Peter the Great, the first Russian emperor to embrace the West, dragged a medieval kingdom into the modern age. This show follows his tumultuous reign from 1682 to 1725, covering the Great Northern War against Sweden, the founding of St. Petersburg on the Neva marshes, and his radical reforms of the Russian army, navy, bureaucracy, and church. We explore the streltsy uprisings, the secret Grand Embassy to Europe (where Peter worked incognito in Dutch shipyards), and the brutal suppression of the Old Believers. Lucas and Luna unpack Peter’s obsession with technology, his establishment of the Table of Ranks, and his creation of the first Russian newspaper. They also delve into the darker side: the torture of his own son Alexei, the heavy tax burden on serfs, and the forced westernization of the boyar elite. How did a tsar who stood nearly seven feet tall reshape a continent? And what does his legacy mean for Russia’s ongoing identity as a bridge—or a barrier—between East and West? From the frozen Baltic to the Caspian Sea, this is the story of a ruler who willed a superpower into existence.
