ABSTRACT

This psychologically penetrating revisionist account of the life and rule of Rusia's 18th-century Tsar-reformer develops an important theme - that is, what happens when the drive for "progress" is linked to an autocratic, expansionist impulse rather than to a larger goal of human emancipation? And, what has been the price of power - both for Peter and for Russia?

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

part |30 pages

Father of the Fatherland

chapter |28 pages

The Personality of the Reformer

part |99 pages

Victory at any Cost

chapter |14 pages

The Narva Confusion

chapter |13 pages

“Seek to overthrow the foe”

chapter |17 pages

Industrialization Petrine-Style

chapter |17 pages

The Breakthrough: From Poltava to Hangö

part |123 pages

Birth of the Empire

chapter |27 pages

The Realization of Peter's State Ideal

chapter |14 pages

The Serf Economy

chapter |19 pages

Producing the All-Russian Subject People

chapter |14 pages

Reforming the Clerical Rank

chapter |20 pages

The Imperial Idea

part |30 pages

Heritage and Heirs

chapter |4 pages

Conclusion