Peter The Great
(1672-1725) Aliases: - Peter I
- Peter Alexeevich
- Pyotr Alekseyvich
- Пётр I Вели́кий
- Pyotr Velikiy
- Tsar
- Grand Duke
- Autocrat
- Lord
- Ruler
- Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia
- Emperor of All Russia
Interesting Facts: - He was 6'7"!
- Became the Tsar at 10 but after a rebellion led by his half-sister Sophia, he became co-Tsar with his half brother Ivan V. The power really lay with Sophia until she was overthrown.
- He was forced into his first marriage by his mother, and to get out of it, he eventually forced his wife to become a nun
- Married a Lituanian peasant (who came to be [Empress Catherine I]) that was the mistress of his best friend . I guess that's what you do if your best friend is the Tsar/Emperor
- He named himself Emperor in 1721, and his title was recognized by Poland, Sweden and Prussia, but not by other European rulers, because they were afraid he was trying to be superior to the mere kings.
First of all, in RUS Lecture 3, DYT covered a lot of the basics I should be covering so I'm not entirely sure what I should write about! I know we've discussed some if he was a visionary or bully. I'm not writing a long essay on it right now or anything, but I'd say bully! Peter The Great was known for "Westernizing" Russia, as we talked about in class, which may seem visionary-like, but he MADE the country westernize (e.g. making everyone shave their beards off and all that). He also was extremely interested in growing a powerful navy and fighting for control of strategic ports and bodies of water. Much of his ruling history was dominated by wars (e.g. The Great Northern War) and significant changes to the country. For example, he forced the Russian Orthadox church under the state's supervision, changed the tax laws, changed the calandar, and made Saint Petersburg the new capital. An example of his bullying and forcefulness is that when St. Petersburg was being constructed, he forbade anything outside the city to built from stone, because he wanted ALL the stonemasons working on *his* city and *his* Summer Palace (also known as Peterhof or Russian Versailles.) Another example of his bullying was when he had his own (and only surviving) son killed because the son had opposing views on some things. He also had his son's mother tried for adultery and his son's friends tortured, simply because he was mad at his son! Peter became ill and died in 1725, not having named a successor. His wife Catherine became the ruler for 2 years (although it is said that the real power during this time came from her former lover and Peter's best friend...remember, Peter took her from the guy?) until she died in 1727. For many years after this, there would be no clear successor and the throne was passed around from family to family amidst much fighting. Sources | 