Peter the Great is one of the dominating personalities of early modern Europe. During his reign (1682/89-1725) Russia emerged from semi-Asiatic isolation on the remote fringes of the western world to become a great political and military power in her own right, and, for the first time, a principal actor on the European stage.

The study does full justice to Peter's extraordinary contribution to the development of Russia - his determination to westernize the country; to furnish it with the means of self-defence; to change drastically its religious and educational institutions; to give it a voice in European affairs; and to create a new capital city - Peter's "window on the West" - of unprecedented splendour.

The portrait of the Tsar that emerges is impressive but not attractive. Peter's energy and vision were matched by his brutality in public affairs, a lack of human affection in his private relationships, and the coarseness of his personal behaviour. The darker side of both man and monarch is fully acknowledged here.

Yet, when the failures and failings have been taken into account, and the accretions of historical myth-making stripped away, it remains a formidable life; and Matthew Anderson does it full justice in this admirable study.