Essay: Peter the Great v.s. Catherine the Great

Peter the great first took to the throne in 1682 as a ten-year-old boy. Though he lacked proper education at first, he soon gained knowledge and set his sights for modernizing Russia. His ideas, however, were difficult to express, therefore he soon became an autocrat. He gained control over everything from the Russian Orthodox Church to boyars, or landowning noblemen, forcing them into various positions as civilians or military personnel. Forcing the boyars to shave their beads, change their style of clothing and allow women into their parties didn’t please them, however the boyars’ lands and servants were protected by Peter. Peter also ushered in a new generation in academics, creating better education systems and creating more academies. He also fixed up the roads, waterways and canals to help with his modernization of Russia. (Ellis & Esler, 168-169) Though his ideas proved to be good ones, he had a terrible tolerance for rebels, often torturing them and displaying their corpses on the outside of his palace walls. His army became the largest in Europe, he “Built a world-class navy from scratch,” and sought to extend the borders of his kingdom. He fought against the Ottoman Empire to gain a route for trade with the west that wouldn’t freeze over, but suffered defeat at their hands. ( Ellis & Esler, 169-170)
Peter’s army went to war with Sweden in 1700, again suffering many defeats, but finally nine years later he won seizing territory around the Baltic Sea. On this land, Peter created St. Petersburg, which symbolizes his reign even to this day. He signed a treaty with China gaining some of the land north of China, and hired Vitus Bering to explore what is now the Bering Strait. Peter died in 1725, leaving behind his legacy, yet not narrowing the gap between the west and Russia as much as he wished. (Ellis & Esler, 170-171) Soon after the death of Tsar Peter and Tsar Peter III (Her mentally unstable husband), Catherine, a German princess claimed the throne. Her predecessor’s model of westernization was much like her own, and before long Russia was back on the track of modernization. Similar to Tsar Peter, education was important to Catherine the Great (she later helps inspire the enlightenment) and she focused on fixing the laws of Russia. Just like Peter, Catherine became an absolute monarch and ruled Russia with an iron fist. She granted charters to boyars, exempted them from their taxes and let them have their way with their servants. Obviously, this displeased the serfs and they rebelled, causing Catherine to take drastic measures. (Ellis & Esler, 172-173)
Another similarity between Catherine and Peter, They shared the same desire to expand Russia’s border. Unlike Peter, however, Catherine claimed victory over the Ottoman Empire and she also set her sights on Poland. The already divided nation of Poland became more split in 1772 by a partition. Russia took over eastern Russia and the west portions went to Prussia and Austria.(Ellis & Esler, 173)