Before the reign of Peter the Great (1682‑1725), Russia lagged far behind its European neighbours. While the Enlightenment was sweeping the continent, Russia remained stuck in old customs—until the tsar himself dragged the nation, sometimes kicking and screaming, into a new age. These 10 odd ways illustrate just how wildly unconventional his reforms could be.
10 odd ways to modernize Russia
10 The Terrible Disguises Of Peter The Great
Peter the Great was hell‑bent on turning Russia into a power that could stand toe‑to‑toe with Europe’s mightiest states. To learn what the Europeans were doing, he decided to embark on a grand tour of the continent—while pretending to be a humble laborer.
In theory, the plan was brilliant. In practice, Peter stood a staggering 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) tall and was accompanied by a retinue of 250 aristocrats. No one was fooled when the towering Russian swaggered into Dutch shipyards claiming to be a migrant craftsman.
Nevertheless, the Dutch were fascinated enough to let him work alongside ordinary shipwrights. Crowds gathered to watch the giant tsar hammer away, and he managed to help finish a vessel before his Dutch employer finally asked if the ship should be delivered to his palace.
9 The Beard Tax
Upon his triumphant return, Peter declared that Russia would adopt European customs without delay. At a welcoming ceremony, after embracing his nobles, he produced a razor and swiftly shaved off their beards, signaling the start of a new era.
Shortly thereafter, a decree made growing a beard a punishable offense. Anyone who kept facial hair had to pay an annual tax of 100 rubles, unless they were peasants or clergy. Urban bearded men faced fines, and those who could afford the tax received a coin stamped with the slogan “The beard is a useless burden!” to prove their legality.
While he outlawed beards, Peter mandated mustaches for military personnel, making the trimmed moustache a symbol of Russian masculinity under his new European‑style code.
8 The All‑Joking, All‑Drunken Synod Of Fools And Jesters
Before Peter’s reforms, the Russian Orthodox Church was headed by the patriarch of Moscow. Peter, a notorious reveler, replaced the patriarchal system with the Holy Synod—a body of officials he could easily control.
Simultaneously, he founded the All‑Joking, All‑Drunken Synod of Fools and Jesters, whose sole purpose was to become as inebriated as possible. He even appointed a close confidant as “prince‑pope” of this mock‑religious order, forcing him to perform a parody of the Stations of the Cross while completely plastered.
The experiment scandalized many, leading some to label Peter an antichrist. Yet, the synod’s members, including several high‑ranking clergy, continued to attend its debauched gatherings, cementing Peter’s disdain for traditional piety.
7 The Medal Of Drunkenness
Peter’s love of wine and vodka was legendary, but he feared that foreign visitors would see Russian streets teeming with visibly intoxicated peasants. To curb public drunkenness—while simultaneously mocking it—he introduced a heavy, iron “medal of drunkenness.”
Anyone caught stumbling while visibly intoxicated was forced to wear an eight‑kilogram cast‑iron medallion around his neck for a full week. The medal resembled an honor award but bore the blunt inscription “For drunkenness,” making the wearer a walking spectacle.
The punishment did little to reduce alcoholism, but it reinforced Peter’s belief that drinking was a God‑granted right. In another decree, a woman could be flogged if she forced her husband to leave a tavern before he finished his drink.
6 The Museum Of Deformities
During his European travels, Peter became fascinated with the era’s cabinets of curiosities—early freak shows that displayed oddities for public education. Determined to bring this concept home, he founded the Kunstkamera, Russia’s first museum of curiosities, as soon as he returned.
The museum housed two‑headed infants preserved in jars, deformed animal skeletons, and even live exhibits of children born with birth defects. Peter argued that such displays served scientific and educational purposes, encouraging citizens to “look and learn.”
European newspapers praised the museum, hailing Peter as an enlightened ruler eager to modernize his country through knowledge and spectacle.
5 Mandatory Pants
Traditional Russian attire consisted of long, heavy robes and towering hats. Peter, however, outlawed this dress code, insisting that “no one is to wear Russian dress” and mandating Western‑style trousers for all men.
He went further, dictating every layer of clothing: French‑cut coats over German‑style undergarments, specific types of underwear, and even forbidding the practice of wearing shoes in bed. Nobles who resisted found themselves having the sleeves of their robes snipped off by the tsar himself.
While the reform modernized Russian fashion, it ignored practical concerns—those thick robes kept people warm during brutal winters. Swapping them for foreign underwear left many shivering in the cold.
4 The Russian Flag
Peter also designed Russia’s modern tricolour. Inspired by Dutch naval flags, he rearranged the colours of the Dutch flag—white, blue, and red—into a new configuration: white on top, blue in the middle, and red below.
Initially, the banner flew only on Russian ships, but over time it became the nation’s official flag. Few realized that the symbol of Russian patriotism was essentially an emulated Dutch design, chosen simply because Peter admired the aesthetic.
The flag’s origins highlight Peter’s penchant for copying European models, even in matters of national identity.
3 The Construction Of St. Petersburg
Peter’s ambition to create a European‑style capital led him to order the construction of St. Petersburg atop a treacherous swamp, demanding that the new city resemble Amsterdam’s canals and architecture.
Laborers—over 20,000 strong—were forced to work with bare hands, many perishing under the grueling conditions. To ensure the city’s stone supply, Peter prohibited any stone construction outside the capital, diverting all quarry output to St. Petersburg.
When completed, the city became Russia’s new capital, though critics like Dostoyevsky derided it as the “most artificial city in the world.”
2 Mandatory Nicotine Habits
Prior tsars had banned tobacco, deeming it an abomination punishable by exile or even mutilation. Peter overturned this stance, not only legalizing smoking but actively encouraging every Russian to indulge.
He permitted foreign tobacco firms to establish plantations and factories throughout the empire, and some nobles were even mandated to smoke by imperial decree.
Peter also introduced coffee, which many Russians dismissed as “smut syrup.” Nonetheless, his relentless promotion led to the opening of Russia’s first coffeehouses, cementing both nicotine and caffeine as staples of Russian social life.
1 The Dwarf Wedding
Peter had a peculiar fascination with dwarfs, treating them as entertainers and, at times, subjects of bizarre experiments. He arranged for dwarfs to hide naked inside pies for surprise reveals and even tried to breed a dwarf lineage by marrying two court dwarfs, Iakim Volkov and his partner.
The resulting “dwarf wedding” was a lavish affair, demanding the attendance of every dwarf in Russia—around 70 in total. They were dressed in the latest Western fashions, gilded and ostentatious, while being supplied with copious amounts of alcohol.
Peter saw the spectacle as an allegory: Russia, like the drunken dwarfs, wore fine clothes and performed elaborate dances but was still merely mimicking European grandeur without true substance.