300 years ago today, on February 8, 1725 (December 26, 1724, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great (Peter I) died of illness. Peter I Alexeyevich Romanov (May 30, 1672-February 8, 1725), Tsar of Russia (1682- 1725)"Give me 20 years and give you a miracle Russia." I'm not angry! Never get angry! What Russia needs most is sea areas. "--Peter I may have expanded land by the nature of Tsar Russia, but the momentum of Tsar Russia's expansion clearly entered a low ebb after Ivan the Great. It remained on the defensive for more than a hundred years, and its long-cherished wish to seize the mouth of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea has always been a beautiful dream. This state remained until the appearance of Peter the Great. Peter was tall, energetic and rough, in sharp contrast to the illness of his Romanov ancestors. In 1682, Peter's half-brother Fedor III died. In the fierce battle between his sister Sofia, the Migslav family and the Naryshkin family, 10-year-old Peter and his brother Ivan V, who suffered from scurvy and could not govern, became czars. Peter was only the second czar, and the real power was in the hands of Princess Sofia. Peter's broad interests and strong curiosity have been demonstrated since childhood. Among his many hobbies when he was a child, two had an important impact on the future. One was his strong interest in sailing and shipbuilding, which led him to formulate a national policy to develop into the ocean and establish a strong navy. The other was Playing military games, and his two juvenile game corps later evolved into his two most powerful Guards Corps. In 1689, Peter used these two legions to defeat his sister Sofia's plot to depose him, and imprisoned Sofia in a monastery, effectively taking control of power. Ivan V died in 1696, and Peter became the only tsar. In 1697, Peter made another unimaginable move. As a corporal Peter Mihailov, he accompanied a large expedition group of 250 people to visit Western European countries. During this period, he even worked as an apprentice in a Dutch shipyard to learn to build ships. In fact, these visits have a huge impact on Russia's future. Faced with Western advanced technology and systems, Peter's hazy ideas about transforming Russia have become so clear and strong. After returning to China, a huge change caused waves in Russia. When several ministers came to greet Peter the Great, who had returned from a long journey, Peter suddenly picked up the scissors in his hand and cut their beards, thus ushering in a series of reforms. These reforms were mainly implemented in the context of the Northern War with Sweden. In terms of military affairs, Peter implemented compulsory military service, introduced new foreign weapons and strategic technology, and established a powerful navy. On the economic front, Peter strongly encouraged the development of industry and commerce, allowing business owners to buy serfs from the entire village to work in factories, and allowing foreigners to open factories in Russia. Politically, the purpose of reform is to establish complete centralized rule and enhance work efficiency. The functions of the Duma Council, the aristocratic lord, were stripped of its functions and replaced with a Senate, with 11 committees (actually equivalent to the "ministries" of Western countries) responsible for specific work; the Grand Imam was ousted and replaced with a House of Religious Affairs, making the Church a part of state power; administrative divisions were divided and the country was divided into 50 provinces. Peter also promulgated a "functional list", which divided civil and military officials into 14 different levels. All officials, regardless of family background, must start from the lowest level and be promoted based on merit. Culturally, Peter vigorously introduced Western books and lifestyles and ordered all subjects not to wear traditional robes and grow beards; It was stipulated that children of aristocrats must go to school at a certain age, otherwise they would not be able to inherit the title, and sent international students to study in Western Europe. He also simplified the Russian alphabet, introduced the Western calendar, established Russia's first library, hospital, theater, museum, printing house, and published the first newspaper and personally served as editor-in-chief. The scope of Peter I's reform was so extensive that in terms of breadth, it almost exceeded any reform in the civilized era in world history. The reason why he was criticized was that the means he adopted in the process were extremely crude and "did not hesitate to use barbaric means to deal with barbaric means." His son Alexei rose up against him with the support of the conservative aristocrats. He fled abroad and returned to Russia with the promise of pardon. As a result, he was thrown into prison, tortured, and died in prison. However, it is too early to conclude that Peter's reforms have made Russia an advanced country in the world. The chronic disease of Russian society-backward serfdom was not touched during this reform. One of the purposes of Peter's reform was to enrich the country and strengthen its troops to win the "Northern War" with Sweden. As early as during his inspection in Western Europe, Peter formed an anti-Swedish alliance with Denmark and Saxony. In 1700, the three countries jointly declared war on Sweden. But the war was unfavorable at first, and Sweden first forced Denmark to withdraw at lightning speed, and then defeated the Russian army at Narva. However, Peter the Great could not admit defeat. After the reforms strengthened his strength, he rallied and defeated the warlike king of Sweden Carl XII in the Battle of Lesnaya in 1708 and the Battle of Poltava in 1709. Especially at the Battle of Poltava, Peter came to the front line and dealt a devastating blow to the Swiss army. In 1721, Russia and Sweden signed the Treaty of Nistad, and Russia captured the coveted large tracts of land on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland, and the Gulf of Riga, thus gaining an outlet to the sea. Peter the Great's fame reached its peak. Peter I also captured land on the south bank of Rihei during his invasion of Persia in 1722-1723. However, his war against Turkey failed. At that time, the style of Ottoman Turkey was particularly strong, and the task of seizing the outlet of the Black Sea could only be left to Peter's successors. In 1703, Peter established a new city, St. Petersburg, along the Neva River, and later moved its capital here in 1712. This is consistent with his consistent strategy of developing towards the West and the ocean. Peter I was very diligent in politics and had a wide range of interests, covering almost everything, even passionate about performing anatomical and dental operations. His life has been so rich that 52 years of career seem to have exhausted all his energy. In 1724, he fell ill while rescuing several soldiers in distress on the beach and died early the following year. What he left behind was a strong and vibrant empire. Since the era of Ivan III, Russia has become an important force in Eastern Europe. Russia has a vast rear area that makes it more resilient than any other country. However, this does not mean that Russia will surely develop into a world-wide power. In fact, during Peter I's time, Russia's strength was only comparable to that of Sweden or Poland, but weaker than that of Turkey. But after Peter the Great's reforms, Russia's prospects for becoming a world power have become so clear. Peter I's influence on Russia was all-round, including institutional, economic, cultural, and military fields, and it brought Russia into a new stage of development. In this sense, Peter I's influence was greater than that of emperors such as Elizabeth I and Louis XIV. Compared with emperors with pioneering and transformative influence such as the Meiji Emperor and William I (Kaiser of Germany), Peter I's personal role is more obvious. Among the emperors with regional influence in this list, Peter I ranks only after Qin Shi Huang, mainly considering Qin Shi Huang's accumulated influence on various aspects of China over more than 2000 years. Comments: Compared with the large number of reformers in history, Peter I's reforms have distinctive characteristics: proactive reforms before the threat really arrived, reforms with clear learning objects and goals, and reforms with the supreme ruler with full authority. Reform as a source of strength. These points may be the reason why Peter I's reforms were so successful. More than 30 years later, what Peter I left to the people was indeed a miracle Russia.