Imagine that it’s 1698, and you’re an aristocrat walking down the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia. While stroking your long, elegant facial hair, you are suddenly stopped by the police. Instead of being enamored by your impressive beard, the officers pull out razors and begin cutting it off.
You’d be in shock—any self-respecting Russian man, at the time, had a hairy chin. But around Sept. 5 that year, the law changed: Tsar Peter the Great mandated that all men keep themselves clean-shaven.
In the 1600s, Russia was rural, generally unconnected to European culture and politics, and behind on adopting the new technologies and institutions that were so key to the flourishing of European empires. So, Peter took a two-year undercover sojourn around the continent, bringing home a cornucopia of new ideas for his country to adopt.
When he returned, Peter decided the men of his country needed a trim, as was the fashion in Europe at the time. The tsar was on a campaign to modernize his country, and that meant shaving away old traditions.
Facing some resistance, Peter eventually adjusted his approach, instead taxing men annually to keep their beards. The tax ended in 1772, nearly a century later, despite pretty much everyone hating it. Read more here and here.
