other died in 1694. He returned to Russia in 1695, and
notwithstanding his defeat, he ordered a triumphal entry into Moscow;
but he felt very sore. The following year, 1696, his half-brother Ivan
died, and Peter was the sole Autocrat of all the Russias.

[Illustration: Peter the Great] (p. 152)

XVIII--PETER THE GREAT AND HIS REIGN. (p. 153)

Far from being discouraged by his defeat, Peter was more than ever
resolved to have a port on the Black Sea. He introduced reforms in the
army, and while doing this, he ordered a fleet of boats to be built on
the Don, and set 26,000 men to work on them. He also sent to Holland
and other parts of Europe for officers and gunners, and superintended
everything. It was at this time that he wrote to Moscow that,
"following the command God gave Adam, he was earning his bread by the
sweat of his brow." When he was ready, the army and the boats went
down the Don; Azof was blockaded by sea and by land, and forced to
capitulate. When the news arrived at Moscow, there was general
rejoicing, and even at Warsaw in Poland the people cheered for the
czar. The army returned to Moscow under triumphal arches, the generals
seated in magnificent sledges. A young officer, Peter Alexievitch,
recently promoted to captain, was marching in the ranks.

Peter wished to make of Azof a Russian town in the shortest time
possible. He secured from the douma an order by which three thousand
families were moved to that port, and streltsi were dispatched to
garrison it. The czar wanted a naval force, and moved by his energy,
the Patriarch, the prelates, and the monasteries offered to give (p. 154)
one ship for every 5,000 serfs owned by them. This example was
followed by nobles, officials, and merchants, and once more Peter sent
to the west for competent men to help build them. At the same time
fifty young nobles were dispatched to Venice to learn shipbuilding.

When he was seventeen years old, Peter had married Eudoxia Lapoukine,
whose relatives abhorred all that was new; Peter's wife shared their
sentiments, so that his home life was far from happy. He had a son by
her, named Alexis; after the fall of Azof, Peter secured a divorce, an
act unheard of in Russia, where she remained czarina in the eyes of
the people. Busy as he was, Peter left his son and heir in charge of
his divorced wife, while he was making preparations for the long
expec