Few other nations are as devil infested as Russia, for what other fiend would inspire such a circus of machinations. Cavemen and roving tribes were thundering around the wilderness while the temple of Solomon was being built. The pseudo Neanderthals wondered from place to place in Russia killing and robbing anyone who dared to acquire wealth. Such was the corse of events that every time some Goth would establish a kingdom, a Hun raiding party would overrun it.20 Slavs, Vikings, Mongols, Tartars, Turks, and Ottomans would all in turn come to the Russian area, some to rob and some to settle. In the end, each culture diffused a little of it’s essence and Russia was not without it’s civility by the middle ages.
Nonetheless, Russian political life would be drowned in corruption and power plots throughout the dark ages. Each noble family of every origin (e.g. Slavic, Nordic, Scythian, Gothic) crafted secret designs to obtain the monarchy and force their wills upon the rest; secret combinations reigned supreme. Doubtless to say, invasion mixed with corruption left Russia far behind in the race of nations. This is when Peter the Great emerges; God-sent in the from of baby, Peter was providentially born to the family currently in power thereby being placed in the position to do the most good.
Wikipedia; “From an early age, Peter's education (commissioned by Tsar Alexis I) was put in the hands of several tutors, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon, and Paul Menesius. On 29 January 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the weak and sickly Feodor III. Throughout this period, the government was largely run by Artamon Matveev, an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of the Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors. This position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family (Maria Miloslavskaya was the first wife of Alexis I) and Naryshkin family (Natalya Naryshkina was the second wife) over who should inherit the throne. Peter's other half-brother, Ivan V, was next in line for the throne, but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar with his mother as regent. This arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia Alekseyevna, one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a rebellion of the Streltsy (Russia's elite military corps) in April–May 1682. In the subsequent conflict some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence.[3]
The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan) and their allies, to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior. Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat. A large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems. This throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow.” 21
Peter was born in the eye of the political storm, but this did not bother him much as he was not seeking for personal power for himself. This made him the perfect pawn of the Streltsy, powerful families, and even his mother. While the piratical elite were cooking up collisions, Peter just didn’t care, thus saving him from exile or even assassination. He was the perfect puppet. But, while Peter was in the bowls of secret intrigues and while almost everyone he knew was a conspirator, Peter grew in genius. Everyone else was obsessed with power and the occult arts of attaining it. They were evil golden men who wished for the authority of God with none of the goodness. They sought to wear the hat of sapience that would hide their thick skulls from the prudent. They were mad-scientists consumed with reversing evolution and leading man through the doublewide doors of Hell. But Peter partook not in the Devil’s sacrament, and the demonic nobility discounted the boy as nothing more than an inanimate asset. No one noticed nor cared what “trivial” little things the boy was doing; no one noticed the “trite” things Peter was thinking.
When Peter was of an age to be tutored, no one foresaw the boy actually taking anything to heart. To often is education slandered by fools who think that the framed paper weighs more than the enlightened soul. If any of the jackals manipulating Russia would have taken the time to be honest and hunger after the meek things of God, perhaps they could have predicted the electrical powerhouse that was being built in Peter’s heart --Nikita Zortov producer.
Wikipedia: “Zotov was not a religious scholar, but he knew the Bible well—an important qualification for Tsaritsa Natalia.[8][12] Although he did not expect it, he was well rewarded before he had even started his work, receiving from Feodor and the Tsaritsa, as well as Patriarch Joachim, gifts including a set of apartments, two new sets of clothing, and 100 rubles.[8] He was also raised to the rank of a minor nobleman.[8] Zotov was deeply humbled and overwhelmed by the Tsaritsa's request, and was enthralled at the prospect of teaching Peter.[8][12] Zotov and Peter quickly became good friends, and Zotov remained close to Peter until the former's death.[16]
Peter's first lesson began the morning after Zotov was appointed.[8] After the books were sprinkled with holy water, Zotov began his instruction; first in the alphabet, and then the Prayer Book. He taught the Bible, from which Peter learned long passages that he could still recite from memory forty years later.[8] Zotov also taught his student to sing, and in his later years Peter often spontaneously accompanied choirs at church services.[8] Although initially tasked only to teach reading and writing, Zotov found Peter to be intellectually curious, and interested in all that he could impart. Peter asked for lessons on Russian history, battles, and heroes.[8][17] At Zotov's request, the Tsaritsa ordered engravings of "foreign cities and palaces, sailing ships, weapons and historical events" to be brought from the Ordnance Office.[8] Zotov placed them in the study room, along with a somewhat accurate globe for the time, to divert Peter when he became bored with his studies.[8] Other informal "makeshift"[18] tutors (foreign and domestic)[19] and servants, were brought in for rowdy outdoor games with live ammunition. They were also to instruct Peter in other subjects such as royal and military history,[20] blacksmithing, carpentry, joinery, printing,[14][21] and, unusually for Russian nobility at the time, sailing and shipbuilding [22]
Zotov became one of Peter's first friends, and the two remained close throughout Zotov's life. Lindsey Hughes, a 20th-century historian, has criticized Zotov for giving Peter an education that did not teach what a future tsar ought to know.[23] Her contemporary, Robert K. Massie, has argued that the education was the best possible one for a curious boy like Peter, because it was unlikely that he would ever become tsar, as his half-brother, Ivan V, was before him in the line of succession. According to Massie, although Zotov may have not taught Peter at the highest possible level, he delivered "the best education for a mind like Peter's", as it "stimulated [Peter's] curiosity" and allowed him to become "in large part, a self-taught man".[16] Zotov's closeness to the Tsar later became a source of worry to others in government, many of whom—including even the powerful Menshikov—feared his influence.[1]”22
Another important aspect in Peter’s education was the time he spent abroad in Europe. There he built upon all the art his guest teachers had taught him. He talked to craftsmen and artisans, scientists and statesmen. Instead of Peter learning the guile of domination, Peter learned the songs of civilization. Peter the Great, equipped with a curious education was able to build a massive lever and fulcrum that would lift his country out of the dark ages and into the modern age of enlightenment. Russia was at least two hundred years behind the curve of the earth, but Peter raced it forward, completely blindsiding the powers that be. Without Peter, Russia would never have produced Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky and no golden age would have existed, only degradation and misery. Peter, like Carnegie learned who he was through practical experience, and like Socrates his education was completely honest and made to serve the soul. Perhaps he didn’t go through the Vigorous training of John Stewart Mill, but friendships with his teachers won him the same emperor-hood that Alexander achieved.
20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Russia#Antiquity
21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_the_Great#Early_years
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