Catherine the Great
On the 2nd of May 1729, a girl named Sophia Augusta Frederica was born inside the Ducal Castle in Stettin. Her father held the rank of Prussian general while governing that city. Her mother Joanna Elisabeth belonged to the Holstein-Gottorp family. The young princess grew up with little money despite her royal blood. She received education from a French governess and private tutors who taught etiquette and Lutheran theology. Sophie mastered French as the language of European elites. At age ten she met Peter III during a visit to her home. She found him detestable immediately and kept to one end of the castle while he stayed at the other. Her family hoped this marriage would advance their political standing among the many sovereign entities of the Holy Roman Empire.
Empress Elizabeth died on the 5th of January 1762 leaving Peter III to inherit the throne. Catherine lived in Oranienbaum while Peter lingered there with his Holstein courtiers for six months after becoming emperor. On the night of the 8th of July 1762 news arrived that a co-conspirator had been arrested by her estranged husband. Catherine left the palace the next day and went to the Izmailovsky Regiment. She delivered a speech asking soldiers to protect her from her husband before marching to the Semenovsky Barracks. There clergy waited to ordain her as sole occupant of the Russian throne. Peter signed an abdication document eight days later on the 17th of July 1762. He died at Ropsha possibly at the hands of Alexei Orlov though official records cited haemorrhoidal colic and apoplexy stroke.
Russia fought the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768, 1774 inflicting heavy defeats including battles at Chesma and Kagul in 1770. These victories brought Crimea into the Russian sphere of influence and allowed annexation of territory between the Bug and Dnieper rivers. Catherine named Şahin Giray to head the Crimean state but eventually annexed it directly in 1783. A triumphal procession through Crimea in 1787 provoked another war with the Ottomans ending in 1792 with the Treaty of Jassy. New cities like Odessa Nikolayev Yekaterinoslav and Kherson rose from the ground along the southern coast. Russia also gained control over Georgia after King Erekle II signed the Treaty of Georgievsk in 1783 promising protection against Persian attacks.
A census taken between 1754 and 1762 showed Catherine owned 500,000 serfs while 2.8 million more belonged to the Russian state. Landowners held absolute power over these people who were bound to the land they tilled. Under Catherine nobles gained the ability to sentence serfs to hard labour in Siberia though killing them remained forbidden. Pugachev's Rebellion erupted in 1774 as peasants followed a pretender claiming to be Peter III. The rebellion failed but pushed Catherine away from ideas of serf liberation. She signed legislation prohibiting direct appeals to her by serfs while allowing complaints against abusive masters through legal channels. Crop failures and epidemics especially the major outbreak in 1771 fueled widespread discontent among the peasantry.
Catherine ordered construction of the Hermitage in 1770 to house her expanding collection of paintings and books. By 1790 it contained 38,000 books 10,000 gems and 10,000 drawings. She corresponded with Voltaire for fifteen years until his death in 1778 calling him The Star of the North. Diderot completed his Encyclopédie under her protection after the French government threatened its publication. Catherine invited scientists like Leonhard Euler and Peter Simon Pallas to the Russian capital. She established the Free Economic Society in Saint Petersburg in 1765 recruiting leading economists such as Arthur Young and Jacques Necker. Her personal library included works by Benjamin Franklin and Frederick the Great alongside philosophical treatises on enlightened despotism.
In 1764 Catherine founded the Smolny Institute admitting young girls from the noble elite initially before opening doors to petit-bourgeoisie daughters. Running and games were forbidden inside the building which was kept particularly cold to protect developing bodies. The institute taught French music and dancing while enforcing strict discipline over all students. A national school system emerged later with the Statute of National Education created on the 5th of August 1786. This statute established free high schools and primary schools open to all free classes excluding serfs. By the end of her reign approximately 62,000 pupils attended some 549 state institutions though this number remained small compared to Russia's total population.
Catherine nationalized all Church lands to fund wars and emptied monasteries forcing clergymen to survive as farmers or through baptism fees. Very few nobles entered the Church making it less important than before. She placed strictures on Catholics mainly Polish following partitions of Poland appointing a Catholic bishop of Mohylev to administer churches in her territory. Islam received different treatment as she avoided force trying persuasion and monetary incentives to integrate Muslim areas between 1762 and 1773. Muslims were prohibited from owning Orthodox serfs during that period and pressured into Orthodoxy through financial rewards. Catherine promoted protection of Christians under Turkish rule while suppressing dissenters after the onset of the French Revolution.
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Common questions
When was Catherine the Great born and where did she grow up?
Catherine the Great was born on the 2nd of May 1729 inside the Ducal Castle in Stettin. Her father held the rank of Prussian general while governing that city.
How did Catherine the Great become Empress of Russia in 1762?
Catherine the Great left the palace on the 9th of July 1762 to join the Izmailovsky Regiment after her husband Peter III arrested a co-conspirator. She delivered a speech asking soldiers to protect her before marching to the Semenovsky Barracks where clergy ordained her as sole occupant of the Russian throne.
What territories did Catherine the Great annex during her reign from 1762 to 1796?
Catherine the Great annexed Crimea directly in 1783 and gained control over Georgia after King Erekle II signed the Treaty of Georgievsk in 1783. New cities like Odessa Nikolayev Yekaterinoslav and Kherson rose from the ground along the southern coast following victories against the Ottoman Empire.
How many serfs did Catherine the Great own according to census data between 1754 and 1762?
A census taken between 1754 and 1762 showed Catherine the Great owned 500,000 serfs while 2.8 million more belonged to the Russian state. Landowners held absolute power over these people who were bound to the land they tilled.
When was the Hermitage museum established by Catherine the Great and what did it contain by 1790?
Catherine the Great ordered construction of the Hermitage in 1770 to house her expanding collection of paintings and books. By 1790 it contained 38,000 books 10,000 gems and 10,000 drawings.