Pyotr the Great

Pyotr Romanov

When combating the Swedes, the Russian Tzar Pyotr happened to be one of the only two people in his country who knew how to navigate the sea. He commanded one of his ships, and captured two battleships from the Swedes. When in history have you ever seen that?

Peter the Great was a fierce and terrible ruler, but at the same time, it is probably the only monarch that actually taught other people. When he took power over Russia in his late teens, he put someone else in power, disguised himself as a carpenter, and left Russia to learn from other Western powers. He stayed in humble homes while obtaining certificates of bombardier (artillery service man), mason, knitting, map making, learned how to draw teeth, conduct autopsies, and many others trades.

Pyotr Romanov, the Russian Tzar, worked in the shipyard of the Dutch East Indian Company as a laborer. He learned how to build ships, locks, fortresses, navigate, and naval warfare. When the ship was built, he end up going to the Island of Java in Indonesia as seaman. Disappointed by the lack of advance geometry in Holland, he continued his journey to England where he met none less than Isaac Newton.

When he returned to Russia, he built the city of San Petersburg against all odds making it one of the most beautiful and best built cities in Europe. He completely remodelled Russian culture introducing items as simple as napkins, shaving, raised sidewalks, and fire hoses. He also conquered and expanded Russia into an empire taking land from the once all powerful Swedes in the North and Turkish and Ottoman Empire that constantly raided his country from the South enslaving thousands of Russians. (Given the Russ were nomads, they didn't tend to have slaves. Less mouths to feed.)

There were plenty of failures on his accounts. He was constantly humiliated by other European monarchs because of his Russian manners, and he wasn't able to forge alliances against his enemies. A wise European King said about him: he will either be dead or do extraordinary things. His first war with the Swedes ended so bad for him, he had to order the confiscation of church bells to forge new cannons. Even though he was a monarch, this earned him the respect of the later Communist Soviets because he was sacrificing items of religion for achievable victory without superstitions. Like Russian historians like to say: he knew what belonged to God and what belonged to Caesar.

In contrast to other monarchs that would have needed a second delegation to ship back their luggage and gifts after months travelling, on this return to Russia, Peter the Great shipped only two suitcases containing only technical instruments and scientific drawings and manuals.

When has it ever been another monarch who learned everything from the manual labors, sophisticated trades, science, and warfare. He led his country by introducing and teaching them everything from the simple to the most sophisticated in order to rival any Western nation of the times. This portrait is said to be the most accurate painting of the young Peter the Great, and it was painted around the time of this journey in England.