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Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia unfolds the magnificent story of Peter the Great, crowned co-tsar at the age of ten...his 'incognito' travels in Europe...his unquenchable curiosuty about Western ways...his obsession with the sea and establishment of the stupendous Russian navy...his creation of an unbeatable army...the construction of St. Petersburg on swampland...his transformation of Russia...his relationships with those he loved most: Catherine, the robust yet gentle peasant, his loving mistress, wife, and successor; and Menshikov, the charming, bold, unscrupulous prince who rose to wealth and power through Peter's friendship.
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