Peter The Great: By Dillon and Sadie

     Peter The Great ruled Russia from 1682 to 1696 with his brother Ivan V. When his brother died, became the Sovereign of Russia. He ruled with absolute power. In essence, what he said, went. He was the person who decided which Russians succeeded and which ones did not.

     Peter the Great became Sovereign of Russia at a very difficult time. The Renaissance did not sweep through Russia as it did with most other countries in Europe. Peter the Great made sure to fix this when he became tsar. Peter made sure that his people were educated about technological advancements. He did this by having several scientists come to Russia. He also made many advancements in schools by secularizing them.

     Peter the Great did many beneficial things while in power. To begin, he founded St. Petersburg in 1712 and moved the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. At first, Peter the Great had no intention of founding a new city along the river of Neva. Instead he wanted to build a fort to guard the mount of the river. After the fort was established he built a port so other countries could trade with Russia, avoiding the long journey to Archangel. What was so remarkable about St. Petersburg was that he started building the city in a time of war, on enemies land without having won. He also founded the Russian navy and military. In addition, he modernized the Russian cities, helped establish women’s rights, created the Julian calendar, established the first Russian newspaper, and gained territory in Estonia, Latvia, and Finland.

     For years before Peter the Great came to power, Russians had always calculated their calendars based on what they believed to be the moment the world was created. Furthermore, Russians started their new year on September first instead of January first, because they figured the world would be created when fruit was ripe and ready for picking; instead of in the middle of the winter. Peter the Great was eager to bring the year and New Year’s Day into line with the West, and so in December 1699 he ordered that the next year would be classified as 1700. This helped Russia because they became more like the “Western World” and having all countries running on the same type of calendar makes it much easier for communication between countries. Many critics disagreed and said God would not have created the world in the middle of the winter. Peter fought back by asking them to “view the map of the globe” and realize that not all places were facing winter. Another great achievement by Peter the Great was all of his contributions to the Russian Army. To begin with Peter the Great created the Russian Navy, which was a revolutionary accomplishment within itself. Peter also reorganized and expanded the Russian Military to become more powerful and feared. 

     Lastly, Peter the Great fought hard for women’s rights. He believed women should be able to sit with men at dinner, marry whomever they like, and instead of “the symbolic whipping of the bride” at the wedding the bride should be kissed instead. Because of Peter’s positive views of women Russia’s culture regarding women advanced long before long before other European cultures did.

     Although Peter the Great was a visionary and respected leader he did have some downfalls. One was he increased taxes on the lower class of Russia. This lead to a further division in between classes, because of this tensions were high between classes and many did not fraternize with people in different classes then them. In addition, Peter the Great was not viewed as a “nice person”. Peter would bully, bribe, and threaten until he got his way.   

There are very few negative effects Peter the Great had on Russia. One of them is that he did not appoint an heir to the throne. In addition, he was known to be a cruel leader. One action that he took that was judged by many was that he declared war on Turkey in 1695.

One aspect of Peter the Great that made him look like a strong and powerful leader was his height. He was 6 feet 7 inches and towered over everyone around him. This is especially impressive because in the 17th century the average height was 5 foot 4 inches. Because there was no internet or form or newspaper (until Peter the Great established the Russian Newspaper) people who saw Peter for the first time had the lasting impression of his height and how he towered over them both physically and figuratively.

Bibliography

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Heritage History. “Stories of Peter the Great.” Heritage History. Accessed
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Hughes, Lindsey. Peter the Great: A Biography. N.p.: Library of Congress in
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Massie, Robert K. Peter the Great His Life and World. New York, USA: Alfred A.
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