Search results
Peter I the Great 1672-1725. Peter the Great was really Peter I, or Pyotr Alekseyevich, if you speak Russian. Being a very capable Russian emperor, Peter possessed exceptional abilities as a statesman, organizer, and reformer. He was more than six and a half feet, or two meters, tall and very strong. He was a hard worker, expected no less from ...
- Overview
- Youth and accession
- External events
- The Azov campaigns (1695–96)
Peter the Great modernized Russia—which, at the start of his rule, had greatly lagged behind the Western countries—and transformed it into a major power. Through his numerous reforms, Russia made incredible progress in the development of its economy and trade, education, science and culture, and foreign policy.
What was Peter the Great’s childhood like?
Peter’s father, Tsar Alexis, died when Peter was four years old. At age 10 Peter became joint tsar with his half brother and, because of power struggles, often feared for his safety. He did not receive the usual education of a tsar. He grew up in a free atmosphere and especially enjoyed military games.
Who were Peter the Great’s wives?
In 1689 Peter wed Eudoxia, but the marriage ended in 1698. He later became involved with the future Catherine I, a Baltic woman who had been taken prisoner during the Second Northern War. They married in 1712, and in 1724 she was crowned empress-consort. After Peter died in 1725, she became empress.
How did Peter the Great die?
When Alexis died in 1676, Peter was only four years old. His elder half-brother, a sickly youth, then succeeded to the throne as Fyodor III, but, in fact, power fell into the hands of the Miloslavskys, relatives of Fyodor’s mother, who deliberately pushed Peter and the Naryshkin circle aside. When Fyodor died childless in 1682, a fierce struggle for power ensued between the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins: the former wanted to put Fyodor’s brother, the delicate and feebleminded Ivan V, on the throne; the Naryshkins stood for the healthy and intelligent Peter. Representatives of the various orders of society, assembled in the Kremlin, declared themselves for Peter, who was then proclaimed tsar, but the Miloslavsky faction exploited a revolt of the Moscow streltsy, or musketeers of the sovereign’s bodyguard, who killed some of Peter’s adherents, including Matveyev. Ivan and Peter were then proclaimed joint tsars, and eventually, because of Ivan’s precarious health and Peter’s youth, Ivan’s 25-year-old sister Sophia was made regent. Clever and influential, Sophia took control of the government; excluded from public affairs, Peter lived with his mother in the village of Preobrazhenskoye, near Moscow, often fearing for his safety. All this left an ineradicable impression on the young tsar and determined his negative attitude toward the streltsy.
One result of Sophia’s overt exclusion of Peter from the government was that he did not receive the usual education of a Russian tsar; he grew up in a free atmosphere instead of being confined within the narrow bounds of a palace. While his first tutor, the former church clerk Nikita Zotov, could give little to satisfy Peter’s curiosity, the boy enjoyed noisy outdoor games and took especial interest in military matters, his favourite toys being arms of one sort or another. He also occupied himself with carpentry, joinery, blacksmith’s work, and printing.
Britannica Quiz
Kings and Emperors (Part III) Quiz
Near Preobrazhenskoye there was a nemetskaya sloboda (“German colony”) where foreigners were allowed to reside. Acquaintance with its inhabitants aroused Peter’s interest in the life of other nations, and an English sailboat, found derelict in a shed, whetted his passion for seafaring. Mathematics, fortification, and navigation were the sciences that appealed most strongly to Peter. A model fortress was built for his amusement, and he organized his first “play” troops, from which, in 1687, the Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky Guards regiments were formed—to become the nucleus of a new Russian Army.
Early in 1689 Natalya Naryshkina arranged Peter’s marriage to the beautiful Eudoxia (Yevdokiya Fyodorovna Lopukhina). This was obviously a political act, intended to demonstrate the fact that the 17-year-old Peter was now a grown man, with a right to rule in his own name. The marriage did not last long: Peter soon began to ignore his wife, and in 1698 he relegated her to a convent.
At the beginning of Peter’s reign, Russia was territorially a huge power, but with no access to the Black Sea, the Caspian, or the Baltic, and to win such an outlet became the main goal of Peter’s foreign policy.
The first steps taken in this direction were the campaigns of 1695 and 1696, with the object of capturing Azov from the Crimean Tatar vassals of Turkey. On the one hand, these Azov campaigns could be seen as fulfilling Russia’s commitments, undertaken during Sophia’s regency, to the anti-Turkish “Holy League” of 1684 (Austria, Poland, and Venice); ...
Oct 12, 2023 · Peter's reforms were influenced by a few major events in his life. These include his trips to the town of Arkhangelsk from 1693 to 1694, which lies on the White Sea and significantly increased his love for the sea and his desire to have a whole navy. The second event was the Azov Campaigns (1695-1696), in which Peter got his first experience of ...
- Peter the Great's main reforms centred around the army, industry, the church, and the administration of Russia.
- He made the men dress in Western fashion, he welcomed foreigners, and he reshaped the education system to be more similar to schools in Western Eur...
- Peter the Great was interested in reform because he wanted to modernise Russia and to make it more like the powerful Western European countries he...
Peter the Great fact file. Born on 30 May 1672, Peter was the son of Tsar Alexis I, and the first son from his second marriage. In 1682, ten-year-old Peter became joint tsar with his half-brother Ivan and in 1696 began to rule alone. From childhood, Peter was interested in warfare and practical activities such as carpentry, and sailing and ...
The Community of Kent and the Great Rebellion, 1640–60. By Alan Everitt.. ([Leicester:] Leicester University Press; New York: Humanities Press. 1966. Pp. 356. $6.50)
- Peter Laslett
- 1968
In the 1570s and 1580s, Queen Elizabeth I granted royal permission to two Englishmen to colonise America. As Spain had laid claim to much of South and Central America, England’s attention was directed to the eastern coast of North America. Sir Humphrey Gilbert led three unsuccessful attempts to establish a colony in America, but in 1583 was ...
People also ask
Who was Ivan V and what did he do?
Who was Peter the Great?
Why did Ivan and Peter become joint Tsars?
What was the lasting impression of Peter the great's long reign?
Why did Peter stay in Deptford in 1698?
How did Peter the great influence Russia?
May 25, 2013 · Kevin Platt writes of the varied histories of the two foundational figures of Russian history—Tsar Ivan IV and Emperor Peter I. This is not a traditional retell
