Peter the great was born on 9 June, 1672 in Moscow. Peter was the son of Tzar Alexis. After the death of Alexis. In 1682, at the age of 10, Peter was proclaimed Tzar, but due to a power struggle between different political forces he had to rule together with his brother Ivan under the patronage of his sister Sofia. In 1689, after the failure of a coup d'etat, Sofia was overthrown and exiled to a convent. When tzar Ivan died in 1696, Peter remained monarch. Peter toured Europe and educated himself in western culture and science, then returned to Russia and introduced military, civil and social reforms to make Russia more like Europe. He invited the best European engineers, shipbuilders, architects, craftsmen and merchants to come to Russia. Hundreds of Russians were sent to Europe to get the best education and learn different arts and crafts. One of the Peter's main goals was to regain access to the Baltic Sea and Baltic trade. He spent much of his time fighting wars, first against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, then against the Swedes in the Great Northern War in 1700, which lasted for 21 years. At the end of the war Russia was victorious and he succeeded in conquering land on the Baltic Sea. Russia gained access to European trade and St. Petersburg became her major sea port. where he founded St. Petersburg. A gateway to Europe, St. Petersburg became the new capital of Russia. Russia was declared an Empire and Peter the Great proclaimed himself its Emperor. Meanwhile, Peter continued his political and economic reforms. It has to be said that Peter was also very cruel. Several coup attempts against him ended with mass executions. In 1724, Peter had his second wife, Catherine, crowned as Empress, although he remained Russia's actual ruler. Peter the Great had fourteen children but just three of them surviving to adulthood. His eldest child was Alexei. Alexei had been tortured and killed on Peter's orders in 1718 because he had disobeyed his father and opposed official policies. At the same time, Alexei's mother Eudoxia had also been punished. Peter died between four and five in the morning 8 February 1725. An autopsy revealed his bladder to be infected with gangrene. He was fifty-two years, seven months old when he died.
