Franz Lefort (1656–1699), born in Geneva, left a deep mark on the history of Russia. One of Peter the Great’s closest associates—general and admiral of Russian service, the first ambassador of the Grand Embassy—he had an enormous influence on shaping the character of Tsar Peter I and, one could say, stood at the very origins of Russia’s Europeanization. Lefort’s name is still borne by one of the districts of Moscow.
The book by the acclaimed classic of historical and biographical writing, Nikolay Ivanovich Pavlenko, tells about the fate of this extraordinary man and his role in Peter’s reforms.