Peter the Great: A positive reign
Russian society before Peter’s rule was in a problematic situation because, their army was failing as well as their economy. When Peter the Great came to rule Russia, he used absolutism as a way to increase his country and his own power. During his reign, Peter was building a strong army, expanding his territory and Westernizing Russia. In an effort to Westernize Russia, Peter adapted new ideas from Europe. As a result, Peter had an overall positive impact on Russia. Peter the Great was born in Moscow and grew up educated by tutors from Western Europe which helped shape his views during his rule. Peter came to power in 1682, previous to his rule, Russia was in a poor condition. Previous to Peter’s reign
Peter the Great was trying ultimately to make the Russian Empire more Europeanized or Westernized. He wanted to protect and enhance the vulnerable Russian Empire. Peter the Great saw that other European countries are colonizing in other regions like the New World, Asia, and Africa. Peter saw this as a threat and didn’t want for the Europeans to conquer Russia. Through decrees to shave and provisions on dress, he was trying to make them European. He also wanted to make military and economic reforms that could help the empire itself. If they built factories, they didn’t need to get supplies from Europe.
First, both Louis and Peter had noble uprisings early in their reigns, but they handled them and got somewhat on the good side with their nobles. Peter the Great created a Service Nobility, and demanded all nobles, or boyars as they are called in Russia, serve in the civil service
Observing that European technological superiority allowed it to enjoy extraordinary benefits, he adopted many European practices to assert his own dominance and increase Russia’s protection against its adversaries. In doing this, Peter the Great formed himself a lasting legacy. Although Peter the Great originally mimicked Louis XIV in his staunch practice of absolutism, he ultimately surpassed Louis XIV in his goal of supremacy. Peter replaced the previous head of the Orthodox Church, and had both religious and earthly supremacy. Thus, Peter achieved something that Louis could never manage: a control of both church and state. Outside of Russia’s borders, Peter succeeded in his endeavors to a much greater extent than Louis XIV. The Great Northern War against Sweden effectively gave Russia access to a warm water port: Saint Petersburg, where Peter created his own Versailles, the Winter Palace, that fulfilled goals similar to those of Louis. Thus, where Louis fell, Peter
I believe that there was so much attention given to Peter the Great because of his extensive reforms. Peter brought both social and economic changes to his country. He wanted to make Russia big. Peter transformed the culture; he wanted his people to wear the western European fashion. Many of the people were not thrilled with the change because they did not like the ways of the western European societies. He made his navy stronger, he reformed his army to meet the western standards, and he gained control over the church.
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
Absolutists during the 16th and 17th centuries were often times focused too heavily on military or other such rather than the people they were ruling. Peter the Great is a good example of this type of ruler because he did great things for Russia like improving the navy; however, Peter the Great did nothing to help the people of Russia, and according to Michael Gibson in document 8, he "failed to create the large, thriving
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 ...
I can use this source in my research project to defend why Czar Nicholas II is innocent to the abuse of power of the office of Czar.It reveales to me that even thouch Nicholas struggled with being the new Czar he truly did a lot for Russia to improve in learning abilities.Above all else, Nicholas loved Russia first and then his family; He thought the fate of the two was inseparable. No one knew the fault of the Romanov Dynasty better than him. Czar Nicholas sincerely felt his responsibility for the country, He thought that his destiny was within the country he ruled. I think it was really difficult for him but it was the only way to admit his mistakes and to say "sorry" to his people.
The Romanov Empire had reign the Russian Empire for about 300 years before Nicholas II became the monarch. Unfortunately, the new Tsar of Russia was also advised by Konstantin Pobedonostsev, who promoted autocracy, condemned elections, representation and democracy, the jury system, the press, free education, charities, and social reforms; an outdated ideology by the turn of the twentieth century. Although Nicholas II possessed some skills that would have been advantageous as the leader but, overall he was not suitable to be the Tsar of Russia. Even though Czar Nicholas II implemented limited reform that were beneficial for the empire; there were more fiascos during his reign thus lies the collapse of the Romanov Empire on his political skill,
Peter realized that Russia seemed like a backwards country compared to Western Europe. He recruited western figures to come to Russia as his ministers and help him fulfil his policy of Westernization.
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’...
It was Tzar Nicholas 2 political naivete and extreme obstinance that led to the downfall of the Russia
The need to modernise in Russia was a problem that the tsar had to face between the years, at the time in question, Russia was very backwards in the way that it farmed its lands, its economy was behind that of the rest of Europe, this meant that action had to be taken, in this area the tsar did have some successes.
He challenged the traditional idea of Russian nobility by demanded men cut off their long flowing sleeves and beards, publishing a book of manners which expressly prohibited eating with one’s fingers (and spitting on the floor), required polite conversation between sexes, and requiring the noblemen (and noblewomen) to wear Western clothing during public events: weddings and banquets. Additionally, Russian nobles’ children were sent to Europe for education and European ‘experts’ were moved into Russia to house new schools and academies, design buildings, and serve in Peter’s army, administration, and navy. However despite the previous examples of Peter’s transformation of Russian society, his primary goal was to establish Russia as a great military power of Europe, not modernize Russian society. An example of this is his taxation system which established taxes per individual, not household, and as a result obliterated the divisions of the Russian peasanty, however the new taxation system’s primary purpose was to increase money for the war effort. Peter’s Table of Ranks reversed the traditional hierarchy of Russia by exalting the military class, then administrative, and finally
At the time of St. Petersburg’s construction, there were no Russian play, ideas, innovations or books. The country was stuck in a medieval, peasant-based society that was based on feudalism, and religion, which left the country vulnerable to advanced European neighbors. The construction of a new city, St Petersburg, marks a new beginning. By building Petersburg on the coast, Peter sought to make Russia more cosmopolitan and advanced by importing the latest, groundbreaking technologies and ideas of the west. Ocean access was clearly meant to facilitate Russia’s exposure to the rest western world. Up until Petersburg’s construciton, Russia was landlocked and geographically isolated from the advances of the European enlightenment. Petersburg was filled with buildings and palaces built by European architects. The goal was to build a modern, European city in Russia, in which peter could gather the nobility and surround them with European culture. The fact that Peter was willing to build a city for this purpose alone, shows how backwards he thought the obility really was. Petersburg was a gateway from which European ideas could spread into Europe. It’s European style also acted as a signal to the world that Russia was capable of becoming