Peter the great biography accomplishments of president

As part of his efforts to Westernize Russia, Peter the Great mandated the adoption of Western-style dress and customs among the Russian nobility. He believed that by modernizing their appearance and behavior, the Russian elite would more closely align with European norms and values. Similarly, women were encouraged to adopt Western fashion trends and etiquette.

InPeter the Great founded the Russian Academy of Sciences, a prestigious institution dedicated to promoting scientific research, scholarship, and innovation in Russia. It provided a forum for intellectuals and scientists to collaborate, conduct research, and disseminate their findings. Peter the Great recognized the importance of economic development in modernizing Russia and strengthening its position as a major European power.

To promote industrialization and trade, he implemented various measures aimed at stimulating economic growth and diversification. The tsar's navy was powerful enough that the Russians could penetrate Sweden.

Peter the great biography accomplishments of president: Peter the Great was a

Still, Charles XII refused to yield, and not until his death in battle in did peace become feasible. After the battle of GrengamSweden made peace with all powers but Russia by Russia acquired IngriaEstoniaLivoniaand a substantial portion of Karelia. In turn, Russia paid two million Riksdaler and surrendered most of Finland. The expedition ended in complete disaster when the entire expeditionary force was slaughtered.

To the end ofthe preparatory phase of administrative reform in Russia was completed. AfterPeter established collegiums in place of the old central agencies of government, including foreign affairs, war, navy, expense, income, justice, and inspection. Later others were added, to regulate mining and industry. Each college consisted of a president, a vice-president, a number of councilors and assessors, and a procurator.

Some foreigners were included in various colleges but not as president. Pavel Yaguzhinsky was entrusted with the observation of the "soonest possible establishment of colleges by their presidents". Peter did not have enough loyal, talented or educated persons to put in full charge of the various departments. Peter preferred to rely on groups of individuals who would keep check on one another.

InPeter investigated why the formerly Swedish province of Livonia was so orderly.

Peter the great biography accomplishments of president: Peter the Great modernized Russia—which, at

He discovered that the Swedes spent as much administering Livonia times smaller than his empire as he spent on the entire Russian bureaucracy. He was forced to dismantle the province's government. Peter's last years were marked by further reform in Russia. On 2 November N. The coronation of the Russian monarch took place in Uspensky Cathedral, Moscow.

Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the Eastbut he refused. In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations. By the grace of Godthe most excellent and great sovereign emperor Pyotr Alekseevich the ruler of all the Russias: of Moscowof Kievof Vladimirof NovgorodTsar of KazanTsar of Astrakhan and Tsar of Siberiasovereign of Pskovgreat prince of Smolenskof Tverof Yugorskof Permof Vyatkaof Bulgaria and others, sovereign and great prince of the Novgorod Lower lands, of Chernigovof Ryazanof Rostovof Yaroslavlof Belozerskof Udoraof Kondia and the sovereign of all the northern lands, and the sovereign of the Iverian landsof the Kartlian and Georgian Kingsof the Kabardin landsof the Circassian and Mountain princes and many other states and lands western and eastern here and there and the successor and sovereign and ruler.

InPeter issued a Decree on the succession to the throne, in which he abolished the ancient custom of transferring the throne to direct descendants in the male line as he had no son. The decree was so unusual for Russian society that it was necessary to explain it. Peter created a new order of precedence for landowners known as the Table of Ranks.

Formerly, precedence had been determined by birth. To deprive the Boyars of their high positions, Peter directed that precedence should be determined by merit and service to the Emperor. The Table of Ranks continued to remain in effect until the Russian monarchy was overthrown in The once powerful Persian Safavid Empire to the south was in deep decline.

Taking advantage of the profitable situation, Peter launched the Russo-Persian War of —otherwise known as "The Persian Expedition of Peter the Great", which drastically increased Russian influence for the first time in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea region, and prevented the Ottoman Empire from making territorial gains in the region. After considerable success and the capture of many provinces and cities in the Caucasus and northern mainland Persia, the Safavids were forced to hand over territory to Russia, comprising DerbentShirvanGilanMazandaranBakuand Astrabad.

Within twelve years all the territories were ceded back to Persia, now led by the charismatic military genius Nader Shahas part of the Treaty of Reshtthe Treaty of Ganjaand as the result of a Russo-Persian alliance against the Ottoman Empire, which was the common enemy of both. Peter changed the system of direct taxation. He abolished the land tax and household tax and replaced them with a poll tax.

The new head taxes were payable by serfs and paupers. Peter began construction of the Monplaisir Palace based on his own sketches. He ordered to purchase 2, lime trees which were shipped to St Petersburg. Peterhof was a grand residence, becoming known as the "Russian Versailles ". In the winter ofPeter, whose overall health was never robust, began having problems with his urinary tract and bladder.

In the summer ofa team of doctors performed surgery releasing upwards of four pounds of blocked peter the great biography accomplishments of president. Peter remained bedridden until late autumn. In the first week of October, restless and certain he was cured, Peter began a lengthy inspection tour of various projects. Rastrelli finished his monument to Peter I St.

Michael's Castle. According to legendin November, at Lakhta along the Gulf of Finland to inspect some ironworks, Peter saw a group of soldiers drowning near shore and, wading out into near-waist deep water, came to their rescue. The story, however, has been viewed with skepticism by some historians, pointing out that the German chronicler de:Jacob von Staehlin is the only source for the story.

In early JanuaryPeter was struck once again with uremia or azotemia. Legend has it that before lapsing into unconsciousness Peter asked for a paper and pen and scrawled an unfinished note that read: "Leave all to Peter died between four and five in the morning 8 February. An autopsy revealed his bladder to be infected with gangrene. He is interred in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.

After his death, students came to the Military College with a request to "leave science" under the pretext of "unconsciousness and incomprehensibility. Peter had a great interest in dissenters and visited gatherings of Quakers and Mennonites. Peter was brought up in the Russian Orthodox faith, but he had low regard for the Church hierarchy, which he kept under tight governmental control.

The traditional leader of the Church was the Patriarch of Moscow. Inwhen the office fell vacant, Peter refused to name a replacement, allowing the patriarch's coadjutor or deputy to discharge the duties of the office. Peter could not tolerate the patriarch exercising power superior to the tsar, as indeed had happened in the case of Philaret — and Nikon — In he invited Theophan Prokopovicha pietist and astronomer, to come to the capital.

InPeter followed the advice of Prokopovich in designing the Holy Synod as a council of ten clergymen. For leadership in the Church, Peter turned increasingly to Ukrainians, who were more open to reform, but were not well loved by the Russian clergy. Peter implemented a law that stipulated that no Russian man could join a monastery before the age of fifty.

He felt that too many able Russian men were being wasted on clerical work when they could be joining his new and improved army. Peter the Great had two wives, with whom he had fifteen children, three of whom survived to adulthood. Peter's mother selected his first wife, Eudoxia Lopukhinawhen he was only This was done to prevent fighting between the stronger noble houses and to bring fresh blood into the family.

He divorced the tsaritsa and forced her to join a convent. Inhis son Alexei Petrovich was locked up in the Peter and Paul fortress, whom he regarded as the rebellious Absalom. Alexei was tried and confessed under torture during questioning conducted by a secular court count Tolstoy. He was convicted and sentenced to be executed. The sentence of high treason could only be carried out with Peter's signed authorization, and Alexei died in prison, as Peter hesitated before making the decision.

Alexei's death most likely resulted from injuries suffered during his torture. She was dragged from her home, tried on false charges of adultery, publicly flogged, and confined in monasteries while being forbidden to be talked to. InPeter had his second wife, Catherinecrowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler. By his two wives, he had fifteen children: three by Eudoxia and twelve by Catherine.

These included four sons named Pavel and three sons named Peterall of whom died in infancy. Only three of his children survived to adulthood. Peter's legacy has always been a major concern of Russian intellectuals. Peter is a more complex character than he is sometimes given credit for. Some believe Peter's reforms divided the country socially and weakened it spiritually.

Peter compared himself with King David or Noah with a divine mission. Western writers and political analysts recounted "The Testimony" or secret will of Peter the Great. It supposedly revealed his grand evil plot for Russia to control the world via conquest of Constantinople, Afghanistan and India. It was a forgery made in Paris at Napoleon's command when he started the invasion of Russia in Nevertheless, it is still quoted in foreign policy circles.

The Communists executed the last Romanovs, and their historians such as Mikhail Pokrovsky presented strongly negative views of the entire dynasty. Stalin however admired how Peter strengthened the state, and wartime, diplomacy, industry, higher education, and government administration. Stalin wrote in"when Peter the Great, who had to deal with more developed countries in the West, feverishly built works in factories for supplying the army and strengthening the country's defenses, this was an original attempt to leap out of the framework of backwardness.

After the fall of Communism inscholars and the general public in Russia and the West gave fresh attention to Peter and his role in Russian history. His reign is now seen as the decisive formative event in the Russian imperial past. Many new ideas have merged, such as whether he strengthened the autocratic state or whether the tsarist regime was not statist enough given its small bureaucracy.

He initiated a wide range of economic, social, political, administrative, educational and military reforms which ended the dominance of traditionalism and religion in Russia and initiated its westernization. His efforts included secularization of education, organization of administration for effective governance, enhanced use of technology, establishing an industrial economy, modernization of the army and establishment of a strong navy.

Historian Y. Vodarsky said in that Peter, "did not lead the country on the path of accelerated economic, political and social development, did not force it to 'achieve a leap' through several stages On the contrary, these actions to the greatest degree put a brake on Russia's progress and created conditions for holding it back for one and a half centuries!

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica"He did not completely bridge the gulf between Russia and the Western countries, but he achieved considerable progress in development of the national economy and trade, education, science and culture, and foreign policy. Russia became a great powerwithout whose concurrence no important European problem could thenceforth be settled.

His internal reforms achieved progress to an extent that no earlier innovator could have envisaged. While the cultural turn in historiography has downplayed diplomatic, economic and constitutional issues, new cultural roles have been found for Peter, for example in architecture Petrine Baroque and dress. James Cracraft argues:. The iconic representations of dead saints typical for centuries of Russian visual culture suddenly give way to naturalistic portraiture.

Peter has been featured in many histories, novels, plays, films, monuments and paintings. The former dealt with The Bronze Horsemanan equestrian statue raised in Peter's honour. Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy wrote a biographical historical novel about him, named Peter Iin the s. There was a man named Peter the Great who was a Russian Tzar; When remodeling his the peter the great biography accomplishments of president put the throne behind the bar; He lined the walls with vodka, rum, and 40 kinds of beers; And advanced the Russian culture by years!

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customsthe patronymic is Alekseyevich and the family name is Romanov. This article is about the Russian monarch.

For other uses, see Peter the Great disambiguation. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Eudoxia Lopukhina. Tsardom of Russia Russian Empire. Treelike list. Ideology of Peter's reign. Main article: Grand Embassy of Peter the Great. Main article: Great Northern War. JD Vance. Jimmy Carter. Justin Trudeau. Sweeping Changes Peter focused on the development of science and recruited several experts to educate his people about technological advancements.

Territorial Gains Peter acquired territory in Estonia, Latvia and Finland; and through several wars with Turkey in the south, he secured access to the Black Sea. Watch Next. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. Famous Political Figures. This was primarily because Russia rejected modernization and clung to medieval practices. During his reign, Peter the Great carried out extensive reforms which affected every field of national life including administration, industry, commerce, technology, and culture.

FromPeter I gave industrial development immense importance. Metallurgical and manufacturing industries were created on a large scale. Industrialists were given various privileges including the right to buy peasant serfs for labor in workshops. Studies were conducted on the industrial methods used in other countries and foreign experts were employed.

The foreign trade turnover increased seven times during the reign of Peter I and by the middle of the 18th century, Russia had overtaken Europe in metallurgical industry. Peter I was the first Tsar of Russia to sponsor education on secular lines.

Peter the great biography accomplishments of president: Peter I known as Peter

Various secular schools were opened which admitted children of soldiers, officials and churchmen. The translation of books from western European languages was actively promoted; and Russians were permitted and even encouraged to go abroad for education. The Russian alphabet was modernizedthe Julian calendar was introduced and the first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti Records was established in Also the Russian Academy of Sciences was instituted inwhich today includes around institutions and 55 thousand scientific researchers.

The establishment of the Table of Ranks was a direct blow to the power of the existing hereditary nobilityor Boyars. Previously, high-ranking state positions were hereditary. However with Table of Ranks anyone, including a commoner, could work their way up the bureaucratic hierarchy with sufficient hard work and skill. This created a new generation of technocrats who replaced the old Boyar class.

Table of Rank was a huge success and remained in effect till the Russian Revolution of InPeter abolished the Boyar council and established by decree a new state body known as the Governing Senate. It underwent changes during the reigns of subsequent tsars and went on to become one of the most important institutions of Imperial Russiaespecially in administration and law.