ABSTRACT
Six reigns in the space of thirty-seven years made the fate of Peter III of Russia, the Great's reforms after the Reformer's death sufficiently clear. He had acted despotically, but as the embodiment of the Russian state he had identified his will with that of the people, recognizing more clearly than any of his predecessors that the good of the people is the true and only objective of the Russian state. Elizabeth was an intelligent and good but undisciplined and willful Russian lady of the eighteenth century. Peter wanted to make his people prosperous and competent. To that end, he sought to raise their labor to the level of the state's needs-even, if possible, to a Western European level-with the aid of knowledge. The effort to raise the productivity of the people's labor with the resources of European culture turned into an effort to intensify the people's financial exploitation and police enslavement.
