Peter the Great

Peter the Great Life Timeline

• 1672 CE: Peter the Great is born in Moscow, Russia, the 14th child of his father Tsar Alexis (Alexey).

• 1682 CE: Peter the Great begins a joint rule with his half-brother Ivan V.

• 1696 CE: Ivan V dies, and Peter becomes the sole ruler of Russia.

• 1697 CE: Peter embarks on his Grand Embassy tour of Europe.

• 1712 CE: St. Petersburg is made the capital of Russia, the "window to Europe"

• 1721 CE: Peter declares Russia an empire, with himself as emperor.

• 1725 CE: Peter the Great dies.

Fig. 1- Peter the Great.

Peter the Great's Troubled Ascension to Power

A family power struggle erupted in Russia following the death of Tsar Alexis I's son Fyodor III. A ten-year-old Peter, another son of Tsar Alexis, was chosen to be the new Tsar, though he was not first in line to inherit Russia. Ivan V, Peter's mentally deficient half-brother, technically had a rightful claim as Tsar. This instigated a conflict between Peter's family, the Naryshkina's, and Ivan's family, the Miloslavsky's. Ivan's sister Sophia was the face of Miloslavsky's resistance to Peter the Great.

Fig. 2- Art depicting the Moscow Uprising of 1682.

Sofia organized the Streltsy guard, the elite guard of Moscow, in resisting Peter's family. Multiple of Peter's family members were killed, and the young boy was forced to flee Moscow, abdicating the throne to Ivan V. Outside of Moscow, Peter the Great grew up directing wargames, sailing in the countryside, and learning under his mother.

Peter later reintegrated into Russian politics, wary of Sofia's control over his co-ruler Ivan V. In 1689, Peter the Great stopped Sofia from an attempt at seizing power, succeeding and forcing his half-sister to enter a convent for the rest of her life. In 1696, Ivan V died, and Peter became the sole, undisputed Tsar of Russia. At an early age, he was exposed to backward politics and violence in the Russian court, both of which heavily informed his character.

Peter the Great's Grand Embassy

In 1697, Peter directed a war effort against the Crimean Khanate, a subject of Turkey that controlled the Sea of Azov. Eager to obtain allies in the conflict, Peter the Great embarked on his Grand Embassy tour of Europe.

Fig. 3- Peter partying in Holland.

Traveling under the pseudonym Pyotr Mikhailov (though his height did not help to hide his true identity), the Russian ruler traveled to places such as Holland, London, and Prussia. Peter learned about shipbuilding, artillery, and western politics; he invited engineers from Europe to Russia; he ingratiated himself with European culture, often while drunk at a local pub.

Peter the Great as Absolute Monarch

The Grand Embassy further opened Peter's eyes to the success of Europe and the backwardness of 17th-century Russia. Keen to bring his country into competition with the west, Peter the Great enacted a series of aggressive reforms.

Exercising absolute power over his peoples, Peter the Great instituted the following reforms:

• Europeanization of the Russian court culture (including shaved beards!)
• Modernization of the Russian calendar.
• Reformation of school systems and simplification of the Russian alphabet.
• Instituted universal taxation and standardized Russian currency.
• Established a civilian and military rank system that determined a person's status based on merit (and not heredity).
• Introduced European technologies and ideas in the Russian military and the creation of a Russian navy.
• Built and established St. Petersburg as the capital of Russia.

This list is not all-inclusive, but it does indicate some of the drastic and swift measures that Peter the Great was willing to take to bring his country up to par. Often, Peter was absolute in his enforcement of these new measures, essentially assuming full dictatorial control of Russia. Some resisted the Tsar, but Russian victories against Sweden in the Battle of Poltava and the Ottoman empire validated Peter's reforms.

Peter the Great Accomplishments

If Peter the Great's claim as absolute monarch was ever disputed, one can point to the year 1721, when Peter proclaimed Russia as an empire, with himself as the emperor. He adopted the epithet "the great", confident that his reforms had shaped Russia for the better. Before his death in 1725, Tsar Peter announced his wife Catherine as his successor.

Fig. 4- Peter the Great leading a group of Russians.

Throughout his reign, Peter the Great had accomplished much in the form of military conquest and political and social reform. He reduced the power of Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, seized land in the Baltic that opened up Russia to greater sea trade, and instituted reforms that set the stage for Russia to become a powerful player in European affairs.

Peter the Great Importance

After Catherine's death in 1727, however, there was no clear and long-lasting heir to the Russian throne. For all the reforms Peter had done, he did not ensure a stable Russian future by producing a clear heir. Political battles for succession quickly followed. Nonetheless, Peter's reformed Russian bureaucracy (the system of ranks based on service and merit) assured that the government would survive until the ascension of Catherine II (the Great) to the throne in 1762.

Fig. 5- Statue of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Peter the Great's reforms and absolute rule elevated Russia into a modernized, European status in the 18th-century, changing the course of Russian history forever. Many statues of the Russian Tsar on horseback stand tall across Russia, such as his massive statue in St. Petersburg, signifying the lasting importance of Peter the Great.