The reign of Peter the Great brought about great societal upheavals in 18th century Russia which brought the country out of a sort of dark period and attempted to enable Russia to catch up to the rest of Europe. Western education was held in a very high regard, the style of dress was altered from a more traditional Russian style to one that closely followed Western European fashion of the day. Men were forced to shave their beards or pay a "beard tax", to make the population appear more civilized. Education in everything from medicine to military strategy was also closely reformed to match that of England, France and the Low Countries. Peter and his court travelled regularly to Western Europe and emulated everything that they deemed might be of help in aiding Russia's advancement. By the mid to late 19th century, it was not uncommon for a wealthy family to have Western European tutors educating their children and the opportunity to send them to a fine western school with a curriculum closely mirroring one that might be found in London or Paris. Unfortunately, this type of education could only be afforded to the upper crust of society, as the vast majority of Russia at the time period that "Anna Karenina" takes place in were farmers with little to no money.