Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov
Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov (Александр "анилович Меншиков) (
1673 –
1729) was a
Russian statesman, whose official titles included
Generalissimo,
Prince of the
Holy Roman Empire and Duke of
Izhora (
Duke of Ingria). Highly appreciated associate and friend of Tsar
Peter the Great, he was the
de facto ruler of
Russia for 2 years.
Menshikov was born not earlier than 1670 nor later than 1673. It has been disputed by his enemies whether his father was an
ostler or a
bargee; it's more likely that he was of petty noble stock. As the story goes, he was gaining his livelihood in the streets of
Moscow as a vendor of meat-pies at the age of twenty. His handsome looks and smart sallies attracted the attention of
Franz Lefort, Peter's first favorite, who took him into his service and finally transferred him to the tsar. On the death of Lefort in 1699, Menshikov succeeded him as Peter's prime favorite and confidant.
Ignorant, brutal, grasping and corrupt as he was, he deserved the confidence of his master. He could drill a regiment, build a frigate, administer a province, and decapitate a rebel with equal facility. During the tsar's first foreign tour, Menshikov worked by his side in the dockyard of
Amsterdam, and acquired a thorough knowledge of colloquial
Dutch and
German. He took an active part in the
Azov campaigns (1695-96), and superseded
Ogilvie as commander-in-chief during the retreat before
Charles XII in 1708, subsequently participating in the battle of Holowczyn, the reduction of
Mazepa, and the crowning victory of
Poltava (June 26, 1709), where he won his
field-marshal's baton.
From 1709 to 1714 he served during the
Courland,
Holstein and
Pomeranian campaigns, but then, as governor-general of
Ingria, with almost unlimited powers, was entrusted with a leading part in the civil administration. Menshikov understood perfectly the principles on which Peter's reforms were conducted, and was the right hand of the tsar in all his gigantic undertakings. But he abused his omnipotent position, and his depredations frequently, brought him to the verge of ruin. Every time the tsar returned to Russia he received fresh accusations of peculation against "his
Serene Highness."
Peter's first serious outburst of indignation (March 1711) was due to the prince's looting in
Poland. On his return to Russia in 1712, Peter discovered that Menshikov had winked at wholesale corruptions in his own governor-generalship. Peter warned him "for the last time" to change his ways. Yet, in 1713, he was implicated in the famous Solov'ey process, in the course of which it was demonstrated that he had defrauded the government of 100,000 roubles. He only owed his life on this occasion to a sudden illness. On his recovery Peter's fondness for his friend overcame his sense of justice.
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Menshikov in Exile |
In the last year of Peter's reign fresh frauds and defalcations of Menshikov came to light, and he was obliged to appeal for protection to the empress
Catherine. It was chiefly through the efforts of Menshikov and his colleague Tolstoi that, on the death of Peter, in 1725, Catherine was raised to the throne. Menshikov was committed to the Petrine system, and he recognized that, if that system were to continue, Catherine was, at that particular time, the only possible candidate. Her name was a watchword for the progressive faction. The placing of her on the throne meant a final victory over ancient prejudices, a vindication of the new ideas of progress, and not least security for Menshikov's person and his ill-gotten fortune.
During Catherine's short reign (February 1725 - May 1727), Menshikov was practically absolute. He promoted himself to the unprecedented rank of
Generalissimo, and was the only Russian to bear a ducal title. Upon finishing the construction of a sumptuous palace on the
Neva Embankment in St Petersburg (now assigned to the
Hermitage Museum), Menshikov intended to make
Oranienbaum a capital of his ephemeral
duchy.
Pushkin in one of his poems alluded to Menshikov as "half-tsar".
On the whole he ruled well, his difficult position serving as some restraint upon his natural inclinations. He contrived to prolong his power after Catherine's death by means of a forged will and a coup d'etat. While his colleague
Peter Tolstoi would have raised
Elizabeth Petrovna to the throne, Menshikov set up the youthful
Peter II, son of the tsarevich
Alexius, with himself as dictator during the prince's minority.
He now aimed at establishing himself definitely by marrying his daughter Mary to Peter II. But the old nobility, represented by the
Dolgorukovs and the
Galitzines, united to overthrow him, and he was deprived of all his dignities and offices and expelled from the capital (Sept. 9, 1727). Subsequently he was deprived of his enormous wealth, stripped of the titles, and he and his whole family were banished to
Berezov in
Siberia, where he died on the 12th of November
1729.
Aleksandr Sergeevich Menshikov - his great grandson
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The Menshikov Palace in St Petersburg
