Peter the Great: a true revolutionaryWords you think of when you think of Russia throughout history: unmodernized, backward, retrograde, archaic, medieval, damp and neglected , etc. I could go there lit, but I digress, the picture is set. Russia has not really been the picturesque empire that so many people think it could or should have been. Being one of the physically largest countries in the world for almost its entire 1,500 years of existence (Liversidge 2), Russia is also considered one of the world's most notoriously unfortunate underachievers. history, with a few moments of enlightenment inevitably followed by years of "two steps back". This can only be attributed to the "colorful" tsars that Russia saw, their mother. One of the most vivid rulers to ever ascend to the throne was Peter the Great Long before proclaiming himself "The Great", baby Peter was born to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his second wife Nataliya Naryshkina on June 9, 1672 in Moscow (Liversidge 2). The fourteenth child of Alexis, Peter was not initially destined for much He ascended the throne at the age of ten, however, due to his sick and disabled siblings. Feodor died childless in 1682, leaving ten-year-old Peter and his imbecile brother Ivan to vie for the throne. Peter prevailed and was sent from his childhood home in the country estate of Kolomenskoye to the Kremlin (the Russian White House). But as soon as he settled in, Ivan's family fought back. Having gained the support of the Kremlin Guard, they launched a coup d'état and Peter was forced to endure the horrible spectacle of his supporters and members of his family being thrown from the great red staircase of the Faceted Palace onto the raised spikes of the palate. the Guard. The result of the coup was a joint tsar, with Peter and Ivan placed under the regency of Ivan's older and less than impartial sister, Sophie. Nevertheless, Peter regained his title at age 17 after Sophia's plot to assassinate the opposing heir failed, and sentenced her to life in a convent cell. He kept his brother Ivan as a figurehead to deal with frivolous court traditions, while maintaining exclusive power over Russia and acquiring many skills that would soon be used in his sovereignty. Standing over 6 feet 8 inches tall (World History, 136), Peter was a tall and strong man and this was reflected in his legacy.