Catherine II (the Great), 1762-1796

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Catherine II (the Great), 1762-1796
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Young Sophie (Catherine)

• Born in 1729 as Sophie Friederike Auguste von
  Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg in Stettin, Prussia (now
  Poland).
• 1745 married to tsarevich Peter (III) to
  solidify Prussian-Russian relations.
• Arrived in Russia and resolved to rule it.

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Peter III,ruled 5 January-9 July 1762

• Born 1728, son of Anna Petrovna, daughter of
  Peter I and Catherine I, and Karl Friedrich (Duke
  of Holstein-Gottorp).
• Mother died soon after his birth.
• Father died when he was 11.
• Elizabeth I took him in and appointed him her
  heir (1742).
• 1745-1762 He and Catherine waited and waited,
  and hated each other.
• Catherine thought him a capricious fool.

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Peter III,ruled 5 January-9 July 1762

• Typical enlightened absolutist
• Faced economic demands of Seven Years War, so
  ended it.
• Mobilize economy
• Expand powers of the state
• Improve tax collection
• Russian nobles resented pro-Prussian policies
• Introduced Liberty of the Nobility, loosening
  their service obligations.
• Removed use of torture in interrogations.
• Enacted religious tolerance.
• Confiscated church lands.

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Catherines coup detat

• Peters lover Elizabeth Vorontsova
• Peters war with Prussia against Denmark for
  Holstein
• His attempt to reform palace guards
• Catherine saw her chance.
• Gregory and Alexei Orlov helped.

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Catherines legitimacy

• She used Paul, born 1754
• Catherine Is precedent (Peter II)
• Declared regent and empress
• Bolstered by her early efforts at reform.

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Catherines quotations

• You philosophers are lucky men. You write on
  paper and paper is patient. Unfortunate Empress
  that I am, I write on the susceptible skins of
  living beings. (Letter to Denis Diderot)
• Power without a nation's confidence is nothing.
• I like to praise and reward loudly, to blame
  quietly.

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1767 reform effort

• Catherine called a Grand Commission
• 652 members from nobles, clergy, townspeople and
  peasants (but not serfs)
• Wrote ????? ???????? ? ??????????? ??????? ??????
  ???????? (Instruction for the commission about
  composing a proposal for a new general law)
• Exposed many enlightenment ideas to Russia (such
  as rule of law), but as Catherines
  interpretations.
• Denis Diderots critique focused on national
  sovereignty.
• Commission had over 200 meetings no immediate
  legislation resulted, but eventually led to much.

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Catherine as lawmaker

• 1775 Statute of Local Administration
• 1781 commercial navigation and salt trade reform
• 1785 Charter of the Nobility (??????? ?? ?????,
  ????????? ? ???????????? ???????????? ???????????
  ??????????) rights, freedoms, and benefits
• confirmed inheritance, right to private property
• no corporal punishment, no obligation to serve
• right to trade, provincial self-government.
• 1785 Charter of the Towns of 1785
• 1786 reformed education

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Catherine as conqueror

• Gained much of southern Russia, as well as
• Crimea
• Right-Bank Ukraine
• Belarus
• Lithuania
• Courland
• In total, added 518,000 square km

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Catherine as conqueror
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First Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774

• Sparked by border dispute at Balta (Poles vs.
  Russians)
• Sultan Mustafa III declared war on Russia
• Ottomans allied with Polish opposition
• Russia got British naval advisers
• 1770 Battle of Chesme Alexey Orlov Ottoman
  fleet destroyed
• Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, 21 July 1774
  (humiliating for Ottomans).

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Pugachev Rebellion, 1774-1775

• Yaik Cossacks
• Emelyan Pugachev Peter III
• Abolished serfdom
• Battle of Kazan, 12-15 July 1774
• Failed from localism, peasants, Tatars, Bashkirs
• 10 January 1775 Pugachev executed in Moscow.

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Partitions of Poland 1772, 1793, 1795

• 1764 King Stanislaw Poniatowski
• 1768 Catherine became protectoress of the
  Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
• Provoked Confederation of the Bar, 1768-72
• Led to first partition
• Frederick the Greats idea, really

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Partitions of Poland 1772, 1793, 1795

• 1789 French Revolution scared Catherine
• 3 May 1791 Polish Constitution
• Second Partition
• 1794 Kosciuszko Uprising
• Final Partition

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Partitions of Poland 1772, 1793, 1795
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Catherines legacy

• She also hated the French Revolution I preach
  and will go on preaching common cause with all
  the kings against the destroyers of thrones and
  of society, despite all the adherents of the
  wretched opposing system, and we will see who
  comes out on top reason, or the nonsense talked
  by the perfidious partisans of an execrable
  system, which in itself excludes and tramples
  underfoot all sentiments of religion, honour and
  glory.
• 20 October 1796 letter to Friedrich Grimm
  (Rounding, Catherine the Great, pp. 497-498)

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Catherines legacy

• Died 16 November 1796
• Solidified nobilitys place
• Worsened peasants place
• Improved government
• Spread Enlightenment
• Expanded militarily, but this was becoming the
  problem and rationale for rule.