1762-1796
The reign of Catherine II (the Great) is known to history as the Age of Enlightened Absolutism. Two generations of people grew up enjoying freedom of speech, political stability and great victories.
“Inauguration of the Academy of Arts, 7 July 1765” by Valeri Jacobi (1889)
Background
Peter III ruled disastrously for six months. His wife Catherine launched a coup and seized the throne without difficulty.
Enlightened monarch
Catherine continued Peter the Great’s line of modernization. She prepared drafted laws based on the views of enlightenment, but her plans went nowhere.
Patron of nobility
The great Administration Reform of 1775 increased the administrative power of the nobility, andcourts and police institutions were established.
Foreign policy
At the beginning Catherine’s foreign policy was in the hands of Nikita Panin. Her marshals Suvorov, Ushakov and Potemkin greatly expanded Russian’s territory in the south and west. In 1784 Crimea was taken from the Ottomans and three partitions wiped Poland off the map.
Pugachev’s Rebellion
Catherine was an enlightened liberal only in theory. She denounced the French Revolution as a brutal act against the monarchy.
In 1773 the greatest armed revolt, constituting 100,000 Cossacks and led by Yemelyan Pugachev, was put down ruthlessly, its leader publicly executed.
Russia Under Catherine the Great
1762-1796
The reign of Catherine II (the Great) is known to history as the Age of Enlightened Absolutism. Two generations of people grew up enjoying freedom of speech, political stability and great victories.
“Inauguration of the Academy of Arts, 7 July 1765” by Valeri Jacobi (1889)
Background
Peter III ruled disastrously for six months. His wife Catherine launched a coup and seized the throne without difficulty.
Enlightened monarch
Catherine continued Peter the Great’s line of modernization. She prepared drafted laws based on the views of enlightenment, but her plans went nowhere.
Patron of nobility
The great Administration Reform of 1775 increased the administrative power of the nobility, andcourts and police institutions were established.
Foreign policy
At the beginning Catherine’s foreign policy was in the hands of Nikita Panin. Her marshals Suvorov, Ushakov and Potemkin greatly expanded Russian’s territory in the south and west. In 1784 Crimea was taken from the Ottomans and three partitions wiped Poland off the map.
Pugachev’s Rebellion
Catherine was an enlightened liberal only in theory. She denounced the French Revolution as a brutal act against the monarchy.
In 1773 the greatest armed revolt, constituting 100,000 Cossacks and led by Yemelyan Pugachev, was put down ruthlessly, its leader publicly executed.
Catherine the Great