oprichnina, and mass executions led to unprecedented economic decline. By the 1580s, a huge part of the previously prosperous lands had become deserted: abandoned villages and villages stood all over the country, arable land was overgrown with forest and weeds. As a result of the protracted Livonian War, the country lost part of its western lands. Noble and influential aristocratic clans strove for power and waged an irreconcilable struggle among themselves. A heavy inheritance fell on the lot of the successor of Tsar Ivan IV - his son Fyodor Ivanovich and guardian Boris Godunov. (Ivan the Terrible had one more son-heir - Tsarevich Dmitry Uglichsky, who was 2 years old at that time).

Boris Godunov (1584-1605)

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, his son ascended the throne Fedor Ioannovich . The new king was unable to rule the country (according to some sources he was weak in health and mind) and was under the tutelage first of the council of boyars, then of his brother-in-law Boris Godunov. A stubborn struggle between the boyar groups of the Godunovs, Romanovs, Shuiskys, and Mstislavskys began at court. But a year later, as a result of the “undercover struggle,” Boris Godunov cleared the way for himself from his rivals (some were accused of treason and exiled, some were forcibly tonsured as monks, some “died into another world” in time). Those. The boyar became the de facto ruler of the state. During the reign of Fyodor Ivanovich, the position of Boris Godunov became so significant that overseas diplomats sought an audience with Boris Godunov, his will was the law. Fedor reigned, Boris ruled - everyone knew this both in Rus' and abroad.

S. V. Ivanov. "Boyar Duma"

After the death of Fedor (January 7, 1598), a new tsar was elected at the Zemsky Sobor - Boris Godunov (thus, he became the first Russian Tsar to receive the throne not by inheritance, but by election at the Zemsky Sobor).

(1552 - April 13, 1605) - after the death of Ivan the Terrible, he became the de facto ruler of the state as the guardian of Fyodor Ioannovich, and since 1598 - Russian Tsar .

Under Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov was first a guardsman. In 1571 he married the daughter of Malyuta Skuratov. And after the marriage of his sister Irina in 1575 (the only "Tsarina Irina" on the Russian throne) On the son of Ivan the Terrible, Tsarevich Fyodor Ioannovich, he became a close person to the Tsar.

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, the royal throne first went to his son Fedor (under the guardianship of Godunov), and after his death - to Boris Godunov himself.

He died in 1605 at the age of 53, at the height of the war with False Dmitry I, who had moved to Moscow. After his death, Boris’s son Fedor, an educated and extremely intelligent young man, became king. But as a result of the rebellion in Moscow, provoked by False Dmitry, Tsar Fedor and his mother Maria Godunova were brutally killed.(The rebels left only Boris’s daughter, Ksenia, alive. She faced the bleak fate of the impostor’s concubine.)

Boris Godunov was pburied in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin. Under Tsar Vasily Shuisky, the remains of Boris, his wife and son were transferred to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and buried in a sitting position at the northwestern corner of the Assumption Cathedral. Ksenia was buried there in 1622, and Olga was buried in monasticism. In 1782, a tomb was built over their tombs.

The activities of Godunov's reign are assessed positively by historians. Under him, the comprehensive strengthening of statehood began. Thanks to his efforts, he was elected in 1589 first Russian patriarch which he became Moscow Metropolitan Job. The establishment of the patriarchate testified to the increased prestige of Russia.

Patriarch Job (1589-1605)

An unprecedented construction of cities and fortifications began. To ensure the safety of the waterway from Kazan to Astrakhan, cities were built on the Volga - Samara (1586), Tsaritsyn (1589) (future Volgograd), Saratov (1590).

In foreign policy, Godunov proved himself to be a talented diplomat - Russia regained all the lands transferred to Sweden following the unsuccessful Livonian War (1558-1583).Russia's rapprochement with the West has begun. There was never before in Rus' a sovereign who was so favorable to foreigners as Godunov. He began to invite foreigners to serve. For foreign trade, the government created the most favored nation regime. At the same time, strictly protecting Russian interests. Under Godunov, nobles began to be sent to the West to study. True, none of those who left brought any benefit to Russia: having studied, none of them wanted to return to their homeland.Tsar Boris himself really wanted to strengthen his ties with the West by becoming related to a European dynasty, and made a lot of efforts to profitably marry off his daughter Ksenia.

Having started successfully, the reign of Boris Godunov ended sadly. A series of boyar conspiracies (many boyars harbored hostility towards the “upstart”) gave rise to despondency, and soon a real catastrophe broke out. The silent opposition that accompanied Boris's reign from beginning to end was no secret to him. There is evidence that the tsar directly accused the close boyars of the fact that the appearance of the impostor False Dmitry I could not have happened without their assistance. The city population was also in opposition to the authorities, dissatisfied with the heavy exactions and arbitrariness of local officials. And the rumors circulating about Boris Godunov’s involvement in the murder of the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Dmitry Ioannovich, “heated up” the situation even more. Thus, hatred of Godunov by the end of his reign was universal.

Troubles (1598-1613)

Famine (1601 - 1603)

IN 1601-1603 erupted in the country catastrophic famine , which lasted 3 years. The price of bread increased 100 times. Boris prohibited the sale of bread above a certain limit, even resorting to persecution of those who inflated prices, but did not achieve success. In an effort to help the hungry, he spared no expense, widely distributing money to the poor. But bread became more expensive, and money lost value. Boris ordered the royal barns to be opened for the hungry. However, even their reserves were not enough for all the hungry, especially since, having learned about the distribution, people from all over the country flocked to Moscow, abandoning the meager supplies that they still had at home. In Moscow alone, 127,000 people died of hunger, and not everyone had time to bury them. Cases of cannibalism appeared. People began to think that this was God's punishment. The conviction arose that Boris's reign was not blessed by God, because it was lawless, achieved through untruth. Therefore, it cannot end well.

A sharp deterioration in the situation of all segments of the population led to mass unrest under the slogan of overthrowing Tsar Boris Godunov and transferring the throne to the “legitimate” sovereign. The stage was ready for the appearance of an impostor.

False Dmitry I (1 (11) June 1605 - 17 (27) May 1606)

Rumors began to circulate throughout the country that the “born sovereign,” Tsarevich Dmitry, miraculously escaped and was alive.

Tsarevich Dmitry (†1591) , the son of Ivan the Terrible from the Tsar’s last wife, Maria Feodorovna Nagaya (monastically Martha), died under circumstances that have not yet been clarified - from a knife wound to the throat.

Death of Tsarevich Dmitry (Uglichsky)

Little Dmitry suffered from mental disorders, more than once fell into causeless anger, threw his fists even at his mother, and suffered from epilepsy. All this, however, did not negate the fact that he was a prince and after the death of Fyodor Ioannovich (†1598) he had to ascend to his father’s throne. Dmitry posed a real threat to many: the boyar nobility had suffered enough from Ivan the Terrible, so they watched the violent heir with alarm. But most of all, the prince was dangerous, of course, to those forces that relied on Godunov. That is why, when news of his strange death came from Uglich, where 8-year-old Dmitry was sent with his mother, popular rumor immediately, without any doubt that it was right, pointed to Boris Godunov as the mastermind of the crime. The official conclusion that the prince killed himself: while playing with a knife, he allegedly had an epileptic fit, and in convulsions he stabbed himself in the throat, few people were convinced.

The death of Dmitry in Uglich and the subsequent death of the childless Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich led to a crisis of power.

It was not possible to put an end to the rumors, and Godunov tried to do this by force. The more actively the king fought against people’s rumors, the wider and louder it became.

In 1601, a man appeared on the scene posing as Tsarevich Dmitry, and went down in history under the name False Dmitry I . He, the only one of all Russian impostors, managed to seize the throne for a while.

- an impostor who pretended to be the miraculously saved youngest son of Ivan IV the Terrible - Tsarevich Dmitry. The first of three impostors who called themselves the son of Ivan the Terrible and claimed the Russian throne (False Dmitry II and False Dmitry III). From June 1 (11), 1605 to May 17 (27), 1606 - Tsar of Russia.

According to the most common version, False Dmitry is someone Grigory Otrepiev , fugitive monk of the Chudov Monastery (which is why the people received the nickname Rasstriga - deprived of clergy, i.e. the degree of priesthood). Before becoming a monk, he served in the service of Mikhail Nikitich Romanov (brother of Patriarch Filaret and uncle of the first tsar of the Romanov family, Mikhail Fedorovich). After the persecution of the Romanov family by Boris Godunov began in 1600, he fled to the Zheleznoborkovsky Monastery (Kostroma) and became a monk. But soon he moved to the Euthymius Monastery in the city of Suzdal, and then to the Moscow Miracle Monastery (in the Moscow Kremlin). There he quickly becomes a “deacon of the cross”: he is engaged in copying books and is present as a scribe in the “sovereign Duma”. ABOUTTrepiev becomes quite familiar with Patriarch Job and many of the Duma boyars. However, the life of a monk did not attract him. Around 1601, he fled to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), where he declared himself a “miraculously saved prince.” Further, his traces are lost in Poland until 1603.

Otrepyev in Poland declares himself Tsarevich Dmitry

According to some sources, Otrepievconverted to Catholicism and proclaimed himself prince. Although the impostor treated questions of faith lightly, being indifferent to both Orthodox and Catholic traditions. There in Poland, Otrepiev saw and fell in love with the beautiful and proud lady Marina Mnishek.

Poland actively supported the impostor. In exchange for support, False Dmitry promised, after ascending the throne, to return half of the Smolensk land to the Polish crown along with the city of Smolensk and the Chernigov-Seversk land, to support the Catholic faith in Russia - in particular, to open churches and allow Jesuits into Muscovy, to support the Polish king Sigismund III in his claims to the Swedish crown and promote rapprochement - and ultimately, merger - between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the same time, False Dmitry turns to the Pope with a letter promising favor and help.

Oath of False Dmitry I to the Polish King Sigismund III for the introduction of Catholicism in Russia

After a private audience in Krakow with the King of Poland, Sigismund III, False Dmitry began to form a detachment for a campaign against Moscow. According to some reports, he managed to gather more than 15,000 people.

On October 16, 1604, False Dmitry I with detachments of Poles and Cossacks moved towards Moscow. When the news of the attack of False Dmitry reached Moscow, the boyar elite, dissatisfied with Godunov, was willingly ready to recognize a new contender for the throne. Even the curses of the Moscow Patriarch did not cool the people’s enthusiasm on the path of “Tsarevich Dmitry.”

The success of False Dmitry I was caused not so much by the military factor as by the unpopularity of the Russian Tsar Boris Godunov. Ordinary Russian warriors were reluctant to fight against someone who, in their opinion, could be the “true” prince; some governors even said out loud that it was “not right” to fight against the true sovereign.

On April 13, 1605, Boris Godunov unexpectedly died. The boyars swore allegiance to the kingdom to his son Fedor, but on June 1 there was an uprising in Moscow, and Fedor Borisovich Godunov was overthrown. And on June 10, he and his mother were killed. The people wanted to see the “God-given” Dmitry as king.

Convinced of the support of the nobles and the people, on June 20, 1605, to the festive ringing of bells and the welcoming cries of crowds crowded on both sides of the road, False Dmitry I solemnly entered the Kremlin. The new king was accompanied by the Poles. On July 18, False Dmitry was recognized by Tsarina Maria, the wife of Ivan the Terrible and the mother of Tsarevich Dmitry. On July 30, False Dmitry was crowned king by the new Patriarch Ignatius.

For the first time in Russian history, Western foreigners came to Moscow not by invitation and not as dependent people, but as the main characters. The impostor brought with him a huge retinue that occupied the entire city center. For the first time, Moscow was filled with Catholics; for the first time, the Moscow court began to live not according to Russian, but according to Western, or more precisely, Polish laws. For the first time, foreigners began to push Russians around as if they were their slaves, demonstratively showing them that they were second-class citizens.The history of the Poles' stay in Moscow is full of bullying by uninvited guests against the owners of the house.

False Dmitry removed obstacles to leaving the state and moving within it. The British, who were in Moscow at that time, noted that no European state had ever known such freedom. In most of his actions, some modern historians recognize False Dmitry as an innovator who sought to Europeanize the state. At the same time, he began to look for allies in the West, especially the Pope and the Polish king; the proposed alliance was also supposed to include the German emperor, the French king and the Venetians.

One of the weaknesses of False Dmitry was women, including the wives and daughters of boyars, who actually became the tsar’s free or involuntary concubines. Among them was even the daughter of Boris Godunov, Ksenia, whom, because of her beauty, the impostor spared during the extermination of the Godunov family, and then kept with him for several months. In May 1606, False Dmitry married the daughter of a Polish governor Marina Mnishek , who was crowned as a Russian queen without observing Orthodox rites. The new queen reigned in Moscow for exactly a week.

At the same time, a dual situation arose: on the one hand, the people loved False Dmitry, and on the other, they suspected him of being an impostor. In the winter of 1605, the Chudov monk was captured, publicly declaring that Grishka Otrepyev was sitting on the throne, whom “he himself taught to read and write.” The monk was tortured, but without achieving anything, he was drowned in the Moscow River along with several of his comrades.

Almost from the first day, a wave of discontent swept through the capital due to the tsar’s failure to observe church fasts and violation of Russian customs in clothing and life, his disposition towards foreigners, his promise to marry a Polish woman and the planned war with Turkey and Sweden. At the head of the dissatisfied were Vasily Shuisky, Vasily Golitsyn, Prince Kurakin and the most conservative representatives of the clergy - Kazan Metropolitan Hermogenes and Kolomna Bishop Joseph.

What irritated the people was that the tsar, the more clearly he mocked Muscovite prejudices, dressed in foreign clothes and seemed to deliberately tease the boyars, ordering them to serve veal, which the Russians did not eat.

Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610)

17 May 1606 as a result of a coup led by Shuisky's people False Dmitry was killed . The mutilated corpse was thrown onto the Execution Ground, with a buffoonish cap put on its head and bagpipes placed on its chest. Subsequently, the body was burned, and the ashes were loaded into a cannon and fired from it towards Poland.

1 9 May 1606 Vasily Shuisky became king (was crowned by Metropolitan Isidore of Novgorod in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin as Tsar Vasily IV on June 1, 1606). Such an election was illegal, but this did not bother any of the boyars.

Vasily Ivanovich Shuisky , from the family of Suzdal princes Shuisky, who descended from Alexander Nevsky, was born in 1552. Since 1584 he was a boyar and head of the Moscow Court Chamber.

In 1587 he led the opposition to Boris Godunov. As a result, he fell into disgrace, but managed to regain the king’s favor and was forgiven.

After the death of Godunov, Vasily Shuisky tried to carry out a coup, but was arrested and exiled along with his brothers. But False Dmitry needed boyar support, and at the end of 1605 the Shuiskys returned to Moscow.

After the murder of False Dmitry I, organized by Vasily Shuisky, the boyars and the crowd bribed by them, gathered on Red Square in Moscow, elected Shuisky to the throne on May 19, 1606.

However, 4 years later, in the summer of 1610, the same boyars and nobles overthrew him from the throne and forced him and his wife to become monks. In September 1610, the former “boyar” tsar was handed over to the Polish hetman (commander-in-chief) Zholkiewski, who took Shuiski to Poland. In Warsaw, the Tsar and his brothers were presented as prisoners to King Sigismund III.

Vasily Shuisky died on September 12, 1612, in custody in Gostyninsky Castle, in Poland, 130 versts from Warsaw. In 1635, at the request of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, the remains of Vasily Shuisky were returned by the Poles to Russia. Vasily was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

With the accession of Vasily Shuisky to the throne, the Troubles did not end, but entered an even more complex phase. Tsar Vasily was not popular among the people. The legitimacy of the new king was not recognized by a significant number of the population, who were awaiting the new coming of the “true king.” Unlike False Dmitry, Shuisky could not pretend to be a descendant of the Ruriks and appeal to the hereditary right to the throne. Unlike Godunov, the conspirator was not legally elected by the council, which means he could not, like Tsar Boris, claim the legitimacy of his power. He relied only on a narrow circle of supporters and could not resist the elements that were already raging in the country.

In August 1607 a new contender for the throne has appeared, reanimated” by the same Poland -.

This second impostor received the nickname in Russian history Tushino thief . In his army there were up to 20 thousand multilingual rabble. This whole mass scoured the Russian soil and behaved as occupiers usually behave, that is, they robbed, killed and raped. In the summer of 1608, False Dmitry II approached Moscow and camped near its walls in the village of Tushino. Tsar Vasily Shuisky and his government were locked up in Moscow; An alternative capital with its own government hierarchy arose under its walls.

The Polish governor Mniszek and his daughter soon arrived at the camp. Oddly enough, Marina Mnishek “recognized” her ex-fiancé in the impostor and secretly married False Dmitry II.

False Dmitry II actually ruled Russia - he distributed land to nobles, considered complaints, and met foreign ambassadors.By the end of 1608, a significant part of Russia came under the rule of the Tushins, and Shuisky no longer controlled the regions of the country. The Moscow state seemed to cease to exist forever.

In September 1608 it began siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery , and inFamine struck besieged Moscow. Trying to save the situation, Vasily Shuisky decided to call on mercenaries for help and turned to the Swedes.

Siege of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra by the troops of False Dmitry II and the Polish hetman Jan Sapieha

In December 1609, due to the advance of a 15,000-strong Swedish army and the betrayal of Polish military leaders who began to swear allegiance to King Sigismund III, False Dmitry II was forced to flee from Tushin to Kaluga, where a year later he was killed.

Interregnum (1610-1613)

Russia's situation worsened day by day. The Russian land was torn apart by civil strife, the Swedes threatened war in the north, the Tatars constantly rebelled in the south, and the Poles threatened from the west. During the Time of Troubles, the Russian people tried anarchy, military dictatorship, thieves' law, tried to introduce a constitutional monarchy, and offer the throne to foreigners. But nothing helped. At that time, many Russians agreed to recognize any sovereign, if only there would finally be peace in the tormented country.

In England, in turn, the project of an English protectorate over all Russian land not yet occupied by the Poles and Swedes was seriously considered. According to the documents, King James I of England “was carried away by the plan to send an army to Russia to govern it through his delegate.”

However, on July 27, 1610, as a result of a boyar conspiracy, Russian Tsar Vasily Shuisky was removed from the throne. A period of rule has begun in Russia "Seven Boyars" .

"Seven Boyars" - a “temporary” boyar government formed in Russia after the overthrow of Tsar Vasily Shuisky (died in Polish captivity) in July 1610 and formally existed until the election of Tsar Mikhail Romanov to the throne.

Consisted of 7 members of the Boyar Duma - princes F.I. Mstislavsky, I.M. Vorotynsky, A.V. Trubetskoy, A.V. Golitsyna, B.M. Lykov-Obolensky, I.N. Romanov (uncle of the future Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and younger brother of the future Patriarch Filaret) and F.I. Sheremetyev. The prince, boyar, governor, and influential member of the Boyar Duma, Fyodor Ivanovich Mstislavsky, was elected head of the Seven Boyars.

One of the tasks of the new government was to prepare for the election of a new king. However, “military conditions” required immediate decisions.
In the west of Moscow, in the immediate vicinity of Poklonnaya Hill near the village of Dorogomilov, the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, led by Hetman Zholkiewski, stood up, and in the southeast, in Kolomenskoye, False Dmitry II, with whom was the Lithuanian detachment of Sapieha. The boyars were especially afraid of False Dmitry because he had many supporters in Moscow and was at least more popular than them. In order to avoid the struggle of boyar clans for power, it was decided not to elect representatives of Russian clans as tsar.

As a result, the so-called “Semibyarshchina” entered into an agreement with the Poles on the election of the 15-year-old Polish prince Vladislav IV to the Russian throne (son of Sigismund III) on the terms of his conversion to Orthodoxy.

Fearing False Dmitry II, the boyars went even further and on the night of September 21, 1610 secretly allowed the Polish troops of Hetman Zholkiewski into the Kremlin (in Russian history this fact is considered an act of national treason).

Thus, real power in the capital and beyond was concentrated in the hands of the governor, Władysław Pan Gonsiewski, and the military leaders of the Polish garrison.

Disregarding the Russian government, they generously distributed lands to supporters of Poland, confiscating them from those who remained loyal to the country.

Meanwhile, King Sigismund III had no intention of letting his son Vladislav go to Moscow, especially since he did not want to allow him to convert to Orthodoxy. Sigismund himself dreamed of taking the Moscow throne and becoming king of Muscovite Rus'. Taking advantage of the chaos, the Polish king conquered the western and southeastern regions of the Moscow state and began to consider himself the sovereign of all Rus'.

This changed the attitude of the members of the government of the Seven Boyars themselves towards the Poles they called. Taking advantage of the growing discontent, Patriarch Hermogenes began sending letters to the cities of Russia, calling for resistance to the new government. For this he was taken into custody and subsequently executed. All this served as a signal for the unification of almost all Russians with the goal of expelling the Polish invaders from Moscow and electing a new Russian Tsar not only by the boyars and princes, but “by the will of the whole earth.”

People's militia of Dmitry Pozharsky (1611-1612)

Seeing the atrocities of foreigners, the robbery of churches, monasteries and the episcopal treasury, the residents began to fight for the faith, for their spiritual salvation. The siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery by Sapieha and Lisovsky and its defense played a huge role in strengthening patriotism.

Defense of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, which lasted almost 16 months - from September 23, 1608 to January 12, 1610

The patriotic movement under the slogan of electing the “original” sovereign led to the formation in the Ryazan cities First Militia (1611) who began the liberation of the country. In October 1612, troops Second Militia (1611-1612) Led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, they liberated the capital, forcing the Polish garrison to surrender.

After the expulsion of the Poles from Moscow, thanks to the feat of the Second People's Militia led by Minin and Pozharsky, the country was ruled for several months by a provisional government led by princes Dmitry Pozharsky and Dmitry Trubetskoy.

At the very end of December 1612, Pozharsky and Trubetskoy sent letters to the cities in which they summoned the best and most intelligent elected people from all cities and from every rank to Moscow, “for the zemstvo council and for state election.” These elected people were to elect a new king in Rus'. The Zemsky Militia Government (“Council of the Whole Land”) began preparations for the Zemsky Sobor.

Zemsky Sobor of 1613 and the election of a new tsar

Before the start of the Zemsky Sobor, a 3-day strict fast was announced everywhere. Many prayer services were held in churches so that God would enlighten the elected people, and the matter of election to the kingdom would be accomplished not by human desire, but by the will of God.

On January 6 (19), 1613, the Zemsky Sobor began in Moscow , at which the issue of electing a Russian Tsar was decided. This was the first indisputably all-class Zemsky Sobor with the participation of townspeople and even rural representatives. All segments of the population were represented, with the exception of slaves and serfs. The number of “council people” gathered in Moscow exceeded 800 people, representing at least 58 cities.

The conciliar meetings took place in an atmosphere of fierce rivalry between various political groups that had taken shape in Russian society during the ten-year Troubles and sought to strengthen their position by electing their contender to the royal throne. The Council participants nominated more than ten candidates for the throne.

At first, the Polish prince Vladislav and the Swedish prince Karl Philip were named as contenders for the throne. However, these candidates met with opposition from the vast majority of the Council. The Zemsky Sobor annulled the decision of the Seven Boyars to elect Prince Vladislav to the Russian throne and decreed: “Foreign princes and Tatar princes should not be invited to the Russian throne.”

Candidates from old princely families also did not receive support. Various sources name Fyodor Mstislavsky, Ivan Vorotynsky, Fyodor Sheremetev, Dmitry Trubetskoy, Dmitry Mamstrukovich and Ivan Borisovich Cherkassky, Ivan Golitsyn, Ivan Nikitich and Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov and Pyotr Pronsky among the candidates. Dmitry Pozharsky was also proposed as king. But he decisively rejected his candidacy and was one of the first to point out the ancient family of Romanov boyars. Pozharsky said: “According to the nobility of the family, and the amount of services to the fatherland, Metropolitan Filaret from the Romanov family would have been suitable for king. But this good servant of God is now in Polish captivity and cannot become king. But he has a sixteen-year-old son, and he, by the right of the antiquity of his family and by the right of his pious upbringing by his nun mother, should become king.”(In the world, Metropolitan Filaret was a boyar - Fyodor Nikitich Romanov. Boris Godunov forced him to become a monk, fearing that he might displace Godunov and sit on the royal throne.)

Moscow nobles, supported by the townspeople, proposed to elevate 16-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, the son of Patriarch Filaret, to the throne. According to a number of historians, the decisive role in the election of Mikhail Romanov to the kingdom was played by the Cossacks, who during this period became an influential social force. A movement arose among service people and Cossacks, the center of which was the Moscow courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, and its active inspirer was the cellarer of this monastery, Avraamy Palitsyn, a very influential person among both the militias and Muscovites. At meetings with the participation of cellarer Abraham, it was decided to proclaim Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov Yuryev, the son of Rostov Metropolitan Filaret captured by the Poles, as Tsar.The main argument of Mikhail Romanov’s supporters was that, unlike elected tsars, he was elected not by people, but by God, since he comes from a noble royal root. Not kinship with Rurik, but closeness and kinship with the dynasty of Ivan IV gave the right to occupy his throne. Many boyars joined the Romanov party, and he was also supported by the highest Orthodox clergy - Consecrated Cathedral.

On February 21 (March 3), 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom, laying the foundation for a new dynasty.

In 1613, the Zemsky Sobor swore allegiance to 16-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich

Letters were sent to the cities and districts of the country with the news of the election of a king and the oath of allegiance to the new dynasty.

On March 13, 1613, the ambassadors of the Council arrived in Kostroma. At the Ipatiev Monastery, where Mikhail was with his mother, he was informed of his election to the throne.

The Poles tried to prevent the new Tsar from arriving in Moscow. A small detachment of them went to the Ipatiev Monastery to kill Michael, but got lost along the way, because the peasant Ivan Susanin , agreeing to show the way, led him into a dense forest.

On June 11, 1613, Mikhail Fedorovich was crowned king in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. The celebrations lasted 3 days.

The election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom put an end to the Troubles and gave rise to the Romanov dynasty.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

The Romanovs are a Russian boyar family that began its existence in the 16th century and gave rise to the great dynasty of Russian tsars and emperors who ruled until 1917.

For the first time, the surname “Romanov” was used by Fyodor Nikitich (Patriarch Filaret), who named himself so in honor of his grandfather Roman Yuryevich and father Nikita Romanovich Zakharyev, he is considered the first Romanov

The first royal representative of the dynasty was Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, the last was Nikolai 2 Alexandrovich Romanov.

In 1856, the coat of arms of the Romanov family was approved; it depicts a vulture holding a golden sword and a tarch, and at the edges there are eight cut off lion heads.

“House of Romanov” is a designation for the totality of all the descendants of the different branches of the Romanovs.

Since 1761, the descendants of the Romanovs in the female line reigned in Russia, and with the death of Nicholas 2 and his family, there were no direct heirs left who could lay claim to the throne. However, despite this, today there are dozens of descendants of the royal family living all over the world, of varying degrees of kinship, and all of them officially belong to the House of Romanov. The family tree of the modern Romanovs is very extensive and has many branches.

Background to the Romanov reign

There is no consensus among scientists about where the Romanov family came from. Today, two versions are widespread: according to one, the ancestors of the Romanovs arrived in Rus' from Prussia, and according to the other, from Novgorod.

In the 16th century, the Romanov family became close to the king and could lay claim to the throne. This happened thanks to the fact that Ivan the Terrible married Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina, and her entire family now became relatives of the sovereign. After the suppression of the Rurikovich family, the Romanovs (formerly the Zakharyevs) became the main contenders for the state throne.

In 1613, one of the Romanov representatives, Mikhail Fedorovich, was elected to the throne, which marked the beginning of the long reign of the Romanov dynasty in Russia.

Tsars from the Romanov dynasty

• Fedor Alekseevich;
• Ivan 5;

In 1721, Russia became an Empire, and all its rulers became emperors.

Emperors from the Romanov dynasty

The end of the Romanov dynasty and the last Romanov

Despite the fact that there were empresses in Russia, Paul 1 adopted a decree according to which the Russian throne could only be transferred to a boy - a direct descendant of the family. From that moment until the very end of the dynasty, Russia was ruled exclusively by men.

The last emperor was Nicholas 2. During his reign, the political situation in Russia became very tense. The Japanese War, as well as the First World War, greatly undermined the people's faith in the sovereign. As a result, in 1905, after the revolution, Nicholas signed a manifesto that gave the people extensive civil rights, but this did not help much either. In 1917, a new revolution broke out, as a result of which the tsar was overthrown. On the night of July 16-17, 1917, the entire royal family, including Nicholas's five children, was shot. Other relatives of Nicholas, who were in the royal residence in Tsarskoye Selo and other places, were also caught and killed. Only those who were abroad survived.

The Russian throne was left without a direct heir, and the political system in the country changed - the monarchy was overthrown, the Empire was destroyed.

Results of the Romanov reign

During the reign of the Romanov dynasty, Russia reached real prosperity. Rus' finally ceased to be a fragmented state, civil strife ended, and the country gradually began to gain military and economic power, which allowed it to defend its own independence and resist invaders.

Despite the difficulties that periodically occurred in the history of Russia, by the 19th century the country had turned into a huge, powerful Empire, which owned vast territories. In 1861, serfdom was completely abolished, and the country switched to a new type of economy and economy.

Reasons for the election of the Romanovs

- Mikhail Fedorovich was the grandson of Nikita Romanovich - the brother of Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yuryeva - the first wife of Ivan the Terrible, most beloved and revered by the people, since the period of her reign was the most liberal during Ivan’s tenure, and the son
- Michael's father was a monk with the rank of patriarch, which suited the church
- The Romanov family, although not very noble, is still worthy in comparison with other Russian contenders for the throne
- The relative equidistance of the Romanovs from the political squabbles of the Time of Troubles, in contrast to the Shuiskys, Mstislavskys, Kurakins and Godunovs, who were significantly involved in them
- The boyars' hope is that Mikhail Fedorovich is inexperienced in management and, as a result, his controllability
- The Romanovs were desired by the Cossacks and the common people

The first tsar of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich (1596-1645), ruled Russia from 1613 to 1645

Royal Romanov dynasty. Years of reign

• 1613-1645
• 1645-1676
• 1676-1682
• 1682-1689
• 1682-1696
• 1682-1725
• 1725-1727
• 1727-1730
• 1730-1740
• 1740-1741
• 1740-1741
• 1741-1761
• 1761-1762
• 1762-1796
• 1796-1801
• 1801-1825
• 1825-1855
• 1855-1881
• 1881-1894
• 1894-1917

The Russian line of the Romanov dynasty was interrupted with Peter the Great. Elizaveta Petrovna was the daughter of Peter I and Marta Skavronskaya (the future Catherine I), in turn, Marta was either Estonian or Latvian. Peter III Fedorovich, actually Karl Peter Ulrich, was the Duke of Holstein, a historical region of Germany located in the southern part of Schleswig-Holstein. His wife, the future Catherine II, in fact Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, was the daughter of the ruler of the German principality of Anhalt-Zerbst (the territory of the modern German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt). The son of Catherine the Second and Peter the Third, Paul the First, had as his wife first Augusta Wilhelmina Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, then Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg, daughter of the Duke of Württemberg. The son of Paul and Sophia Dorothea, Alexander I, was married to the daughter of the Margrave of Baden-Durlach, Louise Maria Augusta. Paul's second son, Emperor Nicholas I, was married to Frederick Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina of Prussia. Their son, Emperor Alexander II - on the princess of the House of Hesse Maximilian Wilhelmina August Sophia Maria...

History of the Romanov dynasty in dates

• 1613, February 21 - Election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov as Tsar by the Zemsky Sobor
• 1624 - Mikhail Fedorovich married Evdokia Streshneva, who became the mother of the second king of the dynasty - Alexei Mikhailovich (Quiet)
• 1645, July 2 - Death of Mikhail Fedorovich
• 1648, January 16 - Alexei Mikhailovich married Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, mother of the future Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich
• 1671, January 22 - Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina became the second wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
• 1676, January 20 - Death of Alexei Mikhailovich
• 1682, April 17 - death of Fyodor Alekseevich, who left no heir. The boyars proclaimed Tsar Peter, the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from his second wife Natalya Naryshkina
• 1682, May 23 - under the influence of Sophia, the sister of Tsar Fedor, who died childless, the Boyar Duma declared the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Quiet and Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya Ivan V Alekseevich the first tsar, and his half-brother Peter I Alekseevich the second
• 1684, January 9 - Ivan V married Praskovya Fedorovna Saltykova, mother of the future Empress Anna Ioannovna
• 1689 - Peter married Evdokia Lopukhina
• 1689, September 2 - decree removing Sophia from power and exiling her to a monastery.
• 1690, February 18 - Birth of Peter the Great's son, Tsarevich Alexei
• 1696, January 26 - death of Ivan V, Peter the Great became autocrat
• 1698, September 23 - Evdokia Lopukhina, wife of Peter the Great, was exiled to a monastery, although she soon began to live as a laywoman
• 1712, February 19 - marriage of Peter the Great to Martha Skavronskaya, future Empress Catherine the First, mother of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna
• 1715, October 12 - birth of the son of Tsarevich Alexei Peter, the future Emperor Peter II
• 1716, September 20 - Tsarevich Alexei, who disagreed with his father’s policies, fled to Europe in search of political asylum, which he received in Austria
• 1717 - Under the threat of war, Austria handed over Tsarevich Alexei to Peter the Great. On September 14 he returned home
• 1718, February - trial of Tsarevich Alexei
• 1718, March - Queen Evdokia Lopukhina was accused of adultery and again exiled to the monastery
• 1719, June 15 - Tsarevich Alexei died in prison
• 1725, January 28 - death of Peter the Great. With the support of the guard, his wife Marta Skavronskaya was proclaimed Empress Catherine the First
• 1726, May 17 - Catherine the First died. The throne was taken by twelve-year-old Peter II, the son of Tsarevich Alexei
• 1729, November - betrothal of Peter II to Catherine Dolgoruka
• 1730, January 30 - Peter II died. The Supreme Privy Council proclaimed him heir, the daughter of Ivan V, the son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
• 1731 - Anna Ioannovna appointed Anna Leopoldovna, the daughter of her elder sister Ekaterina Ioannovna, who in turn was the daughter of the same Ivan V, as heir to the throne
• 1740, August 12 - Anna Leopoldovna had a son, Ivan Antonovich, the future Tsar Ivan VI, from her marriage to the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Anton Ulrich
• 1740, October 5 - Anna Ioannovna appointed the young Ivan Antonovich, the son of her niece Anna Leopoldovna, as heir to the throne
• 1740, October 17 - Death of Anna Ioannovna, Duke Biron was appointed regent for two-month-old Ivan Antonovich
• 1740, November 8 - Biron was arrested, Anna Leopoldovna was appointed regent under Ivan Antonovich
• 1741, November 25 - as a result of a palace coup, the Russian throne was taken by the daughter of Peter the Great from his marriage to Catherine the First, Elizaveta Petrovna
• 1742, January - Anna Leopoldovna and her son were arrested
• 1742, November - Elizaveta Petrovna appointed her nephew, the son of her sister, the second daughter of Peter the Great from his marriage to Catherine the First (Martha Skavronsa) Anna Petrovna, Pyotr Fedorovich, as heir to the throne
• 1746, March - Anna Leopoldovna died in Kholmogory
• 1745, August 21 - Peter the Third married Sophia-Frederica-Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, who took the name Ekaterina Alekseevna
• 1746, March 19 - Anna Leopoldovna died in exile, in Kholmogory
• 1754, September 20 - the son of Pyotr Fedorovich and Ekaterina Alekseevna Pavel, the future Emperor Paul the First, was born
• 1761, December 25 - Elizaveta Petrovna died. Peter the Third took office
• 1762, June 28 - as a result of a coup d'etat, Russia was led by Ekaterina Alekseevna, wife of Peter the Third
• 1762, June 29 - Peter the Third abdicated the throne, was arrested and imprisoned in Ropshensky Castle near St. Petersburg
• 1762, July 17 - death of Peter the Third (died or was killed - unknown)
• 1762, September 2 - coronation of Catherine II in Moscow
• 1764, July 16 - after 23 years of being in the Shlisselburg fortress, Ivan Antonovich, Tsar Ivan VI, was killed during an attempt at liberation.
• 1773, October 10 - Heir to the throne Paul married Princess Augusta-Wilhelmina-Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, who took the name Natalia Alekseevna
• 1776, April 15 - Pavel's wife Natalya Alekseevna died during childbirth
• 1776, October 7 - The heir to the throne Paul married again. This time on Maria Feodorovna, Princess Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg, daughter of the Duke of Württemberg
• 1777, December 23 - birth of the son of Paul the First and Maria Feodorovna Alexander, the future Emperor Alexander the First
• 1779, May 8 - birth of another son of Paul the First and Maria Feodorovna Konstantin
• 1796, July 6 - birth of the third son of Paul the First and Maria Feodorovna Nicholas, the future Emperor Nicholas the First
• 1796, November 6 - Catherine the Second died, Paul the First took the throne
• 1797, February 5 - coronation of Paul the First in Moscow
• 1801, March 12 - Coup. Pavel the First was killed by the conspirators. His son Alexander is on the throne
• 1801, September - coronation of Alexander the First in Moscow
• 1817, July 13 - marriage of Nikolai Pavlovich and Friederike Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina of Prussia (Alexandra Feodorovna), mother of the future Emperor Alexander II
• 1818, April 29 - Nikolai Pavlovich and Alexandra Feodorovna had a son, Alexander, the future Emperor Alexander II
• 1823, August 28 - secret abdication of the throne by his heir, the second son of Alexander the First, Constantine
• 1825, December 1 - death of Emperor Alexander the First
• 1825, December 9 - the army and civil servants took the oath of allegiance to the new Emperor Constantine
• 1825, December - Constantine confirms his desire to abdicate the throne
• 1825, December 14 - Decembrist uprising in an attempt to swear the guard in to the new Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich. The uprising is crushed
• 1826, September 3 - coronation of Nicholas in Moscow
• 1841, April 28 - marriage of the heir to the throne Alexander (Second) with Princess Maximilian Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt (in Orthodoxy Maria Alexandrovna)
• 1845, March 10 - Alexander and Maria had a son, Alexander, the future Emperor Alexander III
• 1855, March 2 - Nicholas the First died. On the throne is his son Alexander II
• 1866, April 4 - the first, unsuccessful attempt on the life of Alexander II
• 1866, October 28 - the son of Alexander the Second, Alexander (the third), married the Danish princess Maria Sophia Friederike Dagmar (Maria Feodorovna), the mother of the future Emperor Nicholas II.
• 1867, May 25 - second, unsuccessful attempt on the life of Alexander II
• 1868, May 18 - Alexander (the Third) and Maria Feodorovna had a son, Nicholas, the future Emperor Nicholas II
• 1878, November 22 - Alexander (the Third) and Maria Feodorovna had a son, Mikhail, the future Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich
• 1879, April 14 - third, unsuccessful attempt on the life of Alexander II
• 1879, November 19 - fourth, unsuccessful attempt on the life of Alexander II
• 1880, February 17 - fifth, unsuccessful attempt on the life of Alexander II
• 1881, April 1 - sixth, successful attempt on the life of Alexander II
• 1883, May 27 - coronation of Alexander III in Moscow
• 1894, October 20 - death of Alexander III
• 1894, October 21 - Nicholas II on the throne
• 1894, November 14 - marriage of Nicholas II with the German princess Alice of Hesse, in Orthodoxy Alexandra Fedorovna
• 1896, May 26 - coronation of Nicholas II in Moscow
• 1904, August 12 - Nikolai and Alexandra had a son, heir to the throne Alexey
• 1917, March 15 (new style) - in favor of his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich
• 1917, March 16 - Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich abdicated the throne in favor of the Provisional Government. The history of the monarchy in Russia is over
• 1918, July 17 - Nicholas II, his family and associates

Death of the royal family

Descending the interior staircase, the procession entered the courtyard and turned left to enter the lower floor. They were led to the opposite end of the house, into the room where the guards had previously been housed. From this room, five meters wide and six meters long, all the furniture was removed. High in the outer wall there was a single semicircular window covered with bars. Only one door was open, the other, opposite it, leading to the pantry, was locked. It was a dead end.

Alexandra Fedorovna asked why there were no chairs in the room. Yurovsky ordered two chairs to be brought, Nikolai sat Alexei on one of them, and the empress sat on the other. The rest were ordered to line up along the wall. A few minutes later, Yurovsky entered the room, accompanied by ten armed men. He himself described the scene that followed in these words: “When the team entered, the commandant (Yurovsky writes about himself in the third person) told the Romanovs that due to the fact that their relatives in Europe were continuing to attack Soviet Russia, the Urals Executive Committee decided to shoot them .

Nikolai turned his back to the team, facing his family, then, as if coming to his senses, he turned to the commandant with the question: “What? What?" The commandant quickly repeated and ordered the team to get ready. The team was told in advance who to shoot at whom, and was ordered to aim directly at the heart in order to avoid a large amount of blood and finish it quickly. Nikolai said nothing more, turning again to the family, others uttered several incoherent exclamations, all this lasted a few seconds. Then the shooting began, which lasted two to three minutes. Nicholas was killed on the spot by the commandant himself (Richard Pipes “Russian Revolution”).”

The Romanovs are a boyar family,

from 1613 - royal,

from 1721 - the imperial dynasty in Russia, ruling until March 1917.

The founder of the Romanovs is Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla.

ANDREY IVANOVICH MARY

FEDOR CAT

IVAN FYODOROVICH KOSHKIN

ZACHARY IVANOVICH KOSHKIN

YURI ZAKHARIEVICH KOSHKIN-ZAKHARIEV

ROMAN YURIEVICH ZAKHARIN-YURIEV

FEDOR NIKITICH ROMANOV

MIKHAIL III FEDOROVYCH

ALEXEY MIKHAILOVICH

FEDOR ALEXEEVICH

JOHN V ALEXEEVICH

PETER I ALEXEEVICH

EKATERINA I ALEKSEEVNA

PETER II ALEXEEVICH

ANNA IOANNOVNA

JOHN VI ANTONOVICH

ELIZAVETA PETROVNA

PETER III FYODOROVICH

EKATERINA II ALEKSEEVNA

PAUL I PETROVICH

ALEXANDER I PAVLOVICH

NICHOLAY I PAVLOVICH

ALEXANDER II NIKOLAEVICH

ALEXANDER III ALEXANDROVICH

NICHOLAY II ALEXANDROVICH

NIKOLAY III ALEXEEVICH

ANDREY IVANOVICH MARY

Boyar of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan I Kalita and his son Simeon the Proud. It is mentioned in the chronicles only once: in 1347 he was sent with the boyar Alexei Rozolov to Tver for a bride for the Grand Duke of Moscow Simeon the Proud, Princess Maria. According to pedigree lists, he had five sons. According to Kopenhausen, he was the only son of Glanda-Kambiloy Divonovich, Prince of Prussia, who went with him to Russia in the last quarter of the 13th century. and received St. baptism with the name Ivan in 1287

FEDOR CAT

Direct ancestor of the Romanovs and the noble families of the Sheremetevs (later counts). He was a boyar of Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy and his heir. During Dmitry Donskoy's campaign against Mamai (1380), Moscow and the sovereign's family were left in his care. He was the governor of Novgorod (1393).

In the first generation, Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla and his sons were called Kobylins. Fyodor Andreevich Koshka, his son Ivan and the latter’s son Zakhary are the Koshkins.

The descendants of Zakhary were called the Koshkins-Zakharyins, and then they dropped the nickname Koshkins and began to be called the Zakharyins-Yuryevs. The children of Roman Yuryevich Zakharyin-Yuryev began to be called the Zakharyin-Romanovs, and the descendants of Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Romanov - simply the Romanovs.

IVAN FEDOROVICH KOSHKIN (died after 1425)

Moscow boyar, eldest son of Fyodor Koshka. He was close to Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy and especially to his son, Grand Duke Vasily I Dmitrievich (1389-1425)

ZACHARIY IVANOVICH KOSHKIN (died ca. 1461)

Moscow boyar, eldest son of Ivan Koshka, fourth son of the previous one. Mentioned in 1433, when he was at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily the Dark. Participant in the war with the Lithuanians (1445)

YURI ZAKHARIEVICH KOSHKIN-ZAKHARIEV (died 1504)

Moscow boyar, second son of Zakhary Koshkin, grandfather of Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Romanov and the first wife of Tsar John IV Vasilyevich the Terrible, Queen Anastasia. In 1485 and 1499 participated in campaigns against Kazan. In 1488, he was governor in Novgorod. In 1500 he commanded the Moscow army directed against Lithuania and took Dorogobuzh.

ROMAN YURIEVICH ZAKHARIN-YURIEV (died 1543)

Okolnichy, was a commander in the campaign of 1531. He had several sons and a daughter, Anastasia, who in 1547 became the wife of Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible. From this time on, the rise of the Zakharyin family began. Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Romanov (d. 1587) - grandfather of the first tsar from the house of Romanov, Mikhail Fedorovich, boyar (1562), participant in the Swedish campaign of 1551, active participant in the Livonian War. After the death of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, as the closest relative - the uncle of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich, he headed the regency council (until the end of 1584). He accepted monasticism with the estate of Nifont.

FEDOR NIKITICH ROMANOV (1553-1633)

In monasticism, Filaret, Russian politician, patriarch (1619), father of the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty.

MIKHAIL III FEDOROVYCH (07/12/1596 - 02/13/1645)

Tsar, Grand Duke of All Rus'. Son of boyar Fyodor Nikitich Romanov, Patriarch Filaret, from his marriage to Ksenia Ivanovna Shestova (monastically Martha). He was elected to the throne on February 21, accepted the throne on March 14, and was crowned king on July 11, 1613.

Mikhail Fedorovich, together with his parents, fell into disgrace under Boris Godunov and in June 1601 was exiled with his aunts to Beloozero, where he lived until the end of 1602. In 1603 he was transported to the city of Klin, Kostroma province. Under False Dmitry I he lived with his mother in Rostov, from 1608 with the rank of steward. He was a prisoner of the Poles in the Kremlin besieged by the Russians.

Weak as a person and in poor health, Mikhail Fedorovich could not independently govern the state; Initially it was led by the mother, nun Martha, and her relatives, the Saltykovs, then from 1619 to 1633 by the father, Patriarch Filaret.

In February 1617, a peace treaty between Russia and Sweden was concluded. In 1618, the Deulin truce with Poland was concluded. In 1621, Mikhail Fedorovich issued the “Charter of Military Affairs”; in 1628, Nitsinsky (Turin district of Tobolsk province) organized the first in Rus'. In 1629, a labor agreement was concluded with France. In 1632, Mikhail Fedorovich resumed the war with Poland and was successful; in 1632 he formed the order of the Gathering of military and sufficient people. In 1634 the war with Poland ended. In 1637 he ordered that criminals be branded and that pregnant criminals not be executed until six weeks after giving birth. A 10-year period was established for the search for fugitive peasants. The number of orders was increased, the number of clerks and their importance increased. Intensive construction of abatis against the Crimean Tatars was carried out. Further development of Siberia took place.

Tsar Michael was married twice: 1) to Princess Maria Vladimirovna Dolgorukaya; 2) on Evdokia Lukyanovna Streshneva. There were no children from the first marriage, but from the second there were 3 sons, including the future Tsar Alexei and seven daughters.

ALEXEY MIKHAILOVICH (03/19/1629 – 01/29/1676)

Tsar since July 13, 1645, son of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich and Evdokia Lukyanovna Streshneva. He ascended the throne after the death of his father. Crowned September 28, 1646

Frightened by the Moscow turmoil on May 25, 1648, he ordered the collection of a new Code on the indefinite search for fugitive peasants, etc., which he promulgated on January 29, 1649. On July 25, 1652, he elevated the famous Nikon to patriarch. On January 8, 1654, he took the oath of citizenship of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky (reunification of Ukraine with Russia), which was involved in the war with Poland, which he brilliantly completed in 1655, receiving the titles of Sovereign of Polotsk and Mstislav, Grand Duke of Lithuania, White Russia, Volyn and Podolsky The campaign against the Swedes in Livonia in 1656 did not end so happily. In 1658, Alexei Mikhailovich separated from Patriarch Nikon; on December 12, 1667, a council in Moscow deposed him.

Under Alexei Mikhailovich, the development of Siberia continued, where new cities were founded: Nerchinsk (1658), Irkutsk (1659), Selenginsk (1666).

Alexey Mikhailovich persistently developed and implemented the idea of ​​​​unlimited royal power. The convenings of Zemsky Sobors are gradually being stopped.

Alexei Mikhailovich died in Moscow on January 29, 1676. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was married twice: 1) to Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya. From this marriage, Alexei Mikhailovich had 13 children, including the future Tsars Fyodor and John V and the ruler Sophia. 2) on Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. This marriage produced three children, including the future Tsar and then Emperor Peter I the Great.

FEDOR ALEXEEVICH (05/30/1661-04/27/1682)

Tsar since January 30, 1676, son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from his first wife Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya. Crowned June 18, 1676

Fyodor Alekseevich was a widely educated man, he knew Polish and Latin. He became one of the founders of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and was fond of music.

Weak and sickly by nature, Fyodor Alekseevich easily succumbed to influence.

The government of Fyodor Alekseevich carried out a number of reforms: in 1678 a general census was carried out; in 1679, household taxation was introduced, which increased tax oppression; in 1682, localism was destroyed and, in connection with this, rank books were burned. This put an end to the dangerous custom of boyars and nobles to consider the merits of their ancestors when occupying a position. Genealogical books were introduced.

In foreign policy, the first place was occupied by the issue of Ukraine, namely the struggle between Doroshenko and Samoilovich, which caused the so-called Chigirin campaigns.

In 1681, the entire Dnieper region, which was devastated at that time, was concluded between Moscow, Turkey and Crimea.

On July 14, 1681, Fyodor Alekseevich’s wife, Tsarina Agafya, died along with the newborn Tsarevich Ilya. On February 14, 1682, the tsar married Maria Matveevna Apraksina for the second time. On April 27, Fyodor Alekseevich died, leaving no children.

JOHN V ALEXEEVICH (08/27/1666 – 01/29/1696)

The son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his first wife Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya.

After the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich (1682), the party of the Naryshkins, relatives of the second wife of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, achieved the proclamation of John’s younger brother Peter as tsar, which was a violation of the right of succession to the throne by seniority adopted in the Moscow state.

However, the archers, influenced by rumors that the Naryshkins strangled Ivan Alekseevich, rebelled on May 23. Despite the fact that Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna brought Tsar Peter I and Tsarevich John to the Red Porch to show the people, the archers, incited by the Miloslavskys, defeated the Naryshkin party and demanded the proclamation of John Alekseevich on the throne. A council of clergy and higher ranks decided to allow dual power and John Alekseevich was also proclaimed tsar. On May 26, the Duma declared Ivan Alekseevich the first, and Peter the second tsar, and due to the minority of the tsars, their elder sister Sophia was proclaimed ruler.

On June 25, 1682, the crowning of Tsars John V and Peter I Alekseevich took place. After 1689 (the imprisonment of the ruler Sophia in the Novodevichy Convent) and until his death, John Alekseevich was considered an equal king. However, in fact, John V did not participate in government affairs and remained “in unceasing prayer and firm fasting.”

In 1684, Ivan Alekseevich married Praskovya Fedorovna Saltykova. From this marriage four daughters were born, including Empress Anna Ioannovna and Ekaterina Ioannovna, whose grandson ascended the throne in 1740 under the name Ioann Antonovich.

At the age of 27, Ivan Alekseevich was paralyzed and had poor vision. On January 29, 1696, he died suddenly. After his death, Pyotr Alekseevich remained the sole tsar. There was no other case in Russia of the simultaneous reign of two kings.

PETER I ALEXEEVICH (05/30/1672-01/28/1725)

Tsar (April 27, 1682), emperor (from October 22, 1721), statesman, commander and diplomat. The son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from his second marriage to Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina.

Peter I, after the death of his childless brother, Tsar Feodor III, through the efforts of Patriarch Joachim, was elected tsar, bypassing his older brother John on April 27, 1682. In May 1682, after the mutiny of the Streltsy, the sickly John V Alekseevich was declared the “senior” tsar, and Peter I - “junior” king under the ruler Sophia.

Until 1689, Pyotr Alekseevich lived with his mother in the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow, where in 1683 he started “amusing” regiments (the future Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments). In 1688, Peter I began to study mathematics and fortification from the Dutchman Franz Timmerman. In August 1689, having received news of Sophia’s preparation for a palace coup, Pyotr Alekseevich, together with troops loyal to him, surrounded Moscow. Sophia was removed from power and imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent. After the death of Ivan Alekseevich, Peter I became the sovereign tsar.

Peter I created a clear state structure: the peasantry serves the nobility, being in a state of their full ownership. The nobility, financially supported by the state, serves the monarch. The monarch, relying on the nobility, serves the interests of the state as a whole. And the peasant presented his service to the nobleman - the landowner as an indirect service to the state.

The reform activities of Peter I took place in a sharp struggle with the reactionary opposition. In 1698, the rebellion of the Moscow Streltsy in favor of Sophia was brutally suppressed (1,182 people were executed), and in February 1699 the Moscow Streltsy regiments were disbanded. Sophia was tonsured a nun. In a disguised form, resistance to the opposition continued until 1718 (conspiracy of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich).

The transformations of Peter I affected all spheres of public life and contributed to the growth of the trading and manufacturing bourgeoisie. The Decree on Single Inheritance of 1714 equalized estates and fiefdoms, giving their owners the right to transfer real estate to one of their sons.

The “Table of Ranks” of 1722 established the order of ranks in the military and civil service not according to nobility, but according to personal abilities and merits.

Under Peter I, a large number of manufactories and mining enterprises arose, the development of new iron ore deposits and the extraction of non-ferrous metals began.

The reforms of the state apparatus under Peter I were an important step towards transforming the Russian autocracy of the 17th century. into the bureaucratic-noble monarchy of the 18th century. The place of the Boyar Duma was taken by the Senate (1711), instead of orders, collegiums were established (1718), and the control apparatus began to be represented by prosecutors headed by the Prosecutor General. In place of the patriarchate, the Spiritual College, or Holy Synod, was established. The Secret Chancellery was in charge of political investigation.

In 1708-1709 instead of counties and voivodeships, provinces were established. In 1703, Peter I founded a new city, calling it St. Petersburg, which became the capital of the state in 1712. In 1721, Russia was proclaimed an Empire, and Peter was proclaimed emperor.

In 1695, Peter’s campaign against Azov ended in failure, but on July 18, 1696, Azov was taken. On March 10, 1699, Peter Alekseevich established the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. On November 19, 1700, the troops of Peter I were defeated near Narva by the Swedish king Charles XII. In 1702, Pyotr Alekseevich began to beat the Swedes and on October 11 took Noteburg by storm. In 1704, Peter I captured Dorpat, Narva and Ivan-gorod. On June 27, 1709, a victory was won over Charles XII near Poltava. Peter I defeated the Swedes in Schleswing and began the conquest of Finland in 1713; on July 27, 1714, he won a brilliant naval victory over the Swedes at Cape Gangud. The Persian campaign undertaken by Peter I in 1722-1723. assigned to Russia the western coast of the Caspian Sea with the cities of Derbent and Baku.

Peter founded the Pushkar School (1699), the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences (1701), the Medical and Surgical School, the Naval Academy (1715), engineering and artillery schools (1719), and the first Russian museum, the Kunstkamera (1719), was opened. Since 1703, the first Russian printed newspaper, Vedomosti, was published. In 1724, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences was founded. Expeditions were carried out to Central Asia, the Far East, and Siberia. During the era of Peter, fortresses were built (Kronstadt, Petropavlovskaya). The beginning of city planning was laid.

Peter I knew German from a young age, and then independently studied Dutch, English and French. In 1688-1693. Pyotr Alekseevich learned to build ships. In 1697-1698 in Konigsberg he completed a full course in artillery science, and worked as a carpenter in the shipyards of Amsterdam for six months. Peter knew fourteen crafts and was fond of surgery.

In 1724, Peter I became very ill, but continued to lead an active lifestyle, which accelerated his death. Pyotr Alekseevich died on January 28, 1725.

Peter I was married twice: with his first marriage - to Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, with whom he had 3 sons, including Tsarevich Alexei, executed in 1718, the other two died in infancy; second marriage - to Martha Skavronskaya (baptized Ekaterina Alekseevna - the future Empress Catherine I), from whom he had 9 children. Most of them, with the exception of Anna and Elizabeth (later empress), died young.

EKATERINA I ALEXEEVNA (04/05/1684 – 05/06/1727)

Empress from January 28, 1725. She ascended the throne after the death of her husband, Emperor Peter I. She was declared Tsarina on March 6, 1721, and crowned on May 7, 1724.

Ekaterina Alekseevna was born into the family of a Lithuanian peasant Samuil Skavronsky, and before accepting Orthodoxy she bore the name Martha. She lived in Marienburg in the service of Superintendent Gmok, and was captured by the Russians during the capture of Marienburg by Field Marshal Sheremetyev on August 25, 1702. She was taken away from Sheremetyev by A.D. Menshikov. In 1703, Peter I saw it and took it from Menshikov. From then on, Peter I did not part with Martha (Catherine) until the end of his life.

Peter and Catherine had 3 sons and 6 daughters, almost all of them died in early childhood. Only two daughters survived - Anna (b. 1708) and Elizaveta (b. 1709). The church marriage of Peter I with Catherine was formalized only on February 19, 1712, thus both daughters were considered illegitimate.

In 1716 - 1718 Ekaterina Alekseevna accompanied her husband on a trip abroad; followed with him to Astrakhan in the Persian campaign of 1722. Having ascended the throne after the death of Emperor Peter I, she established the Order of St. on May 21, 1725. Alexander Nevsky. On October 12, 1725, she sent Count Vladislavich's embassy to China.

During the reign of Catherine I, according to the plans of Peter I the Great, the following was done:

A naval expedition of Captain-Commander Vitus Bering was sent to resolve the question of whether Asia is connected to North America by an isthmus;

The Academy of Sciences was opened, the plan of which was announced by Peter I back in 1724;

Due to direct instructions found in the papers of Peter I, it was decided to continue drawing up the Code;

A detailed explanation of the law on inheritance of real estate has been published;

It is forbidden to become a monk without a synodical decree;

A few days before her death, Catherine I signed a will transferring the throne to Peter I’s grandson, Peter II.

Catherine I died in St. Petersburg on May 6, 1727. She was buried along with the body of Peter I in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on May 21, 1731.

PETER II ALEXEEVICH (10/12/1715 – 01/18/1730)

Emperor from May 7, 1727, crowned February 25, 1728. Son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and Princess Charlotte-Christina-Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel: grandson of Peter I and Evdokia Lopukhina. He ascended the throne after the death of Empress Catherine I according to her will.

Little Peter lost his mother at the age of 10 days. Peter I paid little attention to the upbringing of his grandson, making it clear that he did not want this child to ever ascend the throne and issue a Decree according to which the emperor could choose his own successor. As you know, the emperor was unable to take advantage of this right, and his wife, Catherine I, ascended the throne, and she, in turn, signed a will transferring the throne to the grandson of Peter I.

On May 25, 1727, Peter II became engaged to the daughter of Prince Menshikov. Immediately after the death of Catherine I, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov moved the young emperor to his palace, and on May 25, 1727, Peter II became engaged to the prince’s daughter, Maria Menshikova. But the communication of the young emperor with the Dolgoruky princes, who managed to attract Peter II to their side with the temptations of balls, hunts and other pleasures, which were prohibited by Menshikov, greatly weakened the influence of Alexander Danilovich. And already on September 9, 1727, Prince Menshikov, deprived of his ranks, was exiled with his entire family to Ranienburg (Ryazan province). On April 16, 1728, Peter II signed a decree exiling Menshikov and his entire family to Berezov (Tobolsk province). On November 30, 1729, Peter II became engaged to the beautiful princess Ekaterina Dolgoruky, the sister of his favorite, Prince Ivan Dolgoruky. The wedding was scheduled for January 19, 1730, but on January 6 he caught a bad cold, smallpox broke out the next day, and on January 19, 1730, Peter II died.

It is impossible to talk about the independent activities of Peter II, who died at the age of 16; he was constantly under one influence or another. After Menshikov’s exile, Peter II, under the influence of the old boyar aristocracy led by Dolgoruky, declared himself an opponent of the reforms of Peter I. The institutions created by his grandfather were destroyed.

With the death of Peter II, the Romanov family in the male line came to an end.

ANNA IOANNOVNA (01/28/1693 – 10/17/1740)

Empress since January 19, 1730, daughter of Tsar Ivan V Alekseevich and Tsarina Praskovya Fedorovna Saltykova. She declared herself autocratic empress on February 25, and was crowned on April 28, 1730.

Princess Anna did not receive the necessary education and upbringing; she forever remained illiterate. Peter I married her to the Duke of Courland, Frederick William, on October 31, 1710, but on January 9, 1711, Anna was widowed. During her stay in Courland (1711-1730), Anna Ioannovna lived mainly in Mittawa. In 1727 she became close to E.I. Biron, with whom she did not part until the end of her life.

Immediately after the death of Peter II, members of the Supreme Privy Council, when deciding on the transfer of the Russian throne, chose the widow Duchess of Courland Anna Ioannovna, subject to the limitation of autocratic power. Anna Ioannovna accepted these proposals (“conditions”), but already on March 4, 1730, she broke the “conditions” and destroyed the Supreme Privy Council.

In 1730, Anna Ioannovna established Life Guard regiments: Izmailovsky - September 22 and Horse - December 30. Under her, military service was limited to 25 years. By decree of March 17, 1731, the law on single inheritance (primorates) was abolished. On April 6, 1731, Anna Ioannovna renewed the terrible Preobrazhensky order (“word and deed”).

During the reign of Anna Ioannovna, the Russian army fought in Poland, waged war with Turkey, devastating Crimea during 1736-1739.

The extraordinary luxury of the court, huge expenses for the army and navy, gifts to the empress’s relatives, etc. placed a heavy burden on the country's economy.

The internal situation of the state in the last years of Anna Ioannovna’s reign was difficult. The grueling campaigns of 1733-1739, the cruel rule and abuses of the Empress's favorite Ernest Biron had a detrimental effect on the national economy, and cases of peasant uprising became more frequent.

Anna Ioannovna died on October 17, 1740, appointing the young Ivan Antonovich, the son of her niece Anna Leopoldovna, as her successor, and Biron, Duke of Courland, as regent until he came of age.

JOHN VI ANTONOVICH (08/12/1740 – 07/04/1764)

Emperor from October 17, 1740 to November 25, 1741, son of the niece of Empress Anna Ioannovna, Princess Anna Leopoldovna of Mecklenburg and Prince Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick-Luxembourg. He was elevated to the throne after the death of his great-aunt, Empress Anna Ioannovna.

By Anna Ioannovna's manifesto of October 5, 1740, he was declared heir to the throne. Shortly before her death, Anna Ioannovna signed a manifesto, which, until John came of age, appointed her favorite Duke Biron as regent under him.

After the death of Anna Ioannovna, her niece Anna Leopoldovna, on the night of November 8-9, 1740, carried out a palace coup and proclaimed herself the ruler of the state. Biron was sent into exile.

A year later, also on the night of November 24-25, 1741, Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna (daughter of Peter I), together with part of the officers and soldiers of the Preobrazhensky Regiment loyal to her, arrested the ruler with her husband and children, including Emperor John VI, in the palace. For 3 years, the deposed emperor and his family were transported from fortress to fortress. In 1744, the entire family was transported to Kholmogory, but the deposed emperor was kept separately. Here John remained completely alone for about 12 years under the supervision of Major Miller. Fearing a conspiracy, in 1756 Elizabeth ordered John to be secretly transported to Shlisselburg. In the Shlisselburg fortress, John was kept completely alone. Only three security officers knew who he was.

In July 1764 (during the reign of Catherine II), second lieutenant of the Smolensk infantry regiment Vasily Yakovlevich Mirovich, in order to carry out a coup, attempted to free the tsar's prisoner. During this attempt, Ivan Antonovich was killed. On September 15, 1764, Second Lieutenant Mirovich was beheaded.

ELIZAVETA PETROVNA (12/18/1709 – 12/25/1761)

Empress since November 25, 1741, daughter of Peter I and Catherine I. She ascended the throne, overthrowing the young Emperor John VI Antonovich. She was crowned on April 25, 1742.

Elizaveta Petrovna was intended to be the bride of Louis XV, King of France back in 1719, but the engagement did not take place. Then she was engaged to Prince Karl-August of Holstein, but he died on May 7, 1727. Soon after accession to the throne, she declared her nephew (the son of her sister Anna) Karl-Peter-Ulrich, Duke of Holstein, who took the name Peter (the future Peter III) as her heir. Fedorovich).

During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna in 1743, the war with the Swedes, which had lasted for many years, ended. A university was founded in Moscow on January 12, 1755. In 1756-1763 Russia took a successful part in the Seven Years' War, caused by the clash between aggressive Prussia and the interests of Austria, France and Russia. During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, not a single death penalty was carried out in Russia. Elizaveta Petrovna signed the decree abolishing the death penalty on May 7, 1744.

PETER III FYODOROVICH (02/10/1728 – 07/06/1762)

Emperor from December 25, 1761, before the adoption of Orthodoxy, bore the name Karl-Peter-Ulrich, the son of Duke Karl-Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp and Princess Anna, daughter of Peter I.

Pyotr Fedorovich lost his mother at the age of 3 months, his father at the age of 11 years. In December 1741 he was invited by his aunt Elizaveta Petrovna to Russia, and on November 15, 1742 he was declared heir to the Russian throne. On August 21, 1745, he married Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna, the future Empress Catherine II.

Peter III, while still heir to the throne, repeatedly declared himself an enthusiastic admirer of the Prussian king Frederick II. Despite his accepted Orthodoxy, Pyotr Fedorovich remained a Lutheran in his soul and treated the Orthodox clergy with disdain, closed his home churches, and addressed the Synod with offensive decrees. In addition, he began to remake the Russian army in the Prussian way. With these actions he aroused the clergy, army and guard against himself.

In the last years of Elizabeth Petrovna's reign, Russia successfully participated in the Seven Years' War against Frederick II. The Prussian army was already on the eve of capitulation, but Peter III, immediately after ascending the throne, renounced participation in the Seven Years' War, as well as all Russian conquests in Prussia, and thereby saved the king. Frederick II promoted Pyotr Fedorovich to general of his army. Peter III accepted this rank, which caused general indignation among the nobility and the army.

All this contributed to the creation of opposition in the guard, headed by Catherine. She carried out a palace coup in St. Petersburg, taking advantage of the fact that Peter III was in Oranienbaum. Ekaterina Alekseevna, who had intelligence and a strong character, with the support of the guard, got her cowardly, inconsistent and mediocre husband to sign an abdication of the Russian throne. After which, on June 28, 1762, he was taken to Ropsha, where he was kept under arrest and where he was killed (strangled) on July 6, 1762 by Count Alexei Orlov and Prince Fyodor Baryatinsky.

His body, initially buried in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, 34 years later was reburied at the behest of Paul I in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

During the six months of the reign of Peter III, one of the few things useful for Russia was the destruction of the terrible secret chancellery in February 1762.

Peter III had two children from his marriage to Ekaterina Alekseevna: a son, later Emperor Paul I, and a daughter, Anna, who died in infancy.

EKATERINA II ALEKSEEVNA (04/21/1729 – 11/06/1796)

Empress from June 28, 1762. She ascended the throne, overthrowing her husband, Emperor Peter III Fedorovich. She was crowned on September 22, 1762.

Ekaterina Alekseevna (before accepting Orthodoxy, bore the name Sophia-Frederica-Augusta) was born in Stettin from the marriage of Christian August, Duke of Anhalt-Zerbst-Benburg and Johanna Elisabeth, Princess of Holstein-Gottorp. She was invited to Russia by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna as a bride for the heir Peter Fedorovich in 1744. On August 21, 1745 she married him, on September 20, 1754 she gave birth to the heir Paul, and in December 1757 she gave birth to a daughter Anna, who died in in infancy.

Catherine was naturally gifted with a great mind, strong character and determination - the complete opposite of her husband, a man of weak character. The marriage was not concluded for love, and therefore the relationship between the spouses did not work out.

With the accession of Peter III to the throne, Catherine’s position became more complicated (Peter Fedorovich wanted to send her to a monastery), and she, taking advantage of her husband’s unpopularity among the developed nobility, relying on the guard, overthrew him from the throne. Having skillfully deceived the active participants in the conspiracy - Count Panin and Princess Dashkova, who wanted to transfer the throne to Paul and appoint Catherine as regent, she declared herself the ruling empress.

The main objects of Russian foreign policy were the steppe Black Sea region with the Crimea and the northern Caucasus - areas of Turkish domination and the domination of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Poland), which included Western Ukrainian, Belarusian and Lithuanian lands. Catherine II, who showed great diplomatic skill, fought two wars with Turkey, marked by major victories of Rumyantsev, Suvorov, Potemkin and Kutuzov and the establishment of Russia in the Black Sea.

The development of areas in the south of Russia was consolidated by an active resettlement policy. Intervention in the affairs of Poland ended with three divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772, 1793, 1795), accompanied by the transfer of part of the Western Ukrainian lands, most of Belarus and Lithuania to Russia. Irakli II, the king of Georgia, recognized the protectorate of Russia. Count Valerian Zubov, appointed commander-in-chief in the campaign against Persia, conquered Derbent and Baku.

Russia owes Catherine the introduction of smallpox vaccination. On October 26, 1768, Catherine II, the first in the empire, vaccinated herself against smallpox, and a week later, her son.

During the reign of Catherine II, favoritism flourished. If Catherine's predecessors - Anna Ioannovna (there was one favorite - Biron) and Elizabeth (2 official favorites - Razumovsky and Shuvalov) favoritism was more of a whim, then Catherine had dozens of favorites and under her favoritism becomes something of a state institution, and this It was very costly for the treasury.

The strengthening of serfdom and prolonged wars placed a heavy burden on the masses, and the growing peasant movement grew into a peasant war under the leadership of E.I. Pugacheva (1773-1775)

In 1775, the existence of the Zaporozhye Sich was terminated, and serfdom was approved in Ukraine. “Humane” principles did not prevent Catherine II from exiling A.N. to Siberia. Radishchev for the book “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.”

Catherine II died on November 6, 1796. Her body was buried on December 5 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

PAVEL I PETROVICH (09/20/1754 – 03/12/1801)

Emperor since November 6, 1796. Son of Emperor Peter III and Empress Catherine II. He ascended the throne after the death of his mother. Crowned April 5, 1797

His childhood was spent in unusual conditions. The palace coup, the forced abdication and subsequent murder of his father, Peter III, as well as the seizure of power by Catherine II, bypassing Paul's rights to the throne, left an indelible imprint on the already difficult character of the heir. Paul I lost interest in those around him as quickly as he became attached to him; he began to show early extreme pride, contempt for people and extreme irritability; he was very nervous, impressionable, suspicious and excessively hot-tempered.

On September 29, 1773, Pavel married Princess Wilhelmina Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, or Natalya Alekseevna in Orthodoxy. She died from childbirth in April 1776. On September 26, 1776, Paul married for the second time the Princess of Württemberg Sophia Dorothea Augusta Louise, who in Orthodoxy became Maria Feodorovna. From this marriage he had 4 sons, including the future emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I, and 6 daughters.

After ascending the throne on December 5, 1796, Paul I reburied the remains of his father in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, next to the body of his mother. On April 5, 1797, Paul's coronation took place. On the same day, the Decree on Succession to the Throne was promulgated, which established the order of succession to the throne - from father to eldest son.

Frightened by the great French Revolution and the ongoing peasant uprisings in Russia, Paul I pursued a policy of extreme reaction. The strictest censorship was introduced, private printing houses were closed (1797), the import of foreign books was prohibited (1800), and emergency police measures were introduced to persecute progressive social thought.

In his activities, Paul I relied on temporary favorites Arakcheev and Kutaisov.

Paul I took part in the coalition wars against France. However, the strife between the emperor and his allies, the hope of Paul I that the gains of the French Revolution would be nullified by Napoleon himself, led to a rapprochement with France.

Paul I's petty pickiness and unbalanced character caused discontent among the courtiers. It intensified due to changes in foreign policy, which disrupted existing trade ties with England.

The constant distrust and suspicion of Paul I reached a particularly strong degree by 1801. He even planned to imprison his sons Alexander and Constantine in the fortress. As a result of all these reasons, a conspiracy arose against the emperor. On the night of March 11-12, 1801, Paul I fell victim to this conspiracy in the Mikhailovsky Palace.

ALEXANDER I PAVLOVICH (12/12/1777 – 11/19/1825)

Emperor since March 12, 1801. The eldest son of Emperor Paul I and his second wife Maria Feodorovna. Crowned September 15, 1801

Alexander I ascended the throne after the murder of his father as a result of a palace conspiracy, the existence of which he knew and agreed to the removal of Paul I from the throne.

The first half of the reign of Alexander I was marked by moderate liberal reforms: granting merchants, townspeople and state-owned villagers the right to receive uninhabited lands, the publication of a Decree on free cultivators, the establishment of ministries, the State Council, the opening of St. Petersburg, Kharkov and Kazan universities, the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum, etc.

Alexander I repealed a number of laws introduced by his father: he declared a broad amnesty for exiles, freed prisoners, returned their positions and rights to the disgraced, restored the election of leaders of the nobility, freed priests from corporal punishment, and abolished the restrictions on civilian clothing introduced by Paul I.

In 1801, Alexander I concluded peace treaties with England and France. In 1805-1807 he participated in the 3rd and 4th coalitions against Napoleonic France. The defeat at Austerlitz (1805) and Friedland (1807), and England’s refusal to subsidize the military expenses of the coalition led to the signing of the Peace of Tilsit in 1807 with France, which, however, did not prevent a new Russian-French clash. The successfully completed wars with Turkey (1806-1812) and Sweden (1808-1809) strengthened Russia's international position. During the reign of Alexander I, Georgia (1801), Finland (1809), Bessarabia (1812) and Azerbaijan (1813) were annexed to Russia.

At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, under pressure from public opinion, the tsar appointed M.I. as commander-in-chief of the army. Kutuzova. In 1813 – 1814 The emperor led an anti-French coalition of European powers. On March 31, 1814, he entered Paris at the head of the allied armies. Alexander I was one of the organizers and leaders of the Vienna Congress (1814-1815) and the Holy Alliance (1815), a constant participant in all its congresses.

In 1821, Alexander I became aware of the existence of the secret society “Union of Welfare”. The king did not react to this. He said: “It’s not for me to punish them.”

Alexander I died suddenly in Taganrog on November 19, 1825. His body was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on March 13, 1826. Alexander I was married to Princess Louise-Maria-August of Baden-Baden (in Orthodoxy Elizaveta Alekseevna), from whose marriage he had two daughters who died in infancy.

NICHOLAY I PAVLOVICH (06/25/1796 – 02/18/1855)

Emperor since December 14, 1825. Third son of Emperor Paul I and his second wife Maria Feodorovna. He was crowned in Moscow on August 22, 1826 and in Warsaw on May 12, 1829.

Nicholas I ascended the throne after the death of his elder brother Alexander I and in connection with the abdication of the throne by his second brother, the Tsarevich and Grand Duke Constantine. He brutally suppressed the uprising on December 14, 1825, and the first action of the new emperor was to deal with the rebels. Nicholas I executed 5 people, sent 120 people to penal servitude and exile, and punished soldiers and sailors with spitzrutens, sending them then to remote garrisons.

The reign of Nicholas I was the period of the highest flowering of the absolute monarchy.

In an effort to strengthen the existing political system and not trusting the bureaucracy, Nicholas I significantly expanded the functions of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery, which controlled all the main branches of government and replaced the highest state bodies. The most important was the “Third Department” of this office - the secret police department. During his reign, the “Code of Laws of the Russian Empire” was compiled - a code of all legislative acts existing by 1835.

The revolutionary organizations of the Petrashevites, the Cyril and Methodius Society, etc. were destroyed.

Russia was entering a new stage of economic development: manufacturing and commercial councils were created, industrial exhibitions were organized, and higher educational institutions, including technical ones, were opened.

In the field of foreign policy, the main one was the Eastern Question. Its essence was to ensure a favorable regime for Russia in the Black Sea waters, which was important both for the security of the southern borders and for the economic development of the state. However, with the exception of the Unkar-Iskelesi Treaty of 1833, this was resolved by military action, by dividing the Ottoman Empire. The consequence of this policy was the Crimean War of 1853-1856.

An important aspect of the policy of Nicholas I was a return to the principles of the Holy Alliance, proclaimed in 1833 after he entered into an alliance with the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia to fight the revolution in Europe. Implementing the principles of this Union, Nicholas I broke off diplomatic relations with France in 1848, launched an invasion of the Danube principalities, and suppressed the revolution of 1848-1849. in Hungary. He pursued a policy of vigorous expansion in Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

Nikolai Pavlovich married the daughter of the Prussian king Frederick William III, Princess Frederica-Louise-Charlotte-Wilhelmina, who adopted the name Alexandra Feodorovna upon converting to Orthodoxy. They had seven children, including the future Emperor Alexander II.

ALEXANDER II NIKOLAEVICH (04/17/1818-03/01/1881)

Emperor since February 18, 1855. The eldest son of Emperor Nicholas I and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. He ascended the throne after the death of his father. Crowned August 26, 1856

While still a Tsarevich, Alexander Nikolaevich was the first from the House of Romanov to visit Siberia (1837), which resulted in a mitigation of the fate of the exiled Decembrists. In the last years of the reign of Nicholas II and during his travels, the Tsarevich repeatedly replaced the emperor. In 1848, during his stay at the Vienna, Berlin and other courts, he carried out various important diplomatic assignments.

Alexander II were carried out in 1860-1870. a number of important reforms: abolition of serfdom, zemstvo, judicial, city, military, etc. The most significant of these reforms was the abolition of serfdom (1861). But these reforms did not give all the results that were expected from them. An economic recession began, reaching its peak in 1880.

In the field of foreign policy, a significant place was occupied by the struggle for the abolition of the terms of the Paris Peace Treaty of 1856 (after Russia’s defeat in Crimea). In 1877, Alexander II, seeking to strengthen Russian influence in the Balkans, began a fight with Turkey. Help for the Bulgarians in liberating themselves from the Turkish yoke also brought additional territorial gains by Russia - the border in Bessarabia was advanced to the confluence of the Prut with the Danube and to the Kiliya mouth of the latter. At the same time, Batum and Kars were occupied in Asia Minor.

Under Alexander II, the Caucasus was finally annexed to Russia. According to the Aigun Treaty with China, the Amur Territory was ceded to Russia (1858), and according to the Beijing Treaty - the Ussuri Territory (1860). In 1867, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands were sold to the United States. In the steppes of Central Asia in 1850-1860. There were constant military clashes.

In domestic politics, the decline of the revolutionary wave after the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863-1864. made it easier for the government to transition to a reactionary course.

With his shot in the Summer Garden on April 4, 1866, Dmitry Karakozov opened the account of the assassination attempts on Alexander II. Then there were several more attempts: by A. Berezovsky in 1867 in Paris; A. Solovyov in April 1879; by Narodnaya Volya in November 1879; S. Khalturin in February 1880 At the end of the 1870s. Repressions against revolutionaries intensified, but this did not save the emperor from martyrdom. March 1, 1881 Alexander II was killed by a bomb thrown at his feet by I. Grinevitsky.

Alexander II married in 1841 the daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse-Darmstadt, Princess Maximilian Wilhelmina Sophia Maria (1824-1880), who in Orthodoxy took the name Maria Alexandrovna. There were 8 children from this marriage, including the future Emperor Alexander III.

After the death of his wife in 1880, Alexander II almost immediately entered into a morganatic marriage with Princess Catherine Dolgoruka, with whom he had three children during the Empress’s lifetime. After the consecration of the marriage, his wife received the title of His Serene Highness Princess Yuryevskaya. Their son Georgy and daughters Olga and Ekaterina inherited their mother's surname.

ALEXANDER III ALEXANDROVICH (02/26/1845-10/20/1894)

Emperor since March 2, 1881 The second son of Emperor Alexander II and his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna. He ascended the throne after the murder of his father Alexander II by the Narodnaya Volya. Crowned May 15, 1883

Alexander III's elder brother, Nicholas, died in 1865, and only after his death Alexander Alexandrovich was declared crown prince.

In the first months of the reign of Alexander III, the policy of his cabinet was determined by the struggle of factions within the government camp (M.T. Loris-Melikov, A.A. Abaza, D.A. Milyutin - on the one hand, K.P. Pobedonostsev - on the other). On April 29, 1881, when the weakness of the revolutionary forces was revealed, Alexander III issued a manifesto on the establishment of autocracy, which meant a transition to a reactionary course in domestic politics. However, in the first half of the 1880s. under the influence of economic development and the current political situation, the government of Alexander III carried out a number of reforms (abolition of the poll tax, introduction of compulsory redemption, lowering of redemption payments). With the resignation of Minister of Internal Affairs N.I. Ignatiev (1882) and the appointment of Count D.A. Tolstoy to this post, a period of open reaction began. In the late 80s - early 90s. XIX century so-called counter-reforms were carried out (introduction of the institution of zemstvo chiefs, revision of zemstvo and city regulations, etc.). During the reign of Alexander III, administrative arbitrariness increased significantly. Since the 1880s There was a gradual deterioration in Russian-German relations and a rapprochement with France, ending with the conclusion of the French-Russian alliance (1891-1893).

Alexander III died relatively young (49 years old). He suffered from nephritis for many years. The disease was aggravated by bruises received during a train accident near Kharkov.

After the death in 1865 of his elder brother, heir to Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich received, along with the title of heir to Tsarevich, the hand of his bride, Princess Maria Sophia Frederica Dagmara (in Orthodoxy Maria Feodorovna), daughter of the Danish king Christian IX and his wife Queen Louise. Their wedding took place in 1866. Six children were born from this marriage, including Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich.

NICHOLAY II ALEXANDROVICH (03/06/1868 - ?)

The last Russian emperor from October 21, 1894 to March 2, 1917, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III Alexandrovich. Crowned May 14, 1895

The beginning of the reign of Nicholas II coincided with the beginning of the rapid growth of capitalism in Russia. In order to preserve and strengthen the power of the nobility, whose interests he remained the spokesman for, the tsar pursued a policy of adaptation to the bourgeois development of the country, which was manifested in the desire to seek ways of rapprochement with the big bourgeoisie, in an attempt to create support in the wealthy peasantry (“Stolypin’s agrarian reform”) and the establishment State Duma (1906).

In January 1904, the Russo-Japanese War began, which soon ended in the defeat of Russia. The war cost our state 400 thousand people killed, wounded and captured and 2.5 billion rubles in gold.

Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and the revolution of 1905-1907. sharply weakened Russia's influence in the international arena. In 1914, Russia entered the First World War as part of the Entente.

Failures at the front, huge losses in people and equipment, devastation and disintegration in the rear, Rasputinism, ministerial leapfrog, etc. caused sharp discontent with the autocracy in all circles of Russian society. The number of strikers in Petrograd reached 200 thousand people. The situation in the country is out of control. On March 2 (15), 1917, at 23:30, Nicholas II signed the Manifesto on abdication and transfer of the throne to his brother Mikhail.

In June 1918, a meeting was held at which Trotsky proposed holding an open trial of the former Russian emperor. Lenin considered that in the chaos that reigned at that time, this step was clearly inappropriate. Therefore, Army Commander J. Berzin was ordered to take the imperial family under strict supervision. And the royal family remained alive.

This is confirmed by the fact that the heads of the diplomatic department of Soviet Russia G. Chicherin, M. Litvinov and K. Radek during 1918-22. They repeatedly offered to extradite certain members of the royal family. At first they wanted to sign the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty in this way, then on September 10, 1918 (two months after the events in the Ipatiev House), the Soviet ambassador in Berlin, Joffe, officially contacted the German Foreign Ministry with a proposal to exchange the “former queen” for K. Liebknecht, etc. .

And if the revolutionary authorities really wanted to destroy any possibility of restoring the monarchy in Russia, they would present the corpses to the whole world. So, they say, make sure that there is no longer a king or an heir, and there is no need to break spears. However, there was nothing to show. Because a performance was staged in Yekaterinburg.

And the hot pursuit investigation into the execution of the royal family came to precisely this conclusion: “in the Ipatiev house an imitation of the execution of the royal family was carried out.” However, investigator Nametkin was immediately dismissed and killed a week later. The new investigator, Sergeev, came to exactly the same conclusion and was also removed. Subsequently, the third investigator, Sokolov, also died in Paris, who first gave the conclusion required of him, but then nevertheless tried to make public the true results of the investigation. In addition, as we know, very soon not a single person remained alive from those who took part in the “execution of the royal family.” The house was destroyed.

But if the royal family was not shot until 1922, then there was no longer any need for their physical destruction. Moreover, the heir Alexei Nikolaevich was even given special care. He was taken to Tibet to be treated for hemophilia, as a result of which, by the way, it turned out that his illness existed only thanks to the suspicious confidence of his mother, who had a strong psychological influence on the boy. Otherwise, of course, he could not have lived for so long. So, we can clearly state that the son of Nicholas II, Tsarevich Alexei, not only was not executed in 1918, but also lived until 1965 under the special patronage of the Soviet government. Moreover, his son Nikolai Alekseevich, born in 1942, was able to become a rear admiral without joining the CPSU. And then, in 1996, in compliance with the full ceremony required in such cases, he was declared the Legitimate Sovereign of Russia. God protects Russia, which means he also protects his anointed one. And if you don’t yet believe in this, then that means you don’t believe in God.