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See also:MENSHIKOV, See also:ALEXANDER DANILOVICH, See also:PRINCE (1663?–1729) , See also:Russian statesman, was See also:born not earlier than 166o nor later than 1663. It is disputed whether his See also:father was an ostler or a bargee. At the See also:age of twenty he was gaining his livelihood in the streets of See also:Moscow as a vendor of See also:meat-pies. His See also:hand-some looks and See also:smart sallies attracted the See also:attention of See also:Francois Lefort, See also:- PETER
- PETER (Lat. Petrus from Gr. irfpos, a rock, Ital. Pietro, Piero, Pier, Fr. Pierre, Span. Pedro, Ger. Peter, Russ. Petr)
- PETER (PEDRO)
- PETER, EPISTLES OF
- PETER, ST
Peter's first favourite, who took him into his service and finally transferred him to the See also:tsar. On the See also:death of Lefoit*s in 1699, Menshikov succeeded him as See also:prime favourite. Ignorant, brutal, grasping and corrupt as he was, he deserved the confidence of his See also:master. He could See also:drill a See also:regiment, build a See also:frigate, administer a See also:province, and decapitate a See also:rebel with equal facility. During the tsar's first See also:foreign tour, Menshikov worked by his See also:side in the See also:dockyards of See also:Amsterdam, and acquired a thorough knowledge of colloquial Dutch and See also:German. He took an active
' See W. L. Hoffman in the Fourteenth See also:Report (See also:Washington, 1896) of the See also:Bureau of See also:American See also:Ethnology and A. E. See also:Jenks in the Ninqteenth Report (1900).
See also:part in the See also:Azov See also:campaigns (1695-96), and superseded See also:Ogilvie as See also:commander-in-See also:chief during the See also:retreat before See also:Charles XII. in 1708, subsequently participating in the See also:battle of Holowczyn, the reduction of Mazepa, and the crowning victory of See also:Poltava (See also:June 26, 1709), where he won his See also:marshal's See also:baton. From 1709 to 1714 he served during the See also:Courland, See also:Holstein and Pomeranian campaigns, but then, as See also:governor-See also:general of Ingria, with almost unlimited See also:powers, was entrusted with a leading part in the See also:civil See also: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 See also:verge of ruin. Every See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time the tsar returned to See also:Russia he received fresh accusations of peculation against " his Serene See also:Highness." Peter's first serious outburst of indignation (See also:March 1711) was due to the prince's looting in See also: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 See also:change his ways. Yet, in 1713, he was implicated in the famous Solov'ey See also:process, in the course of which it was demonstrated that he had defrauded the See also:government of 100,000 roubles). He only owed his See also:life on this occasion to a sudden illness. On his recovery Peter's fondness for his friend overcame his sense of See also:justice. In the last See also:year of Peter's reign fresh frauds and defalcations of Menshikov came to See also:light, and he was obliged to See also:appeal for See also:protection to the empress See also: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 See also:throne. Menshikov was committed to the Petrine See also:system, and he recognized that, if that system were to continue, Catherine was, at that particular time, the only possible See also:candidate. Her name was a watchword for the progressive See also:faction. The placing of her on the throne meant a final victory over See also:ancient prejudices, a vindication of the new ideas of progress. During her See also:short reign (See also:February 1725--May 1727), Menshikov was practically See also:absolute. On the whole he ruled well, his difficult position serving as some See also:restraint upon his natural inclinations. He contrived to prolong his See also:power after Catherine's death by means of a forged will and a coup d'etat. While his colleague Tolstoi would have raised See also:Elizabeth Petrovna to the throne, Menshikov set up the youthful Peter II., son of the tsarevich Alexius, with himself as See also:dictator during the prince's minority. He now aimed at .establishing himself definitely by marrying his daughter See also:Mary to Peter IL But the old See also:nobility, represented by the Dolgorukis and the Golitsuins, See also:united to overthrow him, and he was deprived of all his dignities and offices and expelled from the See also:capital (See also:Sept. 9, 1727). Subsequently he was deprived of his enormous See also:wealth, and he and his whole See also:family were banished to See also:Berezov in See also:Siberia, where he died on the 12th of See also:November 1729.
See G. V. Esipov, See also:Biography of A. D. Menshikov (Rus.) (St. See also:Petersburg, 1875) ; N. I. Kostomarov, The See also:History of Russia in the See also:biographies of her See also:great Men (Rus.), vol. ii. (St Petersburg, 1888, See also:Fee.) ; R. Nisbet See also:Bain, The First Romanovs (See also:London, 1905) ; ibid. The Pupils of Peter the Great, ch. 2-4 (See also:Westminster, '1897). (R. N.
End of Article: MENSHIKOV, ALEXANDER DANILOVICH, PRINCE (1663?–1729)
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