Peter the Great - Tsar of Russia (Part-2)
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| Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich |
Peter was a man of harsh and volatile temperament. Human life was of no consequence to him and models of justice he ignored at will. He did not spare even the woman he loved and flirted with and made them not only bend but break before him.
He had his first wife locked in a convent (monkery) and later she was ordered to take to the veil. He ordered his first mistress, Anna Ivanova Mons, into prison on learning that she had another lover. He had a short affair with one Marie Hamilton who later chose to mart Peter’s assistant, Ivan Orlov and gave birth to a child who died soon thereafter. Peter charged her of infanticide and sentenced her to death. Peter personally attended her execution.
When Peter was 25 years old, he declared that he had discovered a plot against his life. The conspirators aimed at the re-establishment of Sophia’s regency with Peter’s infant son on the throne. Peter let loose a reign of terror and put a number of his military officers through torture chambers and executed them.
As many as 1,700 men and women were charged with sedition. They were interrogated and mercilessly whipped which tore their flesh, their bones broken on the wheel and grilled on slow fire. Most of them, unable to bear the torture, made false confessions to the sedition charges. Then there were mass executions. Gallows and execution blocks were erected in the Red Square, around the convent in which Sophia was detained. Peter personally kept a record of executions in his diary: On September 30, 201 men were sent to gallows on October 11, 144: on October 12, 205; on October 13, 144; on October 17, 109; on October 18, 63; on October 19, 106; and on October 20 it was 2.
