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ST.
PETERSBURG IS inexorably linked with the personality of its
founder, Tsar Peter the Great. Peter
was the grandson of Mikhail Romanov, founder of the Romanov
dynasty which ruled Russia from 1613 until 1917. The son of Tsar
Alexis (1645-1676) from his second marriage, Peter rose to power
despite the meddling of jealous relatives from Alexis' first
marriage. The most menacing of these was Sophie, Alexis' daughter
and the older sister of Peter's physically and mentally retarded
half-brother Ivan. Ivan and Peter, both kids, were declared
co-tsars in 1681 and then sent off to play while Sophie ruled as
regent. Whereas Ivan remained unfit for duty as a ruler for his
entire short life, Peter learned military skills and built up
loyalty in the most influential regiments during his half-sister's
regency. In 1689 Peter returned to Moscow, deposed her, and
shipped her off to a convent. Peter inherited Russia that was
too backward for his taste. Trade was relatively undeveloped due
to the lack of access to a warm-water port (the Baltic belonged to
the Swedes and the Black Sea was in Turkish hands) and the
populace, even the aristocracy, was for the most part uneducated.
Peter was determined to modernize Russia regardless of the cost,
and immediately after Ivan's death in 1696 left him as sole
sovereign he took off incognito on a two-year fact-finding and
recruitment mission across Europe.
Peter's
first goal was to turn Russia into a formidable naval power. He
had seen navies and wanted one too. With this in mind he attacked
both north and south, taking the Azov Sea from the Turks in the
south in 1696 and then in 1703 driving the Swedes from the Neva
delta, seizing the fortress-town Noteburg and renaming it Schlьsselburg
(now called Petrokrepost). In order to strengthen the northern
position Peter decided to build a second fortress on the Neva
delta.
He
Built it on a Swamp
On
May 16, 1703, Peter laid the first stone of the fortress he named
St. Petersburg in honor of St. Peter, guardian of the gates of
Heaven. Across the river from the fortress Peter built a shipyard
(the Admiralty). Peter then figured why not build a city around
his little fortress and shipyard, providing Russia with a trading
port and a "window onto Europe" through which Russia
could hopefully catch Poland in her underwear.
Geological
conditions presented Peter with a formidable challenge. In many
areas the ground was so soft that huge wooden planks had to be
laid as foundations to prevent buildings from sinking. During the
initial phases of construction thousands of peasants and workers
died of malaria or scurvy and many were picked off by marauding
wolves, earning Petersburg the epithet "the city laid on
bones." In 1712 Peter decided to make St. Petersburg Russia's
capital and required the aristocracy to move here and build lavish
homes for themselves (at their own expense), as well as chip in to
help build government buildings.
Petersburg
after Peter
The
18th century saw Petersburg develop not only into Russia's
political and economic center but into its cultural center as
well. Russian and European culture met in St. Petersburg, with
more and more members of the aristocracy studying abroad and
learning foreign languages at home. While the rest of Russia
remained mired in backwardness, Petersburg flourished under the
auspices of the nobility and the merchant classes that were based
here. By the end of the 18th century secular literature and art
(previously forbidden) had begun to develop, setting the stage for
the tremendous flowering of the arts during the 19th century.
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