Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great was born Sophie Auguste Frederike. She was a German princess. She married Peter III at the invitation of Peter III's mother, Elizabeth I. At the time of her marriage, she took the name Catherine and became a member of the Russian Orthodox church. Peter III and Catherine the Great were very different. Peter III idolized Frederick the Great of Prussia and ended a war Russia had been fighting with Prussia by conceding all of Russia's gains to Prussia. Peter III did not particularly like Russia. Catherine however, sought to become more Russian. She learned the language and customs and learned about the court. Within a few months of Peter III coming to power, the royal guard deserted him and helped Catherine gain the throne. The coup that brought Catherine to power and saw her crowned Empress of all Russia was organized by Count Grigorii Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers.

Catherine the Great helped make her popularity grow by minimizing her European connections and focusing on her support of Russia. Yet, while Catherine the Great sought to minimize her connections to Europe, she also tried to continue westernizing Russia as Peter the Great had done. She wanted to bring the Enlightenment to Russia and admired the French philosophers. Catherine attempted to create a progressive law code and created the Great Instruction to work towards this goal. She presented the Great Instruction to a group called the Legislative Commission who were supposed to codify laws. However, the Legislative Commission was unsuccessful in creating laws and when war broke out in Turkey Catherine disbanded the group. She also read authors such as Voltaire, Diderot and Montesquieu and incorporated their theories into her ruling ideas. Catherine also encouraged the publishing of numerous books and periodicals, including satires on Russian court life and the nobility. Catherine was a patron of the arts. During her reign, Catherine the Great improved the lives of the nobility while decreasing the status and rights of the peasants and serfs. Catherine was dependent on the nobility for her power. She knew that they had helped her come to power and that if she didn't satisfy them they could plan a coup against her.

One of the first controversial things Catherine did was to secularize the church lands. The Metropolitan protested and excommunicated those involved with the process, however others in the church did not support the excommunication and the Metropolitan eventually lost his position. Catherine promoted local government and created governing districts. In 1785 the Charter to the Nobility was passed. This recognized the gentry of each province as a group with an elected leader that could directly petition Catherine. It also restored previous rights and privileges of the gentry. The gentry were free from obligations to the state and from taxation. They also gained greater property rights. They were the sole owners of their estates and gained much more control over the serfs. During this time, the poor and the serfs lost much of their privileges and revolts occurred. The most famous and largest of the revolts was led by the Cossack Emelian Pugachev and lasted from 1773-1775. It ended when Pugachev was captured and brought to Moscow where he was dismembered and burned. Catherine also helped spread the institution of serfdom by giving away large tracts of land and the people on the land as gifts and rewards thus increasing the number of serfs and the places where serfdom was common.

Catherine worked to increase education in Russia. She created elementary and secondary schools and universities. The elementary schools and secondary schools were supposed to be free to all but economics often kept the poor people out of the schools. Elementary schools were largely private schools that poor people could not afford to attend, and therefore they could not get into the secondary schools. Catherine also established a medical commission in 1763 which helped to improve medical conditions in Russia. She led the way in vaccinating Russians by taking the first vaccine. She also wanted Russia to be able to produce its own medicines and surgical equipment. Catherine helped expand Russia through two Russo-Turkish wars, one in 1768-1774 and one from 1787-1792, through the addition of Ukraine from 1781-1786 and by gaining portions of Poland through paritions of Poland. Catherine died in 1796.