History of Russia
Heads of the stateTHE ROMANOVS
Empress Catherine II (1729-1796)
Reign
1762-1796.Parents:
Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, commander of a regiment in the Prussian army (later promoted in the Frederick II from major general to the rank of field-marshal) and Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp.
Husband:
Emperor Peter III Fedorovich
Children:
Pavel Petrovich (see Emperor Paul I)
Anna Petrovna (1757-1759).
Important events:
......1762-1796 Catherine tried hard to be a real Russian tsaritsa. She studied the Russian language, although she never lost her accent, closely observed Orthodox traditions and even introduced Russian national dress at the court. She wrote: "I owe everything to Russia, even my name!" During a phlebotomy, she is alleged to have said:"Let all the German blood flow out of me, so that only the Russian remains".
......1762-1796 Catherine nevertheless had a European upbringing and a Western mind. She corresponded with enlightened French philosophers and seriously considered introducing their ideas into Russia. The empress enjoyed hunting, horse-riding, dancing, balls and other forms of entertainment.
......1762-1796 Unlike such other Russian empresses as Anna Ioannovna or Elizabeth Petrovna, for whom favourites were merely a whim. Catherine elevated the practice to a state institution. She herself claimed to be doing the state a service by educating and promoting talented young men. The results of this form of "education" varied. Although she twice bore children to her favourites, they were more than just lovers, of which Catherine had many.
Catherine the Great was born on 21 April 1729 in the town of Stettin (now Szczezin). Catherine's mother, was twenty-two years younger than her husband. She was a nervy, flighty trouble-maker who did not get on with her husband. The future empress was christened Sophie Auguste Friederike or "Fike" for short. Contemporaries have suggested that her father may have been Frederick the Great or Russian diplomat Ivan Betskoi. The latter theory is supported by the fact that when she became empress, Catherine always kissed Betskoi's hand when she entered the room and allowed him to sit in her presence, when everybody else had to stand. During a phlebotomy, she is alleged to have said:"Let all the German blood flow out of me, so that only the Russian remains".
On 26 January 1744, Sophie and her mother came to Russia at the invitation of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to marry the heir to the throne. The first Russian town on their route was Riga, where the princess was met by an escort headed by the legendary story-teller Baron Carl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchhausen. after converting to the Orthodox Church as Catherine Alexeyevna, she married Peter Fedorovich.
After successfully deposing her husband on 28 June 1762, Catherine had herself crowned empress at the Dormition Cathedral on 22 September 1762. Ironically, the reign of this German princess brought more benefit to Russia than under her native-born predecessors. Although Catherine left the Russian finances in a perilous state and the country in a state of disorder, she took care to create the image of a great ruler. Her reign in often regarded as the "golden age of Catherine". While paying tribute to many of her undoubted successes, however, her role in Russian history should not be exaggerated.
Andrei Bolotov wrote that "under the all-powerful Prince Potemkin, for several years, we had only one recruitment ... and absolutely everything was embezzled by the prince and his minions and favourites". The conscripts were often plundered and turned into private property. Alexander Bezborodko claimed that in 1795 as many as fifty thousand men were missing from an army of four hundred thousand.
By the end ot Catherine's reign, the Russian army was in a sorry state. General Langeron observed sadly: "All you have to do to became a cavalry officer in Russia is to be able to ride a horse".
Andrei Bolotov wrote: "In the guards regiments, the sub-colonels and majors did what they to confer ranks on anyone for money. Service in the guards was an out-and-out comedy". The Preobrazhensky Regiment alone numbered several thousand warrant officers and sergeants. With the full knowledge of the commanders, secretaries accepted bribes for including noblemen, merchants, clerks, apprentices and priests in the regiment. The official lists included infants and sometimes even unborn children - before the sex of the baby was even known. None of these people served, but simply lived in their houses or estates, advancing from rank to rank. Upon reaching the position of over-officer, they transferred to the army, where they were promoted another two ranks - without knowing the slightest thing about military service.
Things were little better in the civil service. Towards the end of Catherine's reign, eleven thousand cases lay unanswered in the Senate. The bureaucracy was riddled with corruption. Nothing could be done without paying a bribe. Catherine's wars exhausted the exchequer. Money was not backed by gold and there was a large public deficit. The prices of essential foodstuffs as bread and salt rose sharply, hitting the poor hardest. In the countryside, landowners chopped down forests for firewood, without bothering to plant new trees. Many other negative phenomena flourshed in Russia under Catherine. Catherine had a talent for finding the right people for the right job. She was extremely able in her choice of statemen - and lovers. The same man sometimes performed both roles. The institution of favourites flourihed under Catherine. The empress spent enormous sums of money on her lovers (historians have calculated that they cost Russia the exact sum of 95,5 million roubles). She generously presented crown peasants to her lovers and other favourites, increasing the total number of serfs in the country. The empress gave away a total of 800,000 heads.
Besides her successor, Grand Duke Paul, Catherine also bore Grigory Orlov a son in 1762, who was known as Alexei Bobrinsky. In 1775, she bore Grigory Potemkin a daughter called Elizabeth Temkina.
Towards the end of her life, Catherine was often ill. Her legs swelled up and she died of a brain aneurysm on 6 November 1796. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, commander of a regiment in the Prussian army (later promoted in the Frederick II from major general to the rank of field-marshal) and Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp.
Husband:
Emperor Peter III Fedorovich
Children:
Pavel Petrovich (see Emperor Paul I)
Anna Petrovna (1757-1759).
Important events:
- 1763 - Opening of orphanages in St Petersburg and Moscow
- 1764 - Creation of the Hermitage art collection. Abolition of the post of Cossack hetman in the Ukraine. Seculariation of church lands. Opening of the Smolny Institute for Noble Girla in St Petersburg. vasily Mirovich's attempt to free Ioann VI from the Schlusselburg Fortress ends in the murder of the ex-tsar.
- 1765 - Foundation of the Free Economic Society.
- 1765 - Annexation of the Aleutian Islands.
- 1768-75 - Russo-Turkish War.
- 1768 - Foundation of the Assignation Bank. Printing of paper money. Vaccinations against smallpox.
- 1769 - First foreign loan floated in Amsterdam. Foundation of the Order of St George.
- 26 June 1770 - Defeat of the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Cesme.
- 1771 - Plague riots in Moscow.
- 1772, 1793 and 1795 - Partitions of Poland, bringing White Russia, Volhynia, Podolia, Lithuania and Courland.
- 1773-75 - Revolt lead by Yemelian Pugachev.
- 21 July 1774 - Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca between Russia and Turkey.
- 1775 - Liquidation of the Zaporozhian Host. Introduction of serfdom in the Ukraine.
- 1780 - Declaration of "armed neutrality" to guarantee "freedom of trade and navigation".
- 1781 - Austro-Russian alliance.
- 27 September 1782 - Foundation of a special customs force to prevent the illegal import and export of goods.
- 1782 - Foundation of the Order of St Vladimir.
- 1783 - Opening of the Russian Academy for the Study of the Russian Language Treaty of Georgievsk places eastern Georgia under Russian protection. Annexation of the Crimea.
- 1784 - Assimilation of Alaska.
- 21 April 1785 - Charter to the Nobility granting the status of a legal entity to the nobility and the right to elect a marshal in each province and Charter to the Towns granting a limited degree of corporate self-administration.
- 1787-91 - Russo-Turkish War.
- 1788-90 - Russo-Swedish War.
- 3 August 1790 - Treaty of Varala between Russia and Sweden.
- 9 January 1792 - Treaty of Jassy between Russia and Turkey.
- 1793 - Foundation of Odessa.
- 1794 - Uprising in Poland led by Thaddeus Kosciuszko.
......1762-1796 Catherine tried hard to be a real Russian tsaritsa. She studied the Russian language, although she never lost her accent, closely observed Orthodox traditions and even introduced Russian national dress at the court. She wrote: "I owe everything to Russia, even my name!" During a phlebotomy, she is alleged to have said:"Let all the German blood flow out of me, so that only the Russian remains".
......1762-1796 Catherine nevertheless had a European upbringing and a Western mind. She corresponded with enlightened French philosophers and seriously considered introducing their ideas into Russia. The empress enjoyed hunting, horse-riding, dancing, balls and other forms of entertainment.
......1762-1796 Unlike such other Russian empresses as Anna Ioannovna or Elizabeth Petrovna, for whom favourites were merely a whim. Catherine elevated the practice to a state institution. She herself claimed to be doing the state a service by educating and promoting talented young men. The results of this form of "education" varied. Although she twice bore children to her favourites, they were more than just lovers, of which Catherine had many.
Catherine the Great was born on 21 April 1729 in the town of Stettin (now Szczezin). Catherine's mother, was twenty-two years younger than her husband. She was a nervy, flighty trouble-maker who did not get on with her husband. The future empress was christened Sophie Auguste Friederike or "Fike" for short. Contemporaries have suggested that her father may have been Frederick the Great or Russian diplomat Ivan Betskoi. The latter theory is supported by the fact that when she became empress, Catherine always kissed Betskoi's hand when she entered the room and allowed him to sit in her presence, when everybody else had to stand. During a phlebotomy, she is alleged to have said:"Let all the German blood flow out of me, so that only the Russian remains".
On 26 January 1744, Sophie and her mother came to Russia at the invitation of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to marry the heir to the throne. The first Russian town on their route was Riga, where the princess was met by an escort headed by the legendary story-teller Baron Carl Friedrich Hieronymus von Munchhausen. after converting to the Orthodox Church as Catherine Alexeyevna, she married Peter Fedorovich.
After successfully deposing her husband on 28 June 1762, Catherine had herself crowned empress at the Dormition Cathedral on 22 September 1762. Ironically, the reign of this German princess brought more benefit to Russia than under her native-born predecessors. Although Catherine left the Russian finances in a perilous state and the country in a state of disorder, she took care to create the image of a great ruler. Her reign in often regarded as the "golden age of Catherine". While paying tribute to many of her undoubted successes, however, her role in Russian history should not be exaggerated.
Andrei Bolotov wrote that "under the all-powerful Prince Potemkin, for several years, we had only one recruitment ... and absolutely everything was embezzled by the prince and his minions and favourites". The conscripts were often plundered and turned into private property. Alexander Bezborodko claimed that in 1795 as many as fifty thousand men were missing from an army of four hundred thousand.
By the end ot Catherine's reign, the Russian army was in a sorry state. General Langeron observed sadly: "All you have to do to became a cavalry officer in Russia is to be able to ride a horse".
Andrei Bolotov wrote: "In the guards regiments, the sub-colonels and majors did what they to confer ranks on anyone for money. Service in the guards was an out-and-out comedy". The Preobrazhensky Regiment alone numbered several thousand warrant officers and sergeants. With the full knowledge of the commanders, secretaries accepted bribes for including noblemen, merchants, clerks, apprentices and priests in the regiment. The official lists included infants and sometimes even unborn children - before the sex of the baby was even known. None of these people served, but simply lived in their houses or estates, advancing from rank to rank. Upon reaching the position of over-officer, they transferred to the army, where they were promoted another two ranks - without knowing the slightest thing about military service.
Things were little better in the civil service. Towards the end of Catherine's reign, eleven thousand cases lay unanswered in the Senate. The bureaucracy was riddled with corruption. Nothing could be done without paying a bribe. Catherine's wars exhausted the exchequer. Money was not backed by gold and there was a large public deficit. The prices of essential foodstuffs as bread and salt rose sharply, hitting the poor hardest. In the countryside, landowners chopped down forests for firewood, without bothering to plant new trees. Many other negative phenomena flourshed in Russia under Catherine. Catherine had a talent for finding the right people for the right job. She was extremely able in her choice of statemen - and lovers. The same man sometimes performed both roles. The institution of favourites flourihed under Catherine. The empress spent enormous sums of money on her lovers (historians have calculated that they cost Russia the exact sum of 95,5 million roubles). She generously presented crown peasants to her lovers and other favourites, increasing the total number of serfs in the country. The empress gave away a total of 800,000 heads.
Besides her successor, Grand Duke Paul, Catherine also bore Grigory Orlov a son in 1762, who was known as Alexei Bobrinsky. In 1775, she bore Grigory Potemkin a daughter called Elizabeth Temkina.
Towards the end of her life, Catherine was often ill. Her legs swelled up and she died of a brain aneurysm on 6 November 1796. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
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