60 Fun Facts About Peter the Great

Peter the Great was the first ruler of Russia to hold which title, from 1721?

Some proposed 'Emperor of the East', but he refused; only Poland, Prussia and Sweden recognised the new title at first.

With which half-brother did Peter reign jointly until 1696?

Ivan was acclaimed the senior tsar though he was weak-minded and nearly blind.

How old was Peter when the Boyar Duma chose him as tsar in 1682?

His mother was regent, and a hole was cut in the back of the throne so she could whisper to the boys.

What was cut into the back of the double throne used by the two boy tsars?

She was literally behind the scenes.

Which half-sister ruled Russia as regent for seven years after the 1682 military revolt?

Peter overthrew her in 1689 and forced her into a convent, where she gave up her name.

Which elite military corps rose in revolt in 1682, murdering some of Peter's relatives before his eyes?

He disbanded them after a second uprising in 1698 and had 1,182 tortured and executed.

What did 16-year-old Peter discover on the Preobrazhenskoye estate that began his lifelong obsession with sailing?

He had it restored and learned to sail; he also received a sextant he did not know how to use.

In which part of Moscow did the young Peter go looking for foreign experts and befriend Dutch carpenters?

There he met Anna Mons, his mistress for over a decade, and Andrew Vinius, who taught him Dutch.

To whom did Peter's mother marry him off in 1689?

Ten years later he forced her into a convent; she was later publicly flogged after their son's treason trial.

To which monastery did Peter flee by night in 1689 when warned of his half-sister's plot?

He gathered adherents there until the regent was overthrown.

How tall was Peter the Great reportedly?

Contemporaries called him a second Goliath; on his incognito trip abroad, his height gave him away.

Peter worked his way up the naval ranks starting from which lowest rank in 1695?

He made captain in 1696, vice-admiral in 1714 and admiral in 1721, setting an example of service.

Which Ottoman fortress near the Don did Peter capture in July 1696 with his new Voronezh navy?

He had failed the previous summer; the fleet of about thirty ships made the difference.

What was the name of Peter's 18-month incognito journey to Western Europe from 1697?

He was the first tsar to leave Russia in more than a century.

Why did Peter's incognito disguise on his 1697 journey west fool nobody?

The fake name mainly let him escape formal diplomatic events.

In which Dutch town did Peter arrive in 1697 to study shipbuilding, leaving after a week when recognised?

The log cabin he rented survives as the Czar Peter House.

For four months in Amsterdam, Peter worked in a shipyard belonging to which organisation?

He helped build an East Indiaman named Peter and Paul, laid down specially for him.

Which Delft microscopist gave Peter an 'eel viewer' in October 1697?

Peter also visited the anatomist Frederik Ruysch, who taught him to catch and preserve butterflies.

Peter's London entourage in 1698 included four dwarfs and what animal he had bought in Amsterdam?

He also brought two clock makers, six trumpeters, a cook, a priest and 70 soldiers.

For three months in England, Peter stayed at Sayes Court in Deptford as the guest of which diarist?

He also watched Parliament from a rooftop window and had an affair with the actress Letitia Cross.

King William III gave Peter a schooner with a full crew in exchange for what?

Peter also visited the Royal Mint four times, though it is unclear whether he met its warden, Isaac Newton.

How much was the annual tax Peter imposed on boyars who wished to keep their beards?

He also ordered courtiers to wear European clothing instead of caftans, outraging the Old Believers.

On 12 September 1698, Peter founded Russia's first naval base at which town on the Sea of Azov?

That same year he sent a delegation to Malta to study the Knights' fleet.

When Peter adopted the Julian calendar in 1699, what year was it under the old Russian reckoning?

He also moved New Year's Day from 1 September to 1 January.

When the office of Patriarch of Moscow fell vacant in 1700, what did Peter do?

In 1721 he abolished the patriarchate altogether and replaced it with a Holy Synod under a state procurator.

Peter's first attempt to seize the Baltic coast ended in disaster at which 1700 battle?

The Swedish king attacked immediately in a blinding snowstorm rather than laying siege.

After the defeat at Narva, what did Peter order melted down to make cannons and mortars?

The Old Believers already regarded him as the Antichrist for his calendar changes.

Where exactly did Peter found Saint Petersburg on 29 June 1703?

He lived in a three-room log cabin while the city rose, and banned stone building elsewhere so all masons would work there.

To ensure enough stonemasons for his new capital, what did Peter forbid?

The first structures were a shipyard at the Admiralty, Kronstadt and the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Which Italian writer famously called Saint Petersburg the 'window to the West'?

The capital moved there from Moscow in 1712 and stayed until 1918.

In which year did Peter move the Russian capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg?

It stayed the capital until 1918.

Peter's decisive 1709 victory over the Swedes came at which battle in Ukraine?

The Swedish king fled to the Ottoman Empire, and Europe stopped regarding Russia as militarily incompetent.

Which king of Sweden was Peter's great adversary in the Great Northern War?

Peace only became feasible after Charles died in battle in 1718.

What nickname did the Ottomans give the tsar for his willingness to sacrifice troops?

His 1710 Pruth campaign was a disaster, and he had to hand back the Black Sea ports.

Which 1721 agreement ended the Great Northern War, giving Russia Ingria, Estonia and Livonia?

Russia paid two million riksdaler and handed back most of Finland.

Which state body did Peter create by decree in 1711 to replace the Boyar Duma?

It had ten members and an Ober-Procurator who served as 'the sovereign's eye'.

Peter's 1722 order of precedence, ranking nobles by merit rather than birth, was called what?

It stayed in force until the monarchy fell in 1917.

Which German philosopher became an advisor to Peter in 1708 and offered to write new laws for Russia?

They met again in 1716 at the spa of Bad Pyrmont.

Peter's 1714 decree on compulsory education in arithmetic, trigonometry and geometry applied to whom?

An earlier engineering school meant for 100 students had attracted only 23.

Roughly how many new words of foreign origin entered Russian during Peter's reign?

Around a quarter of them were shipping and naval terms.

What was the name of the mock organisation Peter founded at eighteen to ridicule the Church?

He used the nickname Pakhom Mikhailov among his drinking companions.

Under a law of Peter's, no Russian man could enter a monastery before what age?

He thought too many able men were wasted on clerical work when they could join his army.

Peter's second wife, who became Empress Catherine I, was born with what name?

A Polish-Lithuanian peasant's daughter, she was introduced to him by Menshikov and became his mistress around 1703.

How many children did Peter father by his two wives?

Only three survived to adulthood; four sons named Pavel and three named Peter died in infancy.

Which son of Peter died in prison in 1718 after being convicted of treason and tortured?

Peter compared him to the rebellious Absalom; the death sentence was never signed, and injuries from torture probably killed him.

According to legend, what act in the icy Gulf of Finland in November 1724 hastened Peter's death?

Only the German chronicler Jacob von Staehlin recorded the story, so historians treat it with scepticism.

Legend says Peter's unfinished last note read what?

He then asked for his daughter Anna and lapsed into unconsciousness.

Peter's palace outside his capital, completed in 1725, became known as what?

Peterhof was built with 2,000 lime trees shipped in; Monplaisir there was based on his own sketches.

The 'Will of Peter the Great', a supposed world-conquest plan, was forged where and for whom?

It appeared in 1812 as he invaded Russia and is still quoted in foreign-policy circles.

Which Pushkin poem of 1833 gave Peter the romantic image of a creator-god?

It takes its name from the equestrian statue raised in Peter's honour in Saint Petersburg.

Which actor played Peter in the 2020 Hulu 'antihistory' series The Great?

Schell and Jannings played him earlier, in a 1986 NBC miniseries and a 1922 German silent film respectively.

Which three tutors, commissioned by his father, are named as Peter's most notable early teachers?

Gordon was a Scottish soldier of fortune; Zotov later presided over Peter's All-Drunken Synod.

On which lake did the young Peter sail his boats near Pereslavl-Zalessky?

He also staged mock battles with his 'toy army', which grew into the Preobrazhensky regiment.

In 1692 Peter sent Eberhard Isbrand Ides as envoy to which Chinese emperor?

A year later Peter sailed to the Solovetsky Monastery and credited divine providence with saving him from a storm.

Under whose supervision did Peter work for four months in the Dutch East India Company shipyard?

He helped build an East Indiaman named Peter and Paul, but felt Dutch carpenters worked too much by eye.

Which Hanoverian noblewoman described Peter in 1697 as tall and witty but in need of better manners?

They met at Coppenbrügge castle during the Grand Embassy.

Into how many governorates, or guberniyas, did Peter divide Russia in December 1708?

Matvei Gagarin became the first governor of Siberia.

Which Swedish fortress did Peter capture at the siege of Noteborg and rename Shlisselburg?

In 1702 he also founded the Olonets Shipyard, where the frigate Shtandart was built.

Which Rembrandt painting did Peter acquire for Peterhof Palace?

He also bought the anatomical collections of Frederik Ruysch and Albertus Seba and works by Maria Sibylla Merian for his Kunstkamera.

Peter's 1722-23 war forced which declining empire to cede Derbent, Baku and Gilan to Russia?

Within twelve years the territories were all handed back to Persia under Nader Shah.