Peter the Great

Peter the Great, the most influential czar and military leader in Russian history, transformed his country from an almost medieval backwater region into one of the world's great powers at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Peter combined Western ideas with Russian tradition to modernize his country and to create a powerful army and navy. Born the only child of Czar Alexis and his second wife, Natalya Naryshkin, on June 9, 1672, in Moscow, Peter struggled with his half brothers and sisters for power after the czar's death. In 1689, following a series of political and military movements, Peter, at age seventeen, became the sole Russian authority. While celebrated mostly for his "Westernization" of Russia, Peter put most of his energy into achievements that related directly to the military and warfare. His reign of more than thirty-five years saw peace prevail for only a single year. During his first decade of rule, Peter grew from a gangly teenager into a formidable, robust figure at six and a half feet tall - a physical -development prelude of the growth and presence he would bring to Russia. Possessing a keen interest in military history and theories, Peter established two personal guard regiments to experiment with drills and to develop war games, enabling him to better understand his studies. The young Peter realized that land power alone could not establish Russian military might, and so he began an upgrade of his navy. In 1696, Peter, at only twenty-four years of age, launched an offensive against the Turks at Azov. That victory provided Russia access to the Black Sea. Despite this success, Peter knew that neither his armed forces nor his country as a whole compared favorable with the other European powers. Having assumed the throne of a country that had missed both the Renaissance and the Reformation, which left it nearly a century behind the rest of Europe in cultural and scientific developments, Peter was determined to understand how and why the Russians lagged behind their neighbors.In 1697-98, Peter traveled throughout Europe under a pseudonym and without his courtly trappings. He studied shipbuilding in Holland and England and observed gunnery practice in Prussia. Along the way he visited military and civilian schools, factories, and museums as well as military arsenals and installations. When Peter returned to Russia, he brought along Western educators, businessmen, and military personnel to serve as advisers. Before Peter could institute his version of modernization, he first had to put down an internal rebellion. He did so in a bloodbath that signaled to his people that, despite his modern ideas, his rule would be absolute. Peter's harsh treatment of his opponents - he subordinated the nobility and the church to the throne - squelched any major resistance to the radical changes he instituted. Peter demanded that education, trade, and industry incorporate Western ideas and methods, and he established an Academy of Sciences. He also simplified the Russian alphabet, introduced Arabic numerals, and provided for the publication of the first newspaper in his country. In his efforts to Westernize Russia, Peter went so far as to demand that all men shave their beards and that the court wear Western clothing. He even encouraged the heretofore unknown habits in Russia of smoking tobacco and drinking coffee. Along with civil modernization, Peter set out to form a navy and an army that could maintain Russian security and expand its borders. Beginning with a sea force of next to nothing. Peter began a shipbuilding campaign that launched more than fifty modern warships and seven hundred support craft. The Russian navy soon ruled the Baltic and rivaled the European powers for dominance in the Atlantic. Within the army Peter began a conscription system that made every twenty households responsible for providing one soldier. Peter was so dedicated to the growth of the Russian army that he greeted the birth of one of his sons as "another recruit." As the Russian army grew to more than a quarter million men, Peter's Western advisers reorganized his force and introduced modern drills. Peter provided new uniforms and the most modern flintlock muskets and artillery produced in his own factories. He introduced training for officers and based promotions on merit rather than social standing.Peter spent much time in the field with his army and returned to Moscow only when absolutely necessary. He often marched side