The ruler who first tried to westernize Russis was?
Peter the Great, and he did so with little regard to Russian traditions and culture. In his efforts to “Westernize” he made French the official language of the court, which certainly made it difficult for his nobles, let alone the commoners–imagine, if you will, the US suddenly changing the official language in which it does business and you can see the problems for yourself. Some of the reforms seem either funny or shocking to us today–for example, you could be executed for going to bed with your boots on, and he insisted that his courtiers abandon traditional Russian dress for that of the West. I guess what’s most surprising is that there was no Russian nationalist backlash in protest.
