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Peter's birth
Peter the Great was born on June 9, 1672, as the 14th child of Czar Alexis to his second wife Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkin. He would later grow up to reform Russia into a less primative country. (Peter the great) -
Leeuwenhoek discovers microscopic life
Leeuwenhoek began grinding lenses between 1668 and 1672 and by 1672 his lenses were as powerful as any that existed. Leeuwenhoek examined many microscopic things such as blood, hair, milk, saliva, brain tissue, bone, and other animal components as well as mold, bees, and lice and more. In a letter, Leeuwenhoek wrote, "some of these little creatures were above a thousand times smaller than the smallest ones, which I have... seen." (Luft 679) (Luft 678-680) -
Peter I and Ivan V are crowned
Brothers Peter I and his half-brother Ivan V were crowned on June 15, 1689. Ivan V was a chronic invalid who was mentally and physically deficient and suffered from scurvy, poor eyesight and later in his life, partial paralyzation. Ivan also did not attend any government affairs and instead devoted his time to religious activities. (Ivan V), (Peter the great) -
Halley developes the first weather map
ocean travel at the time was by wind and the development of the first weather map aided in ocean travel. Halley's map was made to aid sea navigation by showing winds and sailors could use the map to help travel faster to locations. (Miller 774-775) -
Extinction of the dodo bird
the dodo bird is a flightless bird of the pigeon family that is native to the islands of east Madagascar in the Indian ocean. The environment where dodo birds lived was predator-free which meant that when the Dutch arrived on 1598 it was easy to catch and eat them. Some animals that the dutch brought killed dodo's who had never seen a predator. Within less than a century of the Dutch arriving, the dodo bird became extinct. (Myrers 820-823) -
Brazilian gold rush
Gold is discovered in Spanish America encouraged the Portuguese to explore Brazil in hopes of riches. The Portuguese did not find much gold so they developed an agricultural economy and enslaved the indigenous and African Americans. by the early 1690's Paulista prospectors found bonanzas of gold which resulted in thousands of miners rushing to the region taking thousands of black slaves with them leading to the fall of agriculture in the region and a response from the crown. (Brown 815-817) -
Russias fist navy
In 1695 Peter led a siege on the fortress of Azov but failed the assault. The assault failed because Azov was supplied by sea and a land assault would not be enough to win. During the winter of 1695-1696, Peter took the defeat as a lesson and started work on Russias first navy to make a second attack. Forcing thousands of men to work, many died of cold, disease and exhaustion but the fleet of vessels destroyed the fortress. (Wallace 164) -
The Grand Embassy
Peters "Grand Embassy" left in the year of 1697 to Europe with about 250 people. Peter disguised himself and went by the name of Peter Mikhailov but he was very recognizable because he was about 7 feet tall and his face twitched and eyes rolled. Peter took on an apprenticeship as a shipbuilder in the Netherlands, took lessons from a Prussian colonel of artillery and much more. Peter wanted to know how everything worked and learn many subjects. (Wallace 155) -
Invention of the piano
The invention of the piano changed the art of music. Every major western composer from Mozart onward has played the piano. The piano was in every middle-class household in Europe and North America. The instrument was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1700 and had two keyboards with a range of four octaves. (Powers) -
The Great Northern War
The great northern war started when Austria was preparing to fight the Spanish and make peace with Turkey. Peter saw that Russia needed allies against the Turks and he abandoned his plans for the black sea to turning his attention to the Baltic. the war lasted for 21 years, from 1700 to 1721, and was Peters main focus for his military. During the war, Peter founded st. petersburg in 1703 on the banks of the Neva river and finally had access to the Baltic Sea. (Nikifarov) -
Founding of St. Petersburg
After Peter the great's humiliating defeat at Narva in November of 1700, peters enemy Charles XII of Sweden went to attack peters ally. Peter used this to his advantage and consolidated his forces and conquered Ingria. Once conquered Peter founded the city of st. petersburg on May 27, 1703. Many hundreds of thousands of people died building the city in the marshes and the city is said to be founded on bones.(Cavendish), (Muscovy and imperial russia 532) -
Newcomen developes the steam engine
The development of the steam engine was revolutionary because you did not need animals or humans to produce mechanical power. Power could also be produced all day long as where a human would not last that long. Without the development of the steam engine, the industrial revolution would have been very limited and would have taken longer to happen. (Gordon 56-57) -
Peter Marries Catherine
In the year of 1712, Peter the great married Catherine who was of peasant origin. Catherine and Peters's' marriage was a happy one and Peter later gave Catherine the title of Empress. Catherine was an energetic woman who devoted much time to her husband and even traveled with him on military campaigns. (Wallace 163-164) -
Peter executes his son Alexis
Alexis Petrovich always annoyed his father, Peter I. At the beginning of the Northern war, Peter I left Alexis with some Reactionary boyars and priests but ten years later his son was now his political enemy. Alexis opposed everything that Peter had done and fought for. Peter tried to re-educate and then break Alexis but in 1716 Alexis fled to Austria. He was found and Interrogated and tortured then later sentenced to execution by Peter. (Tsarevich Alexis Petrovich) -
Peter the great is proclaimed as Emperor of Russia
After the construction of st. petersburg in 1703, on the banks of the Neva River, the eastern shores of the Baltic were given to Russia by the Treaty of Nystad. Swedens power was reduced and Russia was open for domination over Poland. To celebrate his triumph the Senate changed Peter's title from scar to emperor of Russia on November 2, 1721. (Nikiforov) -
Peter the great's death
Peter was probably an alcoholic by middle age and developed a painful condition that was diagnosed "strangury and stones"(Wallace 164) which apparently involved the kidneys and bladder and on February 1725, when he was 53 Peter died. After his death, his subjects rejoiced and some historians see him as a revolutionary and some others believe that he was not. (Wallace 164)
