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Grand Duke Alexei Petrovich of Russia (28 February 1690 – 26 June 1718) was a Russian
Tsarevich Tsarevich (, ) was a title given to the sons of tsars. The female equivalent was ''tsarevna''. Under the 1797 Pauline Laws, Pauline house laws, the title was discontinued and replaced with ''tsesarevich'' for the heir apparent alone. His younger ...
. He was born in
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, the son of Tsar
Peter I Peter I may refer to: Religious hierarchs * Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–68 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus * Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint * Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholicos ...
and his first wife,
Eudoxia Lopukhina Tsarina Eudoxia Fyodorovna Lopukhina (9 August 1669 7 September 1731) was the first wife of Peter I the Great, and the last ethnic Russian and non-foreign wife of a Russian monarch. She was the mother of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and the ...
. Alexei did not get along with his father and repeatedly thwarted Peter's plans to raise him as successor to the throne and continue his policies. His brief defection to Austria scandalized the Russian government, leading to harsh reprisals against Alexei and his associates. Alexei died after interrogation under torture, and his younger half brother Peter Petrovich became the new heir apparent.


Early life and education

Alexei was brought up by his mother, who fostered an atmosphere of disdain towards his father, the Tsar. Alexei's relations with his father suffered from the hatred between his father and his mother, as he could not feel affection for his mother's persecutor. From the ages of 6 to 9, Alexei was educated by his tutor Vyazemsky, but after the removal of his mother by Peter the Great to the , Alexei was confined to the care of educated foreigners, who taught him history, geography, mathematics, and
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.


Military career

In 1703, Alexei was ordered to follow the army to the field as a private in an artillery regiment. In 1704, he was present at the capture of
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. At this period, the preceptors of the Tsarevich had the highest opinion of his ability. Alexei had strong leanings towards archaeology and ecclesiology. However, Peter had wished his son and heir to dedicate himself to the service of new Russia and demanded from him unceasing labor in order to maintain Russia's new wealth and power. Painful relations between father and son, quite apart from the prior personal antipathies, were therefore inevitable. It was an additional misfortune for Alexei that his father should have been too busy to attend to him just as he was growing up from boyhood to manhood. He was left in the hands of reactionary boyars and priests, who encouraged him to hate his father and wish for the death of the Tsar. In 1708, Peter sent Alexei to
Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...
to collect supplies and recruits, and after that to Moscow to fortify it against
Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...
. At the end of 1709, Alexei went to
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for one year. There, he finished lessons in French, German, mathematics and fortification. After his education, Alexei married Princess Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, whose family was connected by marriage to many of the great families of Europe (for example, Charlotte's sister
Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ...
was married to
Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI Charles VI (; ; 1 October 1685 – 20 October 1740) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy from 1711 until his death, succeeding his elder brother, Joseph I. He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain follow ...
, ruler of the
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). After his meeting with Princess Charlotte, both sides were satisfied with the marriage and it went forward. Alexei could have refused the marriage, but he had been encouraged by his father to at least meet his intended. "Why haven't you written to tell me what you thought about her?" wrote Peter in a letter dated 13 August 1710. The marriage contract was signed in September. The wedding was celebrated at
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, Germany, on 14 October 1711 (O.S.). One of the terms of the
marriage contract A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement (commonly referred to as a prenup), is a written contract entered into by a couple before marriage or a civil union that enables them to select and control many of the legal ...
agreed to by Alexei was that while any forthcoming children were to be raised in the Orthodox faith, Charlotte herself was allowed to retain her Protestant faith, an agreement opposed by Alexei's followers. As for the marriage itself, the first six months went well but quickly became a failure within the next six months. Alexei was drunk constantly and pronounced his bride "pock-marked" and "too thin". He insisted on separate apartments and ignored her in public. Three weeks later, the bridegroom was hurried away by his father to
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to superintend the provisioning of the Russian troops in Poland. For the next twelve months Alexei was kept constantly on the move. His wife joined him at Toruń in December, but in April 1712 a peremptory
ukase In Imperial Russia, a ukase () or ukaz ( ) was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leadership (e.g., Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' or the Most Holy Synod) that had the force of law. " Edict" and " decree" are adequate trans ...
ordered him off to the army in
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, and in the autumn of the same year he was forced to accompany his father on a tour of inspection through
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. He had two children with Charlotte: * Natalia Alexeievna Romanova (21 July 1714 – 3 December 1728) *
Peter Alexeyevich Romanov Peter II Alexeyevich (Russian: Пётр II Алексеевич; 23 October 1715 30 January 1730) was Emperor of Russia from 1727 until 1730, when he died at the age of 14. He was the only son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and Charlotte Christ ...
(23 October 1715 – 30 January 1730) Peter Alexeyevich would succeed as the Emperor Peter II in 1727. With his death in 1730, the direct male-line of the House of Romanov became extinct. After the birth of Natalia in 1714, Alexei brought his long-time Finnish
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Afrosinia to live in the palace. Some historians speculate that it was his conservative powerbase that was disapproving of his foreign, non-Orthodox bride, more so than her appearance, that caused Alexei to spurn Charlotte. Another influence was
Alexander Kikin Alexander Vasilievich Kikin (; ca. 1670–1718) was a political mentor and advisor to Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia; accused of having arranged the flight abroad of the latter, Kikin was broken on the wheel. Kikin began his career as a bom ...
, a high-placed official who had fallen out with the Tsar and had been deprived of his estates.


Flight

Immediately on his return from Finland, Alexei was dispatched by his father to
Staraya Russa Staraya Russa (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Polist, Polist River, south of Veliky Novgorod, the administrative center of the oblast. Its population has steadily decreased over ...
and
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to see to the building of new ships. This was the last commission entrusted to him, since Peter had not been satisfied with his son's performance and his lack of enthusiasm. When Peter asked Alexei to show his progress in mechanics and mathematics, the son responded by shooting himself in the right hand, and Peter took no more interest in him. Nevertheless, Peter made one last effort to reclaim his son. On 22 October 1715 (O.S.), Charlotte died, after giving birth to a son, the grand-duke Peter, the future Emperor Peter II. On the day of the funeral, Peter sent Alexei a stern letter, urging him to take interest in the affairs of the state. Peter threatened to cut him off if he did not acquiesce in his father's plans. Alexei wrote a pitiful reply to his father, offering to renounce the succession in favor of his infant son Peter. Peter would agree but on the condition that Alexei remove himself as a dynastic threat and become a monk. While Alexei was pondering his options, on 26 August 1716 Peter wrote from abroad, urging him, if he desired to remain
tsarevich Tsarevich (, ) was a title given to the sons of tsars. The female equivalent was ''tsarevna''. Under the 1797 Pauline Laws, Pauline house laws, the title was discontinued and replaced with ''tsesarevich'' for the heir apparent alone. His younger ...
, to join him and the army without delay. Rather than face this ordeal, Alexei fled to
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
and placed himself under the protection of his brother-in-law, the emperor Charles VI, who sent him for safety first to the
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ean fortress of Ehrenberg (near
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), and finally to the castle of
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at
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. He was accompanied throughout his journey by Afrosinia. That the emperor sincerely sympathized with Alexei, and suspected Peter of harboring murderous designs against his son, is plain from his confidential letter to
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, whom he consulted on this delicate affair. Peter felt insulted: the flight of the tsarevich to a foreign potentate was a reproach and a scandal, and he had to be recovered and brought back to Russia at all costs. This difficult task was accomplished by Count Peter Tolstoi, the most subtle and unscrupulous of Peter's servants.


Return

Alexei would only consent to return if his father swore that if he came back, he would not be punished and would be allowed to live quietly on his estates and marry Afrosinia. On 31 January 1718, the tsarevich reached Moscow. Peter had already determined to institute an inquisition in order to understand the reasons for Alexei's flight. On 18 February a confession was extorted from Alexei which implicated most of his friends, and he then publicly renounced the succession to the throne in favor of the baby grand-duke Peter Alexeyevich. A brutal reign of terror ensued, in the course of which the ex-tsaritsa Eudoxia was dragged from her monastery and publicly tried for alleged
adultery Adultery is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal consequences, the concept ...
. Friends of Alexei were impaled,
broken on the wheel The breaking wheel, also known as the execution wheel, the Wheel of Catherine or the (Saint) Catherine('s) Wheel, was a Torture, torture method used for Capital punishment#Public execution, public execution primarily in Europe from Classical ant ...
, or otherwise tortured to death. Alexei's servants were beheaded or had their tongues cut out. All this was done to terrorize the reactionaries and isolate the tsarevich. In April 1718 fresh confessions were extorted from, and in regard to, Alexei. This included the words of Afrosinia, who had turned state's evidence. "I shall bring back the old people ...", Alexei is reported to have told her,
...and choose myself new ones according to my will; when I become sovereign, I shall live in Moscow and leave Saint Petersburg simply as any other town; I won't launch any ships; I shall maintain troops only for defense, and won't make war on anyone; I shall be content with the old domains. In winter I shall live in Moscow, and in summer in Iaroslavl.
Despite this and other hearsay evidence, there was no direct evidence. The worst that could be brought against him was that he had wished his father's death. For Peter, his son was now a self-convicted and dangerous traitor, whose life was forfeit. However, his father had sworn to pardon him and let him live in peace if he returned to Russia. The whole matter was submitted to a grand council of
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s,
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s,
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and other
dignitaries {{Short pages monitor