Catherine 2 short history of reign. Catherine's foreign policy

When a young girl Sophia Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst in June 1744 stood under the crown with the Grand Duke Peter, did she think, could she imagine that after a while fate would hand her the control of a powerful empire and they would call her not just anything, but mother Catherine?

However, it is possible that the future empress, if she did not assume, then at least considered such a scenario. Young Sophia could not help but feel her mental and moral superiority over her pitiful, as if not out of adolescence, husband. She herself later wrote that there was no doubt in her: "... sooner or later I will achieve that I will become an autocratic Russian empress."

It happened on September 22, 1762 - Catherine the Great was crowned after the coup d'état.

Catherine did a lot for Russia. Calling herself a follower of Peter I, she really largely adhered to the principles of his rule, especially in foreign policy: for example, a major victory was won in the Russian-Turkish war, as a result of which Russia received the right to maintain a fleet on the Black Sea. Crimea became Russian territory. The fortresses of Izmail and Ochakov were taken.

Catherine initiated 3 sections of the Commonwealth, the result of which was the accession to Russia of Belarus, Lithuania, Courland. Toward the end of Catherine's reign, the war with Sweden ended, quite successfully for Russia: most of Karelia became our possession.

The internal policy of the empress is usually characterized as enlightened absolutism. On the one hand, Catherine established a system of general education schools, while paying attention to women's education, which had previously remained at a very low level. She stimulated the development of the economy and entrepreneurship, opened credit institutions, and set up the issuance of paper banknotes. Catherine streamlined the administration of the country, dividing it territorially into provinces. The governor had significant powers, the townspeople were divided into several classes.

On the other hand, Catherine believed that Russia should remain ruled by a monarch, in whose hands all power should be concentrated. True, the queen left some powers to the Senate, but she reserved the right to legislate. Catherine was forced to rely on the nobility in order to maintain power. By granting significant privileges to the nobles, she thereby further worsened the position of the peasants, who suffered under the yoke of huge taxes and were completely powerless. This prompted them to revolt - a real people's war led by Emelyan Pugachev. The rebellion was brutally suppressed, the "humane" Catherine ordered to quarter the instigator, so that others would be disrespectful. She really had to go to extreme measures so that the power of the monarch could remain unshakable.

In general, the reign of Catherine II was the heyday of the Russian Empire. Perhaps Peter would be proud of his successor. Catherine was full of plans and remained active until the last days of her life. Unfortunately, her sudden death in 1796 prevented all her intentions from being realized. Paul came to the throne, hating his mother so much that he tried to level many of her achievements. Russia is at a crossroads again...

Catherine 2 brief information.

Catherine II the Great (Ekaterina Alekseevna Romanova, nee Sophia Augusta Frederick, German Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst) is the empress-advocate of education, often presented as the successor to the cause of Peter the Great, the only Russian ruler who was awarded the title of Great.

The period of her reign from 1762 to 1796 is not without reason called the "golden age" of the country. The borders of Russia were moved apart, the revenues of the treasury were increased by 4 times (from 16 to 68 million rubles), and the population grew from 30 to 44 million people.

Childhood and youth

The future prominent representative of the world political arena was born on May 2, 1729 in the German principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. Her father, Prince Christian August, belonged to an old but impoverished German princely family. He was in the service of the King of Prussia, ending his career in the high military rank of field marshal. Mother, Johanna Elizabeth, princess from the Holstein-Gottorp dynasty.

The pretty, cheerful and lively baby was called Fike by her relatives. She played with her younger sister with pleasure, studied foreign languages, music, history, and calligraphy, grasping everything on the fly. She spent several years in Berlin, at the court of Frederick II. There was a legend that her real father was the king himself, who was Johanna's cousin.

At the age of 10, in the house of the bishop of the city of Eitin, she met Karl Peter Ulrich, the future Peter III and her husband. In 1743, on the recommendation of Frederick II, she was married, and a year later, on the eve of the 16th birthday of Peter Fedorovich, she went to the Mother See, where she began to prepare for the wedding: she studied the Russian language, traditions and customs of the new homeland.

Marriage

In June 1743, she was baptized into Orthodoxy as Ekaterina Alekseevna, then engaged, and in August the wedding. The wedding celebration lasted ten days under volleys of guns and fireworks.

After the wedding, relations between the spouses did not work out: the august life partner ignored her. At first, Catherine was bored alone, and then she began to study the works of the French enlighteners, books on philosophy, history and geography of Russia in an effort to get to know the country she was preparing to rule better.

In addition to self-education, she found time for hunting and billiards, for useful communication with interesting people. She also enjoyed engraving on metal. The lack of emotional intimacy with her husband contributed to the emergence of numerous lovers.

In 1754 Catherine gave birth to a son. The Tsarevich, named Pavel, was immediately taken away from her. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna took upon herself the troubles of raising the heir, isolating him from his mother. Catherine realized that she had only one thing to do - to go into politics. To the pleasure of her husband, she took over the management of his Holstein duchy, began to delve into the essence of the cases to be considered, and became close on this basis with Alexei Bestuzhev.

In 1762, after the death of Elizabeth, Peter III ascended the throne and demonstrated his Prussian sympathies with his first steps. The officer corps was especially indignant at the signing of a peace treaty with Prussia, which provided for the return of all the lands seized at the cost of many lives during the Seven Years' War. He began to openly live with his favorite Elizaveta Vorontsova, showed an irreverent attitude towards the church - he announced plans to reform church rites.

As a result, abandoned by her husband, friendly to others and pious, Catherine, fearing divorce and arrest, with the support of the guardsmen, carried out a palace coup. The Orlov brothers, the diplomat Panin, the hetman of the Zaporizhia Army Razumovsky and other persons who were dissatisfied with Peter III actively participated in its preparation. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, he signed the abdication of the throne and died almost immediately under dubious circumstances.

The era of Catherine the Great

Having begun her reign in 1762, Catherine II tried to organize the state in accordance with the ideals of the Enlightenment. She implemented important and significant reforms for the empire, having won tremendous public support. A year later, she initiated a reorganization of the Senate, which increased the productivity of its work. In 1764, the secularization of the lands of the church, which made it possible to replenish the treasury.

Being a supporter of the unification of the administration of the outskirts of the state, the reigning empress abolished the hetmanship. In accordance with the principles of the Enlightenment, she created several new educational institutions, including the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens and the Russian Academy.

On the basis of the works of authors-enlighteners in 1767, she wrote a set of legislative norms "Nakaz", for the approval of which she convened a special commission from representatives of various strata of society. The policy of the empress was distinguished by religious tolerance - she stopped the oppression of the Old Believers.

After the Russian-Turkish war and the Pugachev rebellion, a new round of implementation of the most important innovations of the queen began. In 1775, she developed and implemented the provincial reform, which was in effect until 1917, issued a code of noble privileges, acts on the self-government of cities, on the creation of elected courts, on the vaccination of the population, etc.

No less significant were the efforts of the autocrat in the foreign policy sphere. During her reign, a number of sections of the Commonwealth took place, the country's positions in the Baltic were strengthened, Crimea and Georgia were annexed.

Men and children of Catherine II

Catherine II became famous not only as a powerful and great, but also as the most male-hungry empress. In the list of her favorites, according to a number of historians, there were about 30 names.

The most “unbridled feelings” of the tsarina were associated with His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Orlov, with the closest friend and adviser Grigory Potemkin, with Alexander Lansky, who became a cordial friend of the 54-year-old Empress at the age of 25, with the last favorite Platon Zubov (22-year-old at the time of the beginning of the affair with 60-year-old autocrat).

Catherine the Great: personal life | Favorites and lovers of the Empress

None of the favorites, except for Potemkin and Peter Zavadovsky, were allowed to resolve political issues by Catherine the Great. And none of her chosen ones was disgraced. She generously awarded all of them with honorary titles, orders, estates and money.

The Empress gave birth to three children: son Pavel from the lawful spouse of Peter Fedorovich (or, according to one version, from Sergei Saltykov) and daughter Anna (allegedly from Stanislav Poniatovsky), who died as a baby, as well as illegitimate son Alexei Bobrinsky (from Grigory Orlov ). There is also an opinion that Elizaveta Grigoryevna Tyomkina (born 1775) is the daughter of the Empress and Potemkin, who later took her under his guardianship.

Death

At the end of her life, the reigning empress devoted much time to caring for her grandchildren: Alexander and Constantine. She named the eldest of Pavel's children in honor of the patron saint of St. Petersburg, Alexander Nevsky. She had a strained relationship with her unloved son Pavel. She wanted to make not him, but the eldest grandson, the heir to the throne, so she was personally involved in his upbringing. However, her plans did not come true.

In 1796, on November 16, the great empress was overtaken by a blow. The next day, without regaining consciousness, she died of a stroke. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral together with her husband, having opened his grave. The next ruler of the Russian Empire was Paul I.

Years of government: 1762-1796

1. For the first time since Peter I reformed the public administration system. Culturally Russia finally became one of the great European powers. Catherine patronized various fields of art: under her rule, the Hermitage and the Public Library appeared in St. Petersburg.

2. Carried out administrative reform, which determined the territorial structure of the country up to before 1917. Formed 29 new provinces and built about 144 cities.

3. Increased the territory of the state by annexing the southern lands - Crimea, the Black Sea region and the eastern part of the Commonwealth. In terms of population, Russia became the largest European country: it accounted for 20% of the population of Europe

4. Brought Russia to the first place in the world in iron smelting. By the end of the 18th century, there were 1200 large enterprises in the country (in 1767 there were only 663 of them).

5. Strengthened the role of Russia in the global economy: the volume of exports increased from 13.9 million rubles in 1760 to 39.6 million rubles in 1790. Sail cloth, cast iron, iron, and also bread were exported in large quantities. The volume of timber exports increased fivefold.

6. Under Catherine II of Russia Academy of Sciences has become one of the leading scientific bases in Europe. The empress paid special attention to the development of women's education: in 1764, the first educational institutions for girls in Russia were opened - the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens and the Educational Society for Noble Maidens.

7. Organized new credit institutions - a state bank and a loan office, and also expanded the range of banking operations (since 1770, banks began to accept deposits for safekeeping) and for the first time launched the issuance of paper money - banknotes.

8. Gave the character of state measures to the fight against epidemics. Having introduced compulsory smallpox vaccination, she decided to set a personal example for her subjects: in 1768, the empress herself was vaccinated against smallpox.

9. She supported Buddhism, in 1764 establishing the post of Khambo Lama - the head of the Buddhists of Eastern Siberia and Transbaikalia. The Buryat lamas recognized Catherine II as the incarnation of the main goddess of White Tara and since then swore allegiance to all Russian rulers.

10 Belonged to those few monarchs who intensively communicated with subjects by drawing up manifestos, instructions and laws. She had the talent of a writer, leaving behind a large collection of works: notes, translations, fables, fairy tales, comedies and essays.

Catherine the Great is one of the most extraordinary women in world history. Her life is a rare example of self-education through deep education and strict discipline.

The epithet "Great" Empress rightfully deserved: she, a German and a foreigner, the Russian people called her "native mother." And historians almost unanimously decided that if Peter I wanted to instill everything German in Russia, then the German Catherine dreamed of reviving precisely Russian traditions. And in many ways it has been very successful.

The long reign of Catherine is the only period of transformation in Russian history, about which one cannot say “they cut down the forest, the chips fly”. The population of the country doubled, while there was practically no censorship, torture was prohibited, elected bodies of class self-government were created ... The “firm hand”, which the Russian people allegedly needed so much, was completely useless this time.

Princess Sofia

The future Empress Catherine II Alekseevna, born Sophia Frederick Augusta, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, was born on April 21, 1729 in the unknown Stettin (Prussia). Father - unremarkable Prince Christian-August - thanks to devotion to the Prussian king, he made a good career: regiment commander, commandant of Stettin, governor. Constantly employed in the service, he became for Sofia an example of conscientious service in the public arena.

Sophia was educated at home: she studied German and French, dance, music, the basics of history, geography, and theology. Her independent character and perseverance appeared already in early childhood. In 1744, together with her mother, she was summoned to Russia by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Here, before that, a Lutheran, she was accepted into Orthodoxy under the name Catherine (this name, like the patronymic Alekseevna, was given to her in honor of Elizabeth's mother, Catherine I) and named the bride of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (future Emperor Peter III), with whom the princess married in 1745.

Mind Chamber

Catherine set herself the goal of winning the favor of the Empress, her husband and the Russian people. From the very beginning, her personal life was unsuccessful, but the Grand Duchess reasoned that she always liked the Russian crown more than her fiancé, and turned to reading works on history, jurisprudence and economics. She was absorbed in studying the works of French encyclopedists and already at that time intellectually outgrew everyone around her head.

Catherine really became a patriot of her new homeland: she scrupulously observed the rites of the Orthodox Church, tried to return the Russian national costume to the everyday life of the court, diligently studied the Russian language. She even studied at night and one day became dangerously ill from overwork. The Grand Duchess wrote: “Those who succeeded in Russia could be sure of success throughout Europe. Nowhere, as in Russia, are there such masters of noticing the weaknesses or shortcomings of a foreigner; you can be sure that nothing will be let him down.

Communication between the Grand Duke and the princess demonstrated the cardinal difference between their characters: the infantilism of Peter was opposed by the active, purposeful and ambitious nature of Catherine. She began to fear for her fate if her husband came to power and began to recruit supporters for herself at court. Catherine's ostentatious piety, prudence and sincere love for Russia contrasted sharply with Peter's behavior, which allowed her to gain authority both among high society and among the ordinary population of St. Petersburg.

Double grip

Having ascended the throne after the death of his mother, Emperor Peter III managed to turn the nobility against himself to such an extent during the six months of his reign that he himself opened the way to power for his wife. As soon as he ascended the throne, he concluded an unfavorable treaty with Prussia for Russia, announced the arrest of the property of the Russian Church and the abolition of monastic land ownership. Supporters of the coup accused Peter III of ignorance, dementia and complete inability to govern the state. A well-read, pious and benevolent wife looked favorably against his background.

When Catherine's relationship with her husband became hostile, the twenty-year-old Grand Duchess decided to "die or reign." Having carefully prepared a plot, she secretly arrived in St. Petersburg and was proclaimed autocratic empress in the barracks of the Izmailovsky regiment. Soldiers from other regiments joined the rebels, unquestioningly swearing allegiance to her. The news of Catherine's accession to the throne quickly spread throughout the city and was greeted with enthusiasm by the people of St. Petersburg. Over 14,000 people surrounded the palace, welcoming the new ruler.

The foreigner Catherine did not have any rights to power, but the “revolution” she committed was presented as a national liberation one. She correctly captured the critical moment in her husband's behavior - his contempt for the country and Orthodoxy. As a result, the grandson of Peter the Great was considered more German than the purebred German Catherine. And this is the result of her own efforts: in the eyes of society, she managed to change her national identity and received the right to “liberate the fatherland” from a foreign yoke.

M. V. Lomonosov about Catherine the Great: “A woman is on the throne - a chamber of mind.”

Upon learning of what had happened, Peter began to send proposals for negotiations, but they were all rejected. Catherine herself, at the head of the guards regiments, came out to meet him and on the way received a written abdication of the emperor from the throne. The long 34-year reign of Catherine II began with a solemn coronation in Moscow on September 22, 1762. In fact, she made a double capture: she took away power from her husband and did not transfer it to her natural heir - her son.

The era of Catherine the Great

Catherine came to the throne, having a certain political program based on the ideas of the Enlightenment and at the same time taking into account the peculiarities of the historical development of Russia. Already in the first years of her reign, the empress carried out a reform of the Senate, which made the work of this institution more efficient, and carried out the secularization of church lands, which replenished the state treasury. At the same time, a number of new educational institutions were founded, including the first educational institutions for women in Russia.

Catherine II was an excellent connoisseur of people, she skillfully selected her assistants, not being afraid of bright and talented personalities. That is why her time is marked by the appearance of a galaxy of prominent statesmen, generals, writers, artists and musicians. During this period, there were no noisy resignations, none of the nobles fell into disgrace - that is why the reign of Catherine is called the "golden age" of the Russian nobility. At the same time, the empress was very vain and valued her power more than anything else. For her sake, she was ready to make any compromises to the detriment of her convictions.

Catherine was distinguished by ostentatious piety, she considered herself the head and defender of the Russian Orthodox Church and skillfully used religion for political interests.

After the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774 and the suppression of the uprising led by Yemelyan Pugachev, the empress independently developed key legislative acts. The most important of them were letters of grant to the nobility and cities. Their main significance is associated with the implementation of the strategic goal of Catherine's reforms - the creation in Russia of full-fledged estates of the Western European type.

Autocracy in the struggle for the future

Catherine was the first Russian monarch who saw in people individuals with their own opinions, character and emotions. She willingly acknowledged their right to make mistakes. From the distant skies of autocracy, Catherine saw a man below and turned him into a measure of her policy - an incredible somersault for Russian despotism. The philanthropy that she made fashionable would later become the main feature of the high culture of the 19th century.

Catherine demanded naturalness from her subjects, and therefore easily, with a smile and self-irony, eliminated any hierarchy. It is known that she, being greedy for flattery, calmly accepted criticism. For example, her secretary of state and the first major Russian poet Derzhavin often argued with the Empress on administrative issues. Once their discussion became so heated that the empress invited another of her secretaries: “Sit here, Vasily Stepanovich. This gentleman, it seems to me, wants to kill me. His sharpness had no consequences for Derzhavin.

One of his contemporaries figuratively described the essence of Catherine's reign as follows: "Peter the Great created people in Russia, but Catherine II put her soul into them"

I can’t even believe that two Russian-Turkish wars, the annexation of Crimea and the creation of Novorossia, the construction of the Black Sea Fleet, the three partitions of Poland, which brought Russia Belarus, Western Ukraine, Lithuania and Courland, the war with Persia, the annexation of Georgia and the conquest of the future Azerbaijan , the suppression of the Pugachev rebellion, the war with Sweden, as well as numerous laws on which Catherine worked personally. In total, she issued 5798 acts, that is, an average of 12 laws per month. Her pedantry and diligence are described in detail by contemporaries.

Femininity revolution

Longer than Catherine II in Russian history, only Ivan III (43 years) and Ivan IV the Terrible (37 years) ruled. More than three decades of her reign is almost equal to half the Soviet period, and it is impossible to ignore this circumstance. Therefore, Catherine has always occupied a special place in the mass historical consciousness. However, the attitude towards her was ambiguous: German blood, the murder of her husband, numerous novels, Voltairianism - all this prevented selflessly admiring the empress.

Catherine was the first Russian monarch who saw in people individuals with their own opinions, character and emotions. From the distant skies of autocracy, she saw a man below and turned him into a measure of her policy - an incredible somersault for Russian despotism

Soviet historiography added class cuffs to Catherine: she became a "cruel serf-owner" and a despot. It got to the point that only Peter was allowed to remain the “Great”, she was emphatically called the “Second”. The undoubted victories of the Empress, which brought Crimea, Novorossia, Poland and part of the Transcaucasia to Russia, were largely usurped by her military leaders, who, in the struggle for national interests, supposedly heroically overcame the intrigues of the court.

However, the fact that in the mass consciousness the personal life of the empress overshadowed her political activities testifies to the search for psychological compensation by the descendants. After all, Catherine violated one of the oldest social hierarchies - the superiority of men over women. Her stunning successes, and especially the military ones, caused bewilderment, bordering on irritation, and needed some kind of “but”. Catherine gave cause for anger already by the fact that, contrary to the existing order, she herself chose men for herself. The empress refused to take for granted not only her nationality: she also tried to overcome the boundaries of her own gender, capturing typically male territory.

Manage passions

Throughout her life, Catherine learned to cope with her feelings and passionate temperament. A long life in a foreign land taught her not to succumb to circumstances, to always remain calm and consistent in her actions. Later, in her memoirs, the empress writes: “I came to Russia, a country completely unknown to me, not knowing what was ahead. Everyone looked at me with annoyance and even contempt: the daughter of a Prussian major general is going to be the Russian empress! Nevertheless, Catherine's main goal has always been the love of Russia, which, according to her own admission, "is not a country, but the Universe."

The ability to plan a day, not to deviate from what was planned, not to succumb to the blues or laziness, and at the same time to treat one's body rationally could be attributed to German upbringing. However, it seems that the reason for this behavior is deeper: Catherine subordinated her life to the most important task - to justify her own stay on the throne. Klyuchevsky noted that approval meant for Catherine the same thing as "applause for a debutant." The desire for glory was a way for the empress to actually prove to the world the goodness of her intentions. Such life motivation, of course, turned her into self-made.

The fact that in the mass consciousness the personal life of the empress obscured her political activity testifies to the search for psychological compensation by the descendants. After all, Catherine violated one of the oldest social hierarchies - the superiority of men over women.

For the sake of the goal - to rule the country - Catherine without regrets overcame a lot of givens: both her German origin, and confessional affiliation, and the notorious weakness of the female sex, and the monarchical principle of inheritance, which they dared to remind her of almost in person. In a word, Catherine decisively went beyond the limits of those constants in which her environment tried to put, and with all her successes she proved that "happiness is not as blind as it is imagined."

The craving for knowledge and the increase of experience did not kill the woman in her, in addition, until the last years, Catherine continued to behave actively and energetically. Even in her youth, the future empress wrote in her diary: "It is necessary to create yourself, your character." She brilliantly coped with this task, putting knowledge, determination and self-control at the basis of her life trajectory. She was often compared and continues to be compared with Peter I, but if he, in order to "Europeanize" the country, made violent changes to the Russian way of life, then she meekly finished what her idol had begun. One of his contemporaries figuratively described the essence of Catherine's reign as follows: "Peter the Great created people in Russia, but Catherine II put her soul into them."

text Marina Kvash
Source tmnWoman #2/4 | autumn | 2014

Empress Catherine II Alekseevna the Great

Catherine 2 (born May 2, 1729 - died November 17, 1796). The reign of Catherine II - from 1762 to 1796.

Origin

Princess Sophia-Frederick-Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst was born in 1729 in Stettin. Daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, a general in the Prussian service, and Johanna Elisabeth, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp.

Arrival in Russia

She arrived in St. Petersburg on February 3, 1744 and converted to Orthodoxy on June 28, 1744. On August 21, 1745, she was married to her second cousin, Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich.

By nature, she was gifted with a great mind, a strong character. On the contrary, her husband was a weak man, ill-bred. Not sharing his pleasures, Ekaterina Alekseevna devoted herself to reading and soon moved from lyrical novels to historical and philosophical books. Around her, an elected circle was formed, in which the greatest confidence was first enjoyed by Prince N. Saltykov, and then Stanislav Poniatowski, later King of the Kingdom of Poland.

The relationship between the Grand Duchess and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was not particularly cordial, which was mutual. When Ekaterina Alekseevna gave birth to her son Pavel, the empress took the child to her and rarely allowed her mother to see him.

Death of Elizabeth Petrovna

Elizaveta Petrovna died on December 25, 1761. After the accession to the throne of Emperor Peter 3, the situation of his wife became even worse. The palace coup on June 28, 1762 and the death of her husband elevated Catherine II to the Russian throne.

The harsh school of life and the natural mind made it possible for the new empress herself to get out of a rather difficult situation, and to withdraw Russia from it. The treasury was empty, the monopoly suppressed trade and industry; factory peasants and serfs were agitated by rumors of freedom, now and then renewed; peasants from the western border fled to Poland.

Catherine 2

Under these circumstances, Catherine 2 ascended the throne, the rights to which belonged to her son under the law of succession to the throne. But she understood that a young son on the throne would become a toy of various palace parties. The regency was a fragile business - the fate of Menshikov, Biron, Anna Leopoldovna was remembered by everyone.

Catherine's penetrating gaze was equally attentive to the phenomena of life, both in Russia and abroad. 2 months after her accession to the throne, having learned that the famous French "Encyclopedia" was condemned by the Parisian parliament for godlessness and its continuation was prohibited, the empress invited Voltaire and Diderot to publish this encyclopedia in Riga. This proposal alone won the best minds over to her side, which then gave direction to public opinion throughout Europe.

Catherine was crowned on September 22, 1762 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin and she stayed in Moscow for autumn and winter. The following year, the Senate was reorganized, dividing it into six departments. 1764 - the Manifesto on the secularization of church possessions was announced, the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens and the Imperial Hermitage were founded, the first collection of which was 225 paintings received from the Berlin merchant I.E. Gotskovsky as a repayment of a debt to the Russian treasury.

CONSPIRACY

1764, summer - Lieutenant Mirovich decided to enthrone Ivan VI Antonovich, who was kept in the Shlisselburg fortress, the son of Anna Leopoldovna and Duke Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick-Bevern-Lunenburg. The plan failed - on July 5, Ivan Antonovich was shot dead by one of the guard soldiers during an attempt to free him; Mirovich was executed by a court verdict.

Domestic and foreign policy

1764 - Prince Vyazemsky, sent to pacify the peasants assigned to the factories, was ordered to investigate the issue of the benefits of free labor over the serf. The same question was put to the newly founded Economic Society. First of all, it was necessary to resolve the issue of the monastery peasants, which had taken on a particularly acute character even under Elizabeth Petrovna. At the beginning of her reign, Elizabeth returned the estates to monasteries and churches, but in 1757 she, along with the dignitaries surrounding her, came to the conclusion that it was necessary to transfer the management of church property to secular hands.

Peter 3 ordered the fulfillment of Elizabeth's plan and the transfer of management of church property to the college of economy. The inventory of the monastic property was carried out extremely rudely. Upon the accession of Catherine II to the throne, the bishops filed complaints with her and asked for the return of control to them. The empress, on the advice of Bestuzhev-Ryumin, satisfied their desire, canceled the collegium of economy, but did not abandon her intention, but only postponed its execution. She then ordered that the commission of 1757 resumed its studies. It was ordered to make new inventories of monastic and church property.

Knowing how the transition of Peter 3 to the side of Prussia irritated public opinion, the empress ordered the Russian generals to remain neutral and this contributed to the end of the war.

The internal affairs of the state demanded special attention. What struck me the most was the lack of justice. The empress expressed herself energetically on this occasion: “Covetousness has increased to such an extent that there is hardly the smallest place in the government in which the court would go without infection of this ulcer; if someone is looking for a place, he pays; if someone defends himself from slander, he defends himself with money; if anyone slanders anyone, he backs up all his cunning intrigues with gifts.

The empress was especially amazed when she learned that within the Novgorod province they took money from the peasants for taking them to the oath of allegiance to the empress. This state of justice forced her to convene in 1766 a commission to issue the Code. She handed over to this commission her "Instruction", which the commission was to be guided by when drawing up the Code. "Instruction" was compiled on the basis of the ideas of Montesquieu and Beccaria.

Polish affairs, the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774 and internal unrest suspended Catherine's legislative activity until 1775. Polish affairs caused the division and fall of Poland.

The Russian-Turkish war ended with the Kyuchuk-Kaynardzhy peace, which was ratified in 1775. According to this peace, the Port recognized the independence of the Crimean and Budzhak Tatars; ceded Azov, Kerch, Yenikale and Kinburn to Russia; opened free passage for Russian ships from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean; granted forgiveness to Christians who took part in the war; allowed Russia's petition on Moldovan affairs.

During the Russo-Turkish War in 1771, plague raged in Moscow, causing the Plague Riot. This plague killed 130,000 people.
In the east of Russia, an even more dangerous revolt, known as the Pugachevshchina, broke out. January 1775 - Pugachev was executed in Moscow.

1775 - the legislative activity of Catherine 2 resumed, which, however, had not stopped before. So, in 1768, commercial and noble banks were abolished and the so-called assignation, or exchange, bank was established. In 1775, the existence of the Zaporizhzhya Sich, which was already on the verge of collapse, ceased to exist. In the same year, 1775, the transformation of the provincial government began. An institution for the administration of the provinces was published, which took 20 years to complete: in 1775 it began with the Tver province and ended in 1796 with the establishment of the Vilna province. Thus, the reform of the provincial administration, begun by Peter 1, was brought out of a chaotic state by Catherine 2 and completed.

1776 - the Empress ordered in the petitions the word "slave" to be replaced by the word "loyal subject".

By the end of the first Russian-Turkish war, he was especially important, striving for great deeds. Together with his colleague Bezborodko, he drew up a project known as the Greek one. The grandeur of this project - destroying the Ottoman Port, restoring the Greek Empire, on the throne of which the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich should be elevated, - Catherine liked.

Heraclius 2, king of Georgia, recognized the protectorate of Russia. 1785 - marked by two important legislative acts: "Charter to the nobility" and "City regulations". The charter on public schools on August 15, 1786 was implemented only on a small scale. Projects to establish universities in Pskov, Chernigov, Penza, and Yekaterinoslav have been postponed. 1783 - the Russian Academy was founded to study the native language. It was the beginning of the education of women. Orphanages were established, smallpox vaccination was introduced, and the Pallas expedition was equipped to study the remote outskirts.

Catherine 2 decided to explore the newly acquired Crimean region herself. Accompanied by the Austrian, English and French ambassadors, with a huge retinue in 1787, she set off on a journey. In Kaniv met the Empress Stanislav Poniatowski, King of Poland; near Keidan - the Austrian emperor Joseph 2. He and Catherine 2 laid the first stone of the city of Yekaterinoslav, visited Kherson and examined the Black Sea Fleet, which had just been created by Potemkin. During the journey, Joseph noticed the theatricality in the setting, saw how hastily they drove the people to the villages supposedly under construction; but in Kherson he saw the real thing - and gave justice to Potemkin.

The second Russian-Turkish war under Catherine 2 was waged in alliance with Joseph 2 in 1787-1791. A peace treaty was concluded in Iasi on December 29, 1791. For all the victories, Russia received only Ochakov and the steppe between the Bug and the Dnieper.

Along with this, the war with Sweden, declared by Gustav III on July 30, 1788, went on with varying happiness. It ended on August 3, 1790 with the Peace of Verel on the condition that the previously existing border was preserved.

During the second Russian-Turkish war, a coup took place in Poland: 1791, on May 3, a new Constitution was promulgated, which led to the second partition of Poland in 1793, and then to the third - in 1795. Under the second partition, Russia received the rest part of the Minsk province, Volyn and Podolia, on the third - the Grodno province and Courland.

Last years. Death

1796 - the last year of the reign of Catherine 2, Count Valerian Zubov, appointed commander-in-chief in the campaign against Persia, conquered Derbent and Baku; his successes were stopped by the death of the empress.

The last years of the reign of Catherine 2 were overshadowed by a reactionary direction. Then the French Revolution broke out, and with the Russian domestic reaction, the pan-European, Jesuit-oligarchic reaction entered into an alliance. Her agent and instrument was the last favorite of the Empress, Prince Platon Zubov, together with his brother Count Valerian. European reaction wanted to draw Russia into a struggle against revolutionary France, a struggle alien to the direct interests of Russia.

The empress spoke kind words to the representatives of the reaction and did not give a single soldier. Then the undermining under her throne intensified, accusations were renewed that she reigns illegally, occupying the throne belonging to her son Pavel Petrovich. There is reason to believe that in 1790 an attempt was being made to elevate Pavel Petrovich to the throne. This attempt was probably connected with the expulsion from St. Petersburg of Prince Frederick of Württemberg.

The domestic reaction at the same time accused the empress of allegedly excessive free-thinking. Catherine has grown old, her former courage and energy are almost gone. And under such circumstances, in 1790, Radishchev's book "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" appeared with a project for the liberation of the peasants, as if written out from the articles of the "Order" of the Empress. The unfortunate Radishchev was exiled to Siberia. Perhaps this cruelty was the result of a fear that the exclusion from the "Instruction" of articles on the liberation of the peasants would be considered hypocrisy on the part of the empress.

1796 - Nikolai Ivanovich Novikov was imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress, who served so much for Russian enlightenment. The secret motive for this measure was Novikov's relationship with Pavel Petrovich. 1793 - Knyazhnin suffered cruelly for his tragedy "Vadim". 1795 - even Derzhavin was suspected of a revolutionary direction for transcribing the 81st psalm, entitled "To the Rulers and Judges." Thus ended the enlightenment reign of Catherine II, which raised the national spirit. Despite the reaction of recent years, the name of the enlightenment will remain with him in history. From this reign in Russia they began to realize the importance of humane ideas, they began to talk about the right of a person to think for the benefit of his own kind.

literary movement

Gifted with literary talent, receptive and sensitive to the phenomena of life around her, Catherine 2 took an active part in the literature of that era. The literary movement she initiated was devoted to the development of enlightenment ideas of the 18th century. Thoughts on education, briefly outlined in one of the chapters of the "Order", were subsequently developed in detail by the empress in the allegorical tales "About Tsarevich Chlor" (1781) and "About Tsarevich Fevey" (1782) and, mainly, in "Instructions to the Prince N. Saltykov”, given when he was appointed tutor of the Grand Dukes Alexander and Konstantin Pavlovich (1784).

The pedagogical ideas expressed in these works, the empress mainly borrowed from Montaigne and Locke; from the first she took a general view of the goals of education, the second she used in the development of particulars. Guided by Montaigne, the empress put forward the moral element in the first place in education - to sow humanity, justice, respect for the laws, indulgence towards people in the soul of a person. At the same time, she demanded that the mental and physical aspects of education should be properly developed.

Personally leading the upbringing of her grandchildren up to the age of seven, she compiled an entire educational library for them. For the Grand Dukes were written by their grandmother and "Notes on Russian history." In purely fictional writings, to which magazine articles and dramatic works belong, Catherine II is much more original than in writings of a pedagogical and legislative nature. Pointing to the actual contradictions of the ideals that existed in society, her comedies and satirical articles were to greatly contribute to the development of public consciousness, making more understandable the importance and expediency of the reforms she was undertaking.

Empress Catherine II the Great died on November 6, 1796 and was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

The golden age, the age of Catherine, the Great Kingdom, the heyday of absolutism in Russia - this is how historians designate and designate the reign of Russia by Empress Catherine II (1729-1796)

“Her reign was successful. As a conscientious German, Catherine worked diligently for the country that gave her such a good and profitable position. She naturally saw the happiness of Russia in the greatest possible expansion of the boundaries of the Russian state. By nature, she was smart and cunning, well versed in the intrigues of European diplomacy. Cunning and flexibility were the basis of what in Europe, depending on the circumstances, was called the policy of Northern Semiramis or the crimes of Moscow Messalina. (M. Aldanov "Devil's Bridge")

Years of reign of Russia by Catherine the Great 1762-1796

The real name of Catherine II was Sophia Augusta Frederick of Anhalt-Zerbstsk. She was the daughter of Prince Anhalt-Zerbst, who represented “a side line of one of the eight branches of the Anhalst house,” the commandant of the city of Stettin, which was in Pomerania, an area subject to the kingdom of Prussia (today the Polish city of Szczecin).

“In 1742, the Prussian king Frederick II, wanting to annoy the Saxon court, who expected to marry his princess Maria Anna to the heir to the Russian throne, Peter Karl Ulrich of Holstein, who suddenly became Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, began to hastily look for another bride for the Grand Duke.

The Prussian king had three German princesses in mind for this purpose: two of Hesse-Darmstadt and one of Zerbst. The latter was the most suitable for age, but Friedrich knew nothing about the fifteen-year-old bride herself. They only said that her mother, Johanna Elisabeth, led a very frivolous lifestyle and that little Fike was hardly really the daughter of the Zerbst prince Christian August, who served as governor in Stetin ”

How long, short, but in the end, the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna chose the little Fike as a wife for her nephew Karl-Ulrich, who became Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich in Russia, the future Emperor Peter the Third.

Biography of Catherine II. Briefly

• 1729, April 21 (old style) - Catherine II was born
• 1742, December 27 - on the advice of Frederick II, the mother of Princess Fikkhen (Fike) sent a letter to Elizabeth with congratulations for the New Year
• 1743, January - kind letter in return
• 1743, December 21 - Johanna-Elizabeth and Fikchen received a letter from Brumner, the tutor of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, with an invitation to come to Russia

“Your Grace,” Brummer wrote pointedly, “are too enlightened not to understand the true meaning of the impatience with which Her Imperial Majesty wishes to see you here as soon as possible, as well as your princess, your daughter, about whom rumor has told us so much good”

• December 21, 1743 - on the same day a letter from Frederick II was received in Zerbst. The Prussian king ... strongly advised to go and keep the trip a strict secret (so that the Saxons would not find out ahead of time)
• 1744, February 3 - German princesses arrived in St. Petersburg
• 1744, February 9 - the future Catherine the Great and her mother arrived in Moscow, where at that moment there was a courtyard
• 1744, February 18 - Johanna-Elizabeth sent a letter to her husband with the news that their daughter was the bride of the future Russian Tsar
• 1745, June 28 - Sophia Augusta Frederica adopted Orthodoxy and the new name Catherine
• 1745, August 21 - marriage and Catherine
• 1754, September 20 - Catherine gave birth to a son, heir to the throne of Paul
• 1757, December 9 - Catherine had a daughter, Anna, who died 3 months later
• 1761, December 25 - Elizaveta Petrovna died. Peter III became king

“Peter the Third was the son of the daughter of Peter I and the grandson of the sister of Charles XII. Elizabeth, having ascended the Russian throne and wishing to secure it beyond her father's line, sent Major Korf on a mission to take her nephew from Kiel at all costs and bring him to Petersburg. Here the Duke of Holstein, Karl-Peter-Ulrich, was transformed into Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich and forced to study the Russian language and the Orthodox catechism. But nature was not as favorable to him as fate .... He was born and grew up as a frail child, poorly endowed with abilities. Early becoming an orphan, Peter in Holstein received a worthless upbringing under the guidance of an ignorant courtier.

Humiliated and embarrassed in everything, he adopted bad tastes and habits, became irritable, quarrelsome, stubborn and false, acquired a sad tendency to lie ...., and in Russia he also learned to get drunk. In Holstein, he was taught so badly that he came to Russia as a 14-year-old ignoramus and even struck Empress Elizabeth with his ignorance. The rapid change of circumstances and educational programs completely confused his already fragile head. Forced to study this and that without connection and order, Peter ended up not learning anything, and the dissimilarity between the Holstein and Russian situation, the meaninglessness of Kiel and St. Petersburg impressions completely weaned him from understanding his surroundings. ... He was fond of military glory and the strategic genius of Frederick II ... " (V. O. Klyuchevsky "Course of Russian History")

• 1761, April 13 - Peter made peace with Frederick. All the lands captured by Russia from Prussia in the course were returned to the Germans
• 1761, May 29 - Treaty of Union between Prussia and Russia. Russian troops were placed at the disposal of Frederick, which caused sharp discontent among the guards.

(The flag of the guard) “became the empress. The emperor lived badly with his wife, threatened to divorce her and even imprison her in a monastery, and put in her place a person close to him, the niece of Chancellor Count Vorontsov. Catherine kept aloof for a long time, patiently enduring her position and not entering into direct relations with the dissatisfied. (Klyuchevsky)

• 1761, June 9 - at a ceremonial dinner on the occasion of the confirmation of this peace treaty, the emperor proclaimed a toast to the imperial family. Ekaterina drank her glass while sitting. When asked by Peter why she did not get up, she replied that she did not consider it necessary, since the imperial family consists entirely of the emperor, of herself and their son, the heir to the throne. “And my uncles, the Holstein princes?” - Peter objected and ordered Adjutant General Gudovich, who was standing behind his chair, to approach Catherine and say an abusive word to her. But, fearing that Gudovich would soften this impolite word during the transmission, Pyotr himself shouted it across the table aloud.

  The Empress wept. On the same evening she was ordered to arrest her, which, however, was not carried out at the request of one of Peter's uncles, the unwitting culprits of this scene. Since that time, Catherine began to listen more carefully to the proposals of her friends, which were made to her, starting from the very death of Elizabeth. The enterprise was sympathized with many persons of high Petersburg society, for the most part personally offended by Peter

• 1761, June 28 -. Catherine is proclaimed empress
• 1761, June 29 - Peter the Third abdicated
• 1761, July 6 - killed in prison
• 1761, September 2 - Coronation of Catherine II in Moscow
• 1787, January 2-July 1 -
• 1796, November 6 - death of Catherine the Great

Domestic policy of Catherine II

- Change in central government: in 1763 streamlining the structure and powers of the Senate
- Liquidation of the autonomy of Ukraine: liquidation of the hetmanate (1764), liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich (1775), serfdom of the peasantry (1783)
- Further subordination of the church to the state: secularization of church and monastery lands, 900 thousand church serfs became state serfs (1764)
- Improving legislation: a decree on tolerance for schismatics (1764), the right of landlords to exile peasants to hard labor (1765), the introduction of a noble monopoly on distillation (1765), a ban on peasants to file complaints against landlords (1768), the creation of separate courts for nobles, townspeople and peasants (1775), etc.
- Improving the administrative system of Russia: the division of Russia into 50 provinces instead of 20, the division of provinces into districts, the division of power in the provinces by function (administrative, judicial, financial) (1775);
- Strengthening the position of the nobility (1785):

• confirmation of all class rights and privileges of the nobility: exemption from compulsory service, from poll tax, corporal punishment; the right to unlimited disposal of the estate and land together with the peasants;
• the creation of noble class institutions: county and provincial noble assemblies, which met every three years and elected county and provincial marshals of the nobility;
• conferring the title of "noble" on the nobility.

“Catherine II was well aware that she could stay on the throne, only in every possible way pleasing the nobility and officers, in order to prevent or at least reduce the danger of a new palace conspiracy. This is what Catherine did. Her whole internal policy was to ensure that the life of officers at her court and in the guards was as profitable and pleasant as possible.

- Economic innovations: the establishment of a financial commission for the unification of money; establishment of a commission on commerce (1763); a manifesto on the conduct of a general demarcation to fix land plots; the establishment of the Free Economic Society to help noble entrepreneurship (1765); financial reform: the introduction of paper money - bank notes (1769), the creation of two bank notes (1768), the issuance of the first Russian external loan (1769); establishment of a postal department (1781); permission to start printing houses for private individuals (1783)

Foreign policy of Catherine II

• 1764 - Treaty with Prussia
• 1768-1774 - Russian-Turkish war
• 1778 - Restoration of the alliance with Prussia
• 1780 - Union of Russia, Denmark. and Sweden to protect navigation during the American War of Independence
• 1780 - Defensive alliance of Russia and Austria
• 1783, March 28 -
• 1783, August 4 - the establishment of a Russian protectorate over Georgia
• 1787-1791 —
• 1786, December 31 - trade agreement with France
• 1788 June - August - war with Sweden
• 1792 - rupture of relations with France
• 1793, March 14 - treaty of friendship with England
• 1772, 1193, 1795 - participation together with Prussia and Austria in the partitions of Poland
• 1796 - war in Persia in response to the Persian invasion of Georgia

Personal life of Catherine II. Briefly

“Catherine, by her nature, was neither evil nor cruel ... and excessively power-hungry: all her life she was invariably under the influence of successive favorites, to whom she gladly ceded her power, interfering in their orders with the country only when they very clearly showed their inexperience, inability or stupidity: she was smarter and more experienced in business than all her lovers, with the exception of Prince Potemkin.
There was nothing excessive in Catherine's nature, except for a strange mixture of the most rude and ever-increasing sensuality over the years with purely German, practical sentimentality. At sixty-five, she fell in love like a girl with twenty-year-old officers and sincerely believed that they were also in love with her. In her seventies, she cried bitter tears when it seemed to her that Platon Zubov was more restrained with her than usual.(Mark Aldanov)