The
Revolution of Peter the Great is a lively and readable account of
the reforms of Peter the Great and the tremendous changes he wrought in Russian
government, culture and society. It is not a general history of Russia during
Peter''''s reign, but background is provided as necessary to make the work
accessible to readers who may not be that familiar with the period.
Cracraft begins with Peter''''s childhood and personality and a description of
his "company", the group he assembled around him who influenced his ideas and
helped him implement them. This included foreigners as well as Russians such as
Menshikov, and Peter''''s mother and sister and second wife Catherine. Cracraft
also tries to make sense of Peter''''s fondness for pantomime and riotous living,
and of his disinheritance of his son Aleksei.
Among Peter''''s earliest reforms was the modernization of the Russian
army and
the creation of a Russian navy pretty much from nothing. His early campaigns
were attempts to take Azov from the Turks, with the
new navy contributing to
success in 1696. But most of Peter''''s reign was spent in a long
war for control
of the eastern Baltic with Sweden, under its fighting king Charles XII. Peter
acquired nautical skills himself and part of his legacy is the cult of the
botik, a small boat he used as teenager.
Military demands drove state-building and a bureaucratic revolution, but
these extended much further, even into reform of the Church. The resulting state
may seem limited by modern standards, but "Peter''''s new state was a Russian
variant of a common European type and arguably as successful, in its time and
place, as the others were in theirs". In the diplomatic area, Cracraft considers
two key publications, one an argument for absolute monarchy and the right of the
monarch to choose his successor, the other a justification of Russia''''s war
against Sweden. "By the time of Peter''''s death Russia had become a full member of
the European system of sovereign states."
Turning to broader culture, Cracraft summarises from his three volume study
The Petrine Revolution. Peter started with fortification and
shipbuilding, but he also transformed civil architecture, introducing European
styles and architects and creating demand for them among his followers. Painting
and etching and the other fine arts followed a similar course, while the imagery
of coins and maps provided direct support for imperial rule. Peter created a new
standard alphabet, massively expanded printing, which had largely been
restricted to religious texts, and added extensively to the Russian lexicon. He
also imported European science and medicine and set up institutions such as the
St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences to support and maintain them.
Resistance to Peter''''s reforms came from those whose privileges and positions
were threatened. There were military revolts by the old army of
streltsy musketeers and Cossacks, and the records of the Preobrazhensky
Office reveal dissent among nobles and especially clergy. But another form of
resistance was the persistence of "old Muscovy" in broader culture, religion and
society; here Cracraft draws on Geroid Robinson''''s accounts of peasant Russia in
the early 1920s.
Cracraft concludes with an account of St Petersburg, which Peter founded and
which was in many ways the embodiment of his revolution. Originally a military
base, St Petersburg became an administrative centre as government functions were
transferred there from Moscow, and grew to be "the new cultural capital of
Russia". Accounts by foreigners give some idea how it compared with contemporary
cities in Western Europe.
A chronology is provided to help those unfamiliar with the period and there
are thirty six pages of halftones, mostly of contemporary portraits and
architectural studies. The Revolution of Peter the Great offers a good
mix of biogr