page_title: Peter III of Russia
section_title: Domestic reforms
hierarchical_section_title: Peter III of Russia / Reign / Domestic reforms
caption_attribution_description: English: Russia 1762 10 Roubles
context_page_description: Peter III was Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was born in Kiel as Charles Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, the only child of Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and Anna Petrovna. The German Peter could hardly speak Russian and pursued a strongly pro-Prussian policy, which made him an unpopular leader. He was deposed and possibly assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his German wife, Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II. However, another theory is he died as a result of a drunken brawl with his bodyguard while he was being held captive after Catherine's coup.
  Despite his generally poor reputation, Peter made some progressive reforms during his short reign. He proclaimed religious freedom and encouraged education. He sought to modernize the Russian army. He abolished the secret police, which had been infamous for its extreme violence, and made it illegal for landowners to kill their serfs without going to court. Catherine adopted some of his reforms and reverted others.
context_section_description: During his 186-day period of government, Peter III passed 220 new laws that he had developed and elaborated during his life as a crown prince. Elena Palmer claims that his reforms were of a democratic nature. He proclaimed religious freedom—in those times a revolutionary step, that not even the advanced Western Europe had taken. He fought corruption within government, established public litigation and abolished the secret police—a repressive organ started under Peter I—and intended to expose it as betrayer of the state for its mercilessness and torture methods. Catherine recreated this institution, and it remained present in Russia thereafter. Peter established obligatory education for aristocrats; all aristocrats had to provide their children with education and report it to the senate. Furthermore, in some cities technical schools were established for middle and lower class children.  Peter began the reorganization and modernization of the Russian army.
  One of his most popular reforms was the manifesto of February 1762 that exempted the nobility from obligatory state and military service (established by Peter I, AKA Peter the Great) and gave them freedom to travel abroad. On the day Peter submitted this manifesto, the parliament proposed building a pure gold statue of him, but Peter refused, saying that there must be much better uses for gold in the country.
  Peter III's economic policy reflected the rising influence of Western capitalism and the merchant class or "Third Estate" that accompanied it.  He established the first state bank in Russia, rejected the nobility's monopoly on trade and encouraged mercantilism by increasing grain exports and forbidding the import of sugar and other materials that could be found in Russia.
  Peter's short reign also addressed serfdom law and the status of serfs within Russia. For the first time, the killing of a peasant by a landowner became an act punishable by law.  State peasants were given higher social status than estate peasants, and all peasants under the servitude of the church were transformed into the economy peasants similar to the state peasants.  Peter also took further interest in church affairs, implementing his grandfather's plan to secularize church and monastic lands.
caption: Peter III depicted as emperor on a 10 ruble gold coin (1762)
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