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Empire to Signify their Ingerial status) The Rumanors lifter tede stice that had rapidly expanded it's boundhitter since the mis fourteenth century Building on the foundation of a sufall principality around the moding city of Moscow by togo Russhe Had become a vast empire extending from the Aretic sears in the worth to tie Caspian Sea in the south, with off theceasingg presentice in the timber and forests of Siberia as well Peter / Most important of the Romanov tsars was Peter I Keyned 1682-1725), widely known as Peter the Great, who mangurated a thoroughgoing process of state transformation Peter had a burning desire to make Russia, a huge but under populated land, into a great military power like those that had recently emerged in westernt Europe. hot pursuit of that goal, he worked to transform Russia on the model of western Euros peam lands. In 1697-1698 he led a large party of Russian ob servers on a tour of Germany. the Netherlands, and England to learn about western European administrative methods and military technology. His traveling companions often behaved crudely by western European standards: they consumed been wine, and brandy in quantities that astonished their hosts, and King William IIf sent Peter a bill for damages done by his en tourage at the country house where they lodged in England. (Among other things, Peter had ruined the gardens by having his men march through them in military formation.) Upon returning to Moscow, Peter set Russia spinning. He reformed the army by offering better pay and drafting peas The French painter Hyacinthe Rigaud, renowned for his ants who served for life as professional soldiers. He provided his forces with extensive training and equipped them with portrait paintings of the royalty and nobility of Europe. modern weapons. He ordered aristocrats to study mathemat created this vision of Louis XIV, Louis' reign, from 1643 to ies and geometry so that they could calculate how to aim can his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months. nons accurately, and he began the construction of a navy with and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign an eye toward domination of the Baltic and other northern of any European monarch. seas. He also overhauled the government bureaucracy to facil SuperStock/Getty Images itate tax collection and improve administrative efficiency, His transformation of Russia even, involved a cosmetic makeover. as he commanded his aristocratic subjects to wear western In effect, Louis provided the nobility with luxurious accommo- European fashions and ordered men to shave their traditional dations and endless entertainment in exchange for absolute rule. beards, These measures, which were extremely unpopular From Versailles, Louis and his advisers promulgated laws and among conservative Russians, provoked spirited protest controlled a large standing army that kept order throughout the among those who resented the influence of western European land. They also promoted economic development by supporting ways. Yet Peter insisted on observance of his policies-to the the establishment of new industries, building roads and canals, point that he reportedly went into the streets and personally abolishing internal tariffs, and encouraging exports, Finally, hacked the beards off recalcitrants' faces. Perhaps the best they waged a series of wars designed to enlarge French boundar- symbol of his policies was St. Petersburg, a newly built seaport ies and establish France as the preeminent power in Europe. that Peter opened in 1703 to serve as a magnificent capital city and haven for Russia's fledgling navy. Absolutism in Russia Louis XIV was not the only absolute monarch of early modern Europe: Spanish, Austrian, and Catherine II and the Limits of Reform The most able of Prussian rulers embraced similar policies. The potential of Peter's successors was Catherine II (reigned 1762-1796), also absolutism to increase state power was particularly conspicu- known as Catherine the Great. Like Peter, Catherine sought to ous in the case of Russia, where tsars of the Romanov dynasty make Russia a great power. She worked to improve govern- (1613-1917) tightly centralized government functions. (Tsar, mental efficiency by dividing her vast empire into fifty admin- sometimes spelled czar, is a Russianized form of the term istrative provinces, and she promoted economic development in Russia's towns. For a while, she even worked to improve the caesar, which Russian rulers borrowed from Byzantine emper- conditions of Russia's oppressed peasantry by restricting the ors, who in turn had borrowed it from the classical Roman