Russia and “Peter’s Creation”

Abstract

The author shows the origins of contradictions in today's perception of the personality of Peter the Great. They are largely connected with the inconsistency of the very personality of the fi rst Russian emperor: a radical Westerner who implemented his ideas using Russian feudal methods. Peter's modernization successes seem undeniable today. In fact, they turned out to be transient. This, of course, is not consistent with the ineradicable social need for a “glorious past”. Nevertheless, modern Russia remains precisely Peter's Russia, with all its achievements and failures.