Peter, the Great 1672-1725 Tzar and Emperor of Russia

When Peter began his reign in 1696, Russia was a very backward country. Its army was poorly trained, it had no navy, and it lacked technicians and administrators trained in modern methods. Peter's goal was to modernize Russia so that it could take a place in the world appropriate to its size and potential.

To learn modern ways, Peter traveled throughout Europe incognito, calling himself Peter Michailoff. He spent four months in Holland learning shipbuilding by working as a ship carpenter. He visited England and received a doctorate at Oxford. When he returned to Russia, he brought hundreds of technicians and specialists from all over Europe with him. He invited western artisans and craftsmen to come to Russia and sent talented sons of the nobility abroad to study.

To make Russia a great power, Peter needed a modern army. To modernize the army, he needed money. To get money, he needed an efficient tax system. To run an efficient tax system, he needed skilled administrators who had been trained in a European-style educational system. In addition, an effective army needed an industrial base so that Russia need not depend on imported arms.

Despite the magnitude of the difficulties he faced, Peter made considerable progress. He modernized the army, created a navy, developed commerce, renovated the tax system, and in many important ways, restructured Russian society. The upper classes were educated and participated fully in western culture. He gained territory for Russia in wars against the Ottoman Empire and against Sweden. The territory he took from Sweden's Charles XII gave Russia a window on the Baltic Sea making commerce with the west easier. Reflecting the shift of Russia toward the west, Peter moved his capital from Moscow to a new Baltic city he named St. Petersburg. At the end of Peter's reign, the Russian Empire was one of the great European powers.