Peter the Great

1. Russian Empire- continued after the four empires ended in WWI
2. rise and fall of empires is a theme of this course
3. Peter Great was given for expanding Russia
4. what Peter the Great did-pushed back the neighbors that had blocked the expansion of Moscow-Sweden
5. Poltava, Poland, Turks, and Swedes are defeated for expansion
6. dreamed of capturing Constantinople that would give him control of the straights to black sea
7. peter the great was te first of Russian tsars that dreamed of this-
8. Azov-access of black sea-lose and are forced to surrender after an unsuccessful
9. despite this dramatic expansion of Russian empire, does not get this outlet to the black sea
10. Russia's participation in European affairs had been minimal-
11. Louis XIV sent a letter to Russian Tsar who had been dead for 12 years because Russia was so out of communication
12. after Russian victories began, Europeans began to recognize Peter and began to have a fear of him and Sweden too with Gustavus Adolphus
13. There is no other European states expanding their empire overseas that adds as much land to its empire from the 1630-1740’s as Russia
14. about 2 million square miles
15. first child of father’s second wife
16. Boyar threw over nobles
17. died in 1725-no strict rules for succession of tsar
18. family battle royale
19. no foreign minister-
20. council of the nobles-met in the throne of nobles-known as Duma
21. his absolutism is because of his personality
22. opening up of Russia to Euro ideas
23. he does this himself
24. as a boy he was very smart and into science
25. traveled often to Europe
26. took archaic structure and transforms it into an absolute monarchy
27. common to Hapsburg, France, Sweden
28. wants to open up Russia to commerce-wanted wealth for improvement of Russian life
29. made Russia a huge military power
30. injects European culture
31. the tension in Russia between
32. peter was at least 6 foot 7-guards of Frederick the Great were Giants because they were six feet tall
33. most people were 5 foot 4
34. napoleon was the average height of most people in France
35. he had extremely small hands and feet and stumbles sometimes when he walked
36. odd facial ticks that he could not help-turrets
37. torturous-sometimes kept people alive to suffer longer-had people come and watch so that people could be warned not to act up
38. executed people himself
39. incidents where his merciful side came through as well-when it came to treason he was less likely to be nice
40. ex. his son that he tortured
41. his second wife was a Latvian peasant maid- the nobles thought it was horrific
42. he was capable of playing the role of a tsar but there are more images of him in battered clothing to recognize his struggles
43. like the company of ordinary people-identified himself with the common people
44. liked to walk, avoided carriages
45. commoners were sometimes better dressed than he was
46. ate standing up and jumped from table to table to socialize
47. liked living in a basic peasant house found in the outskirts of Moscow
48. drunken assembly-mock parliament
49. getting wasted then making mockery decisions
50. saying that being a Tsar is more than just playing the role
51. he had to manifest strength, firmness, and bravery
52. got to work earliest
53. loved maps and geography-self taught
54. made spelling mistakes-had bad handwriting
55. built a private library with ordinary books and teaching books
56. sang religious music and played the drums
57. peter wanted a navy-needed a port
58. he first built a navy on rivers using Dutch shipmasters from Amsterdam
59. learned Dutch in 1696 he went to western Europe incognito to learn military skills
60. interested in baroque
61. makes nobles junior partners in absolutism
62. asked men and women to dress like European and to adopt non-Russian customs for Russia
63. tremendous tensions with the church even though he is deeply religious
64. some put on western styled wigs
65. women began to wear heals
66. his son was more under influence of tradition
67. plots against his father
68. father tortures him
69. son dies of a cold after being put in a cell
70. weakened
71. what lasted was the Europeanization of western culture
72. has books translated from west into Russian
73. Russian students sent abroad to study at universities
74. peter was a son of European rationalism-rationality rather than traditionalism
75. not against the church but thought people were wasting their time being monks
76. did not serve state or the dynasty
77. in Siberia, this empire amounted to little more than a series of trading posts. Peter the great creates this empire that will have great influence after a while
78. will have an enormous influence on Asian powers as well
79. open up Russia to commerce knowing that trade means wealth
80. makes Russia a military power in 17th and early 18th century
81. injects euro culture into Russia
82. what is Russian that should stay non-secular and what is Russian that should be modified?
83. peter is at least 6’7’’--extremely small hands and small feet
84. very torturous
85. enormous ambivalent to his power-married a Latvian commoner
86. boyars-horrified
87. sad childhood
88. loved sleeping on ships-rocking allowed him to sleep
89. he ate peasant food
90. had a natural manner-could be considered inappropriate
91. liked masquerades
92. always took fake names as commoners so that he would look like a peasant
93. very interested in the sciences