page_title: Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia
section_title: Military career
hierarchical_section_title: Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia / Military career
context_page_description: Grand Duke Alexei Petrovich of Russia was a Russian Tsarevich. He was born in Moscow, the son of Tsar Peter I and his first wife, Eudoxia Lopukhina. Alexei despised his father and repeatedly thwarted Peter's plans to raise him as successor to the throne. His brief defection to Austria scandalized the Russian government, leading to harsh repressions against Alexei and his associates. Alexei died after interrogation under torture, and his son Peter Alexeyevich became the new heir apparent.
context_section_description: In 1703, Alexei was ordered to follow the army to the field as a private in a bombardier regiment. In 1704, he was present at the capture of Narva. At this period, the preceptors of the Tsarevich had the highest opinion of his ability. Alexei had strong leanings towards archaeology and ecclesiology. However, Peter had wished his son and heir to dedicate himself to the service of new Russia, and demanded from him unceasing labour in order to maintain Russia's new wealth and power. Painful relations between father and son, quite apart from the prior personal antipathies, were therefore inevitable. It was an additional misfortune for Alexei that his father should have been too busy to attend to him just as he was growing up from boyhood to manhood. He was left in the hands of reactionary boyars and priests, who encouraged him to hate his father and wish for the death of the Tsar.
  In 1708 Peter sent Alexei to Smolensk to collect provender and recruits, and after that to Moscow to fortify it against Charles XII of Sweden. At the end of 1709, Alexei went to Dresden for one year. There, he finished lessons in French, German, mathematics and fortification. After his education, Alexei married Princess Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, whose family was connected by marriage to many of the great families of Europe (i.e., Charlotte's sister Elizabeth was married to Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, ruler of the Habsburg Monarchy). He met with Princess Charlotte, both were pleased with each other and the marriage went forward. In theory, Alexei could have refused the marriage, and he had been encouraged by his father to at least meet his intended. "Why haven't you written to tell me what you thought about her?" wrote Peter  in a letter dated  13 August 1710.
  The marriage contract was signed in September. The wedding was celebrated at Torgau, Germany, on  14 October 1711 (O.S.). One of the terms of the marriage contract agreed to by Alexei was that while any forthcoming children were to be raised in the Orthodox faith, Charlotte herself was allowed to retain her Protestant faith, an agreement opposed by Alexei's followers.
  As for the marriage itself, the first 6 months went well but quickly became a failure within the next 6 months. Alexei was drunk constantly and Alexei pronounced his bride "pock-marked" and "too thin". He insisted on separate apartments and ignored her in public.
  
  Three weeks later, the bridegroom was hurried away by his father to Toruń to superintend the provisioning of the Russian troops in Poland. For the next twelve months Alexei was kept constantly on the move. His wife joined him at Toruń in December, but in April 1712 a peremptory ukase ordered him off to the army in Pomerania, and in the autumn of the same year he was forced to accompany his father on a tour of inspection through Finland. 
  He had two children with Charlotte:
  Natalia Alexeievna Romanova (21 July 1714 – 3 December 1728)
  Peter Alexeyevich Romanov (23 October 1715 – 30 January 1730)
  Peter Alexeyevich would succeed as the Emperor Peter II in 1727. With his death in 1730, the direct male-line of the House of Romanov became extinct.
  After the birth of Natalia in 1714, Alexei brought his long-time Finnish serf mistress Afrosinia to live in the palace. Some historians speculate that it was his conservative powerbase's disapproval of his foreign, non-Orthodox bride, more so than her appearance, that caused Alexei to spurn Charlotte. Another influence was Alexander Kikin, a high-placed official who had fallen out with the Tsar and had been deprived of his estates.
caption: Grand Duchess Charlotte of Russia
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