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Europe in the Age of Absolutism and Revolution c.1682-1815

Westernisation and the building of St Petersburg

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 1

Overview

Russia's first printed newspaper and its date, human cost of building the new capital and central argument against calling Peter's changes a true modernisation.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

What did Peter do personally while in the Dutch Republic and England?

Key term

What did Peter require of noblemen's appearance from 1698?

Key term

Why were beards a serious issue in Russia?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was the Grand Embassy of 1697 to 1698?

    Model answer

    Peter's long journey through the Baltic states, the Dutch Republic, England and Vienna, travelling semi-incognito to seek allies and to learn shipbuilding and technology.

  2. 2

    What did Peter do personally while in the Dutch Republic and England?

    Model answer

    He worked in the shipyards, at Zaandam and Amsterdam and then at Deptford, learning the craft with his own hands.

  3. 3

    What did the Grand Embassy fail to achieve?

    Model answer

    It did not build the coalition against the Ottomans that Peter wanted, because the Western powers were preoccupied with the Spanish succession.

  4. 4

    What did Peter require of noblemen's appearance from 1698?

    Model answer

    Beards were to be shaved or a tax paid for keeping one, and Western coats and breeches replaced the long Muscovite kaftan.

  5. 5

    Why were beards a serious issue in Russia?

    Model answer

    Because Orthodox teaching held that man was made in God's image and that shaving disfigured it, so the beard tax touched religion as well as fashion.

  6. 6

    What calendar change did Peter make in 1700?

    Model answer

    The year was to begin on 1 January and to be counted from the birth of Christ rather than from the supposed creation of the world.

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1642, at .
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AUniversal male suffrage was kept.
BCandidates were officially sponsored.
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Wilhelm II succeeded in 1888 and dismissed Bismarck in 1890.
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