Russia Adopts the Julian Calendar

January 1, 1700

Peter the Great decreed that Russia would count years from the birth of Christ rather than the creation of the world, and begin them in January rather than September. Boyars grumbled; the tsar enforced it with the knout. Muscovy was being dragged, protesting, into Europe's timestream. The old Russian year 7208 became, overnight, a more manageable 1700.