Why was Aleksandr Pushkin interested in Peter the Great?

Aleksandr Pushkin’s interest in Peter the Great was rooted in his belief that essential social and political reforms in Russia could only be achieved "on the tsar’s initiative," or from above, rather than through popular struggle, which he felt was doomed without public support.1

Pushkin viewed Peter the Great as the "tsar-educator" and frequently held him up as an example for the reigning monarch, Nicholas I, to follow. This fascination manifested in several of his works, including the poem "Stansy" ("Stanzas"), the historical poem Poltava, and his famous work The Bronze Horseman.1

Additionally, Pushkin had a personal connection to the era; his maternal great-grandfather, Abram Hannibal, was an African man adopted by Peter the Great and became his comrade-in-arms. Pushkin immortalized this ancestor in his unfinished novel, The Negro of Peter the Great. Later in his career, Pushkin was even commissioned by the government to write a history of the tsar.213