Peter the Great

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the rule of Peter the Great who, after spending time in the Western European powers of England and Holland in 1697-98, returned to Russia with the sole intent on Westernising and modernising his nation. The paper describes how, by creating a new capital, introducing reforms in government, military, economy and much more, Peter the Great emerged as a new kind of Russian ruler, aiming to achieve what his predecessors could not -revolutionising his state so it would be equal with the rest of Europe. The paper also discusses how not all the modifications that Peter the Great made were accepted by the conservative Russian people and that many did not last and were ultimately unsuccessful.

From the Paper:

"Peter the Great imposed many new reforms on the institutions of his nation and he began with the military, which he saw as the force that would bring Russia to the forefront of Europe. In 1700, the army faced an embarrassing defeat at the Battle of Narva against Sweden. After this, Peter was obsessed with modernising the military along western lines. To create this modern army he devised a new recruiting system where each year one conscript had to come from one in every twenty tax-paying households. In the last twenty-five years of his reign, this secured Peter 280,000 soldiers. For this militia the principles of meritocracy were enforced strictly. Supplied with modern weapons and generals from abroad, the Russian army was in the best position it had ever been, with the largest army in Europe. For most of his reign Peter was at war and so there was an ever-increasing need for revenue to fund his military."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson P, Lineages of the Absolutist State, (London, 1979).
• Blum J, Lord and Peasant in Russia from the Ninth to the Nineteenth Century, (New Jersey, 1961).
• Cracraft J, The Revolution of Peter the Great, (Cambridge, 2003).
• Dmytryshyn B, A History of Russia, (New Jersey, 1977).
• Dukes P, The Making of Russian Absolutism 1613-1801, (New York, 1982).

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