Muscovy is transformed in the eighteenth century, from a static, somewhat isolated, traditional state into the more dynamic, partially Westernized, and secularized Russian Empire.

This transformation is in no small measure a result of the vision, energy, and determination of Peter the Great.

Historians disagree about the extent to which Peter himself transformed Russia, but they generally concur that he laid the foundations for empire building over the next two centuries.

The era that Peter initiates signals the advent of Russia as a major European power but, although the Russian Empire will play a leading political role in the next century, its retention of serfdom precludes economic progress of any significant degree.

As West European economic growth accelerates during the Industrial Revolution, which begins in the second half of the eighteenth century, Russia begins to lag ever farther behind, creating new problems for the empire as a great power.