Today I bring you How Madness Shaped History, the Father's Day edition. History is full of bad dads (bad moms too, but Mother's Day is already past. Next year.) Coming up with a vote for History's Worst Dad would be a difficult one, but for this year's contender, I've picked Russia's Peter the Great.
Peter came to power through a period of turmoil and violence (Hey, who didn't? You think they hand tenure out to just anybody?) Declared Tsar as a youth, his reign was initially dominated by his authoritarian half-sister. This resulted in the bloody murder of some of Peter's supporters, at least some of which he witnessed. As he reached maturity, he rebelled against his half-sister and was successful in throwing off her yoke. For a time, he co-ruled with his infirm half-brother Ivan. Peter's mother dominated both of them. By 1696, when Peter was in his early 20s, both his mother and brother were dead, and Peter became an autocrat.
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