ky star had
set when he received a wound the night before Poltava, for he could not
fight on foot and his men lost heart, missing the stern heroic figure
and the commanding voice that bade them gain either victory or death.

Peter might well order an annual celebration of his victory over
Sweden, writing exultantly to Admiral Apraxin at Petersburg some few
hours after battle, "Our enemy has encountered the fate of Phaethon,
and the foundation-stone of our city on the Neva is at length grimly
laid." The Swedish army had been crushed, and the Swedish hero-king
was a mere knight-errant unable to return to his own land. The
Cossacks who had tried to assert their independence of Russia under the
Hetman Mazeppa, an ally of Charles XII, failed in their opposition to
the mighty Tsar. Augustus was recognized as King of Poland again after
the defeat of the Swedish King at Poltava, as Stanislaus retired,
knowing that he could expect no further support from Sweden. Peter
renewed his alliance at Thorn with the Polish sovereign.

The new order began for Russia as soon as the Baltic coast fell into
the possession of Peter, who was {143} overjoyed by the new link with
the west. He was despotic in his sweeping changes, but he desired the
civilization of his barbarous land. He visited foreign courts,
disliking their ceremony and half-ashamed of his homely faithful wife.
He gathered new knowledge everywhere, learning many trades and
acquiring treasures that were the gifts of kings. It was long before
his ambassadors were respected, longer still before he received the
ungrudging acknowledgment of his claims as Emperor. He had resolved to
form great alliances through his daughters, who were educated and
dressed after the manner of the French.

Peter did much for the emancipation of women in Russia, though his
personal treatment of them was brutal, and he threatened even Catherine
with death it she hesitated to obey his slightest whim. They had been
reared in monotonous retirement hitherto, and never saw their
bridegrooms till the marriage-day. Their wrongs were seldom redressed
if they ventured to complain, and the convent was the only refuge from
unhappy married life. The royal princesses were not allowed to appear
in public nor drive unveiled through the streets. Suitors did not
release them from the dreary empty routine of their life, because their
religion was a barrier to alliance with princes of the west. Sophia
had da