v20_0831 - RUSSIA - PIETRO I IL GRANDE Rouble 1721 Moscou

RUSSIA - PETER THE GREAT I

(7/05/1682-8/02/1725)

Peter I (9/06/1672-8/02/1725) is the son of Alexis I (1645-1676) and succeeded his brother Fedor III (1676-1682). He acceded to the throne under the regency of his half-sister, Sophia, and his half-brother, Ivan V.. He reigned from 1689 and became Tsar of Russia on the death of his half-brother.. In 1698, he crushed the revolt of the imperial guard, the Streltsi, and Sophie was relegated to a convent where she died.. He completely reformed Russia from 1700 and traveled several times in Europe (United Provinces, England, France). Autocrat, reformer of morals and traditional life, he nevertheless had his first wife walled up and his son Alexis tortured to death (1718). He married a former cantinière, Catherine Ire. In foreign policy, he was the implacable enemy of Charles XII of Sweden (1697-1712) whom he defeated at Poltava in 1709. At the Treaty of Nystadt he seized the mainland Swedish possessions. He was less happy with the Turks and had to return Azov to them which he had taken from them.. He founded a new capital open to the Baltic and the world, Saint Petersburg, in 1703. He created the Russian war and trade fleet. He died in 1725.