Peter the Great

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The Romanovs were high-ranking aristocrats in Russia during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1613, Mikhail Romanov became the first Romanov czar of Russia, following a fifteen-year period of political upheaval after the fall of Russia's medieval Rurik dynasty. He took the name Michael I.

Michael I's grandson Peter I, also known as Peter the Great, transformed Russia from a landlocked state into one of Europe's largest empires. Through wars against the Ottoman Empire and the Empire of Sweden, Russia expanded its territory and became the dominant power in both the Baltic Sea and Black Sea regions.

Peter I declared himself emperor of the newly formed Russian Empire in 1721, a position he held until his death in 1725.

He was succeded by his 2nd wife, Catherine the Great.

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