How Did Peter The Great Rule Russia
Peter the Great ruled Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries after a long time of bad rulers in Russia. They were once ruled mostly by barbarians, but he wanted to westernize Russia, and open a window to the west. It was tough bringing Russia out of a time of religious rule and poverty. He ended up making Russia one of the greatest empires of the time by improving Russia’s army and navy, gaining a lot of land, and bringing major intellectual changes. They were a major Eurasian power. Peter really took Russia out of a major dark age. The people were so attached to the Russian Orthodox Church that they didn’t know what to do without it. The former tsars also took money from the people, and only tried to benefit themselves, and not the people.
…show more content…
With Russia’s improvements in the military, Peter thought this wasn’t going to be a very hard war, but he was wrong. Sweden didn’t want give up their land, but Peter really wanted the land. He really wanted to get the ports on the Baltic Sea. He also was suspected to have wanted control of Poland, but no one could understand why he wanted control of such a small, barely blossoming nation. Sweden was also Russia’s main threat, and he wanted to stop them from expanding incase of anything they could do to hurt Russia in the future (Hughes 27). A quote by Peter the Great explains his look on how he changes Russia “ I have a great bundle of grain, but I have no mill and there is not enough water close to build one. But there is water enough distance if only I shall have time to build a canal, but the length of my life is uncertain. Therefore I build the mill first and have only given order to build the canal, which will better force my successors to bring water.“ (Woodlock). It didn’t seem to me that Peter the Great gained a lot of land. Russia was already great in size, but he did gain very vital land and ports. Even though Russia was great in size, it lacked major ports and fertile land before Peter expanded. Russia really needed the ports, and Peter obtained them. This directly links to my thesis because he made Russia a major trading and more of an agricultural nation because of the land he
With Russia’s improvements in the military, Peter thought this wasn’t going to be a very hard war, but he was wrong. Sweden didn’t want give up their land, but Peter really wanted the land. He really wanted to get the ports on the Baltic Sea. He also was suspected to have wanted control of Poland, but no one could understand why he wanted control of such a small, barely blossoming nation. Sweden was also Russia’s main threat, and he wanted to stop them from expanding incase of anything they could do to hurt Russia in the future (Hughes 27). A quote by Peter the Great explains his look on how he changes Russia “ I have a great bundle of grain, but I have no mill and there is not enough water close to build one. But there is water enough distance if only I shall have time to build a canal, but the length of my life is uncertain. Therefore I build the mill first and have only given order to build the canal, which will better force my successors to bring water.“ (Woodlock). It didn’t seem to me that Peter the Great gained a lot of land. Russia was already great in size, but he did gain very vital land and ports. Even though Russia was great in size, it lacked major ports and fertile land before Peter expanded. Russia really needed the ports, and Peter obtained them. This directly links to my thesis because he made Russia a major trading and more of an agricultural nation because of the land he