6 - Peter the Great and Succession 1690–1719

Summary

Peter the Great’s son Aleksei, born 1690, was given a European education. With no brothers, he was the heir, though Peter sent his mother to a convent. From 1707 Aleksei participated in court events and in the administration of the state. Foreign courts and Peter sought a bride, and he married Charlotte of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel in 1711. Their first son, Peter, was born in 1715. The same year Peter’s second wife, Ekaterina, bore a son, also named Peter. Aleksei was the hope of oppositional elements among the elite, and his conflicts with his father led to his flight to the Habsburgs in 1716. Returned to Russia, the heir was tried and condemned, but died in prison in 1718. Tsar Peter proclaimed his son Peter as the heir, but he died in 1719. Peter and his half-brother Ivan V had both produced many daughters, and the heir was not obvious. Peter’s grandson by Aleksei, Petr Alekseevich, was alive and healthy.