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.
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