Why did czar peter want to open a window to the west?

Answer 1

because peter wanted to.In regard to foreign policy, Peter wanted to keep up with Western fashion, science, and politics. Thus he established communication and trade routes with Europe through the Baltic Sea. To secure these routes, he conquered the Ottoman Empire in 1696. In 1699, Russia allied with Poland and Denmark against Sweden.2 Upon concluding peace with the Ottomans in 1700, Peter and his allies began the 21 year long Northern War with Sweden. After a near disastrous defeat at the Battle of Narva, Peter reorganized the Russian military and used his magnificently westernized navy to finally defeat the Swedes. By capturing two Swedish fortresses, Noteburg and Nienchanz, Russia gained control of the Baltic Sea. To maintain Russian ascendancy in the Baltic Sea, Peter established a fort, named the Peter and Paul Fortress.

In 1703, to protect Russia from northern military threats, Peter began building a city around the Peter and Paul Fortress in the strategic Neva River delta.9 Constructing the new city exacted a tremendous human cost due to its swampy location. Thus the city earned the epithet, "the city built on bones." (Stanley, 28) In 1712, after nine years of backbreaking labor, this new city of St. Petersburg replaced Moscow as the capital of Russia. Peter forced many reluctant merchants and noblemen to leave their luxurious Moscow homes and build expensive European homes in St. Petersburg. Because of her importance as a major sea importer of European ideas and merchandise, St. Petersburg was called "the Window to the West." Along with material goods came the Protestant ideas of Europe. Protestant Christianity released the Russian people from the spiritual bondage of the rites of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Thus God used Peter the Great as an instrument to spread Christianity throughout Russia.