HISTORY This Week

Episode Title: Shaving Russia
Date: September 1, 2025
Host: Sally Helm
Guest Expert: Professor Lynn Hartnett

Overview

This episode explores a transformative moment in Russian history: Tsar Peter the Great’s dramatic campaign to modernize Russia, symbolized by the forcible shaving of noblemen’s beards in 1698. Through vivid storytelling and insights from Professor Lynn Hartnett, the episode examines Peter’s motivations, his Westernization reforms, and their profound, lasting impact on Russian society, identity, and state power—even tracing echoes to the present day.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Shaving of 1698

• [02:01] Sally Helm recounts the morning when Peter the Great returned to Moscow from his European tour and, in a shocking display, personally shaved the beards of his elite supporters.
  • Beards were deeply tied to Russian Orthodox identity and masculinity. To shave them was seen as a sin; Ivan the Terrible said, “to shave the beard is a sin that the blood of all the martyrs cannot cleanse.”
  • Only the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church was spared, reflecting the beard’s religious significance.

2. Why It Mattered: Identity and Power

• [04:39] Prof. Lynn Hartnett explains Peter’s intent: “What this was was creating a clean fleet to introduce something new. Peter realized that in order to transform Russia, you had to get rid of these old traditions and superstitions. And doing so required something which to us in the 21st century seems to be rather silly. But for Russians, it was fundamental and it was tied to identity.”
• The beard-shaving was not superficial; it marked a forced cultural pivot towards Western Europe.

3. Russia Before Peter: Isolation and Tradition

• [08:54] Russia was huge but underpopulated, with most people living as serfs bound to land and noble elites dominating urban life.
• The Orthodox Church was a parallel authority. Russian elites thought of their country as the heir to Byzantium—the “Third Rome”—but politically, technologically, and culturally, it lagged behind Europe because it was essentially landlocked and isolated.

4. Peter’s Upbringing: Outsider to Reformer

• [12:13] Peter’s early life in the cosmopolitan ‘Foreign Quarter’ of Moscow exposed him to European ideas.
• His father’s death and ensuing palace intrigues gave him an unusual level of freedom for a royal, letting him indulge in “All Drunken All Jesting Assembly” antics and foster obsessions with military games and especially naval power.

5. The Great Embassy: Peter’s European Tour

• [17:49] Peter set out in 1697 with a massive entourage (about 250 people) in the “Great Embassy,” traveling in disguise as “Peter Mikhailov.”
  • In the Netherlands, he worked as a ship carpenter. In England, he studied the navy, attended Parliament, and observed industry and culture.
  • Peter was struck by Western fashion and the prevalence of clean-shaven faces: “When he looks at the men who are clean shaven, he thought they just looked so much more modern.” (Hartnett, [21:08])

6. Revolutionizing Russian Society (Beard Shaving and Beyond)

• [23:44] Upon his return (rushed by reports of rebellion), Peter’s first major act was to publicly shave the beards of the Russian elite. This was both literal and symbolic violence against tradition, meant to shock the nobility into modernity.
  • Quote: “To a Russian man their beard was part of their identity.” (Hartnett, [24:07])

Other Reforms:

• Introduction of a “beard tax”—peasants and clergy could keep their beards if they paid a fee ([26:03]).
• Creation of Russia’s first universities, newspapers, and printing presses ([26:38]).
• Reforms to social life: Nobles required to meet and socialize regularly; easing of marriage customs to allow courtship and chooseability ([26:45], [26:57]).
• Switched Russia’s calendar to the Julian system to align more closely with Europe ([27:13]).
• Restructured society to subordinate the church under the state ([27:57]) and curbed noble power.

7. Building a Modern State and Military

• Peter’s reforms enabled Russia to develop a modern army and navy.
• Victory over Sweden secured access to warm water ports and turned Russia into a major European power ([28:34]).

8. Peter’s Legacy: Autocracy and Modern Russia

• The long-term impacts:

  • Set the precedent for a powerful, interventionist ruler shaping every aspect of Russian society ([29:04]).
    • Quote: “A strong authoritarian ruler, a strong autocrat who was able to intervene in people's lives in the most seemingly minute ways. Whether that was forcing a man to shave his beard, wear a French style coat, or...decreeing that the whole Russian Orthodox Church was going to be transformed.” (Hartnett, [29:04])
  • Shaped not only Russia’s emergence as a global power, but also the enduring Russian ideal of the ‘strongman leader.’
  • Contemporary echoes: Putin references Peter’s legacy to validate Russia’s uninterrupted historical “greatness” and his own autocratic style ([29:42]).

• Hypothetical speculations: No Peter, possibly no defeat of the Nazis, no space race, no template for rulers like Stalin and Putin ([29:59]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Peter’s beard-shaving as existential threat:

  • “To shave the beard is a sin that the blood of all the martyrs cannot cleanse.” (Historical context, quoted around [03:25])
  • “This is just a superficial thing… but it was something so much more than that.” (Hartnett, [24:18])

• On Peter’s vision:

  • “Peter believed that the Russian people were just stuck in the past, that superstitions held them back. And beards were part of that… if you put aside superstitions, then you can open your mind to the future.” (Hartnett, [24:34])

• From Russian isolation to power:

  • “It allows Russia to become a global power. And that global power just gains over the course of the 18th century.” (Hartnett, [28:34])

• On legacy and Putin:

  • “It’s hard to imagine today's Russia had there not been a Peter the Great. Putin, in speech after speech, has alluded to the fact that… [Russia's] history goes back a thousand years.” (Hartnett, [29:42])
  • “This is something that Putin identifies with. He understands this idea of a strong man who will not tolerate any opposition…” (Hartnett, [30:25])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:01 - The beard-shaving event described
• 04:39 - Peter’s motives and cultural significance (Hartnett)
• 08:54-11:28 - Russian society and isolation pre-Peter
• 12:13-16:53 - Peter’s childhood, family dynamics, and youth
• 17:49-21:23 - The Great Embassy: Peter’s European tour and its influence
• 23:44 - The public beard-shaving and aftermath
• 24:34 - Religious significance and challenge to tradition (Hartnett)
• 26:03 - Beard tax and segregation of elites/peasants
• 26:38-27:13 - Broader reforms: education, marriage, calendar
• 27:57-28:34 - Peter subordinates church, builds power, military reforms
• 29:04 - The birth of Russian autocracy (“strongman” tradition)
• 29:42-30:49 - Peter’s legacy, links to modern Russia and Putin

Tone & Style

The episode blends dramatic historical narrative with engrossing expert commentary, combining vivid anecdotes (“the Drunken All Jesting assembly,” Peter’s disastrous rental in London) with clear, accessible analysis of why these cultural ruptures mattered. The tone is lively and inquisitive, balancing humor about Peter’s outlandish style with sober explanations of his authoritarian legacy.

Conclusion

“Shaving Russia” illustrates how one ruler’s dramatic choices—sometimes seeming bizarre, often brutal—helped wrench an isolated, conservative power onto the global stage. The podcast makes clear that Peter the Great’s razor was about far more than facial hair: it was about forging a new national identity, recasting the state, and creating enduring models of Russian power that shape the world to this day.