For a relatively short period of time, Peter the Great managed to withdraw the Russian state from the shadows - thanks to its reforms, Russia became one of the leading powers in the arena of world life. This happened after the introduction of changes that affected almost all aspects of life (especially the economic reforms of Peter the Great).
The reforms of Peter the Great primarily concerned the transformation of central government. As a result, the Boyar Duma was abolished and replaced by the Near Chancellery, which in 1708 was renamed the Council of Ministers.
The next item on the list of reforms was the creation of the Governing Senate (in 1711), which became the highest government institution. He took part in legislative, administrative and judicial matters.
Reforms of Peter the Great of 1718-1720 abolished cumbersome and clumsy laws and introduced colleges - initially there were 11: the College of Foreign Affairs, which was in charge of foreign policy affairs; Military Collegium, which controlled all the land forces of the country; Admiralty Board, disposing of the navy; The Berg Collegium was involved in the mining industry; The justice collegium subjugated the civil and criminal courts, etc.
Also important was the Decree on Uniformity, which was signed in 1714 by Peter the Great. The reforms were as follows: according to this document, the estates of the nobles were now equal to the boyar estates, and the introduction of this decree was aimed at destroying the borders between the clan and noble nobility. Moreover, now there was no difference between the boyar and the noble land. A little later, in 1722, Peter adopted the Table of Ranks, which finally erased the borders between the new and old aristocracy and completely equalized them.
In 1708, the regional reform was introduced to strengthen the power apparatus and increase its influence: the country was divided into eight provinces. Its logical conclusion was the reform of urban governance: more and more cities appeared, and accordingly, the country's population grew (by the end of the reign of Peter the Great, an average of 350 thousand people lived in large towns). And the composition of the urban population was complicated: the main part was small artisans, townspeople, merchants and entrepreneurs.
Under Peter the Great, the process of church transformation was completely completed - the reforms of Peter the Great turned it into an important state institution subordinate to the bodies of the highest secular authority. After the death of patriarch Hadrian, the king forbade the election of a new patriarch, citing the unexpected start of the Northern War. Stefan Jaworski was appointed at the head of the patriarchal throne . After the Northern War, Peter abolished the patriarchate altogether. The management of all church affairs and issues was entrusted to the Ecclesiastical Collegium, after which it was renamed the Holy Government Synod, which completely turned the church into a powerful pillar of Russian absolutism.
But the great transformations and reforms of Peter the Great brought with them many problems, the main of which were the tightening of serfdom and the development of bureaucracy.