Peter Mikalovich

Peter the great was a Russian czar (king)who was born on May 30, 1672.His father was Czar Alexis, but he died when Peter was4,after which his brother Fyodor became Czar.When Peter was 10 Fyodor died of a chill and Peter finally became Czar.When Peter was young he had a large group of noble boys which he organized into a tiny army and had fake guns and cannons.When he was 11 he got to replace his fake guns with real ones.

When Peter was 13 he found a Dutch sail boat, which was very advanced compared to Russian ones.Peter's European friend Menshikov taght him how to sail it and Peter went out sailing every week afterwards.During the 1600 Russia was far behind in technology compared to Europe,when Peter was 25 he made a group of 250 people together and traveled to all major countries in Europe. Anyone who had a useful skill Peter invited to come back to Russia and teach it to other Russians, or start colleges.He brought back shiploads of European things he thought Russia needed.Once he stopped to get his watch fixed and stayed to see it put together again. The whole trip took eighteen months.

When Peter got back to Moscow he started making changes such as making every noble shave their beards, and if they didn't they had to pay a beard tax.Also everyone had to dress like Europeans.Then Russia went to war with Sweden to get control of the Baltic sea.This was a time when Sweden was at the height of it's power.If Russia was to go to war it needed a navy and a port.So Peter built Saint Petersburg, which he named after his patron saint. In 1721 Charles the 12 died and Sweden finally serrendered.Peter dedicxated his last few years to bringing Russia up to speed with Europe.

Peter the Great died Febuary eighth in Saint Petersburg.