I question the basic assumption that he failed. Peter I did reform large parts of Russian society. The army, the navy, the educational system, the taxation, the church. He also made possible female succession, something which opened the path for other reformist rulers such as Catherine I (hiw wife), Anna and Cathrine the Great. Did he manage to turn Russia into a western European nation in a single generation? No, I don't think that would have been possible without causing a revolution. He did however lay the foundations for subsequent Russian rulers to continue the modernization of Russia.

He was in fact remarkably successful. To the extent that historians have revised traditional assumptions about Peter's Europeanization, it's in the direction of pushing its beginnings backwards (to the 1660s-1680s), rather than in denying that it took place.

If you want to learn more, check out James Cracraft's books, such as The Petrine Revolution in Russian Culture.