While the Renaissances and Scientific Revolution were eras of cultural and technological advancements in western Europe, Russian society stagnated due to xenophobia beliefs and geographic isolation from Europe. As a result, upon crowing Peter the Great inherited an uncivilized and superstitious country that was viewed as barbarians by other Europeans. In order to modernize and change the perception of Russia, Peter the Great modernized the Russian Army and westernized Russian culture. In large measure, Peter, influenced by his western advisors, exchanged tradition in favor of reforms to modernize and change the perception of Russia as a backwards nation to an imperial power.
Throughout history, prosperity of a nation depends directly on military strength. During the rebirth of European society, a proper military force allowed nations to expand and spread influence. Upon Peter’s crowing, the Russian army was uncoordinated and depended entirely on serfs lead by village elders with little knowledge regarding warfare, rather than a united national army, which replaced the outdated Feudal System for protection in Western European nations, “The army dissolved annually during harvest seasons, and the only regular forces in the Russian army were the Streltsy, a formally elite unit that had, by Peter's time, become a hereditary, ill-trained, ill-equipped force that garrisoned in Moscow and played more of a role in politics than in actual fighting” (CN 2). By understanding the correlation between a strong military and global influence, Peter the Great introduced military reforms modeled after the Dutch and English to support his political aspiration for an imperial power. During the Great Embassy, Peter the Great traveled throughout western Europe, visiting with powerful monarchs, and scientists where he personally studied technological advancement in naval warfare, which was pursued by Peter’s ambition to build a massive fleet against the Swedes in order to obtain warm water ports in the Baltic Sea, “He worked in the shipyards owned by the United East India Company, where he learned valuable shipbuilding information. Peter freely visited military bases, docks, arsenals and armories looking to acquire technical drawings and models of ships” (Duke 3). In this capacity, the Tsar was able to concentrate on mastering the art of Dutch shipbuilding, which was in the midst of its “Golden Age” and recruit European specialists to help train Russians in the fields they were inadequate in. Accordingly, upon building and basing the newly formed navy on the mouth of the River Don, Peter’s Armada of 48 ships and 800 galleys were seen as a threat by other European leaders, “A monarch who has a land army has just one hand; He who also has a navy has two hands”(Curran 3). With his newly formed navy and army, Peter waged war on Charles XII of Sweden and was successfully able to seize the Gulf of Finland, which had belonged to Sweden Since 1617 and cut off Russia from the Baltic, “The engagement is the first major disaster in Charles's brilliant military career. With almost the whole Swedish army either captured or killed by the Russians” (Vershinin 1 ).The Russians victory against the Swedes not only allowed Russia to access warm water ports, but also alarmed many leader, such as George I of Britain, due to the efficiency of the Russian Navy, which threatened the British naval monopoly. Equally, Peter’s modernization also improved the status of the army, which was comprised of ill-trained and ill-equipped farmers. A strong army also strengthened Peter’s position as tsar and freed him from the threat of rebellion, which in the past had plagued the stability of the nation. Similar to his westernization of the Russian culture, Peter introduced a European dress code complete with knee-breeches, tricornes, and long coats for the infantry, “He transformed the army from an ununiformed rabble into a professional army. All soldiers were given similar training, which meant that the army was uniform” (Burke 3 ). With advancements in math and metal work during the Scientific Revolution, Peter the Great improved and expanded his siege artillery, and later, introduced light artillery. Besides materialistic changes, Russian Army was organized into regiments, brigades and divisions, which eased coordination among units and strengthened defense. Peter left his country a feared navy and an uninformed, discipled standing army of 200,000, which was the second largest after France in Europe. Without the modernization of the military, expansion of Russia and integration of modern technology would have ceased to exist, and possible colonization of Russia by more powerful nation would have been imminent.
During the Renaissance and Scientific Revolution, new ideas and innovations began improving prior methods and teachings, while simultaneously improving western European society culturally. As modern ideas improved the standard of living in countries, such as England and France, Russia due to xenophobia beliefs and superstitious, created by the absolute Russian Orthodox Church in order to maintain power, rejected modern ways of living. Consequently, Russian society stagnated and was perceived as barbaric by other Europeans. As a result, Peter the Great realized without culturally modernization, Russian society would further lag behind western European nations. During the Great Embassy, Peter studied the domestic reforms, such as dressing and education, in European nation, “Peter was determined to bring the best of Europe to Russia and bring what was still a very mediaeval country into the renaissance” (Donebauer 1). Upon returning to Russia, Peter forced nobles and serfs alike to cut off breads and imposed a tax on breads to discourage citizens from facial hair, since European men were usually clean shaved, “He began to see beards as a relic of the past and ordered all his subject to go for a trim” (Sharaya 2). For centuries Russian men had worn long flowing beards, which were considered passports to heaven, but were seen as uncivilized and dubbed as the sick men of Europe by the French.
Along with a clean shave, Russian boyars, especially women, were strictly ordered to exchange outdated clothing, which were inspired by Mongol fashion, for German and Austrian clothing styles, “Peter the Great ordered women to dress in the popular German and Austrian fashions which came to Russia through Poland and Hungary” (Massie 2). Likewise, Boyar men were strictly required to wear French clothing while attending court, which was derived from Peter’s ambition to model Russian courts after Versaille. Furthermore, Peter's Europeanization of Russian culture can be witnessed by the constructing of Saint Petersburg, dubbed as the window to the west. The European influence can be detected in the name of the city itself. The word “burg” in Saint Petersburg is German for town, while the Russian word for town is “gorod”, which supports Peter’s desire for a modern European city. Unlike the Byzantine inspired style of building, which was commonly found in Russia, Peter recruited many architects, who had worked on the Versailles palace, to design the layout of the new city, “The Italian architect Domenico Trezzini designed a new city in the baroque style, with broad open streets, huge buildings, cathedrals and palaces for Peter the Great” (Vernadsky 1). Houses were built in Greek and Roman style, which was the latest trend of building in Europe, with an occasional dome just to blend the two cultures together. The city becoming an entity in its own right, rivaling Venice and the other great European centres of the time, which aided to blend Russian society with the rest of Europe. The cultural reforms of Peter the Great not only propelled Russia into the modern era, but more importantly changed the perception of Russia from a backward to a civilized nation by culturally aligning with the West.
While the Renaissances and Scientific revolution were a time of great change and innovation for western Europe, Russian society faced the reality of further isolation from European society, without the reforms of Peter the Great. Tsar Peter Romanov transformed a backwards nation into an empire that rivaled those of the West by vastly improving the Russian military, which rivalled the combat prove armies of France and England, and integrating European culture into his citizens. Peter’s reforms not only modernized Russia, but entirely changed the perception of Russia from a backward to a civilized European nation.
