Russia

Kiana Nakagama

Final Paper

Peter the Great’s Westernization of Russia

When Peter was became the sole tsar of Russia in 1696, he made hundreds of decrees and reforms, transforming Russia from its backward Muscovite ways to more modernized European customs. Peter westernized Russia by creating military, naval, cultural, and political revolutions; however, he did not meet all of his modernization goals in terms of society or the economy. At the end of his reign, it was his westernization of Russian culture, military, and naval applications that led Russia to further modernization and advancement.

When Peter was a young boy, he split the throne with his half brother Ivan, while Ivan’s eldest sister Sofia stood on the throne as regent. Because of the conflict of succession between their two families, Peter and his mother were exiled to a small village outside of Moscow known as Preobrzhenskoe. He was forced to grow up outside of the Muscovite court influences, and was not educated into the ways of the ceremonies, which had two major consequences. Firstly, because his formal education was neglected, Peter was free to shape his own education. As a result, he was able to indulge in his own intellectual interests and passions. “Seeking knowledge of technical and military matters, Peter frequented the German settlement…a separate European town of diplomats, merchants, officers, and artisans.” (MacKenzie 173) He learned printing, carpentry, metalworking, sailing, boating, boat building, and dentistry. His big personality and love of learning led him to use his interests and passions to shape how he ruled. In his free time, Peter would play with “toy soldiers; then he began to recruit and drill live ones.” He used unemployed courtiers to fill his regiments and soon, “he had formed two well-trained battalions of about 300 men each…” It was first during his play regiments that Peter learned the concept of merit prioritized over nobility or name. He would train his ‘fake’...