1682-1725 Emperor of Russia.
He was the first crowned Emperor of Russia. By far the greatest reformer in Russian history, he turned Medieval Russia into a truly modern empire.
Background
Lived: 1672-1725.
Peter the Great had an energetic personality. He was over 2 meters tall, constantly moving, inspired by everything modern. He loved to make things with his hands.
He spent his childhood outside of town playing war games and preparing his own personal Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments.
Personal
Peter idealized the West. He became the first monarch to travel outside of Russia. In 1697, he travelled incognito to Holland and England to study new technologies first hand.
He became an expert in a total of 14 crafts, including ship-building, dentistry and printing.
Peter loved to have a good time. He organized extensive drinking parties with vulgar humour that he always took to the extreme. No one could keep up with him when it came to heavy drinking.
Family
Peter’s first marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina was an unhappy one. He eventually divorced her and sent her to the monastery.
They had a son Alexey Petrovich, who Peter deeply disliked. He accused his son of treason and had him beaten to death as a punishment.
Peter’s second marriage to a laundress Martha Skavronska (tsarina Catherine I) produced 11 children, of whom only two daughters survived.
Death
Peter died in agony of gangrene in 1725. According to legend, he had caught cold rescuing a soldier from icy water.
Peter the Great
1682-1725 Emperor of Russia.
He was the first crowned Emperor of Russia. By far the greatest reformer in Russian history, he turned Medieval Russia into a truly modern empire.
Background
Lived: 1672-1725.
Peter the Great had an energetic personality. He was over 2 meters tall, constantly moving, inspired by everything modern. He loved to make things with his hands.
He spent his childhood outside of town playing war games and preparing his own personal Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments.
Personal
Peter idealized the West. He became the first monarch to travel outside of Russia. In 1697, he travelled incognito to Holland and England to study new technologies first hand.
He became an expert in a total of 14 crafts, including ship-building, dentistry and printing.
Peter loved to have a good time. He organized extensive drinking parties with vulgar humour that he always took to the extreme. No one could keep up with him when it came to heavy drinking.
Family
Peter’s first marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina was an unhappy one. He eventually divorced her and sent her to the monastery.
They had a son Alexey Petrovich, who Peter deeply disliked. He accused his son of treason and had him beaten to death as a punishment.
Peter’s second marriage to a laundress Martha Skavronska (tsarina Catherine I) produced 11 children, of whom only two daughters survived.
Death
Peter died in agony of gangrene in 1725. According to legend, he had caught cold rescuing a soldier from icy water.
Great Northern War