DOI 10.51255/2311–603X_2025_2_43

P. A. Avakov. The Elder Brother and Other Relatives of St. Petersburg // Petersburg Historical
Journal, no. 2, 2025, pp. 43–54

Abstract:

Historiography has invariably placed significant emphasis on the distinctiveness of St. Petersburg as a city of a new type, which subsequently became synonymous with imperial Russia. Numerous scholars posit that the city had historical antecedents in the same geographical region. In recent years, however, a tendency has emerged to consider Taganrog, on the site of which the fortified town Troitsky (Holy Trinity’s Town) was founded in 1699, to be the elder brother of St. Petersburg. On initial consideration, there is ample evidence to support this assertion. Troitsky’s stablishment as the inaugural port city during the reign of Peter the Great, situated on a seashore and following a structured plan for a naval base, substantiates this assertion. Both cities’ origins as border outposts, as well as the location of their construction, being chosen by the Tsar himself, are further similarities. Nevertheless, the historical trajectories of the two cities diverge radically, and the circumstances surrounding their establishment are shrouded in mystery. In 1711, Peter the Great had to sacrifice the elder brother for the sake of the younger brother’s prosperity, since by that time the Baltic plans had become more important for the Tsar than the Black Sea ones. The fortress on Cape Tagan (Tagan Rog), which was revived by Catherine II in 1769, subsequently lost its former military-strategic significance and was transformed into a trading city. Consequently, Taganrog became one of the elements of the anti-Petersburg myth.

Key words: St. Petersburg, Taganrog, Peter the Great, anti-Petersburg myth.

Author:

Avakov, Pyotr Ashotovich — Candidate in History, Leading Researcher Associate of the Federal
Research Centre The Southern Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Rostov-on-Don, Russia).
E-mail: pavakov@mail.ru
ORCID: 0000-0001-9051-5611

References:

Avakov, P. A. “Azovskii proekt” Petra I: Severo-Vostochnoe Priazov’e vo vneshnei i vnutrennei politike Rossii kontsa XVII — nachala XVIII veka [The Azov Project of Peter the Great: Northeastern Sea of Azov Region in Russia’s Foreign and Domestic Politics in the Late 17th and Early 18th Centuries. In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, Istoricheskaya illyustratsiya, 2022. 800 p.

Avakov, P. A. Gorod Troitskii na Tagan-roge: Kakim byl oblik pervoi voenno-morskoi bazy Rossii? [Town Troitsky on Tagan-Rog: What was the Appearance of Russia’s First Naval Base? In Russ.]. In Rodina. 2015. No. 8, pp. 98–101.

Avakov, P. A. Nasledie Petra I v politike Ekateriny II v Priazov’e — Prichernomor’e [Heritage of Peter the Great in Catherine II Policy in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea Regions. In Russ.]. In “PETRO primo CATHARINA secunda”: Dva monarkha, dve epokhi — preemstvennost’, razvitie, reformy: Materialy VIII Mezhdunarodnogo petrovskogo kongressa, Sankt-Peterburg, 10–11 iyunya 2016 goda. St. Petersburg, Evropeiskii dom, 2017. P. 456–472.

Avakov, P. A. Osnovanie Taganrogskoi gavani: ot idei k voploshcheniyu [The Foundation of the Taganrog Harbor: from the Idea to its Implementation. In Russ.]. In Voprosy istorii estestvoznaniya i tekhniki. 2016. Vol. 37. No. 2, pp. 298–311.

Alferova, G. V. Russkie goroda XVI–XVII vekov [Russian Towns of the 16th –17th Centuries. In Russ.]. Moscow, Stroiizdat, 1989. 214 р.

Andreeva, E. A. Nachalo stroitel’stva Peterburga: obespechenie rabotnymi i masterovymi lyud’mi v 1703–1712 gg. [The Beginning of the Construction of St. Petersburg: Providing of Workers and Artisans in 1703–1712. In Russ.]: dis. … kand. ist. nauk. St. Petersburg, 2006. 371 p.

Anisimov, E. V. Voina i mir Petra Velikogo [War and Peace of Peter the Great. In Russ.]. In Vestnik
MGIMO-Universiteta. 2021. No. 14 (6), pp. 7–29. DOI: 10.24833/2071-8160-2021-6-81-7-29

Anisimov, E. V. Peterburg vremen Petra Velikogo [St. Petersburg During the Time of Peter the Great. In Russ.]. Moscow, Tsentrpoligraf; St. Petersburg, MiM-Del’ta, 2008. 430 p.

Bazarova, T. A. Petr Velikii i Nienshants [Peter the Great and Nyenschanz. In Russ.]. In Petr I u istokov Rossiiskoi imperii: Materialy Malogo Severnogo Petrovskogo kongressa, Arkhangel’sk, 20–23 aprelya 2022 g. Arkhangel’sk, 2022. P. 27–39.

Bazarova, T. A. Russkie diplomaty pri Osmanskom dvore: Stateinye spiski P. P. Shafirova i M. B. Sheremeteva 1711 i 1712 gg.: (Issledovanie i teksty) [Russian Diplomats at the Ottoman Court: Ambassadorial Reports of Pyotr Shafirov and Mikhail Sheremetev in 1711 and 1712 (Research and Texts). In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, Istoricheskaya illyustratsiya, 2016. 863 p.

Bogoslovskii, M. M. Petr I: Materialy dlya biografii [Peter I: Data to the Biography. In Russ.]. Vol. 2.
Leningrad, Gosudarstvennoe sotsial’no-ekonomicheskoe izdatel’stvo, 1941. 624 p.

Degoev, V. V. Bol’shoy Yug v politike i diplomatii Petra I [The Great South in the Politics and Diplomacy of Peter the Great. In Russ.]. Moscow, Aspekt Press, 2023. 408 p.

Krotov, P. A. 19 maya 1714 goda: Zagadka daty obreteniya Sankt-Peterburgom ofitsial’nogo statusa stolitsy Rossii [May 19, 1714: The Mystery of the Date St. Petersburg Acquired the Official Status of the Capital of Russia. In Russ.]. In Rodina. 2012. No. 7, pp. 4–7.

Krotov, P. A. Osudareva doroga 1702 goda: Prolog osnovaniya Sankt-Peterburga [Tsar’s Road of 1702: Prologue to St. Petersburg’s Foundation. In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, Istoricheskaya illyustratsiya, 2011. 312 p.

Kuz’menko, N. N. Garnizon Troitskoi kreposti v Taganroge [Garrison of the Trinity Fortress in Taganrog. In Russ.]. In Enciklopediya Taganroga. Izd. 2-e. Rostov-on-Don, Rostizdat, 2003. P. 36–41. Likhachev, D. S. Razdum’ya o Rossii [Thoughts about Russia. In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, Logos, 1999. 672 p.

Maksimov, E. K., Mezin, S. A. Goroda Saratovskogo Povolzh’ya petrovskogo vremeni [Cities of the Saratov Volga Region During Peter’s Time. In Russ.]. St. Petersburg, Evropeiskii dom, 2010. 178 p.

Mikhailova, M. B., Reshetnikov, V. K. O gradostroitel’noi istorii Taganroga (konets XVII — nachalo XX v.) [About the History of Town Planning of Taganrog (late 17th — early 20th Century). In Russ.]. In Arkhitekturnoe nasledstvo. 1988. Vol. 36, pp. 203–218.

Pavlenko, I. E. Taganrog — pervyi rossiiskii voennyi port [The Taganrog is a First Russian Military Port. In Russ.]. In Nauka i zhizn’. 2005. No. 9, pp. 70–74.

Petrukhintsev, N. N. Vniz po Donu na brigantine: Petr pered Poltavoi [Down the Don on the Brigantine: Peter before Poltava. In Russ.]. In Rodina. 2009. No. 7, pp. 4–7.

Pushkarenko, A. A. Strazh morskikh rubezhei [Guardian of the Sea Borders. In Russ.]. In Bodik, L. A., Grishkov, Ya. G., Pushkarenko, A. A., Totsenko, L. T. Taganrog: Istoriko-kraevedcheskii ocherk. Rostov-on-Don, Rostovskoe knizhnoe izdatel’stvo, 1971. P. 5–29.

Serebryakova, N. Ya. Murino: khronika trekh stoletii [Murino: A Chronicle of Three Centuries. In Russ.]. 3rd ed. St. Petersburg, Beresta, 2012. 496 p.

Trubnikova, E. V., TSimbal, A. A. Taganrog kak stareishii istoriko-kul’turnyi tsentr Yuga Rossii [Taganrog as the Oldest Historical and Cultural Center of the South of Russia. In Russ.]. In Vestnik Taganrogskogo instituta upravleniya i ekonomiki. 2016. No. 2, pp. 130–135.

Перейти к полноэкранному режиму

Similar Posts

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — B. P. Milovidov. CAPTURED DOCTORS OF THE NAPOLEONIC ARMY AT WORK IN RUSSIAN MILITARY HOSPITALS: URGENT NEED VS CENTRALIZED REGULATION

The article under scrutiny herein sets forth a discussion on the utilisation of prisoners of war belonging to Napoleon’s army medical personnel during the years 1812–1814, who were employed within the Russian military hospital infrastructure. In an effort to reduce costs and partially offset the additional burden on the treasury, which had the unexpected task of maintaining an entire army, the Russian government sought to utilise prisoners within the country’s economy. This initiative represented a continuation of a broader policy initiated during peacetime, aimed at attracting qualified foreign specialists to Russia. Approximately half of the medical personnel captured in officer rank were able to contribute to the functioning of military hospitals. This represented approximately 19 % of the Russian military’s medical personnel in officer grades. The necessity for medical personnel was exceedingly pressing. Doctors participated voluntarily, motivated by financial incentives. The primary regulatory document was the regulation prepared by J. V. Willie and approved by M. I. Kutuzov on December 24, 1812. However, in reality, the process of attracting captured doctors to work in hospitals was largely chaotic. The central authorities’ efforts were not the primary factor in the success of this process; rather, it was the result of other factors. The excessive centralisation and lack of coordination between military and civilian authorities, local and central management structures, and various departments of the Ministry of War created problems. The remuneration of the captured doctors was determined on an individual basis by the central office of the Ministry of War and persisted for a considerable duration. However, this was partially offset by the actions of local authorities, who were guided by other legislative norms of their choosing, which seemed more or less appropriate to the situation.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — V. I. Bezruchenko. THE EXPULSION OF THE SERBS FROM SARAJEVO IN 1992–1995

The subject of the article is the fate of the Serb community in Sarajevo during the 1992–1995 civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The article is based on documents from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the archives of the Centre for the Study of War, War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons in Republika Srpska, as well as documents and materials from the International Independent Commission to Investigate the Plight of Serbs in Sarajevo 1992–1995. The Serb community in Sarajevo, which has existed for centuries, became the target of terror by armed groups and the Democratic Action Party of the President of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, A. Izetbegovic. A. Izetbegovic’s regime carried out the ethnic cleansing of Sarajevo, as a result of which the pre-war Serb community virtually disappeared.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — R. A. Davydov. INSTRUCTION OF THE ARKHANGELSK MEDICAL BOARD OF 1837 ON THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF SCURVY ON NOVAYA ZEMLYA AND SPITSBERGEN

This work is a publication of the document “Instruction for the prevention of mortality occurring on Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen from scurvy”. The document was prepared at the suggestion of the military governor of Arkhangelsk after a number of deaths from scurvy among Russians engaged in hunting on Spitsbergen in the mid-1830s. The text of the document was drafted at the Arkhangelsk Medical Board in 1837 and printed as a pamphlet at the provincial printing house in the same year. The pamphlets were sent to the local police departments of the province to supply shipowners involved in organizing hunting expeditions to the Arctic archipelagos of Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen. One of the copies of the pamphlet is currently kept in the State Archives of the Arkhangelsk region. This document is interesting because it describes the main symptoms and the course of the disease in a laconic form, in a language understandable to a non-specialist. In particular, to prevent scurvy, those who hunted in the Arctic archipelagoes were advised to use sour products, i. e. sauerkraut, horseradish, cloudberries, cranberries and lingonberries. These products were easily available to the provincial population and could be stored for long periods during hunting expeditions. For the treatment of scurvy, it was recommended to “drink with the juice of cranberries or cloudberries” and a decoction of conifers, more precisely a decoction of pine cones. Thus, in 1837 — almost a century before vitamin C was officially discovered, artificially synthesised and the dependence of scurvy on a deficiency of this vitamin in the body was proven — doctors in Arkhangelsk gave recommendations for the prevention and treatment of scurvy patients, focusing on providing people with foods rich in vitamin C.богатыми именно витамином C.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — A. A. Efimov. THE ISSUE OF ESTABLISHMENT THE INSTITUTION OF JUDICIAL INVESTIGATORS IN PALACE TOWNS

The article addresses one of the problems of the administrative history of palace towns of the mid-19 th century. The author notes that these settlements had a special status in the Russian Empire. They were under the jurisdiction of special institutions of the Ministry of the Imperial Court — palace boards, being largely outside the general system of public administration and local self-government. This special status gave them a certain independence and even the opportunity to engage in some opposition when deciding on the applicability of certain administrative innovations. As noted in the article, this observation also applies to the issue of introducing the institution of forensic investigators. In a significant part of the provinces they began their work soon after the signing of the corresponding decree in the early summer of 1860. The author draws attention to the fact that in the palace towns only in August the question was raised about the possibility of these officials acting on their territory. As the article notes, representatives of the local administration of Peterhof were somewhat enthusiastic about the idea of outsourcing some of the work that fell to the city police, which was considered overloaded. At the same time, the boundaries of the participation of judicial investigators in the proceedings were also specified. In Tsarskoe Selo the situation was different. Despite the declared readiness to transfer the investigative work, officials of the Tsarskoye Selo city police, under various organizational and bureaucratic pretexts, delayed this process. The author notes that in the end, to resolve this issue, the intervention of the St. Petersburg provincial government was required. The latter had to issue an order with direct reference to the imperial decree on the transfer of cases subject to criminal proceedings to a judicial investigator.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — I. V. Zykin. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE WINTER WAR OF 1939–1940 FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRY

One of the tasks of industrialisation in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s and early 1940s was the development of the pulp and paper industry due to low production volumes and dependence on imported equipment and technologies. Despite the establishment of joint ventures, research institutes, and machine-building enterprises, it was not possible to overcome the quantitative and technological lag behind the countries of Europe and North America — the leaders of the pulp and paper industry. The article analyses the potential of pulp and paper enterprises on the Karelian isthmus at the turn of the 1930s and 1940s and the consequences of the Soviet-Finnish War for the pulp and paper industry of the USSR. At the end of the 19 th century — in the 1930s, a large complex for the deep processing of wood was built on the Karelian isthmus. Advanced technologies were used in the production of pulp and cardboard, which were not available in the Soviet Union. However, Soviet specialists paid little attention to Finland’s experience, preferring Germany, Sweden and the USA, where, in addition to technology, mechanical engineering was being developed. The accession of the Karelian isthmus to the Soviet Union after the Winter War of 1939–1940 became an important factor in the development of the pulp and paper industry. The work carried out between April 1940 and May 1941 showed the importance of coordinating the efforts of party-state, planning and economic bodies, concentrating human and technological potential in the restoration of enterprises and the development of their capacities, maintaining dependence on energy imports, control and measuring equipment for pulp cooking and the return of evacuated equipment. An advanced complex for deep processing of wood appeared in the Soviet Union, which significantly changed the spatial and technological development of the pulp and paper industry. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Finland’s attack on the side of Germany led to the evacuation of enterprises and the temporary loss of territories.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — R. S. Astashkin. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSIT TRADE OF THE ARMENIAN COMPANY IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 17TH CENTURY (ON THE QUESTION OF PERSIA’S POSITION)

In 1667, the Armenian family firms based in New Julfa (Persia) were granted trade privileges in Moscow, which included the right to export oriental goods to Europe via the Russian Empire. The subject of this study is the question of the participation of the Persian Safavid state in this trade project. This inquiry is situated within the broader context of the “Russian transit” phenomenon, which is associated with the Russian Empire’s role in the European expansion towards the East. The factual material on the subject of publication was analysed by using the problem-chronological and comparative methods. The trade agreements that regulated the status of the Armenian Company were also studied. In preparing the article, the scientific works of historians, both domestic and foreign, including those with a specialism in the field of historical Iranian studies, were used. The analysis culminated in the formulation of a conclusion regarding the distinctive hybrid character of the accords established between the Russian authorities and the Persian Armenians. The study established that official Persia was not a full participant in these relationships and did not have a significant impact on their development. The hypothesis that the Safavids were uninterested in transferring the export of Persian raw silk to the northern (Russian) direction during the period under review is also put forward. The scientific results obtained can be used to further study the specifics of the Russian-Persian relations in the early modern history and the position of Russia at that time in the international trade system.