Part 2, The Great Embassy, Chapters 12-16 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 12 begins describing one of the major events in Peter's life. To enter the Black Sea, Peter needs technology, trained manpower, and reliable allies. He needs to shore up the dying anti-Turkish alliance as Europe worries more about the ambitions of King Louis XIV. Peter goes personally to complete his education and incognito to avoid hated ceremony. Europe embraces science, music, art, and literature while Russia remains medieval—and participants in the Great Embassy blink in disbelief that "heretics" could achieve this. Earlier Russians in Europe act ignorantly and arrogantly.

Chapter 13, "'It Is Impossible to Describe Him,'" launches the Great Embassy, led by Lefort with diplomats Fedor Golovin and Prokofy Voznitsyn, many of Peter's favorites as "volunteers," and himself as Peter Mikhailov, hidden in the 250-member staff. He leaves...