Peter the Great

Peter the Great

© 2005 Yulia Sharipova



As I started waking up, and I opened my eyes, I realized something was wrong. I was not in Honolulu anymore! I was lying in a hay stack in some marketplace; I was at the bazaar. I looked around for a moment. Bearded men in fur hats walked around with their wives wearing sable coats. It was the middle of the winter, and I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts! I found a warm piece of cloth and ran into a bakery. Suddenly, everyone started running and shouting “the Tsar is coming!” As I followed the crowd, I saw a large number of officials and some peasants walking by the Tsar’s carriage. Suddenly, from behind the curtain, the Tsar himself appeared. He was just like I imagined him. He was tall, wide shouldered, had wavy black hair and a serious, powerful look on his face. That’s the way I remember him.

He noticed me in the crowd (remember, I was wearing shorts, a T-shirts, and slippahs!) and ordered me to come closer to him. My heart was up in my throat, and I could not reply anything. He whispered something in the ear of one of his guards. Without explaining anything to me, the guard grabbed my arm and placed me in the carriage. The Tsar got back in and ordered for the driver to take him to the Preobrazhenskoe palace.

Meanwhile, in the carriage, I was frightened…no, I was terrified, anxious, worried! I sat still; trying to breathe as little as possible. All of a sudden the Tsar started speaking to me. I bowed my head and listened.

“Who are you and where are you from” he asked.

“I’m Yulia…from Hawaii”

“HAWAII? What is that?” he inquired with a raging voice.

I didn’t know how to explain it, so I just said that it was a street somewhere in the East of Russia. He believed me!

We got to the palace. Everything was studded with gold and all sorts of jewels. Fine silver cups and plates stood on tables made from the most expensive wood. Persian rugs and crystal chandeliers filled the room. It was the most beautiful place I have ever been in.

I was treated like a tsarina. Food was given to me on golden plates, I slept on a bed of silk, and I even got to sit on the throne! But everywhere I would go, guards followed me. It was like I was a prisoner in heaven.

One day, I heard from a guard that they were going to execute someone the next day. Someone that lives in the Palace, someone that just got there a couple of days ago, someone was me. I couldn’t believe my ears. Why was I treated so nicely? I went to go see the Tsar. It all turned out to be a rumor, but the following day I was sent for questioning by an interrogator. They thought I was a spy.

After the interrogation, I went up to my room, and thought about it. I thought about Russia, and about Peter. What would Russia as we know it today be like if Peter the Great hadn’t ruled this country? What significant changes did he make in Russia? How has he helped the country prosper?

Ever since Peter was a little child, he has been interested in war games and boats. He had his own little army of friends, which would have miniature battles against one another. He believed in doing everything himself. He would work alongsifde his workeres and laborers. He learned shipbuilding in Amsterdam and built a ship by himself. He called himself captain Peter Alexeevich. While his embassy traveled to European courts, he accompanied it as Peter Mikhalilov, the carpenter. He served as a seaman and as a soldier.

Peter the Great started “Modern Russia”. After all his incognito travels to Europe, he realized that Russia needed to be westernized, and quickly. While traveling in Europe, he would always wake up extremely early, and go sightseeing around the country. He would go to jails, mints, battlegrounds, and other places and get ideas about how to reform Russian and its people. Russia had to be westernized in order to be independent. Peter the Great was fascinated by mechanical inventions, shipbuilding, sailing, and the government models of the west. All of the influence he gathered from his travels was incorporated into his ruling Russia. He changed everything about Russia.

Peter the Great was not afraid of labor. He believed in starting from the bottom and working his way up. He learned ship building from the Europeans he invited to Russia, and built a ship himself, which he captained as Peter Alekseevich. In 1697, he accompanied an embassy to European courts as a carpenter named Peter Mikhailov. He also served as seaman and soldier. In November 1724, when one of his ships needed help, he dove into the freezing ocean to assist the rescue.

Peter sent Russians to be educated in the West, and imported skilled labor, military and administrative experts from abroad. He encouraged smoking, but taxed tobacco. Because European men usually were clean shaven, he taxed Russians wearing beards. He modernized the calendar, simplified numerals, and encouraged private industry and mining. All of his success wasn’t without a price. To make his country better, he taxed his people heavily. To ensure continual contact with the West, Peter captured the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea from the Swedes and built a new capital, St. Petersburg, on its shores. Peter was a big strong man, 2.04 meters (6' 8'' inches) tall, and unlike previous monarchs, not afraid of physical labor. In November 1724, he dived into the cold northern ocean to assist in a ship rescue. It led to his illness and death.