Peter the Great

1. A Russian czar of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries who tried to transform Russia from a backward nation into a progressive one by introducing customs and ideas from western European countries. He moved the capital of Russia from Moscow to a new city he had built, St. Petersburg, which was renamed Leningrad after the Russian Revolution and has since had its old name restored due to the collapse of communism.

Example Sentences

And many Western analysts of Russia are convinced that Putin dreams of becoming another Peter the Great, who expanded his empire into the Baltic region, or Catherine the Great, who sent her armies south into “New Russia” – that is, what is today Ukraine.

From Salon

During a row over the Peter the Great monument's future in 2010, several Moscow residents told the BBC they hated the sculpture, which at 98m is slightly taller than the Statue of Liberty.

From BBC

He has inhaled from somewhere — certainly not from studying history — an immensely dumbed-down version of the philosophy that he imagines drove Napoleon and Hitler, and perhaps Alexander the Great and Peter the Great.

From Salon

The remake of a popular old Soviet-era film features Kirkorov as Peter the Great and the TV channel director has said some of the scenes are being re-shot before it airs.

From BBC

The presence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska is perhaps the most visible legacy of the Russia’s Alaskan odyssey, which began nearly three centuries ago when Peter the Great sent Danish mariner Vitus Bering to claim new territory east of Russia in 1725.

From Seattle Times