the Great Peter I

Peter I, the Great (1672–1725), became joint tsar in 1682 and sole tsar in 1696. He traveled in western Europe (1697–98), learning techniques of war and industry and recruiting experts to bring back to Russia. He warred against Turkey to gain access to the Mediterranean, and his Northern War with Sweden (1700–21) led to Russian domination of the Baltic Sea. He established his new capital of St. Petersburg on the Baltic as a symbol of his policy of westernization. Domestically he introduced sweeping military, administrative, and other reforms. A man of enormous size, strength, and energy, Peter was also savage in the exercise of power, and although he modernized, reformed, and strengthened Russia, it was at great human cost.