46% done with Peter the Great: His Life and World

It’s so easy to take for granted how easy it is to travel pretty much any distance on earth. Back in Peter’s time just going 20-30 miles could take over a week! And then there were wolves that traveled in packs and tore people to pieces. No wonder rivers were the preferred method in Russia at the time.

And when people rebelled, stacking the dead bodies on rafts and floating them down the rivers seems effective.