Peter the Great Quotes
If my advice is lost on the wind and you will not do as I wish, then I do not recognize you as my son…. I see that you go at too lazy a pace in these crucial days to concern yourself with business…. I grow worried when I see you, the heir to the throne, who are so very useless for the conduct of state affairs….How often have I not scolded you for this, and not merely scolded you but beaten you... but nothing has succeeded, nothing is any use, all is to no purpose, all is words spoken to the wind, and you want to do nothing but sit at home and enjoy yourself….But if you do not change for the better, understand that I shall deprive you of the succession and cast you off like a gangrened limb.
Peter was totally unusual as a Russian monarch in that he personally worked very hard at being a ruler. He read profusely, traveled to get new ideas, talked to learned people throughout Europe, did not trust heavy drinkers. His son, brought up in the Kremlin was more like the traditional Russian nobility—alcoholic spendthrifts. When Peter threatened to disinherit his son, Alexis fell in with plotters against the Czar. When Peter discovered this, he had his own son executed in July 1718.
Peter I, 1672-1725, Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, Various letters to his son Alexis
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
He had tripled the size of Rus, pulling together the disparate areas which had been under the thrall of the Golden Horde. The custom was when the Grand Prince died he left parts of his dominion to each of his sons and grandsons. However. Ivan changed that pattern and wanted one son to be the ruler over all of what was becoming a large unified state. After that his pattern was followed by all the Czars until the Russian Communist Revolution in 1917." Ivan the Great
Pasha Muhammed Ali was the Ottoman Overlord of Egypt and Syria. He is an unusual example of a leader who was a realist relative to the skills and abilities of his family for succession. His family indeed could not hold Egypt.
This vision, known as "The Third Rome" saw not only Moscow as the seat of Christianity for the world, but saw the Czar as the Head of the Christian unified Church. Constantinople had fallen to the Muslims and Rome to the Barbarians and the Pope had virtually no power at the time. Particularly interesting is his vision of transforming a civil Emperor to the head of the Church—one who was strong and wealthy enough to end the schism of the Eastern and Western Churches and command all. In this sense, he was following the Muslim concept of a single secular and religious, all powerful, leader—like the Caliph.
In one of the most unusual revolutions in world history, Brazil became independent from Portugal via a revolution led by the son of the Portuguese King and heir to the throne, Pedro I. The crown prince of Portugal, led Brazil in her breakaway from Portugal and by popular acclaim became Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil. He is probably the only monarch in history who was the heredity monarch of one kingdom and selected by popular acclaim to the throne of another.
He left no other reference to the line of succession. After his death, his sons fought it out unsuccessfully and the Mogul Empire fell apart.
In one of the most dramatic events in the history of Russia the President resigned his leadership post of the Communist Party.
Madison did not fire Armstrong despite Monroe’s complaints.
No sooner did Sviatopolk assume the throne than he had Boris murdered. Then he murdered his younger half brother, Gleb.
Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alekseevich ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V.
