How Peter the Great established a medal ‘FOR DRUNKENNESS’!
This is a “medal” you wouldn’t like to win!
It was a heavy metal collar with a cast-iron star weighing 7 kg and was given to hardcore drunkards and alcoholics. And it had to be worn for an entire week!
It’s believed that Emperor Peter, who was fighting against his subjects' drunkenness, saw a similar punishment at the Tula industrialists, the Demidovs. They would issue such a “medal” to their workers, in order to maintain discipline.
The tsar's “award” was ironic, as its silhouette resembled the ‘Order of St. Andrew the First-Called’, the main award of the Russian Empire.
