The Coinage of Peter I Part Four: 1712-1717
THE YEARS FOLLOWING the Pruth River disaster of July 1711, in which the Russian army was defeated by Turkey, were a time of rebuilding. The war against Sweden continued, despite the Swedish debacle at Poltava in 1709; for several years, however, the military actions were more skirmishes than battles as both sides rebuilt their forces.
For Peter I, Czar of Russia, the future held great promise but there were many bridges to cross before that dream was realized. The most important changes that he initiated in the years after 1711 were internal. The building program at St. Petersburg, founded in 1703, was intensified and the great palace complex at Peterhof, just west of the new city, was well underway by the summer of 1714.
In addition to the building program, rules of conduct for nobles in particular, were formulated. Male children of the nobility were ordered to be educated and illiterates were forbidden the right of marriage. Primogeniture (assumption of title and property by the eldest son) was established; it was the standard in much of Western Europe.
Because of financial problems that seemed endless, the coinage underwent great changes during this period. For the collector, it is one of the most interesting eras in
