No GNW (or “Peter goes South”)

[alexmilman]

One more excellent update!



I have no idea what this sum would represent in rubles. Would it cover all the war expenses by Russia or a significant part?

This was a sum paid by Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca treaty. At the time of CII it was equal to 4.5M rubles. If we assume that the silver ruble had approximately the same value at Peter’s time, this is approximately Russian annual budget. For comparison, by Peace of Nystadt Russian paid Sweden 2M Joachimstalers (the same as in rubles) for the lost territories of Livonia. The sum would amount to approximately 126 tons of silver.

That is simply excellent. The Ottoman Empire will be a great market for russian products. But even more importantly the Straits are open for russian merchantmen to reach the markets of France and Italy. Time to start making pasta with russian wheat.

It will take some time before they’ll start exporting the wheat: the lands on the South has to be populated, the land developed, the merchants appear, etc. But this is a general idea.

I had mentioned before about Greeks and Armenians moving to the Black Sea ports. The other potential group is Levantines (mostly italian-speaking catholics) from Constantinople and Smyrna looking for business opportunities.

Well, they need all the cash they cough up for the war against Louis.

Yes. And if somebody was foolish enough to advance them money, it’s the fool’s problem. 😂

On the not so bright side, the Austrias establish themselves as perfidious. First how they acted in 1696 and now they dare ask the Czar to simply give up his conquests after he has fulfilled his goals!

Things like that linger in the institutional memory of diplomats for quite some time.

Yes, this should prevent the idiotic alliances which produced nothing but the problems.

 

[alexmilman]

I simply tried to reconstruct which one was used, so gave an idea. No record on the names of Andrei Ushakov (the one of secret police fame) brothers, though, one of them easily can be Fedor.

Look, it would be quite easy to make the needed fictional Fedor a son of one that served Eudoxia (his age is not known). The Ushakovs had been the Moscow service nobles so the hero may become a member of “poteshnie” before Peter married. He could accompany Peter during his exercises on Plescheevo Lake and distinguish himself enough to become a captain of one of the ships. Then he could accompany Peter during his trip to Archangelsk and sail a little bit there, became a captain of one of the galleys during 2nd Azov, attach himself to Cruys when he arrives and get active at Voronezh, get command of one of the ships of Azov flotilla and sail across the Azov Sea while there is still a peace. Then being promoted to a captainship of one of the ships of the line that stuck in Voronezh and to attract Peter’s attention by his idea of using swings to train the artillery crews. Which puts him in charge of getting flotilla to the Sea of Azov and then to Ochakov, etc. Peter did not have too many options to chose from: the ongoing WoSS seriously cut the flow of the foreign sailors and even before it started, he was not getting any above the captains of the merchant ships. Pamburg is already killed on a duel and Cruys is a good administrator but a pathetic admiral so why not promote his own subjects with a suitable experience?

 

[dunHozzie]

So Peter died at 52 in 1725, 1803 the Napoleonic Wars started. If he lives long it would make it a much smaller gap between the two, making it a 1 ruler, maybe 2 ruler gap. That could have profound impact.

 

[alexmilman]

So Peter died at 52 in 1725, 1803 the Napoleonic Wars started. If he lives long it would make it a much smaller gap between the two, making it a 1 ruler, maybe 2 ruler gap. That could have profound impact.

Absence of the “century of the Guards” (1725-1825) would make a profound effect as well and before we are hitting the Nappy’s times there are plenty other events which may happen differently or not happen at all potentially butterflying away Nappy himself (I just imagined Nappy flapping his cute little wings…. 🦋 ).

But before that I have to figure out what to do with Peter&Co….

 

[Valena]

Look, it would be quite easy to make the needed fictional Fedor a son of one that served Eudoxia (his age is not known). The Ushakovs had been the Moscow service nobles so the hero may become a member of “poteshnie” before Peter married. He could accompany Peter during his exercises on Plescheevo Lake and distinguish himself enough to become a captain of one of the ships. Then he could accompany Peter during his trip to Archangelsk and sail a little bit there, became a captain of one of the galleys during 2nd Azov, attach himself to Cruys when he arrives and get active at Voronezh, get command of one of the ships of Azov flotilla and sail across the Azov Sea while there is still a peace. Then being promoted to a captainship of one of the ships of the line that stuck in Voronezh and to attract Peter’s attention by his idea of using swings to train the artillery crews. Which puts him in charge of getting flotilla to the Sea of Azov and then to Ochakov, etc. Peter did not have too many options to chose from: the ongoing WoSS seriously cut the flow of the foreign sailors and even before it started, he was not getting any above the captains of the merchant ships. Pamburg is already killed on a duel and Cruys is a good administrator but a pathetic admiral so why not promote his own subjects with a suitable experience?

Works for me!

 

[X Oristos]

Absence of the “century of the Guards” (1725-1825) would make a profound effect as well and before we are hitting the Nappy’s times there are plenty other events which may happen differently or not happen at all potentially butterflying away Nappy himself (I just imagined Nappy flapping his cute little wings…. 🦋 ).

Honestly, as a reader I would love to read a timeline with a butterflied Nappy. But in my humble view, keeping Napoleon around makes things easier for the writer.

 

[alexmilman]

Honestly, as a reader I would love to read a timeline with a butterflied Nappy. But in my humble view, keeping Napoleon around makes things easier for the writer.

Personally, I’d opt for making Nappy an additional species of the genus Acherontia (death's-head hawkmoth), Acherontia Napoleona: 1st, the symbolism is appropriate and 2nd, as a butterfly he/it would do much less harm then as a human being. 😜

Actually, keeping Nappy around does not make things easier, unless you are excessively fond of the battles: it is like having a very energetic hippo in a china shop.

 

[X Oristos]

Actually, keeping Nappy around does not make things easier, unless you are excessively fond of the battles: it is like having a very energetic hippo in a china shop.

Hehehehhe you have convinced me.

 

[alexmilman]

36. Peace at last

Obviously, the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca called for a much greater celebration than Peace of Warsaw. Not only the fact that a defeated side were the terrifying Ottomans but, most important, that this war had been won by Russia alone demonstrating that its army (and to certain extent navy as well) is a force to be taken into consideration in the European affairs. Of course, there would be some sniggering along the lines “these had been just the Turks” but it always could be pointed out that Prince Eugene made his name fighting the same Turks. Not that this really mattered because the most important thing was a developed sense of a self-esteem. There was one more thing which the “Europe”, busy with the WoSS, is most probably going to overlook at its own risk, development of a brand new military system with a much greater tactical and operational flexibility than a linear system prevailing on the West. Peter was not planning any major (or any at all) European entanglements but who can tell how the European affairs are going to develop and when they are going to impact the Russian interests. One of the potentially troublesome areas still was on the Baltic and there could be two types of problems which would require the Russian interference:
1. Anti-Swedish coalition of Denmark, Prussia and whoever else. As of right now Sweden and its potential opponents had been fighting on the same side but this most probably would not last for too long after the WoSS ends: the territorial disputes are not going to go away. Obviously, if Sweden is going to be attacked, Russia has to be involved, which means a need to have a meaningful naval force on the Baltic Sea and readiness to have the army marching toward the theater of war.
2. After “The Favorite Pet”, King August, dies (of course, he is a strong man but his drinking and sexual affairs should be exhaustive 😜), there can be an opposition to election of his son to the Polish throne and this opposition can go from two different sources: France, if it is still capable of meddling into the foreign politics far away from its borders, and/or Austria interested in the PLC help against the Ottomans. With the Peace of K-K signed, Russian attitude toward the Ottoman Empire changed: with the freedom of navigation and trade, unless the Ottomans decide to break the arrangement, peace with them became much preferable to the war and, while fighting somewhere in Serbia can be shrugged off, the Austria encroachment into the Danube Principalities may be potentially harmful to the Russian trade interests and any anti-Russian ruler of the PLC may cause a need for a new “European” war.

The Governing Senate, created by Peter in 1708 [1] to replace the Boyar Duma reacted immediately and appropriately. Peter was given a honorary title “Father of the Motherland” [2] and politely asked to assume the title of the Emperor of the Whole Russia (Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссійскій). Sweden, Prussia and the Netherlands acknowledged it immediately and the Ottomans even before the announcement by the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca [3].

Both events, peace and the imperial status, had been celebrated by the musket and artillery salutes in all cities of the newly-declared Russian Empire and the fireworks in Moscow continued until 3AM.

But the fireworks, however extensive, were not enough for Peter. He summoned his chief architect Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond and (who would doubt it) General-Governor of Moscow [4] and explained his vision:

“There is an empty Khodynka field near Moscow. Make it to represent the Black Sea with two roads coming to it from Moscow: one with be the Don and another Dnieper. At the mouth of the Don put the dinning hall and call it “Azov” and at the mouth of the Dnieper build a theater and call it “Kinburn”. Out of sand make the Crimean peninsula and place there the ball halls called “Kerch” and “Enikale”. To the left of the Don will be buffet for the plain folk, opposite to the Crimea would be illumination representing join of both states regarding the peace treaty. On the Black Sea there will be illuminated boats and the ships and along the rivers-roads there will be placed illuminated houses, mills and trees. This way we’ll have a simple but very nice celebration.” [5]

Sheremetev got fieldmarshal’s batton with the diamonds, diamonds to the star of St.Andrew, Tsar’s miniature framed in gold and diamonds [6], 100,000 rubles for building a palace in Moscow and estate in Belorussia with 5,000 peasants.

The lesser personages also had not been forgotten.

To celebrate his own newly acquired imperial status Peter had to order a brand new set of the imperial regalia (jeweler who got a commission, received a short but clear order: “use more diamonds”).

And, while he was on the subject, Peter ordered creation of the “Diamond Chamber” as a special fund to house a collection of jewels that belonged not to the Romanov family, but to the Russian State. Peter placed all of the regalia in this fund and declared that the state holdings were inviolate and could not be altered, sold, or given away — and he also decreed that each subsequent Emperor or Empress should leave a certain number of pieces acquired during their reign to the State, for the permanent glory of the Russian Empire.
The first items had been the old Russian regalia that included a pectoral cross, a golden chain, a barmas (wide ceremonial collar), the Crown of Monomakh, sceptre, and orb.

Peter’s own imperial crown was the first of the subsequent series of the crowns made along the same lines: unlike the old Tsar’s crowns, it was shaped along the general design lines of the HRE’s imperial crowns (arch in the center) but with much more jewels (and more expensive ones [7] 😜.

Now the time came to develop a plan for the effective usage of the newly-acquired territories and, with the exception of a continued supply of the Sultan’s kitchen with his favorite brand of the Crimean honey, this was not going to be fast as simple.


_________________

[1] In OTL in 1711
[2] Well, actually “Father of the Fatherland” (Отец Отечества) but it sounds ugly.
[3] Title of “Padishah” granted by the peace treaty
[4] In case somebody forgot, Menshikov
[5] A slightly abridged version of CIIs directions regarding celebration of the K-K peace. All potential comments regarding its weirdness or over-developed imagination have to be addressed to her. 😜
[6] This was a sign of a high monarch’s favor to be worn together with the standard state awards.
[7] The HRE crown is quite impressive even if its technique now looks rather primitive (IX century is a remote past). The stones are polished in, more or less, the cabochon shapes and fastened with the thin wires. There are only 144 gemstones, sapphires, emeralds and amethysts ( but no diamonds) and approximately the same number of pearls.

 

[alexmilman]

37. One who is searching …

«Кто ищет, тот всегда найдет»
(One who is searching will always find…)​

This is from the old Soviet-time song. The text is wisely silent on the subject of what exactly this person is going to find. It can be something he is searching for or just a major pain in the butt and, in the last case, will this be a butt of one who is searching or somebody elses’s. In the cases when it is Peter who is conducting a search, we can be certain that, no matter how successful he is going to be in finding whatever he was looking for, a royal (or rather imperial) pain in somebody’s butt is going to be guaranteed.

To give a general background, the direct taxes had been paid by the peasants and city folks. The nobility and clergy had been excluded and, in the casecof clergy, the Church property (including the serfs) had been free from the taxation. Directly taxing nobility was out of question which leaves….

The war is finally over so the time came for starting paying attention to the budget. And, to be able to do an efficient fleecing of your subjects, it makes sense to find out how many of them do you have because the wise heads in the “income department” [1] gave him an idea to switch from a household-based tax to an individual one [2]. A conducted and revised census [3] discovered that Peter is in a possession of 5.4M taxable male subjects.
The 1st post-war budget looked as following [4].
Expenses:
army - 3.141M rubles
navy - 0.781M rubles
….
schools, academies and medicine - 64,700 rubles (1%)

Total: 6.24M rubles

Income:
head tax - 4.6M (54% of all income)
indirect taxes - 2.13M (24.9%)
income from minting the coins - 2.5%
custom dues - 1.8% [5]
salt monopoly - 7.76%

Total: 8.5M

So, formally, Peter was OK, except that the direct taxes paid by the peasants more than doubled raising from 1.8M to 4.6M. But, with the war being over, Peter had plans. All types of plans. And for this he needed to increase a size of the taxable flock. And when one is searching….

It did not take long to figure out that there was a big fat resource, the monasteries. Russia had 953 monasteries (732 male, 221 female) with 11,153 people in them. What was much more important, they owned 910,866 male serfs and did not pay taxes [6]. Something must be done about this and in 26 February 1710 Peter issued a manifest regarding the Church properties [7] (if you can’t tax the Church property, the most logical action is to confiscate it and then tax):

1. All land possessions of the Church are to be transferred to the state Collegium of Economy.
2. All Church institutions were removed from administration of the estates, monasteries, parishes and dioceses.
3. Peasant who live in these estates are transferred into jurisdiction of the Collegium of Economy.
4. Instead of “barschina” and “obrok” these peasants will have to pay 1.5 rubles of head tax which will go to the state treasury through the Collegium of Economy.
5. Collegium of Economy is going to allocate certain amount for maintenance of the Church institutions.
6. Dioceses are being divided into 3 classes and will be getting money according to the assigned class.

The manifest was rubber-stamped by the Synod [8] and, except for 5 or 6 extremely prestigious monasteries, the officially supported monasteries had been divided in 3 classes (based upon their prestige) as following:
1st class: 15 monasteries and 4 nunneries
2nd class: 41 and 18
3rd class: 100 and 45

There were also monasteries which did not get the state money and had to exist either by the gifts or by the monk/nuns working on their land:
1st class - 20, 2nd - 56, 3rd - 85.

Of course, not everybody in the Church was happy. The Bishop of Yaroslavl, rather foolishly, became vocal for which he was removed from his position, declared to be a criminal and spent the rest of his life in a monastery prison.

The only exception had been made for the monasteries in Siberia, taking into an account their importance in a process of expanding the Russian control there.

Byproduct of this reform (besides making the Russian Church completely dependent from the government) was creation of a new category of the peasants, so-called “economic peasants”, similar to the category of the “state peasants”: they were personally free and just had to pay taxes in cash and participate in the state-run projects.

Second cash cow were the Old Believers. In 1709 Peter issued ukaz which legalized them and allowed to get engaged in trade and professional activities: [Tsar] “does not want to force people’s consciousness and allows each Christian to take care of his soul as he seems fit”. [8] The result was almost immediate: communities of the Old Believers immediately became very active in the trade and business creating “community banks” and their own manufactures in which they had been hiring [9] exclusively their co-religionists: the religious solidarity allowed the owners to exploit their workers while avoiding the conflicts because an employer was considered one of their own in a generally alien outside world.

The land
The next potential source of a revenue were the newly-acquired land on the Black Sea. The Crimea itself had been left pretty much untouched except for establishing the Russian administration and ongoing construction of a new base for the Black Sea fleet: maintaining the status quo allowed continuation of a profitable trade with the Ottomans with the expectation that sooner rather than later development of the “Wild Steppe” will allow to increase the grain exports to the Ottoman Empire (Constantinople itself was a very big market with the population very sensitive to any kind of the supply problems). But this left what was now called “Novorossia”: a big chunk of land practically void of a population.

The 1st action was to move there 20,000 state peasants. To everybody’s (pleasant) surprise, the Old Believers demonstrated a considerable enthusiasm and few thousands of them even moved there from the Ottoman Empire to which they fled during the previous reigns. The next big group were all types of the serfs, Russian and Ukrainian, escaping from their masters and even the criminals. To get as many people as possible ASAP, state unofficially made the region a safe heaven with no extradition and even declared that all escapees (including the army deserters) who made it abroad can return not just with a full pardon but with tax free 6 years as a bonus.
The Greek and Armenian immigrants had been getting 10 years free of taxation and 30 hectares of land.
However, not everything was that rosy. In parallel, a process of creating the big estates was going on. The private persons (state officials, officers and foreigners) could get the land on a condition of populating it either with the free people or with the serfs. Minimal allotment was 1,500 hectares of a good land on which 13 households must be settled, with the corresponding increase of the settlers the allotment could grow up to 12,000 hectares but the influential, people could get more. For 10 years the estates had been free from all taxation and obligations and after that could become a permanent property.



_______________
[1] Peter had a special institution of «прибыльщики», the people inventing the sources of state income. The first «прибыльщик» started his career by proposing to conduct all official business (purchase and sake documentation, will, applications to the official institutions, etc.) exclusively on a special paper with the state seal. Depending upon the importance of a subject, it would cost 10, 1 or 0.5 kopeck per list.

[2] This being the early XVIII and an issue of the gender equality is not being there, yet, the head count applied only to the males (AFAIK, there were no protests from the obviously discriminated women with a demands for being equally taxed: Russia of that period was a very backward country). We can only speculate how much more money Peter would be able to squeeze if he had more progressive ideas. 😂
[3] Revision conducted “just in case” discovered that the census “missed” approximately 2.000,000 males. After which the revisions had been conducted on a regular basis. To make the process practical (Russia simply did not have enough bureaucrats), the estate owners had to provide the lists of their serfs.
[4] Numbers from the budget of 1724.
[5] As you can see, so far this was not a major source of income except that it was producing gold and silver. State monopolies on the most important export items and/or a sharp increase in their volume could increase importance of this component but not overnight and to increase exports you need an increased demand.
[6] To quote from “Mecklenburg series”, “he issued a degree according to which there was only one form of a punishable heresy in his lands: not paying the taxes”.
[7] According to wiki it was issued on 26 February of 1764 by Catherine II but wiki is famous for its mistakes. At least the day is correct (snd who the Hell is “Catherine II”?). 😂
[8] Really happened in 1709. What is not happening in this TL is another part of the OTL deal: double taxation, extra taxes on the beards, marriages, etc., special dress, and other restrictive measures.
[9] As a contrast to the prevailing serf-based industry.

 

[Merrick]

Good geeky update. So once again TTL's Peter is anticipating OTL's reforms by a generation or two.

I'm slightly confused by the new category of "economic peasants", though. So the Church lands are transferred to the Collegium of Economy, and the former Church serfs are now free(ish) and have to pay head taxes to the Collegium rather than feudal dues to the Church.
Is the 1.5 rubles of head tax in addition to the general head tax that all free subjects pay? Or do they live rent-free on the Collegium's land subject only to them paying the same taxes as everyone else? Or is there some other payment to the Collegium, such as share-cropping or mandatory labour?

I'm also slightly surprised that direct taxes make up such a large proportion of the tax base. Based on Western European examples, I'd have expected less reliance on direct taxation and more on customs duties and monopolies. I suppose that foreign trade is not a big proportion of the Russian economy.
Do you know if there were any internal customs restrictions (e.g. between provinces) in Petrine Russia? Or was the whole empire one big free-trade area?

 

[alexmilman]

Good geeky update. So once again TTL's Peter is anticipating OTL's reforms by a generation or two.

I'm slightly confused by the new category of "economic peasants", though. So the Church lands are transferred to the Collegium of Economy, and the former Church serfs are now free(ish) and have to pay head taxes to the Collegium rather than feudal dues to the Church.

That’s correct.

Is the 1.5 rubles of head tax in addition to the general head tax that all free subjects pay?

No, this is the only direct tax they have to pay. Of course, there are numerous indirect taxes (on salt, alcohol and whatever else). BTW, at that time 1.5 rubles were serious money for a peasant.

Or do they live rent-free on the Collegium's land subject only to them paying the same taxes as everyone else? Or is there some other payment to the Collegium, such as share-cropping or mandatory labour?

Nope. And Collegium is passing money to the Treasury: it is not some kind of an independent entity.

I'm also slightly surprised that direct taxes make up such a large proportion of the tax base. Based on Western European examples, I'd have expected less reliance on direct taxation and more on customs duties and monopolies.

I gave the real numbers for the budget of 1724. Russia had its own specifics so the exact parallels with the Western Europe do not always apply.

I suppose that foreign trade is not a big proportion of the Russian economy.

Definitely not in the 1710s and even when it grew substantially, the state income from the custom dues was not amounted to too much: in 1803 only 12.9% of the budget (which is why AI agreed to the CS relatively easily). Income of the individual exporters is a separate issue.

Do you know if there were any internal customs restrictions (e.g. between provinces) in Petrine Russia?

Yes, there were. Abolished only by Elizabeth.

Or was the whole empire one big free-trade area?

 

[alexmilman]

38. More problems
Problem #1. Zaporizie

“Padrino, she had to go!”
Prizzi’s honor​

On the map above the blue area is a territory controlled by Zaporizie Sich. After the Peace of Küçük Kaynarca the territory is completely surrounded by the imperial lands and all earlier reasons for its existence are gone. What is there is a huge piece of a prime real estate right on the way to the newly-conquered possessions. It sparsely populated [1], its inhabitants do not like outsiders and not only do not let them settle there (unless they became members of the Sich) but from time to time are raiding the newly-settled neighbor areas. They are not paying any taxes, not accepting the Russian administration or the laws and in the case of war are not quite reliable and reluctant to obey anybody except their own commanders. They definitely have to go. At least as far as Peter is concerned.

On June 5 1710 lieutenant-general Peter Tekeli with 5 cavalry regiments and 10,000 infantry approached capital of the Sich. It was a midst of the night and there was some religious holiday previous day so everybody including the sentries had been asleep and Orlovsky infantry regiment took the main fortification without a single shot being fired. When the Cossacks finally woke up, Tekeli read them an ultimatum and gave two hours for consideration.

The Cossack leadership was for capitulation but the rank and file had been more bellicose and it took “koshevoy” [2] some effort to convince to surrender. Treasury and archive had been confiscated after which artillery leveled the empty fortress to the ground. For the task being accomplished without a bloodshed Tekeli was awarded order of St. Alexander Nevsky.
Below is a modern reconstruction of the capital of the Sich.

After liquidation of the Sich the cossack leaders had been ennobled and got estates. The rest had been allowed to join the dragoon regiments. Approximately 5,000 migrated into the Ottoman Empire and settled at the mouth of the Danube as “Zadunaiskaya Sich”. However, approximately 12,000 of them remained in Russia but had been quite reluctant to submit to the discipline of a regular army. Their leadership sent petition to Peter assuring him in their intention to serve the empire. Peter conceded and settled them in the Taman area and on the right bank of the Kuban River, a new troublesome border with the expelled Nogays on the left bank. They had been called The Kuban Cossack Host.

The Sich territory had been populated along the same lines as Novorossiya.

Problem #2. The cities in Novorossia
One of the first new cities built on a new territory was Kherson. Inotially, Peter was quite enthusiastic about it planning to make it into a major port with a main wharf for the Black Sea Fleet. Construction was seemingly easy because the quarries were practically in the city and the rest if the needed materials could be sent by the Dnieper. The port looked quite but then came a disappointment. The site proved to be not too good, the attempts to make the Dnieper navigational at the Rapids failed, the nearby swamps (look at the green on a map below - Kherson is just on their edge) [3] had been causing the diseases. The wharf was conveniently located but the water was too shallow for the big ships of the line. Ochakov had a more convenient harbor and with the construction of Nikolaev (top spot on the map) a wharf and the admiralty had been transferred there. It remained a functional port but did not live up to the expectations and a lot of money had been wasted.

Nikolaev (named after the first ship, “St. Nicholas”, built on its wharf) was built on a place where the Ingul River flows into the Bug. Started as a wharf with the attached barracks and hospital and soon enough the main wharf and admiralty of the Black Sea fleet had been transferred there.

Odessa - ukaz about its construction was issued only in 1720. The most important event in its early history was a mass Greek settlement there [4].

A number of the cities had been built inland. Usually, they had been getting some tax breaks for the first few years, which was really helpful.

To secure a new border with the Ottomans a fortified line had been built along the Dniester. The troops allocated for its defense had been quite diverse: the regular units, the cossacks, the hussar regiments composed from the Serbian immigrants, the units raised from the foreign colonists. The colonists had been getting considerable privileges: money for the travel had been provided by the Russian residents abroad, they could settle in the cities or form the colonies, a complete religiois freedom was guaranteed, for few years they were free from taxation, the colonies were getting their own jurisdiction, they were free from a mandatory military service and volunteers were getting a bonus, founder of a manufacture producing some new products could sell its production for 10 years tax free, the colonies could have tax free fairs, etc.

The newly built port Sevastopol had been designated as the main naval base. The custom post was removed and the merchant ships could not trade in it.

With the population of Novorossia in 1710 being 100,000, in 1720 it reached 500,000. Majority of the new settlers came from the Left Bank Ukraine.

Not exactly a problem….
With all these major developments going on Peter did not forget his little personal dream: to build a summer residence on the coast of the Baltic Sea. He started with a rather modest construction, which he called “Monplesir” (mon plaisir) on a coast of the Gulf of Finland, choosing (rather strangely) the only not swampy spot. The palace was built in a somewhat Dutch style (as Peter understood it)

Unlike the Versailles, it had a very cute bath house

Well, speaking of the Devil … oops… Versailles, Peter started developing certain ideas …..
____________
[1] By various estimates between 12 and 50+ thousands.
[2] Top elected official of the Sich.
[3] Choosing a swampy site for a new city was seemingly something of a hobby.
[4] In a deviation from the venerable tradition of building the major ports on a swamp, this one was built on a site lacking fresh water. Somehow its citizens managed to live without it. 😂

 

[Jürgen]

I’m thinking a problem with swamps, that sound like a problem which could be dealt with by settling Dutch people there, there tended to be a lot of minorities in Netherlands, who would be happy to settle a place if they were allowed to practice their own religion, avoided taxes for 2-3 generations and military service.

 

[alexmilman]

I’m thinking a problem with swamps, that sound like a problem which could be dealt with by settling Dutch people there, there tended to be a lot of minorities in Netherlands, who would be happy to settle a place if they were allowed to practice their own religion, avoided taxes for 2-3 generations and military service.

It could be dealt with much easier and in a much less expensive way: how about those in charge not being the idiots when choosing the sites for their dream cities? And you don’t need the Dutch. 😂

While there can be some excuse in the case of St. Petersburg, Kherson was a simple and plain Potemkin’s sloppy approach to everything. He had a “vision” and the trifles like the Rapids and shallows of the Dnieper or the swamps around the chosen site did not matter. Actually, all these problems had been easy for everyone to see: Count de Segur listed them all in his memoirs and he did not spent too much time in the city. But what do you expect from a big child with a lively imagination and unlimited resources in his disposal?

 

[Aleksey A E]

38. More problems
Problem #1. Zaporizie

“Padrino, she had to go!”
Prizzi’s honor​

View attachment 710358
On the map above the blue area is a territory controlled by Zaporizie Sich. After the Peace of Küçük Kaynarca the territory is completely surrounded by the imperial lands and all earlier reasons for its existence are gone. What is there is a huge piece of a prime real estate right on the way to the newly-conquered possessions. It sparsely populated [1], its inhabitants do not like outsiders and not only do not let them settle there (unless they became members of the Sich) but from time to time are raiding the newly-settled neighbor areas. They are not paying any taxes, not accepting the Russian administration or the laws and in the case of war are not quite reliable and reluctant to obey anybody except their own commanders. They definitely have to go. At least as far as Peter is concerned.

On June 5 1710 lieutenant-general Peter Tekeli with 5 cavalry regiments and 10,000 infantry approached capital of the Sich. It was a midst of the night and there was some religious holiday previous day so everybody including the sentries had been asleep and Orlovsky infantry regiment took the main fortification without a single shot being fired. When the Cossacks finally woke up, Tekeli read them an ultimatum and gave two hours for consideration.

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The Cossack leadership was for capitulation but the rank and file had been more bellicose and it took “koshevoy” [2] some effort to convince to surrender. Treasury and archive had been confiscated after which artillery leveled the empty fortress to the ground. For the task being accomplished without a bloodshed Tekeli was awarded order of St. Alexander Nevsky.
Below is a modern reconstruction of the capital of the Sich.
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After liquidation of the Sich the cossack leaders had been ennobled and got estates. The rest had been allowed to join the dragoon regiments. Approximately 5,000 migrated into the Ottoman Empire and settled at the mouth of the Danube as “Zadunaiskaya Sich”. However, approximately 12,000 of them remained in Russia but had been quite reluctant to submit to the discipline of a regular army. Their leadership sent petition to Peter assuring him in their intention to serve the empire. Peter conceded and settled them in the Taman area and on the right bank of the Kuban River, a new troublesome border with the expelled Nogays on the left bank. They had been called The Kuban Cossack Host.
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The Sich territory had been populated along the same lines as Novorossiya.

Problem #2. The cities in Novorossia
One of the first new cities built on a new territory was Kherson. Inotially, Peter was quite enthusiastic about it planning to make it into a major port with a main wharf for the Black Sea Fleet. Construction was seemingly easy because the quarries were practically in the city and the rest if the needed materials could be sent by the Dnieper. The port looked quite but then came a disappointment. The site proved to be not too good, the attempts to make the Dnieper navigational at the Rapids failed, the nearby swamps (look at the green on a map below - Kherson is just on their edge) [3] had been causing the diseases. The wharf was conveniently located but the water was too shallow for the big ships of the line. Ochakov had a more convenient harbor and with the construction of Nikolaev (top spot on the map) a wharf and the admiralty had been transferred there. It remained a functional port but did not live up to the expectations and a lot of money had been wasted.
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Nikolaev (named after the first ship, “St. Nicholas”, built on its wharf) was built on a place where the Ingul River flows into the Bug. Started as a wharf with the attached barracks and hospital and soon enough the main wharf and admiralty of the Black Sea fleet had been transferred there.
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Odessa - ukaz about its construction was issued only in 1720. The most important event in its early history was a mass Greek settlement there [4].

A number of the cities had been built inland. Usually, they had been getting some tax breaks for the first few years, which was really helpful.

To secure a new border with the Ottomans a fortified line had been built along the Dniester. The troops allocated for its defense had been quite diverse: the regular units, the cossacks, the hussar regiments composed from the Serbian immigrants, the units raised from the foreign colonists. The colonists had been getting considerable privileges: money for the travel had been provided by the Russian residents abroad, they could settle in the cities or form the colonies, a complete religiois freedom was guaranteed, for few years they were free from taxation, the colonies were getting their own jurisdiction, they were free from a mandatory military service and volunteers were getting a bonus, founder of a manufacture producing some new products could sell its production for 10 years tax free, the colonies could have tax free fairs, etc.

The newly built port Sevastopol had been designated as the main naval base. The custom post was removed and the merchant ships could not trade in it.

With the population of Novorossia in 1710 being 100,000, in 1720 it reached 500,000. Majority of the new settlers came from the Left Bank Ukraine.

Not exactly a problem….
With all these major developments going on Peter did not forget his little personal dream: to build a summer residence on the coast of the Baltic Sea. He started with a rather modest construction, which he called “Monplesir” (mon plaisir) on a coast of the Gulf of Finland, choosing (rather strangely) the only not swampy spot. The palace was built in a somewhat Dutch style (as Peter understood it)
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Unlike the Versailles, it had a very cute bath house
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Well, speaking of the Devil … oops… Versailles, Peter started developing certain ideas …..
____________
[1] By various estimates between 12 and 50+ thousands.
[2] Top elected official of the Sich.
[3] Choosing a swampy site for a new city was seemingly something of a hobby.
[4] In a deviation from the venerable tradition of building the major ports on a swamp, this one was built on a site lacking fresh water. Somehow its citizens managed to live without it. 😂

Maybe you stop promoting the terms of Russian imperialism. Novorossia never existed.

 

[Sarthak]

Maybe you stop promoting the terms of Russian imperialism. Novorossia never existed.

From Ukrainian wikipedia:-

Новоросійська губернія — Вікіпедія

uk.wikipedia.org

Uh huh.

 

[CaedmonCousland]

Wow. Got to say I am quite impressed, and entertained. Russia is a topic I am not at all confident on. So while I get lost at parts, the focus of this work is very different and informative. While Russia gaining Crimea near a century ahead of schedule and obtaining such military innovations does have aspects of a wank, it's still more restrained than many TL's 😅. So, good job.

Enjoy your style of writing. Might clash at some times due to not seeming professional, but it keeps things entertaining. Not to mention you manage to infuse more personality in the people than near anything that isn't a POV type narrative. The jabs against all the participants . When I as reading the parts about the Little Northern War, and thus Charles XII and Peter, I couldn't get out of my head 'God watches over Fools'. While it is entertaining to read a non-Swedish focused story where the GNW doesn't happen, it is very amusing that it is these two that end up creating a strong and stable alliance that works for both and don't somehow end up with decade long conflicts that is nearly pyrrhic even for the winners.

Few other random things. Loved the scene of the Hasburg ambassador arriving to 'mediate' the conflict only for it to be turned around with an offer to mediate their conflict with the King of France. The guarantee of Russia and Sweden of the PLC's territorial integrity and the ascension of Augustus' son could be really interesting. I really like TL's which have countries not develop along OTL lines, so that combined with Russia's lack of interest in the Moldavian Principalities is enjoyable.

Finally, I am really wishing you would write something on the War of Spanish Succession. It would no doubt be informative...but mainly I just want to read you roasting all the personages there as well .

 

[alexmilman]

Maybe you stop promoting the terms of Russian imperialism. Novorossia never existed.

“Novorossia” did exist officially and this is a fact. As for the rest, keep the current politics out of the discussion.

 

[alexmilman]

Wow. Got to say I am quite impressed, and entertained. Russia is a topic I am not at all confident on. So while I get lost at parts, the focus of this work is very different and informative. While Russia gaining Crimea near a century ahead of schedule and obtaining such military innovations does have aspects of a wank, it's still more restrained than many TL's 😅. So, good job.

Glad that you liked it. Of course, there are quite a few wanks but without them it would be just an OTL history: army of Peter I could not successfully fight the Ottomans even if just to its unsuitable tactics. I was seriously tempted to stop at Munnich’s stage of the development but it also would not fit the narrative: he could win the battles but his system proved to be a complete failure when he tried to conquer the Crimea. So I opted for the warfare of CII time which was not too far away and which, as commented French ambassador at her court, was a result of what at the time considered a lack of a proper military education: simple, straightforward, aggressive and successful as opposite to a warfare practiced by the better educated Austrians (whom the Ottomans had been regularly beating). All (well, almost all) necessary tactical elements already had been there so it was just an issue of picking a combination which is right for the occasion and an absence of a “theoretical knowledge” is quite helpful in avoiding the stereotypes. Besides, in this TL some ideas (especially an extreme tactical aggressiveness) are picked up from the Swedes. Nothing in OTL was preventing a real Peter from borrowing from this model instead of a complete reliance upon the prevailing fire-based tactics.

Well, the unicorns are few decades ahead of the schedule but no technological miracles happened between the reigns of PI and his daughter so why not?

Enjoy your style of writing. Might clash at some times due to not seeming professional, but it keeps things entertaining.

I’m not trying to be a professional historian so as long as you think that it is entertaining, my mission is accomplished. 😂

Not to mention you manage to infuse more personality in the people than near anything that isn't a POV type narrative. The jabs against all the participants . When I as reading the parts about the Little Northern War, and thus Charles XII and Peter, I couldn't get out of my head 'God watches over Fools'. While it is entertaining to read a non-Swedish focused story where the GNW doesn't happen, it is very amusing that it is these two that end up creating a strong and stable alliance that works for both and don't somehow end up with decade long conflicts that is nearly pyrrhic even for the winners.

In OTL neither Charles nor Peter had been a fool but both of them had been obsessed with their own ideas so why not to readjust these ideas a little bit to make them compatible instead of clashing? BTW, a pretty much pointless conflict lasted not for few decades but for more than a century and could last longer if the Swedes did not chose my favorite Napoleonic marshal. So why not cut it short?

Few other random things. Loved the scene of the Hasburg ambassador arriving to 'mediate' the conflict only for it to be turned around with an offer to mediate their conflict with the King of France. The guarantee of Russia and Sweden of the PLC's territorial integrity and the ascension of Augustus' son could be really interesting. I really like TL's which have countries not develop along OTL lines, so that combined with Russia's lack of interest in the Moldavian Principalities is enjoyable.

As far as the PLC is involved, I got myself into a fundamental problem out of which I, so far, did not find an elegant exit: there is no King Stanislav and, taking into an account that a joined French-Austrian candidate seems unlikely, the war of the Polish Succession is going away in its OTL form: there can be an European war but it has nothing to do with Poland and there is little to no reason for S&R to be involved. 😢

OTOH, after the WoSS is over, there is still a possibility of the anti-Swedish coalition: Russia as a military factor may not be fully appreciated, yet, so Denmark, Prussia and Brunswick (?) may be tempted to get some acquisitions at the Swedish expense.

Finally, I am really wishing you would write something on the War of Spanish Succession. It would no doubt be informative...but mainly I just want to read you roasting all the personages there as well .

Thanks for the idea: Charles rented his troops in 1706 or 1707 so there is plenty of opportunity for him to get disappointed. But this is pretty much it: what else Charles (and even less Peter) are going to do with this mess?