Peter the Great

Peter the Great was tsar and later emperor of Russia whose reign transformed the state’s military, administration and relationship with Europe. Victory in the Great Northern War secured access to the Baltic and supported the foundation of Saint Petersburg, while reform and coercive mobilisation imposed heavy demands on Russian society.

Peter’s reforms were driven by both military necessity and a determination to remake the institutions of the Russian state. He reorganised service obligations, created new administrative bodies, subordinated the Orthodox Church more closely to the crown and introduced the Table of Ranks. His westernising programme created new opportunities for some elites but depended on heavy taxation, forced labour and coercion on a vast scale.

Hourly History’s Great Northern War also traces Peter the Great’s military reforms, the building of St Petersburg and the expansion of Russian power around the Baltic. Sweden’s defeat ended its position as the dominant regional empire and confirmed Russia as a major European state. Hourly History’s Russian Empire presents the expansion and government of a vast Eurasian state from the age of Peter the Great to the fall of Nicholas II. Simon Sebag Montefiore’s The Romanovs gives sustained attention to rulers including Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II while also following ministers, favourites, spouses and rivals around them.