Heroes who weren’t — Peter the Great

Standard biographies always laud Peter’s  ‘modernising’ of Russia.

Historians point to his increasing the size of Russia is hailed.

For some reason all the biographers and historians leave out his debauchery,  his drinking, his murders; his evil.

Peter would throw many ‘dinners’ which were no more than drunk fests.  His guests had to drink a full pint of wine.

When they passed out, they would be dragged from the room and tossed on the ground.  Then, they’d be rudely woken and forced to cut down  trees to make a new walk to the sea.

Many fell over, were hurt, some killed.

That was Peter’s idea of a fun evening.

In 1689 he married his  first wife, Eudoxia Lopukhina.   After ten years of wedding misery, he forced her to become a nun so he could fling her into a convent, and be automatically single so he could go after another victim.

The thing about Peter was that he was exceptionally tall.  He stood six feet eight inches. Unlike Richard the Lion Hearted, who was quite attractive, Peter was out of proportion.  He had very small hands and feet, narrow shoulders and a small head.

Some people say, that looking like a freak was why he was so cruel.

Alexei, his eldest son, who disagreed with Peter’s reforms, was tortured to death.  His own son.

This was how Peter ‘the Great’ dealt with any dissent.  He acted fast and brutally. His own son wasn’t spared.

Besides being a savage at home, he was also one abroad.  He launched a number of failed campaigns against every territory he considered his enemy.

In the belief he would be supported by his so-called Balkan allies, he attacked the Ottoman Empire.  This began the Russo-Turkish War of 1710.

‘The Great’ was no Great General.  His attack on the Ottoman Empire was beyond a disaster and the subsequent peace treaty (Treaty of Pruth), forced Peter to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697.

He had married again, this one was once a Circassian slave he had purchased.  She began as his mistress, then became his wife.  She never could to read or write.

Due to his sexual activity Peter developed a serious urinary tract infection.  He died, and Catherine  took the throne for the next two years, then died.

What did he do to be so ‘Great?’