[117] While claiming religious tolerance, she intended to recall the Old Believers into the official church. Catherine was crowned at the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow on 22 September 1762. [9] It was during this period that she first read Voltaire and the other philosophes of the French Enlightenment. Sophie had turned 16. It also stipulated in detail the subjects to be taught at every age and the method of teaching. She was the second wife of Peter the Great. [52], Catherine paid a great deal of attention to financial reform, and relied heavily on the advice of Prince A. The nobles were imposing a stricter rule than ever, reducing the land of each serf and restricting their freedoms further beginning around 1767. [111] Orthodox Russians disliked the inclusion of Judaism, mainly for economic reasons. [107] Judaism was a small, if not non-existent, religion in Russia until 1772. Russia's State Council in 1770 announced a policy in favour of eventual Crimean independence. Her genius seemed to rest on her forehead, which was both high and wide. [29], During her reign, Catherine extended the borders of the Russian Empire by some 520,000 square kilometres (200,000sqmi), absorbing New Russia, Crimea, the North Caucasus, right-bank Ukraine, White Russia, Lithuania, and Courland at the expense, mainly, of two powersthe Ottoman Empire and the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth. [67] Their discontent led to widespread outbreaks of violence and rioting during Pugachev's Rebellion of 1774. They introduced numerous innovations regarding wheat production and flour milling, tobacco culture, sheep raising, and small-scale manufacturing. The attitude of the serfs toward their autocrat had historically been a positive one. However, military conscription and the economy continued to depend on serfdom, and the increasing demands of the state and of private landowners intensified the exploitation of serf labour. In the Treaty of Georgievsk (1783), Russia agreed to protect Georgia against any new invasion and further political aspirations of their Persian suzerains. Assessment and legacy [ edit] 2. She addressed me immediately in a voice full of sweetness, if a little throaty: "I am delighted to welcome you here, Madame, your reputation runs before you. [120] By separating the public interests from those of the church, Catherine began a secularisation of the day-to-day workings of Russia. We will remember him forever. [71] She ordered the planting of the first "English garden" at Tsarskoye Selo in May 1770. An admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernise Russia along Western European lines. She . The official cause of death was advertised as hemorrhoidal colican absurd diagnosis that soon became a popular euphemism for assassination, according to Montefiore. Besides her native German, Sophie became fluent in French, the lingua franca of European elites in the 18th century. She once wrote to her correspondent Baron Grimm: "I see nothing of interest in it. 679 Words; 3 Pages; Open Document. Other aspects of the empress personality were similarly at odds: Extravagant in most worldly endeavors, she had little interest in food and often hosted banquets that left guests wanting for more. When Catherine agreed to the First Partition of Poland, the large new Jewish element was treated as a separate people, defined by their religion. She also established a commission composed of T.N. Cookie Settings, Photo illustration by Meilan Solly / Photos via Hulu and Getty Images, Photo by Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Getty Images, Ad Meskens via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0, Godot13 via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0. Personal life narratives. Perhaps most impressively, the empressborn a virtually penniless Prussian princesswielded power for three decades despite the fact that she had no claim to the crown whatsoever. He received a palace in Saint Petersburg when Catherine became empress. [3] He failed to become the duke of Duchy of Courland and Semigallia and at the time of his daughter's birth held the rank of a Prussian general in his capacity as governor of the city of Stettin. The commission had to consider the needs of the Russian Empire and the means of satisfying them. She succeeded her husband as empress regnant, following the precedent established when Catherine I succeeded her husband Peter the Great in 1725. [57] Although she did not want to communicate directly with the serfs, she did create some measures to improve their conditions as a class and reduce the size of the institution of serfdom. The future Peter III was born Karl Peter Ulrich in 1728, in Kiel, Germany. Advertising Notice Paper notes were issued upon payment of similar sums in copper money, which were also refunded upon the presentation of those notes. All the ladies, some of whom took turn to watch by the body, would go and kiss this hand, or at least appear to." Potemkin had the task of briefing him and travelling with him to Saint Petersburg. He later became the de facto absolute ruler of New Russia, governing its colonisation. If all went as planned, according to Massie, the proposed legal code would raise the levels of government administration, of justice, and of tolerance within her empire. But these changes failed to materialize, and Catherines suggestions remained just that. [42], The Qianlong Emperor of China was committed to an expansionist policy in Central Asia and saw the Russian Empire as a potential rival, making for difficult and unfriendly relations between Beijing and Saint Petersburg. Catherine's decree also denied Jews the rights of an Orthodox or naturalised citizen of Russia. [128], Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, the British ambassador to Russia, offered Stanislaus Poniatowski a place in the embassy in return for gaining Catherine as an ally. A great dreamer, he was avid for territories to conquer and provinces to populate; an experienced diplomat with a knowledge of Russia that Catherine had not yet acquired and as audacious as Catherine was methodical, Potemkin was treated as an equal by the empress up to the time of his death in 1791. Catherine also issued the Code of Commercial Navigation and Salt Trade Code of 1781, the Police Ordinance of 1782, and the Statute of National Education of 1786. [17] She became friends with Princess Ekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova, the sister of her husband's official mistress. Aided by her lover Grigory Orlov and his powerful family, she staged a coup just six months after her husband took the throne. 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Madame Vige Le Brun vividly describes the empress in her memoirs:[85], the sight of this famous woman so impressed me that I found it impossible to think of anything: I could only stare at her. [31], Catherine agreed to a commercial treaty with Great Britain in 1766, but stopped short of a full military alliance. Another theory argues that he died through injuries sustained from . In reality, Catherine the Great died of a stroke and she was discovered collapsed on the floor in her washroom. This reversal aroused the frustration and enmity of the powerful Zubovs and other officers who took part in the campaign: many of them would be among the conspirators who arranged Paul's murder five years later.[39]. Rumour and degrading slander became the weapon by which they would take jabs at her legacy. Her Swedish cousin (once removed), King Gustav IV Adolf, visited her in September 1796, the empress's intention being that her granddaughter Alexandra should become queen of Sweden by marriage. After the death of the Empress Elizabeth on 5 January 1762 (OS: 25 December 1761), Peter succeeded to the throne as Emperor Peter III, and Catherine became empress consort. In the first partition, 1772, the three powers split 52,000km2 (20,000sqmi) among them. Those who opposed her were men. May 14, 2020. But Russia's Baltic Fleet checked the Royal Swedish navy in the tied Battle of Hogland (July 1788), and the Swedish army failed to advance. [89] In 1764, she sent for Dumaresq to come to Russia and then appointed him to the educational commission. [60] The only thing a noble could not do to his serfs was to kill them. To become serfs, people conceded their freedoms to a landowner in exchange for their protection and support in times of hardship. Russia was to stop any involvement in internal affairs of Sweden. Children of serfs were born into serfdom and worked the same land their parents had. Catherine was a patron of the arts, literature, and education. [citation needed] Catherine chose to assimilate Islam into the state rather than eliminate it when public outcry became too disruptive. She nationalised all of the church lands to help pay for her wars, largely emptied the monasteries, and forced most of the remaining clergymen to survive as farmers or from fees for baptisms and other services. When the frail Grand Duchess died on 8 March 1759, she was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery with Catherine and Elizabeth present. One of her lovers, Pyotr Zavadovsky, received 50,000 roubles, a pension of 5,000 roubles, and 4,000 peasants in Ukraine after she dismissed him in 1777. Elizabeth therefore allowed Catherine to have sexual lovers only after a new legal heir, Catherine and Peter's son, survived and appeared to be strong.[16]. [106], Russia often treated Judaism as a separate entity, where Jews were maintained with a separate legal and bureaucratic system. Catherine kept her illegitimate son by Grigory Orlov (Alexis Bobrinsky, later elevated to Count Bobrinsky by Paul I) near Tula, away from her court. In 1787, Catherine conducted a triumphal procession in the Crimea, which helped provoke the next Russo-Turkish War.[35]. The empress was a great lover of art and books, and ordered the construction of the Hermitage in 1770 to house her expanding collection of paintings, sculpture, and books. Much like how his previous film, The Favourite, reimagined the life of Britains Queen Anne as a bawdy period comedy, The Great revels in the absurd, veering from the historical record to gleefully present a royal drama tailor-made for modern audiences. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine The following year, the 16-year-old wed her betrothed, officially becoming Grand Duchess Catherine Alekseyevna. Catherine recalled in her memoirs her optimistic and resolute mood before her accession to the throne: I used to say to myself that happiness and misery depend on ourselves. Peter . Catherine was eventually able to put down the uprising, but the carnage exacted on both sides was substantial. In 1768, she formally became the protector of political rights of dissidents and peasants of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, which provoked an anti-Russian uprising in Poland, the Confederation of Bar (17681772), supported by France. Sophie recalled in her memoirs that as soon as she arrived in Russia, she fell ill with a pleuritis that almost killed her. In addition to the advisory commission, Catherine established a Commission of National Schools under Pyotr Zavadovsky. Her dynasty lost power because of this and of a war with Austria and Germany, impossible without her foreign policy.[48]. Thirty-four years after assuming the throne, Catherine passed away on November 6, 1796. Catherine II (born Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 1729 - 17 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. It was obvious to her that Peters hostility had evolved into a determination to end their marriage and remove her from public life., Far from resigning herself to this fate, Catherine bided her time and watched as Peter alienated key factions at court. Historians debate Catherine's technical status, whether as a regent or as a usurper, tolerable only during the minority of her son, Grand Duke Paul. Wrens: The history of the Women's Royal Naval Service, The life of Noor Inayat Khan: An unsung hero of WWII. In the painting, she presents her public persona, standing in front of a mirror while draped in an ornate gown and serene smile. It was fighting and winning wars, modernising and revitalising. [78] Catherine expressed some frustration with the economists she read for what she regarded as their impractical theories, writing in the margin of one of Necker's books that if it was possible to solve all of the state's economic problems in one day, she would have done so a long time ago. 5 November]1796, Catherine rose early in the morning and had her usual morning coffee, soon settling down to work on papers; she told her lady's maid, Maria Perekusikhina, that she had slept better than she had in a long time.