Peter The Great
By: Jack Dunich
His Controversial Reign
Who was Peter The Great? I'll start off with saying he started off as a very young Tsar, in 1682 at age 10 he started ruling over Russia, but he did not take over the government until 1689. From the beginning Peter the Great just wanted to get better at what he did. That led to he exploration west to Europe. He would dress in disguise and note the manners and costumes of the Europeans. He was influenced extremely from this and in his return to Russia Peter the Great had a vision. That was to make the military stronger and modernize the way his people lived and dressed. He successfully urbanized his country and gained military power by the day, which ultimately led to another vision. This was to extend Russia's borders, and he began in 1700 with his war against Sweden. This long and grueling war ended in 1709, with a Russian win that supplied them with more land. Peter the Great's rule ended 1725 when he died from natural causes.