facilities of accessible sea-board and port, declared war against Turkey, and took (1G9e1) the city of Azof at the mouth of the Don, after a long siege, which the ineffective con dition of his newly-disciplined army compelled him to convert into a blockade. Skilled engineers, architects, and artillerymen were now invited from Austria, Venice, Prussia, and Holland; ships were constructed; the army further improved both in arms and dis cipline; and many of the young nobility ordered to travel in foreign countries, chiefly in Holland and Italy, for the purpose of acquiring such information as might be useful in the modernization and civilization of their country. They were ordered to take special notice of all matters in connection with ship-building and naval cquipments. Others were sent to Germany to study the military art. Not quite satisfied with this arrangement, Peter was eager to see for himself the countries for which civilization had done so much for, and which bad so highly developed the military art, science, trade, and industrial pursuits; so after repressing a revolt of the StreUtz (Feb., 1607), and dis persing them among the various provinces, he intrusted the reins of government to prince Romonadofski, assisted by a council of three, and left Russia in April, 1607, in the train of an embassy of which Lefort was the head. In the guise of an inferior official of the embassy he visite(lthe three Baltic provinces, Prussia, 811(1 Hanover, reach ing Amsterdam, where, and subsequently at Saardam, he worked for some time as a common shipwright. His curiosity was excessive; he demanded explanations of every thing which he did not understand; and to his practice of ship-building and kindred trades, he added the study of astronomy, natural philosophy, geography, and even anatomy and surgery. On receipt of an invitation from 'William 111.. king of England. he visited that country, and for three months, spent partly in London and partly at Deptford, labored to amass all sorts of useful information. When in England he received the honorary degree of D.c.L. from the university of Oxford! lie left Eng land in April, 1698, carrying with him English engineers, artificers, surgeons, artisans, artillerymen, etc., to the number of 500, and next visited Vienna, for the purpose of inspecting the emperor of Austria's army, then the hest in Europe. He was about to visit Venice also, when the news of a formidable rebellion of the Sirelitz recalled him to Russia, which he reached by way of Poland, arriving at Moscow Sep. 4, 1q98. Gen. Gordon had already crushed the revolt, but these turbulent soldiers had so enraged Peter against them by their frequent outbreaks, that he ordered lice whole of them to be executed, even oecaMonally assisting in person on the scaffold. A few, however, were pardoned, and sent to settle at Astrakhan. The czarina Eudoxia, who was suspected of complicity in the conspiracy, which had been the work of the old Russian or anti-retorm party, was divorced, and shut, up in a convent; the czar's own sister, ,Martha, was like wise compelled to take the veil. To show his gratitude to his faithful adherents, Peter conferred upon the chief of them the order of St. Andrew, now first instituted. Be put the press on a proper footing. caused translations of the most celebrated works of foreign authors to be made and published, and established naval and other schools. At this period, the ordinary arithmetic was first introduced for the management of accounts, these having been previously kept by means of balls strung on a wire (the Tartar method). Peter also introduced the mode of raising revenue by taxation of commodities in common use. Trade with foreign countries, which was formerly punished as a capi tal crime, was now permitted. or rather, in the case of the principal merchants, insisted upon. Many improvements in dress, manners, and etiquette were introduced authorita tively the public functionaries, and to the people at large. Even the organization of the national church could not escape Peter's reforming zeal.
In 1709, Peter, desirous of gaining possession of Carelia and Ingria, provinces of Sweden, which had formerly belonged to Russia, entered into an alliance the kings of Poland and Denmark to make a combined attack on Sweden. taking advantage of the tender age of its monarch, Charles X11.; but he was shtunefully defeated at Narva, his raw troops being wholly unable to cope with the Swedish veterans. Peter was by no means disheartened, for, taking advantage of the Swedes being employed elsewhere, ho quietly appropriated a portion of Ingria, in which he laid the foundation of the new capital, St. Petersburg, May 27, 1703. Great inducements were held out to those who
would reside in it, and in a few years It became the Russian commercial depot for the Baltic. In the tom* contest with Sweden, the Russians were always defeated, but Peter rather rejoiced at this, as he saw that these reverses were administering to his troops a more lasting and effective discipline than lie could have hoped to give them is any other way. Ile had his revenge at last, in totally routing the Swedish king at Pol tava (q.v.), -July 8, 1709, and in seizing the whole of the Baltic provinces and a portion of Finland in the following year. Ilk success against Sweden helped much to consoli date his empire, and to render his subjects more favorably disposed towards the new order of things. After re-orpnnizing his, army, he prepared for strife with the Turks, who, at the instigation of Charles XiI. (then residing at Bender), had declared war against him. See OrromAN EurtnE. In this contest Peter was reduced to such straits that he despaired of escape. and, looking forward to death or captivity, wrote a letter to his chief nobles, cautioning them against obeying any orders he might give them while a captive, and advising them regarding a successor to the throne in case of his death. But the finesse and ability of his mistress, Catharine, afterwards his wife and successor (see CATuanuai Ll. extricated him from his difficulties; and a treaty was con eluded (July 23, 1711) by which Peter lost only his previous conquest—the port of Azof and the territory belonging to it. Shut out from the Black Sea, the possession of a good sea-board on the Baltic became the more necessary to'him, and the war against Sweden in Pomerania, was accordingly pushed on with.the utmost vigor. On March 2, 1712, Ins marriage with his mistress, Catharine, was celebrated at St. Petersburg; and two months afterwards of the central government were transferred to the new capi tal. Di§ arms in Pomerania and Finland were crowned with success, and in 1713 nothing province was completely subdued. Peter neglected nothin to develop the naval power of the empirh, and the strictness with which lie enforced the discharge of their duties on his ministers and officers, appears from the refusal, by the court of admiralty, of the czar's own application for the grade of vice-admiral, until by defeating the Swed ish fleet at Hangoend, and taking tile isles, and several coast-forts in Finland, he had Merited the honor. In the end of 1716, and beginning of 1717, in company with the czarina, he made another tour of Europe, this time visiting Paris, where lie was received with great empressement, and returned to Russia in Oct:, 1717, carrying with him books, paintings, statutes, etc., to a large amount. It was soon aft-cr this time that he ordered his son Alexei (q.v.) to be executed, and ninny of the nobles who had been implicated in his treasonable plans were punished with savage barbarity. In 1721 peace was made with Sweden, and on condition of that pover giving up the Baltic provinces. Ingria (now government of St. Petersburg), Viborg, and Kexholm, and a small portion of Finland, with all the islands along the coast from Courland to Viborg, she received back the rest of Finland, with a sum of £400,000. In 1722 Peter commenced a war with Persia, in order to open up the Caspian Sea to Russian commerce (see PERSIA). The internal troubles of Persia compelled the shah to yield to the demands of his formidable opponent, and to hand over the three Caspian provinces along with the towns of Derbend and Baku. On Peter's return to his capital, he inquired into the conduct of his finance ministers, and punished with fines, imprisonment, and even death, those whom he detected in fraudulent acts. To save the empire which he had established and consti tuted from being abandoned to the weak government of as minor, he, in Feb., 1722, pro mulgated his celebrated law of succession (see PETER II.). For the last years of his life he was chiefly beautifying and improving his new capital, and carrying out plans for the more general diffusion of knowledge and education among his subjects. In the autumn of 1721 he was seized with a serious illness, the result of his imprudence and now habitual excesses; and after enduring much agony, he expired, Feb. 8, 1725, in the arms of the empress.