Peter the Great

Peter was a grandson of Tzar Michael Romanov. In 1682, at the age of 10, Peter was proclaimed Tzar, but due to a power struggle between different political forces he had to rule together with his brother Ivan under the patronage of his sister Sofia. In 1689, after the failure of a coup d'etat, Sofia was overthrown and exiled to a convent. When tzar Ivan died in 1696, Peter remained monarch and engineered a series of reforms that were to put Russia among the major European powers. Peter opened Russia to the West. He invited the best European engineers, shipbuilders, architects, craftsmen and merchants to come to Russia. Hundreds of Russians were sent to Europe to get the best education and learn different arts and crafts.*

One of the Peter's main goals was to regain access to the Baltic Sea and Baltic trade. In 1700 he started the Northern War with Sweden, which lasted for 21 years. In the course of the war St. Petersburg was founded (1703) in the Neva River delta. At the end of the war Russia was victorious and conquered the vast lands on the Baltic coast. Russia gained access to European trade and St. Petersburg became her major sea port.**

During the 30-years war Sweden had became a great power and it oc