from wikipedia:
Muscovite control of the nascent nation continued after the Polish intervention under the subsequent Romanov dynasty, beginning with Tsar Michael Romanov in 1613. Peter the Great (ruled in) defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War, forcing it to cede Ingria, Estland, and Livland (the two latter now being Estonia and northern Latvia). It was in Ingria that he founded a new capital, Saint Petersburg. Peter was largely responsible through his reforms for bringing Western European culture to Russia. After his reforms, Russia emerged as a major European power. Catherine the Great, ruling from 1762 to 1796, continued the Petrine efforts at establishing Russia as one of the great powers of Europe. Examples of its eighteenth-century European involvement include the War of Polish Succession and the Seven Years' War. In the wake of the Partitions of Poland, Russia had acquired significant territories in the west. As a result of the victorious Russian-Turkish wars, Russia's borders expanded to the Black Sea and Russia set its goal on the protection of Balkan Christians against a Turkish yoke. In 1783, Russia and the Georgian Kingdom (which was almost totally devastated by Persian and Turkish invasions) signed the treaty of Georgievsk according to which Georgia received the protection of Russia.
Russian line infantry (Peter the Great's Army):
Peter The Great: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_I_of_Russia
Peter The Great:
Russian Infantry (Peter the Great's Army)
Pikemen:
Drummer:
Officer:
Fusiliers: