Peter And Catherine The Great In Russia

As a conclusion Peter the Great of Russia should receive the title of “Most Absolute Monarch” because he was wise, yet cruel. He created Russia's navy, but required an education before the men could join. He was fond of physical labor and didn't mind putting his men through it. Peter also westernized the entire country of Russia. Since beards were not a fashion in westernization, Peter made it mandatory for all of his nobleman to shave their beards off. He wanted Russia to be westernized completely. Peter was very strong and was not afraid of anyone's criticism. When his people tried to overthrow him (which was multiple times), it usually ended with mass executions. Peter had to let everyone know who was boss. He even interrogated his own son because of faulty reasoning. He also was a very strong Protestant Christian and made everyone follow him as a Christian. To get down to it, if things didn't go Peter's way, it all ended

Prior to Peter taking reign, the Russian society was in a rough condition. The economy was failing and the country's standing army was extremely weak. Russia was also in the midst of a war against the Ottoman Turkish Empire, with a goal to secure a Russian port on the northern coast of the Black Sea. Peter the Great ruled over Russia from 1682-1752.He tried to form warm water ports so they had the ability to trade in the in the winter. He also tried to improve Russia and modernize the culture. As an effect of these things, Peter the Great had an overall positive impact on Russia during his rule.

     During this same time Peter the Great sought to ¡°westernize¡± Russia. An autocratic tsar who had absoluter power, he did not wish to share it with his royal court. He moved the capital to St. Petersburg, and absorbed western intellectual and cultural trends. He forced all his nobles to cut of their beards, and instructed them to learn modern Western dances. Russia historically had an autocratic tsar like Peter, + the nobles have no political clout in the government. However, the nobles in Russia are huge landowners and had enormous powers over the serfs on their estates. This economic power, b/c serfs were almost like slaves, made them wealthy + prosperous. Thus, although Peter the Great rules without the input of anyone else, the nobles were westernized under his rule + enjoyed power over their serfs and economic gains.

He spent much of his childhood in the German district of the capital. There he became fascinated with the west. As an adult he toured Western Europe in an attempt to learn the latest advances in ship building as well as to campaign for a crusade against the Ottoman Empire. When he returned he continued to Westernize Russia . Some of his reforms are looked on by contemporary’s as overly fanatical for example he implemented a beard tax and forced social events to be mixed genders. ! He was the Master of bureaucracy. Peter I completely restructured the government on western models. He established a Privy Council staffed with his closest friends as well as organizing the senate in to different colleges. He secularized the government thus taking power away from the Russian Orthodox church. Peter also reorganized the army and defeated the Swedish empire in The Great Northern War. He then erected a new capital in the lands he gained and named it for his likeness Saint Petersburg. This city became an important trading hub because it had a warm water port and Russia could now trade overseas with the rest of Europe all year round. His wife Catherine succeeded him on his death in

Peter the Great made it his ambition to pursue military growth in Russia. What started out as a defenseless country, ended as an army of 210,000 men. “At his (assumption of the throne) Russia had no armed forces except for the inefficient and untrustworthy Streltsy (hereditary military units).”- Document F. Peter the Great had many accomplishments. His greatest was the army, he formed in Russia. With all the power concentrated in his hands, Peter the Great was able to get things done efficiently and effectively. It took less time because, under the rule of absolutism, no one could question Peter’s work or capabilities. He built a professional army of 210,0000 men, created a navy and fleet of forty-eight ships and smaller vessels. Rather than being an insignificant vulnerable country, Russia was made into a dominant country. The amount of power that Russia had acquired was feared by other countries. Absolutism prevented many rebellions because of a new found fear. Many countries and people were afraid of Russia’s potential to become a dominate country. However, this was beneficial for absolutist leaders because no one would question or rebel against their actions. Many historians argue that Peter the Great’s method of absolutism was an excuse for tyranny. However, his achievements for the country of Russia outweigh the costs of inequality and unshared wealth. If Peter the

Prior to Peter the Great taking reign, the Russian society was in a rough condition. The economy was failing and the country's standing army was extremely weak. Russia was also in the midst of a war against the Ottoman Turkish Empire, with a goal to secure a Russian port on the northern coast of the Black Sea. Peter the Great ruled over Russia from 1682-1752.He tried to form warm water ports so they had the ability to trade in the in the winter seasons. He also tried to improve Russia and modernize the culture. As an effect of these things, Peter the Great had an overall positive impact on Russia during his rule.

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.

As an enlightened despot, it was common for rulers to change every law and policy possible in order to make life better for their people as according to enlightenment ideals. The ruler was seen as being in charge only to serve the people (Document 3). The ruler was to put the needs of his people before the needs of himself, and could not do anything that would harm them (Document 4). In Russia, this was prominent amongst rulers. Peter the Great believed and acted on these ideas. He offered rights to the serfs in order to help them and made it so that anyone, no matter of their social standing, would suffer the same consequences for breaking the laws (Document 10, 6). According to Document 3, “the ruler and the ruled can be happy only if they are firmly united.” This shows how the people expected their rulers in this time to meet their needs to make them happy and to help them flourish as a

He was simultaneously worshiped and able to gain the nobles cooperation through this. Similarly, in Russia, Ivan III, the first real king of Russia, ended Mongol power and created a new service of nobles which were also dependent on the state. Peter the Great then proceeded to westernize Russia through his absolutist power. He built the city of St. Petersburg, where like Versailles, nobles were required to say. Peter also established a bureaucracy which was military and civilian. Overall, both absolutist rulers in France and Russia had similar political practices, like creating a grandiose environment where nobles had to stay, and developing a governmental system which gave all power to the

Peter the Great of Russia was a strong and absolute ruler. Czar Peter I used a form of absolute rule called autocratic rule. Meaning that he ruled with unlimited authority over his subjects and land. Many people tile Peter the Great as a modernizer of Russia (Mendrala, 41). Peter the Great is responsible for Russia’s westernization, he enforced Western ideas, technology, and culture. By attempting to cultivate the western European way of life Peter made Russia diplomatic, military, political, commercial, scholastic, literary, and industrial (Source #2). During his reign Peter the Great develops a number of policies, and he dramatically reforms his country. Like any ruler, Peter encounters a few problematic incidents, but is able to overcome

Peter the Great ruled 1689 and 1725 continuing many cultural aspects of Russia, but making changes and further advancing the state. Peter traveled to Western Europe incognito to westernize Russia further and brought back hundreds of artisans from Europe and educated himself in Western science and technology. An example of a change in culture to westernize by Peter was the abolition of the whip giving practice. In upper-class marriages it was customary for the father of the bride to give the groom a whip, symbolizing the control of men over women. This change in Russian illustrates how drastic a change was necessary for Russia to westernize and it is likely many people were not accepting of this change as it had been engrained in Russian culture for hundreds of years. Another cultural change was the requirement that all boyars cut of their beards, pigtails, and long sleeves that were Mongol-style and had been adopted by the boyars. This conformity emphasizes the need for Russia to change by westernization in order to gain the respect of the West. The bureaucracy was provided a higher level of

in which men would have to pay a tax in order to keep their beards.

Russia was a cold, medieval, underdeveloped society before Peter The Great and Catherine The Great came into power. Russia was cut off from the rest of the world due to lack of trade and the brutal weather conditions. Peter and Catherine both had brilliant and new ideas that no other Russian tsar had ever had. These ideas helped shape Russia into the sophisticated, modern country it is today. Peter The Great and Catherine

Nevertheless, despite the fact that I do not oppose to this assumption, I suggest that my analysis on the changing nature of the Russian monarchs starts with a discussion of the rule of Ivan III, whose image embodies some degree of ambivalence, before analyzing the two most illustrious examples of “reforming” monarchs in the Russian history, namely Peter the Great and Ekaterina the Great and elaborate on the reasons what impeded their successors from continuing the policy orientation of their predecessors, and became even more inert. Therefore, the subsequent section of the paper will first explore a couple of examples among the predecessors of Peter the Great, who in my view, albeit not being explicitly labeled as “reforming tsars”, undoubtedly have demonstrated some of the vital for a progressive ruler characteristics, then it will examine the two most notable examples of visionary sovereigns in the Russian history, before concluding and briefly elaborating on the present state of

Peter the Great became a sole ruler of Russia in 1696, made a general positive influence on Russia, and addressed many issues and reformed the country geographically, economically, culturally, and militarily.