Person1672 – 1725
Peter the Great
Also called: Peter I, Pyotr Alekseyevich
Tsar and first emperor of Russia (r. 1682–1725) who modernised Russia on Western lines, won the Great Northern War and moved the capital to Saint Petersburg
A giant over two metres tall, as a boy he mixed with Westerners in the foreign quarter outside Moscow and became fascinated by ships and soldiering. He seized real power by ending the regency of his half-sister Sophia. On the Grand Embassy he hid his identity under the name “Pyotr Mikhailov” and worked as a carpenter in shipyards. So harsh was he that his son Alexei, who opposed the reforms, was put on trial and died in prison. He is said to have died after an illness worsened by wading into icy water to rescue drowning soldiers.