Ekaterina Alekseevna Romanova (Catherine II the Great)
Sophia Augusta Frederick, Princess, Duchess of Anhalt-Zerbsk.
Years of life: 04/21/1729 - 6/11/1796
The Russian Empress (1762 - 1796)
Daughter of Prince Christian-Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst and Princess Johannes-Elizabeth.
Catherine II - biography
Born April 21 (May 2) 1729 in Shettin. Her father, Prince Christian-Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbsky, served the Prussian king, but his family was considered impoverished. Sophia Augusta's mother was the sister of the King of Sweden Adolf-Friedrich. Other relatives of the mother of the future Empress Catherine ruled Prussia and England. Sophia Augusta, (family nickname - Fike) was the eldest daughter in the family. She was educated at home.
In 1739, the 10-year-old Princess Fike was introduced to her future husband, the heir to the Russian throne, Karl Peter Ulrich, the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who was the nephew of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich Romanov. The heir to the Russian throne made a negative impression on the highest Prussian society, proved to be uneducated and narcissistic.
In 1744, Fike arrived in Petersburg secretly, under the name of Countess Rainback at the invitation of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The bride of the future emperor adopted the Orthodox faith and received the name - Ekaterina Alekseevna.
Marriage of Catherine the Great
On August 21, 1745, the wedding of Ekaterina Alekseevna and Peter Fedorovich took place. A brilliant political marriage was unsuccessful in terms of relationships. He was more formal. Spouse Peter was fond of playing the violin, military maneuvers and mistresses. During this time, the couple not only did not get close, but also became completely alien to each other. 
Ekaterina Alekseevna read works on history, jurisprudence, compositions of various enlighteners, well learned the Russian language, traditions and customs of the new homeland. Surrounded by enemies, not loved by her husband or his relatives, Ekaterina Alekseevna in 1754 gave birth to a son (future Emperor Paul I), constantly fearing that she might be expelled from Russia. “I had good teachers — misfortune with solitude,” she writes later. Sincere interest and love for Russia did not go unnoticed and everyone began to respect the wife of the heir to the throne. Moreover, Catherine amazed everyone with her hard work, she could personally make coffee for herself, melt the fireplace and even wash.
Novels of Catherine the Great
Being unhappy in family life, in the early 1750s, Ekaterina Alekseevna began an affair with the guard officer Sergei Saltykov.
The behavior of Peter III still in the status of the Grand Duke really does not like his royal aunt, he actively expresses his Prussian sentiments against Russia. The courtiers notice that Elizabeth favors his son Pavel Petrovich and Catherine more.
The second half of the 1750s was marked for Catherine by a romance with the Polish envoy Stanislav Ponyatovsky (in the future he became King Stanislav Augustus).
In 1758, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Anna, who died without living for two years.
In the early 1760s, a dizzying famous affair arose with Prince Orlov, which lasted more than 10 years.
In 1761, the husband of Catherine Peter III ascends to the Russian throne, and relations between spouses become hostile. Peter threatens to marry his mistress, and Catherine to be exiled to the monastery. And Ekaterina Alekseevna decided on a coup with the help of the guard, the Orlov brothers, K. Razumovsky and her other supporters on June 28, 1762. She is proclaimed empress and is sworn to her. Spouse's attempts to find a compromise fail. As a result, he signs the act of abdication.
Reforms of Catherine the Great
On September 22, 1762, the coronation of Catherine II took place. And in the same year, the empress gave birth to a son Alexei, whose father Grigory Orlov. For obvious reasons, the boy was given the surname Bobrinsky.
The time of her reign was marked by many significant events: in 1762, she supported the idea of \u200b\u200bI.I.Betsky to create the first Educational Home in Russia. She reorganized the Senate (1763), secularized land (1763-64), abolished hetmanism in Ukraine (1764), and founded the first women's educational institution at the Smolny Monastery in the capital. Headed the Stated Commission 1767-1769. When it happened, the Peasant War of 1773-1775. (rebellion of E.I. Pugachev). It issued the Institution for Governance of the Province of 1775, the Charter of the Nobility in 1785 and the Charter of the cities of 1785
Famous historians (M.M.Shcherbatov, I.N.Boltin), writers and poets (G.R. Derzhavin, N.M. Karamzin, D.I. Fonvizin), painters (D.G. Levitsky, F.S. Rokotov), \u200b\u200bsculptors (F.I. Shubin, E. Falconet). She founded the Academy of Arts, became the founder of the meeting of the State Hermitage Museum, initiated the creation of the Academy of Russian Literature, the president of which made her friend E.R.Dashkova.
Under Catherine II Alekseevna as a result of the Russian-Turkish wars of 1768-1774, 1787-1791 Russia finally gained a foothold in the Black Sea, the Northern Black Sea Region, Kuban, and Crimea were also annexed. In 1783, she took Eastern Georgia under Russian citizenship. The sections of the Commonwealth (1772, 1793, 1795) were implemented.
She corresponded with Voltaire and other figures of the French Enlightenment. She is the author of many fiction, journalistic, dramatic, popular science writings, "Notes."
External catherine's policy 2 It was aimed at strengthening the prestige of Russia on the world stage. She achieved her goal, and even Frederick the Great spoke of Russia as “terrible power”, from which, in half a century, “the whole of Europe would tremble.”
The last years of her life - the empress lived in the cares of her grandson Alexander, was personally engaged in his upbringing and education and seriously thought about transferring the throne to him bypassing her son.
The reign of Catherine II
The era of Catherine II is considered the heyday of favoritism. Having parted in the early 1770s. with G.G. Orlov, in subsequent years, Empress Catherine was replaced by a number of favorites (about 15 favorites, among them the talented princes P.A. Rumyantsev, G.A. Potemkin, A.A. Bezborodko). She did not allow them to participate in resolving political issues. Catherine lived with her favorites for several years, but broke up for a variety of reasons (due to the death of the favorite, his betrayal or unworthy behavior), but no one was subjected to disgrace. All were generously awarded ranks, titles, money.
There is an assumption that Catherine II secretly married Potemkin, with whom she maintained friendly relations until his death.
“Tartuffe in a skirt and a crown”, nicknamed A. Pushkin, Catherine was able to win over people. She was smart, had political talent, was well versed in people. Outwardly, the ruler was attractive and majestic. She wrote about herself: “Many say that I work a lot, but it seems to me that I have done little when I look at what remains to be done.” Such a huge dedication in the work was not in vain.
The life of the 67-year-old empress was interrupted by a stroke on November 6 (17), 1796 in Tsarskoye Selo. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
In 1778, she composed for herself such an epitaph:
Having ascended the Russian throne, she wished well
And she very much wanted to give her subjects Happiness, Freedom and Well-being.
She easily forgave and did not imprison anyone.
She was condescending, did not complicate her life, and had a cheerful disposition.
She had a republican soul and a kind heart. She had friends.
The work was easy for her, friendship and art brought her joy. 
Spouses Catherine:
- Peter III
- Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin (according to some sources)
- Pavel I Petrovich
- Anna Petrovna
- Alexey G. Bobrinsky
- Elizaveta G. Temkina
At the end of the 19th century, the collected works of Catherine the Great in 12 volumes were published, which included children's moralizing tales written by the Empress, pedagogical teachings, dramatic plays, articles, autobiographical notes, translations.
In the cinema, her image is reflected in the films: “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, 1961; "Royal Hunt", 1990; “Viva, midshipmen!”, 1991; "Young Catherine" ("Young Catherine"), 1991; Russian Riot, 2000; The Golden Age, 2003; “Catherine the Great”, 2005. Famous actresses played the role of Catherine (Marlene Dietrich, Julia Ormond, Wii Artmane and others).
Many artists captured the image of Catherine II. And the works of art clearly reflect the character of the empress herself and the era of her reign (A. S. Pushkin “The Captain's Daughter”; B. Show “The Great Catherine”; V. N. Ivanov “Empress Fike”; V. S. Pikul “Favorite”, “With a pen and a sword”; Boris Akunin “Extracurricular reading”).
In 1873 monument Catherine IIVelikaya was opened on Alexandrinsky Square in St. Petersburg. On September 8, 2006, the monument to Catherine II was unveiled in Krasnodar; on October 27, 2007, the monuments to Catherine II Alekseevna were unveiled in Odessa and Tiraspol. In Sevastopol - May 15, 2008
The reign of Catherine Alekseevna is often considered the "golden age" of the Russian Empire. Thanks to her reform work, she is the only Russian ruler who has been honored in the historical memory of her compatriots, like Peter the Great, with the epithet “The Great”.
Russian Empress Catherine II the Great was born on May 2 (old style on April 21) in 1729 in the city of Stettin in Prussia (now the city of Szczecin in Poland), she died on November 17 (old style on November 6), 1796 in St. Petersburg (Russia). The reign of Catherine II lasted more than three and a half decades, from 1762 to 1796. It was filled with many events in internal and external affairs, the implementation of plans that continued what was done at. The period of her reign is often called the "golden age" of the Russian Empire.
According to Catherine II’s own admission, she didn’t have a creative mind, but she was good at catching any practical thought and using it for her own purposes. She skillfully selected assistants for herself, not being afraid of bright and talented people. That is why Catherine’s time was marked by the appearance of a whole galaxy of prominent statesmen, commanders, writers, artists, musicians. Among them are the great Russian commander, field marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev-Zadunaysky, satirist writer Denis Fonvizin, prominent Russian poet, Pushkin’s predecessor Gavriil Derzhavin, Russian historian-historian, writer, creator of the History of the Russian State Nikolai Karamzin, writer, philosopher, poet Alexander Radishchev , the outstanding Russian violinist and composer, the founder of Russian violin culture, Ivan Handoshkin, conductor, teacher, violinist, singer, one of the creators of the Russian national opera Vasily Pashkevich, composer of secular and church music, conductor, teacher Dmitry Bortyansky.
In her memoirs, Catherine II described the state of Russia at the beginning of her reign:
Finances were exhausted. The army did not receive a salary for 3 months. Trade was in decline, for many of its industries were given over to monopoly. There was no proper system in the state economy. The military department was in debt; sea \u200b\u200bbarely held, being in extreme neglect. The clergy were dissatisfied with the taking of land from him. Justice was sold at auction, and the laws were governed only when they favored a strong person.
The Empress formulated the tasks facing the Russian monarch:
- It is necessary to educate the nation, which should govern.
- It is necessary to introduce good order in the state, to support society and force it to comply with laws.
- It is necessary to establish a good and accurate police in the state.
- It is necessary to promote the heyday of the state and make it abundant.
- It is necessary to make the state formidable in itself and inspiring respect for neighbors.
Based on the tasks, Catherine II carried out active reform activities. Its reforms affected almost all spheres of life.
Convinced of an unfit management system, Catherine II in 1763 carried out Senate reform. The Senate was divided into 6 departments, having lost the importance of the body in charge of managing the state apparatus, and became the highest administrative and judicial institution.
Faced with financial difficulties, Catherine II in 1763-1764 carried out the secularization (conversion into secular property) of church lands. 500 monasteries were abolished, 1 million peasants passed the treasury. Due to this, the state treasury was significantly replenished. This allowed us to weaken the financial crisis in the country, to pay off the army, which had not received a salary for a long time. The influence of the Church on society has declined significantly.
From the very beginning of the reign, Catherine II began to strive to achieve the internal structure of the state. She believed that injustice in the state can be eradicated with the help of good laws. And she decided to adopt new legislation instead of the Collective Code of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1649, which would take into account the interests of all classes. To this end, in 1767 the Stated Commission was convened. 572 deputies represented the nobility, merchants, Cossacks. In the new legislation, Catherine tried to implement the ideas of Western European thinkers about a just society. Having processed their works, she drew up for the Commission the famous "Punishment of Empress Catherine." "The order" consisted of 20 chapters, divided into 526 articles. It is about the need for strong autocratic power in Russia and the class structure of Russian society, about legality, about the relationship between law and morality, about the harm of torture and corporal punishment. The commission worked for more than two years, but its work was unsuccessful, since the nobility and the deputies themselves from other classes stood guard over only their rights and privileges.
In 1775, Catherine II was a clearer territorial division of the empire. The territory began to be divided into administrative units with a certain amount of the taxable (which paid taxes) population. The country was divided into 50 provinces with a population of 300-400 thousand each, the province into counties of 20-30 thousand inhabitants. The city was an independent administrative unit. Elective courts and “chambers of justice” were introduced to examine criminal and civil cases. Finally, “shameful” courts for minors and patients.
In 1785, the Letter of Merit to Cities was published. She determined the rights and obligations of the urban population, the management system in cities. Every 3 years, residents of the city elected a self-government body - the General City Council, the mayor and judges.
From the time of Peter the Great, when the whole nobility was obliged to serve the state for life, and the peasantry to the nobility as well, gradual changes took place. Catherine the Great, among other reforms, also wanted to introduce harmony in the life of the estates. In 1785, the "Charter of the Nobility" was published, which was a code, a collection of noble privileges, drawn up by law. From now on, the nobility was sharply separated from other classes. Confirmed the freedom of the nobility from paying taxes, from compulsory service. Nobles could be judged only by a noble court. Only nobles had the right to own land and serfs. Catherine forbade corporal punishment of noblemen. She believed that this would help the Russian nobility to get rid of the servile psychology and acquire personal dignity.
These letters streamlined the social structure of Russian society, divided into five classes: the nobility, clergy, merchants, philistines (the "middle race of people") and serfs.
As a result of the education reform in Russia, a secondary education system was created in the reign of Catherine II. In Russia, closed schools, educational homes, institutes for girls, noblemen, and townspeople were created in which experienced teachers were involved in the education and upbringing of young men and women. In the provinces, a network of folk nonsensical two-year schools in counties and four-year schools in provincial cities was created. In schools, a class lesson system was introduced (uniform deadlines for the beginning and end of classes), methods for teaching the disciplines and educational literature were developed, and uniform curricula were created. By the end of the 18th century, there were 550 educational institutions in Russia with a total number of 60-70 thousand people.
When Catherine began the systematic development of female education, in 1764 the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens and the Educational Society of Noble Maidens were opened. The Academy of Sciences has become one of the leading scientific bases in Europe. An observatory, a physics office, an anatomical theater, a botanical garden, instrumental workshops, a printing house, a library, and an archive were founded. In 1783, the Russian Academy was founded.
Under Catherine II, the population of Russia increased significantly, hundreds of new cities were built, the treasury increased four times, industry and agriculture developed rapidly - Russia began to export bread for the first time.
Under her, paper money was introduced for the first time in Russia. On her initiative, the first vaccination against smallpox was carried out in Russia (she set an example, became the first to whom the vaccine was given).
Under Catherine II, as a result of the Russian-Turkish wars (1768-1774, 1787-1791), Russia finally gained a foothold in the Black Sea, and the lands that were called Novorossia: the Northern Black Sea Region, Crimea, the Kuban region were annexed. Took eastern Georgia under Russian citizenship (1783). During the reign of Catherine II, as a consequence of the so-called partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795), Russia returned the Western Russian lands torn away by the Poles.
Material prepared on the basis of information from open sources
Ekaterina Alekseevna Romanova (Catherine II the Great)
Sophia Augusta Frederick, Princess, Duchess of Anhalt-Zerbsk.
Years of life: 04/21/1729 - 6/11/1796
The Russian Empress (1762 - 1796)
Daughter of Prince Christian-Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst and Princess Johannes-Elizabeth.
Born April 21 (May 2) 1729 in Shettin. Her father, Prince Christian-Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbsky, served the Prussian king, but his family was considered impoverished. Sophia Augusta's mother was the sister of the King of Sweden Adolf-Friedrich. Other relatives of the mother of the future Empress Catherine ruled Prussia and England. Sophia Augusta, (family nickname - Fike) was the eldest daughter in the family. She was educated at home.
In 1739, the 10-year-old Princess Fike was introduced to her future husband, the heir to the Russian throne, Karl Peter Ulrich, the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who was the nephew of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich Romanov. The heir to the Russian throne made a negative impression on the highest Prussian society, proved to be uneducated and narcissistic.
In 1778, she composed for herself such an epitaph:
Having ascended the Russian throne, she wished well
And she very much wanted to give her subjects Happiness, Freedom and Well-being.
She easily forgave and did not imprison anyone.
She was condescending, did not complicate her life, and had a cheerful disposition.
She had a republican soul and a kind heart. She had friends.
The work was easy for her, friendship and art brought her joy.
Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin (according to some sources)
Anna Petrovna
Alexey G. Bobrinsky
Elizaveta G. Temkina
At the end of the 19th century a collection of works was published. Catherine II in 12 volumes, which included children's moralizing tales written by the Empress, pedagogical teachings, dramatic plays, articles, autobiographical notes, translations.
The reign of Catherine Alekseevna is often considered the "golden age" of the Russian Empire. Thanks to her reform work, she is the only Russian ruler who has been honored in the historical memory of her compatriots, like Peter the Great, with the epithet “The Great”.
On April 21, 1729, Princess Sophia Frederic Augustus of Anhalt-Tserptskaya was born, the future Empress Catherine the Great. The family of the princess was very financially constrained. And therefore, Sophia Frederic’s education received only homework. However, it was it that in many respects influenced the formation of the personality of Catherine 2, the future Russian Empress.
In 1744, an event took place that was significant both for the young princess and for all of Russia. On her candidacy as the bride of Peter 3, Elizaveta Petrovna stopped. Soon the princess arrived at the courtyard. She enthusiastically engaged in self-education, the study of culture, language, and history of Russia. Under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna, she was baptized into Orthodoxy on June 24, 1744. The wedding with Peter 3 took place on August 21, 1745. But, the marriage did not bring Ekaterina family happiness. Peter did not pay much attention to his young wife. For quite some time, the only entertainments for Catherine were hunting and balls. September 20, 1754 was born the first-born Paul. But, her son was taken away immediately. After this, relations with the Empress and Peter 3 deteriorated significantly. Peter 3, unashamedly, made lovers. Yes, and Catherine herself cheated on her wife with Stanislav Ponyatovsky, king of Poland.
Perhaps for this reason Peter experienced very serious suspicions about the fatherhood of his daughter, who was born on December 9, 1758. It was a difficult period - Empress Elizabeth became seriously ill, and Catherine's correspondence with the Austrian ambassador opened. Decisive was the support of the favorites and associates of the future empress.
Soon after the death of Empress Elizabeth, Peter 3 ascended the throne. This happened in 1761. Marital chambers were occupied by the mistress. And Catherine, having become pregnant from Orlov, gave birth in strict secrecy to the son of Alexei.
The policies of Peter 3, both external and internal, provoked indignation of almost all layers of Russian society. And it could not have caused any other reaction, for example, the return of Prussia to the territories captured during the Seven Years War. Catherine, on the contrary, enjoyed considerable popularity. It is not surprising that in such a situation a conspiracy soon developed, which was headed by Catherine.
The guard units on June 28, 1762 brought Catherine the oath in St. Petersburg. Peter 3 was forced to abdicate the very next day and was arrested. And soon he was killed, it is believed, with the tacit consent of his wife. Thus began the era of Catherine 2, referred to only as the Golden Age.
In many ways, the domestic policy of Catherine 2 depended on a commitment to her ideas of the Enlightenment. It was the so-called enlightened absolutism of Catherine 2 that contributed to the unification of the management system, the strengthening of the bureaucratic apparatus and, ultimately, the strengthening of the autocracy. Reforms of Catherine 2 became possible thanks to the activities of the Organized Commission, which included deputies from all classes. However, the country was not able to avoid serious problems. So, 1773-1775 became complex. - the time of the Pugachev uprising.
Foreign policy of Catherine 2 was very active and successful. It was especially important to secure the southern borders of the country. Turkish campaigns were of great importance. In their course, the interests of the greatest powers clashed - England, France and Russia. During the reign of Catherine 2, great importance was attached to the annexation of the territories of Ukraine and Belarus to the Russian Empire. This Catherine 2 the Queen was able to achieve with the help of the partitions of Poland (together with England and Prussia). It is necessary to mention the decree of Catherine 2 on the elimination of the Zaporizhzhya Sich.
The reign of Catherine 2 was not only successful, but also long. She ruled from 1762 to 1796. According to some sources, the Empress thought about the possibility of abolishing serfdom in the country. It was at that time that the foundations of civil society were laid in Russia. Pedagogical schools were opened in St. Petersburg and Moscow, the Smolny Institute, the Public Library, and the Hermitage were created. On November 5, 1796, the empress had a brain hemorrhage. The death of Catherine 2 occurred on November 6. Thus ended the biography of Catherine 2 and the brilliant Golden Age. The throne was inherited by Paul 1, her son.
Catherine II Alekseevna Velikaya (nee Sofia Augusta Frederick Anhalt-Zerbst, German Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, in Orthodoxy Catherine Alekseevna; April 21 (May 2) 1729, Stettin, Prussia - November 6 (17) November 1796, Winter Palace, St. Petersburg) - Empress of All Russia from 1762 to 1796.
The daughter of Prince Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine came to power during a palace coup that overthrew her unpopular husband Peter III from the throne.
The Catherine era was marked by the maximum enslavement of the peasants and the comprehensive expansion of the privileges of the nobility.
Under Catherine the Great, the borders of the Russian Empire were significantly extended to the west (sections of the Commonwealth) and to the south (annexation of New Russia).
The system of government under Catherine II was reformed for the first time since.
Culturally, Russia finally became one of the great European powers, which was greatly facilitated by the Empress herself, who was fond of literary activity, collecting masterpieces of painting and consisted in correspondence with French enlighteners.
In general, the policies of Catherine and her reforms fit into the channel of enlightened absolutism of the 18th century.
Catherine II the Great (documentary)
Sofia Frederick Augusta Anhalt-Zerbst was born on April 21 (May 2 in a new style) in 1729 in the then German city of Stettin - the capital of Pomerania (Pomerania). Nowadays, the city is called Szczecin, among other territories it was voluntarily transferred by the Soviet Union, following the results of World War II, Poland and is the capital of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland.
Father, Christian Augustus Anhalt-Zerbstsky, came from the Zerbst-Dorneburg line of the Anhalt House and served in the service of the Prussian king, was a regimental commander, commandant, then governor of the city of Stettin, where the future empress was born, ran for the dukes of Courland, but unsuccessfully , finished the service by the Prussian Field Marshal. Mother - Johannes Elizabeth, from the Gottorp ruler’s house, was the cousin of the future Peter III. The family tree of Johannes Elizabeth dates back to Christian I, king of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the first duke of Schleswig-Holstein and the founder of the Oldenburg dynasty.
Adolf-Friedrich's maternal uncle was elected heir to the Swedish throne in 1743, to which he entered in 1751 under the name of Adolf-Fredrik. Another uncle, Karl Eitinsky, according to the plan of Catherine I, was to become the husband of her daughter Elizabeth, but died on the eve of wedding celebrations.
In the family of the Duke of Tserbst, Catherine received a home education. She studied English, French and Italian, dance, music, the basics of history, geography, theology. She grew up a playful, inquisitive, playful girl, loved to flaunt her courage in front of the boys, whom she easily played on the Stettin streets. Parents were dissatisfied with the "boyish" behavior of their daughter, but they were happy that Frederick took care of her younger sister Augusta. Her mother called her in childhood Fike or Fikchen (German Figchen - comes from the name Frederica, that is, "little Frederic").
In 1743, the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, choosing a bride for her heir, Grand Duke Pyotr Fedorovich, the future Russian emperor), remembered that on her deathbed, her mother bequeathed to her to become the wife of the Holstein prince, Johannes Elizabeth's sibling. Perhaps it was this circumstance that tipped the scales in Frederica's favor; earlier, Elizabeth vigorously supported her uncle’s election to the Swedish throne and exchanged portraits with her mother. In 1744, the Tserbst princess along with her mother was invited to Russia to marry Peter Fedorovich, who was her second cousin. For the first time, she saw her future husband in Eita Castle in 1739.
Immediately after arriving in Russia, she began to study the Russian language, history, Orthodoxy, Russian traditions, as she strove to become more fully acquainted with Russia, which she perceived as a new homeland. Among her teachers, the famous preacher Simon Todorsky (teacher of Orthodoxy), the author of the first Russian grammar Vasily Adadurov (teacher of the Russian language) and choreographer Lange (dance teacher) are distinguished.
In an effort to learn Russian as quickly as possible, the future empress studied at night, sitting by the open window in the frosty air. Soon she fell ill with pneumonia, and her condition was so grave that her mother suggested bringing a Lutheran pastor. Sophia, however, refused and sent for Simon Todorsky. This circumstance added to her popularity at the Russian court. June 28 (July 9) 1744 Sophia Frederick Augustus converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy and received the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna (the same name and patronymic as the mother of Elizabeth - Catherine I), and the next day she was engaged to the future emperor.
The appearance of Sophia with her mother in St. Petersburg was accompanied by political intrigue, in which her mother, Princess Zerbst, was involved. She was a fan of King Prussia Frederick II, and the latter decided to use her stay at the Russian imperial court to establish her influence on the foreign policy of Russia. To do this, it was planned, through intrigue and influence on the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, to remove from the affairs of Chancellor Bestuzhev, who pursued an anti-Prussian policy, and replace him with another nobleman who sympathized with Prussia. However, Bestuzhev managed to intercept the letters of the princess of Tserbst to Frederick II and present them to Elizabeth Petrovna. After the latter found out about the “ugly role of the Prussian spy,” which Sofia’s mother played at her court, she immediately changed her attitude and disgraced her. However, this did not affect the position of Sofia herself, who did not take part in this intrigue.
On August 21, 1745, at the age of sixteen, Catherine was married to Peter Fedorovichwho was 17 years old and who was her second cousin. The first years of life together Peter was completely not interested in his wife, and there was no conjugal relationship between them.
Finally, after two unsuccessful pregnancies, September 20, 1754 Catherine gave birth to a son Paul. The birth was difficult, the baby was immediately taken away from the mother by the will of the reigning Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, and deprived Catherine of the opportunity to raise, allowing only occasionally to see Paul. So the Grand Duchess first saw her son only 40 days after giving birth. A number of sources claim that the true father of Paul was Catherine's lover S.V. Saltykov (there is no direct statement about this in the Notes of Catherine II, but they are often interpreted this way). Others - that such rumors are groundless, and that Peter underwent an operation that eliminated the defect that made conception impossible. The question of fatherhood aroused interest in society.
After the birth of Paul, relations with Peter and Elizabeth Petrovna finally deteriorated. Peter called his wife “spare Madame” and openly made lovers, however, without hindering Catherine, who, due to the efforts of the English ambassador Sir Charles Henbury Williams, had a relationship with Stanislav Ponyatovsky, the future king of Poland. On December 9, 1757, Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Anna, which caused great discontent of Peter, who said when he heard about the new pregnancy: “God knows why my wife became pregnant again! I’m not at all sure whether this child is from me and whether I should take it personally. ”
The British ambassador Williams during this period was a close friend and confidant of Catherine. He repeatedly provided her with significant amounts in the form of loans or subsidies: only in 1750 was she transferred 50,000 rubles, of which there are two of her receipts; and in November 1756, 44,000 rubles were transferred to her. In exchange, he received various confidential information from her - verbally and through letters, which she fairly regularly wrote to him as if on behalf of a man (for the purpose of conspiracy). In particular, at the end of 1756, after the start of the Seven Years War with Prussia (of which England was an ally), Williams, as follows from his own dispatches, received important information from Catherine about the state of the warring Russian army and about the plan of the Russian offensive, which was him transferred to London, as well as to Berlin, to the Prussian king Frederick II. After Williams left, she received money from his successor Keith. Historians explain Catherine’s frequent appeal for money to the British by her wastefulness, because of which her expenses far exceeded the amounts that were allocated for her maintenance from the treasury. In one of her letters to Williams, she promised, in gratitude, “To bring Russia into a friendly alliance with England, to render it everywhere the assistance and preference necessary for the good of all Europe and especially Russia, before their common enemy, France, whose greatness is a shame for Russia. I’ll learn to practice these feelings, justify my glory on them and prove to the king, your sovereign, the strength of these my feelings ”.
Starting from 1756, and especially during the period of Elizabeth Petrovna’s illness, Catherine had hatched a plan to remove the future emperor (her husband) from the throne by conspiracy, which she repeatedly wrote to Williams. To this end, Catherine, according to historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, “asked for a loan of £ 10,000 from gifts and bribes from the English king, pledging to act honestly in the common English-Russian interests, and began to think about attracting the guard to the case in case of death Elizabeth entered into a secret agreement on this with the hetman K. Razumovsky, the commander of one of the guards regiments. " Chancellor Bestuzhev, who promised Catherine assistance, was dedicated to this plan of the palace coup.
At the beginning of 1758, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna suspected Apraksin, the commander of the Russian army, with whom Catherine was on friendly terms, as well as Chancellor Bestuzhev, of treason. Both were arrested, subjected to inquiry and punishment; however, Bestuzhev managed to destroy all his correspondence with Ekaterina before arrest, which saved her from persecution and disgrace. At the same time, Williams was recalled to England. Thus, her previous favorites were deleted, but a circle of new ones began to form: Grigory Orlov and Dashkova.
The death of Elizabeth Petrovna (December 25, 1761) and the accession to the throne of Peter Fedorovich under the name of Peter III alienated the spouses even more. Peter III began to openly live with his mistress Elizabeth Vorontsova, having settled his wife at the other end of the Winter Palace. When Catherine became pregnant from Orlov, this could no longer be explained by accidental conception from her husband, since the communication of the spouses had completely stopped by then. Catherine hid her pregnancy, and when it was time to give birth, her faithful valet Vasily Shkurin set his house on fire. The lover of such spectacles, Peter and the court, left the palace to look at the fire; at this time, Catherine safely gave birth. So Alexey Bobrinsky was born, to whom his brother Paul I subsequently appropriated the count's title.
Having entered the throne, Peter III carried out a series of actions that caused a negative attitude towards the officer corps. So, he concluded a contract unfavorable for Russia with Prussia, while Russia won a number of victories over it during the Seven Years War, and returned to it the lands occupied by the Russians. At the same time, he set out in alliance with Prussia to speak out against Denmark (Russia's ally), with the goal of returning Schleswig, which she had taken from Holstein, and intended to set out on a campaign at the head of the guard. Peter announced the sequestration of the property of the Russian Church, the abolition of monastic land ownership and shared with the surrounding plans for the reform of church rites. Supporters of the coup also accused Peter III of ignorance, dementia, dislike of Russia, complete inability to rule. Against his background, Catherine looked favorably - an intelligent, well-read, pious and benevolent wife who was persecuted by her husband.
After relations with her husband finally deteriorated and dissatisfaction with the emperor on the part of the guard intensified, Catherine decided to participate in the coup. Her comrades-in-arms, the main of whom were the Orlov brothers, Vakhmister Potemkin and adjutant Fedor Khitrovo, engaged in agitation in the guards and bowed them to their side. The immediate reason for the start of the coup was rumors about the arrest of Catherine and the discovery and arrest of one of the participants in the conspiracy - Lieutenant Passek.
Apparently, here it was not without foreign participation. As A. Troyaya and K. Valishevsky write, planning to overthrow Peter III, Catherine turned to the French and English for money, hinting to them what she was planning to implement. The French mistrusted her request to borrow 60 thousand rubles, not believing the seriousness of her plan, but she received 100 thousand rubles from the British, which subsequently may have influenced her attitude towards England and France.
In the early morning of June 28 (July 9), 1762, while Peter III was in Oranienbaum, Catherine, accompanied by Alexei and Grigory Orlov, arrived from Peterhof to St. Petersburg, where the guards were sworn allegiance to her. Peter III, seeing the hopelessness of the resistance, abdicated the next day, was taken into custody and died in obscure circumstances. In her letter, Catherine once indicated that before his death, Peter suffered from hemorrhoidal colic. After death (although facts show that even before death - see below), Catherine ordered an autopsy to dispel the suspicion of poisoning. An autopsy showed (according to Catherine) that the stomach is absolutely clean, which excludes the presence of poison.
At the same time, as historian N. I. Pavlenko writes, “The violent death of the emperor is irrefutably confirmed by absolutely reliable sources” - letters from Orlov to Catherine and a number of other facts. There are also facts indicating that she knew about the impending murder of Peter III. So, already on July 4, 2 days before the death of the emperor in the palace in Ropsha, Catherine sent doctor Paulsen to him, and as Pavlenko writes, “It is indicative that Paulsen was sent to Ropsha not with drugs, but with surgical instruments for opening the body”.
After the abdication of her husband, Ekaterina Alekseevna ascended the throne as the reigning empress with the name of Catherine II, issuing a manifesto in which the grounds for the removal of Peter indicated an attempt to change the state religion and peace with Prussia. To substantiate her own rights to the throne (and not the heir to Paul), Catherine referred to "the desire of all Our loyal subjects is clear and not hypocritical." September 22 (October 3), 1762 she was crowned in Moscow. As V.O. Klyuchevsky described her accession, “Catherine made a double seizure: she took power from her husband and did not transfer it to her son, the natural heir to her father”.
The policy of Catherine II was characterized mainly by the preservation and development of trends laid down by her predecessors. In the middle of the reign, an administrative (provincial) reform was carried out, which determined the territorial structure of the country until 1917, as well as judicial reform. The territory of the Russian state has increased significantly due to the accession of the fertile southern lands - Crimea, the Black Sea region, as well as the eastern part of the Commonwealth and others. The population increased from 23.2 million (in 1763) to 37.4 million (in 1796), in terms of population, Russia has become the largest European country (it accounted for 20% of the population of Europe). Catherine II formed 29 new provinces and built about 144 cities.
Klyuchevsky about the reign of Catherine the Great: "The army from 162 thousand people was strengthened to 312 thousand, the fleet, in 1757 consisting of 21 battleships and 6 frigates, in 1790 considered 67 battleships and 40 frigates and 300 rowing ships, the sum of state revenues from 16 million rubles rose to 69 million, that is, more than quadrupled, the success of foreign trade: the Baltic - in increasing import and export, from 9 million to 44 million rubles, the Black Sea, Catherine and created - from 390 thousand in 1776 to 1 million 900 thousand rubles in 1796, the growth of domestic turnover was indicated by the issuance of coins in 34 years of the reign by 148 million rubles, while in the 62 previous years it was issued only by 97 million. "
The population growth was largely the result of the accession to Russia of foreign states and territories (which were inhabited by almost 7 million people), which often took place contrary to the wishes of the local population, which led to the emergence of “Polish”, “Ukrainian”, “Jewish” and other national issues inherited by the Russian Empire from the era of Catherine II. Hundreds of villages under Catherine received the status of a city, but actually remained villages in appearance and occupation of the population, the same applies to a number of cities founded by her (some generally existed only on paper, as evidenced by contemporaries). In addition to issuing the coin, paper notes were issued for 156 million rubles, which led to inflation and a significant depreciation of the ruble; therefore, the real growth of budget revenues and other economic indicators during its reign was significantly less than the nominal.
The Russian economy continued to be agrarian. The share of urban population has not increased, amounting to about 4%. At the same time, a number of cities were founded (Tiraspol, Grigoriopol, etc.), pig iron smelting increased more than 2 times (by which Russia took the 1st place in the world), and the number of sailing and linen manufactories increased. In total, towards the end of the 18th century. there were 1,200 large enterprises in the country (in 1767 there were 663 of them). Significantly increased exports of Russian goods to other European countries, including through the created Black Sea ports. However, in the structure of this export there were no finished products at all, only raw materials and semi-finished products, and foreign industrial products predominated in imports. While in the West in the second half of the XVIII century. the Industrial Revolution took place, Russian industry remained "patriarchal" and serfdom, which caused it to lag behind the western one. Finally, in the 1770-1780s. An acute social and economic crisis erupted, which also led to a financial crisis.
Catherine's adherence to the ideas of the Enlightenment to a large extent predetermined the fact that the term "enlightened absolutism" is often used to characterize the domestic policy of Catherine’s time. She really brought to life some of the ideas of the Enlightenment.
So, according to Catherine, based on the works of the French philosopher, vast Russian spaces and the severity of the climate determine the regularity and necessity of autocracy in Russia. On this basis, under Catherine, the autocracy was strengthened, the bureaucratic apparatus was strengthened, the country was centralized, and the management system was unified. However, the ideas expressed by Didro and Voltaire, of which she was a follower in words, did not correspond to her domestic policy. They defended the idea that everyone is born free, and advocated the equality of all people and the elimination of medieval forms of exploitation and despotic forms of government. Contrary to these ideas, under Catherine there was a further deterioration of the position of serfs, their exploitation intensified, inequality grew due to the provision of even greater privileges to the nobility.
On the whole, historians characterize her policy as “pro-noble” and believe that contrary to the empress’s frequent statements about her “vigilant care for the welfare of all subjects,” the concept of the common good in the era of Catherine was the same fiction as in Russia in the eighteenth century.
Under Catherine, the empire was divided into provinces, many of which remained almost unchanged until the October Revolution. The territory of Estonia and Livonia as a result of the regional reform in 1782-1783. It was divided into two provinces - Riga and Revel - with institutions that already existed in other provinces of Russia. A special Baltic order was also abolished, which provided for more extensive rights of the local nobles to the labor and personality of the peasant than the Russian landowners. Siberia was divided into three provinces: Tobolsk, Kolyvan and Irkutsk.
Speaking about the reasons for the provincial reform under Catherine, N. I. Pavlenko writes that it was a response to the Peasant War of 1773-1775. led by Pugachev, which revealed the weakness of local authorities and their inability to cope with peasant riots. The reform was preceded by a series of notes submitted to the government from the nobility, in which it was recommended to multiply the network of institutions and "police overseers" in the country.
Conducting provincial reform in Left-Bank Ukraine in 1783-1785 led to a change in the regimental structure (former regiments and hundreds) into a common administrative division of the Russian Empire in the provinces and counties, the final establishment of serfdom and the equalization of the rights of the Cossack foreman with the Russian nobility. With the conclusion of the Kyuchuk-Kainardzhiysky treaty (1774), Russia gained access to the Black Sea and Crimea.
Thus, the need to maintain special rights and the management system of Zaporizhzhya Cossacks has disappeared. At the same time, their traditional way of life often led to conflicts with the authorities. After repeated pogroms of Serbian settlers, as well as in connection with the support by the Cossacks of the Pugachev uprising, Catherine II ordered to disband the Zaporizhzhya Sich, which was executed by order of Grigory Potemkin to pacify the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks by General Peter Tekeli in June 1775.
The battle was disbanded, most of the Cossacks were dissolved, and the fortress itself was destroyed. In 1787, Catherine II, along with Potemkin, visited the Crimea, where she was met by the Amazon company created for her arrival; in the same year, the Army of Faithful Zaporozhians was created, which later became the Black Sea Cossack army, and in 1792 he was granted the Kuban for eternal use, where the Cossacks moved and founded the city of Yekaterinodar.
Reforms in the Don created a military civil government modeled on the provincial administrations of central Russia. In 1771, the Kalmyk Khanate was finally annexed to Russia.
The reign of Catherine II was characterized by the extensive development of the economy and trade, while maintaining the "patriarchal" industry and agriculture. By decree of 1775, factories and industrial plants were recognized as property, the disposal of which does not require special permission of the authorities. In 1763, the free exchange of copper money for silver was forbidden so as not to provoke inflation. The development and revitalization of trade was facilitated by the emergence of new credit institutions (state-owned banks and loan offices) and the expansion of banking operations (deposit deposits were introduced in 1770). A state bank was established and the first issue of paper money - notes.
State regulation of salt prices introduced, which was one of the vital goods in the country. The Senate legislatively set the price of salt at 30 kopecks per pound (instead of 50 kopecks) and 10 kopecks per pound in the regions of mass salting of fish. Without introducing a state monopoly on salt trade, Catherine counted on increasing competition and improving, ultimately, the quality of the goods. Soon, however, the price of salt was again increased. At the beginning of the reign, some monopolies were abolished: the state monopoly on trade with China, the private monopoly of the merchant Shemyakin on the import of silk, and others.
The role of Russia in the global economy has increased - Russian sailing canvas began to be exported in large quantities to England, and iron and iron exports increased to other European countries (iron consumption on the domestic market also increased significantly). But the export of raw materials grew especially strongly: forests (5 times), hemp, bristles, etc., as well as bread. The country's export volume increased from 13.9 million rubles. in 1760 to 39.6 million rubles. in 1790
Russian merchant ships began to sail in the Mediterranean. However, their number was insignificant in comparison with foreign ones - only 7% of the total number of vessels serving Russian foreign trade in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries .; the number of foreign merchant ships that annually entered Russian ports during the period of its reign increased from 1340 to 2430.
As the economic historian N. A. Rozhkov pointed out, in the export structure during the Catherine era there were no finished products at all, only raw materials and semi-finished products, and 80-90% of the import was made up of foreign industrial products, the import volume of which was several times higher than domestic production. So, the volume of domestic manufacture in 1773 amounted to 2.9 million rubles, the same amount as in 1765, and the volume of imports during these years was about 10 million rubles.
Industry developed poorly, there were practically no technical improvements and serfdom prevailed. Thus, from year to year, cloth factories could not satisfy even the needs of the army, despite the ban on letting the cloth “to the side”, in addition, the cloth was of poor quality, and had to be bought abroad. Catherine herself did not understand the significance of the Industrial Revolution taking place in the West and claimed that machines (or, as she called them, “engines”) were harmful to the state because they reduced the number of workers. Only two export industries developed rapidly - iron and linen production, but both based on "patriarchal" methods, without the use of new technologies actively introduced at that time in the West - which predetermined the severe crisis in both industries, which began shortly after the death of Catherine II .
In the field of foreign trade, Catherine’s policy consisted of a gradual transition from protectionism, characteristic of Elizabeth Petrovna, to the complete liberalization of exports and imports, which, according to some economic historians, was the result of the influence of the ideas of the physiocrats. Already in the first years of the reign, a number of foreign trade monopolies and a ban on grain exports were canceled, which since then began to grow rapidly. In 1765, the Free Economic Society was founded, promoting the ideas of free trade and publishing its own magazine. In 1766, a new customs tariff was introduced, which significantly reduced tariff barriers compared with the protectionist tariff of 1757 (which established protective duties in the amount of 60 to 100% or more); they were further reduced in the customs tariff of 1782. Thus, in the "moderately protectionist" tariff of 1766, protective duties amounted to an average of 30%, and in the liberal tariff of 1782 - 10%, only for some goods rising to 20- thirty%.
Agriculture, like industry, developed mainly through extensive methods (increasing the amount of arable land); propaganda of intensive agricultural methods created by Catherine the Free Economic Society did not have much result.
From the first years of the reign of Catherine, hunger periodically began to arise in the village, which some contemporaries attributed to chronic crop failures, but historian M.N. in year. Cases of mass ruin of peasants have become more frequent. The famines became especially widespread in the 1780s, when they covered large regions of the country. Bread prices rose sharply: for example, in the center of Russia (Moscow, Smolensk, Kaluga) they increased from 86 kopecks. in 1760 to 2.19 rubles. in 1773 and up to 7 rubles. in 1788, that is, more than 8 times.
Paper money put into circulation in 1769 - bank notes - In the first decade of its existence, they accounted for only a few percent of the metal (silver and copper) money supply, and played a positive role, allowing the state to reduce its costs of moving money within the empire. However, due to the lack of money in the treasury, which has become a constant occurrence, from the beginning of the 1780s, there was an increasing issue of bank notes, the volume of which by 1796 reached 156 million rubles, and their value depreciated by 1.5 times. In addition, the state borrowed money abroad in the amount of 33 million rubles. and had various unpaid domestic obligations (bills, salaries, etc.) in the amount of 15.5 million rubles. T.O. the total debt of the government amounted to 205 million rubles, the treasury was empty, and budget expenditures significantly exceeded revenues, which Paul I ascertained upon ascending the throne. All this gave the historian ND Chechulin the basis in his economic research to conclude that there was a “severe economic crisis” in the country (in the second half of the reign of Catherine II) and a “complete collapse of the financial system of the reign of Catherine’s reign”.
In 1768, a network of city schools was created based on the classroom system. Schools began to open actively. Under Catherine, special attention was paid to the development of female education; in 1764, the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens and the Educational Society of Noble Maidens were opened. The Academy of Sciences has become one of the leading scientific bases in Europe. An observatory, a physics office, an anatomical theater, a botanical garden, instrumental workshops, a printing house, a library, and an archive were founded. October 11, 1783 the Russian Academy was founded.
Mandatory vaccination introduced, and Catherine decided to set a personal example for her subjects: on the night of October 12 (23), 1768, the empress herself was vaccinated against smallpox. Among the first vaccinated were also Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Fedorovna. Under Catherine II, the fight against epidemics in Russia began to take on the character of government events that were directly part of the duties of the imperial Council and the Senate. By decree of Catherine, outposts were created, located not only at the borders, but also on roads leading to the center of Russia. The “Charter of border and port quarantines” was created.
New areas of medicine were developing for Russia: hospitals for the treatment of syphilis, psychiatric hospitals and shelters were opened. A number of fundamental works on medicine have been published.
To prevent their resettlement in the central regions of Russia and attachment to their communities for the convenience of collecting state taxes, Catherine II in 1791 established the Pale of Settlement, beyond which the Jews did not have the right to reside. The Pale of Settlement was established in the same place where the Jews lived before - on lands joined as a result of three divisions of Poland, as well as in the steppe regions near the Black Sea and sparsely populated territories east of the Dnieper. The conversion of Jews to Orthodoxy lifted all restrictions on residence. It is noted that the Pale of Settlement contributed to the preservation of Jewish national identity, the formation of a special Jewish identity within the Russian Empire.
In 1762-1764, Catherine published two manifestos. The first - “On allowing all foreigners entering Russia to settle in which provinces they wish and the rights granted to them” called on foreign nationals to resettle in Russia, the second determined the list of privileges and privileges for migrants. Soon, the first German settlements arose in the Volga region, reserved for immigrants. The influx of German colonists was so great that already in 1766 they had to temporarily suspend the reception of new immigrants until the resettlement of those who had already arrived. The creation of colonies on the Volga went on increasing: in 1765 - 12 colonies, in 1766 - 21, in 1767 - 67. According to the census of colonists in 1769, 6.5 thousand families lived in 105 colonies on the Volga, which amounted to 23.2 thousand people. In the future, the German community will play a prominent role in the life of Russia.
During the reign of Catherine, the Northern Black Sea Region, the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, Crimea, New Russia, the land between the Dniester and the Bug, Belarus, Courland and Lithuania were included in the country. The total number of new subjects thus acquired by Russia has reached 7 million. As a result, as V.O. Klyuchevsky wrote, in the Russian Empire "the discord of interests" between different peoples intensified. This was expressed, in particular, in the fact that for almost every nationality the government was forced to introduce a special economic, tax and administrative regime. Thus, the German colonists were completely exempted from paying taxes to the state and from other duties; the Jews introduced the Pale of Settlement; from the Ukrainian and Belarusian population in the territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the poll tax was first not charged at all, and then was levied in half. The indigenous population turned out to be the most discriminated under these conditions, which led to the following incident: some Russian nobles in the late XVIII - early XIX centuries. as a reward for the service, they were asked to “write to the Germans” so that they could enjoy the corresponding privileges.
On April 21, 1785, two letters were issued: "Diploma on the rights, liberties and advantages of the noble nobility" and "Charter to cities". The empress called them the crown of her work, and historians consider the crown of the "pro-pro-politics" of the kings of the eighteenth century. As N.I. Pavlenko writes, "In the history of Russia, the nobility has never been so favored with such diverse privileges as under Catherine II."
Both letters finally assigned to the upper classes the rights, duties and privileges that had already been granted by Catherine's predecessors during the 18th century, and provided a number of new ones. Thus, the nobility as an estate was formed by decrees of Peter I and at the same time received a number of privileges, including exemption from the poll tax and the right to unlimitedly dispose of estates; and by decree of Peter III it was finally released from compulsory service to the state.
The deed of honor to the nobility contained the following guarantees:
Already existing rights confirmed
- the nobility was freed from the cantonment of military units and teams, from corporal punishment
- the nobility received ownership of the bowels of the earth
- the right to have their own estate institutions changed the name of the 1st estate: not “nobility”, but “noble nobility”
- It was forbidden to confiscate the estates of the nobility for criminal offenses; the estate should be transferred to the rightful heirs
- the nobles have the exclusive right to land ownership, but the “Charter” does not say a word about the monopoly right to have serfs
- Ukrainian foremen equalized with Russian nobles. a nobleman who did not have an officer rank lost his suffrage
- Only nobles whose income from estates exceeds 100 rubles could occupy elected posts.
Despite privileges, in the era of Catherine the Great, property inequality among the nobles increased significantly: against the background of certain large states, the economic situation of a part of the nobility worsened. As the historian D. Blum points out, a number of large nobles owned tens and hundreds of thousands of serfs, which were not in the previous reigns (when the owner of more than 500 souls was considered rich); at the same time, almost 2/3 of all landowners in 1777 had less than 30 male serf souls, and 1/3 of landowners had less than 10 souls; many nobles who wished to enter the public service did not have the means to purchase appropriate clothing and shoes. V.O. Klyuchevsky writes that many noble children in her reign, even becoming students of the maritime academy and "receiving small salaries (scholarships), 1 rub. a month, “from barefoot” they couldn’t even attend the academy and were forced, according to the report, not to think about sciences, but about their own food, on the side to acquire funds for their maintenance. ”
During the reign of Catherine II, a number of laws were adopted that worsened the situation of peasants:
The decree of 1763 laid the content of the army teams sent to suppress peasant uprisings on the peasants themselves.
By a decree of 1765 for open disobedience the landowner could send the peasant not only to exile, but also to hard labor, and the period of hard labor was set by him; the landowners also had the right at any time to return the exiled from hard labor.
The decree of 1767 forbade the peasants to complain about their master; the novices were threatened with a link to Nerchinsk (but they could appeal to the court).
In 1783, serfdom was introduced in Little Russia (Left-Bank Ukraine and the Russian Black Earth Region).
In 1796, serfdom was introduced in New Russia (Don, North Caucasus).
After the sections of the Commonwealth, the feudal regime was tightened in the territories belonging to the Russian Empire (Right-Bank Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland).
According to N. I. Pavlenko, under Catherine, "serfdom developed inland and in breadth," which was "an example of a glaring contradiction between the ideas of the Enlightenment and government measures to strengthen the serfdom."
During her reign, Catherine gave away to the landlords and nobles more than 800 thousand peasants, thereby setting a kind of record. In the majority, these were not state peasants, but peasants from lands acquired during the partition of Poland, as well as palace peasants. But, for example, the number of ascribed (sessional) peasants from 1762 to 1796. increased from 210 to 312 thousand people, and these were formally free (state) peasants, but turned into the status of serfs or slaves. Possessive peasants of the Ural factories took an active part in Peasant War of 1773-1775
At the same time, the situation of the monastery peasants was eased, which were transferred to the jurisdiction of the College of Economy along with the lands. All their duties were replaced by cash rent, which represented the peasants more independence and developed their economic initiative. As a result, the unrest of the monastery peasants ceased.
The fact that the empress was proclaimed a woman who did not have any formal rights to this, gave rise to many pretenders to the throne, overshadowing a significant part of the reign of Catherine II. So, only from 1764 to 1773 Seven False Peters III appeared in the country (who claimed that they were nothing but the “risen” Peter III) - A. Aslanbekov, I. Evdokimov, G. Kremnev, P. Chernyshov, G. Ryabov, F. Bogomolov, N. Krestov; the eighth was Emelyan Pugachev. And in 1774-1775. to this list was added the “case of Princess Tarakanova”, posing as the daughter of Elizabeth Petrovna.
During the years 1762-1764. 3 conspiracies aimed at overthrowing Catherine were revealed, and two of them were associated with the name of Ivan Antonovich - the former Russian emperor Ivan VI, who at the time of accession to the throne of Catherine II continued to remain alive in custody in the Shlisselburg fortress. The first of them was attended by 70 officers. The second took place in 1764, when Lieutenant V. Ya. Mirovich, who was on guard at the Shlisselburg fortress, bowed a part of the garrison to his side in order to free Ivan. The guards, however, in accordance with the instructions given to them, stabbed the prisoner, and Mirovich himself was arrested and executed.
In 1771, a major plague epidemic occurred in Moscow, complicated by popular unrest in Moscow, called the Plague Riot. The rebels defeated the Miracles Monastery in the Kremlin. The next day, the crowd attacked the Donskoy Monastery, killed the Archbishop Ambrose hiding in it, and began to smash the quarantine outposts and the houses of the nobility. The troops under the command of G. G. Orlov were sent to suppress the uprising. After three days of fighting, the riot was crushed.
In 1773-1775 there was a peasant uprising led by Emelyan Pugachev. It covered the lands of the Yaitsky army, the Orenburg province, the Urals, Prikamye, Bashkiria, part of Western Siberia, the Middle and Lower Volga. During the uprising, Cossacks were joined by Bashkirs, Tatars, Kazakhs, Ural factory workers and numerous serfs from all the provinces where hostilities were unfolding. After the suppression of the uprising, some liberal reforms were curtailed and conservatism intensified.
In 1772 took place The first section of the Commonwealth. Austria received all of Galicia with districts, Prussia - West Prussia (Pomerania), Russia - the eastern part of Belarus to Minsk (Vitebsk and Mogilev provinces) and part of the Latvian lands that were previously part of Livonia. The Polish Sejm was forced to agree with the partition and abandon claims for lost territories: Poland lost 380,000 km² with a population of 4 million people.
Polish nobles and industrialists contributed to the adoption of the Constitution of 1791; the conservative part of the population of the Targovitsa Confederation turned to Russia for help.
In 1793 took place The second section of the Commonwealthapproved at the Grodno Diet. Prussia received Gdansk, Torun, Poznan (part of the land along the Warta and Vistula rivers), Russia - Central Belarus with Minsk and New Russia (part of the territory of modern Ukraine).
In March 1794, an uprising began under the leadership of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, whose goals were to restore territorial integrity, sovereignty and the Constitution on May 3, but in the spring of that year it was crushed by the Russian army under the command of A.V. Suvorov. During the Kosciuszko uprising by the insurgent Poles who seized the Russian embassy in Warsaw, documents were found that had a great public resonance, according to which King Stanislav Poniatowski and a number of members of the Grodno Seim at the time of approval of the 2nd section of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth received money from the Russian government - in in particular, Poniatowski received several thousand ducats.
In 1795 took place The third section of the Commonwealth. Austria received Southern Poland with Luban and Krakow, Prussia - Central Poland with Warsaw, Russia - Lithuania, Kurland, Volyn and Western Belarus.
October 13, 1795 - a conference of the three powers on the fall of the Polish state, it lost its statehood and sovereignty.
An important area of \u200b\u200bCatherine II’s foreign policy was also the territories of Crimea, the Black Sea region and the North Caucasus, which were under Turkish rule.
When the uprising of the Bara Confederation broke out, the Turkish sultan declared war on Russia (Russian-Turkish war 1768-1774), using as an excuse that one of the Russian troops, pursuing the Poles, entered the territory of the Ottoman Empire. Russian troops defeated the Confederates and began to win one after another in the south. Having achieved success in a number of land and sea battles (the Battle of Kozludzha, the battle of Ryaboy Grave, the Kagul battle, the Larg battle, the Chesme battle, etc.), Russia forced Turkey to sign the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi treaty, as a result of which the Crimean Khanate formally gained independence, but de facto became dependent on Russia. Turkey paid military indemnities to Russia in the order of 4.5 million rubles, and also ceded the northern Black Sea coast along with two important ports.
After the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, Russia's policy towards the Crimean Khanate was aimed at establishing a pro-Russian ruler in it and joining Russia. Under the pressure of Russian diplomacy, Shahin Girey was elected khan. The previous khan, the henchman of Turkey Devlet IV Giray, tried to resist in early 1777, but it was suppressed by A.V. Suvorov, Devlet IV fled to Turkey. At the same time, the Turkish landing in the Crimea was not allowed, and thus an attempt to unleash a new war was prevented, after which Turkey recognized Shahin Giray Khan. In 1782, an uprising broke out against him, which was crushed by Russian troops introduced on the peninsula, and in 1783, the manifesto of Catherine II, the Crimean Khanate was annexed to Russia.
After the victory, the empress, together with the Austrian emperor Joseph II, made a triumphal trip around the Crimea.
The next war with Turkey took place in 1787-1792 and was an unsuccessful attempt by the Ottoman Empire to regain the lands that had ceded to Russia during the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, including the Crimea. Here, the Russians also won a number of major victories, both land ones - the Kinburn battle, the Battle of Rymnik, the capture of Ochakov, the capture of Ishmael, the battle of Fokshany, the Turkish campaigns against Bender and Akkerman and others were repelled, and the sea battles - the battle of Fidonisi (1788), The Battle of Kerch (1790), the Battle of Cape Tendra (1790) and the Battle of Kaliakria (1791). As a result, the Ottoman Empire in 1791 was forced to sign the Iasi Peace Treaty, securing Crimea and Ochakov for Russia, as well as pushing the border between the two empires to the Dniester.
The wars with Turkey were marked by major military victories of Rumyantsev, Orlov-Chesmensky, Suvorov, Potemkin, Ushakov, and the assertion of Russia on the Black Sea. As a result, the Northern Black Sea coast, Crimea, and the Kuban region were transferred to Russia, its political positions in the Caucasus and the Balkans were strengthened, Russia's authority on the world stage was strengthened.
According to many historians, these conquests are the main achievement of the reign of Catherine II. At the same time, a number of historians (K. Valishevsky, V.O. Klyuchevsky and others) and contemporaries (Frederick II, French ministers and others) explained the “amazing” victories of Russia over Turkey not so much by the strength of the Russian army and navy, which were still quite weak and poorly organized, as a consequence of the extreme decomposition of the Turkish army and state during this period.
The growth of Catherine II: 157 centimeters.
Personal life of Catherine II:
Unlike her predecessor, Catherine did not lead a wide palace construction for her own needs. To comfortably move around the country, she arranged a network of small travel palaces along the road from St. Petersburg to Moscow (from Chesmensky to Petrovsky) and only at the end of her life began to build a new suburban residence in Pella (not preserved). In addition, she was concerned about the lack of a spacious and modern residence in Moscow and its environs. Although she did not often visit the old capital, Catherine for several years cherished the plans for the restructuring of the Moscow Kremlin, as well as the construction of suburban palaces in Lefortovo, Kolomensky and Tsaritsyno. For various reasons, none of these projects was completed.
Catherine was a brunette of medium height. She combined high intellect, education, state wisdom and commitment to “free love”. Ekaterina is known for her connections with numerous lovers, the number of which (according to the list of the authoritative Ekaterinologist P. I. Bartenev) reaches 23. The most famous of them were Sergey Saltykov, G. G. Orlov, the cavalry guard Lieutenant Vasilchikov, hussar Zorich, Lanskoy, the last favorite Cornet was Plato Zubov, who became a general. According to some reports, Catherine was secretly married to Potemkin (1775, see Wedding of Catherine II and Potemkin). After 1762, she planned a marriage with Orlov, however, on the advice of close associates, she abandoned this idea.
Catherine’s love affairs are marked by a series of scandals. So, Grigory Orlov, being her favorite, at the same time (according to M. M. Shcherbatov) cohabited with all her maids of honor and even with his cousin 13-year-old sister. The favorite of Empress Lanskoy used an aphrodisiac to increase “male strength” (contarid) in increasing doses, which, apparently, according to the conclusion of the court physician Weikart, was the reason for his unexpected death at a young age. Her last favorite, Platon Zubov, was a little over 20 years old, while Catherine's age had already exceeded 60. Historians have mentioned many other scandalous details (a “bribe” of 100 thousand rubles paid to Potemkin’s future favorites of the Empress, many of who were his adjutants before, testing their “masculine power” with her maids of honor, etc.).
The bewilderment of contemporaries, including foreign diplomats, the Austrian emperor Joseph II, etc., aroused enthusiastic reviews and characteristics that Catherine gave to her young favorites, for the most part devoid of any outstanding talents. As N.I. Pavlenko writes, "neither before Catherine nor after her, debauchery did not reach such a wide scale and did not manifest itself in such an openly defiant form."
It is worth noting that in Europe Catherine’s "debauchery" was not such a rare occurrence against the background of the general licentiousness of the customs of the 18th century. Most kings (with the possible exception of Frederick the Great, Louis XVI and Charles XII) had numerous mistresses. However, this does not apply to reigning queens and empresses. Thus, the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa wrote about the “disgust and horror” that such persons as Catherine II instill in her, and her daughter Maria Antoinette shared this attitude towards the latter. As K. Valishevsky wrote in this connection, comparing Catherine II with Louis XV, “the difference in sexes until the end of the centuries, we think, will give a deeply different character to the same actions, depending on whether they are committed by a man or a woman ... moreover, the lovers of Louis XV never influenced the fate of France. ”
There are numerous examples of the exceptional influence (both negative and positive) that the favorites of Catherine (Orlov, Potemkin, Platon Zubov, etc.) had on the fate of the country, starting from June 28, 1762 until the death of the Empress, as well as on her domestic, foreign policy and even on military operations. According to N.I. Pavlenko, to please the favorite Grigory Potemkin, who envied the glory of Field Marshal Rumyantsev, this outstanding commander and hero of the Russian-Turkish wars was removed from the command of the army by Catherine and was forced to retire to his estate. The other, a very mediocre commander, Musin-Pushkin, on the contrary, continued to lead the army, despite his misses in military campaigns (for which the Empress herself called him a "fool") - due to the fact that he was the “favorite of June 28”, one of those who helped Catherine take the throne.
In addition, the institute of favoritism had a negative effect on the morals of the higher nobility, which sought benefits through flattery to the new favorite, tried to lead “his own person”, etc. II contributed to the decline in the morals of the nobility of that era, and historians agree with this.
Catherine had two sons: Pavel Petrovich (1754) and Alexei Bobrinsky (1762 - the son of Grigory Orlov), as well as the daughter Anna Petrovna who died in infancy (1757-1759, possibly from the future king of Poland Stanislav Ponyatovsky). Catherine’s motherhood is less likely in relation to Potemkin’s pupil named Elizabeth, who was born when the empress exceeded 45 years.