Peter the Great died when he was only 52 years old. Official sources say that the death of the Russian emperor was caused by inflammation of the bladder and gangrene caused by urinary retention. But was it really so?
The famous historian S. M. Soloviev in his "History of Russia from Ancient Times" points out that the tsar, before his death, asked for paper and a pen to write his will. But his hands did not obey and he was able to write only two words, "Give everything," then ordered to call his daughter Anna to dictate his will to her, but when she came, Peter could not say a word.
Could a disease of the urethra flowing inside the body cause the emperor to lose external motor function and voice? To any person ignorant of medicine, these circumstances will seem very strange.
And if you consider that a few months before Peter's death, he had a quarrel with his wife Catherine, whom he predicted to be his heirs. A spat happened because of her adultery, as a result of which he thought about the execution of his wife or about her exile to a monastery. It may well be that these signs (loss of motor function of the hands and voice) could be the result of the action of the poison, which intensified the illness of the emperor.
And this poison could be given by the traitor Catherine, who was with the dying Peter inseparably, and even his colleague, Prince A. D. Menshikov, dismissed by the emperor from the post of head of the military department on charges of bribery, and over whom the death penalty also hung, and any of the servants on the orders of these persons.
The death of Peter was also desired in the West, which stood across the throat of the gaining power of the Russian state, which reached the Baltic and the Black Sea. Having destroyed the emperor, the West could drive the Russian bear back into its den, which did not have access to the world's seas.
Was it really so, but the death of the emperor gave a respite to the West, and saved A. D. Menshikov from execution and put Catherine on the Russian throne.
