19. Peter the Great Steamrolled All Opposition, Including Opposition Within His Own Family
Tsar Peter the Great dragged Russia – often kicking and screaming – from its medieval ways and into the modern world. His achievements included revamping the government, weakening the Orthodox Church, modernizing and strengthening the military, and expanding Russia’s borders. He also moved the capital from Moscow to a new city that he built on the Baltic and named after himself, Saint Petersburg. As with any major reforms, Peter faced significant resistance from the old order. However, the Tsar ruthlessly enforced his will, and steamrolled over all opposition.
Tragically, those steamrolled included his own family. In order to safeguard his reforms, Peter ended up killing is own son and heir, the Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich. As kids often do, Peter the Great’s son and heir sought to stake out his individuality by contrasting himself with his father. To that end, Alexei became conservative and religious, and attracted admirers from amongst the traditionalists pining for the old days. Unfortunately for the Tsarevich, he was in the wrong family for that kind of stuff: the kinds of kids who get away with that are the kinds of kids who don’t have Peter the Great for a father.