When the Muscovy princes first freed themselves from the Mongol rule, their goal was to create their own state with Moscow at the center. They set out on conquests in hopes of taking land from neighboring khanates, land once ruled by the Mongols. After the reign of Ivan the Terrible the ruler became a monarch, called a tsar, in charge of an all-powerful government. Later, Peter the Great “established the Senate to coordinate government and take the routine tasks away from the tsar, eleven colleges or ministries headed by a committee for central administration, a reorganized local administration, and the Table of Ranks (1722) to regulate promotions and status in the army and civil service,” (Bushkovitch 274). Even before Peter the Great, the
