Why do you think peter decreed that the nobles, merchant, and townspeople wear german rather than french clothes, seeing as the french kings and their palaces were objects of emulation throughout europe

He went for a trip to England and Netherlands. He sought out and absorbed everything he could about Enlightenment science and technology. he brought back new tools, technologies, and ideas to rapidly bring Russia up to speed with the rest of the Western world. More astutely though, Peter realized that Russia needed more than just technology, it needed a complete paradigm shift in its political and social structure if this modernization was going to be successful.