style="font-size:15px;"> As a result, representatives of the Miloslavsky and Naryshkin families were married to the kingdom in 1682 at the same time. For the princes, they even arrange a throne with two seats. In fact, an active daughter from the first marriage of Alexei Tishaishy, the second regent of the royal brothers, Princess Sophia, rules.
In 1686 the tsarina signed the «Eternal Peace» with Poland. Kiev is assigned to the Russian kingdom (146 thousand rubles of compensation are paid), Zaporozhye, Smolensk, Chernigov. A number of devastated lands are included in the buffer territories. In addition, Russia joins the countries leading the war with the Ottoman Empire, the Holy League. In fulfillment of allied obligations, the First and Second Crimean campaigns are being undertaken. Both end the same way. Almost 100-thousand army, suffering deprivation of supplies and fresh water, returns back. In the first case (1687), the army gets to the Konka River, located 150 kilometers south of Dnepropetrovsk. In the second (1689) – it reaches Perekop. The idea of building fortresses to accumulate supplies is not being implemented. The troops of the more proactive Grigory Kosagov capture the strategically important Ochakov (Kara-Kermen, Black Fortress), located on the Black Sea coast near the mouth of the Dnieper. Only then, finally, the Russian kingdom ceases to pay tribute to the Crimean Khan.
Princess Sophia Alekseevna (1657—1704)
The first, the Nerchinsk agreement with China is concluded. In general, Sophia’s reign was not marked by special events. Russia is accumulating strength to withstand the era of Peter the Great. Peter turns 17 in May 1689, and at the insistence of his mother he marries Evdokia Lopukhina. Love lasts a year. The Tsar finds solace in the arms of the daughter of a goldsmith from the German Suburb, Anna Mons. Despite the beginning of adulthood, almost no one around Peter takes his orders seriously. Rumors of an impending assassination attempt reach the king. Together with his closest relatives and confidants, Peter takes refuge in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. From here he sends instructions to the regimental commanders to appear with a dozen people in person. Arriving archers are waiting for the sovereign’s mercy, vodka and feasts, but Peter himself leads the exemplary life of the Moscow Tsar. Sophia loses her supporters. She has to retire to the Novodevichy Convent, although she does not become a real nun until the suppression of the Strelets uprising. Ivan the Fifth meets Peter in the Assumption Cathedral and in fact gives up all power.
Peter likes to fight. In 1695 he carried out the First Azov campaign. More than 30,000 troops travel along the Don to the Azov (the top of the Sea of Azov), on transport ships and by land. Here it is revealed that it is impossible to take the city without warships. Only two fortresses overlapping the river are captured.
In the village of Preobrazhenskoye, on the banks of the Yauza, not far from Moscow, new transport and military ships are being built in a wild haste. They are disassembled and transported to Voronezh, to the Don, where they are assembled again. The number of troops reaches 70 thousand. In May 1696, Azov again fell into a siege. In July, after massive shelling, the garrison surrenders. According to the agreement, the Ottomans leave the city with their families and movable property. Voivode Shein becomes the first Russian generalissimo. Under the Constantinople Peace Treaty of 1700, Russia is officially exempted from paying tribute to the Crimean Khan. She receives Azov and a number of adjacent territories. But, the main goal – access to the Black Sea, even though through the Kerch Strait, is still not achieved.
Peter the Great (1672—1725)
In 1697, Peter the Great, who a year ago became the autocratic tsar, presented as a «sergeant of the Preobrazhensky regiment», set off on a journey across Europe. The goal of the «Great Embassy» (60 people) is to gain allies in the fight against Turkey, purchase weapons and hire craftsmen. There are many inconsistencies during this period of government. Meetings with the English king William III in Utrecht, the ruler of Austria Leopold the First, with Newton, Leibniz, Levenguk, Halley (the same astronomer), are still classified as «secret». Some historians believe that Peter the Great does not participate in the Embassy at all.
.. It is impossible to reach an agreement with Austria and Holland on an alliance against the Ottomans. Vienna refuses even to recognize the transfer of Kerch and the corresponding strait to Russia, if they were captured by it. The young tsar has personal friendship only with the king of the Commonwealth Augustus II. For the election of his candidacy at the Polish Sejm, Peter the Great at one time made certain efforts and resources. Among other things, colleagues of the same age manage to agree on a joint war against Sweden.
Herbariums, tools and 15,000 small arms are being purchased.
In the summer of 1698, having received news of the uprising of the archers, the tsar returned to Moscow. The rebellion had already been suppressed by that time. The instigators have been punished. The troops of Generalissimo Shein, practically with one artillery, defeated a three-thousandth detachment of archers. Princess Sophia, the main reason for the revolt, becomes a full-fledged nun and goes to the Novodevichy Convent. He is in charge of the reprisals, according to the definition of Prince B. Kurakin, «… by his appearance as a monster, by his temper an evil tyrant, a great unwilling person to do good to anyone, drunk all the days», the ruler of Russia in the absence of Peter, Prince Caesar Fyodor Romodanovsky. The Emperor, however, needs more sacrifices. For the first time, Muscovites see the Russian Tsar in the guise of a fierce executioner. He not only personally cuts off the heads of the archers, but makes the eminent boyars do the same. Some rebels are deprived of their lives in a progressive «overseas» way – wheeling. Two thousand people die on the scaffolds. Several hundred underage «sons of the regiment» receive a shameful stigma and are sent to an eternal settlement in Siberia. Sixteen rifle regiments that did not participate in the uprising are disbanded.
…Then that significant number of Russian good people decide that Peter the First (or the one who became him) is «the beast that came out of the abyss» Antichrist and Miroed. Confirmation of this judgment is the «All-Sure Councils» regularly convened on the island in the middle of the Yauza, where Orthodox rituals are parodied. The naming of church ranks and rituals are being altered using profanity. The «pontiff» chosen by the cathedral floats in a ladle in the middle of a vat of alcohol, while naked men and women of the highest boyar families drink wine and sing obscene songs.
Russia is a member of the Northern Union, created on the initiative of the rulers of Saxony and Poland. The general direction is the war with Sweden, the king of which, Charles the Twelfth, seems to other monarchs to be insufficiently experienced in military affairs. Peter’s aspirations are Karelia and Ingria (aka Ingermanlandia, the future Leningrad region). In addition, he is driven by personal resentment – a cold welcome in the then Swedish Riga during the Great Embassy.
In 1700, Russian troops, 35 thousand fighters, mostly recruits, with light and varied artillery, with insufficient supplies, besieged Narva. Once this city intended to include in its possessions the prince (or tsar) Ivan the Third. To reduce human losses, he built the Ivangorod fortress opposite him. Then the Russian monarch was successful. However, 80 years later, the Swedes recaptured Narva and, connecting the defenses of the two cities with a fortified bridge, created a powerful citadel.
Charles the Twelfth, having forced the allies of Russia to withdraw from the war, rushes to the aid of the besieged. Sheremetyev’s detachment enters into clashes with the advanced units. The prisoners, in accordance with the agreement with the king for this case, announce the size of the Swedish army at 50 thousand fighters. Believing this information, Peter leaves the army. Maybe he wants to quickly call other regiments to the place of battle, meet
