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Home / History of Russia / Monarchy and monarchs / THE Reign of Catherine II (1762-1796) / Catherine the Great (triumphs and dramas).
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CATHERINE THE GREAT
(triumphs and dramas)
During her lifetime, Catherine II was called Great, and this honorary title was preserved for her in the official imperial historiography.
The attitude of Russian and European society to the extraordinary empress of the XVIII century was, however, completely ambiguous.
This is quite natural – in Catherine, as well as in the whole appearance of Catherine's Russia, incompatible features were combined: sin and virtue, greatness and baseness, subtlety of artistic taste and vulgarity, reasonable moderation of enlightened Europeanism and cruel Asian despotism.
Empress Catherine II is one of the most striking phenomena of Russian history.
The first half of her life, up to her accession to the throne, outwardly seems to be a series of random successes that very little depended on the personal qualities of a modest German princess.
But she managed to play out the results of each of her private, local successes in the best way for herself, while showing a rare ability to step over any embarrassing circumstances and moral prohibitions, through her neighbors and through herself – if this was required to achieve another specific goal.
Everything together formed an iron logic of career fate.
The second half of the biography of Catherine, already the Empress of Russia, when examined in detail looks like a series of episodes that arose most often spontaneously, outside of anyone's conscious will and often ended with the most incredible endings.
A motley dance of events, in which the wisest ideas and projects got bogged down and fell apart, and situational decisions taken on a whim often generated consequences of historical significance – this whole chaotic kaleidoscope formed a majestic picture of the sovereign rise of the Russian Empire.
Having led the triumph of her newfound second homeland, Empress Catherine gained a well deserved place among the historical heroes.
SOFIA AUGUSTA FREDERICA
The future Russian Empress was born on April 21, 1729, was baptized according to the Lutheran rite and received the name Sophia Augusta Frederica (in household use – Fike).
It happened in the Prussian kingdom, in the city of Stettin.
The newborn belonged to a very noble and ancient family of the princes of Anhalt Zerbst, not burdened, however, with extensive possessions and riches.
The tiny principality of Zerbst brought meager income, which still had to be divided between several branches of the sovereign princely family, so Fike's father, Prince Christian August, was forced to earn a living by serving in the Prussian army.
The mother of the newborn, Princess Johanna Elizabeth came from an even more noble family.
She was a scion of the younger branch of the dukes of Holstein Gottorp from the ancient house of the sovereigns of Oldeburg – one of the most glorious and noble in Germany.
However, at the time described, the affairs of the younger Holsteins were also far from brilliant.
The home education that Fike received was quite good.
She was taught etiquette, languages, needlework, dancing and singing.
She read a lot, which undoubtedly contributed to the accelerated development of intelligence.
Accompanying her mother on frequent trips, the young princess got used to being easy going, acquired the ability to adapt quickly in any society.
In 1738, at the age of 9, she met her second cousin and future husband, the 10 year old Duke of Holstein Gottorp, Karl Peter.
However, at that moment no one even thought about the possibility of a marriage union of two offspring of poor princely families.
Everything changed in November 1741, when, as a result of a palace coup in St. Petersburg, Elizabeth Petrovna, the aunt of Karl Peter Holstein, came to the throne of the Russian Empire.
The childless and unmarried empress immediately declared her nephew Petrusha, the son of her beloved sister Anna Petrovna, as her heir.
However, when the Holstein boy arrived in St. Petersburg, he unpleasantly surprised the tsarina with obvious flaws in his upbringing and education.
The heir clearly did not give hopes that in the future he would cope with the role of a great sovereign.
But native blood, there was no one closer to the queen.
And the good mother Elizabeth hastened to marry the newfound "son".
God willing, Peter's great – grandchildren will go, the Romanov family will remain in the kingdom.
Fike was a pretty girl, but she was not called a beauty.
From a political point of view, she also had no special advantages – her family did not have any independent influence.
In general, she was very lucky – for the first time, but not for the last time.
Fike had to do what in the language of the XVIII century was called "enter into the case", that is, to please the tsarina, the Grand Duke and gain confidence at the wayward court of St. Petersburg.
And the yard was not easy.
Most of all, it resembled a theater, where there was a permanent performance with a mass of participants whirling in a sparkling round dance around the unsurpassed prima Queen Elizabeth.
The real business at the same time, as usual, was carried out behind the scenes.
It was difficult to integrate organically into the ensemble of virtuosos of the court political game, it was even more difficult to understand the tricky mechanics of the relations that controlled the court action.
Princess Johanna and her daughter were greeted with cordiality at first; Elizabeth Petrovna even burst into tears at the meeting, seeing in the face of Johanna Elizabeth features that reminded the deceased groom.
This was the first and last success of the princess at the St. Petersburg court.
Soon the frivolous Johanna got involved in intrigues and was permanently removed from Russia.
The young Princess Fike distanced herself from her mother as much as she could and cringed to Elizabeth in every possible way.
But the main thing is that the Zerbst princess tried to become "her own"for the Empress and the court as soon as possible.
Russian Russians loved me, and I made it a rule to like the people with whom I had to live, I learned their way of acting, their manner;
I wanted to be Russian, so that the Russians would love me."
Fike quickly mastered the Russian language, although decades later she could not get rid of the accent.
She accepted Orthodoxy, being called Ekaterina Alekseevna.
Russian Russian Orthodox communion with the Russian Orthodox Church, according to the concepts of that time, was considered an accession to the Russian nation.
The marriage with Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich Romanov (aka Karl Peter Holstein of Gottorp) finally established Catherine's high position at the St. Petersburg court.
THE HEART OF CATHERINE
The marriage triumph of Princess Fike turned into a real drama for her.
For the family life of Peter and Catherine did not work out from the very beginning.
They could get along perfectly well while they were a bride and groom – in fact, two children who found themselves in a strange and incomprehensible country.
But after becoming married, they found many reasons for mutual discontent.
Peter was distinguished by infantilism and lack of education – to the early matured and well trained Catherine, he seemed to be an uncouth, hopeless idiot.
Over time, the spouses also showed more significant differences of views and temperaments, already affecting the sphere of politics.
The Grand Duke was openly burdened by the order that had developed at the court of Elizabeth, he did not place the Russian Empire too highly and did not hide his admiration for Frederick II of Prussia.
Catherine, who owed a lot to the Prussian king and was inwardly in solidarity with him on many issues, considered her husband's enthusiastic attitude to a foreign monarch (far from friendly towards the Russian state and the Russian sovereign) completely inappropriate.
The Grand Duchess, unlike her husband, endured the heavy despotism of the Empress Elizabeth with her periodic fits of irritability and suspicion patiently, like bouts of bad weather caused by the climatic features of Russia.
But the most terrible thing is that the harmony of intimate relations has not been established between the spouses.
Later, Catherine blamed Peter for everything – they say, he neglected his marital duties.
According to some reports, it was Catherine who showed coldness to her husband already in the first years of marriage.
The situation for Catherine looked very tragic, because her main duty was to give offspring to the Romanov family.
If she did not fulfill it, she could lose everything she had achieved in Russia.
Peter did not feel much better either, who, during several years of being near a capricious aunt, managed to show himself not in the best way and lost his former empress's favor.
In the end, they overcame themselves and in the ninth year of marriage, in 1754, they created an offspring, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich.
After that, the couple practically gave each other complete freedom.
Even before the birth of Pavel, a handsome aristocrat Sergei Saltykov appeared near the Grand Duchess.
Becoming the second man in the life of Catherine, he was the first to ignite the fire of real sensuality in her, which then flared up brighter and brighter, heating and scorching numerous lovers.
When Saltykov was tactfully removed from the court, a noble Polish nobleman Stanislav Poniatowski took his place.
Their romance soon ceased to be a secret for others, and for Peter himself.
Poniatowski, in accordance with his position at the British Embassy, became an active participant in the intrigues that Prussian and British diplomacy were weaving in St. Petersburg.
Peter and Catherine were also involved in the vicissitudes of a dangerous game directed against the policy of the Empress Elizabeth.
When the case was revealed, Poniatowski was forced to hastily leave Russia.
Abandoned by a handsome Polish man, the Grand Duchess did not suffer for long: in 1759, the guardsman Grigory Orlov, a combat officer, a desperate brave, a carouser and a brawler, took possession of her heart.
He was destined to play a decisive role in the putsch that raised Catherine to the throne and freed her from her infamous husband.
Orlov held out near his beloved sovereign for a decade and a half.
Then the tastes of Catherine, who was already entering old age, began to change, the charm of Orel's bodily power and prowess melted in the heat of the passions of big politics, in which the brave guardsman could not be a worthy partner.
Then Catherine had a whole series of heartfelt hobbies.
And there was only one lover, an associate, a real assistant in the affairs of the reign – Grigory Potemkin, his serene Highness Prince of Tauride.
Potemkin remained in favor with Catherine until his death.
The last favorite was the young man Zubov, who tried to play the role of an outstanding statesman and put forward absolutely fantastic projects for this, which, however, no one took seriously.
In the last years of the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, the young Grand Duchess was quite clearly aware of her prospects.
The key idea of this realization was expressed back in 1756 in one of Catherine's letters: "I will reign or perish."
She understood that in the situation that had arisen after the actual collapse of marital relations with Grand Duke Peter, after the death of Elizabeth, she would not be able to stay on the throne as the wife of the reigning monarch.
Under these conditions, she had only one hope left – for another wild horse bucking, capable of trampling the Prince of Holstein along with all his legitimate rights to the throne.
The miracle horse had to be tamed in advance and accustomed to the need to kick up at the appointed time – that's why Grigory Orlov was needed with his indomitable brothers, bosom friends and drinking companions, with their huge connections in all the Life Guards regiments, with their general, janissary readiness to put their heads on the line for the chance to catch a firebird.
good luck.
THE WAR IS VICTORIOUS AND USELESS
By the mid fifties of the XVIII century, the leading countries of Western Europe were divided into two hostile coalitions: England and Prussia on the one hand, Austria and France on the other.
The British and the French had to resolve an age old dispute over colonies and the predominance of maritime trade routes.
Austria dreamed of returning Silesia, which had been torn away by the Prussians in previous wars.
The Prussian king Frederick II, who was constantly in need of money to maintain his army, agreed with rich England, receiving subsidies in exchange for a commitment to protect English interests in Europe.
Vienna entered into an alliance with Paris, ending the hereditary enmity of the Habsburgs and the Bourbons.
Not so Russia, which in principle had complete freedom of action, because it had no interest either in Silesia or in Belgium, and even more so in the East Indian and West Indian colonies.
The most correct choice for the Russian Empire would be active neutrality, which would allow it to solve certain own tasks under the noise of a great European war.
It would be possible, for example, to strike at Turkey and capture a piece of the Black Sea coast.
This is approximately how Peter I acted, who seized the shores of the Baltic Sea at a time when the main European powers were busy with the war for the Spanish succession.
Or, if they had not risked fighting with the Ottomans, they could have waited for the right moment, and then offered the war exhausted Europeans Russian arbitration at the conclusion of a peace treaty, supporting this proposal by advancing a hundred thousand army to the western borders of the empire.
There were other options.
And if you wanted to fight without fail in Europe, it would be logical to stand in a single system with old friends the British and the Prussians, while receiving British monetary subsidies and the right to seize any territories to the west and southwest of the then Russian border.
Having joined the banners of the Austro French coalition, the Empress Elizabeth acted contrary to the strategic interests of Russia.
Contemporaries tried to explain this turn of Russian policy by clever maneuvers of Viennese and French diplomats.
However, Elizabeth's decision was predetermined by the specifics of her own political mentality.
Not only with her mind, but with all her matriarchal instinct, Elizabeth sensed in Frederick II a certain fundamental threat to her empire and to herself personally.
On the other hand, the empress, as a woman, sincerely sympathized with Maria Theresa, who was "offended" by Frederick at the very beginning of her reign.
And the Russian empress had a kind of virtual affection for the effeminate French king, despite the complexity of Russian French relations at that time.
The course of the Seven Years ' War was generally successful for Russia.
The Russian army occupied East Prussia, beat the Prussians at Gross Egersdorf, then lost a sensitive defeat in the Battle of Zorndorf, and in 1759 completely got even for Zorndorf, completely defeating Frederick's selected troops at Palzig and Kunersdorf.
In 1760, the Russians even occupied Berlin for a short time.
Political affairs were much worse.
The allies did not fight very successfully; moreover, fearing the strengthening of Russia, they constantly violated their obligations, trying to put the" barbaric "empire in the position of Ivan the fool, helping "friends" out of all troubles, but receiving nothing in return for it.
At the end of the victorious year for Russia in 1759, Field Marshal Saltykov, none other than the victor of Frederick at Kunersdorf, advised Elizabeth to conclude a separate peace so that the Russian army would stop playing the role of a puppet in the hands of the manipulators of Vienna and Versailles.
Elizabeth persisted, saying that she would sell the last junk from the house, but would finish off "Herod".
However, she did not live to see the expected victory, which could turn into worse disasters for Russia than the most cruel defeat.
For the final defeat of Frederick would lead to such a strengthening of the allied tandem of the Habsburgs and the Bourbons, in which Russia could not even dream of any territorial acquisitions in the Black Sea region or anywhere else in Eastern Europe.
CRIME AND ACCESSION
The death of Elizabeth in December 1761 opened a brief era of the reign of Peter III.
By that time, Catherine's nominal husband was no longer the infantile teenager to whom he was introduced by the authors of popular historical novels of the XIX XX centuries.
He was not a tyrant or a Russophobe.
By the time of his ascension to the throne, Emperor Peter was fully prepared to reign intelligently – provided that the unconditional submission of his subjects, which was under Elizabeth, was preserved.
An objective analysis of the legislative acts and other decisions adopted under Peter III shows that he was by no means alien to the desire for beneficial reforms that should improve the lives of the subjects of the empire.
A peculiar group of very intelligent associates was formed around the sovereign at that time; the leading figure of this group was the real privy councilor Dmitry Vasilyevich Volkov – one of the most talented reformers of post Petrine Russia.
However, Peter III could not achieve proper authority in the circles of the then ruling elite – even after ascending to the Russian throne, he remained an outsider and a German for the official and military Petersburg.
The legislative measures taken by the government of Peter III significantly eased the situation of the nobility, merchants and some other social groups of the population; but these measures could not bring immediate popularity to the sovereign – it took time.
Peter carried out a completely expedient turn in foreign policy: Russia made peace with Prussia, renouncing all conquests.
Such a move was completely justified from the point of view of the strategic interests of the empire, which required not the seizure of Prussian territories, but moving south to the Black Sea, as well as the extension of Russian sovereignty to the Western Russian lands, then subject to Poland.
However, the procedure for concluding peace with Prussia was carried out in such a way that it created the appearance of complete dependence of the newly – made Russian emperor on yesterday's enemy King Frederick II.
In addition, keeping in his soul the greatest attachment to his former Holstein homeland, Peter III openly declared his intention to fight with Denmark for the return of the former Holstein possessions, which had been rejected by the Danish kings at one time.
This plan was a perfect adventure – by introducing troops to the Jutland Peninsula, the Russian Empire would inevitably enter into conflict not only with Denmark, but also with powerful England, Sweden and all the principalities of Northern Germany.
The chances of victory in this conflict were very doubtful.
But military success would also be fraught with major problems, because then Russian policy would be completely dependent on Prussian support: Frederick II, without any doubt, would demand such a payment that would devalue all the benefits of potential Russian acquisitions.
The foreign policy actions and plans of Peter III became an occasion for arousing discontent in the guard.
In this select corps, created by Peter I and spoiled under Elizabeth, rumors swarmed that the sovereign did not like the guards, that he was going to send them to the Danish war, and the duties of the emperor's personal guard would be transferred to a special "Holstein" army.
On the day of the holy First Apostles Peter and Paul, June 28, 1762, the guards ' discontent resulted in a putsch, which was skillfully initiated by the Orlov brothers and Catherine, who stood behind them.
The action of the guards was so sudden and powerful that the emperor was demoralized; he did not offer any resistance and obediently abdicated, hoping that his life would be spared and, perhaps, released to his native Holstein.
Catherine's envoys promised him all this until the moment when the document on abdication was drawn up and signed in full form.
Then came the inevitable denouement.
Having taken power by force, Catherine had to assert the strength of her position.
While her husband was alive, the throne was in a state of unstable balance.
Therefore, Peter III had to die.
If Catherine had shown the slightest weakness and pity at that moment, she would have been betrayed by her own followers.
Once again, the Orlovs came in handy - Alexey, the brother of Catherine's lover, took on the sin of killing Peter and was "forgiven".
But this does not change the essence: Catherine the Great ascended to the throne, marked by the sin of regicide and manslaughter.
Another victim of the political turmoil of that time was the unfortunate Ivan Antonovich, who was declared emperor as a baby by the will of the empress Anna Ioannovna, and then overthrown by Elizabeth and kept in the Shlisselburg fortress.
He was stabbed by sentries during an unsuccessful attempt to free him, but it was Catherine who gave the order to act in this way.
So, Catherine II ascended to the throne, covered with dirt and blood.
Nevertheless, her right to reign was recognized by the top of society.
This is the custom of feudal monarchies: a successful usurpation of power is tacitly recognized as a legal act, although an unsuccessful attempt on the throne is considered the most serious crime.
What is surprising, however, is not that the Russian elite submitted to the putschists, but the joy with which the news of Catherine's accession was received.
An eyewitness, Gavrila Derzhavin, wrote well about the amazing aura of the coup, at that time – a guardsman musketeer, later a noble poet.
In Derzhavin's memoirs, the soldiers 'and officers' mass is colorfully represented, which seems to ignite by itself, grabs weapons without a command, crushing the resistance of a few officers , loyal to the oath.
This seemingly unorganized mass is formed in rows and moves to the royal palace – and there everyone hastily swears to "Mother" under the leadership of the first persons of the Holy Synod.
This has already happened once in St. Petersburg – at the time of the coup that enthroned the beautiful daughter of Peter, the empress Elizabeth.
However, the scale of that mass delight was much smaller than on the significant day of June 28, 1762.
Meanwhile, unlike her predecessor, Catherine II did not shine with special beauty even in her youth, and by the time she ascended the throne, she was already beginning to fade noticeably.
She did not know how to charm the interlocutor with the brilliance of wit – her speeches were quite bland and abounded in commonplaces.
Her journalistic and fictional opuses do not reveal a special depth of thinking.
In everything except the art of ruling, Catherine's abilities can be assessed as quite ordinary.
However, there was something about Catherine II that ignited minds and hearts with the most sincere adoration.
What is commonly called real charisma.
At the right time, Catherine found the ability to become a brilliant epicenter of a bright political show, which created the mass psychological effect that was necessary for the success of the coup.
However, the other soloists did not disappoint, as well as the extras - they played vividly, realistically and pathetically.
GREAT SOVEREIGN
Having occupied the imperial throne, Catherine had no practical experience of state administration.
However, she had already acquired some theoretical ideas about how an enlightened monarch should behave, primarily due to her diverse and unsystematic reading, which included familiarization with the works of famous philosophers in Europe.
Having assumed the crown, Catherine, not without the influence of her own literary and journalistic preferences, showed a considerable inclination to legislative activity.
In this, at first, the elements of the legislative inheritance left after Peter III were very useful to her.
The most important thing in this inheritance was the famous decree "On granting freedom and freedom to all Russian nobility", according to which the upper class of the empire was largely freed from bureaucratic and judicial arbitrariness.
This decree could no longer be canceled, and Catherine was not going to take away the rights granted to them from the nobles: to serve at their own will, not to be subjected to corporal punishment, to apply to the Senate for judicial protection, etc.
Over time, Catherine further deepened and detailed the relevant principles in her "Letters Patent to the nobility".
Following this course further, she drew attention to the interests of the nascent third estate, issuing a "Charter of Letters to the cities", which improved the legal status of the urban population of the empire.
Other initiatives of Peter III were significantly adjusted.
Catherine's husband abolished the sinister Secret Office, trying to interrupt the tradition of"words and deeds".
Catherine partially restored it by establishing a Secret Expedition, but the activities of this structure were limited only to really extraordinary cases, political denunciations were not welcomed and gradually ceased to be a mass phenomenon.
The decrees signed by Peter III on religious tolerance in relation to schismatics were not canceled, but they were not actually implemented.
The Empress did not want to quarrel with the church hierarchy, which always sought to eradicate "heresy".
Another irritating moment in relations with the churchmen was Peter's decree on the secularization of monastic estates, according to which monastic serfs acquired the status of state peasants, having received pr
