A Dual-Monarchy

Okay, so Ivan V, Pyotr the Great's half-brother and co-czar, was a pathetic shadow of Pyotr. He was/is regarded by many as close to an imbecile. By his wife, Praskovya Feodorovna Saltykova, he had five daughters - Maria, Anna, Ekaterina, Feodosia and Praskovia. Except for Ekaterina, none of them left surviving issue, and his line was finally ended with his great-granddaughter, the deaf Ekaterina Antonovna of Brunswick, dying in Horsens in Denmark in 1806.

Now, what if Ivan had fathered a son? How would there being a non-retarded (for the sake of our POD, let's assume none of Ivan's problems were genetic) male successor to the senior of the co-czars affect Pyotr Velikiy's reign?
 
Okay, so Ivan V, Pyotr the Great's half-brother and co-czar, was a pathetic shadow of Pyotr. He was/is regarded by many as close to an imbecile. By his wife, Praskovya Feodorovna Saltykova, he had five daughters - Maria, Anna, Ekaterina, Feodosia and Praskovia. Except for Ekaterina, none of them left surviving issue, and his line was finally ended with his great-granddaughter, the deaf Ekaterina Antonovna of Brunswick, dying in Horsens in Denmark in 1806.

Now, what if Ivan had fathered a son? How would there being a non-retarded (for the sake of our POD, let's assume none of Ivan's problems were genetic) male successor to the senior of the co-czars affect Pyotr Velikiy's reign?

You see, Peter the Great was not a kind, generous and forgiving Farther of his people as a Russian tsar was expected to be. He was a wild, unpredictable, rude, insulting rascal.
He was a little bit of Ivan the Terrible type.
And like Ivan the Terrible he had a justified paranoia that a lot of people wanted him dead. As a matter of fact even Ivan the Terrible would not dare to marry a whore and crown her.
In OTL Peter the Great killed his own son, well, he tortured him to death, possibly in person with his own hands, at least he closely watched the process.
I think that his son was not guilty of anything substantial, his only fault was being an undisputed heir to the throne. Peter suspected that if someone liked by his son Alexei had murdered Peter the Great this assassin would have got away with it.

Peter the Great felt secure only when there was no evident undisputed adult heir to his throne.
So if Ivan V had fathered a healthy son this poor boy would have ended like Peter the Great's son, Alexei. I guess.
 
Peter the Great was Ivan the Terrible 2.0. Pretty much the same youth with additional feature of co-rule with his handicapped brother.
He only got to continue the trend his father and elder half-brother started, and brought it to (il)logical end with a ton of blood.
With Ivan having a son Peter's mother and uncles will exert even MORE pressure on his psyche. Congrats, now we have even more psychopathic person on Russian throne. Basically what poster above said.

The reason I love Feodor III timelines is that with positive figure of influence his godfather was a Grand Duke Peter might become somewhat normal man - a rude and rage-prone man, but with less issues than OTL Peter we got.
 
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