Peter I is dead in 1710

Sweden was not at war with Austria or the Holy Roman Empire and Karl XII and the remnants of his army could get the Emperor's permission to travel through in 1714-15 and could probably get the same in 1711-12.

While Sweden was not formally at war with the HRE, it was considered a hostile power and Charles behaved as such. He was definitely an enemy of August II who was Hapsburg’s client. The fundamental difference between 1714 and 1712 is that by 1714 WoSS was over and political situation changed dramatically. Anyway, in 1712 Charles did not get such a permission from the Emperor and did not even try to get it.

Not that it would really matter as far as conduct of war was concerned. Probably, with him sticking to his old tactics and idiotic notions about Swedish invincibility (even after Poltava adventure) he could make things worse rather than better. Look at his performance at Stralsund.
 
As @Valena pointed out, the book (can't remember the name or author) I read probably suffered from a pro-Petrine bias, and needed to show Alexei/Eudoxia Lophukina is conservative/reactionary etc. My apologies
Nothing to apologize about: the only thing that I’m saying is that there are no clear indication of his unwillingness to marry Charlotte (he saw her presumably before getting his father’s approval) so we can’t take breaking of a betrothal for granted even if because the Hapsburgs had been considered potentially useful allies against the Ottomans and a match with emperor’s niece was a prestigious link for what was still an upstart state.

Reactionary part is interesting. AFAIK, Eudoxia’s “sin” was her being brought up in a traditional Russian style which was, of course, conservative but also included an idea that a wife must keep her mouth shut on non-domestic issues. In other words, she hardly had a chance to express any opinions not to mention demonstration of any reactionary behavior (and she did not belong to a powerful family to be of any importance). Alexey was seemingly a religious person but so were most of his contemporary and even his father (notwithtanding his antics) was at least superficially devout Orthodox. OTOH, religion or not, Alexei got pretty much Western education: had the Germrman tutors ( his curriculum included foreign languages, history, geometry, fortification, etc.), travelled abroad.

Of course, in the official Russian/Soviet history everybody who was not 100% on board with Petrian rule was a reactionary by definition but if we look at post-petrian period, most of the members of the Supreme Council (“verchovniks”) had been making their careers during Peter’s reign and some of them had been among the most educated and westernized people in Russia and still they wanted at least some “rollback” because Peter’s innovations and policies left country in unsustainable condition.
 
A common (pro-Petrine) historiography view was that he hated the arranged marriage. However, there are numerous problems with this:
- Marriage of his great-grandfather to Eudoxia Streshneva is the nearest match in Romanov line that can be assuredly called a love match (OK, Alexis I and Natalia Naryshkina may ALSO count; but this had its own problems);
- Being in-law to HRE comes with much greater perks than being tied into domestic clan struggle - and Alexei was anything but stupid, it appears;

However, there is one (1) clause that can ruin the match - while Peter agreed on marriage without conversion, it's unlikely that Alexei would keep this lack of demand - he was at least a bit more pious than his dad.
But as you said he was not stupid and could assess potential advantages of the Austrian match. Plus, with the children being brought up in Orthodox faith would this be such a big issue? Alexei was pious but there are no indications that he was a rabid ultra-Orthodox, either.
 
From the book I read, Alexei even complains to his confessor "so now I know that he wishes to marry me to one of those people [westerners]- whatever he wants will happen" and calls his affianced poxy. Further later on, when in Austria after fleeing from Russia, Alexei tells the emperor and his ministers that when he takes the throne, he will abandon the fleet, launch no more wars and move the capital back to Moscow.

Additionally, marrying a Russian in a brideshow is specifically designed to avoid petty clan squabbling as candidates are vetted and removed from consideration if they have connections with any established factions at court- how effective that actually was is debatable, but for someone who doesn’t want to marry a foreigner, I can see that he could simply say that’s because the vetting process was badly done and we’ll do it better
Sorry, you are talking about Charles XII which means that no peace is possible until Sweden regains all territories lost. Charles simply would not have it. Not sure who is spinning what in your schema related to the PLC but the Baltic provinces just swore loyalty to Russia and Alexei can't give them away. August II is back on the PLC throne so there is no need to negotiate with Sweden "sphere of influence" there. "Polish Ukraine" was strategically important only in one context: war against the Ottomans. If Alexei is not planning it, then it is "Więcej smród niż zysk" (more stench than gain) ;)

While I concur it would require a lot of convincing and Charles is most likely to at least harbour revanchist goals, and probably restart war after a break where he can get his house in order, i see no reason why he wouldn’t agree to a temporary peace given sufficient recompense- I again don’t see why Alexei necessarily couldn’t return the Baltic given the strength of the autocrat in relation to boyars, as the war was unprovoked and he could simply declare his dearly departed fathers war unjust and the only just course of action a status quo ante bellum. Whether he would is a different question, but I think if he wanted to, he definitely could battle through the opposition.

I don’t think August II being on the polish throne precludes Swedish influence in Poland, as the anti August faction most probably would look to Sweden for aid and potentially allow Sweden to station troops on their private land like soon afterwards nobles would allow prussians and Russians to station troops on their land. No matter who’s on the throne, a promise from Sweden they will not take any military action in or aid factions in Poland is still valuable to the Russians. Whether Alexei himself is planning war against the ottomans or not, there will be a decent number of people with power that are and would perhaps be willing to agree if Alexei let’s the Baltic provinces go in return for Sweden not aiding Ukraine when the Russians roll in.
German never was a court language even if he was routinely used by the Russian Germans.

Ok fair enough, I wasn’t aware of the degree of francophilia and germanophilia in peters court- nevertheless, I think it’s likely that Alexei would reduce use of German in court circles anyway by demoting German immigrants.
Alexei, unlike his father (who was not good even in literary Russian) was well versed in both German and French, had German tutors and traveled abroad so there is absolutely no reason to assume that he would return the old costumes or whatever you think amounts to the old habits (not that Peter was trying to eliminate all of them). As for the "western elements at court", he may cancel so-called "assemblies" (which died out after Peter's death, anyway) with their enforced drinking.

Ok? He may have been well taught, and in his education been sent to tutors in Germany, but nothing in that shows me that he himself particularly liked going or had the faintest trace of admiration for Germany. Moreover considering that his tutors were appointed by his father, and Menshikov for one was definitely abusive, Alexei probably didn’t enjoy the tuition and by extension disliked the acquaintance of most of the Germans he knew. Whether he tries to bring back the old costumes or not, i see no reason why his reign would continue to give Germans much cultural prestige.
Guess what? Both things happened in OTL during the reign of Anne: it was impossible to maintain a military budget amounting to 90% of state income.
I don’t see why you said guess what there- it seems unnecessarily hostile for a statement that amounts to "Guess what? You’re right, this thing you’ve said would happen probably would happen because an otl ruler in the same situation made the same choice", like ok thanks I guess.

Alexeis childhood interests according to his tutors very much leaned towards the church so whether or not his mother was incredibly orthodox, there’s reason to believe he himself was and thus the point I made about more respect given to the patriarchy as an institution still stands.
In case you missed it, his father also was an Orthodox
Only incredibly superficially, considering the frequent mockery of religious figures and the way he scrapped a religious institution to increase his own power.
As I understand, the main source of this idea is some old TL rather than real facts.
No, I actually came to that idea myself based on what I had read and my reading of the personalities involved given the facts. So.
Sight. I wonder why people keep repeating these things without bothering to learn relevant history.
No one else on this thread had said that, so I don’t know who I’m supposed to be repeating? If you don’t think I know the material or have made an unjustified conclusion, by all means let me know, tell me the actual facts and we can all go away having had a positive experience instead of a passive aggressive and quite frankly arrogant preface that means when you actually do give some information it makes it seem less like "actually the situation is different to what you thought because... " which is constructive and more like "and here’s why You’re Wrong, why are you even here when you have no idea what you’re talking about?", which I’m sure you can agree is less constructive.
 
Ok? He may have been well taught, and in his education been sent to tutors in Germany, but nothing in that shows me that he himself particularly liked going or had the faintest trace of admiration for Germany. Moreover considering that his tutors were appointed by his father, and Menshikov for one was definitely abusive, Alexei probably didn’t enjoy the tuition and by extension disliked the acquaintance of most of the Germans he knew. Whether he tries to bring back the old costumes or not, i see no reason why his reign would continue to give Germans much cultural prestige.
Which old costumes? The fashion of Russian court of 1680ies was already akin to contemporary Polish, though for males. Female fashion OTOH - in this way the return to modesty may be done, but partially. Domostroi-style heavy sleeves are just impractical and would be abandoned. So, a Polish cosplay instead of German one.
Additionally, marrying a Russian in a brideshow is specifically designed to avoid petty clan squabbling as candidates are vetted and removed from consideration if they have connections with any established factions at court- how effective that actually was is debatable, but for someone who doesn’t want to marry a foreigner, I can see that he could simply say that’s because the vetting process was badly done and we’ll do it better
There were 2 episodes of not marrying a girl sponsored by any clan in the ENTIRE 17th century - Eudoxia Streshneva and Agafia Grushetskaya. Other than these two love matches, the brideshows were notoriously rigged, as the winner was known beforehand and it was someone recommended by Tsar's favorites to rulers.
 
Which old costumes? The fashion of Russian court of 1680ies was already akin to contemporary Polish, though for males. Female fashion OTOH - in this way the return to modesty may be done, but partially. Domostroi-style heavy sleeves are just impractical and would be abandoned. So, a Polish cosplay instead of German one.

There were 2 episodes of not marrying a girl sponsored by any clan in the ENTIRE 17th century - Eudoxia Streshneva and Agafia Grushetskaya. Other than these two love matches, the brideshows were notoriously rigged, as the winner was known beforehand and it was someone recommended by Tsar's favorites to rulers.

Oh that’s interesting- though I didn’t really properly decide whether I thought he’d change court clothing, now I’m thinking a polish cosplay could prove attractive for Alexei because they’re not as foreign, and because if he’s trying to up his influence in the PLC, dressing like them could win some important soft power points and perhaps sway more polish nobles to be loyal directly to him instead of their German puppet king. Do we think Alexei attempts a Silent Sejm analogue? Would he restrict polish military spending as much as Peter did?
 
Polish cosplay, so to say, dates back to the last years of Alexis I reign, and it doesn't signify any specific Polish sympathies.
 
From the book I read, Alexei even complains to his confessor "so now I know that he wishes to marry me to one of those people [westerners]- whatever he wants will happen" and calls his affianced poxy.

I have no idea which book you did read but the fundamental problem with the above is that confessor could not make public what was confessed to him. BTW, it seems that Alexei himself was participating in the bride's selection: he saw her well before Peter did.

Further later on, when in Austria after fleeing from Russia, Alexei tells the emperor and his ministers that when he takes the throne, he will abandon the fleet, launch no more wars and move the capital back to Moscow.

Besides the fact that at that type he was understandably pissed off with his father (who deprived him of his succession rights), none of the things above were bad or unreasonable:

By the time in question both Fleet of Azov and Baltic Fleet cost enormous amounts of money and "return on expense" was close to zero, especially for the Baltic fleet: the really useful part of it during the GNW were the galleys, not the expensive modern ships that Peter was building or ordering. What's even worse, until the 1st Ottoman War of Catherine II the Baltic fleet was practically unused and the old and new ships had been rotting in the Gulf of Finland costing considerable money. When it was finally put to use (1st Archipelago Expedition) even getting out of the Baltic Sea proved to be a major problem and some ships did not make it. Big part of the rest needed a considerable refitting when they made it to Britain and some of those simply had to be replaced with the British-built ships (ditto for the massive hiring of the British sailors and naval officers). To make things clear, Peter's modern ships were mostly prestige toys and most of the fighting had been done by the old-fashioned galleys serving as the "infantry carriers".

Not launching new wars (notice, nothing about the ongoing one) was a very good idea: not only Peter's adventure against the Ottomans ended up badly but his Persian expedition proved to be extremely costly and conquests had been given away during the reign of Anna because they were unsustainable. All the way till the reign of Catherine II the wars Russia started had been expensive and fruitless.

Moving capital back to Moscow was a good idea: building St-Petersburg up to the capital level took decades (at least to the end of Elizabeth's reign but actually even later) and enormous expenses with a capital being on a far side of the long and very bad communication lines and exposed to the potential Swedish attacks. Both from governing and security perspectives Moscow was much better and it also was not a subject to the terrible floods.

In other words, so far all the presumably bad things are actually the good ones showing that he was much more saner person than his father.

Additionally, marrying a Russian in a brideshow is specifically designed to avoid petty clan squabbling as candidates are vetted and removed from consideration if they have connections with any established factions at court- how effective that actually was is debatable, but for someone who doesn’t want to marry a foreigner, I can see that he could simply say that’s because the vetting process was badly done and we’ll do it better

Who said that he would marry Russian by a brideshow? He did not marry his second, Russian, wife this way and there is no reason to assume that the habit was still usable by the time in question.

While I concur it would require a lot of convincing and Charles is most likely to at least harbour revanchist goals, and probably restart war after a break where he can get his house in order, i see no reason why he wouldn’t agree to a temporary peace given sufficient recompense- I again don’t see why Alexei necessarily couldn’t return the Baltic given the strength of the autocrat in relation to boyars, as the war was unprovoked and he could simply declare his dearly departed fathers war unjust and the only just course of action a status quo ante bellum. Whether he would is a different question, but I think if he wanted to, he definitely could battle through the opposition.

Charles was not planning any peace until and unless he is victorious and it seemingly did not bother him how realistic or unrealistic was this approach. Giving away the territories that were just officially annexed to Russia without a major defeat was not a realistic idea and the same goes for the "unjust war": the people would not understood that.

I don’t think August II being on the polish throne precludes Swedish influence in Poland, as the anti August faction most probably would look to Sweden for aid and potentially allow Sweden to station troops on their private land like soon afterwards nobles would allow prussians and Russians to station troops on their land.

Russian troops were garrisoned on the PLC not because the specific nobles invited them: they were, for all practical purposes, the conquerors who stayed there with an agreement of the kings whom they put on the throne. An idea that some Polish noble could just invite Swedes to occupy his estate is quite entertaining but it would be too much even for the PLC.

No matter who’s on the throne, a promise from Sweden they will not take any military action in or aid factions in Poland is still valuable to the Russians.

Actually, absolutely worthless because the Swedes are out, the Russian ally is on the throne and Stanislav fled the country. As for the help to various factions, with the Baltic provinces in Russian hands, Russia is in a much better position to interfere into the Polish affairs (especially with the Austrian help) then Sweden.

Whether Alexei himself is planning war against the ottomans or not, there will be a decent number of people with power that are and would perhaps be willing to agree if Alexei let’s the Baltic provinces go in return for Sweden not aiding Ukraine when the Russians roll in.

Name these people.

Ok fair enough, I wasn’t aware of the degree of francophilia and germanophilia in peters court- nevertheless, I think it’s likely that Alexei would reduce use of German in court circles anyway by demoting German immigrants.

"German immigrants" at that time were mostly civic and military specialists serving Russia so why would they be suddenly demoted? Not that too many of them had been anywhere close to the top echelon of power in OTL 1710. At court Russia was the official language so this whole thing does not make sense to me.

Ok? He may have been well taught, and in his education been sent to tutors in Germany,

Actually, it was the German tutors hired to teach him. He, indeed did some traveling abroad but this is a different issue.

but nothing in that shows me that he himself particularly liked going or had the faintest trace of admiration for Germany.

This kind of assumes that you have a thorough knowledge of his personality, character and ideas so I wonder where did you get all that in-depth information, especially taking into an account that for more than 2 centuries most of the information about Alexei had been systematically distorted to justify Peter's actions.

This question aside, why should he admire Germany? His father was not a great admirer of Germany (as HRE?) either: his ideal was a complicated mixture of Dutch and British (I would not say "cultures") and some of his administrative ideas had been borrowed from Sweden. But anyway, why should there be admiration of anything? Admiration kind of implying an uncritical attitude and if person could use his brains to evaluate what is and what is not good and useful, it is much better than a witless copying without adjustment to the local conditions.

Moreover considering that his tutors were appointed by his father, and Menshikov for one was definitely abusive, Alexei probably didn’t enjoy the tuition and by extension disliked the acquaintance of most of the Germans he knew.

The fact that Menshikov was a German is a great surprise to me.

Whether he tries to bring back the old costumes or not, i see no reason why his reign would continue to give Germans much cultural prestige.

Not sure what do you have against the Germans but as far as the costumes are involved, Peter's predecessors demonstrated much more sense by starting adopting Polish and especially Hungarian costumes as much more suitable to the Russian climate. Peter, typically for him, in his attempt to look "Western" run far away from any notion of a common sense. Take his military uniforms. They had nothing to do with the Russian national dress and a soldier had to get adjusted to their inconvenience. Was it practical to put soldiers into the shoes and stockings if they had to march on the dirty roads? How about these shoes and stockings in the midst of a Russian winter? How about giving the soldiers capes as a winter clothing instead of a warm overcoat? Do you understand the losses just related to the frostbites? OTOH, in the hot Russian summers, all these multi-layered uniforms had been just a recipe for a sunstroke and if you march South, the recipe turns into the strategic problem: during Munnich's campaigns in the Crimea and Moldavia he was loosing much more soldiers on a march from overheating than in his battles. Only during the reign of Catherine II this insanity was addressed but it was not 100% addressed all the way to the reign of Alexander III.


Alexeis childhood interests according to his tutors very much leaned towards the church so whether or not his mother was incredibly orthodox, there’s reason to believe he himself was and thus the point I made about more respect given to the patriarchy as an institution still stands.

Whatever his childhood interests could be (BTW, studying religion was one of the main subjects in a curriculum of the royalty all over Europe so his tutors were complimenting him), it is recorded that he had interests in history, fortification, geometry and foreign languages. As far as the Patriarchy is involved, in the realities of Russia circa 1710, it did not really matter if there is a Patriarch or Synod: the Church was completely tamed and ready to execute the government orders even if they going against the doctrine.

No one else on this thread had said that, so I don’t know who I’m supposed to be repeating?

Because this is not the only thread dealing with that subject.
 
Polish cosplay, so to say, dates back to the last years of Alexis I reign, and it doesn't signify any specific Polish sympathies.

And, IIRC, during the reign of Fedor Alexeevich the trend was Hungarian. Which proved to be the right thing in a long run because Hungarian style male jacket ("vengerka") was quite popular among the Russian nobility in the XIX century. Not to mention that costume of the Hungarian hussars had been parroted all over Europe.
 
Oh that’s interesting- though I didn’t really properly decide whether I thought he’d change court clothing, now I’m thinking a polish cosplay could prove attractive for Alexei because they’re not as foreign, and because if he’s trying to up his influence in the PLC, dressing like them could win some important soft power points and perhaps sway more polish nobles to be loyal directly to him instead of their German puppet king. Do we think Alexei attempts a Silent Sejm analogue? Would he restrict polish military spending as much as Peter did?

I wonder how and when exactly did Peter (any of them) restricted Polish military spending? x'D
 
And, IIRC, during the reign of Fedor Alexeevich the trend was Hungarian. Which proved to be the right thing in a long run because Hungarian style male jacket ("vengerka") was quite popular among the Russian nobility in the XIX century. Not to mention that costume of the Hungarian hussars had been parroted all over Europe.
It alternated - given that in Poland Hungarian style also was in vogue during Turkish wars, it's unclear who exactly the fashion trend imitated.
If the horribly impractical military clothing the way Peter introduced them are phased away in favor of Polish/Hungarian stuff - that's for better.
 
Re. ladies' fashion - it's not known how much this cat is actually out of the bag by 1710, but once again, the Polish/Hungarian style will probalby be aped, resulting in something that in OTL was in vogue circa Alexander II reign (no/minimal cleavage, but lighter fabrics are used widely etc).
 
BTW, it seems that Alexei himself was participating in the bride's selection: he saw her well before Peter did.
The match was proposed when he was thirteen and though he met her before peter, he refused to write peter a letter on what he thought of her- presumably because peter wouldn’t like alexeis real thoughts on the matter. Where are you getting the idea that he helped choose her?
In other words, so far all the presumably bad things are actually the good ones showing that he was much more saner person than his father.
What is this strawmanning? Nowhere did I say these were bad things? Again you’re bringing up interesting points that I appreciate as factoids but ultimately aren’t relevant to the discussion we’re having.
Who said that he would marry Russian by a brideshow? He did not marry his second, Russian, wife this way and there is no reason to assume that the habit was still usable by the time in question.
What second wife is this? He only married once? I concede it’s a bit archaic and even a traditionalist like him might just let it die, but it is a possibility. I think if not a Russian wife he would try and secure a match with a ruthenian or lithuanian noblewoman, as again, these are less foreign and already orthodox.
Charles was not planning any peace until and unless he is victorious and it seemingly did not bother him how realistic or unrealistic was this approach. Giving away the territories that were just officially annexed to Russia without a major defeat was not a realistic idea and the same goes for the "unjust war": the people would not understood that.

Leaving aside your implication that you have a complete understanding of Charles psyche when you later decide to lecture me on your interpretation of the same in regards to me; sorry I meant to imply that he would say that it was an unjust and worthless war as soon as Charles wins a few battles here and there to extricate himself from the situation, whether or not from a purely military perspective those losses would justify trying to end it- at this point I’m trying to say that he’ll take any excuse. And the people (who are powerful enough to care) don’t need to particularly agree, the Tsar said so and if you don’t agree he’ll have your lands confiscated or have his personal police sniffing around your affairs, or send you to a monastery or torture you to death for sedition.
Russian troops were garrisoned on the PLC not because the specific nobles invited them: they were, for all practical purposes, the conquerors who stayed there with an agreement of the kings whom they put on the throne. An idea that some Polish noble could just invite Swedes to occupy his estate is quite entertaining but it would be too much even for the PLC.
Yes because there definitely weren’t these things called golden liberties that allowed nobles to legally rebel and form armies- and even if there were why would these nobles ever decide to call in troops from the power that’s not puppeteering the person they’re rebelling against. If you’re right about the conquering force bit, why did Prussian troops station themselves in northern Poland during the reign of August III and pass on the expenses to the peasants. You overestimate the PLCs monopoly of force in its territory.
Actually, absolutely worthless because the Swedes are out, the Russian ally is on the throne and Stanislav fled the country. As for the help to various factions, with the Baltic provinces in Russian hands, Russia is in a much better position to interfere into the Polish affairs (especially with the Austrian help) then Sweden.
And thé Russian ally is completely trustworthy? His position on the throne is completely secure? Russia is completely sure it can easily and with little cost stop Swedish aid reaching their enemies?
Name these people.
Though I admit, it is an assumption- I would assume that there are a decent number of Russian nobles at any given point in the 18th century who want war with the ottomans, either to re establish Byzantium, or as is more probable given how early in the century we are, to stop the slave raids that still occur with alarming frequency in Russian lands.
Actually, it was the German tutors hired to teach him. He, indeed did some traveling abroad but this is a different issue.
When was this traveling? I can’t find anything on him traveling that’s not to receive education or to for political purposes.
The fact that Menshikov was a German is a great surprise to me.
strawmanning, but no, perhaps I didn’t make it clear enough, Menshikov (not German) is a tutor, as are Germans (German), Alexei dislikes tuition as one of his tutors is abusive, his relationship with other tutors sours as they become associated with tuition and by extension Menshikov in his mind. Is that more transparent?
Peter's predecessors demonstrated much more sense by starting adopting Polish and especially Hungarian costumes as much more suitable to the Russian climate.
ok cool, Alexei moves further down that road then. Again thanks for the information, but it doesn’t contradict what I’m saying so the hostile tone is just confusing.
the Church was completely tamed and ready to execute the government orders even if they going against the doctrine.
ok, cool I’m not saying the church is given independence to defy the government, all I’m saying is the institutions of the church are seen as sacred so trying to alter those institutions is seen as morally wrong.
Because this is not the only thread dealing with that subject.
so now I have to go through every past thread on the subject to avoid accidentally repeating something they said?
I wonder how and when exactly did Peter (any of them) restricted Polish military spending? x'D
Have you found the answer to what you were wondering?
 
It alternated - given that in Poland Hungarian style also was in vogue during Turkish wars, it's unclear who exactly the fashion trend imitated.
If the horribly impractical military clothing the way Peter introduced them are phased away in favor of Polish/Hungarian stuff - that's for better.

Peter had very specific views regarding permitted clothing. On one hand he issued special laws by which a person who wears silk jackets or the pants “Spanish style” must be beaten by knout (not sure if they were ever put to practice) while on the other he demanded from his close entourage to wear luxurious clothing and to have their residences as richly arranged as possible: the restrictions were for those who did not yet prove their worthiness and had been just children of the noble families. But the very fact of the government regulating life of the subjects down to the clothes tells a lot about the regime.
 
But the very fact of the government regulating life of the subjects down to the clothes tells a lot about the regime.

Not especially. Fernando II of Aragon brought in laws saying who could wear what (guildsmen had to wear this, Jews had to wear that, no one was allowed to dress above their class; people were only allowed to change clothes three times a week or something ridiculous like that; etc etc) and in the middle ages, according to Tuchmann's Distant Mirror, Florence was doing the same thing. Cromwell had done the same in England 60 years earlier. Louis XIII in France. Now, obviously all of these were for different reasons (Fernando, Cromwell and Louis' were sumptuary laws AIUI; Fernando's might have also have had his eye on pigeonholing the Jews, but ICR), but governments can and did tell people what to wear. IIRC, as late as the French Revolution in France (can't wear breeches or wigs because they're associated with the nobility).

And one can't even say that all the regimes were the same either. Fernando was an absolute monarchy, Florence an oligarchic republic, Cromwell's a military dictatorship and I'm not quite sure how to define Louis XIII's France (it's technically an absolute monarchy, but not like it became under Louis XIV).
 
Not especially. Fernando II of Aragon brought in laws saying who could wear what (guildsmen had to wear this, Jews had to wear that, no one was allowed to dress above their class; people were only allowed to change clothes three times a week or something ridiculous like that; etc etc) and in the middle ages, according to Tuchmann's Distant Mirror, Florence was doing the same thing. Cromwell had done the same in England 60 years earlier. Louis XIII in France. Now, obviously all of these were for different reasons (Fernando, Cromwell and Louis' were sumptuary laws AIUI; Fernando's might have also have had his eye on pigeonholing the Jews, but ICR), but governments can and did tell people what to wear. IIRC, as late as the French Revolution in France (can't wear breeches or wigs because they're associated with the nobility).

And one can't even say that all the regimes were the same either. Fernando was an absolute monarchy, Florence an oligarchic republic, Cromwell's a military dictatorship and I'm not quite sure how to define Louis XIII's France (it's technically an absolute monarchy, but not like it became under Louis XIV).


All that being true (not sure about the French example) but the cases you listed are substantially different (perhaps I did not emphasize the point well enough) because the rules applied to the whole society or the social or religious groups. In Peter’s case regulations of that type also existed: nobility had to wear the Western dress and to shave the beards while other classes could retain their traditional appearance. As @Valena noticed, this in slightly different form started before Peter and was more or less limited to those attending the court (Polish or Hungarian dress, shorter beards). But Peter went further: the rules I was talking about applied exclusively to the younger members of the nobility who did not yet distinguished themselves on a government service. Basically, it was something of a “dress code by personal merit”.

One more detail worthy of notice is the punishment: at least in theory, the guilty ones had to be beaten by knout “until their dress is shredded into the rugs”. Unlike Western Europe, nobility did not have any type of a personal immunity from a torture and bodily punishments. Of course, this started before Peter but my impression is that before him these types of punishment had been reserved for reasonably serious crimes.
 


Thanks for bringing up some interesting issues. Not to get into a bickering, here is continuation of a framework broken into 2 main parts: 1st, what we do know and 2nd, what is open to the speculation.

What we do know:

Alexei - personality:

1. Reasonably well-educated, unlike his father. Regarding his education, Menshikov was not his tutor but a person responsible for general overseeing his education. AFAIK, his personal contribution amounted to enforcing the drinking habits, forcing Alexei when still a child to play a toy soldier to a delight of his father and quarreling with at least one of Alexei's tutors over the issues of an etiquette.

2. There is no factual reason to assume that he was overly attached to the old ways: when in 1717 he fled from his father, his mistress, Efrosinia, traveled with him dressed as a man (a complete taboo from the old ways perspective), they attended theaters (further down the road to Hell) and she was attending a Catholic church to "listen to music" (Catholic church music - you are already in Hell!). How "deep" was his religion is hard to say because the same question applies to quite a few Russian monarchs before and after him. There was "a mental split" on a number of levels: (a) ruler's personal attachment to the Orthodoxy doctrine and, mostly the rituals, (b) ruler's opinion about extent of his/her prerogatives as being anointed by God and (c) view on a Russian Church as a tool in ruler's hands.

As a side note: Peter's famous "Всепьянейший Собор" was a mockery of a Catholicism and says nothing about his Orthodoxy.

3. He was seemingly a heavy drinker, which is not a big surprise taking into an account the environment in which he was brought up: he was forced to participate in his father's drinking parties when still a child.

4. His relations with Charlotte were fluctuating from affection to a complete neglect but this was not an uncommon thing for the arranged royal marriages: look at the practices of Louis XIV or August II or even of his own father who openly had a mistress, Anne Mons, for years and then openly lived with a former POW "washer woman" (in her own definition) whom he got from Menshikov. At least to some degree neglect was due to the Peter's orders to travel somewhere.

As a side note: Marriage by the brideshow was a tradition but not a must. Ivan III married Sophia Paleolog without it. Not sure if Vasili III married Elena Glinskaya (mother of Ivan IV) following that procedure 2nd marriage of Ivan IV to Maria Temrukovna, daughter of the Princde of Kabarda happened without it. Irina Godunova became wife of Fedor without the brideshow. While Tsar Alexei passed through the formal steps, he picked up Natalia Naryshkina prior to it. So it is probably safe to say that nothing would prevent a Tsar of marrying whoever he wanted with or without following that tradition.

5. While still in Russia was assigned various military/administrative functions. Peter was not quite happy with what he managed to accomplish in the terms of fortification of Moscow but it is anybody's guess up to which degree this was a byproduct of a persistent campaign run by Catherine, Menshikov (and whoever else).

6. Seemingly not too energetic, at least in the same way as his father who simply could not be at rest (some of the modern historians consider this a symptom of a specific mental disorder preventing concentration on a subject and promoting physical activities; not being a shrink, can't say how true is this theory).

Charles XII:

1. The fact that Charles was somewhat obsessed with the notion of justice (as he understood it) and unwillingness to accept the losses is emphasized by a number of authors (the last book in which I read that was his biography "Chalres XII, or 5 bullets to the King" by B. N. Grigoriev, quite sympathetic to the hero) and it is confirmed by the diplomatic exchanges prior to Poltava.

2. Timing of Charles return to Sweden can not (IMO) change too much by the reasons already mentioned: he needed emperor's permission for crossing the HRE and until WoSS was not over, he was considered a hostile power. Actually, the Ottomans, or rather Siraskir and Khan, who became fed up with his presence, tried to negotiate his earlier return: he should cross the PLC territory (with August's agreement) under the Ottoman escort and join Steinbeck's army in Germany but by whatever reason Charles refused to move and the whole affair ended with a shootout in Bender.

3. An idea that immediately upon his return Charles could attack Russia was by that time impractical (this plan was offered by Frederick of Hesse but rejected by Charles): defense of Stralsund and Rugen (to provide communications with Stralsund) was necessary to prevent an attack on Swedish mainland. By squeezing Prussians from the Swedish territories around Stralsund and requesting return of Stettin he started an open war with Prussia, Denmark already had been hostile and Hanover started siege of Wismar. August also wanted some piece of the Swedish Pomerania. Before the siege started Charles managed to proved an adequate supply of Stralsund with provision but against 50,000 of the Prussian, Danish and Saxon troops he had in Pomerania only 14,000 including 9,000 of Stralsund's garrison. So the whole thing resulted in a protracted duel between the Swedish and Danish fleets and eventually the Danes won (it seems, not as much by thinking more Swedish ships but because Swedes had serious problems with repairs and supplies). Which provided the allies with opportunity to land on Rugen and Charles had to face 12,000 opponents (led by Anhalt von Dessau, a very prominent figure in Prussian military history) in a fortified camp with 750 infantrymen and 2,200 cavalry. His 2 night attacks on enemy's camp failed with a loss of 400 killed and 200 wounded. Rugen was lost and fall of Stralsund became a matter of time. So the whole grand schema (attributed to Charles) of a two pronged attack on Russia impossible. Actually, when capitulation of Stralsund became inevitable Charles (1st time in his career) decided to compromise: he offered Prussians Stettin and Danes a monetary compensation for not taking Stralsund and Rugen. But it was too little too late.

Speculations:

1. Military situation:

In that scenario it is somewhat more favorable to Sweden. In OTL:
In 1712 Russian army of 48,000 under command of Menshikov entered Pomerania
In 1713 Russian army supported by Saxon artillery took Stettin and transferred it to Prussia
In 1713 Russian army defeated Stenbock and, together with the Danes forced his capitulation at Tenning in 1714
In 1713 Russian army under command of Prince M. Golitisin entered Finland, took Abo (then capital of Finland) and defeated Swedes in two battles (in 1713, 1714).

We may assume that if Alexei opted for a less aggressive approach to a war, at least some of these events would not happen. OTOH, the opposite also can be assumed: absence of a peace more or less forces Russia to continue acting aggressively thus depriving Swedes from their resources (and preventing attack on the Baltic provinces) and involving new combatants who can engage Sweden on their own (which actually took place: the Danes explicitly insisted on Russian non-participation in a siege of Stralsund). Probably an attack on Finland was more or less to be expected as well. However, if Menshikov is immediately removed then probably Sheremetev is in charge of the Russian troops in Pomerania and Sheremetev is a much less energetic commander, which may save Stenbock. Still, Swedes keep being seriously outnumbered and by the time of Charles return are in a bad strategic position.

So the 1st big speculative area is Alexei's grand strategy and appointments. For example, putting M. Golitisin in charge of the army in Pomerania and leaving Sheremetev at home as a "military consultant" (based upon what I read about Sheremetev, he may like such an option; at least in OTL he complained bitterly about his appointment to Pomerania and Mecklenburg in 1715 - 17).

2. Peace:

There is no visible reason for Alexei to give away the newly-acquired Baltic provinces without a major defeat and a major defeat is extremely unlikely taking into an account general situation described above: Charles returns only in 1714, upon his return no miracle happens and almost everybody in the region is fighting against Sweden so invasion of Russia is unrealistic.

Option of declaring war as "unjust" (thanks for the idea :)) is not going to work because it puts to doubt a "legacy" going back to Ivan IV (1558–82), continued by Boris Godunov (1590–95), Michael (1610-1617), Alexei I (1656–58) and Peter.

An option "we'll return the Baltic provinces and you will not mess in Poland" also not working: giving away territories won by a heavy fighting in exchange to the promise which can be easily broken and which, anyway, would not mean too much for Russia (Russian troops are already in the PLC and Sweden is not in a good position of invading it) does not look as an equal exchange either.

So the peace has to wait until OTL Charles' death or until he is ready to accept the losses.

3. Domestic policies:

1. Rollback all the way to Domostroy, long beards and long sleeves is extremely unlikely both due to a general unwillingness of the nobility and because it does not look like Alexei had such inclinations on a personal level (see above about him and his mistress traveling in Europe).

2. It is quite possible that Alexei ends up with appointing a Patriarch instead of creating a Synod. However, experience of his (quite devoted) grandfather demonstrated that Patriarch is not a sacred cow and if he has too high opinion about his place in Russia, he can be replaced without too much hassle. Anyway, the top level of the Russian priesthood already trained to do what they are told by a ruler so a trouble is not to be expected.

3. Moving capital to Moscow is not an issue in 1710 because it is still a capital.

4. What to do about St-Petersburg? Russia got 2 major ports, Riga and Revel (plus some smaller ones including Narva). However, location of St-Petersburg has some advantages in the terms of being better adjusted to the traditional Russian trade routes to the Baltic coast so the site can be further developed as an additional trade port.

5. Fleet. Alexei told Austrians pretty much what they wanted to hear about abandoning fleet completely but most probably he would be persuaded to maintain some for the case of a future war with Sweden. While by location St-Petersburg gives some advantages as a main naval base (being protected by Kronstadt, see the map), there were distinct disadvantages of keeping the wooden ships in a low-salt water. In OTL Reval had been used as a second base but its harbor seems more open and vulnerable.
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6. Wild guesses:

1. Alexei's position on the existing administrative institutions
2. Alexei's position on his father's experiments with the Russian industry/economy (mostly disastrous)
3. Alexei's position on the existing system requiring nobility to serve in the army (would he do what Peter III did?)
4. Alexei's position on expansionism (war with the Ottomans, war with Persia, "imperial" plans for Baltic domination, etc.)
5. Alexei's position on pretty much everything else. :'(
 
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