On April 5, 1656, Nikita Demidovich Antyufeev was born in Tula, who later received the Demidov surname together with the nobility.

The early years of his life have been poorly studied and are being restored by historians from legends and rumors recorded after the death of the industrialist.

Acquaintance with the king

Nikita was born into the family of Demid Antufeev (in some sources - Antufiev), who, according to the most common version, worked as a blacksmith at the Tula arms factory and died when his son was still a child.

Nikita, like his father, became a blacksmith-gunsmith, helping his mother and younger brothers with money.

"Nikita was skilled, hard-working, enjoyed authority among the Tula gunsmiths," Valery Chumakov, a writer and historian of Russian merchants, told RT.

Thanks to his skill, Nikita Antyufeev became a wealthy artisan, however, a dizzying rise in his career, according to historians, began after he met Tsar Peter I.

“There are several versions of their acquaintance.

According to the official version of the Demidov family, Peter I's close associate, Peter Shafirov, turned to Nikita in connection with the repair of a foreign-made pistol.

After a while, the gunsmith returned the pistol, which Shafirov was very pleased with.

But it was a copy.

Nikita said that the seed on Shafirov's pistol had deteriorated, so he allegedly made him a new one, of his own work, which was no worse than the original.

And then he handed Shafirov in good condition and his own weapon.

There was no difference between the two pistols.

Shafirov told Peter I about this case, and he became interested in the personality of the gunsmith, ”said Valery Chumakov.

According to another version, the story of the pistols happened with Peter I. But Valery Chumakov considers the third version of the story of the tsar's acquaintance with the master as the most plausible.

Peter allegedly wanted to hold a meeting with the Tula gunsmiths, from whom he planned to order halberds for the army, but only Nikita Antyufeev came to her.

The tsar admired the growth and heroic physique of the gunsmith, telling the boyars who were present that such a person could become a grenadier of the Preobrazhensky regiment.

The master took this for an attempt to take him into a soldier and began to ask the king not to do this, so that he would have the opportunity to support his elderly mother.

Peter jokingly promised to release the gunsmith from the draft in exchange for the manufacture of three hundred halberds.

Nikita Antyufeev hastily agreed and fulfilled his promise.

His halberds were even better than the original.

Regardless of which version of acquaintance with the monarch is closer to the truth, historians note that in the 1690s, Peter I brought Nikita Antyufeev closer to him, thereby providing him with a career rise from an average craftsman to one of the most influential and wealthy industrialists in Russia.

  • Peter I

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Vadim Nekrasov

In the service of Russia

Around 1694-1696 Nikita Antyufeev founded one of the first water-operating metallurgical plants in Russia on the Tulitsa River (today the territory of the city of Tula).

The enterprise established the production of guns, and then ammunition.

In 1701 alone, the plant produced over 1.7 thousand bombs, 15.5 thousand grenades, 16.6 thousand hand grenades, 8.1 thousand nuclei.

In parallel, Antyufeev was engaged in the production of other types of weapons.

In 1700, he presented to Peter six high-quality guns, which were several times cheaper than those purchased by the army earlier.

"Thanks to the efforts of Nikita Antyufeev, the Russian army was provided with guns of acceptable quality without the need to buy them abroad," Vitaly Zakharov, professor of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, Doctor of Historical Sciences, told RT.

According to the writer and historian Dmitry Volodikhin, Nikita Antyufeev was the most important supplier of weapons to the Russian troops during the Northern War.

In 1702, Peter I ordered to transfer to Antyufeev an enterprise founded shortly before that and still unfinished in the Urals, which later became the Nevyansk iron-smelting and iron-making plant.

The tsar ordered to establish the production of various types of weapons at the enterprise: from sabers and hatchets to guns and mortars.

However, at the same time, according to historians, Peter also set strategic goals for himself, such as the development of metallurgical production in the promising and resource-rich Ural region.

Despite serious difficulties during construction and launch, the Nevyansk plant soon became the largest metallurgical enterprise in Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century.

  • Nevyansk Metallurgical Plant

  • © Wikimedia

At the same time, Peter I removed the Antyufeev factories from the jurisdiction of local governors and allowed the industrialist to buy serfs.

To control production in the Urals, Antyufeev sent his son Akinfiy there, while Nikita himself focused on the development of the Tula plant.

In one of the documents dated 1702, the tsar first names Nikita Demidov - in the future this surname will be officially assigned to him and his descendants.

In 1707, Nikita, together with his son Grigory, built a new plant on the Dugna River (the territory of the present Kaluga Region).

A number of new enterprises followed in the Urals.

In addition, the state (that is, state) ironworks located in the Verkhotursky district were transferred to Nikita.

In 1720 Nikita Antyufeev was granted the nobility under the name of Demidov.

According to Valery Chumakov, the industrialist himself did not strive for noble status and appreciated the title of commissar awarded to him by Peter much more, and he accepted the nobility only a few years after the signing of the corresponding decree.

  • Portrait of A.N. Demidov.

  • © Wikimedia / Groot Georg Christopher

By the end of the reign of Peter I, eight of the 22 metallurgical plants in the Russian Empire belonged to the Demidovs.

In addition, Nikita Demidov was engaged in the search for silver and gold-bearing ores, the production of asbestos, the processing of magnets, and logging.

Moreover, he supplied goods for state needs at a reduced cost.

“Demidov changed Peter I's perception of entrepreneurs.

He showed that merchants and industrialists can take care not only of their own profit, but also of the fate of the country, ”Valery Chumakov emphasized.

Demidov took an active part in the construction of St. Petersburg.

He donated money and raw materials for the construction of the new capital, supplied fountain pipes for palaces and timber for the Admiralty.

As historians note, at the end of his life, Demidov was not inferior in income to rich nobles.

At the same time, he experienced an acute conflict with Vasily Tatishchev, who created the Mining Chancellery - the first collegial body of factory management in the Urals.

“Tatishchev stood for the development of state-owned industry and believed that if you invest in the public sector, you can get rid of a huge amount of abuse in private enterprises, from the social tension that was generated in private factories by cruel methods of exploitation.

Tatishchev believed that Demidov had become an uncontrolled tsar in the Urals and wanted to transfer many of his competences to officials.

Of course, Demidov opposed him.

It was, let's say, a struggle between a smart and tough entrepreneur and a smart and energetic official, ”said Dmitry Volodikhin.

According to historians, Demidov and Tatishchev exchanged accusations of corruption.

The industrialist achieved the temporary removal of Tatishchev from office, but he was ultimately acquitted by the court.

Demidov, on the other hand, was sentenced to a huge, by the standards of that time, fine of 30 thousand rubles for accusing the official.

However, the emperor ordered to postpone the execution of the punishment.

Soon Peter I died.

Demidov outlived his royal patron by only a few months.

He died on November 28, 1725 in Tula.

After the death of Nikita Demidov, legends arose in folk art in which the industrialist was called a "sorcerer".

  • Monument to Peter I and Nikita Demidov in Nevyansk

  • © Wikimedia

In 1726, Empress Catherine I issued a new diploma of nobility to the sons of Demidov.

In the future, some of their descendants were elevated to the county and princely dignity.

The Demidov family gave Russia a number of prominent industrialists, statesmen and military leaders.

So, Anatoly Demidov, who in 1840 married Napoleon's niece Matilde de Montfort, was a diplomat.

And the son of Aurora Demidova Pavel in 1934-1941 was the prince-regent of Yugoslavia.

According to the professor of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Doctor of Historical Sciences Igor Kurukin, the achievements of Nikita Demidov are very multifaceted.

“He combined two important qualities at the same time: he was both a businessman and a technologist.

And this is not just about supplying the army.

The list of his merits includes the creation of a modernized metallurgy in Russia, bringing entrepreneurship to a new level, and the creation of industry in the Urals.

He stood at the origins of the business empire, which remained the largest in the country until the middle of the 18th century, ”summed up Igor Kurukin.