Editing Peter the Great

{{Short description|Tsar of Russia from 1682 to 1725}}
{{About|the Russian monarch}}
{{Pp|small=yes}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Pp-move}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Peter the Great
| image        = Peter I. Портрет царя Петра I (прижизненый). худ.Moor v1(b).jpg
| caption      = 1717 portrait by [[Carel de Moor]]
| succession   = [[Emperor of Russia]]
| reign        = 2 November 1721 – {{Nowrap|8 February 1725}}
| successor    = [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine I]]
| predecessor  = ''Himself as [[Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia|Tsar of Russia]]''
| succession1  = [[Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia|Tsar of all Russia]]
| reign1       = 7 May 1682 – {{Nowrap|2 November 1721}}
| predecessor1 = [[Feodor III of Russia|Feodor III]]
| successor1   = ''Himself as [[Emperor of Russia]]''
| cor-type1    = [[Coronation of the Russian monarch|Coronation]]
| coronation1  = 25 June 1682
| reg-type1    = Co-monarch
| regent1      = [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan V]] (1682–1696)
| reg-type2    = [[Regent]]
| regent2      = [[Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia|Sophia Alekseyevna]] (1682–1689)
| spouses      = {{indented plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Eudoxia Lopukhina]]|1689|1698|reason=annulled}}
* {{Marriage|[[Catherine I of Russia|Marta Skowrońska]] (later Catherine I)|1707}}
}}
| issue        = {{indented plainlist|
* [[Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia]]
* [[Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia|Anna, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp]]
* [[Elizabeth, Empress of Russia]]
* [[Peter Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia]]
* [[Grand Duchess Natalia Petrovna of Russia (1718–1725)|Grand Duchess Natalia Petrovna]]
}}
| issue-link   = #Issue
| house        = [[House of Romanov|Romanov]]
| full name    = Peter Alekseyevich Romanov
| father       = [[Alexis of Russia]]
| mother       = [[Natalya Naryshkina]]
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1672|6|9|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Moscow]], Russia
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1725|2|8|1672|6|9|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia
| burial_place = [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Peter and Paul Cathedral]]
| signature    = Peter the Great Signature.svg
| religion     = [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian Orthodoxy]]
| module       = {{Infobox military person
  | embed      = yes
  | allegiance = {{ubli|[[Tsardom of Russia]]|[[Russian Empire]]}}
  | branch     = {{ubli|{{ill|Army of Peter I|ru|Армия Петра I}}|[[Imperial Russian Army]]}}
  | battles = {{Hidden
|Treelike list
|{{Tree list}}
* [[Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700)|Russo-Turkish War]]
** [[Azov campaigns (1695–1696)|Azov campaigns]]
* [[Great Northern War]]
** [[Great Northern War#1702–1710: Russia and the Baltic provinces|Ingrian campaign]]
** [[Siege of Nöteborg (1702)|Siege of Nöteborg]]
** {{ill|Siege of Nyenschantz|ru|Осада Ниеншанца (1703)}}
** [[Siege of Narva (1704)|Siege of Narva]]
** [[Battle of Grodno (1708)|Battle of Grodno]]
** [[Battle of Lesnaya]]
** [[Battle of Poltava]]
** [[Siege of Viborg (1710)|Siege of Viborg]]
** [[Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia]]
** [[Pruth River Campaign]]
** [[Battle of Helsinki (1713)|Battle of Helsinki]]
** [[Battle of Gangut]]
* [[Russo-Persian War (1722–1723)|Persian campaign]]
** {{ill|Battle of the Inchkhe River|ru|Битва на реке Инчхе}}
** [[Battle of Derbent (1722)|Battle of Derbent]]
** [[Peter the Great's capture of Rasht|Capture of Rasht]]
** {{ill|Siege of Baku|ru|Осада Баку}}
{{Tree list/end}}
|-
|style=text-align:center;
  }}
}}
}}

'''Peter I''' ({{Langx|ru|Пётр I Алексеевич|Pyotr I Alekseyevich}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪtɕ|IPA}}; {{OldStyleDate|9 June|1672|30 May}}
– {{OldStyleDate|8&nbsp;February|1725|28 January}}), better known as '''Peter the Great''',{{#tag:ref|{{Langx|ru|Пётр Великий|Pyotr Velikiy}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈpʲɵtr vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj|IPA}}. Peter is also known by the following nicknames:
* {{langx|ru|Пётр Алексеев сын Михайлов|Pyotr Alekseyev syn Mikhaylov|translation=Pyotr Mikhaylov, son of Aleksey}};
* {{langx|ru|Пётр Михайлов|Pyotr Mikhaylov}}.<ref name=A/>|group=note}} was the [[Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia|Tsar of all Russia]] from 1682 and the first [[Emperor of Russia|Emperor of all Russia]] from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned jointly with his half-brother [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan V]] until 1696. From this year, Peter was an [[Absolute monarchy|absolute monarch]], an [[autocrat]] who remained the ultimate authority and organized a well-ordered [[police state]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kollmann |first=Nancy Shields |authorlink=Nancy Shields Kollmann |title=Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Russia, 1500–1725 |series=New Studies in European History |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1070-2513-4 |pages=403–415 |chapter=Peter the Great and spectacles of suffering |oclc=780398248 |ol=25252905M}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite journal |last1=Костецкая |first1=Е. В. |last2=Суслова |first2=Л. Н. |last3=Аксенова |first3=В. А. |date=2023-10-07 |title=Следствие по делу князя М. П. Гагарина в контексте развития системы государственного контроля в первой четверти XVIII века |url=https://www.nauka-dialog.ru/jour/article/view/4813 |journal=Научный диалог |language=ru |volume=12 |issue=7 |pages=346–373 |doi=10.24224/2227-1295-2023-12-7-346-373 |issn=2227-1295 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Much of Peter's reign was consumed by lengthy wars against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] and [[Swedish Empire|Swedish]] empires. His [[Azov campaigns]] were followed by the foundation of the [[Imperial Russian Navy|Russian Navy]]; after his victory in the [[Great Northern War]] despite initial difficulties, Russia annexed a [[Treaty of Nystad|significant portion]] of the eastern [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] coastline and was officially renamed from a [[Tsardom of Russia|tsardom]] to an [[Russian Empire|empire]]. Peter led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, [[Westernization|Westernized]], and based on radical [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].{{Sfn|Cracraft|2003}}{{Sfn|Driessen-Van het Reve|2006|p=264}}

In December 1699, he introduced the [[Julian calendar]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peter the Great ordered to establish January 1st as the New Year's Day countrywide |url=https://www.prlib.ru/en/news/1284185 |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Presidential Library |language=en}}</ref> which replaced the [[Byzantine calendar]] that was long used in Russia,{{Sfn|Cracraft|2003|p=124}} but the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] was particularly resistant to this change.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McIntosh |first=Matthew |date=2019-12-30 |title=Peter the Great and the New Year in Russia |url=https://brewminate.com/peter-the-great-and-the-new-year-in-russia/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1703, he introduced the first Russian newspaper, ''[[Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti]]'', and ordered the [[Reforms of Russian orthography#18th-century changes|civil script]], a reform of Russian orthography largely designed by himself. On the shores of the [[Neva]] River, he founded [[Saint Petersburg]], a city famously dubbed by [[Francesco Algarotti]] as the "window to the West".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cracraft |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gg19b0fFbIIC&dq=Algarotti+Sint+Petersburg+1737&pg=PA228 |title=The Petrine Revolution in Russian Architecture By James Cracraft |year= 1988 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-2261-1664-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ryan |first1=Judith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Jccp2DawwMC&dq=Algarotti+window+to+the+West&pg=PA58 |title=Cultures of Forgery: Making Nations, Making Selves |last2=Thomas |first2=Alfred |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1354-5827-0}}</ref> In 1712, Peter relocated the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg, a status it retained until 1918.

Peter had a great interest in plants, animals and minerals, in malformed creatures or exceptions to the [[Scientific law|law of nature]] for his [[cabinet of curiosities]]. He encouraged research of deformities, all along trying to debunk the superstitious fear of [[monster]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Driessen-Van het Reve |first=Jozien J. |title=De Kunstkamera van Peter de Grote. De Hollandse inbreng, gereconstrueerd uit brieven van Albert Seba en Johann Daniel Schumacher uit de jaren 1711–1752 |publisher=Verloren |date=2006 |isbn=978-9-0655-0927-7 |location=Hilversum |page=336 |language=nl}}</ref> He promoted [[Industrialization in the Russian Empire#Industry during the reign of Peter I|industrialization in the Russian Empire]] and higher education. The [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] and the [[Saint Petersburg State University]] were founded in 1724, and invited [[Christian Wolff (philosopher)|Christian Wolff]] and [[Willem 's Gravesande]].

Peter is primarily credited with the modernization of the country, quickly transforming it into a major European power. His [[government reform of Peter the Great|administrative reforms]], creating a [[Governing Senate]] in 1711, the [[Collegium (ministry)|Collegium]] in 1717 and the [[Table of Ranks]] in 1722 had a lasting impact on Russia, and many institutions of the [[Committee of Ministers of the Russian Empire|Russian government]] trace their origins to his reign.

==Early life==
[[File:Young Peter the Great parsuna.jpg|thumb|Peter as a child|left]][[File:Double throne of Russia 04 by shakko.jpg|thumb|Double throne in [[Kremlin Armoury]]. A large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and problems]][[File:Museum IMG 1156 (603455489).jpg|thumb|Peter's ship, rigged with a sail and a mast with the help of Dutch carpenters]]

Peter grew up at [[Izmaylovo Estate]] and was educated at the [[Amusement Palace]] from an early age by several tutors commissioned by his father, most notably [[Nikita Zotov]], [[Patrick Gordon]], and [[Paul Menesius]]. When his father died in 1676, he left the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the crippled [[Feodor III of Russia|Feodor&nbsp;III]].{{Sfn|Massie|1980|pp=25–26}} Throughout this period, the government was largely run by [[Artamon Matveyev]], an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of the [[Naryshkin family]] and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors.

This position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family ([[Maria Miloslavskaya]] was the first wife of Alexis I) and Naryshkin family ([[Natalya Naryshkina]] was his second wife) over who should inherit the throne. He [[coregency|jointly ruled]] with his elder half-brother, [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan&nbsp;V]], until 1696. Ivan was next in line but was weakminded and blind. Consequently, the [[Duma#Boyar Duma|Boyar Duma]] (a council of Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become tsar, with his mother as [[regent]]. A hole was cut in the back of the throne, so that she, literally behind the scenes, could whisper to the two boys.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Museums of the Moscow Kremlin: ARMOURY CHAMBER |url=https://armoury-chamber.kreml.ru/en-Us/exposure/view/vitrina-48-dvoynoy-tron-konets-xvii-veka/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=armoury-chamber.kreml.ru}}</ref>

The "Moscow Grand Discharge" started in 1677 and was completed in 1688; it affected noble families with high ranks in the administration; the ministries were also reduced in number. This provoked fierce reactions. [[Sophia Alekseyevna|Sophia]], one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a [[Moscow Uprising of 1682|rebellion]] of the ''[[streltsy]]'' (Russia's elite military corps) in April–May 1682. In the subsequent conflict, some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Artamon Matveyev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence.{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000|p=214}}

The ''streltsy'' made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys (the clan of [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan]]) and their allies to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior. Sophia then acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat.

From 1682 to 1689, Peter and his mother were banned to [[Preobrazhenskoye District|Preobrazhenskoye]]. At the age of 16, he discovered an [[Botik of Peter the Great|English boat]] on the estate, had it restored and learned to sail. He received a [[sextant]], but did not know how to use it. Peter was fascinated by [[sundial]]s. Therefore, he began a search for a foreign expert in the [[German Quarter]]. Peter befriended [[Andrew Vinius]], a bibliophile, who taught him Dutch and two Dutch carpenters, Frans Timmerman and Karsten Brandt. Peter studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences ([[fortification]]). He was not interested in a musical education but liked fireworks and drumming.

Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name; [[Boris Alekseyevich Golitsyn|Boris Golitsyn]] and [[Fyodor Apraksin]] played an important role. He engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding in [[Pereslavl-Zalessky]] and sailing at [[Lake Pleshcheyevo]], as well as mock battles with his [[Toy army of Peter I|toy army]]. Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt a more conventional approach and arranged his marriage to [[Eudoxia Lopukhina]] in 1689.{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000|p=218}} The marriage was a failure, and 10 years later, Peter forced his wife to become a nun and thus freed himself from the union.

By the summer of 1689, Peter, planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful [[Russo-Crimean Wars|Crimean campaigns]] against the [[Crimean Khanate]] in an attempt to stop devastating [[Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe|Crimean Tatar raids]] into Russia's southern lands. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with some leaders of the Streltsy, who continually aroused disorder and dissent. Peter, warned by others from the Streltsy, escaped in the middle of the night to the impenetrable monastery of [[Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius|Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra]]; there he slowly gathered adherents who perceived he would win the power struggle. Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter&nbsp;I and Ivan&nbsp;V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name and her position as a member of the royal family.{{Sfn|Massie|1980|pp=96–106}}

Meanwhile, he was a frequent guest in the German quarter, where he met [[Anna Mons|Anna]] and [[Willem Mons]]. In 1692 he sent [[Eberhard Isbrand Ides]] as envoy to the [[Kangxi Emperor]] of China. In 1693 he sailed to [[Solovetsky Monastery]] and accepted [[divine providence]] after surviving a storm.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Collis |first=Robert |title=The Petrine Instauration: Religion, Esotericism and Science at the Court of Peter the Great, 1689–1725 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1424361 |via=www.academia.edu |date=2015}}</ref>
Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother. It was only when Natalya died in 1694 that Peter, then aged 22, became an independent sovereign.{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000|p=216}} Formally, Ivan&nbsp;V was a co-ruler with Peter, though being ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in 1696 without male offspring.

Peter grew to be extremely tall, especially for the time period, reportedly standing {{Height|ft=6|in=8}}.{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000|p=216}} He was seen as a "second [[Goliath]]" or [[Samson]].{{Sfn|Collis|2015|p=365}}<ref name="auto4">[https://web.archive.org/web/20120204044857/https://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Prokop2.html Prokopovich's Funeral Sermon on Peter I]</ref> [[Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon|Saint-Simon]] described him in 1717 as "tall, well-formed and slim... with a look both bewildered and fierce". Peter had noticeable facial tics, and he may have suffered from [[neck spasm]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Stählin|1785|pp=92–94}}; {{Harvnb|Gordon|1755|p=318}}; {{Cite web |title=Peter the Great |url=https://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/212pet.html#Alexander%20Gordon |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=history.hanover.edu}}</ref>

==Ideology of Peter's reign==
[[File:Kronstadt Peter the Great monument.jpg|thumb|Monument to Peter the Great in [[Kronstadt]] ]]

As a young man, Peter I adopted the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] model of existence in a pragmatic world of competition and personal success, which largely shaped the philosophy of his [[reformism]]. He perceived the Russian people as rude, unintelligent, stubborn in their sluggishness, a child, a lazy student. He highly appreciated the state's role in the life of society, saw it as an ideal instrument for achieving high goals, saw it as a universal institution for transforming people, with the help of violence and fear, into educated, conscious, law-abiding and useful to the whole society subjects.<ref name="A">{{Cite web |last=Anisimov |first=Y. V. |author-link=:Ru:Анисимов, Евгений Викторович |date=16 June 2023 |orig-date=13 December 2022 |title=Пётр I |url=https://bigenc.ru/c/piotr-i-ed3825/?v=7552714 |website=[[Great Russian Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> Peter had a keen interest in ''[[The Education of a Christian Prince]]'' which offers advice to rulers on how to govern justly and wisely.{{Cn|date=May 2024}}

He introduced into the concept of the [[Autocracy|autocrat's]] power the notion of the [[monarch]]'s duties. He considered it necessary to take care of his subjects, to protect them from enemies, to work for their benefit. Above all, he put the interests of Russia. He saw his mission in turning it into a power similar to [[Western world|Western]] countries, and subordinated his own life and the lives of his subjects to the realization of this idea. Gradually penetrated the idea that the task should be solved with the help of reforms, which will be carried out at the autocrat's will, who creates good and punishes evil. He considered the morality of a statesman separately from the morality of a private person and believed that the sovereign in the name of state interests can go to murder, violence, forgery and deceit.<ref name=A/>

He went through the naval service, starting from the lowest ranks: [[Bombardier (rank)|bombardier]] (1695), [[captain]] (1696), [[colonel]] (1706), [[schout-bij-nacht]] (1709), [[Vice admiral|vice-admiral]] (1714), [[admiral]] (1721). By hard daily work (according to the figurative expression of Peter the Great himself, he was simultaneously "forced to hold a sword and a [[quill]] in one right hand") and courageous behavior he demonstrated to his subjects his personal positive example, showed how to act, fully devoting himself to the fulfillment of duty and service to the [[Homeland|fatherland]].<ref name=A/>

==Reign==
[[File:Europa 1721.svg|thumb|Europe in 1721 {{In lang|de}}]]
[[File:Capture of Azov 1696.png|thumb|''[[Azov campaigns|Capture of Azov]]'', 1696, by [[Robert Ker Porter]]|left]]

Peter reigned for around 43 years. [[Economic reforms under Peter the Great|He implemented sweeping reforms]] aimed at modernizing Russia.<ref>Evgenii V. Anisimov, ''The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress Through Violence in Russia'' (Routledge, 2015)</ref> Heavily influenced by his advisors, like [[Jacob Bruce]], Peter reorganized the Russian army along modern lines and dreamed of making Russia a [[maritime power]]. He faced much opposition to these policies at home but brutally suppressed rebellions against his authority, including by the [[Streltsy]], [[Bashkirs]], [[Astrakhan]], and the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the [[Bulavin Rebellion]].

In his process to westernize Russia, he wanted members of his family to marry other European royalty. In the past, his ancestors had been snubbed at the idea; however, it was proving fruitful. He negotiated with [[Frederick William, Duke of Courland]] to marry his niece, [[Anna of Russia|Anna Ivanovna]]. He used the wedding in order to launch his new capital, St Petersburg, where he had already ordered building projects of westernized palaces and buildings. Peter hired Italian and German architects to design it.{{Sfn|Montefiore|2016|p=187}} He attracted [[Domenico Trezzini]], [[Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli]], [[Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond]] and [[Andreas Schlüter]].

To improve his nation's position on the seas, Peter sought more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the [[White Sea]] at [[Arkhangelsk]]. The Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by [[Swedish Empire|Sweden]] in the north, while the [[Black Sea]] and the [[Caspian Sea]] were controlled by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and [[Safavid Empire]] respectively in the south. The country's need for metal was exacerbated by the outbreak of wars for access to the Black and Baltic Seas.

Peter attempted to acquire control of the Black Sea, which would require expelling the [[Tatars]] from the surrounding areas. As part of an agreement with [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]] that ceded [[Kiev]] to Russia, Peter was forced to wage war against the [[Crimea]]n [[Crimean Khanate|Khan]] and against the Khan's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of [[Azov]], near the [[Don River, Russia|Don River]]. In the summer of 1695 Peter organized the [[Azov campaigns]] to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure.

Peter returned to Moscow in November 1695 and began building a large navy in [[Voronezh]]. He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. He appointed [[Alexander Gordon (general)|Alexander Gordon]], who later would publish a biography on Peter.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/historypetergre00gordgoog/page/n10/mode/2up ''The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia: To which is Prefixed a Short General History of the Country from the Rise of that Monarchy: and an Account of the Author's Life.'' Vol. I]</ref> Peter used to hold all his important meetings and numerous celebrations in [[François Le Fort (admiral)|Le Fort]]'s palace.

===Grand Embassy===
{{Main|Grand Embassy of Peter the Great}}
[[File:Abraham Storck - Bezoek van het Moskovisch gezantschap aan Amsterdam, 1697.jpg|thumb|[[Abraham Storck]]: Spectacle on the Amstel river, August 1697]]
[[File:Silo Ermitage.jpg|thumb|Fleet Manoeuvres Performed on the IJ on 1 September 1797 during Peter's Visit to Amsterdam, painting by Adam Silo (Hermitage)]]
[[File:The 'Pieter and Paul' on the IJ in Amsterdam in 1698 (Abraham Storck).jpg|thumb|The [[frigate]] ''Pieter and Paul'' on the [[IJ (Amsterdam)|IJ]] while Peter stands on the small ship on the right. Painting by A. Storck. This ship sank on his second voyage.]]

Peter knew that Russia could not face the Ottoman Empire alone. In March 1697, he traveled "incognito" to Western Europe on an 18-month journey with a large Russian delegation—the so-called [[Grand Embassy of Peter the Great|"Grand Embassy"]]. Peter was the first tsar to leave Russia for more than 100 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peter the Great &#124; Royal Museums Greenwich |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/peter-great |website=www.rmg.co.uk}}</ref> He used a fake name, allowing him to escape social and diplomatic events, but since he was far taller than most others, he could not fool anyone. One goal was to seek the aid of European monarchs, but Peter's hopes were dashed. France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and [[Archduchy of Austria|Austria]] was eager to maintain peace in the east while conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen an inopportune moment: the Europeans at the time were more concerned about the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] over who would succeed the childless King [[Charles II of Spain]] than about fighting the Ottoman Sultan.{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000|p=218}} Peter failed to expand the anti-Ottoman alliance.

In Riga, the local Swedish commander [[Erik Dahlbergh]] decided to pretend that he did not recognize Peter and did not allow him to inspect the fortifications.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Briefly about the Great Embassy of Peter the Great – History 2024 |url=https://vogueindustry.com/17270077-briefly-about-the-great-embassy-of-peter-1 |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Vogue Industry |language=en}}</ref> (Three years later, Peter would cite the inhospitable reception as one of the reasons for starting the Great Northern War). He met [[Frederick Casimir Kettler]], the Duke of Courland.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miate |first=Liana |title=The Grand Embassy of Peter the Great |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2327/the-grand-embassy-of-peter-the-great/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref> In [[Königsberg]], the tsar was apprenticed for two months to an artillery engineer. (Decrees were issued on the construction of the first [[Ural (region)|Ural]] [[blast furnace]] plants.) In July he met [[Sophia of Hanover]] at [[Coppenbrügge]] castle. She described him: "The tsar is a tall, handsome man, with an attractive face. He has a lively mind is very witty. Only, someone so well endowed by nature could be a little better mannered."<ref>Wilson, D. (2006) Peter the Great, p. 45</ref> Peter rented a ship in [[Emmerich am Rhein]] and sailed to Zaandam, where he arrived on 18 August 1697.

====Amsterdam====
Peter studied [[windmill|saw-mills]], manufacturing and shipbuilding in Zaandam but left after a week.<ref>[http://www.radionetherlandsarchives.org/peter-the-great-part-1-of-3-the-carpenter-czar/ Peter the Great: Part 1 of 3 (The Carpenter Czar)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028081948/https://www.radionetherlandsarchives.org/peter-the-great-part-1-of-3-the-carpenter-czar/ |date=28 October 2020 }}. Radio Netherlands Archives. 8 June 1996. Retrieved 8 May 2020.</ref> He sailed to Amsterdam after he was recognized and attacked.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tsaar Peter de Grote bezoekt Zaandam |url=https://onh.nl/verhaal/tsaar-peter-de-grote-bezoekt-zaandam |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=ONH |language=nl}}</ref> The log-cabin he rented became the [[Czar Peter House (Netherlands)|Czar Peter House]]. He sailed to [[Texel]] to see a fleet. Through the mediation of [[Nicolaas Witsen]], an expert on Russia, the tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in shipyard, belonging to the [[Dutch East India Company]], for a period of four months, under the supervision of [[:de:Gerrit Claesz Pool|Gerrit Claesz Pool]]. The diligent and capable tsar assisted in the construction of an [[East Indiaman]] ''Peter and Paul'' specially laid down for him. Peter felt that the ship's carpenters in Holland worked too much by eye and lacked accurate construction drawings. During his stay the tsar engaged many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights, and seamen—including [[Cornelis Cruys]], a vice-admiral who became, under [[Franz Lefort]], the tsar's advisor in maritime affairs; engineer [[Menno van Coehoorn]] refused. Peter put his knowledge of shipbuilding to use in helping build Russia's navy.{{Sfn|Massie|1980|pp=183–188}}

Peter and Witsen visited [[Frederik Ruysch]] who had all the specimens exposed in five rooms. He taught Peter how to catch [[butterfly|butterflies]] and how to preserve them. They also had a common interest in [[lizard]]s.<ref>Driessen-Van het Reve, J. (1996) Tsaar Peter de Grote en zijn Amsterdamse vrienden, p. 8.</ref> Together they went to see patients. He arrived in Utrecht on a [[barge]] and met [[stadtholder]] [[William III of England|William III]] in a tavern.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |date=2023-07-07 |title=Tsaar Peter de Grote in Utrecht in 1697 en 1717 |url=https://oud-utrecht.nl/nieuws/1275-tsaar-peter-de-grote-in-utrecht-in-1697-en-1717 |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Oud Utrecht |language=nl-nl}}</ref> When he visited the [[States-General of the Netherlands]] he left the hall and the astonished attendees with his wig pulled over his head, according Massie.{{Cn|date=April 2024}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=11 dingen die je nog niet wist over Tsaar Peter de Grote |url=https://onh.nl/verhaal/11-dingen-die-je-nog-niet-wist-over-tsaar-peter-de-grote |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=ONH |language=nl}}</ref> He visited [[Jan van der Heyden]], the inventor of a [[fire hose]]. He collected paintings by [[Adam Silo]] with ships and [[seascapes]]. In October 1697, the Tsar visited Delft and received an "eal viewer" from the microscopist [[Antoni van Leeuwenhoek]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visited by Tsar Peter the Great of Russia &#124; Lens on Leeuwenhoek |url=https://lensonleeuwenhoek.net/content/visited-by-tsar-peter-russia}}</ref> After the [[Peace of Ryswick]] he was invited by King of England to visit him. The Dutch [[regenten|regents]] considered the Tsar too inquisitive, and this affected their willingness to help the Russians.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 May 2013 |title='Tsar Peter the Great was on extremely bad terms with the Dutch regents' |url=https://www.rug.nl/news/2013/05/0522-oratie-van-koningsbrugge |website=University of Groningen}}</ref>

====Deptford====
[[File:Peter I by Kneller.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Peter I by [[Godfrey Kneller]], 1698. This portrait was Peter's gift to the King of England.|left]]
[[File:Woolwich Dockyard, 1698.jpg|thumb|Woolwich Dockyard in 1698: the recently erected Great Storehouse (centre-right) dominates the built environment of the dockyard.]]

On 11 January 1698 ([[Old Style|O.S.]]), Peter arrived at [[Victoria Embankment]] with four chamberlains, three interpreters ([[Peter Shafirov]], LeFort), two clock makers, a cook, a priest, six trumpeters, 70 soldiers from the [[Preobrazhensky regiment]], four dwarfs and a monkey which he purchased in Amsterdam; Jacob Bruce accompanied him. Peter stayed at 21 [[Norfolk Street, Strand]], and met with Bishop of Salisbury [[Gilbert Burnet]] and [[Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds|Thomas Osborne]] and posed for Sir [[Godfrey Kneller]]. He watched the proceedings within the [[Parliament]] from a rooftop window.<ref name="auto7">{{Cite book |last=Cross |first=Anthony |date= 2000 |title=Peter the Great Through British Eyes: Perceptions and Representations of the Tsar Since 1698 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RaDIN2GaXtIC&pg=PA22 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-78298-2 |via=Google Books}}</ref> At some time, he had an affair with actress [[Letitia Cross]].<ref name="auto7"/> He visited the [[Royal Mint]] four times; it is not clear whether he ever met [[Isaac Newton]], the [[Warden of the Mint|mint's warden]],<ref>[https://archive.org/details/newtonrussiaearl0000unse Boss, Valentin, (2002) Newton and Russia : the early influence, 1698–1796]</ref><ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.4159/harvard.9780674733527.c4/html |chapter=1. Did Peter the Great Meet Newton? |date=2013 |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=9–18 |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674733527.c4 |via=www.degruyter.com |title=Newton and Russia |isbn=978-0-674-73352-7 }}</ref> who introduced [[milling (minting)|milling]] on the coinage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peter the Great |url=https://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk//journal/people/peter-the-great/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref> Peter was impressed by the [[Great Recoinage of 1696]], according to Massie.{{Cn|date=April 2024}}

At some time he visited [[Spithead]], [[Plymouth]], with captain John Perry to watch a [[mock battle]].<ref>{{Cite DNB |wstitle= Perry, John |volume= 45 |last= Moriarty |first= Gerald Patrick |author-link= |pages= 35–36 |short= 1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Clerk |first=Halley's |date=2013-06-20 |title=Halley and Peter the Great |url=https://halleyslog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/halley-and-peter-the-great/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Halley's Log |language=en}}</ref> In February he attended a [[Fleet Review]] in [[Deptford, London|Deptford]], and inspected the [[Woolwich Dockyard]] and [[Royal Arsenal]] with [[Anthony Deane (shipwright)|Anthony Deane]]. For three months he stayed at [[Sayes Court]] as the guest of [[John Evelyn]], a member of the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peter the Great trashed here |url=https://www.shadyoldlady.com/location.php?loc=1249 |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=www.shadyoldlady.com}}</ref> He was trained on a telescope at the [[Greenwich Observatory]] by [[John Flamsteed]]. Peter communicated with [[Thomas Story]] and [[William Penn]] about their position that believers should not join the military.<ref>Thomas Pym Cope, Passages from the Life and Writings of William Penn, 1882, p. 436</ref><ref name="auto7"/> King William III presented a [[schooner]] with a whole crew to Peter I in exchange for the monopoly right of English merchants to trade tobacco in Russia (see [[Charles Whitworth, 1st Baron Whitworth|Charles Whitworth]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peter the Great's favourite yacht found in the Baltic Sea |url=https://itboat.com/news/1255-peter-the-great-s-favourite-yacht-found-in-the-baltic-sea |access-date=2024-05-07}}</ref> At the end of April 1698 he left after being shown how to make watches, and carpeting coffins. Back in Holland he visited Harderwijk and Cleves.

The Embassy next went to Leipzig, Dresden, where he met with [[Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth|Queen Christiane Eberhardine]] of Poland-Lithuania. Three times he visited the [[Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden|Kunstsammlung]], then [[Königstein Fortress]], Prague, Vienna, to pay a visit to [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold I]].{{Sfn|Massie|1980|p=191}} At [[Rava-Ruska]], he crossed the border and Peter spoke with [[Augustus II the Strong]]. Peter's visit was cut short, when he was informed of the second [[Streltsy uprising]] in June. The rebellion was easily crushed by [[Patrick Gordon|General Gordon]] before Peter returned home early September.<ref>A. Gordon (1755), p. 307</ref> Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers; 4,600 rebels were sent to prison. Around 1,182 were tortured and executed, and Peter ordered that their bodies be publicly exhibited as a warning to future conspirators.{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000|p=220}} The Streltsy were disbanded, and Peter's half-sister Sophia, who they sought to put on the throne, was kept in strictest seclusion at [[Novodevichy Convent]].

Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to wear European clothing (no [[caftans]]) and cut off their long beards, causing [[Boyar|Boyars]] and [[Old Believers]], who were very fond of their beards, great upset.<ref name="Boyar beard article">{{Cite web |first=O.L. |last=D'Or |title=Russia as an Empire |url=http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2002-46-3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060603182321/http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2002-46-3 |archive-date=3 June 2006 |access-date=21 March 2008 |website=The Moscow News weekly |pages=Russian |format=PHP}}</ref> Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual [[beard tax]] of one hundred [[Russian ruble|rubles]].{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000|p=221}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abbott |first=Peter |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21889/21889-h/21889-h.htm |title=Peter the Great |publisher=Project Gutenberg online edition |date=1902}}</ref> In the same year, Peter also sought to end [[arranged marriage]]s, which were the norm among the [[Russian nobility]], because he thought such a practice was barbaric and led to domestic violence, since the partners usually resented each other.{{Sfn|Dmytryshyn|1974|p=21}}

===Reforms===

[[Image:Summer Garden (Zubov).jpg|thumb|Vista through the [[Summer Garden]] towards the Summer Palace, 1716]] [[File:Набережная реки Фонтанки, Прачечный мост, Летний дворец Петра I, Летний сад.jpg|thumb|Embankment of the [[Fontanka]] River, Laundry Bridge, [[Summer Palace of Peter I]]]]
[[File:Saint Petersburg Kunstkamera from Neva.jpg|thumb|View of the [[Kunstkamera]] across the Neva]]In 1698, Peter sent a delegation to [[Malta]], under boyar [[Boris Sheremetev]], to observe the training and abilities of the [[Knights Hospitaller|Knights of Malta]] and their [[Navy of the Order of Saint John|fleet]]. Sheremetev investigated the possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2004 |title=Russian Grand Priory&nbsp;– Timeline |url=http://www2.prestel.co.uk/church/oosj/timeline.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208091353/http://www2.prestel.co.uk/church/oosj/timeline.htm |archive-date=8 February 2008 |access-date=9 February 2008}}</ref> On 12 September 1698, Peter officially founded the first [[Russian Navy]] base, [[Taganrog]] on the [[Sea of Azov]].

In 1699, Peter changed the date of the celebration of the new year from 1 September to 1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from the purported [[Anno Mundi|creation of the World]], but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the [[Anno Domini|birth of Christ]]. Thus, in the year 7207 of the old Russian calendar, Peter proclaimed that the [[Julian Calendar]] was in effect and the year was 1700.{{Sfn|Oudard|1929|p=197}} On the death of Lefort in 1699, [[Alexander Danilovich Menshikov|Menshikov]] succeeded him as Peter's prime favourite and confidant.

In 1700, Peter I prevented the election of a new [[patriarch]] and deprived the Russian Church of the opportunity to regain a single spiritual leader. Reducing the number of monasteries, he converted all monasteries with less than 30 monks into schools or churches.<ref name="auto6">{{Cite web |last=Miate |first=Liana |title=The Reforms of Peter the Great |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2304/the-reforms-of-peter-the-great/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref> He encouraged the development of private entrepreneurship, but under strict state control. He initiated the construction of canals by John Perry and implemented a monetary reform, using the decimal principle as the basis of the [[monetary system]] (1698-–1704).

Peter attracted many foreign specialists and opened an educational institution for [[surgery]], led by [[Nicolaas Bidloo]]. In 1701, the [[Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation]] was founded, led by [[Jacob Bruce]]; for fifteen years, naval officers, surveyors, engineers, and gunners were educated there.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web |title=Глава вторая. ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ. Кутузов. Лидия Леонидовна Ивченко |url=https://sv-scena.ru/Buki/Kutuzov.3.html#Q402-Glava-vtoraya-OBRAZOVANIYE}}</ref>[[File:Преображенский полк. Рядовой, Сержант, Офицер - 1695-1700г Шарлеман.e1t.jpg|thumb|[[Preobrazhensky Regiment]] with the Sukarev tower.|left]]

In 1700, Jan Thesingh (-1701) received a monopoly on printing and importing books, maps and prints into Russia for fifteen years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monopolie |url=https://www.amsterdam.nl/stadsarchief/stukken/handel/monopolie/ |access-date=2024-05-07}}</ref> In 1701 he appointed [[Fedor Polikarpov-Orlov]] as head of the [[Moscow Print Yard]]. In 1707, Tsar Peter I bought a fully equipped [[printing house]] in [[Holland]], including staff.<ref name="auto1">Verblijf van tsaar Peter de Grote en tsarina Catharina 1 op hofstede Hout en Duynzigt/Vredenhof – Petersburg in Nederhorst</ref> Peter replaced the [[Cyrillic numerals]] with [[Arabic numerals]] (1705–1710) and the Cyrillic [[font]] with a [[Reforms of Russian orthography#18th-century changes|civil script]] (1708–1710).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-13 |title=Пётр I |url=https://bigenc.ru/c/piotr-i-ed3825 |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Большая российская энциклопедия |language=ru}}</ref>

In 1708, [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]] became an advisor and offered to write new laws for the country.{{Sfn|Driessen-Van het Reve|2006|pp=60-61}} In December Russia was divided into [[Administrative divisions of Russia in 1708-1710|eight governorates]] (''[[Governorate (Russia)|guberniya]]'').<ref name="auto6"/> [[:de:Matwei Petrowitsch Gagarin|Matwei Petrowitsch Gagarin]] was the first governor of Siberia.<ref name="auto2"/> Peter was visited by [[Cornelis de Bruijn]], who spent six years in Russia and made drawings of the Kremlin.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DBNL |title=Cornelis de Bruijns Reizen Over Moskovie, Reizen over Moskovie, Cornelis de Bruyn |url=https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bruy004reiz01_01/bruy004reiz01_01_0004.php |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=DBNL |language=nl}}</ref> In 1711, Peter visited elector [[August II of Poland]] in Dresden, [[Karlovy Vary|Carlsbad]] and Torgau where his son Aleksei married. In 1713 he visited Hamburg, sieged [[:de:Belagerung von Tönning (1713)|Tönningen]] with his allies. He then traveled to Hanover and was a guest of Duke [[Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]] in [[Salzdahlum]]. From Danzig he sailed to Riga, [[Helsingfors]] and [[Turku]].

In 1711, Peter established by decree a new state body known as the [[Governing Senate]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 February 2023 |title=10 Major Accomplishments of Peter the Great &#124; Learnodo Newtonic |url=https://learnodo-newtonic.com/peter-the-great-accomplishments}}</ref> Normally, the [[Boyar duma]] would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the boyars; he instead abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. The Senate was founded as the highest state institution to supervise all judicial, financial and administrative affairs. Originally established only for the time of the monarch's absence, the Senate became a permanent body after his return. A special high official, the [[Ober-Procurator]], served as the link between the ruler and the senate and acted, in Peter own words, as "the sovereign's eye". Without his signature no Senate decision could go into effect; the Senate became one of the most important institutions of Imperial Russia.{{Sfn|Palmer|Colton|1992|pp=242–243}}

In 1701, 1705 and 1712, Peter I issued decrees establishing an Engineering School in [[Sukharev Tower]], which was supposed to recruit up to 100 students, but had only 23.<ref name="auto3"/> <!--two-thirds of them were to consist of nobles. Peter decided that all of the children of the nobility should have some early education, especially in the areas of sciences.--> Therefore, he issued another decree in 1714 calling for [[compulsory education]], which dictated that all Russian 10- to 15-year-old children of the nobility, government clerks, and lesser-ranked officials must learn basic arithmetic, [[trigonometry]] and [[geometry]], and should be tested on the subjects at the end of their studies.{{Sfn|Dmytryshyn|1974|pp=10–11}}

[[Robert Erskine (physician)|Areskine]], an [[iatrochemist]], became head of the court apothecary; [[Johann Daniel Schumacher]] was appointed secretary and librarian of the [[Kunstkamera]]. The country's first scientific library was opened in his palace in the Summer Garden. Peter ordered the development of [[Aptekarsky Island]], headquarters for the Medical Clerical Office and the Main Pharmacy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home court pharmacy: Famous buildings – Петербург 24 |url=https://petersburg24.ru/eng/place/glavnaya-pridvornaya-apteka |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=petersburg24.ru}}</ref> Gottlieb Schober was commissioned to examine [[hot springs]] and discovered rich deposits of [[sulfur]]; Peter immediately set up a factory for the development in the [[Samara Oblast]]. In 1721 the shipyard [[Petrozavod]] and [[Petrodvorets Watch Factory]] was established. Some 3,500 new words—German, French, Dutch, English, Italian, Swedish in origin—entered Russian in Peter's period, roughly one-fourth of them shipping and naval terms.<ref name="auto5">{{Cite web |title=Russia's Cultural Revolution |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/20/reviews/980920.20cracrat.html |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=archive.nytimes.com}}</ref>

As part of his reforms, Peter started an industrialization effort that was slow but eventually successful. Russian manufacturing and main exports were based on the mining and lumber industries. In 1719, the privileges of miners were enshrined in law with the Berg Privilege, which allowed representatives of all classes to search for [[ores]] and build metallurgical plants. At the same time, manufacturers and artisans were exempted from state taxes and [[Conscription in the Russian Empire|recruiting]], and their houses were exempt from the post of troops. The law also guaranteed the inheritance of the ownership of factories, proclaimed industrial activity a matter of state importance and protected manufacturers from interference in their affairs by local authorities. The same law established the [[Collegium of Mining]], and managed [[History of metallurgy in the Urals#The 18th century|the entire mining and metallurgical industry]], and local administrations. The [[Demidov]]s became the first Russian exporters of iron to [[Western Europe]]. In 1721, a decree was issued that allowed factory owners, regardless of whether they had a noble rank, to buy [[Serfdom|serfs]].

===Great Northern War===
{{Main|Great Northern War}}
[[File:ZauerveydNA Petr1UsmirDA19.jpg|thumb|''Peter I of Russia pacifies his marauding troops after [[Siege of Narva (1704)|retaking Narva]] in 1704'', by [[Nikolay Sauerweid]], 1859|left]]
[[File:Museum IMG 1148 (603618024).jpg|thumb|Interior of Peter's log cabin]]
[[File:Peter benois.jpg|thumb|''Peter the Great Meditating the Idea of Building St Petersburg at the Shore of the Baltic Sea'', by [[Alexandre Benois]], 1916]]
[[File:Lomonosov Poltava 1762 1764.jpg|thumb|''Peter I in the [[Battle of Poltava]]'', a mosaic by [[Mikhail Lomonosov]]]]
[[File:1st Winter Palace.jpg|thumb|First Winter Palace by [[Alexey Zubov]] ]]

Peter made a [[Treaty of Constantinople (1700)|temporary peace]] with the Ottoman Empire that allowed him to keep the captured fort of Azov, and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by the [[Swedish Empire]] a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on Sweden, which was at the time led by the young King [[Charles XII of Sweden|Charles XII]]. Sweden was also opposed by [[Denmark–Norway]], [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]], and the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. The [[Preobrazhensky regiment]] took part in all major battles of the Great Northern War.

Russia was ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the [[Battle of Narva (1700)|Battle of Narva]] in 1700. In the conflict, the forces of Charles XII, rather than employ a slow methodical siege, attacked immediately using a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian army and conquered [[Nyenschantz]] in the [[Ingria|Ingrian campaign]]. Bidloo had to organize a military hospital. [[Robert Bruce (1668–1720)|Robert Bruce]] was appointed [[commander-in-chief]] of St. Petersburg. After the defeat at Narva, Peter I gave the order to melt the [[church bell]]s into cannons and mortars. In 1701, Peter ordered the construction of Novodvinsk Fortress north of Archangelsk. Everybody was convinced they knew: his Majesty will wage war.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peter I (Peter the Great) & Solovki |url=http://www.solovki.ca/english/pet.php |website=www.solovki.ca}}</ref> In the [[siege of Nöteborg (1702)|siege of Nöteborg]] Russian forces captured the Swedish fortress, renamed [[Shlisselburg Fortress|Shlisselburg]]. In 1702 Peter the Great established the Olonets Shipyard at [[Lodeynoye Pole]], where [[Russian frigate Shtandart]] was built.

While the Poles fought the Swedes, Peter founded the city of [[Saint Petersburg]] on [[29 June]] 1703 on [[Hare Island (Saint Petersburg)|Hare Island]]. He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg, which he intended to become Russia's capital, so that all stonemasons could participate in the construction of the new city. While the city was being built along the [[Neva]] he lived in a modest three-room log cabin (with a study but without a fire-place) which had to make room for the first version of the [[Winter Palace]]. The first buildings which appeared were a shipyard at the [[Admiralty, Saint Petersburg|Admiralty]], [[Kronstadt]] (1704-1706) and the [[Peter and Paul Fortress]] (1706). Peter took his whole family on a boat trip to Kronstadt.<ref>E.V. Anisimov, 2002, p. 56.</ref>

Following several defeats, Polish King [[Augustus II the Strong]] abdicated in 1706. Swedish king Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in 1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at [[Battle of Holowczyn|Golovchin]] in July. In the [[Battle of Lesnaya]], Charles suffered his first loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from [[Riga]]. Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on Moscow.{{Sfn|Massie|1980|p=453}}

Charles XII refused to retreat to Poland or back to Sweden and instead invaded [[Ukraine]]. Peter withdrew his army southward, employing [[scorched earth]], destroying along the way anything that could assist the Swedes. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of 1708–1709. In the summer of 1709, they resumed their efforts to capture [[Left-bank Ukraine|Russian-ruled Ukraine]], culminating in the [[Battle of Poltava]] on 27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for the Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in Ukraine and forcing him south to seek refuge in the Ottoman Empire. Russia had defeated what was considered to be one of the world's best militaries, and the victory overturned the view that Russia was militarily incompetent. In Poland, Augustus II was restored as King.

Peter, overestimating the support he would receive from his Balkan allies, attacked the Ottoman Empire, initiating the [[Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711)|Russo-Turkish War of 1710]].{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000|p=224}} Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire was disastrous, and in the ensuing [[Treaty of the Pruth]], Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697.{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000|p=224}} In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII. The Ottomans called him ''Mad Peter'' ({{Langx|tr|deli Petro}}), for his willingness to sacrifice large numbers of his troops in wartime.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rory |first=Finnin |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1314897094 |title=Blood of Others: Stalin's Crimean Atrocity and the Poetics of Solidarity |publisher=University of Toronto Press |date=2022 |isbn=978-1-4875-3700-5 |location=Toronto |oclc=1314897094}}</ref>

Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of [[Duchy of Livonia (1629–1721)|Livonia]] (the northern half of modern [[Latvia]], and the southern half of modern [[Estonia]]), driving the Swedes out of [[Swedish Finland|Finland]]. In 1714, the Russian fleet won the [[Battle of Gangut]]. During the [[Great Wrath]] most of Finland was occupied by Russian forces.

===Second Embassy===
[[File:Louis Hersent - Peter I of Russia and Louis XV of France.jpg|left|thumb|Tsar Peter the Great picks up the young King [[Louis XV]] (1717), painted around 1838]]
In January 1716, Tsar Peter traveled in the Baltic region to discuss peace negotiations and how to protect the sea trade route from the Swedes. He visited Riga, [[Königsberg]] and [[Gdańsk|Danzig]]. There [[Catherine Ivanovna of Russia|his niece]] married the quarrelsome [[Karl Leopold, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin|Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin]] with which Peter wanted an alliance. <!--In [[Szczecin|Stettin]]--> He obtained the assistance of the [[Frederick William I of Prussia]] who sieged the strong Swedish [[:de:Festung Wismar|fortress Wismar]]. In [[Altona-Altstadt|Altona]] he met with Danish diplomats, supporting Prussia. He sailed to Copenhagen heading an allied fleet. In [[Wittenberg]] he visited the monastery, where Luther lived.{{Sfn|Stählin|1785|p=119}} In May he went on to [[Bad Pyrmont]], and, because of his physical problems he stayed at this spa. There he met with the genius [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Leibniz]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ayton |first=E.J. |date=1985 |title=Leibniz, a biography |page=308}}</ref> [[Laurentius Blumentrost|Blumentrost]] and [[Robert Erskine (physician)|Areskine]] accompanied him.

In early December Peter arrived in Amsterdam and visited [[Nicolaas Witsen]]. He bought the [[anatomic]] and [[herbarium]] collection of [[Frederik Ruysch]], [[Levinus Vincent]] and [[Albertus Seba]]. He obtained many paintings among other from [[Maria Sibylla Merian]] for his [[Kunstkamera]] and <!--from [[Laurens van der Hem]]--> Rembrandt's "David and Jonathan" for [[Peterhof Palace]].{{Sfn|Collis|2015|p=367}} He paid a visit to a friend's mansion near [[Nigtevecht]], a silk manufacture and a paper-mill.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Jake V. Th. |last=Knoppers |date=1969 |title=The visits of Peter the Great to the United Provinces in 1697–1698 and 1716–1717}}</ref><ref name="auto"/> At five in the morning he was received by [[Herman Boerhaave]] who showed Peter the [[Hortus Botanicus Leiden|Botanical Garden]]. <!--he visited [[Carel de Moor]]. Later he ordered two mercury thermometers from [[Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit]] and instruments from [[Pieter van Musschenbroek]].--> In April 1717 he continued his travel to [[Austrian Netherlands]], Dunkirk and Calais. In Paris he obtained many books, requested to become a member of the [[Academie de Sciences]] and visited the parliament, the [[Sorbonne (building)|Sorbonne]] and [[Madame Maintenon]]. Via the [[Palace of Saint-Cloud]], the [[Grand Trianon]] at Versailles, [[Palace of Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]], [[Spa, Belgium|Spa]] he travelled on to [[Maastricht]], at that time one of the most important fortresses in Europe. He went back Amsterdam to attend a [[:de:Vertrag von Amsterdam (1717)|Treaty]] with France and Prussia on 15 August.<ref>{{Cite web |last=étrangères |first=Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires |title=The 1717 Convention of Amsterdam, a treaty marking the alliance and reciprocal guarantees between France, Russia and Prussia (15.08.1717) |url=https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/the-ministry-and-its-network/the-diplomatic-archives/documents-from-the-diplomatic-archives/article/the-1717-convention-of-amsterdam-a-treaty-marking-the-alliance-and-reciprocal |website=France Diplomacy - Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs}}</ref> He achieved a diplomatic success, and his international prestige, consolidated. Again he visited the [[Hortus Botanicus (Amsterdam)|Hortus Botanicus]] and left the city early September 1717, heading for Berlin.{{Sfn|Driessen-Van het Reve|2006}} In October he was back in St Petersburg.<ref name="auto1"/> In 1719 [[New Holland Island]] was created.

The tsar's navy was powerful enough that the Russians could penetrate Sweden. Still, Charles XII refused to yield, and not until his death in battle in 1718 did peace become feasible. After the [[battle of Grengam]], Sweden made peace with all powers but Russia by 1720. In 1721, the [[Treaty of Nystad]] ended the Great Northern War. Russia acquired [[Ingria]], [[Reval Governorate|Estonia]], [[Riga Governorate|Livonia]], and a substantial portion of [[Old Finland|Karelia]]. In turn, Russia paid two million [[Riksdaler]] and surrendered most of Finland.{{Sfn|Cracraft|2003|p=37}}

===Later years===
[[File:Стрельна, дворец Петра04.jpg|thumb|His small wooden palace in [[Strelna]], designed by [[Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond|Le Blond]] around 1714, had a [[botanical garden]]]]

In 1717, [[Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky]] led the first Russian military expedition into Central Asia against the [[Khanate of Khiva]]. The expedition ended in complete disaster when the entire expeditionary force was slaughtered.
[[File:Peter I. Портрет царя Петра I (прижизненый). худ.Moor v1(b).jpg|left|thumb|294x294px|Peter in 1717 by [[Carel de Moor]]]]
To the end of 1717, the preparatory phase of administrative reform in Russia was completed. After 1718, Peter established [[Collegium (ministry)|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.{{Sfn|Palmer|Colton|1992|p=245}} Decisions depended on the majority vote.

In 1718, Peter investigated why the formerly Swedish province of [[Livonia]] was so orderly. He discovered that the Swedes spent as much administering Livonia (300 times smaller than his empire) as he spent on the entire Russian bureaucracy. He was forced to dismantle the province's government.{{Sfn|Pipes|1974|p=281}} In June 1721 he had Gagarin, the governor of Siberia, executed.[[File:Hlebovskiy AssamPriPetrGRM.jpg|thumb|[[:Ru:Петровские ассамблеи|Peter the Great's Assembly in 1718]] by [[Stanisław Chlebowski]]]]
[[File:Peter Imperor whole Russia.jpeg|thumb|Peter I being titulated as the emperor of Russia (1721) by [[Boris Chorikov]]]]
Peter's last years were marked by further reform in Russia. On 2 November 1721 ([[New Style|N.S.]]), soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was officially proclaimed ''[[Emperor of All Russia]]''. The [[coronation of the Russian monarch]] took place in [[Dormition Cathedral, Moscow|Uspensky Cathedral, Moscow]]. Some proposed that he take the title ''Emperor of the East'', but he refused.<ref>Лакиер А. Б. §66. Надписи вокруг печати. Соответствие их с государевым титулом. // Русская геральдика. – СПб., 1855.</ref> [[Gavrila Golovkin]], the State Chancellor, was the first to add "the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of [[All the Russias]]" to Peter's traditional title of tsar following a speech by [[Theophan Prokopovich]] in 1721. Peter's imperial title was recognized by [[Augustus II of Poland]], [[Frederick William I of Prussia]], and [[Frederick I of Sweden]], but not by the other European monarchs. 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.

<blockquote>[[By the grace of God]], the most excellent and great sovereign emperor Pyotr Alekseevich the ruler of all the Russias: of [[Moscow]], of [[Kiev]], of [[Vladimir, Russia|Vladimir]], of [[Novgorod]], Tsar of [[Kazan]], Tsar of [[Astrakhan]] and Tsar of [[Siberia]], sovereign of [[Pskov]], great prince of [[Smolensk]], of [[Tver]], of [[Yugorsk]], of [[Perm Governorate|Perm]], of [[Vyatka River|Vyatka]], of [[Volga Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] and others, sovereign and great prince of the [[Nizhny Novgorod|Novgorod]] Lower lands, of [[Chernihiv|Chernigov]], of [[Ryazan]], of [[Rostov, Yaroslavl Oblast|Rostov]], of [[Yaroslavl]], of [[Belozersk]], of [[Udorsky District|Udora]], of [[Kondia]] and the sovereign of all the northern lands, and the sovereign of the [[Kingdom of Iberia|Iverian lands]], of the [[Kingdom of Kartli (1484–1762)|Kartlian]] and [[Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti|Georgian Kings]], of the [[Kabardia|Kabardin lands]], of the [[Circassia]]n and [[Greater Caucasus|Mountain]] princes and many other states and lands western and eastern here and there and the successor and sovereign and ruler.</blockquote>

In 1722, Peter 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 [[February Revolution|overthrown in 1917]].

In 1722, [[John Bell (traveller)|John Bell]] accompanied Peter the Great on a military expedition to the city of [[Derbent]] near the Caspian Sea. 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 (1722-1723)|Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723]], 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 [[Derbent]], [[Shirvan]], [[Gilan Province|Gilan]], [[Mazandaran Province|Mazandaran]], [[Baku]], and [[Astrabad]]. Within twelve years all the territories were ceded back to Persia, now led by the charismatic military genius [[Nader Shah]], as part of the [[Treaty of Resht]], the [[Treaty of Ganja]], and as the result of a Russo-Persian alliance against the Ottoman Empire, which was the common enemy of both.{{Sfn|Lee|2013|p=31}}

Peter changed the system of [[direct taxation]]. He abolished the land tax and household tax and replaced them with a [[Tax per head|poll tax]].<ref>(in Russian) E.V. Anisimov (1985) Податная реформа Петра I. The tax reform of Peter I: Introduction of the poll tax in Russia (1718–1728)</ref> The taxes on land and on households were payable only by individuals who owned property or maintained families. The new head taxes were payable by [[serf]]s and paupers. Peter began construction of the [[Monplaisir Palace]] based on his own sketches. He ordered to purchase 2,000 [[lime trees]] which were shipped to St Petersburg.<ref name="auto1"/> In 1725, the construction of [[Peterhof Palace|Peterhof]], a palace near Saint Petersburg, was completed. Peterhof was a grand residence, becoming known as the "Russian [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]]".

===Illness and death===
[[File:Deathbed portrait of Peter I by I.Nikitin (1725, Russian museum).jpg|thumb|Peter the Great on his [[wikt:deathbed|deathbed]], by [[Ivan Nikitin (painter)|Nikitin]]]]

In the winter of 1723, Peter, whose overall health was never robust, began having problems with his [[urinary tract]] and [[Urinary bladder|bladder]]. In the summer of 1724, a team of doctors performed surgery releasing upwards of four pounds of blocked urine. 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 [[legend]], in November, at [[Lakhta, Saint Petersburg|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.{{Sfn|Bain|1905}} This icy water rescue is said to have exacerbated Peter's bladder problems and caused his death. 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stählin |first=Jacob von |date=1785 |title=Originalanekdoten von Peter dem Grossen: aus dem Munde angesehener Personen zu Moskau und Petersburg vernommen, und der Vergessenheit entrissen |lang=de |trans-title=Original anecdotes of Peter the Great: collected from the conversation of several persons of distinction at Petersburgh and Moscow, and snatched from oblivion |publisher=J.G.I. Breitkopf |isbn=978-0-4050-3064-2 |oclc=118987 |ol=OL4378643W}}</ref>

In early January 1725, Peter 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&nbsp;..."'' and then, exhausted by the effort, asked for his daughter Anna to be summoned.{{NoteTag|The 'Leave all&nbsp;..." story first appears in H-F de Bassewitz ''Russkii arkhiv'' 3 (1865). Russian historian E.V. Anisimov contends that Bassewitz's aim was to convince readers that Anna, not Empress Catherine, was Peter's intended heir.}}

Peter died between four and five in the morning 8 February. An [[autopsy]] revealed his bladder to be infected with [[gangrene]].{{Sfn|Hughes|2007|pp=179–82}} He was fifty-two years, seven months old when he died, having reigned forty-two years. He is interred in [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|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."<ref name="auto3"/>

==Religion==
[[File:Bronze Horseman and St'Isaac's cathedral 1890-1900.jpg|thumb|The 1782 statue of Peter I in Saint Petersburg, informally known as the ''[[Bronze Horseman]]''. [[Saint Isaac's Cathedral]] is in the background.|left]]

Peter had a great interest in [[dissenters]] and visited gatherings of Quakers and Mennonites. He did not believe in [[miracles]] and founded [[The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Massie |first=Robert K. |author-link=Robert K. Massie |title=Peter the Great: His Life and World |date= 1981 |publisher=[[Ballantine Books]] |isbn=0-3452-9806-3 |location=[[New York City]]}}</ref> an organization that mocked the Orthodox and Catholic Church, when he was eighteen. In January 1695, Peter refused to partake in a traditional Russian Orthodox [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany Ceremony]], and would often schedule events for The All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters to directly conflict with the Church.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bushkovitch |first=Paul A. |date=January 1990 |title=The Epiphany Ceremony of the Russian Court in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries |journal=Russian Review |publisher=Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.2307/130080 |jstor=130080}}</ref> He often used the nickname ''Pakhom Mikhailov'' ({{langx|ru|Пахом Михайлов}}) among the ministers of religion who made up his relatively close circle of long-term drinking companions.

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 [[List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow|Patriarch of Moscow]]. In 1700, when 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 [[Patriarch Philaret of Moscow|Philaret]] (1619–1633) and [[Patriarch Nikon of Moscow|Nikon]] (1652–66). The [[Alexander Nevsky Lavra]] was constructed between 1710–1712; [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg|Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral]] between 1712–1733. In 1716 he invited [[Theophan Prokopovich]], a [[pietist]] and astronomer, to come to the capital.{{Sfn|Collis|2015|p=352}} The ''Ecclesiastical Regulations'' of 1721 are based on the ideas of [[August Hermann Francke]].{{Sfn|Collis|2015|p=340}} The [[Church reform of Peter the Great]] therefore abolished the [[patriarchate]], replacing it with a [[Holy Synod]] that was under the control of a [[Procurator (Russia)|Procurator]].

In 1721, Peter 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.{{Sfn|Dmytryshyn|1974|p=18}}<ref>James Cracraft, ''The church reform of Peter the Great'' (1971).</ref><!--A clerical career was not a route chosen by upper-class society. Most parish priests were sons of priests and were very poorly educated and paid. The monks in the monasteries had a slightly higher status; they were not allowed to marry. Politically, the Church was impotent.<ref>Lindsey Hughes, ''Russia in the Age of Peter the Great'' (1998) pp. 332–56.</ref>-->

==Marriages and family==
[[File:Peter the Great Interrogating the Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich.jpg|thumb|''[[Peter the Great Interrogating the Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich at Peterhof]]'', a painting by [[Nikolai Ge]] (1871)]]

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 Lopukhina]], <!--with the advice of other nobles in January 1689,--> when he was only 16.{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=134}} This was consistent with previous Romanov tradition by choosing a daughter of a minor noble. This was done to prevent fighting between the stronger noble houses and to bring fresh blood into the family.{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=133}} Upon his return from his European tour in 1698, Peter sought to end his unhappy marriage. He divorced the [[tsaritsa]] and forced her to join a convent.{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=134}} She had borne him three children, although only one, [[Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia]], survived past his childhood.

Menshikov introduced him to [[Marta Helena Skowrońska]], the daughter of a [[Polish-Lithuanian identity|Polish-Lithuanian]] peasant, and took her as a mistress some time between 1702 and 1704.{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|pp=131, 134}} Marta converted to the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] and was given the name Catherine.{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=131}} Though no record exists, Catherine and Peter married secretly between 23 October and 1 December 1707 in St. Petersburg.{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=136}} Peter valued Catherine and married officially, at [[Saint Isaac's Cathedral]] on 19 February 1712.

In 1718, his son [[Alexei Petrovich]] was locked up in the Peter and Paul fortress, whom he regarded as the rebellious [[Absalom]].{{Sfn|Collis|2015|p=368}} He was suspected of being involved in a plot to overthrow the Emperor. Alexei was tried and confessed under torture during questioning conducted by a secular court ([[Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy|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.{{Sfn|Massie|1980|pp=76, 377, 707}} Alexei's mother Eudoxia was punished. 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. {{dubious|date=August 2024}}

In 1724, Peter had his second wife, [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine]], crowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler.

===Issue===
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 ''Peter'', all of whom died in infancy. Only three of his children survived to adulthood. He had only three grandchildren: Tsar [[Peter II of Russia|Peter II]] and [[Grand Duchess Natalya Alexeyevna of Russia (1714–1728)|Grand Duchess Natalia]] by Alexei and Tsar [[Peter III of Russia|Peter III]] by Anna.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:95%"
|-
!Name!!Birth!!Death!!Notes
|-
|colspan=4|'''''By Eudoxia Lopukhina'''''
|-
|[[Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia]]||18 February 1690||26 June 1718, age 28||Married 1711, [[Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]];<br>issue [[Peter II of Russia]]
|-
|Alexander Petrovich||13 October 1691||14 May 1692, age 7 months||&nbsp;
|-
|Pavel Petrovich||1693||1693||&nbsp;
|-
|colspan=4|'''''By Catherine I'''''
|-
|Peter Petrovich||Winter 1704{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=135}}||1707{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=135}}|| Born and died before the official marriage of his parents
|-
|Paul Petrovich||October 1705{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=135}}||1707{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=135}}|| Born and died before the official marriage of his parents
|-
|Catherine Petrovna||7 February 1707{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=135}}||7 August 1708{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=135}}|| Born and died before the official marriage of her parents
|-
|[[Anna Petrovna]]||27 January 1708||15 May 1728|| Married 1725, [[Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp|Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]]; <br>issue [[Peter III of Russia]].
|-
|Elizaveta Petrovna,<br/>later [[Elizabeth of Russia|Empress Elizaveta Petrovna]]||29 December 1709||5 January 1762|| Reputedly married 1742, [[Alexei Razumovsky]];<br> no issue
|-
|Maria Natalia Petrovna||20 March 1713||17 May 1715|| born in Riga
|-
|Margarita Petrovna||19 September 1714||7 June 1715||
|-
|[[Peter Petrovich (1715-1719)|Peter Petrovich]]||9 November 1715 ([[New Style|N.S.]])||6 May 1719||
|-
|Pavel Petrovich||13 January 1717||14 January 1717|| in [[Wesel]]
|-
|[[Grand Duchess Natalia Petrovna of Russia (1718–1725)|Natalia Petrovna]]||31 August 1718||15 March 1725||
|-
|Peter Petrovich||7 October 1723||7 October 1723||
|-
|Pavel Petrovich||1724||1724||
|}

===Mistresses and illegitimate children===
[[File:Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia.jpg|thumb|Peter the Great with a black [[page (servant)|page]], by [[:de:Gustav von Mardefeld]], a Prussian diplomat, who attended the peace congress on [[Åland]] between 1717–1719.<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 August 2023 |title=Peter the Great with a Black Page Mardefelt, Gustaff B. Mardefeld, Gustav von (Baron) V&A Explore The Collections |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O98300/peter-the-great-with-a-miniature-mardefeld-gustav-von/ |website=Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections |language=en}}</ref>]]

* [[Anna Mons]], from 1691 (or 1692) until 1704.{{Sfn|Hughes|2004|p=134}}
* [[Letitia Cross]] in 1698
* [[Mary Hamilton (lady in waiting)|Lady Mary Hamilton]]<ref>''Peter the Great: A Life From Beginning to''. Hourly History. 2018. {{ISBN|1-7239-6063-2}}</ref><ref>A. Gordon (1755), pp. 308–309</ref><!--It is not clear these are Peter's children-->
** Miscarriage (1715)
** Unnamed child (1717–1718?)
* [[Maria Cantemir|Princess Maria Dmitrievna Cantemirovna of Moldavia]], daughter of [[Dimitrie Cantemir]]
** Unnamed son (1722–1723?)<ref>[[Petre P. Panaitescu]], Dimitrie Cantemir. Viața și opera, col. Biblioteca Istorică, vol. III, Ed. Academiei RPR, București, 1958, p. 141.</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File: Peter-the-Great-by-Collot.jpg|thumb|Head (original) of the model after which the monument by [[Peter Falconet|Falconet]] was cast in gypsum by [[Marie-Anne Collot]]. [[Russian Museum]], Saint-Petersburg.]]

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. [[Riasanovsky]] points to a "paradoxical dichotomy" in the black and white images such as God/Antichrist, educator/ignoramus, architect of Russia's greatness/destroyer of national culture, father of his country/scourge of the common man.{{Sfn|Riasanovsky|2000}} For [[Old Believers]] he was the Antichrist, because of the calendar changes and [[poll tax]]. Peter compared himself with [[King David]] or [[Noah]] with a divine mission.{{Sfn|Collis|2015|pp=359, 364, 379}} At his funeral Prokopovich compared him with [[Moses]] and [[Solomon]].<ref name="auto4"/> Voltaire's 1759 biography gave 18th-century Russians a man of the Enlightenment, while Alexander Pushkin's "[[The Bronze Horseman (poem)|The Bronze Horseman]]" poem of 1833 gave a powerful romantic image of a creator-god.<ref>Nicholas Riasanovsky, ''The Image of Peter the Great in Russian History and Thought'' (1985) pp. 57, 84, 279, 283.</ref><ref>A. Lenton, "Voltaire and Peter the Great" ''History Today'' (1968) 18#10 [https://www.historytoday.com/archive/voltaire-and-peter-great online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513090430/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/voltaire-and-peter-great |date=13 May 2021 }}</ref><ref>Kathleen Scollins, "Cursing at the Whirlwind: The Old Testament Landscape of The Bronze Horseman." ''Pushkin Review'' 16.1 (2014): 205–231 [https://hum.michaelkrasuski.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Scollins_BronzeHorseman_2014.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026020451/https://hum.michaelkrasuski.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Scollins_BronzeHorseman_2014.pdf |date=26 October 2020 }}.</ref> Slavophiles in mid-19th century deplored Peter's westernization of Russia.

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 [[French invasion of Russia|invasion of Russia in 1812]]. Nevertheless, it is still quoted in foreign policy circles.<ref>Albert Resis, "Russophobia and the 'Testament' of Peter the Great, 1812–1980" ''Slavic Review'' 44#4 (1985), pp. 681–693 [http://www.academia.edu/download/50985326/The_will_of_Peter_the_great.pdf online]{{Dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{Cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

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 1928, "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."<ref>Lindsey Hughes, ''Russia in the Age of Peter the Great'' (1998) p 464.</ref> As a result, Soviet historiography emphasizes both the positive achievement and the negative factor of oppressing the common people.<ref>Riasanovsky, p. 305.</ref>

After the fall of Communism in 1991, scholars 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.{{Sfn|Zitser|2005}} Modernization models have become contested ground.<ref>Waugh, 2001</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 February 2023 |title=10 Major Accomplishments of Peter the Great |url=https://learnodo-newtonic.com/peter-the-great-accomplishments |access-date=14 July 2023 |website=learnodo-newtonic.com}}{{Unreliable source?|date=July 2023}}</ref>

Historian Y. Vodarsky said in 1993 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!"<ref>Hughes, p. 464</ref> The autocratic powers that Stalin admired appeared as a liability to [[:ru:Анисимов, Евгений Викторович|Evgeny Anisimov]], who complained that Peter was, "the creator of the administrative command system and the true ancestor of Stalin."<ref>Hughes, p. 465.</ref> In the period from 1678 to 1710, however, the population grew 2 times.{{sfn|Vodarsky|1976|p=48}}

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 power]], without 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."<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 June 2023 |title=Peter I |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-the-Great |publisher=[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]}}</ref>

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 Petrine revolution in Russia—subsuming in this phrase the many military, naval, governmental, educational, architectural, linguistic, and other internal reforms enacted by Peter's regime to promote Russia's rise as a major European power—was essentially a cultural revolution, one that profoundly impacted both the basic constitution of the Russian Empire and, perforce, its subsequent development.<ref>James Cracraft, "The Russian Empire as Cultural Construct", ''Journal of the Historical Society'' (2010) 10#2 pp. 167–188, quoting p. 170.</ref>

The [[icon|iconic]] representations of dead saints typical for centuries of Russian visual culture suddenly give way to naturalistic [[Portrait painting|portraiture]].<ref name="auto5"/>

==In popular culture==
[[File:Peter the Great tomb.JPG|thumb|Tomb of Peter the Great in the [[Peter and Paul Fortress]], St Petersburg]][[File:Петр I при Красной горке Айвазовский.jpg|thumb|''Peter I at [[Krasnaya Gorka fort|Krasnaya Gorka]] Lighting a Fire on the Shore to Signal to his Sinking Ships''; the [[Imperial Russian Navy|Russian]] [[Baltic Fleet]] first went to sea in full force, – to help the Russian troops [[Siege of Viborg (1710)|besieging Viborg]], – the fleet got caught in a storm.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aivazovsky |first=I.K. |title=Peter I at Krasnaya Gorka Lighting a Fire on the Shore to Signal to his Sinking Ships |url=https://rusmuseumvrm.ru/data/collections/painting/17_19/zh_5879/index.php?lang=en |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=The Virtual [[Russian Museum]]}}</ref> Painting by [[Ivan Aivazovsky]] (1846).]]

Peter has been featured in many histories, novels, plays, films, monuments and paintings.<ref>Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, ''The Image of Peter the Great in Russian History and Thought'' (1985).</ref><ref>Lindsey Hughes, "'What manner of man did we lose?': Death-bed images of Peter the Great". ''Russian History'' 35.1–2 (2008): 45–61.</ref> They include the poems ''[[The Bronze Horseman (poem)|The Bronze Horseman]]'', ''[[Poltava (poem)|Poltava]]'' and the unfinished novel ''[[The Moor of Peter the Great]]'', all by [[Alexander Pushkin]]. The former dealt with [[The Bronze Horseman]], an equestrian statue raised in Peter's honour. [[Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy]] wrote a biographical historical novel about him, named ''Peter I'', in the 1930s.
* The 1922 German silent film ''[[Peter the Great (1922 film)|Peter the Great]]'' directed by [[Dimitri Buchowetzki]] and starring [[Emil Jannings]] as Peter
* In 1929 [[Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy#Peter the Great|A.N. Tolstoy's play]] was true to the party line, depicting Peter as a tyrant who "suppressed everyone and everything as if he had been possessed by demons, sowed fear, and put both his son and his country on the rack."<ref name="Gorchakov">{{Cite book |last=Gorchakov |first=Nikolai A. |title=The Theatre in Soviet Russia |date=1957 |publisher=Oxford U.P. |location=London |pages=315–317}}</ref>
* The 1937–1938 Soviet film ''[[Peter the Great (1937 film)|Peter the Great]]''
* The 1976 film ''[[How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor]]'', starring [[Aleksey Petrenko]] as Peter, and [[Vladimir Vysotsky]] as [[Abram Petrovich Gannibal]], shows Peter's attempt to build the Baltic Fleet.
* Peter was played by [[Jan Niklas]] and [[Maximilian Schell]] in the 1986 [[NBC]] [[miniseries]] ''[[Peter the Great (TV series)|Peter the Great]]''.
* The 2007 film ''[[The Sovereign's Servant]]'' depicts the unsavoury brutal side of Peter during the campaign.
* A character based on Peter plays a major role in ''[[The Age of Unreason]]'', a series of four [[alternate history]] novels written by American science fiction and fantasy author [[Gregory Keyes]].
* Peter is one of many supporting characters in [[Neal Stephenson]]'s ''[[Baroque Cycle]]'' – mainly featuring in the third novel, ''The System of the World''.
* Peter was portrayed on [[BBC Radio 4]] by Isaac Rouse as a boy, Will Howard as a young adult and [[Elliot Cowan]] as an adult in the radio plays ''Peter the Great: The Gamblers''<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w6b7t BBC Radio 4 – Drama, Tsar, Peter the Great: The Gamblers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925150111/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07w6b7t |date=25 September 2016 }}. BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2020.</ref> and ''Peter the Great: The Queen of Spades'',<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wndxx BBC Radio 4 – Drama, Tsar, Peter the Great: Queen of Spades] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160929205551/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wndxx |date=29 September 2016 }}. BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2020.</ref> written by [[Mike Walker (radio dramatist)|Mike Walker]] and which were the last two plays in the first series of ''Tsar''. The plays were broadcast on 25 September and 2 October 2016.
* A verse in the "[[Godiva's Hymn|Engineers' Drinking Song]]" references Peter the Great:
<blockquote><poem>There was a man named Peter the Great who was a Russian Tzar;
When remodeling his the castle put the throne behind the bar;
He lined the walls with vodka, rum, and 40 kinds of beers;
And advanced the Russian culture by 120 years!</poem></blockquote>
* Peter was played by [[Jason Isaacs]] in the 2020 'antihistory' Hulu series [[The Great (TV series)|''The Great'']].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Great (2020) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2235759/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_15 |access-date=25 September 2022 |website=IMDB}}</ref>
* Peter is featured as the leader of the Russian civilization in the computer game ''Sid Meier's [[Civilization VI]]''.<ref>[https://gamerant.com/civilization-6-leader-civilization-breakdown-montezuma-shaka/ Civilization 6 Leader and Civilization Breakdown – Montezuma to Shaka] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618133234/https://gamerant.com/civilization-6-leader-civilization-breakdown-montezuma-shaka/ |date=18 June 2022 }}. GameRant. Retrieved 15 December 2020.</ref>
* Peter was played by [[Ivan Kolesnikov]] in the 2022 Russian historical documentary film ''[[Peter I: The Last Tsar and the First Emperor]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=3 November 2022 |title=Последний царь: о чём забыли создатели документального фильма о Петре I |url=https://www.forbes.ru/forbeslife/480623-poslednij-car-o-cem-zabyli-sozdateli-dokumental-nogo-fil-ma-o-petre-i |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=Forbes.ru |language=ru}}</ref>

==Ancestors==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
| boxstyle_1 = background-color: #fcc;
| boxstyle_2 = background-color: #fb9;
| boxstyle_3 = background-color: #ffc;
| boxstyle_4 = background-color: #bfc;
| boxstyle_5 = background-color: #9fe;
|1 = 1. '''Peter I of Russia'''
|2 = 2. [[Alexis of Russia]]
|3 = 3. [[Natalya Naryshkina]]
|4 = 4. [[Michael I of Russia]]
|5 = 5. [[Eudoxia Streshneva]]
|6 = 6. [[Kirill Poluektovich Naryshkin]]
|7 = 7. Anna Lvovna Leontieva
|8 = 8. [[Feodor Nikitich Romanov]]
|9 = 9. [[Kseniya Shestova]]
|10 = 10. Lukyan Stepanovich Streshnyov
|11 = 11. Anna Konstantinovna Volkonskaya
|12 = 12. Poluekt Ivanovich Naryshkin
|14 = 14. Leonti Dmitrievich Leontiev
|15 = 15. Praskovia Ivanovna Raevskaya
|16 = 16. [[Nikita Romanovich]]
|17 = 17. Princess Eudoxia Alexandrovna Gorbataya-[[Shuysky|Shuyskaya]]
|18 = 18. Ivan Vasiljevich Shestov
|22 = 22. Konstantin Romanovich Volkonsky
|24 = 24. Ivan Ivanovich Naryshkin
}}

==See also==
<!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order ♦♦♦--->
* [[Government reform of Peter the Great]]
* [[History of Russia (1721–96)]]
* [[History of the administrative division of Russia]]
* {{Section link|Military history of the Russian Empire|Peter the Great}}, on the modernization of the Russian military under Peter the Great
* [[Peter the Great Statue]]
* [[Censorship in the Russian Empire#Peter I's reforms|Censorship in the Russian Empire § Peter I's Reforms]]
* [[Russian battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy|Russian battlecruiser ''Pyotr Velikiy'']], a Russian Navy battle cruiser named after Peter the Great

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=pron}}
{{NoteFoot}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin}}
* Anisimov, Evgenii V. (2015) ''The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress Through Violence in Russia'' (Routledge){{ISBN?}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bain |first=R. Nisbet |author-link=Robert Nisbet Bain |url=http://history.wisc.edu/sommerville/351/CMHPeter.html |title=Peter the Great and his pupils |publisher=Cambridge UP |date=1905 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526185803/http://history.wisc.edu/sommerville/351/CMHPeter.html |archive-date=26 May 2007 |url-status=dead}}
* Brechka, Frank T., “Peter the Great: The Books He Owned.” ''The Journal of Library History.'' 17, no. 1 (1982): 1–15.
* {{Cite book |last=Cracraft |first=James |url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=115404966 |title=The Revolution of Peter the Great |publisher=Harvard UP |date=2003 |access-date=8 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508065607/https://www.gale.com/databases/questia?a=o&d=115404966 |archive-date=8 May 2021 |url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite book |last=Dmytryshyn |first=Basil |title=Modernization of Russia Under Peter I and Catherine II |publisher=Wiley |date=1974}}{{ISBN?}}
* {{cite book |last=Vodarsky |first=Yaroslav |lang=ru |script-title=ru:Население России в конце XVII и начале XVIII веков |trans-title=The population of Russia in the late XVII and early XVIII centuries |date=1976 |place=Moscow |publisher=Наука }}
* {{Cite book |last=Gordon |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Gordon (general) |title=The history of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia. To which is prefixed, A short general history of the country, from the rise of that monarchy: and an account of the author's life |oclc=09104286 |ol=17030794M |date=1755}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Hughes |first=John R. |date=2007 |title=The seizures of Peter Alexeevich |journal=Epilepsy & Behavior |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=179–182 |doi=10.1016/j.yebeh.2006.11.005 |pmid=17174607 |s2cid=25504057}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |date=2004 |title=Catherine I of Russia, Consort to Peter the Great |encyclopedia=Queenship in Europe 1660–1815: The Role of the Consort |publisher=Cambridge UP |last=Hughes |first=Lindsey |author-link=Lindsey Hughes |editor-last=Campbell Orr |editor-first=Clarissa |pages=131–154 |isbn=978-0-5218-1422-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Stephen J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CXl-02q1YwsC&pg=PA31 |title=Peter the Great |publisher=Routledge |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-1364-5325-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Massie |first=Robert K. |author-link=Robert K. Massie |title=Peter the Great: His Life and World |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |date=1980 |isbn=978-0-3072-9145-5 |location=New York}}, a popular biography; [https://archive.org/details/petergreat00robe online]
* {{Cite book |last=Montefiore |first=Simon Sebag |title=The Romanovs: 1613–1918 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |date=2016}}{{ISBN?}}
* {{Cite book |last=Oudard |first=Georges |title=Peter the Great |publisher=Payson and Clarke |date=1929 |location=New York |translator-last=Atkinson, Frederick |lccn=29-027809 |ol=7431283W}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pipes |first=Richard |title=Russia under the old regime |date=1974}}{{ISBN?}}
* {{Cite book |last=Riasanovsky |first=Nicholas |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofrussia00rias |title=A History of Russia |publisher=Oxford UP |date=2000 |edition=6th |location=Oxford, England |isbn=978-0-19-503361-8 |authorlink=Nicholas V. Riasanovsky}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=R.R. |author-link=Robert Roswell Palmer |title=A History of the Modern World |title-link=A History of the Modern World |last2=Colton |first2=Joel |author-link2=Joel Colton |date=1992}}
{{Refend}}

; Historiography and memory
{{Refbegin}}
* Brown, Peter B. "Towards a Psychohistory of Peter the Great: Trauma, Modeling, and Coping in Peter's Personality". ''Russian History'' 35#1–2 (2008): 19–44.
* Brown, Peter B. "Gazing Anew at Poltava: Perspectives from the Military Revolution Controversy, Comparative History, and Decision-Making Doctrines". ''Harvard Ukrainian Studies'' 31.1/4 (2009): 107–133. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41756499 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115050129/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41756499 |date=15 November 2020 }}
* Cracraft, James. "Kliuchevskii on Peter the Great". ''Canadian-American Slavic Studies'' 20.4 (1986): 367–381.
* Daqiu, Zhu. "Cultural Memory and the Image of Peter the Great in Russian Literature". ''Russian Literature & Arts'' 2 (2014): 19+.
* Gasiorowska, Xenia. ''The image of Peter the Great in Russian fiction'' (1979) [https://archive.org/details/imageofpetergrea0000gasi online]
* Platt, Kevin M. F. ''Terror and Greatness: Ivan and Peter as Russian Myths'' (2011) {{ISBN?}}
* Resis, Albert. "Russophobia and the" Testament" of Peter the Great, 1812–1980". ''Slavic Review'' 44.4 (1985): 681–693 [http://www.academia.edu/download/50985326/The_will_of_Peter_the_great.pdf online]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}.
* Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. ''The Image of Peter the Great in Russian History and Thought'' (1985). {{ISBN?}}
* Waugh, Daniel Clarke. "We have never been modern: Approaches to the study of Russia in the age of Peter the Great". ''Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas H.'' 3 (2001): 321–345 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41050779 online in English] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219200552/https://www.jstor.org/stable/41050779 |date=19 December 2022 }}.
* {{Cite journal |last=Zitser |first=Ernest A. |date=Spring 2005 |title=Post-Soviet Peter: New Histories of the Late Muscovite and Early Imperial Russian Court |journal=Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=375–392 |doi=10.1353/kri.2005.0032 |s2cid=161390436}}
* Zitser, Ernest A. "The Difference that Peter I Made". in ''The Oxford Handbook of Modern Russian History.'' ed. by Simon Dixon (2013) [https://www.academia.edu/download/52837343/08Zitser_The_Difference_that_Peter_I_Made.pdf online]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==

{{Portal bar|Biography|Russia|Monarchy}}
* Anderson, M.S. "Russia under Peter the Great and the changed relations of East and West". in J.S. Bromley, ed., ''The New Cambridge Modern History: VI: 1688–1715'' (1970) pp.&nbsp;716–40.
* Anisimov, Evgenii V. ''The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress through Coercion in Russia'' (1993) [https://archive.org/details/reformsofpetergr0000anis online]
* {{Cite EB1911 |first=Robert Nisbet |last=Bain | author-link=Robert Nisbet Bain |wstitle=Peter I.|volume=21|pages=288–91}}
* Bushkovitch, Paul. ''Peter the Great: The Struggle for Power, 1671–1725'' (2001)
* {{Cite book |last=Bushkovitch |first=Paul |title=Peter the Great |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield |date=2003 |isbn=978-0-8476-9639-0}} [https://archive.org/details/petergreat00bush online]
* Cracraft, James. "Kliuchevskii on Peter the Great". ''Canadian-American Slavic Studies'' 20.4 (1986): 367–381.
* Cracraft, James. ''The Revolution of Peter the Great'' (2003) [https://archive.org/details/revolutionofpete00crac online]
* Duffy, Christopher. ''Russia's Military Way to the West: Origins and Nature of Russian Military Power 1700–1800'' (Routledge, 2015) pp 9–41
* Graham, Stephen. ''Peter The Great'' (1929) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.208197 online]
* {{Cite book |last=Grey |first=Ian |url=https://archive.org/details/petergreatempero00grey |title=Peter the Great: Emperor of All Russia |publisher=Philadelphia, Lippincott |date=1960}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Lindsey |author-link=Lindsey Hughes |title=Russia in the Age of Peter the Great |publisher=Yale UP |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-3000-8266-1}} [https://archive.org/details/russiainageofpet00hugh online]
* {{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Lindsey |author-link=Lindsey Hughes |title=Peter the Great and the West: New Perspectives |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-3339-2009-1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Lindsey |author-link=Lindsey Hughes |title=Peter the Great: A Biography |publisher=Yale UP |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-3001-0300-7}}
* Kamenskii, Aleksandr. ''The Russian Empire in the Eighteenth Century: Searching for a Place in the World''(1997) pp 39–164.
* Kluchevsky, V.O. ''A history of Russia'' vol 4 (1926) [https://archive.org/details/historyofrussia04kliuuoft online] pp 1–230.
* Oliva, Lawrence Jay. ed. ''Russia in the era of Peter the Great'' (1969), excerpts from primary and secondary sources [https://archive.org/details/russiaineraofpet00oliv two week borrowing]
* Pares, Bernard. ''A History Of Russia'' (1947) pp 193–225. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.174320 online]
* {{Cite book |url=https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=11635244 |title=Peter the Great, Reformer or Revolutionary? |date=1963 |editor-last=Raeff |editor-first=Mafrc |access-date=8 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317021723/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=11635244 |archive-date=17 March 2008 |url-status=dead}}
* Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, David, and Bruce W. Menning, eds. ''Reforming the Tsar's Army – Military Innovation in Imperial Russia from Peter the Great to the Revolution'' (Cambridge UP, 2004) 361 pp. scholarly essays
* Sumner, B.H. ''Peter the Great and the emergence of Russia'' (1950), [https://archive.org/details/petergreatemerge0000sumn/page/n7/mode/2up online]
* {{Cite book |last=Tavernier |first=Roger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0RMoRvbo-d8C&pg=PA349 |title=Russia and the Low Countries: An International Bibliography, 1500–2000 |publisher=Barkhuis |date=2006 |isbn=978-9-0770-8904-0 |page=349}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wes |first=Martinus A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N9wviNiWb0EC&pg=PA14 |title=Classics in Russia, 1700–1855: Between Two Bronze Horsemen |publisher=Brill |date=1992 |isbn=978-9-0040-9664-6}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons|Пётр Первый|Peter I of Russia}}

* {{YouTube|m67curWtS-o|''Romanovs''. The third film. Peter I, Catherine I}} – Historical reconstruction ''The Romanovs''. StarMedia. Babich-Design (Russia, 2013)
* [https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/peter-the-great-a-tsar-who-loved-science ''Peter the Great, a Tsar who Loved Science'' by Philippe Testard-Vaillant] {{ISBN?}}
* [https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/h/hughes-peter.html ''Russia in the Age of Peter the Great'' by Lindsey Hughes, Yale University Press] {{ISBN?}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-reg}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Feodor III of Russia|Feodor III]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Tsar of all Russia]]|years=1682–1721|regent1=[[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan V]]|yeras1=1682–1696}}
{{S-non|reason=[[Russian Empire]]}}
{{S-new}}
{{S-ttl| title= [[Emperor of Russia]]| years = 1721–1725 }}
{{S-aft| rows= 2 | after= [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine I]] }}
{{S-bef| before= [[Frederick I of Sweden|Frederick]] }}
{{S-ttl| title= [[Duke of Estonia and Livonia]]| years = 1721–1725 }}
{{S-end}}
{{Russian emperors}}
{{Tsarevich of Russia}}
{{Saint Petersburg}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter 01 Of Russia}}
[[Category:Peter the Great]]
[[Category:1672 births]]
[[Category:1725 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Russian monarchs]]
[[Category:18th-century Russian monarchs]]
[[Category:Tsars of Russia]]
[[Category:Emperors of Russia]]
[[Category:House of Romanov]]
[[Category:City founders from the Tsardom of Russia]]
[[Category:Royalty from Moscow]]
[[Category:Russian inventors]]
[[Category:Russian folklore characters]]
[[Category:Characters in bylinas]]
[[Category:Child monarchs from Europe]]
[[Category:Burials at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Russian military personnel of the Great Northern War]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Filicides]]
[[Category:People of the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans]]
[[Category:People of the Russo-Persian Wars]]
[[Category:Netherlands–Russia relations]]
[[Category:Tsareviches of Russia]]
[[Category:Russian people of Tatar descent]]
[[Category:Deaths from gangrene]]
[[Category:Russian expatriates in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Russian expatriates in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in Russia]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)]]
[[Category:Children of Alexis of Russia]]
[[Category:Russian scientists]]