Page "Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia" Paragraph 16

On 31 January 1718, the tsarevich reached Moscow.

Peter had already determined to institute a most searching inquisition in order to get at the bottom of the mystery of the flight.

On 18 February a " confession " was extorted from Alexei which implicated most of his friends, and he then publicly renounced the succession to the throne in favour of the baby grand-duke Peter Petrovich.

A horrible reign of terror ensued, in the course of which the ex-tsaritsa Eudoxia was dragged from her monastery and publicly tried for alleged adultery, while all who had in any way befriended Alexei were impaled, broken on the wheel and otherwise lingeringly done to death.

All this was done to terrorize the reactionaries and isolate the tsarevich.