Question by Zig: Why did Peter the Great build Saint Petersburg on a swamp after defeating the swedes?
Why did Peter the Great build Saint Petersburg on a swamp after defeating the swedes?
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Answer by Colin V
Peter the Great was obsessed with making Russia a Westernized nation. When he was able to occupy land in the Baltic (east of modern-day Finland), he set about to build a new capital with a focus towards Europe. Although Moscow would one day return as the capital, Saint Petersburg became the home of much of Russian life and culture for over two hundred years.
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Al Fresco says
I recall seeing a BC programme about this some years ago, but I can't find any reference to it… However, this should do:
The delta of the Neva river had been geographically and politically important for over a thousand years when, in 1703, Tsar Peter I recaptured it as part of his 'Northern War' with Sweden. The Neva led into the Gulf of Finland, and then the Baltic Sea, forming a long established trading route to Europe.
On the 16th May 1703, Peter ordered the building of a fortress named after St. Peter and St. Paul on the delta's Hare Island, consolidating his conquest of the area; this was a prescient move, as the war with Sweden continued until 1721, territory frequently changing hands.
The fortress was difficult to build, requiring the movement of millions of tons of earth, and the sinking of large wooden piles into the ground, all for support. The workers were conscripts with few tools, often forced to shovel soil with their hands.
Peter, later known as Peter the Great, admired European culture and technology greatly, even travelling incognito on a grand tour to broaden his knowledge; he desired a great European city for himself, one from which he could trade and sail in the west. The Hare fortress was intended as the start of a larger project, and although the delta was a great marsh, either frozen or flooded, he ordered the construction of a glorious capital.
The city was built under adverse weather and geographical conditions. High mortality rate required a constant supply of workers. Peter ordered a yearly conscription of 40,000 serfs, one conscript for every nine to sixteen households. Conscripts had to provide their own tools and food for the journey of hundreds of kilometres, on foot, in gangs, often escorted by military guards and shackled to prevent desertion, yet many escaped, others died from disease and exposure under the harsh conditions
Dysentery and malaria were rife, workers were underfed, and punishment ranged from whipping to mutilation and execution. Whole forests had to be cleared for timber, hills levelled and lakes filled; stone grew so scarce that Peter barred anyone else in Russia from using it, on pain of exile.
The Russian aristocracy did not escape, as the leading families were ordered to build houses in the city at their expense, with each design and location already specified on Trezzini's plan.
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Just to add a bit more recent history…
After the Russian revolution, the city was renamed Leningrad', and later, in ww2, became the target of the most devastating siege of modern history.
During World War II, Leningrad was surrounded and besieged by the German Wehrmacht from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944, a total of 29 months.
The secret instruction from 23 September 1941 said: "the Führer is determined to eliminate the city of Petersburg from the face of earth. There is no reason whatsoever for subsequent existence of this large-scale city after the neutralization of the Soviet Russia."
Starting in early 1942, the Ingermanland region was included into the Generalplan Ost annexation plans as the "German settlement area". This implied the genocide of 3 million Leningrad residents, who had no place in Hitler's "New East European Order".
By Hitler's order the Wehrmacht constantly shelled and bombed the city and systematically isolated it from any supplies, causing death of more than 1 million civilians in 3 years; 650 thousand died in 1942 alone.
Daily food ration was cut in October to 400 grams of bread for a worker and 200 grams for a woman or child. On 20 November 1941, the rations were reduced to 250 and 125 grams respectively. Those grams of bread were the bulk of a daily meal for a person in the city. The water supply was destroyed. The situation further worsened in winter due to lack of heating fuel. In December 1941 alone some 53,000 people in Leningrad died of starvation, many corpses were scattered in the streets all over the city.
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Should you ever have the opportunity to see documentaries about the siege of Leningrad, take it. The 4th link below takes you to YouTube, where you will find others in the series.