Peter the not so great
Like any normal human being, I watch way more television than I ever have during this time. I try to easy my conscience by picking wisely…which is why I almost didn’t watch Tiger King. I guess my curiosity won that round. I have never seen such a low form of television that is so utterly and unexpectedly gripping! We all have our weaknesses. I tried to make this wrong of mine a right by watching historical documentaries, ones that have nothing to do with Corona or tigers. And so, I stumbled on a documentary about the Romanov family, the Tsars of Russia…
The third tsar I find fascinating (thus far). So called “Peter the Great”. During a prison guard revolt because of a succession issue, his mom brought him and his older brother out on a palace balcony in the midst of the ruckus to show that his brother Ivan and he was still alive. Ivan was not of stable mind and deemed unfit to rule by many but the rightful heir to the throne by others. Peter was 9 at the time. He saw how people was thrown from the balustrade he was holding his mother’s hand on, onto the spears of people below, turning them into human skewers. Also, how two of his uncles got killed before peace was restored. Poor boy. He co-reigned with poor Ivan rather disinterested for a many years before he became sole ruler upon Ivan’s death. He really despised Moscow, most probably because of what he lived through as a nine-year-old boy that fateful evening and took refuge on nearby lakes where he played with boats and fought mock battles with his friends. Boats and ships in this way became on of the driving passions of his life.
Peter abruptly went on an 18-month European tour. It was mainly to the Netherlands and England where he gained firsthand knowledge of shipbuilding. That and drinking brandy. At the end of his “great embassy” he had to rush home. Another palace guard revolt broke out. It was resolved by the time he got there but he made dead sure to take his vengeance on everybody involved. Suspects were murdered all over, many right in front of their families and their bodies displayed publicly on request of Peter. Scare a nine-year-old boy and he will forever dwell in his later adult version.
Peter build up Russia’s fleet and made war with the Ottomans and the young Swedish King Charles VII. He was counting on Charles’s inexperience but underestimated the teenager. Charles gave him gave him a good run for his money before Peter finally won and secured St. Petersburg as the new capitol of the Russian empire. St Petersburg was built on marsh land. It took much effort and hard labour. Many people died building it. It was said that St Petersburg was build “on the bones of men” as their Six-foot eight ruler with his small hands and head and facial ticks drove them ruthlessly. He modernized Russia. He even ordered the nobles to wear European style clothes and the men to shave of their beards. Those that wouldn’t was to pay a special beard tax. If you have small hands, please stay out of politics!
His Son Nikolai weren’t a warmonger but in line for the throne. This bothered Peter. He wrote a letter to his son urging him to get his act together and become more war loving like his old man or he would cut him off like a useless limb. The soft-spoken Nikolai fled for Venice. He got captured and tortured until he confessed that he plotted against Peter. He was sentenced to death but before his father could sign the sentence he died, most probably from his injuries. Some fathers just should never have been fathers. Peter died at age 52 of gangrene of the bladder.
There are many statues of Peter, “the great”. One in Russia is built on the biggest rock ever moved by human beings, an excruciating feat. They exhausted and crushed themselves to immortalize Peter. Story of his life, right there!
Why is he called “the Great”? Because he modernized Russia. He introduced a lot of changes. He established the Russian Navy and build St. Petersburg which to this day is a beautiful city (he named it after the apostle Peter but most probably just because this apostle was named after him). His list of achievements is kind of impressive. However, it hides the fact that the way in which he achieved it was brutal and heartless and more the result of other people’s patriotism, devotion and sacrifices than his own achievements. The Tsars had more absolute power over their people than they should have had. It caused their end and the misery of many.
Know this, behind every person perceived or remembered as great there are a myriad of unsung heroes, sacrifices and martyrs. If there is one thing that I wish Covid will end for ever, it is “celebritieism”, this bizarre habit we have of putting people on a pedestal, ascribing many people’s contributions and participation to them and turning them into demigods. There are already statues of groups of people, many of them unknown faces from records and photographs. They touch one more than any solo statue. Know this, behind every person perceived or remembered as great there are a myriad of unsung heroes, sacrifices and martyrs. If there is one thing that I wish Covid will end for ever, it is “celebritieism”, this bizarre habit we have of putting people on a pedestal, ascribing many people’s contributions and participation to them and turning them into demigods. There are already statues of groups of people, many of them unknown faces from records and photographs. They touch one more than any solo statue. Know this, behind every person perceived or remembered as great there are a myriad of unsung heroes, sacrifices and martyrs. If there is one thing that I wish Covid will end for ever, it is “celebritieism”, this bizarre habit we have of putting people on a pedestal, ascribing many people’s contributions and participation to them and turning them into demigods. There are already statues of groups of people, many of them unknown faces from records and photographs. They touch one more than any solo statue.
May they become the only statues in time. Peter was not so great.