Peter the Great - Peter Varholak

Dear toastmaster, my toastmaster friends, honourable guests.

I would like to tell you a story about Peter the Great and his passion for ships and navy. Peter the Great was one of the tallest leaders of his time with a height of six foot eight inches (two metres 3 centimetres). He was a natural athlete and reputedly so strong and skilled with his hands that he could twist a silver platter into a scroll. Peter was also a natural craftsman and was constantly busy making things. Peter was also energetic, restless, impulsive, highly educated and extremely inquisitive, he enjoyed conversation over a mug of beer,man who did not tolerate dishonesty, he was terrible in his anger and could be cruel when he encountered opposition. One of Peter's great gifts was the ability to pick talented people for the highest appointments, whether from the nobility or from lowest levels of society. Peter had a vision of Russia's potential and dedicated his life to reach this vision. Peter saw changes that needed to be made and he gave orders that the Russian people had to follow. And he gave proposals that had been hard to refuse. It meant death. He brought Russia kicking and screaming into modern times through sheer brute force.

I don´t guarantee that monologues and dialogues of Peter the Great are as they happened.

One day, when he was sixteen years old, he was wandering about one of his country estates and he saw a storehouse full of rubbish. Peter was curious to see it. In one corner he saw a boat very different from the Russian boats.

"What kind of a boat is that?" he asked. "It is an English boat," was the reply.

"What is the difference between an English boat and a Russian boat?" demanded Peter.

"If you fit this boat with sails it can go not only with the wind, but against the wind."

Peter determined to find out, he had the boat taken from the storehouse, repair and refit with sails and launched on a stream.

The river was very narrow, however, and Peter, who tried to steer the boat, ran it into the bank. He wanted a larger space to learn how to manage his new craft. He therefore ordered a larger boat to be built upon a lake about fifty miles away. He took special note of how England ruled the waves. He concluded that in certain situations naval power could be just as important as having an army. Naval power could be used for protection against invasion. Naval power could be used to promote valuable trade and the exchange of information between nations. He was determined to get a navy for Russia.

Peters first action was to attack the fortress of Azov at the mouth of the Don River and the Sea of Azov. Control would provide naval access to the Mediterranean Sea.

First attack 3 500 Turk defenders in Azov fort against 35 000 rusian infantry. They attacked 2 watchtowers with heavy chains restricting acces to sea in this action were succesfull but Turks retalliated and captured lots of siege engines. Russians keep bombarding them for three months but couldn´t capture the fort. Peter called the general. "General. When we capture the fort? Sir to be honest with you it can take years. We have more casualities then they have. And they are receiving reinforcements and supplies from the sea. General command retreat."

That is when Peter built a crude "first-ever" Russian navy. He began work on simple ships upstream on the Don River. 30 sea going vessels and over 1000 transpors . This time twice more infantry. When the time came, he used his ships to surprise the defenders at Fort Azov. Peter managed to take the fortress. After capture he called his general. "General do you think we can hold this fort? Sir yes. But we won´t hold long against counterattack with our remaining ships. General secure the fort until I return. Tell my men we are leaving! Are you going to Moscow sir? No. Europe!

Incognito under the name of Sgt. Pyotr Mikhaylov Peter worked in Zaandam in Holland, Amsterdam in the docks of the East India Company, in England working in the Royal Navy's dockyard at Deptford. For christ sake it is 1 mile from here to the south! He slept in a small room. When the king of England came to visit him he said to the czar, "Why not come and live in the palace, where you can have the comforts that become your station?" His evenings he spent in the study of ship building and in the drawing of plans. He visited factories, museums, hospitals, and everything that he thought was valuable for him to see and know about.

Then he returned with foreign builders, crewmen and commanders to teach his people these skills. His first real fleet was 52 ships that could carry 500 soldiers each. After a couple of years war broke out between Sweden (local superior power and supreme naval power in Baltic sea). One day messanger arrived. Peter asked.

"What is with my fleet? Sir we lost more than half of the ships. But we won against Swedish fleet!"

Later Russia won war with them also on ground.

Peter had also dark side. He was brutal towards opposition and enemies. But the abilities I admire and want to grow further are: passion for something in life, he didn´t care about his status, always learning from everybody, enjoying conversations, seeing potential in people and long term vision. I believe some of you can have Peter the Great´s blood. And I believe you all will develop these skills like Peter had. Skills and characteristics of great leader. Thank you.