The exceptional position of Peter the Great among other Russian monarchs is emphasized even by the fact that even after the October Revolution, his memory was treated quite respectfully. The cities that were named after him (except Petrograd) were not renamed, the Bronze Horseman monument, unlike the monuments to other kings, was not dropped from the pedestal, and so on - there are many examples. It turns out that even the Bolsheviks were not particularly indignant about why and why Peter 1 was called the Great; in any case, this apparently did not cause any angry objections.
The youth of Peter 1 ended quite early - already at seventeen he became the de facto head of a large state. From the very first steps, the young tsar showed himself as a fierce opponent of the previous orders, with which he did not want to reckon with either the big or the small. He longed for absolute power, on the way to which he managed not only to destroy or neutralize open enemies (in particular, suppressing the streltsy revolt, inspired by his half-sister on his father, Tsarevna Sofia Alekseevna), but also to achieve unquestioning submission of all the highest dignitaries who tried unsuccessfully to manipulate them at first. Even then, at the very beginning of his reign, prerequisites arose that the question of why Peter 1 was called the Great King is now almost perceived as rhetorical. The failures of the first years of his reign - for example, the not too successful war with Turkey - did not discourage Peter the Great,
and after a long overseas voyage, his seething energy found the main vector of its application: scrapping everything old and immediate immediate reforms in the European manner. Despite his youth, he perfectly understood that otherwise the Russian state was destined to continue to remain on the outskirts of civilization. Having literally won his legal right to the throne,
Peter the Great did not at all want to be content with the title of sovereign of the “Moscow barbarians”, as the Russians contemptuously dignified in Europe. Tough, sometimes extremely cruel, he, in the figurative expression of the poet A.S. Pushkin, “Russia reared up”, showing the whole world what this half-wild country, which is considered capable of with skillful and decisive leadership, is capable of.
The swiftness, incredible scale and success of the transformations - that’s why and why Peter 1 is called the Great Emperor. In a matter of years, he managed to enter Russia among the most powerful world powers, create a fundamentally new and strong army, build a powerful fleet, radically reform management mechanisms, and make changes in almost all spheres of government. The reign of Peter the Great is unparalleled in Russian history in the pace and depth of modernization, and the great tsar himself (since 1721 - the first Russian emperor) is undoubtedly one of the most visible and dynamic personalities among the monarchs of all countries and peoples.
Even the shortest list of his achievements is enough to understand why Peter 1 is called the Great Sovereign. He deserved this title with all his not too long, but rather bright, rich and creative life.