St. Petersburg

HEY GROUP.
So I was thinking about how Peter the Great had just uprooted the traditional Russian social structure and lifestyle and I realized that I haven't even written/thought much about St. Petersburg. I mean, while Peter the Great demonstrated his authoritarian power through his social reforms, attempts to modernize Russia and his military pursuits, I think that his establishment of St. Petersburg truly encompasses all of Peter's goals and influences on 17th-18th century Russian society. So St. Petersburg was established on territory that Peter had gained from the Swedes in the Great Northern War. In relocating the Russian capital to St. Petersburg, a territory that Russia had JUST acquired, Peter is again disrupting Russian tradition and showing that the most important thing for him is to insure that his power and the influence and spread of his power is understood by the Russian civilians as well as other European countries (since in moving the capital to St. Petersburg, Peter is encroaching on Western Europe). Peter cares more about his reputation as "Great" then he does about the Russian identity, in fact, I would say that Peter does not care at all about the Russian identity, for he seems to only truly be interested in his ability to influence and change that identity.
I think that what differentiates Peter the Great from Hitler is in their causes. Hitler, although his "cause" was terrible and unimaginably destructive, was extending his influence and his BELIEFS to the German public. To contrast, Peter the Great didn't seem to really have any "cause" except to secure his reputation. While Peter did make very aggressive and influential changes in Russian society, it is clear that his actions were not based upon his considerations of the Russian public. Peter used the Russian public as well as the Russian identity as tools that he could reshape in order to ultimately demonstrate his power and influence, which makes me wonder whether he was more interested in making Russia a great military and European power to strengthen Russia or if he was interested in transforming Russia to a European power to demonstrate his strength.