5 September 1698: Peter the Great’s beard tax
Tsar Peter I was determined to bring Russia into line with the rest of Europe. So, on this day in 1698, he introduced a rather unorthodox tax policy.
In 1696, after the death of his half-brother Ivan, Pyotr Alexeyevich became Tsar Peter I (pictured). After a trip to Austria, Holland and England, Peter the Great' decided that Russia had to be modernised to bring it into line with Europe.
One of his most important symbolic decisions was to tax beards and traditional clothing. The tax, which applied to everyone except priests and peasants, was very successful in getting people to adopt more modern garb.
These cultural changes were accompanied by political and military reforms, among them his attempt to turn Russia into a maritime power by greatly expanding its navy.
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The port of St Petersburg was founded in 1703 and became the Russiancapital ten years later. He also centralised the machineryof government, reducing the power of the nobility.
This allowed Russia to defeat Swedish and Turkish invaders, and to extend Russian control over the Baltic countries, turning it into a major world power. But while Peter made Russia stronger in the short run, his rule set it back in other ways.
He used mass executions to crush dissent, and increased state control over the Russian Orthodox Church, while his decision to strengthen the rights of masters over their serfs prevented the emergence of democracy.
Some even argue that Peter's use of secret police provided the template for Stalin's terror, over 200 years later.
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Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.
He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.
Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.
As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri
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