Peter the Great

Peter the Great was born in Moscow on Thursday, May 30, 1672 on the feast of Saint Isaac of Dalmatia (Hughes 1). Pyotr Alexeevich, his formal name, was the fourteenth child born to Alexi I and his second wife Nataliya Kryillovna Naryshkina. Peter towered an astounding six feet seven inches tall. He started out sharing Power with his step-brother, Ivan, who was an invalid, but obtained sole power when he was twenty-four, after Ivan's death in 1696 ('Peter I of Russia' 1). Through his domestic, military, and government reforms, Peter the Great enabled Russia to be considered a leading eastern European state ('Peter the Great' 1).

Peter the Great wanted to bring Russia into a new era. He achieved his goal of domestic reformation through Russia's economy, the church, and education. By boosting the industrial, commercial, and agricultural aspects, Peter hoped a richer Russia would invest in their military to increase strength, and therefore increasing Peter's amount of power. Unfortunately, he did not gain as much as he had hoped for, but he did help boost Russia into a period of rapid economic growth ('Peter the Great - domestic reforms' 2). Peter also saw a need for reform in the church. Not only did the church have a large source of wealth that Peter wanted a part of, but it had land, power, and serfs challenging those of the tsar. When the head of the church died in 1700, Peter did not replace him -- rather, he handed the property of the church over to a branch of the government. In turn, subjecting it to Peter's command. In 1721, a regulation was set on the church as it fell entirely under state control. This regulation stated everything the clergy could do and, in a sense, controlled their daily life. The clergy's job was to 'make their congregations totally submissive to the state by convincing them that Peter was all but God-like to ensure the population of Russia's total subordination to the crown' ('Peter the Great - domestic reforms' 1). If Russia had any hopes of becoming a superpower, they could not be fulfilled until the education aspect of society was modernized. Peter knew that proper education for both the soldiers and the officers was vital for a successful military. With this in mind, he set up schools for navigation and maths, artillery and languages, medicine, engeneering, and science ('Peter the Great - domestic reforms' 1). In 1703, a newspaper was issued for the educated public. Peter encouraged many young noble men to travel abroad and gain knowledge through expirience, as he had done. Peter welcomed newly-obtained intelligence and thought it to be an assest to Russia's development. Russian traditions were forgotton, beards were shaved, and western clothing was adopted as Russis made its way out of midieval times ('Peter the Great - domestic reforms' 1).

Peter the Great significantly modernized the Russian Navy and the Army through his military reforms. Peter both united and increased the size of the army. Before Peter, the army was not an extremely good fighting force, rather a weak and hopeless one. It consisted mainly of villagers with a few professionals here and there. The leaders of this abject group included village elders who were most certainly not experienced in the field of military leadership. In 1699, Peter set forth a standing army based upon the systems of two foreign-owned armies. For the army to be homogeneous, all of the soldiers had to go through a similar training program. After 1705, any noble or serf could enlist in the army for a lifetime. Russia had approximately one-hundred-thirty-thousand men in the army by 1725. Although inexperienced, thanks to Peter's insistence

of educated and perservirience, the Russian Army was up to the standards of the Europeans