Editing Peter III of Russia (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Carolus Petrus Ulricus Princeps Holsatia.jpg|thumb|left|[[Engraving]] of Peter as a child in the 1730s.]]
Peter was born on 21 February 1728 in [[Kiel]] in the duchy of [[Holstein-Gottorp]].<ref name=NDB>{{NDB|20|226||Peter III.|Klueting, Harm|118740180}}</ref> His parents were [[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]], and [[Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia]]. Charles Frederick was a grandson of [[Charles XI of Sweden]], and Anna was a daughter of the Russian monarchs [[Peter the Great]] and [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine I]].<ref name=NDB/> Peter's just twenty-year-old mother died just a few weeks after his birth. In 1739, Peter's father also died, and the orphaned boy became [[Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]] as Charles Peter Ulrich ({{Langx|de|Karl Peter Ulrich}}) at the age of 11.<ref>{{cite book	| last = Feldbrugge	| first = Ferdinand J.M.	| year=2022    | chapter = Chapter 13 Public Law under the Successors of Peter the Great	| title = A History of Russian Law: From the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649 to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917	| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6QiWEAAAQBAJ&q=Upon+the+death+of+his+father+in+1739+Karl+Peter+Ulrich+%28%2A1728%29+had+become+ruling+duke+of++Holstein-+Gottorp&pg=PA183	| location = Leiden, The Netherlands	| publisher = Brill	| page = 183	| isbn = 9789004523050    | doi = 10.1163/9789004523050_014}}</ref>

[[File:Peter III of Russia by Grooth (1743, Tretyakov gallery).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Grand Duke Pyotr Feodorovich by [[Georg Christoph Grooth]], 1743]]
Two years later, Peter's maternal aunt [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]] became [[Empress of Russia]]. As she had no children of her own, she brought Peter from Germany to Russia and proclaimed him her [[heir presumptive]] in the autumn of 1742. Previously in 1742, the 14-year-old Peter was [[Kingdom of Finland (1742)|proclaimed King of Finland]] during the [[Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743)]], when Russian troops held Finland. This proclamation was based on his succession rights to territories held by his childless great-uncle, the late [[Charles XII of Sweden]], who also had been [[Grand Duke of Finland]]. About the same time, in October 1742, he was chosen by the [[Riksdag of the Estates|Swedish parliament]] to become heir presumptive to the Swedish throne. However, the Swedish parliament was unaware of the fact that he had also been proclaimed heir presumptive to the throne of Russia, and when their envoy arrived in [[Saint Petersburg]] in November, it was too late.  Also in November, Peter converted to [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] under the name of Pyotr Feodorovich, and was created [[Grand Duke of Russia]]. The words "Grandson of Peter the Great" ({{langx|ru|внук Петра Великого|vnuk Petra Velikogo}}) were made an obligatory part of his official title, underscoring his dynastic claim to the Russian throne, and it was made a criminal offence to omit them.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Kutuzov |first=Maria |date=Spring 2013 |title=The personal mythology of Peter III Feodorovich as deployed in Russian panegyrics of 1742, 1743, and 1762 |url=https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=NR92606&op=pdf&app=Library&oclc_number=1019466282 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Alberta |isbn=978-0-494-92606-2 |doi=10.7939/R3KG7M  |language=Russian  |page=95 |access-date=2024-04-03}}</ref>

Empress Elizabeth arranged for Peter to marry his second cousin, Sophia Augusta Frederica (later [[Catherine the Great]]), daughter of [[Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst]], and [[Princess Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp]]. Sophia formally converted to [[Russian Orthodoxy]] and took the name Ekaterina Alexeievna (i.e., Catherine). They married on 21 August 1745. The marriage was not a happy one but produced one son, the future Emperor [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]], and one daughter, Anna Petrovna (9 December, 1757– 8 March, 1759).<ref>{{cite book |last=Hatt |first=Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ilWlLmsIukC&q=Stanis%C5%82aw+Poniatowski+Anna+Petrovna |title=Catherine the Great |date=2017 |publisher=World Almanac Library |isbn=978-0836855357 |access-date=24 November 2017 |via=Google Books}}</ref>{{efn|Not to be confused with the Grand Duchess of the same name}} Catherine later claimed in her private writings that Paul was not fathered by Peter; that, in fact, they had never consummated the marriage.<ref>{{citation |last=Farquhar |first=Michael |year=2001 |title=A Treasure of Royal Scandals |page=[https://archive.org/details/treasuryofroyals00farq/page/88 88] |publisher=Penguin Books |place=New York |isbn=978-0-7394-2025-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/treasuryofroyals00farq/page/88}}.</ref> During the sixteen years of their residence in [[Oranienbaum, Russia|Oranienbaum]], Catherine took numerous lovers, while her husband did the same in the beginning.

=== Character ===
[[File:Peter III's letter (1746) 02.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Peter's 1746 letter to his wife in French, the language of the Russian aristocracy]]

The classical view of Peter's character is mainly drawn out of the memoirs of his wife and successor. She described him as an "idiot" and as a "drunkard from Holstein", also describing her marriage with him with "there is nothing worse than having a child-husband"; even Peter's idol, [[Frederick the Great]] mentioned him by saying "he allowed himself to be dethroned like a child sent off to bed".<ref name="Jaques-2016">{{Cite book |last=Jaques |first=Susan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BA_CCwAAQBAJ |title=The Empress of Art |date=2016 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-68177-114-4 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 3}}</ref>

This portrait of Peter can be found in most history books, including the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']]:

{{Blockquote|Nature had made him mean, the [[smallpox]] had made him hideous, and his degraded habits made him loathsome. And Peter had all the sentiments of the worst kind of a small German prince of the time. He had the conviction that his princeship entitled him to disregard decency and the feelings of others. He planned brutal practical jokes, in which blows had always a share. His most manly taste did not rise above the kind of military interest which has been defined as "corporal's mania," the passion for uniforms, [[White pipe clay|pipeclay]], buttons, the "tricks of parade and the froth of discipline." He detested the Russians, and surrounded himself with Holsteiners.{{sfn|Bain|1911}}}}

There have been many attempts to revise the traditional characterization of Peter and his policies. The Russian historian [[A. S. Mylnikov]] views Peter III very differently:
{{Blockquote|Many contradictory qualities existed in him: keen observation, zeal and sharp wit in his arguments and actions, incaution and lack of perspicuity in conversation, frankness, goodness, sarcasm, a hot temper, and wrathfulness.<ref>Raleigh, {{citation |last1=Donald |first1=J |last2=Iskenderov |first2=AA |year=1996 |title=The Emperors and Empresses of Russia: Rediscovering the Romanovs |page=127 |publisher=ME Sharpe |place=New York}}.</ref>}}

The German historian Elena Palmer goes even further, portraying Peter III as a cultured, open-minded emperor who tried to introduce various courageous, even democratic reforms in 18th-century Russia.{{sfn|Palmer|2005}} A monument for Peter III stands in Kiel, the city of his birth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Memory of Russia abroad: The first monument dedicated to Russian Emperor Peter III opened in Germany |url=https://www.prlib.ru/en/events/668771 |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=Presidential Library |language=en}}</ref>