Catherine the Great

Apr 03, 2015

1762-1796 Empress of Russia.

She was the first Enlightened Ruler of Russia, a clever diplomat who expanded the power of nobility. Contrary to expectations of Western liberals, she actually did very little for the serfs.

Background
Lived: 1729-1796.
Her real name was princess Sophie Friederike Auguste, and she was from an impoverished aristocratic family in Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg in Prussia. In 1744, she received an unexpected invitation to marry Peter, the future Emperor of Russia.

Career
Catherine converted to Orthodoxy and became a Russian patriot. Her survival in the court was uncertain until she bore an heir,  her son Paul, in 1754.

Catherine entered into secret alliances against her husband. Among here co-conspirators were the British ambassador, the future king of Poland Stanislaw Poniatowski, and foremost her lover Grigory Orlov, who helped her organize a coup and depose Peter III in 1762.

The Enlightened Monarch
As empress, Catherine was the most intellectual ruler ever to rule Russia, the first “enlightened monarch”. As a passionate reader and writer, patron of education and the arts, she was in contact with Europe’s most liberal philosophers, Voltaire and Diderot.

Her passion was lawmaking. She was a master diplomat and expert in human psychology, knowing exactly how to make the right impression.

Catherine had numerous lovers but never married again. From 1774 to 1776, her favourite was Grigory Potemkin, who was also a skilled politician.

Death
Catherine had a son, Paul I, and three illegitimate children. She grew more and more autocratic towards the end of her rule. She died of a stroke at 67.

Nikita Panin