Peter the Great Reformer

Peter the Great was the czar of Russia between 1682 and 1725. He began to influence Russia’s development almost immediately after becoming czar and transformed Russia from an isolated agricultural society into an Empire on a par with European powers. Under his reign, existed a period of significant reforms, because of their major effects, which were constructive, useful and beneficial to his country. Peter’s reforms, especially, in the area of education, revealed his actions as pertaining to the characteristics of a reformer. The modernization of Russia was mostly based on Europeanization, which brought elements from Europe into Russia. After being defeated by both Sweden and the Ottomans, it became clear to Peter that creating a navy and modernizing the military would be important, if Russia was to become a more dominant and influential country. Shortly after becoming Czar, Peter began to visit European countries to observe their culture. He was impressed by it’s modernness and, as a result, brought these influences back to Russia in an attempt to make Russia reach the same heights. His reforms ranged from Educational and militaristic to simple things, like having Russian men shave their beards to look more European. He knew that major changes needed to transpire in Russia, if it was to become a dominant European power. Many scholars from Peter’s day, described him as either a reformer or revolutionary because of his goal to modernize and transform Russia for the better. Some of the reforms that he passed include a church reform, economic reform and government reforms. A reformer is someone who is devoted to bringing about political, social, and other reforms. A revolutionary, however, is someone who is engaged in promoting a...

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...ich are cities and a small area around them, while European nations had more organized and controlled cities. The uyezds system, causes problems in city management and distributes the population unevenly. Peter removed this problem by abolishing this system and having eight governorates rule larger areas. In 1713, another reform established “landrats” in each of these governorates, who helped the leaders of that governorate. Peter, also, changed the previous household tax on land to a new poll tax. During the rule of Peter the Great, finances had been faltering for two decades due to war with Sweden. In order to overcome this financial crisis, Peter did things like reduce expenditures in the Court, establishing monetary measures and banned the exportation of precious metals, all while increasing already existent taxes. By 1725 there were around 40 kinds of taxes.