B.H. Sumner, in Peter the Great and the Emergence of Russia, makes the basic argument that the efforts and leadership of Peter were responsible for the entrance of Russia into the modern world, paving the way for the creation of the Soviet Union under Lenin. Sumner writes, with respect to the world at the time of his writing in the early 1960's, with the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States dominating and defining world affairs, that

Certainly no historical theme is for us more significant than the double transformation that has taken place---of Muscovy into Russia and of Russia into the Soviet Union, a transformation linked indissolubly both by contemporaries and by posterity with the names of Peter the Great and Lenin (9).

Sumner goes even further and argues that Peter was responsible for revolutionizing not only Russia, but also all of Europe, in terms of his having driven Russia into a relationship, however antagonistic, with the West.

The book covers the life and career of Peter, from his birth in 1672 to his death in 1725 at fifty-two years of age, showing how and when he ascended to the throne at the age of ten in 1682, offic

Peter's brutal battle against the streltsy is an example of this ruthless, militaristic approach to politics:

Sumner's attitude is one of emphasizing the positive and minimizing the negative with respect to Peter and leadership and legacy. He credits him with advancing every aspect of russian life, including solidifying political organization, developing industry and education, and, of course, external acquisition. Peter, says Sumner, "was above all a great man of action, not a thinker or a planner" (180).

Clearly, Sumner admires what Peter did in expanding and developing Russia, and the author is quick to minimize the cruelty and despotism he exhibited in bringing about those developments. For example, after writing of a number of Peter's contemporaries' remarks about the more vicious of Peter the Great's traits, author Sumner writes that "Others, more discerning, marvel that 'the providence of God . . . has raised up such a furious man to so absolute authority over so great a part of the world'" (41).

Peter was "quick in intelligence," "cruel," and well-trained in a number of fields, focusing on things military (30; 32-33). His military ruthlessness was responsible for his consolidating power in the first place against internal rivals, for the continuing expansion of the nation, and for effectively exercising the despotic rule he demonstrated throughout his reign.

ially sharing power with his half-brother Ivan V, seven years older and much weaker as a leader than Peter would prove to be.

The Great Northern War established him on the international front as a leader in the same way his internal political, economic and social reforms had established him as a leader at home. The Great Northern War

Moscow was accustomed to torture and savage punishments, but the scale and ferocity of the retribution wreaked upon the streltsy went beyond all memories. Henceforth Peter stood out as a tsar of implacable will and tempestuous violence (44).

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Approximate Word count = 1616
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)