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[[File: Peter der-Grosse 1838.jpg |200px|thumbnail|left|Portrait of Peter the Great]]

Russia was a vast and sprawling country, but it was backward and traditional. Under the Romanov Dynasty, the country had expanded and had become a vast kingdom. While Europe was modernizing and developing new technologies and ideas, Russia remained insular. It had few urban centers, no real infrastructure, and it was an agrarian society. Much of the country was ruled by Boyars or nobles who ruled vast estates almost as independent sovereigns. They regularly defied the Tsar’s orders, and they competed for influence over the Tsars. Russia, despite being rich in resources, was poor.<ref> Bushkovitch, Paul. Peter the Great: The Struggle for Power, 1671–1725 (Cambridge, Cambridge Press, 2001), p 6</ref>

This was because the government of the country was archaic. Much of the population were serfs, who were not legally free and they were effectively owned by the landowning class. Russia was still very much a feudal society even as Europe was about to enter the Enlightenment. The Russian Orthodox Church was also mighty, and its Patriarch was second in power only to the Tsar. Many enemies encircled Russia. It was menaced by many powerful enemies, including the Swedish and Ottoman Empires, who frequently threaten its territories.<ref>Bushkovitch, p. 134</ref>

[[File: 640px-Lomonosov Poltava 1762 1764.jpg |400px|thumb|left|Mosaic of Peter the Great at Poltava]]

Peter was born in Moscow, Russia in, 1672. He was the 14th child of Tsar Alexis by his second wife. After the death of his father, he jointly ruled with his brother Ivan V from 1682. Ivan died in 1696 and then Peter ruled alone. The Tsar was a giant of a man and was unpredictable and prone to violent outbursts. Peter was a curious man by nature, and he wanted to make his kingdoms strong and protect them from their many enemies. To do this, he wanted to modernize his realm. He also wanted to strengthen his own position regarding the local aristocracy.

By this time, Peter was the absolute ruler of Russia, and in 1721 he named himself as Emperor of All Russia, Great Father of the Fatherland, and "the Great." Peter was a reformer, but he was like previous Tsars, and he had a reputation for being bloodthirsty and cruel. He was even cruel to his own family. His sent his first wife to a nunnery and had a son convicted of treason and was secretly executed in 1718. Peter the Great died on February 8, 1725, without nominating an heir. He is entombed in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, located in St. Petersburg. It is reported that when asked who should rule after his death, he whispered ‘the strongest.’<ref> Masie, p. 214</ref> Stability was only restored after many years when his daughter Elizabeth became Tsarina.

Peter's reign saw even great controls imposed on the serfs. Peter gave the Boyers and the landowning class more powers over the serfs. Peter passed laws that formalized the landowners' rights about the serfs, and as a result, the unfree class became ever more dependent on their masters. Peter gave estate-owners new powers, including requiring no serf to leave his master’s lands without their written permission. He also placed new financial burdens on the serfs.

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[[File: 598px-Sankt Petersburg Peter der Grosse 2005 a.jpg |250px|thumb|left|Statue of Peter the Great]]

The Great Northern War required unprecedented economic resources, and Peter needed new revenue streams to pay for his reforms and wars. The government was in a dire financial position because of Peter’s lavish expenditure. To raise money, Peter monopolized the salt, vodka, and coal industries. Peter devised many ways to raise revenue, even a tax on beards that caused an uproar among traditional Russians.

However, the country remained agrarian and private enterprise was stymied by the vast state monopolies and heavy taxation. Peter did begin the process of industrialization in his country when he set up state-workshops in the cities and towns. To boost Russian manufacturers also pursued proto-protectionist trade policies, placing heavy tariffs on imports and trade to maintain a favorable environment for Russian-made goods. As a result, Peter did not really modernize the Russian economy as he tightly controlled it, and the country’s economy did not fundamentally change.<ref> Robert K. Massie, Peter the Great: His Life and World (London, Random House Publishing Group, 2012), p. 22</ref>

Peter’s administrative reforms all sought to counter the influence of the Boyars. The Tsar hated the nobles and did not trust them, and many were opposed to his reforms as they threatened their privileges. Peter the Great established the Table of Ranks. This was a complex system of titles and offices. The table had twenty-four ranks. Each rank had its own level of service to the Tsar. The establishment of the Table of Ranks was an attack on the Boyars' power and transformed Russian society.<ref> Masie, p. 113</ref> The reform abolished hereditary office holding and allowed new people to join the bureaucracy and state service.

He also set up a Senate which was designed to counsel the Tsar. The Tsar was an autocrat, and he gave sweeping powers to the bureaucracy and the elite. He also ended the autonomy of the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, and he turned the Church into a department of the state. The Tsar totally dominated the Church just as he did all other aspects of Russian life.<ref> Massie, p. 156</ref> Despite his reforms, Russia remained an autocracy and Peter was an absolute ruler.

The Russian army that Peter inherited was a semi-professional militia that was recruited from villages and estates. The soldiers were poorly trained and armed. Peter knew that they were not able to match the Swedes and Ottomans on the battlefield. The Tsar turned the military into a professional force.<ref> Anisimov, Evgenii V. "The Reforms of Peter the Great: Progress through coercion in Russia, trans." John T. Alexander (Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe, 1993), p. 186 </ref> He appointed western officers to his army and trained the soldiers.

Peter also established arsenals and workshops that produced modern weapons for the new army. Tsar Peter established a standing army in 1699, and he passed a law that conscripted some serfs and nobles for life. Despite his many reforms the nobles officered many units in the new army. Peter was particularly eager to establish a new navy. Before his reign, Russia did not have a real maritime presence and was essentially landlocked. Peter imported skilled artisans and established shipyards. In doing so, the monarch created the first Russian Navy, and this not only allowed Peter to project his military power and helped boost maritime trade.

Many historians argue that Peter initiated a cultural revolution that transformed Russia and changed it from a traditionalist and even medieval society into one that was deeply influenced by the west. Certainly, Tsar Peter was deeply influenced by the West. He introduced many new ideas and technologies into his country. Many westerners came to settle in the country. Many point to the City that he founded, St Petersburg, which became a truly European city. Peter build many churches and stately buildings in his foundation, and his successors continued this. Indeed, the city was to become Russia’s cultural center. It became the home of many great Russian writers and composers.

However, Peter did not really modernize his country. He was an autocrat, and he became an absolute ruler. Some Tsar critics state that he created a police state in Russia and created a rigid and stratified society, where most of the populace were serfs.<ref> Meehan-Waters, B. "The Russian Aristocracy and the Reforms of Peter the Great." Canadian-American Slavic Studies 8, no. 2 (1974): 288-302 </ref> The reforms of the Tsar did not change Russia and it remained a feudal and traditional society until the reign of Tsar Nicholas II in the 19th century.

Peter the Great is widely regarded as one of the founders of modern Russia. There are no doubts about his many and varied achievements. He defeated the Swedish Empire and turned his realm into a true Empire. Peter opened Russia to the west and curtailed the nobility's power, and created a modern state, one that could compete with the other European countries. The Tsar also established the great city of St Petersburg, which became one of Europe’s great cultural centers.