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Message from Catherine 2 on history. Reign of Catherine the Great

Or “The Golden Age of the Russian Nobility.” The Russian Empire under her hand grew in territory and won victories over external enemies, but the growing internal problems had already begun to rock the imperial throne. We will try to briefly characterize the period of the reign of the Great Empress on the throne of the Russian Empire, which lasted from 1762 to 1796.

Presentation

Brief description of the reign of Catherine II the Great

The era of enlightened absolutism

The Empress was not prone to idleness, but the splendor of her outfits, architectural delights and the style of the Russian court of those times had already begun to gain strength. Fashion, obeying the tastes of Catherine II, changed from baroque to classicism.

Despite the fact that the ideas of the “Enlightenment” postulated the equality and freedom of all people, the empress helped strengthen the serfdom of the peasant class, which at that time made up about 90% of the country’s total population. However, its contribution to the development of education, healthcare and science systems can hardly be called insignificant.

We have prepared a separate article with an analysis of the period of the reign of Catherine II the Great in the concept of enlightened absolutism.

Political life in Russia
during the reign of Catherine the Great

Foreign policy -
intrigue and war

Map - Russia conquers new territories under Catherine II

The army and navy received enough funding to significantly increase the number and quality of equipment, which had a positive impact on the success of military campaigns.

The most significant events were the three sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the war with Turkey of 1768-1774 and 1787-1791, the successful repulsion of aggression from Sweden and Persia (within the framework of the Treaty of St. George agreement). The result of these events was the annexation of Crimea, Little Russia, Novorossiya, Belarus, Ochakov and other territories. A large number of cities were founded on the Black Sea coast, and construction of the future Black Sea fleet began in the ports.

Eliminating the threat from the Crimean Khanate became one of the significant achievements of foreign policy.

In addition, the Russian state has finally established itself in the status of a world power - acting as a mediator in the settlement of the “War of the Bavarian Succession” and the conclusion of various alliances (the alliance of the “three black eagles”, the convention “on armed neutrality”) are clear confirmation of this.

A successful foreign policy not only consolidated the status of the Russian Empire as an influential player in the geopolitical field, but also raised the authority of the aristocracy of that time, which took an active part in hostilities. Two victorious Turkish companies, sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, repelled aggression of the Swedes and Persians, all these events had their heroes and commanders, whose names are still known and mentioned with respect - Suvorov, Potemkin, Rumyantsev, Ermolov.

Some of the empress's projects were not destined to come true - the Greek project (the goal of which was the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire with Catherine II's protégé emperor) was never realized.

Domestic policy -
development of Russia

Having seized power as a result of the coup d'etat of 1762, Catherine II began to carry out administrative and economic reforms - reforming the Senate, secularizing church property and issuing paper money - banknotes.

As a result of the exploitation of the peasant class, national politics and the general exhaustion of the state by the Russian-Polish and Russian-Turkish wars, the Pugachev uprising of 1773-1775 broke out. After the suppression of the riot and the subsequent repressions, Catherine II urgently carried out a series of administrative and police reforms, trying to prevent possible uprisings in the future - provincial, police and city reforms. Realizing the unreliability of the Cossack military formations (some of the Cossacks joined Pugachev’s uprising), the Empress abolishes the Zaporozhye Sich. To reduce social tension in the lower classes, the abolition of taxes and fees for various artisans and miners is announced.
Catherine II called the “letters of grant” issued in 1785 the crown of her own lawmaking.

The noble class could rightfully consider the era of Catherine II's reign to be its heyday. The noble classes received confirmation of existing privileges and new rights, including to the detriment of the peasants - the “letter of grant to the nobles” ensured the support of the empress among the court. Now the nobles were not even required to perform military service. And they had almost unlimited power over the peasants.

The “charter granted to cities” made it possible to distinguish between the rights and responsibilities of city residents, and at the same time, the legal formation of such a class of society as the merchants took place.

Economic development of Russia in the second half of the 18th century

The economy during the reign of Catherine II suffered from the slave labor of serfs; even the reforms carried out could not completely solve this problem. However, the country has become a leader in the export of resources such as timber and grain, as well as primary processed products (cast iron and canvas). Many monopolies on the extraction and sale of various raw materials were abolished, and tax duties were adjusted. As part of the financial reform, the first paper money was introduced - banknotes. The release of a manifesto “on freedom of enterprise” allowed anyone to open their own handicraft production.

The administrative reforms carried out helped to systematize taxation, and the secularization of church lands and property, at the beginning of the reign of Catherine II, made it possible to use the peasants and land that previously fed the clergy for the interests of the empress.

Base

In the social and cultural sphere:

Streamlining and systematizing the functions of administrative and judicial institutions. The division of territory is not based on volume, but based on population. Division of responsibilities of management positions.

Laying the foundation of a public educational system and women's education.

Consolidation of previously granted privileges to the nobles and the final enslavement of the peasants - complaints against the owners were prohibited, landowners were allowed to exile peasants to hard labor.

Distinction between classes, their responsibilities and rights. The emergence of the “city dweller” classes.

Development of the healthcare system, culture and art.

Resettlement of Germans on the territory of the Russian Empire with the provision of privileges.

In the economic sphere:

Issue of the first paper money - banknotes.

Freedom of enterprise for everyone except serfs.

Dependence of the Church on the state.

The volume of exports increased from 13.9 million rubles. in 1760 to 39.6 in 1790

Significant reduction in trade duties.

Corruption and favoritism.

Increase in “drinking fee” sixfold.

The total amount of state debts after the death of Catherine II is 205 million rubles.

In the geopolitical sphere:

A significant expansion of the influence of the Russian Empire in the Caucasus, the Black Sea coast and Europe - as a result of successful Turkish campaigns and partitions of Poland, the following regions were annexed: Crimea, Ochakov, Belarus, Novorossiya, Little Russia and other regions.

144 cities were founded.

The Black Sea Fleet was founded.

Increasing the size and quality of the army and navy.

Strengthening potential opponents due to the divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Consolidation of the “Norman theory” of the emergence of Russian statehood

Catherine II.F.Rokotov

Facts about the life and reign of one of the most powerful, glorious and controversial monarchs of the Russian Empire, Empress Catherine II

1. During the reign of Catherine the Great from 1762 to 1796, the empire’s possessions expanded significantly. Of the 50 provinces, 11 were acquired during her reign. The amount of government revenue increased from 16 to 68 million rubles. 144 new cities were built (more than 4 cities per year throughout the reign). The army almost doubled, the number of ships in the Russian fleet increased from 20 to 67 battleships, not counting other ships. The army and navy won 78 brilliant victories that strengthened Russia's international authority.

Palace Embankment

Access to the Black and Azov Seas was won, Crimea, Ukraine (except for the Lvov region), Belarus, Eastern Poland, and Kabarda were annexed. The annexation of Georgia to Russia began.

Moreover, during her reign, only one execution was carried out - the leader of the peasant uprising, Emelyan Pugachev.

F. Rokotov

2. The Empress’s daily routine was far from the ordinary people’s idea of royal life. Her day was scheduled by the hour, and its routine remained unchanged throughout her reign. Only the time of sleep changed: if in her mature years Catherine got up at 5, then closer to old age - at 6, and towards the end of her life even at 7 o'clock in the morning. After breakfast, the Empress received high-ranking officials and secretaries of state. The days and hours of reception for each official were constant. The working day ended at four o'clock, and it was time to rest. Hours of work and rest, breakfast, lunch and dinner were also constant. At 10 or 11 pm Catherine finished the day and went to bed.

3. Every day 90 rubles were spent on food for the Empress (for comparison: a soldier’s salary during the reign of Catherine was only 7 rubles a year). The favorite dish was boiled beef with pickles, and currant juice was consumed as a drink. For dessert, preference was given to apples and cherries.

4. After lunch, the empress began to do needlework, and Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy read aloud to her at this time. Ekaterina “masterfully sewed on canvas” and knitted. Having finished reading, she went to the Hermitage, where she sharpened bone, wood, amber, engraved, and played billiards.

View of the Winter Palace

5. Catherine was indifferent to fashion. She didn’t notice her, and sometimes she quite deliberately ignored her. On weekdays, the Empress wore a simple dress and did not wear jewelry.

D.Levitsky

6. By her own admission, she did not have a creative mind, but she wrote plays, and even sent some of them to Voltaire for “review.”

7. Catherine came up with a special suit for the six-month-old Tsarevich Alexander, the pattern of which was asked from her for her own children by the Prussian prince and the Swedish king. And for her beloved subjects, the empress came up with the cut of a Russian dress, which they were forced to wear at her court.

8. People who knew Catherine closely note her attractive appearance not only in her youth, but also in her mature years, her exceptionally friendly appearance, and ease of manner. Baroness Elizabeth Dimmesdale, who was first introduced to her along with her husband in Tsarskoe Selo at the end of August 1781, described Catherine as: “a very attractive woman with lovely expressive eyes and an intelligent look.”

View of the Fontanka

9. Catherine was aware that men liked her and she herself was not indifferent to their beauty and masculinity. “I received from nature great sensitivity and appearance, if not beautiful, then at least attractive. I liked the first time and did not use any art or embellishment for this.”

I. Faizullin. Catherine’s visit to Kazan

10. The Empress was quick-tempered, but knew how to control herself, and never made decisions in a fit of anger. She was very polite even with the servants, no one heard a rude word from her, she did not order, but asked to do her will. Her rule, according to Count Segur, was “to praise out loud and scold quietly.”

Oath of the Izmailovsky Regiment to Catherine II

11. Rules hung on the walls of the ballrooms under Catherine II: it was forbidden to stand in front of the empress, even if she approached the guest and spoke to him while standing. It was forbidden to be in a gloomy mood, to insult each other." And on the shield at the entrance to the Hermitage there was an inscription: "The mistress of these places does not tolerate coercion."

scepter

12. Thomas Dimmesdale, an English doctor was called from London to introduce smallpox vaccinations in Russia. Knowing about society's resistance to innovation, Empress Catherine II decided to set a personal example and became one of Dimmesdale's first patients. In 1768, an Englishman inoculated her and Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich with smallpox. The recovery of the empress and her son became a significant event in the life of the Russian court.

Johann the Elder Lampi

13. The Empress was a heavy smoker. The cunning Catherine, not wanting her snow-white gloves to become saturated with a yellow nicotine coating, ordered the tip of each cigar to be wrapped in a ribbon of expensive silk.

Coronation of Catherine II

14. The Empress read and wrote in German, French and Russian, but made many mistakes. Catherine was aware of this and once admitted to one of her secretaries that “she could only learn Russian from books without a teacher,” since “Aunt Elizaveta Petrovna told my chamberlain: it’s enough to teach her, she’s already smart.” As a result, she made four mistakes in a three-letter word: instead of “yet,” she wrote “ischo.”

15. Long before her death, Catherine composed an epitaph for her future tombstone: “Here lies Catherine the Second. She arrived in Russia in 1744 to marry Peter III. At the age of fourteen, she made a threefold decision: to please her husband, Elizabeth and the people She did not miss anything to achieve success in this regard. Eighteen years of boredom and loneliness prompted her to read many books. Having ascended to the Russian throne, she made every effort to give her subjects happiness, freedom and material well-being. She easily forgave and did not hate anyone. She was forgiving, loved life, had a cheerful disposition, was a true republican in her convictions and had a kind heart. She liked social entertainment and the arts.

Gallery of portraits of Empress Catherine II the Great

Artist Antoine Peng. Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of Catherine II

Artist Antoine Peng. Johanna Elisabeth of Anhalt of Zerbst, mother of Catherine II

Mother - Johanna Elisabeth, from the Gottorp estate, was a cousin of the future Peter III. Johanna Elisabeth's ancestry goes back to Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, first Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and founder of the Oldenburg dynasty.

Grotto Georg-Christophe (Groоth, Groot).1748

Shettin Castle

Georg Groth

Grotto. PORTRAIT OF GRAND DUKE PETER FEDOROVICH AND GRAND DUCHESS EKATERINA ALEXEEVNA. 1760s.

Pietro Antonio Rotari.1760,1761

V.Eriksen.Equestrian portrait of Catherine the Great

Eriksen, Vigilius.1762

I. P. Argunov Portrait of Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna.1762

Eriksen.Catherine II at the mirror.1762

Ivan Argunov.1762

V.Eriksen.1782

Eriksen.1779

Eriksen.Catherine II at the mirror.1779

Eriksen.1780

Lampi Johann-Batis.1794

R. Brompton. 1782

D.Levitsky.1782

P.D.Levitsky.Portrait of Catherine II .1783

Alexey Antropov

Portrait of Empress Catherine II in a traveling suit. SHIBANOV Mikhail. 1780

V. Borovikovsky. Catherine IIon a walk in Tsarskoye Selo Park.1794

Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich.Portrait of Catherine II

Favorites of Catherine II

Grigory Potemkin

Perhaps the most important among the favorites, who did not lose his influence even after Catherine began to pay attention to others. He earned the attention of the Empress during the palace coup. She singled him out among other employees of the Horse Guards regiment, he immediately became a chamber cadet at court with an appropriate salary and a gift of 400 peasant souls.Grigory Potemkin is one of the few lovers of Catherine II, who pleased not only her personally, but also did a lot of useful things for the country. He built not only “Potemkin villages”. It was thanks to Potemkin that the active development of Novorossia and Crimea began. Although his actions were partly the reason for the start of the Russian-Turkish war, it ended with another victory for Russian weapons. In 1776, Potemkin ceased to be a favorite, but remained a man whose advice Catherine II listened to until his death. Including choosing new favorites.

Grigory Potemkin and Elizaveta Tiomkina, daughter of the Most Serene Prince and Russian Empress

J. de Velli. Portrait of Counts G. G. and A. G. Orlov

Grigory Orlov

Grigory Orlov grew up in Moscow, but exemplary service and distinction in the Seven Years' War contributed to his transfer to the capital - St. Petersburg. There he gained fame as a reveler and “Don Juan.” Tall, stately, beautiful - the young wife of the future emperor Ekaterina Alekseevna simply could not help but pay attention to him.His appointment as treasurer of the Office of the Main Artillery and Fortification allowed Catherine to use public money to organize a palace coup.Although he was not a major statesman, sometimes he fulfilled the delicate requests of the empress herself. Thus, according to one version, together with his brother Orlov, he took the life of Catherine II’s lawful husband, the deposed Emperor Peter III.

Stanislav August Poniatowski

Known for his elegant manners, the Polish aristocrat of an ancient family, Stanislaw August Poniatowski, first met Catherine in 1756. He lived in London for many years and ended up in St. Petersburg as part of the English diplomatic mission. Poniatowski was not an official favorite, but he was still considered the empress’s lover, which gave him weight in society. With the ardent support of Catherine II, Poniatowski became the king of Poland. It is possible that Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, recognized by Peter III, is actually the daughter of Catherine and a handsome Polish man. Peter III lamented: “God knows how my wife gets pregnant; I don’t know for sure whether this child is mine and whether I should recognize him as mine.”

Peter Zavadovsky

This time Catherine was attracted by Zavadovsky, a representative of a famous Cossack family. He was brought to court by Count Pyotr Rumyantsev, a favorite of another empress, Elizabeth Petrovna. A charming man with a pleasant character, Catherine II was once again struck to the heart. In addition, she found him “quieter and more humble” than Potemkin.In 1775 he was appointed cabinet secretary. Zavadovsky received the rank of major general, 4 thousand peasant souls. He even settled in the palace. Such an approach to the empress alarmed Potemkin and, as a result of palace intrigues, Zavadovsky was removed and went to his estate. Despite this, he remained faithful to her and loved her passionately for a long time, marrying only 10 years later. In 1780, he was recalled by the empress back to St. Petersburg, where he held high administrative positions, including becoming the first minister of public education.

Platon Zubov

Platon Zubov began his path to Catherine with service in the Semenovsky regiment. He enjoyed the patronage of Count Nikolai Saltykov, the tutor of the Empress’s grandchildren. Zubov began to command the horse guards, who went to Tsarskoe Selo to stand guard. On June 21, 1789, with the help of state lady Anna Naryshkina, he received an audience with Catherine II and since then spent almost every evening with her. Just a few days later he was promoted to colonel and settled in the palace. He was received coldly at court, but Catherine II was crazy about him. After Potemkin’s death, Zubov played an increasingly important role, and Catherine never had time to be disappointed in him - she died in 1796. Thus, he became the last favorite of the empress. Later, he would take an active part in a conspiracy against Emperor Paul I, as a result of which he was killed, and Zubov’s friend Alexander I became the head of state. Guglielmi, Gregorio. Apotheosis of the reign of Catherine II .1767

A foreigner by birth, she sincerely loved Russia and cared about the welfare of her subjects. Having taken the throne through a palace coup, the wife of Peter III tried to implement the best ideas of the European Enlightenment into the life of Russian society. At the same time, Catherine opposed the outbreak of the Great French Revolution (1789-1799), outraged by the execution of the French king Louis XVI of Bourbon (January 21, 1793) and predetermining Russia's participation in the anti-French coalition of European states at the beginning of the 19th century.

Catherine II Alekseevna (nee Sophia Augusta Frederica, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst) was born on May 2, 1729 in the German city of Stettin (modern territory of Poland), and died on November 17, 1796 in St. Petersburg.

The daughter of Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, who was in the Prussian service, and Princess Johanna Elisabeth (née Princess Holstein-Gottorp), she was related to the royal houses of Sweden, Prussia and England. She received a home education, the course of which, in addition to dance and foreign languages, also included the basics of history, geography and theology.

In 1744, she and her mother were invited to Russia by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, and baptized according to Orthodox custom under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. Soon her engagement to Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (future Emperor Peter III) was announced, and in 1745 they got married.

Catherine understood that the court loved Elizabeth, did not accept many of the oddities of the heir to the throne, and, perhaps, after Elizabeth’s death, it was she who, with the support of the court, would ascend to the Russian throne. Catherine studied the works of figures of the French Enlightenment, as well as jurisprudence, which had a significant impact on her worldview. In addition, she made as much effort as possible to study, and perhaps understand, the history and traditions of the Russian state. Because of her desire to know everything Russian, Catherine won the love of not only the court, but also the whole of St. Petersburg.

After the death of Elizaveta Petrovna, Catherine’s relationship with her husband, never distinguished by warmth and understanding, continued to deteriorate, taking on clearly hostile forms. Fearing arrest, Ekaterina, with the support of the Orlov brothers, N.I. Panina, K.G. Razumovsky, E.R. Dashkova, on the night of June 28, 1762, when the emperor was in Oranienbaum, carried out a palace coup. Peter III was exiled to Ropsha, where he soon died under mysterious circumstances.

Having begun her reign, Catherine tried to implement the ideas of the Enlightenment and organize the state in accordance with the ideals of this most powerful European intellectual movement. Almost from the first days of her reign, she has been actively involved in government affairs, proposing reforms that are significant for society. On her initiative, a reform of the Senate was carried out in 1763, which significantly increased the efficiency of its work. Wanting to strengthen the dependence of the church on the state, and to provide additional land resources to the nobility supporting the policy of reforming society, Catherine carried out the secularization of church lands (1754). The unification of administration of the territories of the Russian Empire began, and the hetmanate in Ukraine was abolished.

A champion of Enlightenment, Catherine creates a number of new educational institutions, including for women (Smolny Institute, Catherine School).

In 1767, the empress convened a commission, which included representatives of all segments of the population, including peasants (except serfs), to compose a new code - a code of laws. To guide the work of the Statutory Commission, Catherine wrote “The Mandate,” the text of which was based on the writings of educational authors. This document, in essence, was the liberal program of her reign.

After the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. and the suppression of the uprising under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev, a new stage of Catherine’s reforms began, when the empress independently developed the most important legislative acts and, taking advantage of the unlimited power of her power, put them into practice.

In 1775, a manifesto was issued that allowed the free opening of any industrial enterprises. In the same year, a provincial reform was carried out, which introduced a new administrative-territorial division of the country, which remained until 1917. In 1785, Catherine issued letters of grant to the nobility and cities.

In the foreign policy arena, Catherine II continued to pursue an offensive policy in all directions - northern, western and southern. The results of foreign policy can be called the strengthening of Russia’s influence on European affairs, three sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, strengthening of positions in the Baltic states, annexation of Crimea, Georgia, participation in countering the forces of revolutionary France.

The contribution of Catherine II to Russian history is so significant that her memory is preserved in many works of our culture.

She was German by nationality. However, history recognizes this woman as one of the greatest Russian leaders, and deservedly so. The biography of Catherine 2 was very eventful: her life took many sharp turns and contained many bright, interesting and very important events for Russian history. It is not surprising that many books have been written and a large number of films have been made about the fate of this outstanding woman.

Princess Fike

At birth her name was Sophia Frederica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst (1729-1796), she was the daughter of Prince Christian of Anhalt-Zerbst, who was in Prussian service. At home, the girl was called Fike (a kind of diminutive of Frederick), she was inquisitive, willing to study, but showed a penchant for boyish games.

A poor and not very noble girl was chosen as the bride of the heir to the Russian throne only for the reason that Empress Elizaveta Petrovna had once been the bride of her uncle. Peter Fedorovich, Elizabeth's nephew (the future Peter 3) and Sophia-Frederica were married in 1745. Before this, the bride converted to Orthodoxy and was baptized in the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Peter was forced to marry Catherine by force, and he immediately disliked his wife. The marriage was extremely unsuccessful - the husband not only neglected his wife, but also clearly mocked and humiliated her. Empress Elizabeth immediately after her birth took away her son from Catherine, as a result of which the relationship between mother and son also did not work out. Of all her relatives, she only got along with her grandchildren, Alexander and Konstantin.

Probably, an unsuccessful marriage led Catherine 2 to a free lifestyle. She had lovers (almost openly) during her husband’s lifetime. Among them there were all sorts, but it is noteworthy that among Catherine’s favorites there were many truly outstanding people. Such a way of life among the monarchs of that time, deprived of the opportunity to choose a life partner according to inclination, was not something special.

Coup d'etat

After the death of Elizabeth (January 1762 according to the new style), Catherine rightly feared for her life - she only interfered with the new sovereign. But
Many influential nobles were also dissatisfied with Peter 3. They united around the empress, and on July 9 (June 28, old style) of the same year, a coup d'état took place.

Peter abdicated the throne, and soon died (the murder has not been proven, but more than likely, it simply had to be planned). Relying on the support of her supporters, Catherine was crowned, and did not become regent under her son Paul.

Catherine the Great

The period of Catherine's reign was then called the "golden age". This is not accurate, but the empress really did a lot for the country.

The territory of the state increased significantly - the lands of modern Southern and Central Ukraine, part of Poland, Finland, and Crimea were annexed. Russia won three wars with Turkey.

Catherine 2 reformed the management system: she carried out a provincial reform, changed the powers of the Senate, and transferred church property under state management. Corruption remained a big problem, but during the time of Catherine II, dignitaries still worked more than took bribes. The empress herself sometimes appointed incapable people to high positions (out of personal sympathy or at the request of someone close to her), but this did not happen regularly.

Enthroned by the nobility, Catherine involuntarily became a hostage of this class. The nobility came first for her:

she distributed more than 800 thousand state peasants in favor of the landowners;
noble dignitaries received awards of tens of thousands of acres of land;
The “Charter Granted to the Nobility” of 1785 endowed the nobles with a host of additional privileges and actually allowed them not to serve the state.

But at the same time, the empress did not forget other classes - in the same year the “Charter of Grant to the Cities” appeared.

Catherine 2 was known as an enlightened monarch. This is true with a stretch - its absolutism and serfdom do not quite correspond to the idea of the Enlightenment. But she was engaged in literary activities, patronized publishers, D. Diderot was her librarian for some time, during her reign the Academy of Sciences and the Smolny Institute were created, she introduced smallpox vaccination in the country.

But the empress was not a kind mother. Any protest was suppressed mercilessly. Catherine harshly suppressed the uprising, liquidated the Zaporozhye Sich, and the publicist Radishchev quickly found himself behind bars for criticizing the Russian system.

Catherine II Alekseevna the Great (nee Sophia Auguste Friederike of Anhalt-Zerbst, German Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, in Orthodoxy Ekaterina Alekseevna; April 21 (May 2), 1729, Stettin, Prussia - November 6 (17), 1796, Winter Palace, St. Petersburg) - Empress of All Russia from 1762 to 1796.

The daughter of the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine came to power in a palace coup that overthrew her unpopular husband Peter III from the throne.

Catherine's 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 expanded to the west (partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) and to the south (annexation of Novorossiya).

The system of public administration under Catherine II was reformed for the first time since that time.

Culturally, Russia finally became one of the great European powers, which was greatly facilitated by the empress herself, who was fond of literary activity, collected masterpieces of painting and corresponded with French educators.

In general, Catherine’s policy and her reforms fit into the mainstream of enlightened absolutism of the 18th century.

Catherine II the Great (documentary)

Sophia Frederica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst was born on April 21 (May 2, new style) 1729 in the then German city of Stettin, the capital of Pomerania (Pomerania). Now the city is called Szczecin, among other territories it was voluntarily transferred by the Soviet Union, following the Second World War, to Poland and is the capital of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland.

Father, Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, came from the Zerbst-Dorneburg line of the House of Anhalt and was 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 duke of Courland, but unsuccessfully , ended his service as a Prussian field marshal. Mother - Johanna Elisabeth, from the Gottorp estate, was a cousin of the future Peter III. Johanna Elisabeth's ancestry goes back to Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, first Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and founder of the Oldenburg dynasty.

His maternal uncle, Adolf Friedrich, was chosen as heir to the Swedish throne in 1743, which he assumed in 1751 under the name of Adolf Friedrich. Another uncle, Karl Eitinsky, according to Catherine I, was supposed to become the husband of her daughter Elizabeth, but died on the eve of the wedding celebrations.

In the family of the Duke of Zerbst, Catherine received a home education. She studied English, French and Italian, dance, music, the basics of history, geography, and theology. She grew up as a playful, inquisitive, playful girl and loved to show off her courage in front of the boys with whom she easily played on the streets of Stettin. The parents were dissatisfied with their daughter’s “boyish” behavior, but they were satisfied that Frederica took care of her younger sister Augusta. Her mother called her Fike or Ficken as a child (German Figchen - comes from the name Frederica, that is, “little Frederica”).

In 1743, the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, choosing a bride for her heir, Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, the future Russian Emperor, remembered that on her deathbed her mother bequeathed to her to become the wife of the Holstein prince, Johanna Elisabeth’s brother. Perhaps it was this circumstance that tipped the scales in Frederica's favor; Elizabeth had previously vigorously supported the election of her uncle to the Swedish throne and exchanged portraits with her mother. In 1744, the Zerbst princess and her mother were invited to Russia to marry Pyotr Fedorovich, who was her second cousin. She first saw her future husband at Eitin Castle in 1739.

Immediately after arriving in Russia, she began to study the Russian language, history, Orthodoxy, and Russian traditions, as she sought to become more fully acquainted with Russia, which she perceived as a new homeland. Among her teachers are 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).

In an effort to learn Russian as quickly as possible, the future empress studied at night, sitting by an open window in the frosty air. She soon fell ill with pneumonia, and her condition was so serious that her mother suggested bringing a Lutheran pastor. Sofia, however, refused and sent for Simon of Todorsky. This circumstance added to her popularity at the Russian court. On June 28 (July 9), 1744, Sofia Frederica Augusta converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy and received the name Ekaterina Alekseevna (the same name and patronymic as Elizabeth’s mother, Catherine I), and the next day she was engaged to the future emperor.

The appearance of Sophia and her mother in St. Petersburg was accompanied by political intrigue in which her mother, Princess Zerbst, was involved. She was a fan of the King of Prussia, Frederick II, and the latter decided to use her stay at the Russian imperial court to establish his influence on Russian foreign policy. For this purpose, it was planned, through intrigue and influence on Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, to remove Chancellor Bestuzhev, who pursued an anti-Prussian policy, from affairs and replace him with another nobleman who sympathized with Prussia. However, Bestuzhev managed to intercept letters from Princess Zerbst to Frederick II and present them to Elizaveta Petrovna. After the latter learned about the “ugly role of a Prussian spy” that Sophia’s mother played at her court, she immediately changed her attitude towards her and subjected her to disgrace. 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 Pyotr Fedorovich, who was 17 years old and who was her second cousin. During the first years of their marriage, Peter was not at all interested in his wife, and there was no marital relationship between them.

Finally, after two unsuccessful pregnancies, On September 20, 1754, Catherine gave birth to a son, Pavel.. The birth was difficult, the baby was immediately taken away from the mother by the will of the reigning Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, and Catherine was deprived of the opportunity to raise her, allowing her to see Paul only occasionally. So the Grand Duchess first saw her son only 40 days after giving birth. A number of sources claim that Paul’s true father 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 say that such rumors are unfounded, and that Peter underwent an operation that eliminated a defect that made conception impossible. The question of paternity also aroused interest among society.

After the birth of Pavel, relations with Peter and Elizaveta Petrovna completely deteriorated. Peter called his wife “spare madam” and openly took mistresses, however, without preventing Catherine from doing the same, who during this period, thanks to the efforts of the English ambassador Sir Charles Henbury Williams, had a relationship with Stanislav Poniatowski, the future king of Poland. On December 9, 1757, Catherine gave birth to her daughter Anna, which caused strong dissatisfaction with Peter, who said at the news of a new pregnancy: “God knows why my wife became pregnant again! I’m not at all sure if this child is from me and whether I should take it personally.”

During this period, the English Ambassador Williams was a close friend and confidant of Catherine. He repeatedly provided her with significant sums in the form of loans or subsidies: only in 1750 she was given 50,000 rubles, for which there are two receipts from her; and in November 1756 she was given 44,000 rubles. In return, he received various confidential information from her - verbally and through letters, which she quite regularly wrote to him as if on behalf of a man (for purposes of secrecy). In particular, at the end of 1756, after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War with Prussia (of which England was an ally), Williams, as follows from his own dispatches, received from Catherine important information about the state of the warring Russian army and about the plan of the Russian offensive, which he transferred to London, as well as to Berlin to the Prussian king Frederick II. After Williams left, she also received money from his successor Keith. Historians explain Catherine’s frequent appeal to the British for money by her extravagance, due to which her expenses far exceeded the amounts that were allocated from the treasury for her maintenance. In one of her letters to Williams, she promised, as a sign of gratitude, “to lead Russia to a friendly alliance with England, to give her 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 will learn to practice these feelings, I will base my glory on them and I will prove to the king, your sovereign, the strength of these feelings of mine.”.

Already starting in 1756, and especially during the illness of Elizabeth Petrovna, Catherine hatched a plan to remove the future emperor (her husband) from the throne through a conspiracy, which she repeatedly wrote to Williams. For these purposes, Catherine, according to the historian V. O. Klyuchevsky, “begged a loan of 10 thousand pounds sterling from the English king for gifts and bribes, pledging on her word of honor to act in the common Anglo-Russian interests, and began to think about involving the guard in the case in the event of death Elizabeth, entered into a secret agreement on this with Hetman K. Razumovsky, commander of one of the guards regiments.” Chancellor Bestuzhev, who promised Catherine assistance, was also privy to this plan for a palace coup.

At the beginning of 1758, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna suspected the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Apraksin, with whom Catherine was on friendly terms, as well as Chancellor Bestuzhev himself, of treason. Both were arrested, interrogated and punished; however, Bestuzhev managed to destroy all his correspondence with Catherine before his arrest, which saved her from persecution and disgrace. At the same time, Williams was recalled to England. Thus, her former favorites were removed, but a circle of new ones began to form: Grigory Orlov and Dashkova.

The death of Elizaveta 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 live openly with his mistress Elizaveta Vorontsova, settling 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 communication between the spouses had stopped completely by that time. Catherine hid her pregnancy, and when the time came to give birth, her devoted valet Vasily Grigorievich Shkurin set fire to his house. A lover of such spectacles, Peter and his court left the palace to look at the fire; At this time, Catherine gave birth safely. This is how Alexey Bobrinsky was born, to whom his brother Pavel I subsequently awarded the title of count.

Having ascended the throne, Peter III carried out a number of actions that caused a negative attitude towards him from the officer corps. Thus, he concluded an unfavorable agreement for Russia with Prussia, while Russia won a number of victories over it during the Seven Years' War, and returned to it the lands captured by the Russians. At the same time, he intended, in alliance with Prussia, to oppose Denmark (Russia’s ally), in order to return Schleswig, which it had taken from Holstein, and he himself intended to go 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 those around him plans for the reform of church rituals. Supporters of the coup also accused Peter III of ignorance, dementia, dislike for Russia, and complete inability to rule. Against his background, Catherine looked favorably - an intelligent, well-read, pious and benevolent wife, subjected to persecution by her husband.

After the relationship with her husband completely 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, sergeant Potemkin and adjutant Fyodor Khitrovo, began campaigning in the guards units and won them over to their side. The immediate cause of 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, there was some foreign participation here too. As A. Troyat and K. Waliszewski write, planning the overthrow of Peter III, Catherine turned to the French and British for money, hinting to them what she was going to do. The French were distrustful of her request to borrow 60 thousand rubles, not believing in 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.

Early in the 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 units swore allegiance to her. Peter III, seeing the hopelessness of resistance, abdicated the throne the next day, was taken into custody and died under unclear circumstances. In her letter, Catherine once indicated that before his death Peter suffered from hemorrhoidal colic. After death (although the facts indicate that even before death - see below), Catherine ordered an autopsy to be performed in order to dispel suspicions of poisoning. The autopsy showed (according to Catherine) that the stomach was absolutely clean, which ruled out 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” - Orlov’s letters 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 the doctor Paulsen to him, and as Pavlenko writes, “It is indicative that Paulsen was sent to Ropsha not with medicines, but with surgical instruments for opening the body”.

After her husband's abdication, Ekaterina Alekseevna ascended the throne as reigning empress with the name of Catherine II, publishing a manifesto in which the grounds for the removal of Peter were indicated as an attempt to change the state religion and peace with Prussia. To justify her own rights to the throne (and not the heir to Paul), Catherine referred to “the desire of all Our loyal subjects, obvious and unfeigned.” On September 22 (October 3), 1762, she was crowned in Moscow. As V. O. Klyuchevsky characterized her accession, “Catherine made a double takeover: she took power from her husband and did not transfer it to her son, the natural heir of his 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 increased significantly due to the annexation of fertile southern lands - Crimea, the Black Sea region, as well as the eastern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, etc. The population increased from 23.2 million (in 1763) to 37.4 million (in 1796), In terms of population, Russia became the largest European country (it accounted for 20% of the European population). Catherine II formed 29 new provinces and built about 144 cities.

Klyuchevsky about the reign of Catherine the Great: “The army with 162 thousand people was strengthened to 312 thousand, the fleet, which in 1757 consisted of 21 battleships and 6 frigates, in 1790 included 67 battleships and 40 frigates and 300 rowing ships, the amount of state revenue from 16 million rubles rose to 69 million, that is, it increased more than fourfold, the success of foreign trade: the Baltic - in increasing imports and exports, from 9 million to 44 million rubles, the Black Sea, Catherine and created - from 390 thousand. 1776 to 1 million 900 thousand rubles in 1796, the growth of internal turnover was indicated by the issue of coins in the 34 years of the reign for 148 million rubles, while in the 62 previous years it was issued only for 97 million.”

Population growth was largely the result of the annexation of foreign states and territories (which were home to almost 7 million people) to Russia, often occurring against 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 in fact they remained villages in appearance and occupation of the population, the same applies to a number of cities founded by her (some even existed only on paper, as evidenced by contemporaries). In addition to the issue of coins, 156 million rubles worth of paper notes were issued, which led to inflation and a significant depreciation of the ruble; therefore, the real growth of budget revenues and other economic indicators during her reign was significantly less than the nominal one.

The Russian economy continued to remain agricultural. The share of the urban population has practically not increased, amounting to about 4%. At the same time, a number of cities were founded (Tiraspol, Grigoriopol, etc.), iron smelting more than doubled (for which Russia took 1st place in the world), and the number of sailing and linen manufactories increased. In total, by the end of the 18th century. there were 1,200 large enterprises in the country (in 1767 there were 663). The export of Russian goods to other European countries has increased significantly, including through the established 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 imports were dominated by foreign industrial products. While in the West in the second half of the 18th century. The Industrial Revolution was taking 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 broke out, which resulted in a financial crisis.

Catherine’s commitment to the ideas of the Enlightenment largely predetermined the fact that the term “enlightened absolutism” is often used to characterize the domestic policy of Catherine’s time. She actually brought some of the ideas of the Enlightenment to life.

Thus, according to Catherine, based on the works of the French philosopher, the vast Russian spaces and the severity of the climate determine the pattern and necessity of autocracy in Russia. Based on this, 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 Diderot and Voltaire, of which she was a vocal supporter, did not correspond to her domestic policy. They defended the idea that every person is born free, and advocated the equality of all people and the elimination of medieval forms of exploitation and oppressive forms of government. Contrary to these ideas, under Catherine there was a further deterioration in the position of the serfs, their exploitation intensified, and inequality grew due to the granting of even greater privileges to the nobility.

In general, historians characterize her policy as “pro-noble” and believe that, contrary to the empress’s frequent statements about her “vigilant concern for the welfare of all subjects,” the concept of the common good in the era of Catherine was the same fiction as in Russia as a whole in the 18th century.

Under Catherine, the territory of the empire was divided into provinces, many of which remained virtually unchanged until the October Revolution. The territory of Estonia and Livonia as a result of the regional reform in 1782-1783. was divided into two provinces - Riga and Revel - with institutions that already existed in other provinces of Russia. The special Baltic order, which provided for more extensive rights of local nobles to work and the personality of the peasant than those of Russian landowners, was also eliminated. 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 revolts. The reform was preceded by a series of notes submitted to the government from the nobility, in which it was recommended to increase the network of institutions and “police supervisors” in the country.

Carrying out provincial reform in Left Bank Ukraine in 1783-1785. led to a change in the regimental structure (former regiments and hundreds) to the administrative division common to the Russian Empire into provinces and districts, the final establishment of serfdom and the equalization of the rights of the Cossack elders with the Russian nobility. With the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty (1774), Russia gained access to the Black Sea and Crimea.

Thus, there was no longer a need to maintain the special rights and management system of the Zaporozhye Cossacks. 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 Cossacks’ support for the Pugachev uprising, Catherine II ordered the disbandment of the Zaporozhye Sich, which was carried out by order of Grigory Potemkin to pacify the Zaporozhye Cossacks by General Pyotr Tekeli in June 1775.

The Sich was disbanded, most of the Cossacks were disbanded, and the fortress itself was destroyed. In 1787, Catherine II, together with Potemkin, visited Crimea, where she was met by the Amazon company created for her arrival; in the same year, the Army of the Faithful Cossacks was created, which later became the Black Sea Cossack Army, and in 1792 they were granted Kuban for eternal use, where the Cossacks moved, founding the city of Ekaterinodar.

Reforms on 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 extensive development of the economy and trade, while maintaining “patriarchal” industry and agriculture. By a decree of 1775, factories and industrial plants were recognized as property, the disposal of which does not require special permission from their superiors. In 1763, the free exchange of copper money for silver was prohibited, so as not to provoke the development of inflation. The development and revival of trade was facilitated by the emergence of new credit institutions (state bank and loan office) and the expansion of banking operations (acceptance of deposits for safekeeping was introduced in 1770). A state bank was established and the issue of paper money - banknotes - was established for the first time.

State regulation of salt prices has been introduced, which was one of the vital goods in the country. The Senate legislatively set the price of salt at 30 kopecks per pood (instead of 50 kopecks) and 10 kopecks per pood in regions where fish are mass-salted. Without introducing a state monopoly on the salt trade, Catherine hoped for increased competition and, ultimately, an improvement in the quality of the product. However, soon the price of salt was raised again. 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.

Russia's role in the global economy has increased- Russian sailing fabric began to be exported to England in large quantities, and the export of cast iron and iron to other European countries increased (consumption of cast iron on the domestic Russian market also increased significantly). But the export of raw materials increased especially strongly: timber (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 Sea. However, their number was insignificant in comparison with foreign ones - only 7% of the total number of ships serving Russian foreign trade in the late 18th - early 19th centuries; the number of foreign merchant ships entering Russian ports annually during her reign increased from 1340 to 2430.

As the economic historian N.A. Rozhkov pointed out, in the structure of exports in the era of Catherine there were no finished products at all, only raw materials and semi-finished products, and 80-90% of imports were foreign industrial products, the volume of imports of which was several times higher than domestic production. Thus, the volume of domestic manufacturing production in 1773 was 2.9 million rubles, the same as in 1765, and the volume of imports in these years was about 10 million rubles.

Industry developed poorly, there were practically no technical improvements and serf labor dominated. Thus, from year to year, cloth factories could not even satisfy the needs of the army, despite the ban on selling cloth “outside”; in addition, the cloth was of poor quality, and it had to be purchased abroad. Catherine herself did not understand the significance of the Industrial Revolution taking place in the West and argued that machines (or, as she called them, “machines”) harm the state because they reduce the number of workers. Only two export industries developed rapidly - the production of cast iron and linen, but both were based on “patriarchal” methods, without the use of new technologies that were actively being introduced in the West at that time - which predetermined a 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 complete liberalization of exports and imports, which, according to a number of economic historians, was a consequence 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 abolished, which from that time began to grow rapidly. In 1765, the Free Economic Society was founded, which promoted the ideas of free trade and published its own magazine. In 1766, a new customs tariff was introduced, significantly reducing tariff barriers compared to the protectionist tariff of 1757 (which established protective duties of 60 to 100% or more); they were reduced even more in the customs tariff of 1782. Thus, in the “moderate protectionist” tariff of 1766, protective duties averaged 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); The promotion of intensive agricultural methods by the Free Economic Society created under Catherine did not have much result.

From the first years of Catherine's reign, famine began to occur periodically in the village, which some contemporaries explained by chronic crop failures, but the historian M.N. Pokrovsky associated with the beginning of mass grain exports, which had previously, under Elizaveta Petrovna, been prohibited, and by the end of Catherine’s reign amounted to 1.3 million rubles. in year. Cases of mass ruin of peasants have become more frequent. The famines became especially widespread in the 1780s, when they affected large regions of the country. Bread prices have increased significantly: 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 introduced into circulation in 1769 - banknotes- 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 became a constant phenomenon, from the beginning of the 1780s, an increasing number of banknotes were issued, the volume of which reached 156 million rubles by 1796, 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 internal obligations (bills, salaries, etc.) in the amount of RUB 15.5 million. That. the total amount of government debts amounted to 205 million rubles, the treasury was empty, and budget expenses significantly exceeded income, which was stated by Paul I upon his accession to the throne. All this gave the historian N.D. Chechulin, in his economic research, the basis to conclude about a “severe economic crisis” in the country (in the second half of the reign of Catherine II) and about the “complete collapse of the financial system of Catherine’s reign.”

In 1768, a network of city schools was created, based on a class-lesson system. Schools began to open actively. Under Catherine, special attention was paid to the development of women's education; in 1764, the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens and the Educational Society for Noble Maidens were opened. The Academy of Sciences has become one of the leading scientific bases in Europe. An observatory, a physics laboratory, an anatomical theater, a botanical garden, instrumental workshops, a printing house, a library, and an archive were founded. On October 11, 1783, the Russian Academy was founded.

Compulsory smallpox 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 to be vaccinated were also Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna. Under Catherine II, the fight against epidemics in Russia began to acquire the character of state measures that were directly included in the responsibilities of the Imperial Council and the Senate. By decree of Catherine, outposts were created, located not only on the borders, but also on the roads leading to the center of Russia. The “Charter of Border and Port Quarantines” was created.

New areas of medicine for Russia developed: hospitals for the treatment of syphilis, psychiatric hospitals and shelters were opened. A number of fundamental works on medical issues have been published.

To prevent their relocation to the central regions of Russia and attachment to their communities for the convenience of collecting state taxes, Catherine II established the Pale of Settlement in 1791, outside of which Jews had no right to live. The Pale of Settlement was established in the same place where Jews had lived before - on the lands annexed as a result of the three partitions of Poland, as well as in the steppe regions near the Black Sea and sparsely populated areas 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 and the formation of a special Jewish identity within the Russian Empire.

In 1762-1764, Catherine published two manifestos. The first - “On the permission of all foreigners entering Russia to settle in whichever provinces they wish and the rights granted to them” - called on foreign citizens to move to Russia, the second defined a list of benefits and privileges for immigrants. Soon the first German settlements arose in the Volga region, reserved for settlers. The influx of German colonists was so great that already in 1766 it was necessary to temporarily suspend the reception of new settlers until those who had already arrived were settled. The creation of colonies on the Volga was 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 significant role in the life of Russia.

During the reign of Catherine, the country included the Northern Black Sea region, the Azov region, Crimea, Novorossia, the lands between the Dniester and the Bug, Belarus, Courland and Lithuania. The total number of new subjects acquired by Russia in this way reached 7 million. As a result, as V. O. Klyuchevsky wrote, in the Russian Empire “the discord of interests intensified” between different peoples. 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 exempt from paying taxes to the state and from other duties; the Pale of Settlement was introduced for Jews; From the Ukrainian and Belarusian population in the territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the poll tax was at first not levied at all, and then levied at half the amount. The indigenous population turned out to be the most discriminated against in these conditions, which led to the following incident: some Russian nobles at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. as a reward for their service, they were asked to “register as Germans” so that they could enjoy the corresponding privileges.

On April 21, 1785, two charters were issued: “Certificate on the rights, liberties and advantages of the noble nobility” And “Charter of Complaint to Cities”. The Empress called them the crown of her activity, and historians consider them the crown of the “pro-noble policy” of the kings of the 18th century. As N.I. Pavlenko writes, “In the history of Russia, the nobility has never been blessed with such diverse privileges as under Catherine II.”

Both charters finally assigned to the upper classes those rights, obligations 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 a class was formed by the decrees of Peter I and then received a number of privileges, including exemption from the poll tax and the right to unlimited disposal of estates; and by decree of Peter III it was finally released from compulsory service to the state.

The charter granted to the nobility contained the following guarantees:

Already existing rights were confirmed
- the nobility were exempted from the quartering of military units and commands, from corporal punishment
- the nobility received ownership of the subsoil of the earth
- the right to have their own estate institutions, the name of the 1st estate has changed: not “nobility”, but “noble nobility”
- it was forbidden to confiscate the estates of nobles for criminal offenses; estates were to be transferred to the legal heirs
- nobles have the exclusive right of ownership of land, but the “Charter” does not say a word about the monopoly right to have serfs
- Ukrainian elders were given equal rights with Russian nobles. a nobleman who did not have an officer rank was deprived of the right to vote
- only nobles whose income from estates exceeded 100 rubles could hold elected positions.

Despite the privileges, in the era of Catherine II, property inequality among the nobles increased greatly: against the backdrop of individual large fortunes, the economic situation of 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 was not the case in 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 serfs, and 1/3 of landowners had less than 10 souls; many nobles who wanted to enter the public service did not have the funds to purchase appropriate clothing and shoes. V. O. Klyuchevsky writes that many noble children during her reign, even becoming students at the maritime academy and “receiving a small salary (scholarships), 1 rub. per month, “from barefoot” they could not even attend the academy and were forced, according to the report, not to think about the sciences, but about their own food, to acquire funds for their maintenance on the side.”

During the reign of Catherine II, a number of laws were adopted that worsened the situation of the peasants:

The decree of 1763 entrusted the maintenance of military commands sent to suppress peasant uprisings to the peasants themselves.
According to the 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 to return those exiled from hard labor at any time.
A decree of 1767 prohibited peasants from complaining about their master; those who disobeyed were threatened with exile to Nerchinsk (but they could go to 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 divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the serfdom regime was tightened in the territories that were transferred to the Russian Empire (Right Bank Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland).

As N.I. Pavlenko writes, under Catherine “serfdom developed in depth and breadth,” which was “an example of a blatant contradiction between the ideas of the Enlightenment and government measures to strengthen the serfdom regime.”

During her reign, Catherine donated more than 800 thousand peasants to landowners and nobles, thereby setting a kind of record. Most of them were not state peasants, but peasants from lands acquired during the partitions of Poland, as well as palace peasants. But, for example, the number of assigned (possession) peasants from 1762 to 1796. increased from 210 to 312 thousand people, and these were formally free (state) peasants, but converted to the status of serfs or slaves. Possession peasants of the Ural factories took an active part in Peasant War of 1773-1775.

At the same time, the situation of the monastic peasants was alleviated, who were transferred to the jurisdiction of the College of Economy along with the lands. All their duties were replaced by monetary rent, which gave the peasants more independence and developed their economic initiative. As a result, the unrest of the monastery peasants ceased.

The fact that a woman who did not have any formal rights to this was proclaimed empress gave rise to many pretenders to the throne, which overshadowed a significant part of the reign of Catherine II. Yes, just from 1764 to 1773 seven False Peters III appeared in the country(who claimed that they were nothing more than the “resurrected” Peter III) - A. Aslanbekov, I. Evdokimov, G. Kremnev, P. Chernyshov, G. Ryabov, F. Bogomolov, N. Krestov; Emelyan Pugachev became eighth. And in 1774-1775. To this list was added the “case of Princess Tarakanova,” who pretended to be the daughter of Elizaveta Petrovna.

During 1762-1764. 3 conspiracies were uncovered aimed at overthrowing Catherine, and two of them were associated with the name of Ivan Antonovich - the former Russian Emperor Ivan VI, who at the time of Catherine II’s accession to the throne continued to remain alive in prison in the Shlisselburg fortress. The first of them involved 70 officers. The second took place in 1764, when second lieutenant V. Ya. Mirovich, who was on guard duty in the Shlisselburg fortress, won over 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 destroyed the Chudov Monastery in the Kremlin. The next day, the crowd took the Donskoy Monastery by storm, killed Archbishop Ambrose, who was hiding there, and began to destroy quarantine outposts and houses of the nobility. Troops under the command of G. G. Orlov were sent to suppress the uprising. After three days of fighting, the riot was suppressed.

In 1773-1775 there was a peasant uprising led by Emelyan Pugachev. It covered the lands of the Yaitsk army, the Orenburg province, the Urals, the Kama region, Bashkiria, part of Western Siberia, the Middle and Lower Volga region. During the uprising, the Cossacks were joined by Bashkirs, Tatars, Kazakhs, Ural factory workers and numerous serfs from all the provinces where hostilities took place. After the suppression of the uprising, some liberal reforms were curtailed and conservatism intensified.

In 1772 took place First section of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Austria received all of Galicia with its districts, Prussia - Western 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 to the division and give up claims to the 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 Targowica Confederation turned to Russia for help.

In 1793 there took place Second section of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, approved at the Grodno Seim. Prussia received Gdansk, Torun, Poznan (part of the lands along the Warta and Vistula rivers), Russia - Central Belarus with Minsk and Novorossiya (part of the territory of modern Ukraine).

In March 1794, an uprising began under the leadership of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the goals of which were to restore territorial integrity, sovereignty and the Constitution on May 3, but in the spring of that year it was suppressed by the Russian army under the command of A.V. Suvorov. During the Kościuszko uprising, the rebel Poles who seized the Russian embassy in Warsaw discovered documents that had a great public resonance, according to which King Stanisław Poniatowski and a number of members of the Grodno Sejm, at the time of the approval of the 2nd partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, received money from the Russian government - in in particular, Poniatowski received several thousand ducats.

In 1795 took place Third section of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Austria received Southern Poland with Luban and Krakow, Prussia - Central Poland with Warsaw, Russia - Lithuania, Courland, Volyn and Western Belarus.

October 13, 1795 - a conference of the three powers on the fall of the Polish state, it lost statehood and sovereignty.

An important area of Catherine II’s foreign policy also included the territories of Crimea, the Black Sea region and the North Caucasus, which were under Turkish rule.

When the uprising of the Bar Confederation broke out, the Turkish Sultan declared war on Russia (Russian-Turkish War 1768-1774), using as a pretext the fact 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 victories one after another in the south. Having achieved success in a number of land and sea battles (the Battle of Kozludzhi, the battle of Ryabaya Mogila, the Battle of Kagul, the Battle of Larga, the Battle of Chesme, 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 Russia military indemnities in the order of 4.5 million rubles, and also ceded the northern coast of the Black Sea along with two important ports.

After the end of the Russian-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 pressure from Russian diplomacy, Shahin Giray was elected khan. The previous khan, Turkey's protege Devlet IV Giray, tried to resist at the beginning of 1777, but it was suppressed by A.V. Suvorov, Devlet IV fled to Turkey. At the same time, the landing of Turkish troops in the Crimea was prevented and thus an attempt to start a new war was prevented, after which Turkey recognized Shahin Giray as khan. In 1782, an uprising broke out against him, which was suppressed by Russian troops introduced into the peninsula, and in 1783, with 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 tour of the Crimea.

The next war with Turkey occurred in 1787-1792 and was an unsuccessful attempt by the Ottoman Empire to regain the lands that had gone to Russia during the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774, including Crimea. Here, too, the Russians won a number of important victories, both land - the Battle of Kinburn, the Battle of Rymnik, the capture of Ochakov, the capture of Izmail, the battle of Focsani, the Turkish campaigns against Bendery and Akkerman were repulsed, etc., and sea - 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 Treaty of Yassy, which assigned Crimea and Ochakov to Russia, and also pushed 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 establishment of Russia in the Black Sea. As a result, the Northern Black Sea region, Crimea, and the Kuban region went to Russia, its political positions in the Caucasus and Balkans strengthened, and 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, etc.) and contemporaries (Frederick II, French ministers, etc.) 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, largely a consequence of the extreme decomposition of the Turkish army and state during this period.

Catherine II's height: 157 centimeters.

Personal life of Catherine II:

Unlike her predecessor, Catherine did not carry out extensive palace construction for her own needs. To move around the country comfortably, she set up 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 building a new country 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 visit the old capital often, Catherine for a number of years cherished plans for the reconstruction of the Moscow Kremlin, as well as the construction of suburban palaces in Lefortovo, Kolomenskoye and Tsaritsyn. For various reasons, none of these projects were completed.

Ekaterina was a brunette of average height. She combined high intelligence, education, statesmanship and a commitment to “free love.” Catherine is known for her connections with numerous lovers, the number of which (according to the list of the authoritative Catherine scholar P.I. Bartenev) reaches 23. The most famous of them were Sergei Saltykov, G.G. Orlov, horse guard lieutenant Vasilchikov, hussar Zorich, Lanskoy, the last favorite there was cornet Platon Zubov, who became a general. According to some sources, Catherine was secretly married to Potemkin (1775, see Wedding of Catherine II and Potemkin). After 1762, she planned a marriage with Orlov, but on the advice of those close to her, she abandoned this idea.

Catherine's love affairs were 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 ladies-in-waiting and even with his 13-year-old cousin. The favorite of Empress Lanskaya used an aphrodisiac to increase “male strength” (contarid) in ever-increasing doses, which, apparently, according to the conclusion of the court physician Weikart, was the cause of his unexpected death at a young age. Her last favorite, Platon Zubov, was a little over 20 years old, while Catherine’s age at that time had already exceeded 60. Historians mention many other scandalous details (“a bribe” of 100 thousand rubles paid to Potemkin by the empress’s future favorites, many of who were previously his adjutants, testing their “male strength” by her ladies-in-waiting, etc.).

The bewilderment of contemporaries, including foreign diplomats, the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, etc., was caused by the enthusiastic reviews and characteristics that Catherine gave to her young favorites, most of whom were devoid of any outstanding talents. As N.I. Pavlenko writes, “neither before Catherine nor after her did debauchery reach such a wide scale and 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 backdrop of the general debauchery of morals in 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 this attitude towards the latter was shared by her daughter Marie Antoinette. As K. Walishevsky wrote in this regard, comparing Catherine II with Louis XV, “the difference between the sexes until the end of time, we think, will give a deeply unequal character to the same actions, depending on whether they were committed by a man or a woman... besides, the mistresses of Louis XV never influenced the fate of France.”

There are numerous examples of the exceptional influence (both negative and positive) that Catherine’s favorites (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 its domestic and foreign policies and even military actions. As N.I. Pavlenko writes, to please the favorite Grigory Potemkin, who was jealous of the glory of Field Marshal Rumyantsev, this outstanding commander and hero of the Russian-Turkish wars was removed by Catherine from command of the army and was forced to retire to his estate. Another, very mediocre commander, Musin-Pushkin, on the contrary, continued to lead the army, despite his mistakes in military campaigns (for which the empress herself called him “a complete idiot”) - thanks to the fact that he was the “favorite of June 28”, one of those who helped Catherine seize the throne.

In addition, the institution of favoritism had a negative effect on the morals of the higher nobility, who sought benefits through flattery to the new favorite, tried to make “their own man” become lovers of the empress, etc. Contemporary M. M. Shcherbatov wrote that favoritism and debauchery of Catherine II contributed to the decline of the morals of the nobility of that era, and historians agree with this.

Catherine had two sons: Pavel Petrovich (1754) and Alexei Bobrinsky (1762 - son of Grigory Orlov), as well as a daughter, Anna Petrovna (1757-1759, possibly from the future king of Poland Stanislav Poniatovsky), who died in infancy. Less likely is Catherine's motherhood in relation to Potemkin's pupil named Elizaveta, who was born when the empress was over 45 years old.

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