Differences Between Peter The Great And Louis Xiv

← Cobban, Alfred. The Absolutist Rulers of Europe. 1969. The 1700s-Headlines in History. Ed. Stuart A. Kallen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc, 2001. 37-46

Peter The Great should be granted the title of "Most Absolute Monarch" because he created a strong navy, recognized his army according to Western standards, secularized schools, administrative and territorial divisions of the country. Peter focused on the development of science and recruited several experts to educate his people about technological advancements. He concentrated on developing commerce and industry and created a gentrified bourgeoisie population. Mirroring Western culture, he modernized the Russian alphabet, introduced the Julian calendar, and established the first Russian newspaper. Peter was a far-sighted and skillful diplomat who abolished Russia's archaic form of government and appointed a viable

     Peter the Great had many strengths, but his best was he modernized Russia. By seeing Europe, he changed many things. He changed the calendar so the New Year would be January 1. He increased agriculture by growing new crops and increased the number of factories in Russia. He also started the first Russian newspaper and enlarged their army to 200,000 men. He also got a warm water port for his “window on the sea.”

Peter the Great wanted to westernize Russia. He was eager to borrow European technology, the kind that could give him the army and navy he needed to make Russia a great power. Peter wanted to reorganize the army. He employed both Russians and Europeans as officers, built a standing army of 210,000 men, and formed the first Russian navy. Peter divided Russia into provinces in order to impose the rule of the government more effectively. He wanted to create a "police state," by which he meant a well-ordered community governed by law. After his trip to the West, he introduced Western customs, practices, and manners into Russia; he even ordered the preparation of the first Russian book of etiquette to teach Russians. He changed traditional Russian

during the late 1600s and early 1700s. King Louis XIV inherited the throne from his father, King Louis XIII. King Louis XIV followed some of his father’s ideas and continued his father’s reign of absolutism. Tsar Peter the Great ruled after Ivan IV, also known as Ivan the Terrible for his abuse of authority. Tsar Peter of Russia visited France during the early years of his rule, in hope of finding modernized ideas and fashions to reform his subjects with. Due to this, France’s absolute monarchy under King Louis XIV’s power became a template for Russia’s monarchy. Although both King Louis XIV of France and

Document 2 describes how he demanded all nobles to learn mathematics, or else they would not be allowed to marry. Perhaps influenced by his trips to Europe, Peter placed high emphasis on learning and making sure the people of his country were educated. The document illustrates that he made specific laws to educate the nobility, therefore educating and improving the country as a whole. Since it is from a decree by Peter I himself toward the people, this document is a reliable source of information for how he governed the country during his rule and can be used to demonstrate how he educated Russia. Creating the Table of Ranks, a system of government that chose officials based on merit instead of social status, would also help him ensure that Russia improved intellectually. Document 3 is another decree from Peter that starts off by explaining how he wants what is best for the people of Russia and wants them to be educated and skilled. In order to do that, he continues, foreign artisans are invited to visit Russia to spread their knowledge and craft. Peter I is a major proponent of learning things from other countries to apply to his own country, and that is made obvious by how he encourages all foreigners to come to Russia. He wants to help his country become as advanced as other countries and does that by inviting skilled foreigners to come work for him. The purpose of this piece was the influence outsiders to move to Russia, so it may be written more persuasive. Peter describes how he is helping the citizens and doing what is best to improve the country, but since he needs to appease the people, it might not be completely accurate to his real motives. Since the piece was written by one person, it’s hard to know if this decree was influential or not, but it still shows the steps that Peter the Great took to improve

Peter recognized that his country was falling behind the European countries in knowledge, technology, trade, and governing ability. Using his absolute power as a czar, he brought in foreign advisers to help him modernize, westernize and educate his people. Peter had a great respect for Europe, and his reforms had a lasting influence in Russia, though there was of course opposition from the more conservative nobles.

The creation of permanent, centralised administration supporting the training recruitment and control of Russia’s armed forces oversaw the foundation of military schools and the development of an organised, modern and effective military force. This force revolutionised the impact that Russia had as a military force but also had social consequences as the newly established ‘Table of Ranks’ meant that any man could earn status, previously only conferred to hereditary elites, through service and merit. Peter also implemented social modernization in an absolute manner by requiring courtiers, state officials, and the military to shave their beards and adopt modern clothing styles only with exception of the clergy and serfs. He accomplished this by introducing the taxation of long beards and robes in September 1698. This demonstrates the impact of Peter’s reforms and how far he was willing to go to effect the transformation of society to create a modern nation and a professional military force by reconstructing the social structure of Russia. However, this was somewhat limited as “by 1725, when, Peter died, only 12 percent of infantry officers had been born peasants” showing there was limitations to the effect of his reforms. Peter’s creation of a

Peter took Russia into the European world, “westernizing” it, and leading him to create what is known as the “the window to the west” for Russia. He did this by adopting European customs, administrative systems, architecture, and many other ideas from Europe. He mainly focused on the navy and new technology advances Russia could use (Whisenhunt 329). Usually overlooked, Peter the Great was also able to create St. Petersburg, contributing to his positive effect on Russia. St. Petersburg made Russia a major European power politically and socially, through culture and economics.

Russia adopted artisans which were individuals that made unique goods by hand. In addition, Peter sharpened his military by using the west standardized fundamentals. He also started an absolute monarchy much like the west, which gave him complete control.

“He established a regular Army and built up a Navy”. Old Russia did not posses an exceptional Army. It’s understandable as to why Peter wanted to establish an outstanding Army and Navy. When a county possesses a strong Military, it frightens their enemies. That is a good thing because the enemies will know not to start conflict.

Peter the Great the Tsar of Russia was the most influential absolute monarch for his time for changing Russia to a modernized country. At the beginning of Peter’s reign Russia was a poor country which had never experienced the renaissance. Russia also had no access to the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, or the Baltic Sea, which Peter made his main goal of his foreign policy. In 1596 Russia captured the Azov sea from the Turks after their first campaign failed. Then in 1697 Peter went to the Grand Embassy in western Europe to learn the conditions of the advanced countries, which helped Peter westernize Russia. These two events also help Peter build the Russian Navy. After the Northern War Peter sent nobles on Exploratory missions to the Central

France for Louis XIV was already strong and powerful. It had a large army as well as a commanding fleet that sailed around the world. France’s people were also somewhat well educated, with Louis XIV eventually at the head of reviving the country’s art and music endeavors. Peter the Great on the other hand, bequeathed a large, but weak economic country. He had no navy, and he did not have a large army like Louis XIV, but he eventually raised his army’s troop size, as well as eventually having a small navy (Class Notes, The Age of

Peter made more changes that improved the country, although this meant sharing his power. Peter reduced the power of the nobility but created a senate to administer to the state, thus making his absolute power significantly weaker that King Louis'. Peter greatly improves Russian finances and forces landholders to serve in the military which makes it stronger. He uses his power by also forcing Western traditions into Russian society and this greatly affects the lives of all Russians. This brings an end to the remote traditions that the Russians were still practicing since the reign of Ivan IV "The Terrible" or "Terrifying", who was also an absolutist in Russia from 1547-1584. His power was instilled into the Russian people. He was ruthless and acquired large amounts of land which expanded Russian boarders. Although intelligent, he was believed to have been mentally ill since he violently killed his heir to the throne. His absolutism was terrifying, but successful in a bad way. In Poland, Augustus "The Strong" has very little absolute power. He was a very unsuccessful leader having provoked a war with Sweden which ultimately caused the Polish kingdom to split apart. This began the decline of Poland as a European power as

Peter the Great created the largest standing army in Europe during his reign as Czar. Since Russia was land locked, Russia has never had a Navy before. Peter needed a Navy in order to fight Ottomans for the warm-water port.To do so, he was the first to ever built a Navy fleet with the knowledge he gained from the west and his love for ships. After the building of the ships, he and his Navy fought with the Ottomans. As the result, he was not able to achieve his goal of winning the warm-water port. Peter was not the only one who wanted a warm-water port, Catherine the Great was another ruler who wanted the port also. Catherine the Great also fought with the Ottomans for the port and came back with a win. She gained a warm-water port for