| Vladimir III Fyodorovich | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reign | 2 October 1732 - 5 December 1789 |
| Coronation | 19 August 1736 |
| Predecessor | Fyodor I Vladimirovich |
| Successor | Fyodor II Vladimirovich |
| Spouse | Amelia of Great Britain (m.1729) |
| Issue | |
| Fyodor II Vasiliy V | |
| House | Rurik |
| Father | Fyodor I |
| Mother | Anastasia Lvova |
| Born | 4 June 1702 |
| Died | 5 December 1789 (aged 87) Moscow, Tsardom of Russia |
| Burial | 2 January 1789 Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg |
Vladimir IV Fyodorovich (Russian: Феодор I Владимирович; 4 June 1702 – 5 December 1789), known as "the Golden", due to the buildings and palaces built during his regin, was the Emperor of Russia from 1732 until his death. His regin started with the War of Russian Succession, on wich Vladmir fougth his half-uncle and pretender. He was the first Russian monarch to have been a constitutonal ruler throught his regin. The Winter and Peterhof Palaces, along with many roads, were completed during his regin.
Tsarevich[]
Tsarevich Vladimir Fyodorovich, aged 15.
Early Life[]
Vladimir was born in 1702 as the second child and of Tsar Fyodor I and Tsarevna Anastasia Stepanovna Lvova. His elder sister was Agafya, whom Vladimir was very close, but she died when Vladimir was 5 years old. He was known to be weak thought his life, withsome historians suspect that he might have had hemophilia.
As the heir to his father's throne, a great enphasis was put on young Vladimir's education. He recieved many lessons from the scholars his father recruited during the Great Tour, but the Tsarevich was reported to be bullied by his playmates (whicth intensified due to the death of his sister and protector), due to his weakness and inability to walk until age 6, needing to use a walking stick since then.
He studied on the Engineering School of Moscow, learning about navigation, and later studied at the Moscow University. After he competed his studies, on 1723, his father nominated him governor of Novgorod, since the titles of landed princes were abolished by the new Russian constitution.
Marrige and Family[]
When Vladimr reached 20 years old, his father decided to take Vladimr in a tour searching for possible brides from foregin countries. Vladimir first went to Poland, Denmerk, Austria, and Netherlands, eventually arriving on Great Britain, where he was recieved by King George I. The prince stayed 6 months on London, where he met Princess Mary and Amelia, daughters of the Prince of Wales. Vladimir fell in love with the younger princess, Amelia, deciding to marry her. Their marrige took place in September 1729, when they arrived in Russia.
Amelia became pregnant on 1744, giving birth to their first child, Fyodor, on 1745. Their children were:
- Grand Duke Fyodor, later Fyodor II (1745-1804)
- Grand Duke Vasili, later Vasili V (1748-1815)
- Grand Duchess Anna (1750-1807)
- Grand Duchess Yelizaveta (1754-1811)
- Grand Duke Pyotr (1755-1790)
- Grand Duchess Praiskova (1758-1759)
- Grand Duke Yaropolk (1760-1820)
War of Succession[]
His father, Fyodor I, died in 1732, and Valdimir, who was 32, was expected to succed his father, but radical members the Conservative Party, seeking to restore Absolute Monarchy, couped the Parlament and declared the Russian Throne vacant. Then, they offered the throne to Nikita Nikolaevich Dobrilkov, son of Queen Irina and grandson of rebel Paul Nikitich Rostovsky. The exiled parlament organized a loyalist army, in order to depose the illegitimate government, thus beggining the Russian War of Succession.
Vladimir and his family fled to the Winter Palace, in St Petersburg, an area unnafected by the war, where he sent an envoy pledging support to his father-in-law, George II. England joined the war by 1733. Sweden looking for a opportunity of reclaiming the lands lost in the Great Northern War, declared war in Loyalist Russia. Poland, under Stanislaw I, also declared war on Vladimir, while Austria declared support to the Loyalists. The first battle on Russia was the Battle of Zvenigorod, won by the Absolutists, forcing the Loyalists to retreat, but, with the help of UK and Austria, the supporters of Vladimir managed to win more battles, eventually forcing the Absolutists to surrender, in 1735.
The peace was signed in January 1736, where the rebel ministers were deposed, while Russia also won Estonia, Western Lativa and Smolensk. Stanislaw I was also deposed, with the new king being Augustus III.
Tsar[]
Vladimir was crowned in August 1736, after the peace treaty, where he swored an oath to the Russian Constitution, promissing never to be a despot and absolute monarch. This act was later established as a tradition in all subsequent coronations.
A gifted diplomat, Vladimir hated bloodshed and conflict and went to great lengths to alter the Russian system of punishment, even outlawing capital punishment. According to historian Robert Nisbet Bain, it was one of his "chief glories that, so far as he was able, se put a stop to that mischievous contention of rival ambitions at Court and enabled foreign powers to freely interfere in the domestic affairs of Russia."
He enjoyed and excelled in architecture, overseeing and financing many construction projects during hir reign. One of the many projects from the Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli was the reconstruction of Peterhof Palace, adding several wings between 1745 and 1755. His most famous creations were the Smolny Convent and the Winter Palace (partially construsted during his father's regin). The Palace is said to contain 1,500 rooms, 1,786 doors, and 1,945 windows, including bureaucratic offices and the Imperial Family's living quarters arranged in two enfilades, from the top of the Jordan Staircase.
The expedited completion of buildings became a matter of importance to the Emperor and work continued throughout the year, even in winter's severest months. 859,555 rubles had been allocated to the project, a sum raised by a tax on state-owned taverns, but work temporarily ceased due to lack of resources. Ultimately, taxes were increased on salt and alcohol to completely fund the extra costs. However, Vladimir's incredible extravagance ended up greatly benefiting the country's infrastructure. Needing goods shipped from all over the world, numerous roads in all Russia were modernised at his orders.
Foregin Policy[]
Despite his ties with Great Britain, he pursued neutrality in the Seven Years War, but Russia provided assistance to Great Britain.
Russo-Turkish Wars[]
See also: Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) and Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)
Fyodor the Great had gained a foothold in the south, on the edge of the Black Sea, during the Azov campaigns. Catherine completed the conquest of the south, making Russia the dominant power in the Balkans following the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774. Russia inflicted some of the heaviest defeats ever suffered by the Ottoman Empire, including at the Battle of Chesma (5–7 July 1770) and the Battle of Kagul (21 July 1770). In 1769, a last major Crimean–Nogai slave raid, which ravaged the Russian held territories in Ukraine, saw the capture of up to 20,000 slaves.
The Russian victories procured access to the Black Sea and allowed Vladimir's government to incorporate present-day southern Ukraine, where the Russians founded the new cities of Odessa, Nikolayev, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, signed 10 July 1774, gave the Russians territories at Azov, Kerch, Yenikale, Kinburn and the small strip of Black Sea coast between the rivers Dnieper and Bug. The treaty also removed restrictions on Russian naval and commercial traffic in the Azov Sea, granted Russia the position of protector of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire and made Crimea a protectorate of Russia.
In 1770, Russia's Parlament announced a policy in favour of eventual Crimean independence. Vladimir named Şahin Giray, a Crimean Tatar leader, to head the Crimean state and maintain friendly relations with Russia. His period of rule proved disappointing after repeated effort to prop up his regime through military force and monetary aid. Finally, Russia annexed Crimea in 1783, granting automomy to the region.
Russo-Polish War of 1772[]
In 1771, John IV was elected King of Poland after the death of Wladyslaw V. A notable conservative, he opposed the reforms the ''Familia'' made during the reign of his predecessors. Around that time, Princess Maria Khilkova arrived in Saint Petersburg with her recently widowed daughter-in-law Princess Maria Christina of Saxony and her three grandchildren. She accused John's supporters of poisonig her son, Michael, the designed heir and favourite canditade to succed his uncle Wladyslaw. In exchange for putting her family back onto the throne, Khilkova offered the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to Vladimir. The next year, Russia declared war on John's close ally and sucessor, Stanisław II Karol, in order to restore the Piast family to the throne. Eventually, Prussia and Austria declared war on Stanisław, who was then deposed by Michael Czartoryski, who agreed to Khilkova's proposal. Having arrived in Warsaw, the russians managed to secure most of central Poland to the Piast family, but failed to reconquer the lands occupied by Prussia and Austria. In 1774, the four countries, together with the restored Kingdom of Poland signed the peace of Gniezno.
Death[]
Vladimir died on 5 December 1789, being succeded by his son, Fyodor II.