Peter III of Russia

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Peter III
Coronation portrait of Peter III of Russia -1761.JPG
Emperor Peter III, 1762
Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias
Reign 5 January 1762 – 9 July 1762
Predecessor Elizabeth
Successor Catherine II
Born (1728-02-21)21 February 1728
Kiel, Duchy of Holstein
Died 17 July 1762(1762-07-17) (aged 34)
Ropsha, Russian Empire
Burial Peter and Paul Cathedral
Consort Catherine II of Russia
Issue Paul I of Russia[L 1][1][2]
House Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Father Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Mother Anna Petrovna of Russia
Religion Russian Orthodoxy

Peter III (21 February 1728 – 17 July [O.S. 6 July] 1762) (Russian: Пётр III Фëдорович, Pyotr III Fyodorovich) was emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was born in Kiel as Karl Peter Ulrich, the only child of Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and Anna Petrovna, the elder surviving daughter of Peter the Great. The German Peter could hardly speak Russian and pursued a strongly pro-Prussian policy, which made him an unpopular leader. He was deposed and possibly assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his German wife Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II. His death could also have been the result of a drunken brawl with his bodyguard when he was being held captive after Catherine's coup.[3]

Early life and character[edit]



Empress Elizabeth arranged for Peter to marry his second cousin, Sophia Augusta Frederica (later Catherine the Great), daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. The young princess formally converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took the name Ekaterina Alexeievna (i.e., Catherine). They married on 21 August 1745. The marriage was not a happy one, but produced one son: the future Emperor Paul; and one daughter: Anna Petrovna (20 December 1757 – 19 March 1759). Catherine later claimed that Paul was not fathered by Peter: that, in fact, they had never consummated the marriage.[4] During the sixteen years of their residence in Oranienbaum, Catherine took numerous lovers, while her husband did the same in the beginning.

Portrait by Alexei Antropov of Emperor Peter III, 1762

The classical view of Peter's character is mainly drawn out of the memoirs of his wife and successor. She described him as an "idiot", "drunkard from Holstein", "good-for-nothing" etc. This portrait of Peter can be found in most history books, including 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica:




The German historian Elena Palmer goes even further, portraying Peter III as a cultured, open-minded emperor who tried to introduce various courageous, even democratic reforms in the 18th century's Russia. Currently, a newly established union is working on a project to build a memorial for Peter III in Kiel (North Germany), his city of birth.[6]

The reign[edit]

Foreign policy[edit]

Peter III depicted on a 10 ruble gold coin as emperor (1762)
Portrait by Alexei Antropov of Emperor Peter III, 1762



In June 1762, 40,000 Russian troops assembled in Pomerania under General Pyotr Rumyantsev, preparing to face 27,000 Danish troops under the French general Count St. Germain in case the Russian-Denmark freedom conference (scheduled for 1 July 1762 in Berlin under the patronage of Frederick II) failed to resolve the issue. But shortly before this Peter lost his throne (9 July [O.S. 28 June] 1762) and the conference did not occur. The issue of Schleswig remained unresolved. Peter was accused[by whom?] of planning an unpatriotic war.[9]

While historically Peter's planned war against Denmark was seen[by whom?] as being a political failure, recent scholarship has portrayed it as part of a pragmatic plan to secure his Holstein-Gottorp duchy and to expand the common Holstein-Russian power northward and westwards —he saw gaining territory and influence in Denmark and Northern Germany as more useful to Russia than taking East Prussia.[8]:218–20 Equally, he saw that friendship with Prussia and with Britain, following the latter's triumph in the Seven Years War, could offer more to aid his plans than alliance with either Austria or France.

Domestic reforms[edit]

During his 186-day period of government, Peter III passed 220 new laws which he had developed and elaborated during his life as a crown prince. Elena Palmer claims that his reforms were of a democratic nature.[10] He proclaimed religious freedom[11] — in those times a revolutionary step, that not even the advanced Western Europe had taken. He fought corruption within government, established public litigation and abolished the secret police — a repressive organ started under Peter I and intended to expose it as betrayer of the state for its mercilessness and torture methods.[10] Catherine recreated this institution and it remained present in Russia thereon.[10] He established[citation needed] obligatory education for aristocrats[clarification needed] — all aristocrats had to provide their children with education and report it to the senate. Furthermore, in some cities technical schools were established for middle and lower class children.[9] Peter began the reorganization[clarification needed] and modernization of the Russian army.[12]


Peter III's economic policy reflected the rising influence of Western capitalism and the merchant class or “Third Estate” that accompanied it. He established the first state bank in Russia, rejected the nobility's monopoly on trade and encouraged mercantilism by increasing grain exports and forbidding the import of sugar and other materials that could be found in Russia.[13]



The reign of Peter III is cast by Palmer as progressive[10] for its focus on transforming economically developed feudal Russia to a more advanced European state. Palmer claims that his reform efforts were welcomed by society as a whole.[10] It is Palmer's further contention that a plot against him by members of the government and influential nobles is unjustified:[10] that the aristocratic names in the list of conspirators belonged to Guards officers, those who had lost influence and impoverished families who had no access to high government positions and were forced into service, some resentment within the Guard could not have led to a change of government. A revolt of the Guards regiments against the emperor, to whom they had sworn allegiance, could only lead to an alternative emperor. Palmer claims that the conspiracy against Peter III was carried out by Catherine and Guards officer Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov and was in fact nothing more than a murder for personal reasons.[10] With the aid of the two Guards troops that Peter had planned to discipline more harshly, the emperor was arrested and forced to abdicate on 28 June. Shortly thereafter, he was transported to Ropsha, where he was supposedly assassinated, although no one is sure how Peter died.


Peter's letter to his wife written in French which was the Russian aristocracy's language

In December 1796, after succeeding Catherine, Peter's son the Emperor Paul, who disliked his mother, arranged for his remains to be exhumed and then reburied with full honors in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, where other tsars were buried.

After his death, four fake Peters (five if Šćepan Mali of Montenegro is included) came forth, supported by revolts among the people[14] who believed in a rumor that Peter had not died, but had secretly been imprisoned by Catherine. The most famous was the Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev. Under this guise, he led what came to be known as Pugachev's Rebellion in 1774, ultimately crushed by Catherine's forces. In addition, Kondratii Selivanov, who led a castrating sect known as the Skoptsy, claimed to be both Jesus and Peter III.

The legend of Peter is still talked about, especially in the town where he lived most of his life, former Oranienbaum, later Lomonosov, situated on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, 40 km west of St. Petersburg. Peter's palace is the only one of the famous palaces in the St. Petersburg area that was not captured by the Germans during Second World War. During the war, the building was a school and people say the ghost of Peter protected the children of Oranienbaum from getting hurt by bombs. Furthermore, it was near this town that the siege of Leningrad ended in January 1944. People say that Peter, after his death, stopped Hitler's army near Leningrad, as the living Peter stopped the Russian army near Berlin.[9][10]

Cultural references[edit]



See also[edit]


  6. ^
  12. ^ Voennij slovar (in Russian), St. Peterburg, RU, 2003 .



External links[edit]

Peter III of Russia
Cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg
Born: 21 February 1728 Died: 17 July 1762
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Emperor of Russia
Succeeded by
Catherine II
Preceded by
Charles Frederick
Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Charles Frederick and
Christian VI

as co-rulers
Duke of Holstein
with Christian VI (1739-1746)
Frederick V (1746-1762)
Succeeded by
Paul and
Frederick V

as co-rulers