Peter the Great - Assignment Example

PETER THE GREAT and Section # of Peter the Great was one of the most greatest emperors in the history of the Russian Empire. He brought all sorts of revolutions, reforms and improvements in Russia. He made an attempt to modernise Russia and bring it to the high European standards. He dreamt of Russia to become a maritime supremacy and he fulfilled that dream by gaining control over many maritime outlets. Moreover, he always encouraged his army men to learn from other cultures and bring the useful knowledge back home. He himself demonstrated this trait by participating in events from other cultures and acquiring their skills. He also made Russia victorious on the fields of many battles. He was a true fighter and did not get discouraged by defeats. Rather he tried to strengthen himself so as to defeat his enemy. He has brought many reforms to Russia, be it be regarding marriages, taxes or the Church. INTRODUCTION Peter the Great also known as Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov, was a tyrant and ruler of Russia in the late 17th and early 18th century. He ruled, reformed and revolutionized the country in his own ways, bringing a storm of transformations. Peter was born on 9th June 1972 to Alexei Mikhailovich. He had a reign of forty two years over Russia, starting from May 7 1982 until his death. Peter was a curious man. He was receptive to all sorts of learning, whether it belonged to his own culture or not. He was also ruthless, having no mercy for those who rebelled. His list of achievements earned him many titles, such as "the Great", "Father of His Country" and "Emperor of all the Russias". ACHIEVEMENTS Peter the Great had been given the gigantic responsibility of running the empire when he was a mere ten years old. Since then and till his death, Peter the Great's mind and body were always working to find ways in which he can improve Russia and make it better. His endeavours and successes made him great. Though he had been given power in 1682, he became the sole ruler of Russia in 1696 after the deaths of his mother, Naryshkina and half brother, Ivan V. Only then he had the authority and independence to take major moves and bring key reforms in Russia. Some of the accomplishments and reforms brought about by and the efforts put in by Peter the Great, in chronological order, are: Modernizing Russia Peter the Great was not one of the conventional types. He himself was eager to learn from other cultures and was willing to adapt their ways. He plays a big role in modernizing Russia. He had many Western advisors on the suggestions of whom he restructured the whole of the Russian Army on the standards and practices of the Europeans. Oppositions and criticisms were thrown at his new policies but he remained steadfast., showing utmost belief in his decisions. Peter cruelly suppressed everybody who rebelled against his new procedures, be it be the Streltsy, Bashkirs or the Astrakhans. Peter, during his visit to the West, realized that European ways and traditions were way superior to the Russian ones. As a result, he ordered all his courtiers and officers to get rid of their long beards. Moreover, Peter was so determined in sweeping westernization all over Russia that he passed the orders of collecting taxes from those who want to keep beards, in an attempt to decrease the number of people who keep beards. Not only his army, but other officials were also told to dress in European style. Furthermore, he endeavoured to bring a halt to the tradition of arranged marriages. He thought the custom was barbaric and led to domestic violence as the couple were being forced to stay with each other and the matrimonial ecstacy was missing. In 1699, Peter the Great changed the format of the calendar to incorporate the counting of years from the time Christ was born, rather than the old way of counting years from the Creation of the World. Now people had to celebrate New Year on 1st January, discarding the previous September 1. Russia - A Maritime Power Peter had envisioned Russia as a maritime power. To accomplish this dream, he wanted to gain control over as many maritime outlets at possible. This would ensure the stronghold of his nation on the seas. The only maritime outlet at the dispense of Russia was the White Sea at Arkhangelsk. Other possible outlets that could be acquired by Russia were the Baltic Sea, under the Swedens and the Black Sea, in command of the Ottoman Empire. Peter especially had his heart set on the Black Sea and he immediately started planning to surrender the Ottoman Empire and snatch away the possession of the Black Sea. But seeing that their opponents were large in number as compared to them, Peter sought to seek the alliance of the European monarchs in the fight against the Ottomans. But to his dismay, France was an old ally of the Ottoman Sultan. He launched efforts to capture Ottoman fortress of Azov. He reorganized his army so that they will be able to confine the fortress but his attempts initially failed. He didn't succeed until he widened the number of armymen and increased the amount of fighter ships against the Ottomans. Azov was captured in July of 1696. Following this achievement, the foundations of the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog were kept in September 1968. Learning Russia Peter never hesitated in learning things from others and as an example, he sent a delegation of officers to Malta in 1698 under boyar Boris Petrovich Sheremetyev to study the training that the Knights of Malta go through and the various abilities that they develop thereafter. Boris, as a result of this opportunity, visualized the possibility of Russia collaborating with these Knights and also saw the likelihood of a future Russian naval base. Victorious Russia Now that Russia had control of the Black Sea, Peter set his eyes on the Baltic Sea. For that, a war was waged against Sweden, whose ruler at that time was King Charles XII. At first, Russia was not strong enough to fight Sweden and the first effort at conquering the Baltic Coast was a total failure for them. Peter saw another defeat against Charles at Golovchin in July. But there was a turn of events with Peter crushing Charles and his army in the Battle of Lesnaya. Charles and his army did not give up and kept on advancing to capture Ukraine, resulting in another warfare, the Battle of Poltava. Again, the Swedish force was defeated by Peter's army. The navy of the Tsar (Peter) had become so strong that they could saturate the whole of Sweden in one go. The Treaty of Nystad ended this Great Northern War in which Russia emerged victorious, gaining ownership of places like Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and a prominent portion of Karelia . Miscellaneous Reforms The Russian Orthodox Church was also not ignored by Peter when it came to bringing reforms. When the seat of the Church leader was left vacant after Patriach of Moscow, Peter did not propose a successor. Rather, he allowed the Deputy to fulfill the duties of the Church leader. This continued, until after a period of 21 years, Peter appointed a delegation of ten wise clergymen who took away the responsibilites, authority and post that he had granted to the Deputy. Furthermore, to help his army get great men, he passed an order which stated that no Russian man can be a part of a monastery before he turns fifty. This way he can keep his able men away from clerical work, which he contemplated to be a waste of an individual. As a result, the number of men converting to monks decreased by a huge number during his reign. In 1722, Peter introduced an order of precendence, which came to be known as the Table of Ranks. Before this order, precedence was the result of birth. But now, Peter gave weightage to merit and service that a person gives to the Emperor. It remained in effect for a long time until 1917, i.e. till the Russian Monarchy was in power. In addition, Peter opened the gateways of education for small children.He made early education acompulsory for all children between the ages of 10 and 15. He especially emphasized on the education of science, mathematics and geometry for the children. It did not matter whether the child belonged to a poor family or a rich one. He has to have early education in the reign of Peter. Furthermore, Peter launched new taxes so that improvements can be made around Saint Petersburg. He finished off the cruel land tax and household tax, making their payment necessary only to individuals who owned the property. BIBLIOGRAPHY Kappeler, A.. The Russian Empire. 2001. Hartley, Janet. A Social History of the Russian Empire 1650 - 1825. 1998. Anderson, M.S.. Peter the Great. 2000. Read More