Peter the Great: A True Revolutionary
Words you think of when you think of Russia throughout history: unmodernized, backward, retrogressive, archaic, medieval, dank and slovenly etc. I could go on, but I digress, the picture has been set. Russia hasn’t exactly been the picturesque empire, if that, that so many believe it could have or should have been. Being one of the physically largest country in the world during almost all of its 1500 + year existence(Liversidge 2), Russia is also denoted as being one of histories most notoriously hapless underachiever, with a few moments of illumination followed inevitably by years of “two steps back”. This can only be attributed to the, well nothing short of ‘colorful’ Tsars mother Russia has seen.
One of the most vivacious leaders ever to grace the throne was Peter the Great. Long before he proclaimed himself “The Great”, baby Peter was born to Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich and his second wife Nataliya Naryshkina on June 9 1672 in Moscow (Liversidge 2). Being the fourteenth child of Alexis, Peter wasn’t destined for much to start. He was ascended to the throne at age ten, however, due to his sick and invalid siblings; eventually his brother and Feodor died childless in 1682, leaving ten year old Peter and his imbecile brother Ivan to compete for the throne. Peter won out, and was sent from his childhood home at the country estate of Kolomenskoe to the Kremlin (the Russian White House).
No sooner was he established, however, than Ivan’s family struck back. Gaining the support of the Kremlin Guard, they launched a coup d'etat, and Peter was forced to endure the horrible sight of his supporters and family members being thrown from the top of the grand Red Stair of the Faceted Palace onto the raised pikes of the Guard. The outcome of the coup was a joint Tsar-ship, with both Peter and Ivan placed under the regency of Ivan's elder and not exactly impartial sister Sophia. Never the less, Peter regained his title at age 17 after Sophia’s failed plot to murder the opposing heir, and sentenced her to life to a convent cell. He kept his brother Ivan as a figure head on the thrown though to deal with frivolous court traditions, while he kept sole power of Russia and learned many skills soon to be utilized in his sovereignty .
Standing at over 6 foot 8 inches tall(World History, 136), Peter was a big strong man and such was reflected in his legacy.
Historically, Russia has always been a country of perplexing dualities. The reality of Dual Russia, the separation of the official culture from that of the common people, persisted after the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. The Czarist Russia was at once modernized and backward: St. Petersburg and Moscow stood as the highly developed industrial centers of the country and two of the capitals of Europe, yet the overwhelming majority of the population were subsistent farms who lived on mir; French was the official language and the elites were highly literate, yet 82% of the populati...
Peter the Great was mainly described as a man who was powerful and violent. In some of the accounts he was described very differently. Bishop Burnet wrote from his experience with Peter, because he had been in the company of him. He experienced Peter’s violent and non–violent side. He also stated that Peter was a very smart man even though he did not show it much. In the writing from Von Korb he tells of the time of the Streltsi revolt. He did not have much of a personal experience with Peter the Great. Based on the writing from Korb he was basically des...
Peter the Great, the Russian Czar, inherited his absolutist power from his brother, Ivan V. Born in aristocracy, Peter’s dad was the Czar, and later his brother, and after his brother’s death, him. He was a firm believer in the possible benefits from the control of a single leader to make decisions for the people, and he exercised this divine right to create many renouned institutions. At the beginning of Peter’s reign, Russia was in a poor condition: many rejected modernization from the Renaissance, and large spending from his brother’s reign caused economic droughts. He took advantage of his absolutist power to help ameliorate Russia’s situation and first decided to minimalize power from the other aristocrats. The subduction of the rich allowed
Nicholas II ruled Russia from 1894-1917 and was to be its final tsar. He ascended the throne under the impression that he would rule his whole life as it's undisputed leader. Accompanied by his wife, Alexandra, they lived a comfortable life of luxury while the country suffered around them. Nicholas was determined to rule as harshly as his father; however, he was a very weak and incompetent character who did not posses the qualities capable of guiding Russia through its time of turmoil.
Prepubescence is an essential period in a child’s development. A person’s environment can alter their personality and affect them in ways that will remain throughout their lives. With Ivan and Charles, it is evident that the conditions they aged in factored into their frame of mind. Ivan, specifically, experienced multiple challenging incidents in his childhood. For example, when Ivan was three years old his father, Vasilly III, fell ill and passed away on February 4, 1533. His father recognized the futility of having an infant king rule a country, so he left a small council of nobles to rule. Similar to Ivan, Charles also had the inconvenience of inheriting the throne too early. Charles was only twelve years old when he was appointed king in September 1380, but he was not allowed to rule at first. In the early years of his reign his father arranged for his four uncles to rule until he was of age. To be entrusted with so much power at such a young age can be very stressful and the lose of a father figure proved to be traumatic in their later years. After Charles’ coronation, documents ceased to mention him until he finally took the throne around age 20. Ivan, on the other hand, devoted his life to education in his early years allowing him to document his experiences. Five years after his father passed away, Ivan’s mother was poisoned and killed. This left him, and his brother Iuri, in the care of the
Peter preferred to live comfortably, and didn’t have a need for extravagance as much as Louis XIV did. But that didn’t mean he didn’t think big. Peter’s main goals were to modernize Russia, and to make it a major European power—a force to be reckoned with—and also to gain control of the church. He tried to achieve these in many different ways. One way he attempted to make Russia more powerful was by westernizing the country. He traveled all over Western Europe, learning about the culture, more modern practices and way of ...
The main driving force behind Peter I’s consolidation of power and reformation of Russia was the goal of ultimately enhancing military efficiency, allowing Russia to become a world power. Throughout his reign, war raged on and became a huge part of daily life. Compulsory lifetime military
"Prominent Russians: Peter the Great." Russiapedia: The Romanov Dynasty Prominent Russians. RT- Russia Today, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
The lower class workers suffered the most and were almost constantly at the end of their rope. Harsh working conditions coupled with forced reformations, no matter how beneficial, and heavy taxation resulted in quite a few revolts which were always brutally and mercilessly crushed. Many people disliked Peter’s reforms and his son, Alexei was one of them. Described as lazy and stupid, Alexei suffered domestic abuse from his father for his stupidity. He surely grew to despise his father and his extensive reforms. He was never one for politics or military strategy but when his father heard a rumor of an attempted coup d’etat and assassination, Alexei fled Russia. He was later captured and brought back to Russia in 1718 where a suspicious Peter personally interrogated and tortured his own son before charging him for high treason and sentencing him to death. Peter was nothing if not an ambitious hard working man and kept improving Russia as much as he could even when he got sick a while after saving a few of his soldiers from drowning in 1724. He worked hard until his death a year later on February 8th, 1725 in St. Petersburg. Peter severed as a very effective ruler, full of energy and ambition. Standing at 6’8”, Peter the Great was a force to be reckoned with. Handsome and zealous, Peter also had a prominent anger that was spurred on by, at times, heavy drinking.and could be cruel and tyrannical, executing anyone who dared stand in the way of his dreams. He was a deft shipbuilder as well as an experienced and talented army and naval officer, leaving a legacy that stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Caspian Sea to the Pacific ocean without declaring an heir to inherit all that he had accomplished. He was buried at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul and there a many monuments to and of Peter that make sure he will never be
Peter was born in June 9, 1672, in Moscow, the only son of Czar Alexis and Natalia Narishkina. Peter was not yet four years old when his father died ("Peter the Great." PDF file). Since Alexis also had thirteen children with his first wife, there were many lengthy and sometimes violent struggles over the succession to the throne. On one occasion, Peter even had to flee for his life. When Peter and his half-brother Ivan were confirmed to be the next rulers, there was a military revolt. The Streltsy revolt marked Peter for life (Massie, 52). Family blood was being spilled around him, and at age ten, he was helpless and unable to intervene. This revolt was one of the influential moments in Peter’s life. It was one of the moments that made him want to change Russia. Another influential moment was the summer of 1686, when Peter and a Dutch butler were visiting one the country houses that belonged to his family. In ...
Peter the Great had many goals during the time he ruled. One of his biggest goals was to modernize and westernize Russia. The main reason Peter the Great modernized Russia was because he did not want the country he ruled to be left vulnerable to expansionist powers in Europe. The powers were constantly at war, fighting to take over each other’...
Peter the Great was born in Moscow on Thursday, May 30, 1672 on the feast of Saint Isaac of Dalmatia (Hughes 1). Pyotr Alexeevich, his formal name, was the fourteenth child born to Alexi I and his second wife Nataliya Kryillovna Naryshkina. Peter towered an astounding six feet seven inches tall. He started out sharing Power with his step-brother, Ivan, who was an invalid, but obtained sole power when he was twenty-four, after Ivan's death in 1696 ('Peter I of Russia' 1). Through his domestic, military, and government reforms, Peter the Great enabled Russia to be considered a leading eastern European state ('Peter the Great' 1).
The age of exploration and discovery in Europe was a time of various absolute rulers. An absolute monarch is a ruler who has unlimited power and controls every aspect of life. Many rulers were great examples of absolute monarchs, but none of them even compared to the absolute monarch Peter the Great of Russia. Peter I, more commonly known as Peter the Great, was born June 9, 1672. At ten years of age, Peter took over the throne, but other people helped him make decisions. He was obliged to rule with his mentally challenged half-brother, Ivan (Beck, 609). It wasn’t until after Ivan died that he gained complete control and was the sole ruler of Russia. During his own reign, he was able to change the way Russia operated. He was aware that his country was behind the rest of his world in many things, such as culture and technology. He was determined to change Russia for the better. With his determination and love for Russia, he was able to conquer his ideas and was able to do what he wanted with his nation. His ruling is known as the period of transformation because, thanks to him, he was able to lead Russia in the right direction and modernize it. Peter the Great was an absolute monarch; he changed Russia’s culture, created new cities, and reformed the church.
... be set at fair prices and therefore successful trading. Also, through commercialization, the Japanese were able to expand on their own lives and embellish their lives more.
Catherine II (a.k.a. Catherine the Great) Catherine II, or Catherine the Great, empress of all Russia, did much to continue the process of Westernization reforms began by Peter the Great. Catherine was devoted to art, literature, science, and politics. Many people say she had a great gift and was a great leader, thus she was awarded with the name “the Great” She helped develop schools, hospitals, and many other organizations for the country. She was a shrewd leader and autocrat and helped to continue and further reforms made by Peter the Great, finally making Russia a permanent European power. Originally named Sophie Frederick Augusta, Princess of Anholt-Zerbst, she was born in Stettin on May 2, 1729, the daughter of the German prince of Anholt-Zerbst . At the age of fifteen she went to Russia and married Grand Duke Peter of Holstein, heir to the Russian throne. The marriage was despondent, but intelligent and ambitious Catherine soon managed to assemble up a liaison of supporters. On October 1, 1754, Catherine gave birth to her son, the future emperor, Paul Petrovich Romanov, and three years later on December 20, 1957, she gave birth to her daughter, Anna Petrovna Romanov. Elizabeth died on December 25, 1761, and Catherine’s husband succeeded as Peter III. Erratic, unstable, and contemptuous of his Russian subjects, the new ruler soon made himself unpopular, especially with certain German officers. Led by Alexei Orlov (whose brother Grigori was Catherine’s lover) the officers staged a coup in June 1762. Peter was deposed (and subsequently murdered) and Catherine was placed on the throne in his place. Catherine was fascinated with the philosophies and theories of the Enlightenment, and was well acquaint...