Peter the Great was born on June 9, 1672. However, according to the old calendar, he was born on May 30, 1672. He was the son of Tsar Alexis's father and his mother Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. When Peter was four years old, his father, Tsar Alexis, died and was succeeded by Peter's half-brother, Fydor III. (Parrish, 2009) On the eve of his tenth birthday, Peter the Great ascended the throne despite the fact that he was still a minor. He grew up under the threat of a palace takeover and had little formal education. He was seven feet tall and his accomplishments would soon match that. (Hunt, Martin, Rosenwein & Smith, 2012) Peter was only ten years old when the Kremlin witnessed an open and violent power struggle between the Naryshkins and the Miloslavskys. He had witnessed murders, including that of his mother's former guardian. These vicious and unnecessary killings created in Peter a deep hatred for the Streltsy and a revulsion against the Kremlin and its policies. Peter spent the next seven years in the village of Preobrazhenskoe and his mother, who is now the head of state. Peter then used his own devices to familiarize himself, which actually involved military matters and Western technology. The death of his mother in 1694 and that of Ivan the Terrible in 1696 made Peter the sole ruler of Russia. (Gupta, 2006) Despite having no formal or comprehensive education, Peter was beyond his years physically and mentally. He gained knowledge mainly from foreigners in technical skills who worked for the Russian service who lived nearby. He spent most of his time in the German Quarter of Moscow, learning from German academics. (Hutchinson, 2011) A new streltsy revolt took place middle of paper......no more active politics on its southeastern border. Peter invaded Persian territory himself after learning that the Ottoman Turks would take advantage of Persia's weakness and invade the Caspian region in 1722. In 1723, Persia ceded the western and southern shores of the Caspian to Russia in exchange for military aid. Peter the Great was tsar. of Russia until 1725. He died in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on February 8, 1725. He had left an empire that stretched from Arkhangelsk on the White Sea to the Caspian, the Baltic Sea and the Pacific Ocean. He had not appointed anyone despite the fact that in 1722 he had published a decree reserving the right to appoint his successor. His widow Catherine I succeeded him until the temporary omission of her grandson Peter II. In 1724, Peter the Great crowned Catherine empress. (Alekseyevich, 2012)