Peter III and the Palace Revolution of 1762
Catherine Deposes a Highly Unpopular and Mentally Unbalanced Tsar
Nov 25, 2008
By late 1761, Russian forces had seriously weakened Prussia in the Seven Years’ War. Frederick the Great’s setbacks at Zorndorf and Kunersdorf augured for a ruinous end of the war for Prussia. All of this changed when Empress Elizabeth died on Christmas Day 1761, her nephew ascending the throne as Tsar Peter III. On open admirer of Prussia and Frederick, Peter immediately ended the war, giving up Russian gains, and treating the Prussian king as the victor. This began a process of alienation that resulted in his death six months later.
Peter of Holstein
Having grown up in Holstein, south of Denmark, Peter III retained his German influences once arriving in Russia as heir to Elizabeth. Unlike his wife Catherine, a German princess from Anhalt-Zerbst, Peter refused to convert to Orthodoxy, favoring Lutheranism. Given to parties and wild carousing, the future Tsar refused to learn Russian or understand the culture and its people.
Upon ascending the throne in December 1761, he exacerbated the growing distrust against him. Concluding a peace with Prussia on less than favorable terms alienated members of the military. Catherine, recalling the events in a letter sent to a friend, stated that “Peter III lost what little intelligence he ever had.” A dullard who behaved badly in public, Peter swiftly horrified St. Petersburg's aristocracy with his poor manners.
He promoted Protestantism, ordered the confiscation of church property, eliminated some icons, and forced the elite Guards regiments into Prussian uniforms. Threatening to put Catherine in a convent, he openly cavorted with a mistress. Perhaps his only positive act was the Charter to the Nobility of February 18, 1762 which freed the nobility from compulsory state service, in place since the reign of Peter I.
Bloodless Revolution
On June 28th, Peter arrived at Peterhof, intending to meet Catherine. Soon the news of the coup d’etat reached him out of St. Petersburg. Catherine had been proclaimed Empress at the Kazan Cathedral and was supported by the three elite Guards units that had been so instrumental in the revolution. In desperation, Peter sailed to Kronstadt, the Russian naval base on the Gulf of Finland, in hopes of rallying troops.
Kronstadt was already loyal to Catherine, however. By now the Empress was riding back to Peterhof at the head of her Guards when two letters from Peter arrived. The first offered Catherine joint-rulership of Russia; the second requested that he be allowed to return to Holstein with his mistress. Neither letter was considered.
Peter III was imprisoned at an estate in Ropsha. From there, he would be taken to the Schleusselburg Fortress. Within a week, however, Peter III was dead, most probably murdered by Alexis Orlov, one of Catherine’s lovers. Catherine, writing of the event, states that she had Peter “opened” and it was found that he had died of “inflammation of the bowels and apoplexy.” Colic was the official cause of death. Historians are in agreement that no evidence exists that Catherine planned or knew of his impending murder.
Summary
Peter III’s death ended an extended period of palace revolutions sometimes referred to as a “second Time of Troubles.” Inept and mentally unbalanced, Peter III virtually drove Russia’s disaffected nobility, churchmen, and military leaders into the hands of Catherine, whose wise coalition building for several years had ensured not only her bloodless accession to the throne but a long and successful reign.
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