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Charles invaded the Ukraine, in order to join up with rebellious Cossacks. Peter defeated the Swedish army by purposely directing their troops to the city of Poltava, during an unbearable Russian winter and there he surrounded them and annihilated Charles XII army. In the aftermath of his victory over Sweden, Peter founded a city on the Baltic Coast and named it after himself Petersburg. This city was a symbol of the pivot that Russia was making under the Tsar and it became known as Russia’s ‘window on Europe’ <ref> Anisimov, p. 159</ref>. By this time Peter was 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 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 rights of the landowners about the serfs and as a result, the unfree class became ever more dependent on their masters. Peter gave estate-owners new powers, including a requirement that no serf could leave his master’s lands without their written permission. He also placed new financial burdens on the serfs. The tax system that was established by Peter was one that was very oppressive on the poor and the serfs. The Tsar who owned extensive estates created a class of state-serfs or state-peasants. They had more freedoms than the average serf and they paid their rent and dues directly to the state. Despite his reputation as a modernizer, the Tsar helped to strengthen the feudal order in his country and reinforced the institution of serfdom that had fall into abeyance in western Europe in the Middle Ages <ref>Anisimov, p 115</ref>.