The early years of Peter the Great were marked by power struggles among multiple heirs to the Russian tsardom as well as Peter's European travels that greatly inspired his modernizing reforms.
In order to modernize socially and economically lagging Russia, Peter the Great introduced sweeping social, administrative, and economic reforms that Westernized Russia to a certain extent yet did not alter deeply feudal divisions in the increasingly authoritarian state.
The foreign policy of Peter the Great focused on the goal of making Russia a maritime power and turned Russia into one of the most powerful states in Europe, shifting the European balance of power.
Through his expansive domestic reforms, Peter the Great modernized Russia but he also centralized power in his hand, significantly curbing the influence of the noble elites and the Orthodox Church.