All the later history of Russia was written in a narrative like "Pyotr the Great was the first sensible tzar". Even communists bought it. It says maybe more abo

All the later history of Russia was written in a narrative like "Pyotr the Great was the first sensible tzar". Even communists bought it. It says maybe more about who was paying historians for their work, than about Pyotr, but in any case it means that repercussions of his work lasted for centuries. I'd say, that the most sensible tzar was Feodor, who worked before Pyotr, who worked on the same goal but much more sensible, it was a patient work through decades, but history remembers crazy kings, not sensible ones. > It says he worked at a shipyard which is admirable but no further mention of what impression that left. He also learned in Europe how to perform tooth extraction, and liked to pull teeth of members of his retinue. It is said, that it was a great entertainment for him to found someone with toothache.