Letters of Peter the Great in the Historical Museum #001

Letters of Peter the Great in the Historical Museum

Peter the Great's epistolary legacy is so great that our scientific institutions are still discovering new and very valuable documents. Among the funds processed by the department of written sources of the State Historical Museum, several authentic letters of Peter the Great and his closest collaborators were found. The documents date back to 1703-1721, some of them were published earlier, while some still remain unpublished.


Peter the Great's correspondence is of exceptional importance for the study of his state and military activities.


The contents of Peter the Great's correspondence, which is kept in the Historical Museum, are extremely diverse. In it, we find a reflection of those pressing issues of the construction of the armed forces, to which Peter the Great paid great attention. Among them, issues such as discipline and fulfillment of duty to the motherland occupied a large place.


An interesting letter related to the famous Gangut battle. On June 16, the enemy ships approached the raid. Peter the Great's order for the entire fleet to immediately weigh anchor and put to sea was not carried out, as the crew and officers were ashore. The delay occurred due to a violation of discipline and slow transportation of people to the ships. On this occasion, Peter I sent Major General Golovin the following decree (dated June 24, 1714): "Previously, both naval and military officers and other naval officers and soldiers all went to the city without prohibition, but because during the enemy's arrival, not only was there confusion, but also the whole useful action is lost. What is now for naval and land officers, as well as sailors and soldiers, are not allowed into the city, and for that, all officers, both naval and land, who will announce on the benches that they are going to buy grub and other things that they will also need for soldiers' and sailors' purchases, send an under-officer to the city one person at a time and for They have two soldiers on each bench. And that they send those non-commissioned officers to you in advance, to whom you need to give letters for their free passage to the city, but without letters to the city... don't let anyone go."


In an encrypted letter dated April 28, 1711, to Brigadier Balk, Peter I attached great importance to the retention of the Polish city of Elbing by Russian troops and demanded that this city be defended most diligently from the Swedes. In a letter to the Obersarveier, Major General Golovin, Peter writes about this. tsescort.org/trans/france/paris/