[11] Despite Joanna's interference, Empress Elizabeth took a strong liking to Sophie, and Sophie and Peter eventually married in 1745. This reform never progressed beyond the planning stages. Inspired by Byzantine design, the crown was constructed of two half spheres, one gold and one silver, representing the eastern and western Roman empires, divided by a foliate garland and fastened with a low hoop. The period of Catherine the Great's rule is also known as the Catherinian Era. She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol at such a young age. [27] Her coronation marks the creation of one of the main treasures of the Romanov dynasty, the Imperial Crown of Russia, designed by Swiss-French court diamond jeweller Jrmie Pauzi. Yelizaveta Alekseyevna Tarakanova (17531775) was another potential rival. For all her show of sensuality, Catherine was actually rather prudish, says Jaques. While she had collapsed in the bathroom, she had spent many hours in her bed, with her servants taking care of her. However, because her second cousin Peter III converted to Orthodox Christianity, her mother's brother became the heir to the Swedish throne[4] and two of her first cousins, Gustav III and Charles XIII, later became Kings of Sweden. In July 1765, Dumaresq wrote to Dr. John Brown about the commission's problems and received a long reply containing very general and sweeping suggestions for education and social reforms in Russia. The Treaty of Kk Kaynarca, signed 10 July 1774, gave the Russians territories at Azov, Kerch, Yenikale, Kinburn, and the small strip of Black Sea coast between the rivers Dnieper and Bug. The rumours tell us more about the time in which Catherine lived than they do about the cause of her death. In 1767, Catherine decreed that after seven years in one rank, civil servants automatically would be promoted regardless of office or merit. I think Catherine realized that her own position and her own life [were] probably under threat, and so she acted., These tensions culminated in a July 9, 1762, coup. Her marriage to Peter III of Russia lasted from 1745 until his suspicious death in 1762, and she had at least three lovers during this time (Catherine herself hinted that her husband . [89] In 1764, she sent for Dumaresq to come to Russia and then appointed him to the educational commission. In 1757, Poniatowski served in the British Army during the Seven Years' War, thus severing close relationships with Catherine. "[6] Although Sophie was born a princess, her family had very little money. Whilst she used sex as a tool to broaden and cement her political power, she was far from the nymphomaniac that she was made out to be. In addition to the textbooks translated by the commission, teachers were provided with the "Guide to Teachers". When it became apparent that his plan could not succeed, Panin fell out of favour and Catherine had him replaced with Ivan Osterman (in office 17811797). [102], However, in accord with her anti-Ottoman policy, Catherine promoted the protection and fostering of Christians under Turkish rule. Finally, it was the Annals by Tacitus that caused what she called a "revolution" in her teenage mind as Tacitus was the first intellectual she read who understood power politics as they are, not as they should be. Historian Franois Cruzet writes that Russia under Catherine: had neither a free peasantry, nor a significant middle class, nor legal norms hospitable to private enterprise. How can history remember her for anything else if she died whilst trying to have sexual intercourse with a horse? Whilst this one is also just an absurd rumour, it lies ever so slightly nearer the truth. This is why some serfs were able to do things such as to accumulate wealth. [131], Catherine's life and reign included many personal successes, but they ended in two failures. In the first partition, 1772, the three powers split 52,000km2 (20,000sqmi) among them. 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[52], Catherine made public health a priority. But across Europe, Catherine was generally blamed nonetheless. Wrens: The history of the Women's Royal Naval Service, The life of Noor Inayat Khan: An unsung hero of WWII. The couples loveless marriage afforded Catherine ample opportunity to pursue her intellectual interests, from reading the work of Enlightenment thinkers to perfecting her grasp of Russian. While the majority of serfs were farmers bound to the land, a noble could have his serfs sent away to learn a trade or be educated at a school as well as employ them at businesses that paid wages. Several years into her reign, Catherine embarked on an ambitious legal endeavor inspired byand partially plagiarized fromthe writings of leading thinkers. In private, says Jaques, she balanced a constant craving for affection with a ruthless determination to paint Russia as a truly European country. Sette, Alessandro. In 1762 called on the army to upgrade its medical services. The frustration affected Catherine's health. Adapted from his 2008 play of the same name, the ten-part miniseries is the brainchild of screenwriter Tony McNamara. Yet shed done an enormous amount of amazing things, had been a kid whod come to a country that wasnt her own and taken it over.. In 1772, Catherine wrote to Potemkin. After defeating Polish loyalist forces in the PolishRussian War of 1792 and in the Kociuszko Uprising (1794), Russia completed the partitioning of Poland, dividing all of the remaining Commonwealth territory with Prussia and Austria (1795). They often became trusted advisors who she then promoted into positions of authority. They saw a woman who slept her way to the top, a woman who was not meant to rule but stole the throne from her husband. At the time of Catherine's reign, the landowning noble class owned the serfs, who were bound to the land they tilled. Peter was her second cousin. Catherine the Great was worried that her son, Paul, was not emotionally fit to rule so she planned to replace him with his son, Alexander, as her heir. Catherine the Great is a monarch mired in misconception. Catherine decided to have herself inoculated against smallpox by Thomas Dimsdale, a British doctor. Their son, Aleksey Grygoriovich Bobrinsky (17621813), had one daughter, Maria Alexeyeva Bobrinsky (Bobrinskaya) (17981835), who married in 1819 the 34-year-old Prince Nikolai Sergeevich Gagarin (London, England, 17841842) who took part in the Battle of Borodino (7 September 1812) against Napoleon, and later served as ambassador in Turin, the capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Catherine's decree also denied Jews the rights of an Orthodox or naturalised citizen of Russia. [13], According to Alexander Hertzen, who edited a version of Catherine's memoirs, Catherine had her first sexual relationship with Sergei Saltykov while living at Oranienbaum as her marriage to Peter had not been consummated, as Catherine later claimed. [99], Despite these efforts, later historians of the 19th century were generally critical. This raised her in the empress's esteem. By the winter of 1773, the Pugachev revolt had started to threaten. In 1786, she assimilated the Islamic schools into the Russian public school system under government regulation. Denmark declared war on Sweden in 1788 (the Theatre War). Always in search of romantic intimacy, she once admitted, The trouble is that my heart is loath to remain even one hour without love.. His period of rule proved disappointing after repeated effort to prop up his regime through military force and monetary aid. It was obvious to her that Peters hostility had evolved into a determination to end their marriage and remove her from public life., Far from resigning herself to this fate, Catherine bided her time and watched as Peter alienated key factions at court. Today, the author adds, Wed call her a micromanager.. Wikimedia Commons. Peter also still played with toy soldiers. Her face was left uncovered, and her fair hand rested on the bed. 1772-04-06 Catherine the Great Empress of Russia, ends tax on men with beards, enacted by Tsar . Upon arriving in St. Petersburg in 1744, Sophie converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, adopted a Russian name and began learning to speak the language. Orlov died in 1783. She was the second wife of Peter the Great. Her eyes were soft and sensitive, her nose quite Greek, her colour high and her features expressive. All of this was true before Catherine's reign, and this is the system she inherited. As journalist Susan Jaques, author of The Empress of Art, explains, the couple couldnt have been more different in terms of their intellect [and] interests.. [77] She especially liked the work of German comic writers such as Moritz August von Thmmel and Christoph Friedrich Nicolai. As a result of this plot, Elizabeth likely wanted to leave both Catherine and her accomplice Peter without any rights to the Russian throne. Russia got territories east of the line connecting, more or less, RigaPolotskMogilev. [58] Some serfs were able to use their new status to their advantage. Larry Frederick died: It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Larry Frederick on Thursday, March 2, 2023. [71] She ordered the planting of the first "English garden" at Tsarskoye Selo in May 1770. Catherine began issuing codes to address some of the modernisation trends suggested in her Nakaz. A description of the empress's funeral is written in Madame Vige Le Brun's memoirs. . She established a centralised medical administration charged with initiating vigorous health policies. [41], Being afraid of the May Constitution of Poland (1791) that might lead to a resurgence in the power of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth and the growing democratic movements inside the Commonwealth might become a threat to the European monarchies, Catherine decided to refrain from her planned intervention into France and to intervene in Poland instead. Catherine did indeed like horses, so much so that a portrait was painted of her on horseback. [63] She read widely and corresponded with many of the prominent thinkers of the era, including Voltaire and Diderot. With the support of Great Britain, Russia colonised the territories of New Russia along the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas. Russia was to stop any involvement in internal affairs of Sweden. [31], Catherine agreed to a commercial treaty with Great Britain in 1766, but stopped short of a full military alliance. On 5 August 1786, the Russian Statute of National Education was created. I am very fond of the arts, especially painting. Catherines failure to abolish feudalism is often cited as justification for characterizing her as a hypocritical, albeit enlightened, despot. Assessment and legacy [ edit] [98] One system that particularly stood out was produced by a mathematician, Franz Aepinus. The most famous of these rumors is that she died after having sex with her horse. Publicly, Catherine evinced an air of charm, wit and self-deprecation. No. [77] In the second category fell the work of Denis Diderot, Jacques Necker, Johann Bernhard Basedow and Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. In 1783, storms drove a Japanese sea captain, Daikokuya Kday, ashore in the Aleutian Islands, at that time Russian territory. At first, she attempted to revise clerical studies, proposing a reform of religious schools. Russia inflicted some of the heaviest defeats ever suffered by the Ottoman Empire, including the Battle of Chesma (57 July 1770) and the Battle of Kagul (21 July 1770). She levied additional taxes on the followers of Judaism; if a family converted to the Orthodox faith, that additional tax was lifted. By November, they were stationed at the confluence of the Araks and Kura Rivers, poised to attack mainland Iran. In addition, some governors listened to the complaints of serfs and punished nobles, but this was by no means universal. Biography 27 (2004), 51734. In this month, the empress of Russia died and her successor Paul, who detested that the Zubovs had other plans for the army, ordered the troops to retreat to Russia. While Peter was boorish [and] totally immature, says historian Janet Hartley, Catherine was an erudite lover of European culture. She provided support to a Polish anti-reform group known as the Targowica Confederation. Obviously he never wanted to take part in the death of Catherine, because she was the perfect woman to him. Catherine was eventually able to put down the uprising, but the carnage exacted on both sides was substantial. It was a failure because it narrowed and stifled entrepreneurship and did not reward economic development. In her accession to power and her rule of the empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Count Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. In the second partition, in 1793, Russia received the most land, from west of Minsk almost to Kiev and down the river Dnieper, leaving some spaces of steppe down south in front of Ochakov, on the Black Sea. Only in this way apart from conscription to the army could a serf leave the farm for which he was responsible but this was used for selling serfs to people who could not own them legally because of absence of nobility abroad. In these cases, it was necessary to replace this "fake" empress with the "true" empress, whoever she may be. Daniel Dumaresq and Dr John Brown. She believed in the . Declaring, Didnt I tell you she was capable of anything? Peter proceeded to weep and drink and dither.. Catherine also issued the Code of Commercial Navigation and Salt Trade Code of 1781, the Police Ordinance of 1782, and the Statute of National Education of 1786. Under her leadership, she completed what Peter III had started. A further 2.8million belonged to the Russian state.[55]. Money was needed for wars and necessitated the junking the old financial institutions. Her Swedish cousin (once removed), King Gustav IV Adolf, visited her in September 1796, the empress's intention being that her granddaughter Alexandra should become queen of Sweden by marriage. [103], Catherine took many different approaches to Islam during her reign. In the east Russians became the first Europeans to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America. [38], By mid-June 1796, Zubov's troops overran without any resistance most of the territory of modern-day Azerbaijan, including three principal citiesBaku, Shemakha, and Ganja. The life of a serf belonged to the state.

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