Peter I the Great, Emperor of Russia

Peter I the Great (1672-1725) - Tzar of Russia since 1782, Russian Emperor since 1721, youngest son of the Tzar Alexey Mikhaylovich Romanov. He started to rule jointly with his sickly half-brother Tzar Ivan V under the regency of their sister Tzarevna Sophia. In 1689, he had his sister arrested and imprisoned in a convent and started to rule independently. In 1695-1696, he led the Russian army in a war against the Turks and won it. As a result Russia obtained an important port of Azov. After his 16-months travel in Europe and suppressing the revolt of the streltzy (regiments of musketeers which made up the Russian army at the time) he started the reforms in Russia. As a result of the Great Northern War 1700-1721 Russia obtained ports on the Baltic Sea. In 1703, Peter started to build the new capital of Russia, St. Petersburg. Although Peter had started during his reign a kind of cultural revolution and for the first time in the world history established Russia as a major power, his role in the Russian history is ambiguous. He strengthened the serfs' slavery which impaired the industrial progress in Russia in the following years. See also our newsletter Peter the Great.
See: Aleksey Antropov. Portrait of Peter the Great.
Louis Caravaque. Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava.
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. Peter the Great in Holland. Amsterdam, the Wharf of the East India Company.
Nikolay Gay. Peter the Great Interrogating the Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich at Peterhof.
Andrey Matveev. Portrait of Peter I the Great.
Ivan Nikitin. Portrait of Peter the Great. Portrait of Peter the Great.
Valentin Serov. Peter the Great.
Johann Gottfried Tannauer. Portrait of Peter the Great. Peter the Great During the Battle of Poltava.