May 30, 2018

Peter the Great, Emperor of All Russia


Peter the Great, Emperor of All Russia

Peter the Great was born on May 30 (Old Style, June 9, New Style). Here's a quick Tsar's Tour of one of the country's most important leaders...

Peter I of Russia was a busy man.

After a trip to Europe in 1698 (known as the Grand Embassy), he became convinced that Russia had a long way to go before she could “catch up” with the West. And so this giant of a tsar – 6 foot 8 inches! – set to changing everything.

First, the boring parts: Peter tried several administrative reforms – it took him a few tries to get it right, as he copied one European country after another. His most lasting contribution was the Table of Ranks, a supposedly meritocratic system for advancing in the tsar’s service, which remained in force all the way until the Russian Revolution. The Table of Ranks also conveniently undermined the hereditary authority of the boyars, who vied with the tsar for power. In addition to their pedigrees, the boyars, like the biblical Samson, had one other source of power: their hair, more specifically, their beards – and so Peter demanded that everyone shave their beards, or else pay a beard tax.

In fact, beard-shaving was just one part of making everyone Western. New clothing was also imported, as were European wigs, manners, and aesthetics. Peter brought much of contemporary Europe’s knowledge and skills with him from the Grand Embassy (where he had at times pretended to be a commoner and studied at a shipyard), but he also invited experts from abroad, mostly Germans.

These Germans (to be fair, some were Dutch) brought their books, their newspapers, and their words with them. The Russian language was fleshed out and filled up with neologisms (not all of them stuck). Peter couldn’t be happier: determined to meet the linguistic changes halfway, he devised a new script, borrowing heavily from Western sources. And if you wanted to be in the know about all the new-fangled technology, you had to read the new script!


The entire reform in a nutshell: "shave beards, cut hair, sew clothing, start thinking."

Oh, he also built the Russian navy practically from scratch.

And, as a pat on the back at the end of it all, in 1721 he got himself crowned as the first Russian Emperor. He wasn’t even dead yet before they started calling him “Great.”

The "Bronze Horseman" - a monument "to Peter the First from Catherine the Second"

But the crown jewel of Peter’s reforms was the city of St. Petersburg. Built on a swamp that had just recently been captured from the Swedes in the Northern War, with its foundation made – quite literally – out of the bones of workers who died building it, the city was filled with the new architecture and the new customs, and held in place by the sheer force of Peter’s will, as Russian writers so like to muse about:

“Hundreds of times, as I’ve walked through the Petersburg morning fog, this strange thought has cropped up: ‘What if, when the fog lifts and disperses somewhere high up over the earth, this rotten, slimy city were to lift up with it and vanish like vapor, until there remains only this old Finnish swamp, and – I suppose – in the middle of it, as decoration, that bronze horseman on his panting, exhausted horse?’ ”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Adolescent

But, for all its fantastical qualities, St. Petersburg has so far stayed in place – and we remember Peter the Great as the willful reformer who put it there and nailed it down, like a piece of lumber on his newest ship.

When we say Peter built the Russian navy, we mean it literally.

Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, Eugenia Sokolskaya

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955