Peter the Great dies
On February 8 1725 Peter the Great emperor of Russia dies and is succeeded by his wife Catherine.The reign of Peter who became sole czar in 1696 was characterized by a series of sweeping military political economic and cultural reforms based on Western European models.Russian victories in major conflicts with Persia and the Ottoman Empire greatly expanded Peters empire and the defeat of Sweden in the Great Northern War won Russia direct access to the Baltic Sea.Here Peter founded the new Russian capital of St.
Petersburg and Russia became a major European powerpolitically culturally and geographically.In 1721 Peter abandoned the traditional Russian title of czar in favor of the European-influenced title of emperor.Four years later he died.
