ST. PETERSBURG IS INEXORABLY linked with the personality of its founder, Tsar Peter I. Peter was the grandson of Mikhail Romanov, founder of the Romanov dynasty which ruled Russia from 1613 until 1917. The son of Tsar Alexis (1645-1676) from his second marriage, Peter rose to power despite the meddling of jealous relatives from Alexis' first marriage. The most menacing of these was Sophie, Alexis' daughter and the older sister of Peter's physically and mentally retarded half-brother Ivan. Ivan and Peter, both kids, were declared co-tsars in 1681 and then sent off to play while Sophie ruled as regent. Whereas Ivan remained unfit for duty as a ruler for his entire short life, Peter learned military skills and built up loyalty in the most influential regiments during his half-sister's regency. In 1689 Peter returned to Moscow, deposed her, and shipped her off to a convent. Peter inherited a Russia that was too backward for his taste. Trade was relatively undeveloped due to the lack of access to a warm-water port (the Baltic belonged to the Swedes and the Black Sea was in Turkish hands) and the populace, even the aristocracy, was for the most part uneducated. Peter was determined to modernize Russia regardless of the cost, and immediately after Ivan's death in 1696 left him as sole sovereign he took off incognito on a two- year fact-finding and recruitment mission across Europe.

Peter's first goal was to turn Russia into a formidable naval power. He had seen navies and wanted one too. With this in mind he attacked both north and south, taking the Azov Sea from the Turks in the south in 1696 and then in 1703 driving the Swedes from the Neva delta, seizing the fortress-town Noteburg and renaming it Schlìsselburg (now called Petrokrepost). In order to strengthen the northern position Peter decided to build a second fortress on the Neva delta.