Peter the Great (Russian: Пётр Вели́кий,
tr. Pyotr Velíkiy, IPA:
[ˈpʲɵtr vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj]),
Peter I or
Pyotr Alekséyevich (Russian: Пётр Алексе́евич, IPA:
[ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ]; 9 June [
O.S. 30 May] 1672 – 8 February [
O.S. 28 January] 1725)
[note 2] was a monarch of the
Tsardom of Russia and later the
Russian Empire from 7 May [
O.S. 27 April] 1682 until his death in 1725,
jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother,
Ivan V. Under his reign, Russia was modernised and grew into a European power.
Through a number of successful wars, he captured ports at
Azov and the
Baltic Sea, laying the groundwork for the
Imperial Russian Navy, ending uncontested
Swedish supremacy in the Baltic and beginning the Tsardom's expansion into a much larger
empire that became a major European power. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific,
Westernised and based on
the Enlightenment.
[1] Peter's reforms had a lasting impact on Russia, and many institutions of the Russian government trace their origins to his reign. He adopted the title of Emperor in place of the old title of Tsar in 1721, and founded and developed the city of
Saint Petersburg, which remained the capital of Russia until 1918.
However, the formation of local elites domestically was not his main priority, and the first Russian university—
Saint Petersburg State University—was founded only a year before his death, in 1724. The second one,
Moscow State University, was founded 30 years after his death, during the reign of his daughter
Elizabeth.
