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The door had opened to international influences that would inevitably
transform the realm, particularly during the reign of Peter
I, "the Great" (1682–1725). Rarely has a ruler left
so deep an imprint upon his country; so great was his impact
that it has become common to divide Russian history into the
pre-Petrine and post-Petrine eras.
Peter devised a plan to bring his realm up to the technological
and cultural standards of western European countries. After
his first journey to northern and western Europe in 1697/98,
he ordered men of the upper classes to shave their beards, don
western attire, send their sons abroad for schooling, and free
their wives and daughters from seclusion so they might attend
Peter’s western-style social events. Influenced particularly
by the Dutch and English, he secularized the monarchy, refashioned
the army and created a navy, reorganized the administration,
transformed industry, ordered translations of major western
works, started a newspaper, and founded the Russian Academy
of Sciences, among other reforms and innovations. As for architecture
and the fine arts, many of the practitioners working in Russia
were Italian or French. He moved his capital from the ancient
city of Moscow to the newly founded (1703) city of St. Petersburg,
symbolizing Russia’s europeanized identity and imperial pretensions.
Using both diplomacy, and the firepower of his new army
and navy, Peter expanded his realm in every direction and brought
it enhanced status and respect within the family of nations.
After Russia’s victory in the Great Northern War with rival
empire Sweden (1700–1721), Peter declared his state an empire,
and its ruler an emperor. Russia engaged in active cultural,
commercial, and political contacts with European states.
Since the formation of their first polities in the ninth century,
the East Slavs and Russians had interacted commercially and
culturally with peoples of the east, especially with those of
West Asia, encompassing the ancient territories of modern-day
Turkey, Iran, northern India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the
Central Asian Republics. The Ottoman Turks’ geographical proximity,
along with their domination of the Balkan peninsula and the
Black Sea, made intense relations with their Slavic neighbors
inevitable. Early in his reign, Peter the Great managed to establish
a foothold in the region with the conquest of the town of Azov
on the Don River. However, it would be many decades before Russia
could claim dominance of the vital Black Sea.
By the time of Peter’s death, and during the reigns of his
immediate successors, the splendor and ceremony characteristic
of the wealthiest and most powerful absolute monarchies in the
rest of Europe were painstakingly imitated, and sometimes even
surpassed, at the Russian court. Peter's projects came at great
expense – measured in both money and lives – but the goals and
aspirations of this ruthless visionary overrode any human cost.
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© 2003-2004
The New York Public Library
are specific to Muscovy/Russia's internal development.
are important world historical or cultural events.
indicates specific points of sociocultural or military engagement
between Muscovy/Russia and foreign powers or individuals.
