A curious feature of the first Romanoffs is that notwithstanding their efforts to rule in accordance with the people's wishes, and though each of them in turn manifested a total lack of personal ambition, circumstances so imperiously demanded a strong hand that autocracy was evolved and imposed upon a succession of totally ungrasping autocrats. This general leaning of the country towards a firm rule prepared the way for Peter the Great's activities.
The salient figures among the Romanoffs of the 18th century are those of Peter the Great and of Catherine II. With Peter, Russia reached the Baltic sea after 20 years' war against Sweden; with Catherine, her southern frontier, after two wars against Turkey, came down to the Black sea, whereas, on the west, owing to the partition of Poland, and the annexation of Courland, she came in contact with the Germanic confederation. Two brilliant episodic wars; that of the empress Elizabeth against Frederick the Great, when Russian troops occupied Berlin, and that of Paul I., against the French in Italy and Switzerland, were brought on by political alliances and led to no tangible results. Sweden's two attempts (1741 and 1788) to regain by a sudden attack some of her lost advantages nearly led to Russia spreading further over south-east Finland. Though the conquest of Finland was based neither on historical nor on ethnographical considerations, it became necessary for the security of St. Petersburg, which was founded early in the 18th century and gradually became the seat of government. Two attempts at advance in Central Asia re mained fruitless; Peter the Great's conquest of the southern border of the Caspian in 1723 was annulled by the empress Ann in 1732 when the annexed provinces of Mazanderan and Ghilan were handed back to Persia. As for Peter the Great's attempt to seize Khiva and liberate the Russians who were there in bondage, the whole of his army perished in the desert.
culture by putting it on a secular instead of a religious basis, made the acquisition of riches and honour dependent upon serv ices to the State instead of birthright, and enforced justice and legality independently of the persons concerned; he developed the natural resources of the country by encouraging industries, and opened schools and obliged his subjects to travel abroad so as to learn from other nations; he fought against ancient customs and costumes, which kept the people tied up in an atmosphere where any innovation was deemed impure, manifested absolute religious tolerance and encouraged the building of Roman Catho lic and Protestant churches for the foreigners whom he invited to Russia, and dragged Russian women out of oriental seclusion; he tried every branch of knowledge himself and strove to impart all he knew to his subjects; he instituted a senate, supreme court of law and highest organ of administration and offices for all branches of public service; he founded a newspaper, opened a theatre, bought works of art, made some himself, ordered geo graphical maps, and sent naturalists to explore Siberia. Three weeks before his death, and already in ill-health and pain, he wrote instructions for Captain Behring, commissioning him to find out whether Asia and America were separated by a sea. He composed a multitude of laws, taught people how to build houses, erect stoves, extinguish fires, bridle horses, shave beards, pray in church, and generally how to behave under every probable circumstance. Catherine II. was wont to say that whenever she saw the necessity of a new regulation she first ordered a search to be made in Peter the Great's archives, where she invariably found a draft of what she had been pondering over. He not only set a marvellous example of what personal energy can accomplish, but he was also the first to put forward the idea of "citizen" or "servant of his country," as being the highest aim of a man's activity. The real motto of his reign is contained in the order of the day he addressed to his soldiers on the eve of the battle of Poltava, the turning point in his struggle against Charles XII. of Sweden: "As for Peter, remember that life is of no value to him unless Russia lives in happiness and glory," and this formula became the leading principle of all the most representative mem bers of his dynasty. He never hesitated to sacrifice even his only son when he saw he would undo his father's work and lead a life of ignorant self-indulgence. Later in the century Catherine II.