Comparison Of Peter The Great And Louis The 14Th Essay, Research Paper

Video Paper # 1

In this paper I will be comparing the rule of Peter the Great and Louis the XIV. I will also be telling you about the similarities and differences between the video?s on the Sun King and Peter I. Information on the leaders ?Homes? St. Petersburg and Versailles will also be included in this essay.

For the first paragraph I would like to start off by talking about Chateau de Versailles.

Versailles took over 50 years to build, which took hundreds of worker?s lives. The original residence, built from 1631 to 1634, was primarily a hunting lodge and private retreat for Louis XIII. Not the least important element at Versailles was the landscaping. Le Norte, the greatest artist in the history of European landscape architecture, worked with the King, designing vistas, fountains, and many other outdoor arrangements. Versailles had an enormous impact on the rest of Europe, both artistic and psychological, but the whole complex was so large that even the extremely long life of Louis XIV did not hold enough years to see it completed.

In the mid-18th century an indelible stamp was put on the city of St. Petersburg, appearance by the architects Bartolomeo F. Rastrelli, Savva I. Chevakinsky, and Vasily P. Stasov, which combined clear-cut, even austere lines with richness of decoration and use of colour. Within this grand architectural setting, cultural life developed and flourished. Many of the most celebrated names in Russia in the spheres of learning, science, and the arts are associated with the city: Mikhail V. Lomonosov, Dmitry I. Mendeleyev, Ivan Pavlov, Aleksandr Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, among others. As early as 1738 the first ballet school in Russia was opened in St. Petersburg; in the 19th century, under Marius Petipa, the Russian ballet rose to worldwide. In 1862 the first conservatory of music in Russia opened its doors, and there the premieres of works by Tchaikovsky. Over all, as focus and patron of the city’s cultural life, stood the imperial court, its ostentatious splendor and wealth were legendary throughout Europe.

Social aspect of life or science, which one will it be? In answer to the essay question you can see in the paragraphs above, that Louis XIV chose to live the social aspect of life. And pass the job of being ruler onto the shoulders of his colleagues, like Jean Baptiste Colbert, but not all the time like in instances of war. On the other hand we have the Peter the Great. Modern Russia started with the rule of the Czar. He realized that Russia should be westernized to ensure its independence. Already fascinating by mechanical inventions, he studied government and business models of the West.

The Sun King, as he liked to be called because of his performance in one of his plays. The sun was associated with Apollo, god of peace and arts, and was also the heavenly body, which gave life to all things, regulating everything as it rose and set. The first twenty years of the king’s personal reign were the most brilliant. With his minister Colbert, he carried out the administrative and financial reorganization of the kingdom, as well as the development of trade and manufacturing. With the Marquis de Louvois, he reformed the army and racked up military victories. Finally, Louis encouraged an extraordinary blossoming of culture: theater, music, architecture, painting, and sculpture. The Sun King and Peter I, had a lot of things in common, like the arts.

Peter the Great believed in starting from ground up, and that?s just what he did with the city of Saint Petersburg of Russia. Finding a place in land locked Russia would be one of the most difficult parts in founding St. Petersburg. With access to the Mediterranean Sea was ready to start. He brought in some of the most famous architects throughout Europe. In 1703, Peter began the construction of a new city in the north, where the Neva River drained into Lake Ladoga. The city was built on a myriad of islands, canals, and swamps. The conditions were brutal, nearly 100,000 workers perished the first year alone. But within a decade, St. Petersburg was a city of 35,000 buildings of granite and stone, and the capital of the Russian Empire. Peter commissioned many well-known foreign architects, including the Italian Rastrelli, the German Schluter, the Swiss Tressini, and the Frenchman Le Blond, who created Petrodvorets, Peter’s summer palace. Montferrand later designed St. Isaac’s cathedral, which took over 100 kilos of gold and 40 years to build. Peter brought the majesty of the West to his own doorstep; it was no wonder that St. Petersburg was nicknamed the “Venice of the North.” Peter I introduced Western culture, commerce, and technology and constructed St. Petersburg’s first buildings, which included an Admiralty and shipping yards.

As you can see Peter the Great and The Sun King, were one of a kind, both bring dirt into gold, with little faith from anyone.

As many similarities as these to divine rulers had, they shared not nearly as my many differences. For instance, King Louis XIV was a strict practicing Catholic, and believed that it should be the only one practiced in France although the Huguenots basically had there own practice of religion within France which very much-displeased Louis. On the other hand we had Peter the Great. He tolerated new religions, allowed the practice of Catholics, Lutherans, and Protestants, and even expressed approval of Galileo’s sacrilegious scientific theories. He exercised state control over the Russian Orthodox Church by establishing the Holy Synod. In 1721, Peter declared himself emperor of all Russia.

In conclusion you can see the many similarities and differences between these two rulers Peter the Great of Russia and Louis XIV ?Sun King? of France. Now you can see how these two kings shaped the country of Europe and Russia in the 17th century. Versailles and the city of St. Petersburg were these two kings best accomplishments in life, and can see how not to many thing are different when it comes to history, whether it comes from a book or video.