Collegiums of Peter 1 and their functions. Political reforms of Peter I

COLLEGES

[…] Lack of accountability in the midst of war and financial crisis Most of all, it was necessary to convince Peter of the need for a complete restructuring of the central administration. […] He made inquiries about the structure of central institutions abroad: in Sweden, Germany and other countries he found colleges; Foreigners gave him notes on the introduction of collegiums, and he decided to adopt this form of Russian government. Already in 1712, an attempt was made to set up a “collegium” for trading with the help of foreigners, because, as Peter wrote, “their trades are incomparably better than ours.” He instructed his foreign agents to collect regulations on foreign collegiums and books on jurisprudence, especially to invite foreign businessmen to serve in Russian collegiums, and without people, “it will be impossible to do books alone, because all circumstances are never written.” For a long time and with great effort, they recruited in Germany and the Czech Republic learned lawyers and experienced officials, secretaries and scribes, especially from the Slavs, who could organize business in Russian institutions; Even captured Swedes who managed to learn Russian were invited to serve. Having become acquainted with the Swedish colleges, which were then considered exemplary in Europe, Peter in 1715 decided to take them as a model when organizing his central institutions. There is nothing unexpected or capricious in this decision. […] But this time too, things followed the usual course of all Peter’s reforms: a quick decision was accompanied by slow execution. Peter sent the Holstein cameraler Fick, whom he had hired, to Sweden for a closer study of the local colleges and invited the Silesian Baron von Luberas, an expert on Swedish institutions, to his service. Both brought him hundreds of regulations and statements of Swedish collegiums and their own projects for their introduction in Russia, and the second hired hundreds of one and a half hunters in Germany, the Czech Republic and Silesia to serve in Russian collegiums. Both of them, especially Fick, took an active part in the formation of these boards. Finally, by 1718, a plan for the collegiate structure was drawn up, the official composition of each college was established, presidents and vice-presidents were appointed, and all colleges were ordered to create regulations for themselves based on the Swedish charter, and points of the Swedish charter that were inconvenient “or dissimilar to the situation of this state , replace with new ones according to your own judgment." In 1718, presidents had to organize their colleges in order to begin their work in 1719; but delays and delays followed, and the boards did not come into effect since 1719, and others since 1720.

http://magister.msk.ru/library/history/kluchev/kllec66.htm

ESTABLISHED COLLEGES

Initially, 9 colleges were established, which the decree of December 12, 1718 lists in this order and with the following names: 1) Foreign Affairs, 2) Kamor, the department of state monetary revenues, 3) Justice, 4) Audit, “the account of all state parishes and expenses", i.e. the department of financial control, 5) Military (collegium), department of the ground military forces, 6) Admiralty, department of the naval forces, 7) Commerce, department of trade, 8) Berg-and Manufactory, department of the mining and factory industry , and 9) the State Office, the department of public expenditure. From this list, first of all, it is clear which state interests, as primary ones, required, according to the concepts of that time, enhanced implementation in management: out of nine boards, five were in charge of state and National economy, finance and industry. The boards introduced two principles into management that distinguished them from the old orders: a more systematic and concentrated division of departments and a consultative order of business. Of the nine boards, only two coincided in the range of cases with the old orders: the Board of Foreign Affairs with the Ambassadorial Order and the Revision Board with the Accounting Order; the remaining boards represented departments of the new composition. In this composition, the territorial element inherent in the old orders disappeared, most of which were in charge of exclusively or predominantly known affairs only in part of the state, in one or several districts. The provincial reform abolished many such orders; During the college reform, the last of them also disappeared. Each board in its assigned branch of government extended its action throughout the entire state. In general, all the old orders that were still living out their days were either absorbed by the collegiums or subordinated to them: for example, the Justice Collegium included 7 orders. In this way, the departmental division in the center was simplified and rounded off; but there still remained a number of new offices and offices, which were either subordinate to the collegiums or constituted special main departments: thus, next to the Military College there were the Main Provisions and Artillery offices and the Main Commissariat, which was in charge of recruiting and uniforming the army. This means that the collegiate reform did not introduce into the departmental routine the simplification and rounding that the composition of the collegiums promises. And Peter could not cope with the hereditary habit of administrative sidewalks, cages and basements, which the old Moscow state builders loved to introduce into their administration, imitating private house-building. However, in the interest of a systematic and uniform distribution of cases and original plan collegium was subject to change during execution. The local order, subordinate to the Justits College, was encumbered with its affairs and became an independent Patrimonial Collegium; the constituent parts of the Berg and Manufactory Collegium were divided into two special colleges, and the Audit Collegium, as a control body, merged with the Senate, the highest control, and its isolation , according to the frank admission of the decree, “without considering what was done then” as a matter of thoughtlessness. This means that by the end of the reign there were ten colleges.

Klyuchevsky V.O. Russian history. Full course of lectures. M., 2004. http://magister.msk.ru/library/history/kluchev/kllec66.htm

FEATURES OF COLLEGES

Another difference between collegiums and orders was the advisory procedure for conducting business. This order was not alien to the old order administration: according to the Code, judges or heads of orders had to decide cases together with their comrades and senior clerks. But administrative collegiality was not precisely regulated and died out under the pressure of strong bosses. Peter, who carried out this order in the ministerial council, in the district and provincial administration, and then in the Senate, wanted to firmly establish it in all central institutions. Absolute power needs advice as a substitute for law; “All the best dispensations happen through advice,” says Peter’s Military Regulations; It is easier for one person to hide lawlessness than for many comrades: someone will give it away. The presence of the board consisted of 11 members, a president, a vice-president, 4 advisers and 4 assessors, to which was added another adviser or assessor from foreigners; of the two secretaries of the collegiate chancellery, one was also appointed from foreigners. Cases were decided by a majority vote of the presence, and for reporting to the presence they were distributed among advisers and assessors, each of whom was in charge of a corresponding part of the office, forming at its head a special department or department of the board.

Klyuchevsky V.O. Russian history. Full course of lectures. M., 2004. http://magister.msk.ru/library/history/kluchev/kllec66.htm

FOREIGNERS IN THE COLLEGES

The introduction of foreigners into the boards was intended to place experienced leaders next to Russian newcomers. For the same purpose, Peter usually appointed a foreigner as vice-president of the Russian president. So, in the Military Collegium under President Prince Menshikov, the vice-president is General Weide, in the Chamber Collegium the president is Prince D. M. Golitsyn, the vice-president is the Revel Landrat Baron Nirot; Only at the head of the Mining and Manufacturing Board do we meet two foreigners, the learned artilleryman Bruce and the aforementioned Lyuberas. The decree of 1717 established the order for the appointed presidents to “constitute their boards” and make up their presence: for the positions of advisers and assessors, they themselves selected two or three candidates, but not from their relatives and “own creatures”; according to these candidate lists a meeting of all boards stood for the positions to be filled. So, I repeat, the collegiate division differed from the administrative division: 1) departmental distribution of affairs, 2) the space of action of institutions and 3) the order of business.

Klyuchevsky V.O. Russian history. Full course of lectures. M., 2004. http://magister.msk.ru/library/history/kluchev/kllec66.htm

REPLACEMENT OF ORDERS BY COLLEGES

The replacement of old orders with new central institutions by collegiums was carried out in 1717–1721. By the end of the 17th century. the functions of central institutions were carried out by 44 orders. They were replaced by 11 boards. Foreign relations and the armed forces were under the department of three boards: Military, Admiralty and Foreign Affairs. The importance of these colleges was emphasized by the fact that they were called “the first.” Finances were also in charge of three boards, the responsibilities between which were delimited as follows: the Chamber Board supervised the collection of taxes, the State Office Board managed expenses, and the Audit Board controlled expenses and income. Management of light industry was transferred to the Manufactory Collegium, mining to the Berg Collegium, and foreign trade to the Commerce Collegium. Instead of the Local Prikaz, which was in charge of land affairs, the Patrimonial Collegium was organized. She was in charge of all kinds of land disputes, cases of land inheritance, etc. Local judicial institutions were managed by the Justice Collegium.

Two more institutions acted as collegiums: the Chief Magistrate and the Synod. Town Hall after the regional reform of 1708–1710. lost the significance of the central institution, zemstvo huts were liquidated. The Chief Magistrate, established in St. Petersburg in 1720, was tasked with “reassembling this (the entire Russian merchant class) scattered temple.” Subordinate to the Chief Magistrate were city magistrates, whose members were elected from among the “efficient and best in the merchant class” townspeople. The actual power in the Chief Magistrate and city magistrates was in the hands of rich merchants, who oppressed the small craft people. Members of the city magistrates were elected for life and could be granted nobility for “thorough service.” Urban reform strengthened the rights of the merchants and thereby contributed to the development of trade and industry.

A special place among the central institutions was occupied by the Preobrazhensky Prikaz - a punitive institution that arose at the end of the 17th century. The Preobrazhensky Prikaz was in charge of political investigation; all opponents of the existing order were subject to its trial: participants in the uprisings, persons who made “indecent speeches,” which meant conversations condemning the reforms and behavior of the tsar, his family affairs, etc.

The collegial system differed from the order system by a more strict distribution of responsibilities between central departments. Decisions in the boards were made by a majority vote of its members, consisting of a president, vice-president, four advisers and four assessors. Peter motivated the introduction of collegial management, in particular, by the fact that “the truth is better sought” by a collective decision than by a “single person.”

The collegiums had not only administrative rights in their assigned area of ​​government, but also judicial functions, with the exception of political crimes. Financial disputes between merchants were sorted out by city magistrates and the Chief Magistrate. The rights of industrialists were defended by the Berg and Manufactory Collegiums, and they also examined the relationship between manufacturers and working people. The Military Collegium considered crimes committed by soldiers and officers of the ground army, etc.

The provincial, provincial and district administrations were subordinate to the boards.

The procedure for considering cases in boards was developed by the General Regulations, on the basis of which the entire internal regulations of institutions were built. In addition to the General Regulations, each of the boards had its own special regulations listing specific responsibilities for a particular branch of management. Foreign legal experts were involved in the development of regulations, and the experience of government agencies in Sweden and Denmark was taken into account. Peter I warned: “Which points in the Swedish regulations are inconvenient or are not similar to the situation of this state, put them according to your own judgment.”

ABOUT THE ADVANTAGE OF COLLEGES

Since then, all state colleges, only under His Royal Majesty’s special one, as well as the governing Senate, are established by decrees; If the Senate commands something about some matter, and the Collegium sees that something is contrary to His Majesty’s decrees and high interest: then the State Collegium should not quickly carry out this, but has in the Senate the proper written proposal commit. And if the Senate, regardless of this, remains with its previous determination, then the Senate is responsible for giving an answer, and the collegium, according to the written decree of the Senate, must carry it out, and then report it to His Royal Majesty, and if not notify it, then the entire collegium will be subject to that punishment, according to the severity of the harm. For this reason, His Royal Majesty deigns to send all his decrees to the senate and colleges, and also to send them in writing from the senate to the colleges; for both in the Senate and in the collegiums, verbal decrees should never be sent.

General Regulations of 1720 (“General Regulations or Charter, according to which the state colleges, as well as all the other offices and offices belonging to them, not only in external and internal institutions, but also in the administration of their rank, are subject to act”) / / Reforms of Peter I. Collection of documents.

EVALUATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM

In the administrative system of the Petrine administration, all institutions are new, both by name and by external organization, there is a new desire of the legislator to delimit departments and introduce active control; The collegial system, which he tried so hard to create, also seemed new to Peter. But researchers note that despite all the new forms... the foundations of the administrative system remained the same.

The public administration system in Russia required updating. As a result, a centralized noble-bureaucratic apparatus was formed. Gradually, the Boyar Duma began to lose its significance until it completely ceased to exist, and then all legislative, judicial and executive branch passed to Peter 1. Fundamentally new systems of government were introduced by special royal decrees - the establishment of the Senate and collegiums took place. This article will talk about their purpose, structure and coordination.

Creation of the Senate

On February 22, 1711, Peter 1, by his decree, established a new type of state body - the Governing Senate. Initially, it included 8 people from the king’s inner circle. These were the largest political figures of that era. Senators were appointed and removed according to Peter's personal decrees. This supreme governing body had to operate constantly and never interrupt its work.

The Senate is a collegial council that dealt with the administration of justice, resolving financial and other issues related to various sectors of the economy. It was an institution of an advisory, judicial and managerial nature. Its members submitted various issues relating to the legislative process to the monarch for consideration.

Those regulations that the Senate issued had no legal force. At the meetings, bills were only discussed and interpreted. The Senate was at the head of the system, and all collegiums were subordinate to it, which submitted monthly reports on all outgoing and incoming cases.

In 1711, a certain officer Johann Friedrich Blieger drew up his project regarding the further development of mining in Russia and submitted it to Peter 1 for consideration. The author called his document a collegium. The next year, another German officer interested the Tsar with his proposal. It concerned the organization of commercial and audit collegiums. Peter appreciated these propositions, and the establishment of the first colleges began. The date of the signal decree was February 12, 1712. It concerned the creation of the Commerce Board, which dealt with issues of customs, shipping, and foreign trade.

According to the royal decree, a commission was drawn up, which included three foreign and several Moscow merchants, as well as six suburban residents. They were tasked with developing the basic rules and clauses about the board of commerce. This commission worked for almost two years and drew up a document on trade. After that, she took up customs regulations. Unfortunately, no information has been preserved about her further work.

From that time on, the creation of boards, charters and a whole series of other transformations began, after which they gradually began to replace the already outdated system of orders. It was at this time that the name and nature of future institutions were determined new system authorities.

Further development

It must be said that the establishment of colleges by Peter 1 and the replacement of orders with them proceeded very slowly and sluggishly. But when in 1715 the outcome of hostilities with Sweden became clear to the tsar, he began to take a more active interest in the internal affairs of the state. It is known that in his notebook, under the date January 14 of the same year, a note was made about three colleges, and by March 23 there were already six of them. It is assumed that Peter was prompted to do this by reading a project on the reorganization of the state administrative apparatus by a now unknown author.

The document proposed introducing the establishment of collegiums in Russia, which would concentrate all matters related to the development of the country. The draft mentioned seven departments dealing with justice, commerce, foreign affairs, mining, the army, taxes and government expenditures. Management of the structures was supposed to be placed in the hands of individual senators. The author of this project cited Sweden as an example, where this system already existed, which was considered the best in Europe.

Peter's order

In April 1715, he gave an order to Prince V. Dolgorukov, the then Russian ambassador to Denmark, to somehow obtain written or printed charters of the boards there. The following year, the king recruited a certain Fika, who was well versed in justice, economics and police affairs. In addition, he had an excellent knowledge of civil and state law. It is him who Peter 1 sends abroad so that he can thoroughly study the entire control device on the spot.

Another royal order was received by the Viennese resident Abram Veselovsky. He had to find commanding people with knowledge of languages ​​abroad and invite them to serve in Russia. It must be said that Peter 1 did not skimp and paid foreign officials a decent remuneration in exchange for valuable information about their institutions. He valued such knowledge more than book knowledge.

Preparation

In the next two years, the tsar spent abroad, and it seemed that without him the establishment of colleges had ceased altogether. But that was not the case. Preparations for the organization of the new system were in full swing. Everyone involved in this work worked tirelessly, including Peter himself, who was sometimes present in the Danish boards, reviewing cases and rewriting the rules of office work.

At the beginning of 1717, Fick came to Amsterdam to tell the king that he had finished studying the Swedish government system. Peter sends him to Bruce so that he announces through the provincial leadership and the Senate that Swedish prisoners who know the civil service can, if they want, take Russian positions in the collegium. Life was hard for the prisoners in Russia, so many accepted the invitation, and they were promised a decent reward.

Register of boards

All developments concerning the transformation of the government system were collected by Fick and transferred to Bruce. Shafirov and Yaguzhinsky also took an active part in this matter. In October, Peter 1 himself returned to Russia and the next stage of work began - the direct establishment of the collegiums. The year 1717 became decisive, since, based on all the collected materials, a register was finally compiled, as well as the staff of all units, which the tsar approved on December 1 of the same year. Already on the 15th, Peter 1 signed a decree on the appointment of presidents and their deputies.

How many colleges were there under Peter 1? First 9. Admiral Apraksin, Chancellor Golovkin and Field Marshal Menshikov remained in charge of their offices, which from that moment began to be called differently. The first of them remained at the head of the Admiralty, the second - of foreign affairs, and the third - of the military boards. From the former local, zemstvo and detective court orders, the Justice Collegium was formed, the management of which was entrusted to A. Matveev. The President of the Chamber Board was Prince D. Golitsyn, the State Board - I. Musin-Pushkin, the Revision Board - Y. Dolgoruky, the Commerce Board - P. Tolstoy, the Manufacture and Berg Boards - Y. Bryusov. All these units had to be organized and formed anew.

But the establishment of the collegiums did not end there. The date January 18, 1722 was marked by the release of a new decree on the creation of the 10th patrimonial estate, which was in charge of land management and all other related issues.

Structure

The new units were to consist not only of domestic, but also of foreign members. The Russians were given the posts of presidents and their deputies - vice-presidents, as well as 4 positions of advisers and assessors, one each of a secretary, a notary, an actuary, a registrar, a translator and clerks of three articles. Foreigners were assigned one position each: assessor or adviser and secretary.

The institutions of the collegiums were supposed to begin their work only in 1719, and before this date all the necessary documents, rules, etc. were drawn up. In addition, it was necessary to find personnel. The royal decree, which was transmitted to the presidents, stated that they could not accept either their relatives or friends into positions. To do this, it was proposed to select 2 or 3 candidates for a place and present them to the boards, and then choose one of them by voting with balls.

Device difficulties

Peter gave his subordinates, who were placed at the head of the boards, only a year to form the units entrusted to them, but for now all the departments worked in the old regime. The establishment of the collegiums proceeded very sluggishly while the tsar was away. When he returned, he realized that some presidents had done very little, while others had not started their work at all. Peter was very angry and even threatened them with a baton. Seeing this turn of events, Bruce soon abandoned the construction of new organs. He was replaced by Fick.

Beginning of work

In 1718, the staff of the lower ranks of the colleges was practically complete. Most of them were taken from old orders. A year later, we finished with the composition and approval of all positions and regulations of most of the boards. Finally, in 1720, work on the device was completed. The general regulations saw the light of day, which spelled out general rules collegiums.

With the creation of the new body, the gap in state institutions was filled, thanks to which the Senate was freed from considering minor cases coming from private individuals and dealt only with legislative issues and emergency state affairs that did not tolerate delay.

Establishment of ministries

Over time, the collegiums began to slow down the development of the state, as bureaucracy in them reached its apogee. Finally, on September 8, 1802, on the initiative of Alexander I, the Manifesto “On the Establishment of Ministries” was published. A total of 8 such units were created, each of which was responsible for its own area of ​​activity: naval forces, military forces, internal affairs, justice, finance, commerce, foreign affairs and public education.

All ministries had their own structural units, which lined up along functional principle. Initially they were called expeditions, and then renamed departments. For their coordinated activities, special meetings called the “Committee of Ministers” were held, where the emperor himself was often present.

Rights and responsibilities of managers

The establishment of ministries instead of collegiums marked the beginning of individual power and the same responsibility. This meant that a high-ranking official himself managed the department entrusted to him with the help of the office and institutions directly subordinate to him. In addition, he was also personally responsible for all the mistakes made in his ministry.

In addition, to discuss matters of national importance, an “Indispensable Council” was also created, which included 12 members of the government. It replaced the temporary and occasional meetings held during the reigns of Catherine 2 and Paul 1.

9 years after the establishment of the ministries, their rights and procedures were established. Each head of his department had from one to several deputies (comrades), who were members of the State Council and the Committee of Ministers. Their duties also included mandatory presence in the Senate. Each specialized office work was carried out in ministerial offices. This order was maintained until the October Revolution of 1917. Under Soviet power, people's commissariats were created on the basis of imperial ministries.

Peter the Great (1672 - 1725) - Russian Tsar, ruled independently from 1689 to 1725. Conducted a large-scale reform of all areas of life in Russia. Artist Valentin Serov, dedicated to Peter whole line Petru's works described him this way: “He was terrible: long, on weak, thin legs and with such a small head, in relation to the whole body, that he should have looked more like some kind of stuffed animal with a badly placed head than a living person. There was a constant tic in his face, and he was always making faces: blinking, twitching his mouth, moving his nose and flapping his chin. At the same time, he walked with huge strides, and all his companions were forced to follow him at a run.” .

Prerequisites for the reforms of Peter the Great

Peter accepted Russia as a backward country, located on the outskirts of Europe. Muscovy had no access to the sea, with the exception of the White Sea, a regular army, navy, developed industry, trade, the system of government was antediluvian and ineffective, there were no higher educational institutions (only in 1687 the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy opened in Moscow), printing , theater, painting, libraries, not only the people, but many representatives of the elite: boyars, nobles, did not know how to read and write. Science did not develop. Serfdom ruled.

Public Administration Reform

- Peter replaced orders that did not have clear responsibilities with collegiums, the prototype of future ministries

• Collegium of Foreign Affairs
• Military college
• Naval College
• Board for Trade Affairs
• College of Justice...

The boards consisted of several officials, the eldest was called the chairman or president. All of them were subordinate to the Governor General, who was part of the Senate. There were 12 boards in total.
- In March 1711, Peter created the Governing Senate. At first its function was to govern the country in the absence of the king, then it became a permanent institution. The Senate included presidents of colleges and senators - people appointed by the tsar.
- In January 1722, Peter issued a “table of ranks” numbering 14 class ranks from State Chancellor (first rank) to collegiate registrar (fourteenth)
- Peter reorganized the secret police system. Since 1718, the Preobrazhensky Prikaz, which was in charge of cases of political crimes, was transformed into the Secret Investigation Office.

Church reform of Peter

Peter abolished the patriarchate, a church organization practically independent of the state, and created in its place the Holy Synod, all of whose members were appointed by the tsar, thereby eliminating the autonomy of the clergy. Peter pursued a policy of religious tolerance, making the existence of Old Believers easier and allowing foreigners to freely practice their faith.

Administrative reform of Peter

Russia was divided into provinces, provinces were divided into provinces, provinces into counties.
Provinces:

• Moscow
• Ingria
• Kyiv
• Smolenskaya
• Azovskaya
• Kazanskaya
• Arkhangelogorodskaya
• Siberian
• Rizhskaya
• Astrakhan
• Nizhny Novgorod

Peter's military reform

Peter replaced the irregular and noble militia with a permanent regular army, staffed by recruits drawn one from each of the 20 peasant or petty-bourgeois households in the Great Russian provinces. He built a powerful navy and wrote the military regulations himself, using the Swedish one as a basis.

Peter turned Russia into one of the strongest naval powers in the world, with 48 battleships and 788 galleys and other ships

Peter's economic reform

A modern army could not exist without state system supplies. To supply the army and navy with weapons, uniforms, food, consumables, it was necessary to create a powerful industrial production. By the end of Peter's reign, there were about 230 factories and plants operating in Russia. Factories were created focused on the production of glass products, gunpowder, paper, canvas, linen, cloth, paints, ropes, even hats; metallurgical, sawmill, and leather industries were organized. In order for the products of Russian craftsmen to be competitive in the market, high customs duties were introduced on European goods. Encouraging entrepreneurial activity, Peter made extensive use of loans to create new factories, trading companies. The largest enterprises that arose during the era of Peter the Great's reforms were those created in Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Urals, Tula, Astrakhan, Arkhangelsk, Samara

• Admiralty Shipyard
• Arsenal
• Powder factories
• Metallurgical plants
• Linen production
• Production of potash, sulfur, saltpeter

By the end of the reign of Peter I, Russia had 233 factories, including more than 90 large manufactories built during his reign. During the first quarter of the 18th century, 386 different ships were built at the shipyards of St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk; at the beginning of the century, Russia smelted about 150 thousand pounds of cast iron, in 1725 - more than 800 thousand pounds; Russia caught up with England in cast iron smelting

Peter's reform in education

The army and navy needed qualified specialists. Therefore, Peter paid great attention to their preparation. During his reign, they were organized in Moscow and St. Petersburg

• School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences
• artillery school
• engineering school
• medical school
• Marine Academy
• mining schools at Olonets and Ural factories
• Digital schools for “children of all ranks”
• Garrison schools for children of soldiers
• Theological schools
• Academy of Sciences (opened a few months after the death of the Emperor)

Peter's reforms in the field of culture

• Publication of the first newspaper in Russia “St. Petersburg Vedomosti”
• Ban on boyars wearing beards
• Establishment of the first Russian museum - Kunskamera
• Requirement for nobility to wear European dress
• Creation of assemblies where nobles had to appear together with their wives
• Creation of new printing houses and translation into Russian of many European books

Reforms of Peter the Great. Chronology

• 1690 - The first guards regiments Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky were created
• 1693 — Creation of a shipyard in Arkhangelsk
• 1696 — Creation of a shipyard in Voronezh
• 1696 - Decree on the creation of an arms factory in Tobolsk
• 1698 - Decree banning beards and requiring nobles to wear European clothing
• 1699 - Dissolution of the Streltsy army
• 1699 - creation of trading and industrial enterprises enjoying a monopoly
• 1699, December 15 - Decree on calendar reform. New Year starts on January 1st
• 1700 - Creation of the Government Senate
• 1701 - Decree prohibiting kneeling at the sight of the sovereign and removing one’s hat in winter when passing by his palace
• 1701 - Opening of a school of mathematical and navigational sciences in Moscow
• 1703, January - the first Russian newspaper was published in Moscow

• 1704 - Replacement of the Boyar Duma with a council of ministers - the Council of Chiefs of Orders
• 1705 - First decree on recruitment
• 1708, November - Administrative reform
• 1710, January 18 - decree on the official introduction of the Russian civil alphabet instead of the Church Slavonic
• 1710 - Founding of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg
• 1711 - instead of the Boyar Duma, a Senate of 9 members and a chief secretary was created. Currency reform: minting gold, silver and copper coins
• 1712 - Transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg
• 1712 - Decree on the creation of horse breeding farms in the Kazan, Azov and Kyiv provinces
• 1714, February - Decree on the opening of digital schools for the children of clerks and priests
• 1714, March 23 - Decree on primogeniture (single inheritance)
• 1714 - Foundation of the state library in St. Petersburg
• 1715 - Creation of shelters for the poor in all cities of Russia
• 1715 - Instruction of the College of Commerce to organize the training of Russian merchants abroad
• 1715 - Decree on encouraging the cultivation of flax, hemp, tobacco, mulberry trees for silkworms
• 1716 - Census of all schismatics for double taxation
• 1716, March 30 - Adoption of military regulations
• 1717 - Introduction of free trade in grain, cancellation of some privileges for foreign merchants
• 1718 - Replacement of Orders by Colleges
• 1718 - Judicial reform. tax reform
• 1718 - Beginning of the population census (continued until 1721)
• 1719, November 26 - Decree on the establishment of assemblies - free meetings for fun and business
• 1719 - Creation of an engineering school, establishment of the Berg College to manage the mining industry
• 1720 - Naval Charter adopted
• 1721, January 14 - Decree on the creation of the Theological College (the future Holy Synod)

All government activities Peter I can be conditionally divided into two periods: 1695-1715 and 1715-1725.

A feature of the first stage was haste and not always thought-out character, which was explained by the conduct of the Northern War. The reforms were aimed primarily at raising funds for the war, were carried out by force and often did not lead to the desired result. Except government reforms At the first stage, extensive reforms were carried out with the aim of modernizing the way of life.

In the second period, the reforms were more lightning-fast and ill-conceived and aimed at the internal development of the state.

In general, Peter's reforms were aimed at strengthening the Russian state and introducing the ruling stratum to Western European culture while simultaneously strengthening the absolute monarchy. By the end of the reign of Peter the Great, a powerful Russian Empire was created, headed by an emperor who had absolute power. During the reforms, the technical and economic lag of Russia from a number of other European states was overcome, access to the Baltic Sea was won, and transformations were carried out in all spheres of life of Russian society. In the same time, popular forces were extremely exhausted, the bureaucratic apparatus expanded, the preconditions were created (Decree on Succession to the Throne) for a crisis of supreme power, which led to the era of “palace coups.”

Public Administration Reforms

At first, Peter I did not have a clear program of reforms in the sphere of government. The emergence of a new government institution or a change in the administrative-territorial management of the country was dictated by the conduct of wars, which required significant financial resources and mobilization of the population. The system of power inherited by Peter I did not allow raising enough funds to reorganize and increase the army, build a fleet, build fortresses and St. Petersburg.

From the first years of Peter's reign, there was a tendency to reduce the role of the ineffective Boyar Duma in government. In 1699, under the king, the Near Chancellery, or Consilium (Council) of Ministers, consisting of 8 proxies who managed individual orders. This was the prototype of the future Governing Senate, formed on February 22, 1711. The last mention of the Boyar Duma dates back to 1704. A certain mode of work was established in the Consilium: each minister had special powers, reports and minutes of meetings appeared. In 1711, instead of the Boyar Duma and the Council that replaced it, the Senate was established. Peter formulated the main task of the Senate this way: “ Look at all government expenses, and set aside unnecessary, and especially wasteful, ones. How can it be possible to collect money, since money is the artery of war.»

Created by Peter for the current administration of the state during the tsar’s absence (at that time the tsar was setting off on the Prut campaign), the Senate, consisting of 9 people, turned from a temporary to a permanent highest government institution, which was enshrined in the Decree of 1722. He controlled justice, was in charge of trade, fees and expenses of the state, monitored the orderly performance of military service by the nobles, and the functions of the Rank and Ambassadorial orders were transferred to him.

Decisions in the Senate were made collegially, at a general meeting, and were supported by the signatures of all members of the highest state body. If one of the 9 senators refused to sign the decision, the decision was considered invalid. Thus, Peter I delegated part of his powers to the Senate, but at the same time imposed personal responsibility on its members.

Simultaneously with the Senate, the position of fiscals appeared. The duty of the chief fiscal under the Senate and the fiscals in the provinces was to secretly supervise the activities of institutions: cases of violation of decrees and abuses were identified and reported to the Senate and the Tsar. Since 1715, the work of the Senate was supervised by the Auditor General, who in 1718 was renamed Chief Secretary. Since 1722, control over the Senate has been exercised by the Prosecutor General and Chief Prosecutor, to whom the prosecutors of all other institutions were subordinate. No decision of the Senate was valid without the consent and signature of the Prosecutor General. The Prosecutor General and his deputy Chief Prosecutor reported directly to the sovereign.

The Senate, as a government, could make decisions, but required an administrative apparatus to carry them out. In 1717-1721 a reform was carried out executive bodies management, as a result of which the system of orders with their vague functions was replaced, according to the Swedish model, by 11 boards - the predecessors of future ministries. In contrast to orders, the functions and spheres of activity of each board were strictly demarcated, and relations within the board itself were built on the principle of collegiality of decisions. The following were introduced:

• Collegium of foreign (foreign) affairs.
• Military Collegium - recruitment, armament, equipment and training of the ground army.
• Admiralty Collegium - naval affairs, fleet.
• Kamor Collegium - collection of state revenues.
• The State Board of Directors was in charge of state expenditures,
• The Audit Board controls the collection and expenditure of government funds.
• Commerce Board - issues of shipping, customs and foreign trade.
• Berg College - mining and metallurgy.
• Manufactory Collegium - light industry.
• The College of Justice was in charge of issues of civil proceedings (the Serfdom Office operated under it: it registered various acts - bills of sale, the sale of estates, spiritual wills, debt obligations).
• The Spiritual College - managed church affairs (later the Holy Governing Synod).

In 1721, the Patrimonial Collegium was formed - it was in charge of noble land ownership (land litigation, transactions for the purchase and sale of land and peasants, and the search for fugitives were considered).
In 1720, the Chief Magistrate was formed as a collegium to govern the city population.
In 1721, the Spiritual Collegium or Synod was established to consider the affairs of the church.
On February 28, 1720, the General Regulations introduced a uniform system of office work in the state apparatus for the entire country. According to the regulations, the board consisted of a president, 4-5 advisers and 4 assessors.
In addition, there were the Preobrazhensky Prikaz (political investigation), the Salt Office, the Copper Department, and the Land Survey Office.
The “first” collegiums were called the Military, Admiralty and Foreign Affairs.
There were two institutions with the rights of collegiums: the Synod and the Chief Magistrate.
The boards were subordinate to the Senate, and to them were the provincial, provincial and district administrations.

Regional reform

In 1708-1715, a regional reform was carried out with the aim of strengthening the vertical of power at the local level and better providing the army with supplies and recruits. In 1708, the country was divided into 8 provinces headed by governors vested with full judicial and administrative power: Moscow, Ingria (later St. Petersburg), Kyiv, Smolensk, Azov, Kazan, Arkhangelsk and Siberian. The Moscow province provided more than a third of revenues to the treasury, followed by the Kazan province.

Governors were also in charge of the troops stationed on the territory of the province. In 1710, new administrative units appeared - shares, uniting 5,536 households. The first regional reform did not solve the set tasks, but only significantly increased the number of civil servants and the costs of their maintenance.

In 1719-1720, a second regional reform was carried out, eliminating shares. The provinces began to be divided into 50 provinces headed by governors, and the provinces into districts headed by zemstvo commissars appointed by the Chamber Board. Only military and judicial matters remained under the governor's jurisdiction.

As a result of public administration reforms, the establishment of an absolute monarchy, as well as the bureaucratic system on which the emperor relied, ended.

Control over the activities of civil servants

To monitor the implementation of local decisions and reduce endemic corruption, the position of fiscals was established in 1711, who were supposed to “secretly inspect, report and expose” all abuses of both high and low officials, pursue embezzlement, bribery, and accept denunciations from private individuals. . At the head of the fiscals was the chief fiscal, appointed by the king and subordinate to him. The chief fiscal was part of the Senate and maintained contact with subordinate fiscals through the fiscal desk of the Senate office. Denunciations were considered and reported monthly to the Senate by the Execution Chamber - a special judicial presence of four judges and two senators (existed in 1712-1719).

In 1719-1723 The fiscals were subordinate to the College of Justice, and with the establishment in January 1722, the positions of the Prosecutor General were supervised by him. Since 1723, the chief fiscal officer was the fiscal general, appointed by the sovereign, and his assistant was the chief fiscal, appointed by the Senate. In this regard, the fiscal service withdrew from the subordination of the Justice College and regained departmental independence. The vertical of fiscal control was brought to the city level.

Army and Navy reforms

Upon his accession to the kingdom, Peter received at his disposal a permanent Streltsy army, prone to anarchy and rebellion, unable to fight Western armies. The Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky regiments, which grew out of the childhood fun of the young tsar, became the first regiments of the new Russian army, built with the help of foreigners according to the European model. Reforming the army and creating a navy became necessary conditions for victory in the Northern War of 1700-1721.

In preparation for the war with Sweden, Peter ordered in 1699 to carry out a general recruitment and begin training soldiers according to the model established by the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovtsy. This first recruitment yielded 29 infantry regiments and two dragoons. In 1705, every 20 households had to put up one recruit, a single guy between 15 and 20 years old, for lifelong service. Subsequently, recruits began to be taken from a certain number of male souls among the peasants. Recruitment into the navy, as into the army, was carried out from recruits.

If at first among the officers there were mainly foreign specialists, then after the start of the work of the navigation, artillery, and engineering schools, the growth of the army was satisfied by Russian officers from noble class. In 1715, the Maritime Academy was opened in St. Petersburg. In 1716, the Military Regulations were published, which strictly defined the service, rights and responsibilities of the military.

As a result of the transformations, a strong regular army and a powerful navy were created, which Russia simply did not have before. By the end of Peter's reign, the number of regular ground forces reached 210 thousand (of which 2,600 were in the guard, 41,550 in cavalry, 75 thousand in infantry, 74 thousand in garrisons) and up to 110 thousand irregular troops. The fleet consisted of 48 battleships; galleys and other vessels 787; There were almost 30 thousand people on all ships.

Church reform

One of the transformations of Peter I was the reform of church administration that he carried out, aimed at eliminating the church jurisdiction autonomous from the state and subordinating the Russian hierarchy to the Emperor. In 1700, after the death of Patriarch Adrian, Peter I, instead of convening a council to elect a new patriarch, temporarily placed Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky of Ryazan at the head of the clergy, who received the new title of Guardian of the Patriarchal Throne or “Exarch”.

To manage the property of the patriarchal and bishop's houses, as well as monasteries, including the peasants belonging to them (approximately 795 thousand), the Monastic Order was restored, headed by I. A. Musin-Pushkin, who again began to be in charge of the trial of the monastic peasants and control income from church and monastic landholdings.

In 1701, a series of decrees were issued to reform the management of church and monastic estates and the organization of monastic life. The most important were the decrees of January 24 and 31, 1701.

In 1721, Peter approved the Spiritual Regulations, the drafting of which was entrusted to the Pskov bishop, the Tsar's close Little Russian Feofan Prokopovich. As a result, a radical reform of the church took place, eliminating the autonomy of the clergy and completely subordinating it to the state.

In Russia, the patriarchate was abolished and the Theological College was established, soon renamed the Holy Synod, which was recognized by the Eastern patriarchs as equal in honor to the patriarch. All members of the Synod were appointed by the Emperor and took an oath of allegiance to him upon taking office.

War time stimulated the removal of valuables from monastery storages. Peter did not go for the complete secularization of church and monastic properties, which was carried out much later, at the beginning of the reign of Catherine II.

Religious politics

The era of Peter was marked by a trend towards greater religious tolerance. Peter terminated the “12 Articles” adopted by Sophia, according to which Old Believers who refused to renounce the “schism” were subject to burning at the stake. The “schismatics” were allowed to profess their faith, subject to recognition of the existing public order and paying double taxes. Complete freedom of faith was granted to foreigners coming to Russia, and restrictions on communication between Orthodox Christians and Christians of other faiths were lifted (in particular, interfaith marriages were allowed).

Financial reform

Azov campaigns, and then North War 1700-1721 required huge funds, the collection of which was aimed at financial reforms.

At the first stage, it all came down to finding new sources of funds. To the traditional customs and tavern levies were added fees and benefits from the monopolization of the sale of certain goods (salt, alcohol, tar, bristles, etc.), indirect taxes (bath, fish, horse taxes, tax on oak coffins, etc.) , mandatory use of stamp paper, minting coins of lesser weight (damage).

In 1704, Peter carried out a monetary reform, as a result of which the main monetary unit became not money, but a penny. From now on it began to be equal not to ½ money, but to 2 money, and this word first appeared on coins. At the same time, the fiat ruble, which had been a conventional monetary unit since the 15th century, equated to 68 grams of pure silver and used as a standard in exchange transactions, was also abolished. The most important measure during the financial reform was the introduction of a poll tax instead of the previously existing household taxation. In 1710, a “household” census was carried out, which showed a decrease in the number of households. One of the reasons for this decrease was that, in order to reduce taxes, several households were surrounded by one fence and one gate was made (this was considered one yard during the census). Due to these shortcomings, it was decided to switch to the poll tax. In 1718-1724, a repeat census was carried out in parallel with the population audit (revision of the census), which began in 1722. According to this audit, there were 5,967,313 people in taxable status.

Based on the data obtained, the government divided the amount of money needed to maintain the army and navy by the population.

As a result, the size of the per capita tax was determined: the serfs of the landowners paid the state 74 kopecks, state peasants - 1 ruble 14 kopecks (since they did not pay quitrent), the urban population - 1 ruble 20 kopecks. Only men were subject to tax, regardless of age. The nobility, clergy, as well as soldiers and Cossacks were exempt from the poll tax. The soul was countable - between audits, the dead were not excluded from the tax lists, newborns were not included, as a result, the tax burden was distributed unevenly.

As a result of the tax reform, the size of the treasury was significantly increased by extending the tax burden not only to the peasantry, but also to their landowners. If in 1710 incomes extended to 3,134,000 rubles; then in 1725 there were 10,186,707 rubles. (according to foreign sources - up to 7,859,833 rubles).

Transformations in industry and trade

Having realized Russia's technical backwardness during the Grand Embassy, ​​Peter could not ignore the problem of reforming Russian industry. One of the main problems was the lack of qualified craftsmen. The Tsar solved this problem by attracting foreigners to the Russian service on favorable terms and by sending Russian nobles to study in Western Europe. Manufacturers received great privileges: they were freed with their children and craftsmen from military service, were subject only to the court of the Manufactory Collegium, were freed from taxes and internal duties, could bring the tools and materials they needed from abroad duty-free, and their houses were freed from military billets.

The first silver smelter in Russia was built near Nerchinsk in Siberia in 1704. The following year he gave the first silver.

Significant measures have been taken for geological exploration of mineral resources in Russia. Previously Russian state in terms of raw materials, it was completely dependent on foreign countries, primarily Sweden (iron was brought from there), however, after the discovery of deposits of iron ore and other minerals in the Urals, the need for purchasing iron disappeared. In the Urals, in 1723, the largest ironworks in Russia was founded, from which the city of Yekaterinburg developed. Under Peter, Nevyansk, Kamensk-Uralsky, and Nizhny Tagil were founded. Weapons factories (cannon yards, arsenals) appeared in the Olonetsky region, Sestroretsk and Tula, gunpowder factories - in St. Petersburg and near Moscow, leather and textile industries developed - in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kazan and on the Left Bank of Ukraine, which was determined by the need for the production of equipment and uniforms for Russian troops, silk spinning, paper production, cement production, a sugar factory and a trellis factory appeared.

In 1719, the “Berg Privilege” was issued, according to which everyone was given the right to search, smelt, cook and clean metals and minerals everywhere, subject to payment of a “mining tax” of 1/10 of the cost of production and 32 shares in favor of the owner of that land where ore deposits were found. For hiding ore and attempting to interfere with mining, the owner was threatened with confiscation of land, corporal punishment, and even the death penalty"due to fault."

The main problem in Russian manufactories of that time was the shortage of labor. The problem was solved by violent measures: entire villages and hamlets were assigned to manufactories, whose peasants worked off their taxes to the state in manufactories (such peasants would be called assigned), criminals and beggars were sent to factories. In 1721, a decree followed, which allowed “merchant people” to buy villages, the peasants of which could be resettled in manufactories (such peasants would be called possessions).

Trade developed further. With the construction of St. Petersburg, the role of the country's main port passed from Arkhangelsk to the future capital. River canals were built.

In general, Peter's policy in trade can be characterized as a policy of protectionism, consisting of supporting domestic production and imposing increased duties on imported products (this was consistent with the idea of ​​mercantilism). In 1724, a protective customs tariff was introduced - high duties on foreign goods that could be produced or were already produced by domestic enterprises.

Thus, under Peter, the foundation of Russian industry was laid, as a result of which in the middle of the 18th century Russia came out on top in the world in metal production. The number of factories and factories at the end of Peter's reign extended to 233.

Social politics

The main goal pursued by Peter I in social policy was the legal registration of class rights and obligations of each category of the population of Russia. As a result, a new structure of society emerged, in which the class character was more clearly formed. The rights of the nobility were expanded and the responsibilities of the nobility were defined, and, at the same time, the serfdom of the peasants was strengthened.

Nobility

Key milestones:

1. Decree on Education of 1706: boyar children must receive either primary school or home education.
2. Decree on estates of 1704: noble and boyar estates are not divided and are equated to each other.
3. Decree on sole inheritance of 1714: a landowner with sons could bequeath all his real estate to only one of them at his choice. The rest were obliged to serve. The decree marked the final merger of the noble estate and the boyar estate, thereby finally erasing the difference between the two classes of feudal lords.
4. “Table of Ranks” 1721 (1722): division of military, civil and court service into 14 ranks. Upon reaching the eighth grade, any official or military man could receive the status of hereditary nobility. Thus, a person’s career depended primarily not on his origin, but on his achievements in public service.
5. Decree on succession to the throne February 5, 1722: due to the absence of an heir, Peter I decides to issue an order on succession to the throne, in which he reserves the right to appoint an heir for himself (coronation ceremony of Peter’s wife Ekaterina Alekseevna)

The place of the former boyars was taken by the “generals”, consisting of ranks of the first four classes of the “Table of Ranks”. Personal service mixed up representatives of the former family nobility with people raised by service.

Peter's legislative measures, without significantly expanding the class rights of the nobility, significantly changed its responsibilities. Military affairs, which in Moscow times was the duty of a narrow class of service people, is now becoming the duty of all segments of the population. The nobleman of Peter the Great's times still has the exclusive right of land ownership, but due to the decrees on single inheritance and audit, he is made responsible to the state for the tax service of his peasants. The nobility is obliged to study in preparation for service.

Peter destroyed the former isolation of the service class, opening access to the environment of the nobility to people of other classes through length of service through the Table of Ranks. On the other hand, with the law on single inheritance, he opened the way out of the nobility into merchants and clergy for those who wanted it. The nobility of Russia is becoming a military-bureaucratic class, whose rights are created and hereditarily determined by public service, and not by birth.

Peasantry

Peter's reforms changed the situation of the peasants. From different categories of peasants who were not in serfdom from the landowners or the church (black-growing peasants of the north, non-Russian nationalities, etc.), a new unified category of state peasants was formed - personally free, but paying rent to the state. The opinion that this measure “destroyed the remnants of the free peasantry” is incorrect, since the population groups that made up the state peasants were not considered free in the pre-Petrine period - they were attached to the land ( Cathedral Code 1649) and could be granted by the king to individuals and the church as serfs.

State peasants in the 18th century had the rights of personally free people (they could own property, act in court as one of the parties, elect representatives to estate bodies, etc.), but were limited in movement and could be (up to early XIX century, when this category was finally established as free people) were transferred by the monarch to the category of serfs.

Legislative acts, relating to the serf peasantry itself, were of a contradictory nature. Thus, the intervention of landowners in the marriage of serfs was limited (decree of 1724), it was forbidden to present serfs as defendants in court and to hold them on the right for the debts of the owner. The rule was also confirmed that the estates of landowners who had ruined their peasants should be transferred into the custody of the estates, and the peasants were given the opportunity to enroll as soldiers, which freed them from serfdom (by a decree of Emperor Elizabeth on July 2, 1742, the peasants were deprived of this opportunity).

At the same time, measures against runaway peasants were significantly tightened, large masses of palace peasants were distributed to private individuals, and landowners were allowed to recruit serfs. The imposition of a capitation tax on serfs (that is, personal servants without land) led to the merging of serfs with serfs. Church peasants were subordinated to the monastic order and removed from the authority of the monasteries.

Under Peter, a new category of dependent farmers was created - peasants assigned to manufactories. In the 18th century, these peasants were called possession farmers. A decree of 1721 allowed nobles and merchant manufacturers to buy peasants to manufactories to work for them. The peasants bought for the factory were not considered the property of its owners, but were attached to production, so that the owner of the factory could neither sell nor mortgage the peasants separately from the manufacture. Possession peasants received a fixed salary and performed a fixed amount of work.

An important measure for the peasantry by Peter was the decree of May 11, 1721, which introduced the Lithuanian scythe into the practice of grain harvesting, instead of the sickle traditionally used in Russia. To spread this innovation, samples of “Lithuanian women” were sent throughout the provinces, along with instructors from German and Latvian peasants. Since the scythe provided tenfold labor savings during harvesting, this innovation became widespread in a short time and became part of ordinary peasant farming. Peter's other development measures Agriculture, included the distribution of new breeds of livestock among landowners - Dutch cows, merino sheep from Spain, and the creation of horse breeding plants. On the southern outskirts of the country, measures were taken to plant vineyards and mulberry plantations.

Urban population

Social politics Peter the Great, which concerned the urban population, sought to ensure the payment of the poll tax. For this purpose, the population was divided into two categories: regular (industrialists, merchants, craftsmen) and irregular citizens (all others). The difference between the urban regular citizen of the end of Peter's reign and the irregular one was that the regular citizen participated in city government by electing members of the magistrate, was enrolled in the guild and workshop, or bore a monetary obligation in the share that fell on him according to the social layout.

In 1722, craft workshops based on Western European models appeared. The main purpose of their creation was to unite disparate craftsmen to produce products needed by the army. However, the guild structure did not take root in Rus'.

During the reign of Peter, the system of city management changed. The governors appointed by the king were replaced by elected City Magistrates, subordinate to the Chief Magistrate. These measures meant the emergence of city government.

Transformations in the sphere of culture

Peter I changed the beginning of the chronology from the so-called Byzantine era (“from the creation of Adam”) to “from the Nativity of Christ.” The year 7208 in the Byzantine era became 1700 AD. However, this reform did not affect the Julian calendar as such - only the year numbers changed.

After returning from the Great Embassy, ​​Peter I waged a fight against external manifestations outdated way of life (the most famous is the ban on beards), but no less paid attention to the introduction of the nobility to education and secular Europeanized culture. Secular educational institutions began to appear, the first Russian newspaper was founded, and translations of many books into Russian appeared. Peter made success in service for the nobles dependent on education.

Under Peter the first book in Russian with Arabic numerals appeared in 1703. Before that, numbers were designated by letters with titles (wavy lines). In 1710, Peter approved a new alphabet with a simplified style of letters (the Church Slavonic font remained for printing church literature), two letters “xi” and “psi” were excluded. Peter created new printing houses, in which 1,312 book titles were printed between 1700 and 1725 (twice as many as in the entire previous history of Russian printing). Thanks to the rise of printing, paper consumption increased from 4-8 thousand sheets at the end of the 17th century to 50 thousand sheets in 1719. There have been changes in the Russian language, which included 4.5 thousand new words borrowed from European languages.

In 1724, Peter approved the charter of the organized Academy of Sciences (opened in 1725 after his death).

Special meaning there was the construction of stone Petersburg, in which foreign architects took part and which was carried out according to the plan developed by the tsar. He created a new urban environment with previously unfamiliar forms of life and pastime (theater, masquerades). The interior decoration of houses, lifestyle, food composition, etc. have changed.

By a special decree of the tsar in 1718, assemblies were introduced, representing a new form of communication between people for Russia. At the assemblies, the nobles danced and communicated freely, unlike previous feasts and feasts. Thus, noble women were able to join cultural leisure and public life for the first time.

The reforms carried out by Peter I affected not only politics, economics, but also art. Peter invited foreign artists to Russia and at the same time sent talented young people to study “art” abroad, mainly to Holland and Italy. In the second quarter of the 18th century. “Peter’s pensioners” began to return to Russia, bringing with them new artistic experience and acquired skills.

Gradually, a different system of values, worldview, and aesthetic ideas took shape in the ruling environment.

Education

Peter clearly recognized the need for enlightenment, and took a number of decisive measures to this end.

On January 14, 1700, a school of mathematical and navigational sciences was opened in Moscow. In 1701-1721, artillery, engineering and medical schools were opened in Moscow, an engineering school and a naval academy in St. Petersburg, and mining schools at the Olonets and Ural factories. In 1705, the first gymnasium in Russia was opened. The digital schools created by the decree of 1714 were to serve the purposes of mass education. provincial cities, called " teach children of all ranks literacy, numbers and geometry" It was planned to create two such schools in each province, where education was to be free. Garrison schools were opened for soldiers' children, and a network of theological schools was created in 1721 to train priests.

According to the Hanoverian Weber, during the reign of Peter the Great, several thousand Russians were sent to study abroad.

Peter's decrees introduced compulsory education for nobles and clergy, but a similar measure for the urban population met fierce resistance and was cancelled. Peter's attempt to create an all-estate primary school failed (the creation of a network of schools ceased after his death; most of the digital schools under his successors were repurposed as estate schools for training the clergy), but nevertheless, during his reign the foundations were laid for the spread of education in Russia.

Collegiums

The years 1717-1719 were the preparatory period for the formation of new institutions - collegiums. Until 1719 the presidents of the colleges were supposed to draw up regulations and not get involved in business. The formation of collegiums followed from the previous order system, because most collegiums were created on the basis of orders and were their legal successors. The system of collegiums did not develop immediately. By decree of December 14, 1717 9 boards were created: Military, Berg, Revision, Foreign Affairs, Admiralty, Justits, Kamer, State Office, Manufactory. In total, by the end of the first quarter of the XVIII century. there were 13 collegiums, which became central government institutions, formed on a functional basis. The General Regulations of the Collegiums (1720) established the general provisions of management, staffing and procedure for office work. The presence of the board consisted of: president, vice-president, 4-5 advisers, 4 assessors. The staff of the board consisted of secretaries, a notary, a translator, an actuary, copyists, registrars and clerical workers. At the collegiums there was a fiscal officer (later a prosecutor), who exercised control over the activities of the collegiums and was subordinate to the prosecutor general. The colleges received decrees only from the monarch and the Senate and had the right not to execute the decrees of the latter if they contradicted the decrees of the king. The collegiums carried out Senate decrees and sent copies of their decisions and reports on their activities to the Senate.

The Collegium of Foreign Affairs replaced the Ambassadorial Chancellery. Its competence was defined by a decree of December 12, 1718, which included managing “all foreign and embassy affairs,” coordinating the activities of diplomatic agents, managing relations and negotiations with foreign ambassadors, and carrying out diplomatic correspondence. The peculiarities of the board were that it had “no no court cases are judged.”

The Military Collegium was entrusted with the management of “all military affairs”: recruiting the regular army, managing the affairs of the Cossacks, setting up hospitals, supplying the army. The system of the Military Collegium included military justice, consisting of regimental and general Kriegsrechts.

The Admiralty Board was in charge of “the fleet with all naval military services, including maritime affairs and departments” and was guided in its activities by the “Regulations on the management of the admiralty and shipyard” (1722) and “Marine Regulations”. It included the Naval and Admiralty Chancelleries, as well as the Uniform, Waldmeister, Academic, Canal Offices and the Particular Shipyard.

The Little Russian Collegium was formed by decree of April 27, 1722, with the goal of “Protecting the Little Russian people” from “unjust courts” and “oppression” by taxes on the territory of Ukraine. She exercised judicial power and was in charge of collecting taxes in Ukraine. IN last years existence, its main goals were the elimination of self-government and the previous authorities.

The Chamber Collegium was supposed to exercise supreme supervision over all types of fees (customs duties, drinking taxes), monitor arable farming, collect data on the market and prices, control salt mines and coinage. The Chamber Collegium had its own bodies: in the provinces - the offices of chamberlain affairs, in the districts - the institutions of zemstvo commissars.

State office-collegium according to the regulations of 1719. exercised control over government spending and constituted the state staff (the staff of the emperor, the staff of all boards, provinces, provinces). It had its own provincial bodies - renterii, which were local treasuries.

The revision board was supposed to carry out financial control over the use of public funds by central and local authorities “for the sake of fair correction and audit of all accounting matters in receipts and expenditures.” Every year, all boards and offices sent accounting statements to the board according to the receipt and expenditure books compiled by them, and in case of discrepancies, they tried and punished officials for crimes for income and accounts. In 1722, the functions of the board were transferred to the Senate.

The responsibilities of the Berg Collegium included issues of the metallurgical industry, the management of mints and monetary yards, the purchase of gold and silver abroad, and judicial functions within its competence. A network of local authorities was created: Moscow Oberberg Amt, Kazan Berg Amt, Kerch Berg Amt. The Berg College was united with another - the Manufactur College "due to the similarity of their affairs and responsibilities" and existed as one institution until 1722.

The Manufactory Collegium dealt with issues of the entire industry, excluding mining, and managed the manufactories of the Moscow province, the central and north-eastern part of the Volga region and Siberia. The Collegium gave permission to open manufactories, ensured the fulfillment of government orders, and provided various benefits to industrialists. Also within its competence were: exile of those convicted in criminal cases to manufactories, control of production technology, and supply of materials to factories. Unlike other colleges, it did not have its bodies in the provinces and governorates.

The Commerce Board promoted the development of all branches of trade, especially foreign trade. The board carried out customs supervision, drew up customs regulations and tariffs, monitored the correctness of weights and measures, was engaged in the construction and equipment of merchant ships, and performed judicial functions.

With the organization of the Chief Magistrate (1720), issues of domestic and foreign trade became his responsibility. The functions of the Chief Magistrate as a central institution were to organize the development of trade and industry in cities and manage the townspeople.

The Justice Collegium (1717-1718) supervised the activities of provincial court courts; carried out judicial functions in criminal, civil and fiscal cases; headed an extensive judicial system, consisting of provincial lower and city courts, as well as court courts; acted as a court of first instance in controversial cases. Its decisions could be appealed to the Senate.

The patrimonial college was formed in 1721. resolved land disputes and litigation, formalized new land grants, and considered complaints about controversial decisions in local and patrimonial affairs.

The Secret Chancellery (1718) was in charge of investigation and prosecution of political crimes (the case of Tsarevich Alexei).

There were other central institutions (old preserved orders, Medical Office).

The Synod was the main central institution for ecclesiastical matters. He appointed bishops, exercised financial control, was in charge of his fiefs and exercised judicial functions in relation to such crimes as heresy, blasphemy, schism, etc. Especially important decisions were accepted general meeting- conference. The competence of the Synod was limited to secular power. The transformed state apparatus was designed to strengthen the dominance of the nobility and autocratic power, contributed to the development of new production relations, the growth of industry and trade