Grand Embassy of Peter the Great
The primary goal of the mission was to strengthen and broaden the Holy League, Russia's alliance with a number of European countries against the Ottoman Empire in the Russian struggle for the northern coastline of the Black Sea.
Peter conducted negotiations with Friedrich Casimir Kettler, the Duke of Courland, and concluded an alliance with King Frederick I of Prussia.
While visiting the Amsterdam he learned to draw ships and to etch from Adam Silo and Ludolf Bakhuysen, painters of seascapes.
[1] The Great Embassy visited the States General of the Netherlands to gain support against the Ottoman Empire in the Second Russo-Turkish War.
On 16 January 1698 Peter organized a farewell party and invited Johan Huydecoper van Maarsseveen, who had to sit between Lefort and the Tsar and drink.
In his desire for an alliance, Peter was prepared to support William in the Nine Years' War against France even though the final treaty would be signed nine days later.
The Grand Embassy had to limit itself to acquiring different equipment and hiring foreign specialists especially in military and naval affairs.
His entourage included four chamberlains, three interpreters, two clocksmiths, a cook, a priest, six trumpeters, 70 soldiers as tall as their monarch, four dwarves, and a monkey.
[6][7] Peter met with King William and his court frequently on informal bases, keeping to his preferred method of traveling through Europe.
[8] By February, the English king inquired on the date of Peter's departure after tactics of cutting the Russians daily allowances and denying their requests for horse and a carriage didn't work.
[9] At the behest of the king, Peregrine Osborne, Marquess of Carmarthen (later Duke of Leeds) designed a yacht for him, which was named the Royal Transport.
"[3] The decision to visit Britain was easily made when Peter heard that the British shipyard employed "art and science" practices that could be learned in a short time.
Additionally, English shipbuilders sought the importation of Russian raw materials (primarily oak) for the Royal Navy.
[3] Noted academic Arthur MacGregor wrote as such concerning the impact of the trip: For two decades following Peter's visit, British influence in Russia reached a peak.
Through the influence of the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation it reached a significant sector of the population before relations cooled once again and the two nations pulled back from this era of unprecedented cordiality.
An intended visit to Venice was canceled due to the news about the Streltsy Uprising in Moscow and Peter's hasty return to Russia.
The Grand Embassy failed to accomplish its main goal, but it gathered valuable information about the international situation, ascertained the impossibility of strengthening the anti-Turkish coalition due to the imminent War of the Spanish Succession, and brought back the plans for gaining access to the Baltic Sea.
