Peter the Great
Subtitle: the struggle for power, 1671-1725
By: Paul Bushkovitch.
Series: New studies in European history
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 485
Subjects: Peter I, Emperor of Russia, 1672-1725; Russia -- Politics and government -- 1689-1801.; Russia -- Politics and government -- 1613-1689.
Description: "This book is a history of Russian politics over the fifty years that saw the transformation of Russia into virtually a European monarchy by Peter the Great. It shows, however, that Peter was not the all-powerful tsar working alone to reform Russia, and that he moved into a system with powerful and contentious aristocrats whom he struggled to control in order to achieve his goals." "Paul Bushkovitch reveals the intense battles within the boyar elite in the 1670s and the ultimate victory of Peter's family and their boyar supporters in the 1690s. But Peter turned against them and tried to rule through his favorites Golovin and Menshikov. This experiment ended in the establishment of a decentralized administration controlled largely by the great aristocrats, followed by the establishment of an equally aristocratic Senate in 1711. As the aristocrats' hegemony came to an end in 1716 - 18, in the final years of the reign - those of the most long-lasting reforms - Peter ruled through a complex group of favourites, a few aristocrats, and appointees promoted through merit." "Thus Peter managed in his reign to master a contentious and powerful elite through a series of compromises, at first tilted toward the tsar and his favourites, then toward the aristocrats, and finally toward a mix that favored new men but which did not exclude the aristocrats entirely. The outcome was a new balance of power at the center and a new, European, conception of politics."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 445-466) and index.