On the Question of the Formation of the Russian Empire

Abstract

In the article, the author shows how Peter the Great, wanting to overcome the Russian “age of rebellion” and save the country as a state, realized the need to create a Russian Empire instead of the Muscovite state — a powerful structure, in some ways equal to the Roman Empire. Internal rebellions, supported by the West, failed to destroy Russia. Catherine the Great consolidated Peter’s work, erecting as a symbol of this continuity a great monument to the fi rst emperor, who, with the light hand of Pushkin, received the name Bronze Horseman. Unfortunately, the empire created by Peter lasted only two hundred years. But Russia remained.