Peter The Great Personality

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Peter the Great and the Streltsy Uprising Peter the Great is likely the most well-known Tsar in all of Russia’s history. During his reign from 1682 to 1725, he was responsible for leading Russia to become the major European power that it is today. He carried out many reforms and westernized the country which greatly influenced the millions of people of Russia. Peter the Great was a very interesting person; his intellectual curiosity, along with his bad temper and cruelty lead to a chaotic but successful reign as a Tsar. He was a brilliant ruler that greatly affected Russian society, but many of his cruel decisions left a negative impact on his history. He made sure of maintaining his absolute power by fiercely putting down rebellions and punishing anyone who spoke against him. His cruelty…show more content…
Peter was considered a giant in his time period, as he grew to become the exceptional height of 6'7''. He had dark features and his massive size was very intimidating. This allowed him to easily gain control over his subordinates (Hughes). Of course, Peter is known for his many travels to Western Europe. During these trips his attempts to be anonymous were often unsuccessful because of his great height and his Grand Embassy of roughly two-hundred and fifty men (Peter 2). Peter's curiosity about the flourishing western culture resulted in several trips to the countries of Western Europe, many times he traveled incognito. He traveled in disguise so that he could learn about the aspects of Western Culture from a different viewpoint and he gained a lot of knowledge from these voyages (Peter 3). However, Peter's frequent trips left Russia without a leader, often for months at a time. His absence often caused revolts and rebellions among the people. When Peter returned to Russia he showed no mercy in shutting down the rebellions and declaring his power over the country (V,
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