Peter the Great - Of War and Reform
...ster of the Deptford yard at the disposal of the Tsar. The dockyards themselves would absorb much of Peter’s time, where he worked as a carpenter, gaining insight and instruction in the systematic design and construction of ships , a preoccupation born of his desire to build a navy that would hold in check the Turkish fleet in the Black Sea. Peter was to continue is Grand Embassy to Venice, but on receiving news from home that plots to bring his sister Sophia back onto the throne, he had to return home a deal with the uprising . The government organization that Peter inherited did not inspire Peter’s confidence, nor was it capable of providing honest and efficient administration. Ultimate authority rested solely in the Tsar, and so the center of governmental power was wherever the ruler happened at any particular time to be. This had worked fine for Tsar’s before Peter’s time , but Peter was an active ruler who needed to be where the action was without having to worry about administration back home. There was barley a year in Peter’s reign when Russian troops were not deployed on campaigns, both inside Russia and its borders. Reforming measures followed one another in the order dictated by the requirements imposed by the war. Thus when peter arrived back in Russia, the first of his many reforms would be the government and administration. It was in this manner that Peter was able to turn his attention to more pressing matters; a window to the West. Since Peter’s youth, he had been enamored with the sea and the idea of Russia being a maritime power; this would be furthered by his visit to Amsterdam and London. In order to be a maritime power, a sea port was needed. Archangel – a Russian port was ill suited as it was frozen six month of the year. Turning his eyes towards Azov, he attacked the Turks. However, unable to find allies , Peter turned his attention towards the Baltic Sea and waged war with the Swedes. In 1699, Peter would forge an alliance with Demark, and joined the Great Northern War. The Swedes would prove an even more formidable enemy than the Ottoman’s had. The Swedish army was regarded as the best in the world; its soldiers credited with almost superhuman qualities. It is against this unpromising military background that Peter’s army of about 40,000 faced Charles of Swedish force of fewer than 10,000 men at the port of Narva in 1700. The Swedes would take on the entire Russian artillery train and send peters army running. Yet Peter would take this defeat in stride. He would rebuild his army and replace the artillery, and reorganize them along western lines, and put recruitment and training on an orderly basis. Peter’s army was rebuilt from the ground up. Recruitment required a wider base than boys and men drafted into the royal villages and the Tsar’s personal retinue. Service usually continued until the end of the current war, after which, men cold lay down their arms and return home. This was eliminated by Peter’s new conscription reform which meant that there was no return home at the end of a campaign; service was now for life . Although this system would be condemned by many, others saw it as an opportunity to climb the social ladder and eventually join the ranks of the elite aristocracy with the creation of the ‘Table of Ranks’ For the training of his army, Peter had the best foreign engineers, military men and educators come to Russia. He would experiment by establishing a school of mathematical and navigational science in Moscow to train officers for his navy. ...