How Did Peter The Great Tear Russian Society

Peter the Great came barreling through Russia as tsar from 1721 to 1725, bringing with him a slew of economic, social, and political reforms that are argued to have made Russia a great nation once again. Prior to his reign, Russia had endured many difficulties, from Ivan the Terrible’s chaotic reign to the great Raskol to the time of troubles. Peter the Great is credited with prompting Russia to rise once again as a great nation through great institutional reforms, particularly surrounding military-based industrialization. Despite how highly regarded Peter the Great is in Russian society, historians like Marc Raeff argue that Peter the Great’s reign “was to tear Russian society apart, leaving behind a legacy of uncertainty and insecurity that

It can be argued that Peter the Great had a lot to pick up after, especially following Ivan IV’s reign, the Time of Troubles, false Tsardom, and the great Raskol. However, Peter the Great creatively used all of these disadvantages to his own advantage. Rather than “tearing apart” society, Peter the Great reoriented Russian society by means of merit and collective productive contribution to society. Although it can be disputed “whether Peter the Great was a “revolutionary” tsar, Peter’s immense impact on Russia’s service system is simply undeniable” (Kaiser and Marker 226). It was perhaps Peter’s different upbringing that allowed him to formulate such distinguishable values that the country ran on during his reign. A self-educated man through practical skills like masonry, carpentry, science, medicine, and mathematics, his main political stemmed from national service. Extremely dedicated and motivated, his altruistic methods of serving his nation fueled his reforms. As a result, Peter the Great’s centralization of the Russian state was immense and efficiently completed. He