Essay/Term paper: Catherine ii

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Humanities Essays

"Women fell under her spell as well as men, for

underlying her engaging femininity was a masculine strength

which gave her the courage to present a bland and smiling

mask in the face of the greatest tribulations." Sophia Augusta

Frederica was born into a small Prussian kingdom in 1729.

Her hometown was in Stettin, Germany. Her birth was a

great disappointment to her parents, her father, Prince

Christian August of Anhalt- Zerbst and her mother, Johanna

Elizabeth, daughter of the prince of Holstein – Gottorp. Both

parents had hoped for a son. After they did finally have a

son, she was neglected even more. Although, when her

parents discovered that she had a good memory, they

encouraged her to study religion, history and geography.

Besides learning, Sophia also became more interested in

hunting and riding horses rather than what were considered

more feminine past times and was somewhat of a tomboy.

Throughout her life, her mother only spoke to her to criticize

her. Her father cared very much for her, but was too

engrossed with his military work to show her much affection.

She spent much time with her governess who taught her to

question everything and everybody and to trust her own

common sense. Her guidance from her governess and her

ability to be independent at a young age helped her to later

become a strong leader.



At a very young age, she wished to marry her second

cousin, Peter Ulrich, who later changed his name to Peter

Fyodorvich. Elizabeth I of Russia chose her to marry her

son, Peter Fyodorvich. Catherine prepared for the role of

czarina by studying the Russian language intently. Love

played no role in her thoughts to marry Peter; Catherine was

only interested in the throne. As a strict Lutheran,

Catherine"s father was very unhappy about Catherine

marrying a Russian Orthodox. Her father wrote her letters

begging her not to abandon Lutheranism. Catherine was

determined to gain the respect of the Russian orthodox, so

when she became deathly ill, she called for a Russian

orthodox priest instead of a Lutheran. She won the trust and

sympathy of Russia. On June 28, 1744, Catherine was

baptized into the Russian orthodox faith. The next day she

and peter Fyodovich had an elaborate betrothal at the

Cathedral of St. Sophia. She married Peter in August

of1745, and their marriage was a disaster from the

beginning. Peter was very immature and spent most of his

time playing with toy soldiers. 2/1/952 "The marriage was a

complete failure. The following eighteen years were filled

with deception and humiliation for her." Peter hurt Catherine

deeply when he told her of women in the court that he loved

and thought were beautiful. Catherine became very lonely

and resorted to reading, by the time Catherine was 23, she

was even more intelligent. After many years, Catherine still

had not born a child with Peter. Elizabeth, determined to

have an heir, arranged for Catherine to bear a child with

another man. Catherine then chose her own lover, an

imperial guard officer and war hero, to have a child with.

Catherine had many lovers throughout her marriage to Peter

III. Soon after the birth of Catherine"s second child,

Elizabeth grew very sick. As Elizabeth deteriorated, so did

Catherine and Peter"s relationship. Catherine soon found a

new lover Grigory Orlov, a lieutenant in the palace guard, he

ended up being one of Catherine"s most important allies.

After the death of Empress Elizabeth on December 25,

1761, peter no longer felt that he had to disguise his hatred

toward his wife. Catherine became powerless and could not

fight back because she was pregnant with Oriole"s child.

Because Peter could use this evidence of infidelity against

her, she wore loose, heavy mourning clothes with long veils.

This clothing was appropriate to wear when Elizabeth"s

body was displayed in the palace. For ten days after

Elizabeth"s death, Catherine knelt in prayer, while Peter was

out laughing, drinking and having a good time at parties.

Catherine was clearly the model ruler.



After the death of his mother, Peter III began an even more

disastrous reign. He offended officials of the court and of the

church, while Catherine was busy gaining supporters through

her lover, Orlov and his brothers. One night, while drunk,

Peter announced that he planned to divorce Catherine.

14/2/69 News spread of the Tsar"s scandalsous attack on

Cahterine. Instead, she and Orlov planned to overthrow him.

On the night of June 27, 1762, Orlov took Catherine away

to an army barracks where the solderis proclaimed her their

savior, and she took the throne. Peter was imprisoned and

was later put to death. Catherine was now the rightful

Empress of Russia, Catherine II.



Catherine"s efforts to self educate herself paid off. She was

an intelligent, well rounded leader. 2/5/488"Throughout her

reign Catherine was passionately interested in education,

which she firmly believed could remodel human nature."

Catherine truly wanted to improve the Russian economy.

She changed her views of the world when she became

Empress. She was origionally opposed to serfdom, where

serfs were bound by lwaw to their land and had no rights of

their own. But she soon began to treat the common people

as objects to be given as gifts. During her reign, Catherine

said,15/2/71 "My only desire in which God as placed me…

The glory of my own country is my own glory." In the

beginning of her reign, Russia"s foreigh and domestic affairs

were in terrible shape because of the haphazard reigns of her

predecessors, Peter and his mother Elizabeth. On of the

ways Catherine chose to mend the problems was in 1762,

she allowed nobles to build factories on their estates. This

led to the expansion of industry in Russia. The backstage

workings of the government interested Catherine greatly.

She read all of her paper work, accounts, reports,

memorandums, and atteneded all meetings. Sometimes

Catherine became so involved that she would forget to eat

meals. At the age of 33, on September 22, 1762, Catherine

was crowned 17/2/76 "the most serene and powerful

princess and Lady Catherine the Second, empress and

autocrat of all the Russias."



Catherine"s goal was always to impress the good will of the

Russian clergy. In February of 1764, Catherine signed a

decree making the Russian Orthodox Church a state asset.

This motion freed one million serfs. Catherine then made a

pilgrimage to the city of Rostov where she set up a sliver

shrine to Saint Dimitiri, this greatly impressed the Russian

people. After a small battle with the church, she realized that

having the clergy as an enemy did not pose a serious threat.

Instead of befriending people of the clergy, she began to

befriend philisophers and enlightenment thinkers.



These philisophers consisted of Denis Diderot, Montesquieu,

and Voltiare. They inspired her to rewrite the antiquated,

confusing code of laws. 1/2/16 Denis Diderot wrote in

regards to Catherine, "She has the soul of Brutus and the

body of Cleopatra." The Nakaz, published in 1767,

instructions for the revision of legal code was the most

important work of her life. Other accomplishments included

liberal projects; a home for orphans; the construction of a

public health department; and an institution for educating the

daughters of nobility. She put an end to state intervention of

commerce and built many new roads. Although it was hard

to believe, Catherine was not always working.



In her spare time, she enjoyed the company of dogs, and

usually had up to four of five dogs at a time. Her dogs dined

with her and were treated with tender love and care.

Catherine also enjoyed discovering new, unsusual foods.

She greatly encouraged the cultivation of potatoes, which

were considered, "the devils weed." She established the

Russian Academy for the study of arts and published a

literary magazine, wrote memoirs, enjoyed paintings,

sculptures, and cameo making. Catherine was a patron of

the arts and built many magnificent palaces and public

buildings in St. Petersburg. Catherine stored all of her great

pieces of art in a palace now called the Hermitage.



Catherine II was worried about Peter the Great"s

grand-nephew, Ivan VI, who was living, without a name in

the dungeon where Empress Elizabeth had sent him in 1741.

Ivan VI had a legitimate claim to the crown and throne. In

1764, Catherine"s fears diminished. A young army officer

believed that it was his calling from God to rescue Ivan VI

from imprisonment. The guards killed Ivan when the officer

attempted to free him. Another person who posed a threat

to Catherine II was an army deserter who claimed to be

Peter III. After much blood shed he was captured and

beheaded. The only person who was now a threat to

Catherine was her own son, Tsarevitch Paul. Her son

loathed her because he though she killed his father. It wasn"t

until Catherine"s death that he realized that his mother was

innocent.



Catherine"s attitude for her love affairs was very straight

forward. She thought of physical satisfaction as a completely

natural and unshameful need. Although her views on sex

were looked down upon by many, Catherine continued to

have one lover after another. Catherine"s ex-lover, Grigory

Orlov, was dismissed from court. As a parting gift, Catherine

gave her ex a generous amount of money, a generous

pention, riches, a marble palace, and 6,000 serfs who could

act as slaves. In 1774, Catherine disovered a replacement

for Grigory Orlov. Her new lover, Grigory Potemkin

captured her imagination as no other man ever had. At the

age of 45, she abandoned herself to her love of Potemkin,

some historians believe that they were actually married for

some time. When Catherine"s relationship with Potemkin

began to cool down, he became her matchmaker and

lifelong friend. When Catherine was 50 years old, she fell in

love with a twenty-four year old who had been brought up in

the palace with one of her sons. She was devastated when

he died at a young age of diphtheria in 1784. To overcome

his death, she studied various foreign languages spoken

within Russia.



In 1772, Catherine joined forces with Fredrick William II of

Prussia, and Maria Theresa, empress of Austria. They

divided Poland among their three states. This angered

Turkey and led to a costly war known as the Seven Years

War, starting in 1768 and ending in 1774 with a tremendous

Russian victory. Russia gained crucial territory bordering the

Black Sea.



In 1780, Catherine issued the "Armed Neutrality Act". This

act granted freedom of navigation and trade to countries not

at war. Five years later, in 1785, Catherine passed the

Nobles" Charter which gave ruling classes greater privileges

and made sefts legal private property of nobility.



At age 60, Catherine still had a beautiful complexion,

sparkiling eyes, but she was heavy and was missing most of

her teeth. Despite her appearance, she still sought company

of young men. When Poland attacked Russia in 1793,

foreign affairs were on top of the list. Inspired by the French

Revolution, Catherine was horrified by the killing of Louis

XVI by guillotine. The idea was worsened because it was

the invention of her once beloved philosophers. In 1796,

Catherine was still an effective ruler despite her bad health.

Her death was very unexpected and tragic. She was found in

her bathroom laying on the floor. 1/4/365 "Her face was

livid, her body completely inert. With difficulty they dragged

her on a mattress back to her room. It was a sad end for a

sovereign who had earned the title of "the Great."



(paraphrase pg 104 source 3)Catherine, born a German,

died a true Russian. Her 34-year reign brought both great

advances and great misery to her adoptive people. Her main

interests were cultural and political. Detirmined to make the

backward Russian society as cultured as those of the

German and French, she introduced and encouraged the

studies of literature, art , science, and new philosophical

ideas to the people of Russia. She was the first Russian ruler

to spend large sums of money on education. She founded

new universities and the nation"s first school for girls.







Catherine who herself was a dedicated reader and art collecter,

encouraged both reading and appreciation of the arts among her

nobles. She worked endlessly to modernize and improve the

structure of the government of Russia. Although she thought of

herself as a "republican", Cahterine actually made Russia"s already

powerful rulers even stronger by increasing the power over the

serfs. She began her reign with sympathy for the poor, but serfs did

not benefit from her reign in anyway. Catherine"s success expanded

Russian borders tremendously and increased its international

prestige. Catherine had many lovers, but she never allowed any one

of them to rule Russia, she was always in control. Because she was a

woman, her risqué personality was often criticized. Her enemies

although, could never destroy the great record of her

accomplishments. She remains today, one of the most brilliant and

intellectual leaders the world has ever known. Catherine II was truly

worthy of the title, "Catherine the Great."