Talk:Government reform of Peter the Great
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What about
"Spirit of Enlightenment"?
Not sure this statement belongs in the article, let alone in the first sentence. First off, the Enlightenment was only in its opening stages when Peter began his reforms and by 1725 was nowhere near mature. Second, while not all of Peter's reforms were aimed at improving his military, the majority of them were; his confrontations with the Ottomans and Swedes were arguably more of a motivation than abstract "reform." Third, while one may hold that Peter was a kind of precursor to enlightened absolutism (e.g. "the tsar is 'first servant' of the state," Table of Ranks), the systems in most of the nations he modeled his new institutions after were not enlightened but mercantilist, more seventeenth century monarchies than the quintessential "enlightened" eighteenth century state. Fourth, while enlightened reform and personal desire for glory and prestige are not mutually exclusive, it is hardly plausible that Peter, who maintained a secret police to stifle dissent and who ignored the issue of serfdom, could have had any more than a faint strain of what would become "enlightened" thought. Finally, many historians argue that Peter's reforms were more out of necessity than out of "enlightened spirit." Technological backwardness and inefficient government did not sit well with Peter because of the proximity of Europe and a history of European harassment. Shelleyesque (talk) 05:09, 12 January 2014 (UTC)
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