View source for Peter III of Russia

{{Short description|Emperor of Russia in 1762}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Peter III
| image        = Coronation portrait of Peter III of Russia -1761.JPG
| image_size   = 
| caption      = Portrait by [[:de:Lucas Conrad Pfandzelt|Lucas Conrad Pfandzelt]], {{circa}} 1761
| succession   = [[Emperor of Russia]]
| reign        = 5 January 1762&nbsp;– 9 July 1762
| coronation   = 
| birth_name   = Karl Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp
| predecessor  = [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]]
| successor    = [[Catherine the Great]]
| succession2  = [[Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]]
| reign2       = 18 June 1739&nbsp;– 9 July 1762
| predecessor2 = [[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp|Charles Frederick]]
| successor2   = [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]]
| spouse       = {{marriage|[[Catherine the Great]]|21 August 1745}}
| issue        = {{plainlist|
*[[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]]
*[[Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia (1757–1759)|Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna]]}}
| house        = [[Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov]]
| father       = [[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]]
| mother       = [[Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia]]
| birth_date   = {{birth date|df=yes|1728|02|21}}
| birth_place  = [[Kiel]], [[Holstein-Gottorp]], [[Duchy of Holstein]]
| death_date   = {{death date and age|df=yes|1762|07|17|1728|02|21}}
| death_place  = [[Ropsha]], [[Russian Empire]]
| burial_date  = 
| burial_place = {{plainlist|
* [[Alexander Nevsky Monastery]] (1762–1796)
* [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg]] (since 1796)
}}
| religion     = [[Russian Orthodox]]<br />prev. [[Lutheran]]
| signature    = Peter III of Russia signature.svg|
}}

'''Peter III Fyodorovich''' ({{langx|ru|Пётр III Фёдорович|Pyotr III Fyodorovich}}; {{OldStyleDate|21 February|1728|10 February}} {{endash}} {{OldStyleDate|17 July|1762|6 July}}) was [[Emperor of Russia]] from 5 January 1762 until 9 July of the same year, when he was overthrown by his wife, [[Catherine the Great|Catherine II]] (the Great). He was born in the German city of [[Kiel]] as '''Charles Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp''' ({{langx|de|Karl Peter Ulrich von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp}}), the grandson of [[Peter the Great]] and great-grandson of [[Charles XI of Sweden]].

After a 186-day reign, Peter III was overthrown in a [[palace coup|palace coup d'état]] orchestrated by his wife, and soon died under unclear circumstances. The official cause proposed by Catherine's new government was that he died due to [[Hemorrhoid|hemorrhoids]]. This explanation was met with skepticism, both in Russia and abroad, with notable critics such as [[Voltaire]] and [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert|d'Alembert]] expressing doubt about the plausibility of death from such a condition.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Михайлов Андрей Дмитриевич, Строев Александр Федорович |title=Вольтер и Россия |publisher=Институт Мировой Литературы им А. М. Горького РАН |year=1999 |location=Russia |language=ru |trans-title=Voltaire and Russia}}</ref>

The personality and activities of Peter III were long disregarded by historians and his figure was seen as purely negative, but since the 1990s, after the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], more attention has been directed at the decrees he signed. His most notable reforms were the abolition of the secret police, exemption of nobles from compulsory military service, [[secularisation (church property)|confiscation of church lands]], and equalisation of all religions. He also put an end to the persecution of the [[Old Believers]] and made the killing of [[Serfdom in Russia|serfs]] by landowners punishable by exile. Although he is mostly criticised for undoing Russian gains in the [[Seven Years' War]] by forming an [[Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1762)|alliance with Prussia]], Catherine [[Russo-Prussian alliance|continued it]] and many of his other policies.

After Peter III's death, many impostors thrived, pretending to be him, the most famous of whom were [[Yemelyan Pugachev]] and the "Montenegerin Tsar Peter III" ([[Šćepan Mali|Stephan the Little]]).<ref name="mylnikov" />

==Early life==
[[File:Carolus Petrus Ulricus Princeps Holsatia.jpg|thumb|left|[[Engraving]] of Peter as a child in the 1730s.]]
Peter was born on 21 February 1728 in [[Kiel]] in the duchy of [[Holstein-Gottorp]].<ref name=NDB>{{NDB|20|226||Peter III.|Klueting, Harm|118740180}}</ref> His parents were [[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]], and [[Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia]]. Charles Frederick was a grandson of [[Charles XI of Sweden]], and Anna was a daughter of the Russian monarchs [[Peter the Great]] and [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine I]].<ref name=NDB/> Peter's twenty-year-old mother died just a few weeks after his birth. In 1739, Peter's father also died, and the orphaned boy became [[Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]] as Charles Peter Ulrich ({{Langx|de|Karl Peter Ulrich}}) at the age of 11.<ref>{{cite book	| last = Feldbrugge	| first = Ferdinand J.M.	| year=2022    | chapter = Chapter 13 Public Law under the Successors of Peter the Great	| title = A History of Russian Law: From the Council Code (Ulozhenie) of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich of 1649 to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917	| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6QiWEAAAQBAJ&q=Upon+the+death+of+his+father+in+1739+Karl+Peter+Ulrich+%28%2A1728%29+had+become+ruling+duke+of++Holstein-+Gottorp&pg=PA183	| location = Leiden, The Netherlands	| publisher = Brill	| page = 183	| isbn = 9789004523050    | doi = 10.1163/9789004523050_014}}</ref>

[[File:Peter III of Russia by Grooth (1743, Tretyakov gallery).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Grand Duke Pyotr Feodorovich by [[Georg Christoph Grooth]], 1743]]
Two years later, Peter's maternal aunt [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]] became [[Empress of Russia]]. As she had no children of her own, she brought Peter from Germany to Russia and proclaimed him her [[heir presumptive]] in the autumn of 1742. Previously in 1742, the 14-year-old Peter was [[Empress Elizabeth's Manifesto of 1742|proclaimed Grand Duke of Finland]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jutikkala |first=Eino |url=http://archive.org/details/historyoffinland00juti |title=A History of Finland |date=1996 |publisher=W. Söderström |others= |isbn=978-951-0-21026-0 |publication-date=1996 |pages=230-237}}</ref> during the [[Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743)]], when Russian troops held Finland. This proclamation was based on his succession rights to territories held by his childless great-uncle, the late [[Charles XII of Sweden]], who also had been [[Grand Duke of Finland]]. About the same time, in October 1742, he was chosen by the [[Riksdag of the Estates|Swedish parliament]] to become heir presumptive to the Swedish throne. However, the Swedish parliament was unaware of the fact that he had also been proclaimed heir presumptive to the throne of Russia, and when their envoy arrived in Saint Petersburg in November, it was too late.  Also in November, Peter converted to [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] under the name of Pyotr Feodorovich, and was created [[Grand Duke of Russia]]. The words "Grandson of Peter the Great" ({{langx|ru|внук Петра Великого|vnuk Petra Velikogo}}) were made an obligatory part of his official title, underscoring his dynastic claim to the Russian throne, and it was made a criminal offence to omit them.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Kutuzov |first=Maria |date=Spring 2013 |title=The personal mythology of Peter III Feodorovich as deployed in Russian panegyrics of 1742, 1743, and 1762 |url=https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=NR92606&op=pdf&app=Library&oclc_number=1019466282 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Alberta |isbn=978-0-494-92606-2 |doi=10.7939/R3KG7M  |language=Russian  |page=95 |access-date=2024-04-03}}</ref>

Empress Elizabeth arranged for Peter to marry his second cousin, Sophia Augusta Frederica (later [[Catherine the Great]]), daughter of [[Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst]], and [[Princess Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp]]. Sophia formally converted to [[Russian Orthodoxy]] and took the name Ekaterina Alexeievna (i.e., Catherine). They married on 21 August 1745. The marriage was not a happy one but produced one son, the future Emperor [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]], and one daughter, Anna Petrovna (9 December, 1757– 8 March, 1759).<ref>{{cite book |last=Hatt |first=Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ilWlLmsIukC&q=Stanis%C5%82aw+Poniatowski+Anna+Petrovna |title=Catherine the Great |date=2017 |publisher=World Almanac Library |isbn=978-0836855357 |access-date=24 November 2017 |via=Google Books}}</ref>{{efn|Not to be confused with the Grand Duchess of the same name}} Catherine later claimed in her private writings that Paul was not fathered by Peter; that, in fact, they had never consummated the marriage.<ref>{{citation |last=Farquhar |first=Michael |year=2001 |title=A Treasure of Royal Scandals |page=[https://archive.org/details/treasuryofroyals00farq/page/88 88] |publisher=Penguin Books |place=New York |isbn=978-0-7394-2025-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/treasuryofroyals00farq/page/88}}.</ref> During the sixteen years of their residence in [[Oranienbaum, Russia|Oranienbaum]], Catherine took numerous lovers, while her husband did the same in the beginning.

=== Character ===
[[File:Peter III's letter (1746) 02.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Peter's 1746 letter to his wife in French, the language of the Russian aristocracy]]

The classical view of Peter's character is mainly drawn out of the memoirs of his wife and successor. She described him as an "idiot" and as a "drunkard from Holstein", also describing her marriage with him with "there is nothing worse than having a child-husband"; even Peter's idol, [[Frederick the Great]] mentioned him by saying "he allowed himself to be dethroned like a child sent off to bed".<ref name="Jaques-2016">{{Cite book |last=Jaques |first=Susan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BA_CCwAAQBAJ |title=The Empress of Art |date=2016 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-68177-114-4 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 3}}</ref>

This portrait of Peter can be found in most history books, including the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']]:

{{Blockquote|Nature had made him mean, the [[smallpox]] had made him hideous, and his degraded habits made him loathsome. And Peter had all the sentiments of the worst kind of a small German prince of the time. He had the conviction that his princeship entitled him to disregard decency and the feelings of others. He planned brutal practical jokes, in which blows had always a share. His most manly taste did not rise above the kind of military interest which has been defined as "corporal's mania," the passion for uniforms, [[White pipe clay|pipeclay]], buttons, the "tricks of parade and the froth of discipline." He detested the Russians, and surrounded himself with Holsteiners.{{sfn|Bain|1911}}}}

There have been many attempts to revise the traditional characterization of Peter and his policies. The Russian historian [[A. S. Mylnikov]] views Peter III very differently:
{{Blockquote|Many contradictory qualities existed in him: keen observation, zeal and sharp wit in his arguments and actions, incaution and lack of perspicuity in conversation, frankness, goodness, sarcasm, a hot temper, and wrathfulness.<ref>Raleigh, {{citation |last1=Donald |first1=J |last2=Iskenderov |first2=AA |year=1996 |title=The Emperors and Empresses of Russia: Rediscovering the Romanovs |page=127 |publisher=ME Sharpe |place=New York}}.</ref>}}

The German historian Elena Palmer goes even further, portraying Peter III as a cultured, open-minded emperor who tried to introduce various courageous, even democratic reforms in 18th-century Russia.{{sfn|Palmer|2005}} A monument for Peter III stands in Kiel, the city of his birth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Memory of Russia abroad: The first monument dedicated to Russian Emperor Peter III opened in Germany |url=https://www.prlib.ru/en/events/668771 |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=Presidential Library |language=en}}</ref>

==Reign==
===Foreign policy===
[[File:Peter III by A.Antropov (1762, Tretyakov gallery).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Peter III by [[Aleksey Antropov]], 1762]]
After Peter succeeded to the Russian throne ({{OldStyleDateDY|5 January|1762|25 December 1761}}), he withdrew Russian forces from the [[Seven Years' War]] and concluded a [[Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1762)|peace treaty]] ({{OldStyleDate|5 May|1762|24 April}}) with Prussia (dubbed the "Second [[Miracle of the House of Brandenburg]]"). He gave up Russian conquests in Prussia and offered 12,000 troops to make an alliance with Frederick II of Prussia ({{OldStyleDate|19 June|1762|8 June}}).{{Cn|date=October 2023}} Russia thus switched from an enemy of Prussia to an ally—Russian troops withdrew from [[Berlin]] and marched against the Austrians.<ref>Anderson, pages=492–494{{unreliable source?|date=November 2021}}</ref> This dramatically shifted the [[balance of power in international relations|balance of power]] in Europe, suddenly handing the delighted Frederick the initiative. Frederick recaptured southern [[Silesia]] (October 1762) and subsequently forced Austria to the [[Treaty of Hubertusburg|negotiating table]].{{Cn|date=October 2023}}

As Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Peter planned war against [[Denmark-Norway]] in order to restore parts of [[Schleswig]] to his Duchy. He focused on making alliances with Sweden and with Great Britain to ensure that they would not interfere on Denmark's behalf, while Russian forces gathered at [[Kolberg]] in Russian-occupied [[Pomerania]]. Alarmed at the Russian troops concentrating near their borders, unable to find any allies to resist Russian aggression, and short of money to fund a war, the government of Denmark threatened in late June to invade the [[City-state|free city]] of [[Hamburg]] in northern Germany to force a loan from it. Peter considered this a ''[[casus belli]]'' and prepared for open warfare against Denmark.<ref name="Dull">{{citation |last=Dull |first=Jonathan R |title=The French Navy and the Seven Years' War |publisher=University of Nebraska |year=2005}}.</ref>{{rp |220}}

In June 1762, 40,000 Russian troops assembled in Pomerania under General [[Pyotr Rumyantsev]], preparing to face 27,000 Danish troops under the French general [[Claude Louis, Comte de Saint-Germain|Count St. Germain]] in case the Russian–Danish freedom conference (scheduled for 1 July 1762 in Berlin under the patronage of Frederick II) failed to resolve the issue. However, shortly before the conference, Peter lost his throne ({{OldStyleDate|9 July|1762|28 June}}) and the conference did not occur. The issue of Schleswig remained unresolved. Peter was accused of planning an unpatriotic war.<ref name=mylnikov>{{citation |first=AS |last=Mylnikov |title=Piotr III |place=Moskva, RU |language=ru |year=2002}}.{{page needed|date=July 2020}}</ref>

While historically Peter's planned war against Denmark-Norway was seen{{by whom|date=December 2014}} as a political failure, recent scholarship has portrayed it as part of a pragmatic plan to secure his Holstein-Gottorp duchy and to expand the common Holstein-Russian power northward and westwards. Peter III believed gaining territory and influence in Denmark and Northern Germany was more useful to Russia than taking [[East Prussia]].<ref name="Dull" />{{rp |218–20}} Equally, he thought that friendship with Prussia and with Britain, following its [[Great Britain in the Seven Years War|triumph in the Seven Years War]], could offer more to aid his plans than alliance with either Austria or France.{{Cn|date=October 2023}}

===Domestic reforms===
[[File:Russia 1762 10 Roubles.jpg|thumb|Peter III depicted as emperor on a 10 ruble gold coin (1762)]]

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. Writer Elena Palmer claims that his reforms were of a democratic nature{{how|date=July 2024}}{{sfn|Palmer|2005}}{{page needed|date=July 2020}} and that he also proclaimed religious freedom.<ref>{{cite book|last=Heinze|first=Karl G.|title=Baltic Sagas: Events and Personalities that Changed the World!|year=2003|publisher=Virtualbookworm Publishing|location=College Station, TX|isbn=1-58939-498-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/balticsagasevent0000hein/page/174 174]|url=https://archive.org/details/balticsagasevent0000hein|url-access=registration}}</ref>

Peter exempted nobles from compulsory civil and military service during peacetime and allowed them to freely travel abroad. He forbade landowners from murdering peasants at the penalty of lifelong exile and ended the persecution of the [[Old Believers]]. He also issued a manifesto proclaiming the secularisation of church lands, which he never lived to see realised but which Catherine, a convinced secularist, began implementing during her own reign.<ref>''[[Argumenty i Fakty]]'': [https://aif.ru/dontknows/eternal/kakie_reformy_hotel_provesti_petr_iii What reforms did Peter III want to carry out?] (in Russian).</ref>

While Catherine continued some of Peter's policies, she also reversed others. For example, Peter abolished the [[Secret Chancellery]], the [[secret police]] of the Russian Empire, stating that he objected to the arbitrary arrests and torture it carried out. Catherine soon reestablished it under a different name, the [[Secret Expedition]].<ref>[[Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library]]: [https://www.prlib.ru/history/619073 Manifesto on the destruction of the Secret Chancellery issued] (in Russian).</ref>

Peter III's economic policy reflected the rising influence of Western [[capitalism]] and the merchant class or "[[Social estates in the Russian Empire|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.<ref>{{citation | last1 = Raleigh | first1 = Donald J | last2 = Iskenderov | first2 = AA | year = 1996 | title = The Emperors and Empresses of Russia: Rediscovering the Romanovs | page = 118 | publisher = ME Sharpe | place = New York}}.</ref>

==Overthrow and death==
[[File:Peter III and Catherine II of Russia (Anna Rosina Lisiewska) - Nationalmuseum - 15939.tif|thumb|Peter III and [[Catherine the Great|Catherine Alexeyevna]], 1756|407x407px]]
{{too few opinions|section|date=July 2016}}

Tsar Peter III was seen as a largely ineffective and unpopular ruler. He was a German-born prince of Prussia, and his loyalty to his native land over his inherited one earned him the ire of his people and his army. Peter had returned Russia’s conquered territories back to Prussia and withdrawn his forces from the Seven Years’ War, rendering all of Russia’s recent victories, and its sacrifices, pointless.

Many in the Russian army, as well as Russian citizens and Empress Catherine herself, feared that if Peter continued his concessions to Prussia it would lead to a nationwide uprising and threaten the stability of Russia. In the spring of 1762, conspiring with her lover Grigory Orlov and others in the court and military, Catherine began plotting to overthrow her husband. 

At dawn on June 28, 1762, Catherine marched with a procession of civilian and military supporters to the Winter Palace, where she was proclaimed heir to the Russian throne by the archbishop of Novgorod. Peter tried to escape by taking a boat to the military base of [[Kronstadt]] on [[Kotlin Island]], hoping that the fleet remained loyal to him. However, the fleet's cannons opened fire on Peter's boat with two or three shots, and he was repulsed back to the shore, with the commandant declaring that he was no longer recognized as emperor and that Russia was ruled by Empress Catherine. The people of St. Petersburg, drawn to the shore by the loud echoes of cannons, also armed themselves with sticks and stones to prevent him from returning to the capital city. Twenty four hours later, after learning that the senate, army, and fleet had sworn allegiance to Catherine, with the aid of two guards whom Peter had planned to discipline, he was arrested and forced to abdicate on {{OldStyleDate|9 July|1762|28 June}}.<ref name="Massie-2011" />

Shortly thereafter, he was transported to [[Ropsha]], where he later died. Much mystery surrounds his death. The official cause, after an autopsy, was a severe attack of [[hemorrhoidal]] [[colic]] and an apoplectic stroke, while others say he was assassinated. Other accounts state that after a midday meal, Peter's captors tried to suffocate him by using a mattress but he managed to escape. This then led his captors to strangle him to death with a scarf. He was buried on 3 August 1762 [O.S. 23 July] in the [[Alexander Nevsky Monastery]], Saint Petersburg.<ref name="Massie-2011">{{cite book |last1=Massie |first1=Robert K |title=Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman |date=2011 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-0-679-45672-8 |pages=274–75}}</ref><ref name="Jaques-2016" />

==Legacy==
[[File:Cathedralat Peter Paul IMG 7477.JPG|thumb|The tombs of Peter III and [[Catherine the Great|Catherine II]] in [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg]]]]
After his death, four pretenders to the throne, insisting that they were Peter (five if [[Šćepan Mali]] of Montenegro is included) came forth, supported by revolts among the people,<ref>{{citation | title = Nauka i jizn | place = Moskva, RU | year = 1965 | language = ru}}.</ref> who believed in a rumor that Peter had not died but had been secretly imprisoned by Catherine. The most famous was the [[Cossacks|Cossack]] [[Yemelyan Pugachev]], who led what came to be known as [[Pugachev's Rebellion]] in 1774, which was ultimately crushed by Catherine's forces. In addition, [[Kondratii Selivanov]], who led a [[castrating]] [[sect]] known as the [[Skoptsy]], claimed to be both [[Jesus]] and Peter III.{{Cn|date=October 2023}}

In December 1796, after succeeding Catherine, Peter's son, Emperor Paul I, who disliked his mother's behavior, arranged for Peter's remains to be exhumed and reburied with full honors in the [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Peter and Paul Cathedral]], where other tsars (Russian emperors) were buried.<ref>The Memoirs of Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun. Translated by Siân Evans. London: Camden Press. 1989</ref>

===Lore===
The legend of Peter is still talked about, especially in the town where he lived most of his life, formerly Oranienbaum, later [[Lomonosov, Russia|Lomonosov]], situated on the southern coast of the [[Gulf of Finland]], 40&nbsp;km west of St. Petersburg. Peter's palace is the only one of the famous palaces in the St. Petersburg area that was not captured by the Germans during the [[Second World War]]. During the war, the building was a school and people say the ghost of Peter protected the children of Oranienbaum from getting hurt by bombs. Furthermore, it was near this town that the [[siege of Leningrad]] ended in January 1944. People say that Peter, after his death, stopped [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s army near Leningrad, just as the living Peter had ordered the Russian army to stop, just as it was about to capture [[Konigsberg]].<ref name=mylnikov/>{{page needed|date=July 2020}}{{sfn|Palmer|2005}}{{page needed|date=July 2020}}
{{wide image|Peter III of Russia's burial.jpg|3600px|Second burial of Peter III, {{circa|1796}}}}

==Cultural references==
[[File:Monument of Peter III.jpg|thumb|upright|Monument of Peter III in [[Kiel]]]]

Peter has been depicted on screen a number of times, almost always in films concerning his wife Catherine. He was portrayed by [[Rudolf Klein-Rogge]] in the 1927 film ''[[The Loves of Casanova]]'', [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]] in the 1934 film ''[[The Rise of Catherine the Great]]'' and by [[Sam Jaffe]] in ''[[The Scarlet Empress]]'' the same year. In 1991 [[Reece Dinsdale]] portrayed him in the television series ''[[Young Catherine]]''. ''La Tempesta'' (1958) depicts Yemelyan Pugachev's effort to force his recognition as Peter III and offers a critical view of Catherine the Great, with [[Van Heflin]] in the role of Pugachev and [[Viveca Lindfors]] as Catherine. He was also depicted as a cowardly, drunken wife-beater in the Japanese [[anime]] ''[[Le Chevalier D'Eon]]''. He also appears in the [[Ekaterina (TV series)|2014 TV series]] played by [[Aleksandr Yatsenko]]. A historically inaccurate version of him was played by [[Nicholas Hoult]] in the 2020–2023 [[Hulu]] dramedy series ''[[The Great (2020 TV series)|The Great]]'', also starring [[Elle Fanning]] as Catherine.

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Peter III of Russia'''
|2= 2. [[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]]
|3= 3. [[Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia]]
|4= 4. [[Frederick IV, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]]
|5= 5. [[Hedvig Sophia of Sweden|Princess Hedvig Sophia of Sweden]]
|6= 6. [[Peter the Great|Peter I of Russia]]
|7= 7. [[Catherine I of Russia]]
|8= 8. [[Christian Albrecht of Holstein-Gottorp|Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]]
|9= 9. [[Princess Frederica Amalia of Denmark]]
|10= 10. [[Charles XI of Sweden]]
|11= 11. [[Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark|Princess Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark]]
|12= 12. [[Alexis of Russia|Alexis I of Russia]]
|13= 13. [[Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina]]
|14= 14. Samuel Skowroński
|15= 15. Elisabeth Moritz
}}

==See also==
* [[Family tree of Russian monarchs]]
* [[List of unsolved deaths]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist|group=L}}

==Bibliography==
{{See also|Bibliography of Russian history (1613–1917)}}
* {{cite book |last=Bain |first=Robert Nisbet |author-link=Robert Nisbet Bain |title=Peter III, Emperor of Russia : The Story of a Crisis and a Crime | location=[[New York City]] |publisher=[[E.P. Dutton & Co.]] |year=1902 }}
* Dull, Jonathon R. ''The French Navy and the Seven Years War''. University of Nebraska, 2005. 
* Leonard, Carol S. "The Reputation of Peter III." ''Russian Review'' 47.3 (1988): 263–292 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/130591 online].
* {{cite book |last=Leonard |first=Carol S. |title=Reform and regicide : The reign of Peter III of Russia |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |location=[[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington]] |year=1993 |isbn=0253333229 }}
* {{cite book |last=Mylnikov |first=Alexander S. |title=Die falschen Zaren : Peter III. und seine Doppelgänger in Russland und Osteuropa |trans-title=The False Tsars: Peter III and his Doppelgangers in Russia and Eastern Europe |translator1=Valeria Andrejewa |translator2=Susanne Luber |location=[[Eutin]] |publisher=Struve's Buchdruckerei und Verlag |year=1994 |isbn=3923457286 |language=de |series=Eutiner Forschungen ; 3 }}
* {{cite book |last=Mylnikov |first=Alexander S.|title=Петр III : Повествование в документах и версиях |trans-title= Piotr III : A narrative in documents and versions |location=Moscow |publisher=[[Molodaya Gvardiya (publisher)|Molodaya Gvardiya]] |year=2002 |edition=1st |isbn=978-5-235-03244-6 |language=ru }}
* {{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Elena |title=Peter III. : Der Prinz von Holstein |trans-title=Peter III : The Prince of Holstein |publisher=Sutton Verlag |year=2005 |isbn=3-89702-788-7 |language=de }}
* Pares, Bernard. ''A History of Russia'' (1944) pp 240–244. [https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.174320/2015.174320.A-History-Of-Russia_text.pdf online]. 
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Raleigh |editor-first1=Donald J. |editor1-link=Donald Raleigh (historian) |editor-last2=Iskenderov |editor-first2=A.A. |title=The Emperors and Empresses of Russia : Reconsidering the Romanovs |location=[[Armonk, New York|Armonk]], [[New York (state)|New York]] |publisher=[[M. E. Sharpe]] |year=1996 |isbn=9781563247606 }}
*{{cite book|last=Valishevsky|first=Kazimir| quote=Kazimir Russian wiki page: <nowiki/>[[:Ru:Валишевский, Казимир]]| title =Catherine the Great. Novel of an Empress|year=1893| isbn=5-85202-003-6|location=Russia}}
*{{cite book| title=Great Catherine: The Life of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia|first=Carolly|last=Erickson| publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|quote=''[[The American Spectator]]'', book review by Florence King|date= 1994|isbn=0312135033}}

==External links==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Peter III.|page=291|last= Bain |first= Robert Nisbet |author-link= Robert Nisbet Bain|volume=21}}
* {{in lang|ru}} [http://russia-today.narod.ru/past/gen_app/petr3.htm The ancestors and descendants Pyotr III Fyodorovitch, Emperor of Russia]
* {{in lang|ru}} [http://www.biografija.ru/show_bio.aspx?id=105377 Biography of Pyotr III Fyodorovitch]
* [[IMDbTitle:0052280|''Tempest'']] at the Internet Movie Database
* {{YouTube|OkMy0f4SSGw|Romanovs. The fifth film. Peter III; Catherine II;}} – Historical reconstruction "The Romanovs". StarMedia. Babich-Design (Russia, 2013).

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[House of Romanov|House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov]]|21 February|1728|17 July|1762|[[House of Oldenburg]]}}
{{s-reg|}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Emperor of Russia]]|years=1762}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Catherine the Great|Catherine II]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp|Charles Frederick]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp]]|years=1739–1762}}
{{s-aft||rows=1|after=[[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]]}}
{{s-bef|rows=1|before=[[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp|Charles Frederick]]|before2=[[Christian VI of Denmark|Christian VI]]}}
{{s-ttl|rows=1|title=[[Duke of Holstein]]|regent1=[[Christian VI of Denmark|Christian VI]]|years1=1739–1746|regent2=[[Frederick V of Denmark|Frederick V]]|years2=1746–1762|years=1739–1762}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Paul I of Russia|Paul]]|after2=[[Frederick V of Denmark|Frederick V]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Russian sovereigns}}
{{Russian grand dukes}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter 03 Of Russia}}
[[Category:Peter III of Russia| ]]
[[Category:1728 births]]
[[Category:1762 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Russian monarchs]]
[[Category:Nobility from Kiel]]
[[Category:People murdered in 1762]]
[[Category:Burials at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov]]
[[Category:Murdered Russian monarchs]]
[[Category:Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp]]
[[Category:People from the Duchy of Holstein]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class)]]
[[Category:Emperors of Russia]]
[[Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Lutheranism]]
[[Category:Unsolved murders in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Grand dukes of Russia]]
[[Category:Catherine the Great]]
[[Category:18th-century murdered monarchs]]
[[Category:Leaders ousted by a coup]]
[[Category:People of the Silesian Wars]]
[[Category:Dethroned monarchs]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)]]
[[Category:Royal reburials]]
[[Category:Assassinated heads of state in Europe]]
[[Category:Politicians assassinated in the 18th century]]
[[Category:Heads of state and government who were later imprisoned]]