Page 165 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1466 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

death in 1696. During the regency of their sister Sophia church. He restricted entry into monasteries and requisi-
(1682–1689), Peter pursued hobbies that informed his tioned church funds for the war effort.
later reforms, learning to sail and drilling his “play” reg- In 1703 Peter founded Saint Petersburg on former
iments. In 1686 Russia joined the Holy League against Swedish territory, as a base for the Baltic fleet and a port
Turkey and in 1697–1698, seeking aid for that war, for foreign trade. From about 1712 it replaced Moscow
Peter became the first Russian ruler to visit western as the capital. Saint Petersburg became Russia’s “window
Europe. For Peter it was also a voyage of self-education. on Europe.” Its main buildings were designed by foreign
His experience of Western cultures prompted him to architects and its inhabitants had to follow European
force his nobles to shave off their beards (attributes of fashions. In the seventeenth century upper-class Russian
piety for Orthodox Christians) and adopt Western dress. women had lived in semiseclusion; Peter now forced
Following peace with the Turks, in 1700 Peter them to socialize with men. Many Russians, however,
embarked upon the Great Northern War with Sweden. resented being uprooted from Moscow to these alien
After early defeats, victory at Poltava in Ukraine in 1709 surroundings.
freed him to capture Sweden’s eastern Baltic ports. In Peter was a practical man. He studied many crafts,
1711 Russia was defeated by the Turks, but a lenient set- including ship-building, wood-turning, and dentistry. He
tlement allowed Peter to pursue the Swedish war to a began his army and naval careers from the lowest ranks
successful conclusion in the Treaty of Nystad (1721). He as an example to others. But this man with a common
accepted the titles Emperor, the Great, and Father of the touch remained an absolute ruler with an ambitious
Fatherland. vision: to make Russia the equal of other European
War was a determining factor in Peter’s reforms. He nations and to win their respect. He faced serious prob-
improved the army and founded a fleet, using foreign lems. More than 90 percent of his subjects were peas-
technical expertise. His goal was to train Russians in new ants and half of these were serfs. Peter had to extend and
skills and develop private enterprise, but the state re- intensify serfdom to meet the demand for army recruits,
mained the chief producer and customer. Peter’s govern- labor, and tax revenues.The nobles, too, found lifelong
ment reforms aimed to improve administrative efficiency. service burdensome. They had no corporate rights or
In 1711 he founded the senate, in 1717–1720 new gov- institutions and they were subject to Peter’s numerous
ernment departments known as colleges, and in the regulations, devised “in order that everyone knows his
1700s–1710s organs of provincial government based on duties and no-one excuses himself on the grounds of
Swedish models.To rationalize and improve the military ignorance”—as it was stated in many edicts.These prin-
and civil service he created the Table of Ranks (1722), ciples extended to Peter’s heir, Alexis Petrovich (1690–
comprising a ladder of fourteen grades. Men from the 1718), the son of his first marriage. Alexis opposed
hereditary elite continued to enjoy prominence, although many of his father’s ideas and in 1718 he was con-
some newcomers made their fortunes, most famously demned to death for treason. In 1722 Peter duly issued
Peter’s favorite Aleksandr Menshikov (c. 1670–1729). a law that required the reigning monarch to nominate
Peter successfully established technical schools, such an heir, to reduce the risk of an “unworthy” successor.
as the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation However, Peter failed to make a nomination. He was
(1701), but new elementary schools (1714) generally succeeded by his widow, Catherine I (reigned 1725–
failed to attract pupils.The Academy of Sciences (found- 1727), a Livonian peasant whom he married in 1712.
ed 1725), initially staffed entirely by foreigners, was his An enduring view of Peter the Great is that he single-
major achievement in this field. The Orthodox Church handedly transformed Russia from a backward fringe na-
also ran schools. In 1721 Peter replaced the patriarchate tion into a major modern power, even though some of
(the last patriarch died in 1700) with a state-monitored his policies originated with his predecessors.At 201 cen-
committee of clergymen called the Holy Synod to run the timeters tall, he was larger than life. Both Lenin and