WI: A different Peter II of Russia?

IOTL, Peter II of Russia was the grandson of Peter the Great, but the famous Tsar also had another Peter . Of the six sons Peter the Great had with Catherine I, only one lived for more than a year - Grand Duke Pyotr Petrovich. But sadly he died in 1719. (http://genealogy.euweb.cz/russia/romanov2.html#P1)

IOTL, Peter the Great died without naming an heir, and he took little to no interest in OTL Peter II because the boy reminded him of his own son, Alexei. What if Peter's son by Catherine survived? He would be about the same age as Alexei's son, and I'd assume he would be more in the camp of 'new men' like his mother and Alexander Menshikov. I'd guess the latter would try and betroth his daughter to Catherine's son instead of Alexei's son.

Would Catherine still become Empress or just part of a regency council ruling on *Peter II's behalf? One possible outcome could be a civil war - a Russian War of the Two Peters - between the reformers supporting Catherine's son and the conservatives supporting Alexei's son.
 
IOTL, Peter II of Russia was the grandson of Peter the Great, but the famous Tsar also had another Peter . Of the six sons Peter the Great had with Catherine I, only one lived for more than a year - Grand Duke Pyotr Petrovich. But sadly he died in 1719. (http://genealogy.euweb.cz/russia/romanov2.html#P1)

IOTL, Peter the Great died without naming an heir, and he took little to no interest in OTL Peter II because the boy reminded him of his own son, Alexei. What if Peter's son by Catherine survived? He would be about the same age as Alexei's son, and I'd assume he would be more in the camp of 'new men' like his mother and Alexander Menshikov. I'd guess the latter would try and betroth his daughter to Catherine's son instead of Alexei's son.

Would Catherine still become Empress or just part of a regency council ruling on *Peter II's behalf? One possible outcome could be a civil war - a Russian War of the Two Peters - between the reformers supporting Catherine's son and the conservatives supporting Alexei's son.

Two problems with alt-Peter II. He was only named Tsarevich in 1718 (AFTER Alexei died), and also, by the age of three, he'd not yet started to walk or talk according to his Russian wiki.

Pyotr I only abolished the succession law in '22, because he didn't want Alexei's son to succeed him. And then Russia got into the "awesome" fustercluck succession-wise of the 18th century when Ekaterina I died. However, if there's a surviving son, the Russian succession up until that point, passed from father-to-son - the last tsar who had had his eldest son predecease him was Ivan III, and instead of the diadem passing to his eldest son's only child, Dmitri Ivanovich, Ivan's second wife got him to name her own eldest son, Vasili III, as his heir, and Dmitri died in prison.

So, Pyotr I will probably be succeeded by his son, Pyotr II and his line, no empress-ship for Ekaterina I, although she might be nominally regent for young Petrushka (Pyotr I's nickname for his son aside from "the little man" in his letters). Pyotr Alexeievich probably goes a la Ivan VI/Dmitri Ivanovich.
 
What a fascinating topic!

If Peter Petrovich had been a healthy boy and lived to survive his father then I think he would have become Tsar Peter II with his mother as Regent - or possibly Menshikov depending on what terms he and Peter the Great were on when the latter died. Mind you, even if Peter and Menshikov were on the outs at the time of Peter's death, Catherine was close to him and would certainly have involved him in the governance of the realm.

I guess the real question is how much opposition the succession of Peter Petrovich would have provoked in Russia. There was still a lot of hostility to Peter the Great's reforms and Peter Alexeievich - son of the "martyred" Alexis -would have become a figurehead for that. People could have argued that in purely dynastic terms Peter Alexeievich was the rightful successor. Also he and his half uncle were both only 9 at the time of Peter the Great's death so no one could argue that one was a better candidate because of greater age and experience.

If Peter Petrovich did succeed then Peter Alexeievich would always be a threat that couldn't be ignored and as JonasResende suggests, he might well have gone the Ivan VI route. Another option would be if, at the time of Peter the Great's death, Peter Alexeievich was smuggled out of the country - perhaps to Austria where the Emperor was his uncle by marriage. Then some sort of coup could be planned. I just don't see how the two boys could co-exist peaceably together and the only real security for each would be the death of the other.
 
Two problems with alt-Peter II. He was only named Tsarevich in 1718 (AFTER Alexei died), and also, by the age of three, he'd not yet started to walk or talk according to his Russian wiki.

Pyotr I only abolished the succession law in '22, because he didn't want Alexei's son to succeed him. And then Russia got into the "awesome" fustercluck succession-wise of the 18th century when Ekaterina I died. However, if there's a surviving son, the Russian succession up until that point, passed from father-to-son - the last tsar who had had his eldest son predecease him was Ivan III, and instead of the diadem passing to his eldest son's only child, Dmitri Ivanovich, Ivan's second wife got him to name her own eldest son, Vasili III, as his heir, and Dmitri died in prison.

So, Pyotr I will probably be succeeded by his son, Pyotr II and his line, no empress-ship for Ekaterina I, although she might be nominally regent for young Petrushka (Pyotr I's nickname for his son aside from "the little man" in his letters). Pyotr Alexeievich probably goes a la Ivan VI/Dmitri Ivanovich.

Well, Charles I of England had difficulty walking and talking around the same age, and he still came out relatively well. Charles was encouraged to overcome his physical infirmities by the death of his elder brother, Henry Frederick. Perhaps being named Tsarevich or the death of Peter the Great would inspire Pyotr Petrovich to do the same.

I still reckon Pyotr Alexeievich would become a figurehead for those opposed to Peter the Great's reforms.

What a fascinating topic!

If Peter Petrovich had been a healthy boy and lived to survive his father then I think he would have become Tsar Peter II with his mother as Regent - or possibly Menshikov depending on what terms he and Peter the Great were on when the latter died. Mind you, even if Peter and Menshikov were on the outs at the time of Peter's death, Catherine was close to him and would certainly have involved him in the governance of the realm.

I guess the real question is how much opposition the succession of Peter Petrovich would have provoked in Russia. There was still a lot of hostility to Peter the Great's reforms and Peter Alexeievich - son of the "martyred" Alexis -would have become a figurehead for that. People could have argued that in purely dynastic terms Peter Alexeievich was the rightful successor. Also he and his half uncle were both only 9 at the time of Peter the Great's death so no one could argue that one was a better candidate because of greater age and experience.

If Peter Petrovich did succeed then Peter Alexeievich would always be a threat that couldn't be ignored and as JonasResende suggests, he might well have gone the Ivan VI route. Another option would be if, at the time of Peter the Great's death, Peter Alexeievich was smuggled out of the country - perhaps to Austria where the Emperor was his uncle by marriage. Then some sort of coup could be planned. I just don't see how the two boys could co-exist peaceably together and the only real security for each would be the death of the other.

Maybe Austria could be an option for Pyotr Alexeievich, but Emperor Charles VI supposedly had no respect for his wife's brother-in-law. How much more might he have for Alexei's children, except as puppets?
 
Apparently when Ekaterina I was on her death bed, the options were: the logical male line heir, Pyotr Alexeïevich, (who could count on his family connections abroad, but who was too young to rule in his own right); Anna Petrovna, elder daughter of Pyotr Velikiy, (but who was married to an unpopular foreigner at court); Ekaterina Ivanovna, eldest daughter of Ivan V (female and married to a foreigner, but living in Russia with her daughter); Anna Ivanovna (widowed and childless, but living abroad) and Praskovia Ivanovna (married to a Russian, living in Russia, but reportedly suffering from some or other unspecified mental deficiency).

With young Pyotr being the only boy, it was chosen to crown him as the least inflammatory option. One, he was the legal successor in the western fashion, two, he was connected to several European powers, and three, he was conveniently young/disinterested enough that they could manipulate him into doing what they wanted.
 
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