The growth and development of Imperial Russia through the reign of Catherine was a period of tremendous expansion, consolidation and turbulence. Cracraft marks the beginning of the period with the reign of Peter the Great (1689-1725), and the end with Catherine's death in 1796 after thirty-four years in power (Cracraft v; 166). The six weaker rulers who succeeded Peter and preceded Catherine essentially did little more than keep the Empire on a holding pattern after Peter's death and until Catherine became Emperor. Although Cracraft later writes that "Imperial Russian history--the period of the Russian Empire--may be said to have begun formally on October 22, 1721," when Peter was given the title of Emperor (Cracraft 81), it is clear that events of the previous three decades were crucial to the establishment of that empire. As in the creation of most if not all empires, war played a major role in the emergence of the Russian Empire. It was no coincidence that Peter's acceptance of the position of Emperor occurred simultaneously with the victory of Russia over Sweden. The rough course of that war necessitated transformations in Russia which would serve well the expansion and development of the empire:
The war had begun badly for Russia; and in order to withstand Swedish invasion and then to secure control of the Baltic coastlands conquered from Sweden, Peter's government had been obliged to reform, sometimes radically, Russia's armed forces, economy, and state administration. The result was extensive political, economic, social, and even cultural modernization . . . in Russia (Cracraft 81).
Massie writes that from the beginning of Peter's reign he was determined to reverse the deleterious effects of two hundred years of Mongol rule: "He concluded that the best way for Russia to close this gap of centuries was a sweeping adoption of Western culture and technology" (Massie 91). Peter carried out his transformation and Westerniza...