The government of Tsar Peter had engaged in a process of gradual limitation of the Sstreltsy’s military and political influence after the fall in 1689 of Sophia Alekseyevna.

Eight Moscow regiments had been removed from the city and transferred to Belgorod, Sevsk, and Kiev.

In spite of these measures, the streltsy had revolted yet again while Peter was on his Great Embassy in Europe.

Some Russian historians believe that the Streltsy uprising was a reactionary rebellion against Peter’s progressive innovations; others suggest that it was a riot against the yoke of the serfdom oppression, military service hardships and harassment.

The Moscow Streltsy, which had participated in Peter’s Azov campaigns in 1695–1696, had been left in Azov as a garrison.

In 1697, however, the four regiments of Streltsy had unexpectedly been sent to Velikiye Luki instead of Moscow.

On their way there, they were starving and carrying their ordnance by themselves due to absence of horses.

One hundred and seventy-five Streltsy had left their regiments in March 1698 and fled to Moscow to file a complaint.

They secretly established contact with Sophia Alekseyevna, who has been incarcerated at the Novodevichy Monastery, and hoped for her mediation.

The runaway Streltsy, despite their resistance, had been sent back to their regiments, giving rise to discontent among the rest of them.

The Streltsy on June 6 remove their commanding officers, choose four electives from each regiment, and make their way to Moscow, getting ready to punish the boyars and foreign advisers and blaming them for all adversities.

The rebels (approximately four thousand men) intend to install Sophia or, in case of her refusal, her alleged lover Vasili Golitsyn, who has been in exile.

Four regiments (twenty-three hundred men) and a cavalry unit under the command of Aleksey Shein and the Scottish general Patrick Gordon (who had entered Russian service under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1661) attack the Streltsy.

The Streltsy are defeated on June 18, not far from the New Jerusalem Monastery (Voskresensky Monastery) forty kilometers west of Moscow.

As a result of a major investigation, fifty-seven Streltsy are executed and the rest sent into exile.

Gordon had put down the revolt of the streltsy even before the Tsar's return to Russia, but Peter nonetheless had cut short his embassy and returns on August 25 to finally crush the streltsy with savage reprisals, including public executions and torture.

Tortures include roasting the bare back, tearing flesh with iron hooks, and crushing feet in wooden presses called butuks; executions include being broken on the wheel and being buried alive.

Many of the bodies are hung around the monastery where Princess Sophia and Eudoxia are confined for aiding the rebellion.

Peter's visits to the West have impressed upon him the notion that European customs are in several respects superior to Russian traditions.

In an effort to move his people away from Asiatic customs, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards: all men except priests and peasants are required to pay a tax of one hundred rubles a year; commoners are required to pay one kopeck each.

He commands all of his courtiers and officials to cut off their long beards—causing his Boyars, who are very fond of their beards, great upset—and wear European clothing.

He also seeks to end arranged marriages, which are the norm among the Russian nobility, because he thinks such a practice is barbaric and leads to domestic violence, since the partners usually resent each other.