The Life of the Incredible Catherine the Great
Catherine II, commonly referred to as Catherine the Great, was Empress of Russia during the era of Enlightenment; however, she did not begin life with this noble title, nor did she seemed destined to achieve. She began life as princess Sophie Friederike Auguste of the small Germanic principality of Anhalt-Zerbst. She was born to Christian Augustus (Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst) and Johanna Elisabeth (Princess of Holstein-Gottorp) in 1729 in Stettin. From a very young age, Catherine recognized the importance of education and court etiquette, and took every opportunity to increase her abilities and awareness in these areas. The education she received came mainly from tutors and her French governess; she dedicated herself to her studies and had an avid interest in the literature of the time period. She would also constantly travel with her mother to the courts of Zerbst, Hamburg, Brunswick, Kiel, and Berlin to provide herself with further exposure to court life and to improve her already impressive social skills. Catherine was extremely disciplined and ambitious and focused her life on becoming an exemplary educated female figure at court.
Catherine’s choice as wife for Grand Duke Peter of Russia was not entirely random, she did share some connections with him and his aunt, Empress Elizabeth (daughter of Peter the Great). Before Catherine was born, her mother’s brother, Karl August, was engaged to the Empress Elizabeth, but unfortunately he died from smallpox before the wedding. For this reason, the Empress always maintained a special affection for the nobility of Holstein-Gottorp. Peter’s mother, Anna, (Elizabeth’s sister) died of tuberculosis when he was young and when his father died, Elizabeth took over his guardianship and declared him as the heir to the Russian throne. When Peter turned 14 years old, Empress Elizabeth began to search for an appropriate wife and her decision resulted in Catherine and her mother being brought to the court at Moscow. In Russia, Catherine succeeded in impressing the Empress and “spared no effort to ingratiate herself not only with the Empress Elizabeth, but with her husband and with the Russian people” (Wikipedia, 2). Catherine committed herself to becoming a Russian and “represented herself as having made up her mind when she came to Russia to do whatever seemed necessary, and to profess to believe whatever required of her, in order to become qualified to wear the crown” (Wikipedia, 2). She demonstrated this desire by spending her days and nights learning the Russian language (she would walk around her room barefooted repeating her lessons in the middle of the night) and studying the Orthodox religion. She eventually converted to Orthodoxy in 1745, despite her father’s insistence that she retain her Lutheran faith, taking on the name Ekaterina (Catherine) Alexeyevna. The day after her conversion she was betrothed to Grand Duke Peter, becoming the Grand Duchess Catherine, the second highest-ranking lady in the country.
The marriage between Catherine and Peter occurred on August 21, 1745 in St. Petersburg at the Cathedral of Kazan. Due to Peter’s many ailments, the marriage was not consummated. Catherine became quite dissatisfied with her husband because she considered him to be immature and pitiful. Catherine’s views on her husband stemmed from the fact that he preoccupied himself with childish games, that he detested Russia, and that he idolized King Frederick and Prussia (Russia was in the midst of the horrible Seven Years war with Prussia from 1754 to 1763). Peter had also been left disfigured, pockmarked, and nearly bald after a severe smallpox infection. Further, he conducted himself in a deplorable manner; he would drink excessively, displayed crude manners, and took pleasure in detailing his many love affairs to his wife. Catherine was ultimately disgusted by her husband, and occupied her time with more worthy pursuits. After settling down in the Palace of Oranienbaum, she began to read extensively and began corresponding with prominent figures, such as Voltaire, Francois-Marie Arouet, and Denis Diderot. Catherine also began relations with her own lovers, such as Sergei Saltykov and Gregory Orlov and was eventually able to give birth to a son, Paul (it is not known whether the father was Peter or Sergei Saltykov because Catherine claimed in her memoirs that Saltykov was the father, but Paul resembled Peter). Catherine was promptly separated from her son and not allowed to visit him for months, as the Empress Elizabeth raised Paul herself in her apartments. When Empress Elizabeth died on December 25, 1761 Peter became Tsar Peter III of Russia and Catherine became the Empress of Russia.
As the Tsar, Peter made many political mistakes that alienated him from the nobility and army. One of his first actions was to end the ensuing war with Prussia by signing a treaty with King Frederick that restored all occupied territory to Prussia. He further insulted the army by insisting that they wear Prussian uniforms and by enforcing a Prussian style of discipline. As Peter continued to display that he was inept to rule the country Catherine formed a small group of people planning to overthrow the Tsar. The coup d’etat was eventually set in motion in June 1762 when, dressed in a simple black mourning dress, she appeared before the soldiers of the Ismailovsky Regiment claiming “I have come to you for protection. The Emperor has given orders to arrest me. I fear he intends to kill me” (Ursula, 3). The soldiers responded by calling her their saviour and bestowing her with adoration. Her procession then continued to the Semenovsky Barracks and then the Cathedral of Kazan, where she took an oath as Empress and Sole Autocrat. The procession ended at the Winter Palace with members of the Senate and Synod waiting to swear their allegiance to the new Empress. Paul was immediately brought to Catherine and she had a manifesto written and distributed to explain the reasons for the coup. While these events were unfolding, Catherine had a message delivered to Peter, who was away in the Oranienbaum Palace, explaining that she was now Empress of Russia. Despite this affront to his leadership of the country, Peter refused any confrontation and almost immediately signed the act of abdication. Catherine then ordered that he be kept under surveillance at the Ropsha estate, where he was killed three days later by Alexei Orlov after beginning a fight with the guards. It is recorded that Catherine was greatly distressed by the news of his death, but she did not attend his funeral. Having successfully removed Peter from power, Catherine II began ruling Russia as Empress on June 28, 1762 and she officially received the crown on September 22, 1762 in the Assumption Cathedral.
When Catherine became involved in the governing of the country she was astonished to discover the financial and social position of the country. She quickly realized that in order to rebuild her country she would have to begin by increasing the national wealth by making use of the resources available within Russia. During the time of her rule, Russia was primarily an agricultural region, therefore Catherine focused on improving agricultural techniques. She provided grants for landowners to buy the inventions and learn the methods being used in England. Catherine encouraged immigration to Russia by offering attractive terms for new settlers. In addition, she insisted upon the introduction of the newest methods for breeding sheep, cattle, and horses. Catherine made further improvements in Russia by improving the fur trade and supporting mining. She had the first School of Mines established in St. Petersburg. As a result of Catherine’s reforms, production increased in Russia because she decreed that anyone could begin a factory (except for in the two capitals because they were too crowded), leading to the emergence of the linen, pottery, leather goods, and furniture industries. During her reign, Catherine increased the number of factories within Russia from a mere 984 to an amazing 3 161. Catherine the Great made numerous impressive reforms in regards to capitalism and agriculture.
In order to improve governance of the many regions within Russia, Catherine established a decree in 1764 requiring all governor-generals to produce accurate censuses and maps of their provinces. Additional requirements included the building and repair of roads and bridges, maintaining proper management of orphanages and prisons, and fighting fires. The effect of these transformations to Russian provinces resulted in a doubling of the number of civil servants by 1767. Catherine also participated in the restructuring of city landscapes after the misfortune of the Tver fire, which burned down the centre of the town. She suggested modifications to the organization of the town that would prevent the same devastation from occurring if another fire began: “the main street ran into two big squares, one for administrative buildings, the other for shops…all side streets were to be 75 feet wide and the town itself had a diameter of about 2.6 miles” (Ursula, 6). The Tver configuration would serve as a model for all new towns built during Catherine’s reign.
Once Catherine had stabilized the economy, the legal system, and the social system, she focused her attention on improving education throughout the country. In the 1786 Statue for Schools, she decreed that it was necessary for every district town to create a minor school with two teachers and for every provincial town to establish a major school with six teachers. In a measure to improve the medical system of the time, Catherine founded Russia’s first College of Medicine to train doctors, surgeons, and apothecaries. The majority of the hospitals that Catherine established were designed for civilians, in comparison to the hospitals created by Peter the Great, which where intended for the military. As part of her provincial re-organization, she also ordered that there be a hospital present in every capital and that there should be a doctor, surgeon, assistant surgeon, and student doctor for every county with a population between 20 000 and 30 000.
Catherine the Great was a visionary and she was very idealistic in her views about the future of Russian and the reforms that could be carried out to elevate it to the status of a European nation. Catherine was intrigued by the ideals of the Enlightenment and wished to institute them into Russian societal framework. In 1766, she assembled a legislative body, termed the Grand Commission, in Moscow, comprised of 652 members from all classes (officials, nobles, peasants, etc.) and several nationalities. The purpose of this commission was to “consider the needs of the Russian Empire and the means of satisfying them” (Wikipedia, 7). To serve in this goal, Catherine prepared her infamous “Instructions for the Guidance of the Assembly”, which consisted largely of an accumulation of the philosophies of most notably, Montesquieu and Cesare Beccaria. Unfortunately, even after 200 meetings the commission was unable to develop any concrete reforms to be implemented into society. Despite this initial setback, Catherine did eventually develop many codes, such as the Statue of Local Administration (1775), the Code of Commercial Navigation (1781), the Salt Trade Code (1781), the Police Ordinance (1782), the Charters of the Nobility and the Towns (1785), and the Statue of National Education (1786).
Aside from her many political accomplishments, Catherine was also a patron of the arts, education, and literature. This patronage “furthered the evolution of arts in Russia more than that of any Russian sovereign before or after her” (Wikipedia, 6). Catherine acquired a large collection of artwork for the purpose of making Russia respectable (she was not satisfying a personal desire), and increased the Imperial collection from just over 12 works to 3 926 works. Further improvements including building palaces and the Hermitage and buying Diderot’s library and Voltaire’s books after their deaths, which raised the Imperial collection from a couple hundred books to over 38 000. Catherine herself also wrote, and was the first to produce Russian books with stories for children. She especially loved to teach and to spread the ideas of the Enlightenment, proving that Russia was an advanced and sophisticated society.
Catherine the Great’s reign lasted for 34 years, until her death on November 17, 1796, at the age of 67. Her death was the result of a stroke that left her unconscious, and eventually she passed away without having regained consciousness. Her son, Paul, then succeeded her. Catherine the Great was a remarkable woman, living in an era of change, who was able to foster the seeds of revolution in Russian society that would eventually propel the nation into a role of immense power and authority within the Western world.
