Part 2, The Great Embassy, Chapters 17-21 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 17 "Leopold and Augustus," sees the Embassy sending 640 Dutch officers and specialists plus equipment to Russia and departing for Dresden and Vienna. Treated as an upstart monarch, Peter is enthusiastic to meet Leopold I, the master of Central Europe, and behaves with decorum. He fails, however, to obtain an ally against the Turks, as Austria seeks peace in anticipation of a new war in the West. Austria promises not to give away his gains at Azov, but offers no help in gaining entry to the Black Sea. The Embassy ends abruptly before a trip to Venice when word comes that the Streltsy are rebelling. En route home, Peter meets Augustus II, King of Poland, who convinces him to undertake a joint war against Sweden. Thwarted in the South, Peter looks to...