Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia

On May 2nd 1729, Sophie Friederike Auguste was born in Stettin Poland, she was better known as Catherine the Great. Catherine’s father was a German prince named Christian August Von Anhalt-Zerbst and her mother named Johanna Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp was an active member of the Holstein-Gottorp which was named the most famous celebrated family in Germany. Catherine’s relationship was extremely sour with her mom because her mom was more interested in spending time with Catherine’s brother Wilhelm Christian. When Wilhelm Christian died Johanna decided that she wanted to have a relationship with her daughter because she wanted Catherine to increase on the social ladders.

Catherine felt that getting married at a young age would give her the opportunity to escape her controlling mother who only cared about getting on top of the social ladder. In 1744 at just fifteen years old, Catherine and her mom decided to travel to Russia to meet the Empress Elizabeth. Elizabeth felt a connection to Johanna because she was engaged to her older brother who had died from smallpox.

Elizabeth wanted to meet Catherine because she wanted to see if she was the right girl for her heir Peter. At the time Peter was the Grand Duke until Elizabeth dies many years later. Elizabeth is the aunt of Peter, which is her heir because she didn’t mother any children.

A year later after the meeting with Elizabeth, Peter and Catherine married on August 21st, 1745. Right after getting married Catherine changed her religion to Orthodox Christianity and changed her name to Catherine.

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Catherine’s marriage to Peter was extremely toxic and neither of them were happy. Peter was an immature cheater who would rather spend quality time with his mistress Elizabeth Vorontsova than his own wife at home and he looked up to Frederick II of Prussia. But Catherine wasn’t innocent either she had about three lovers when she was married their names were Alexander Vasilchikov, Sergei Saltykov, Stanislaw August Poniatowski, and many more lovers that weren’t named. After years of not having a child, Catherine gave birth to her first son Paul on September 20th , 1754. The paternity of Paul was a huge debate around Catherine, many believed that Paul’s father was her lover Sergei Saltykov who was a Russian Noble and others believed that when Paul got older that he looked like her husband Peter. According to Catherine II Biography article there had been rumors that “Peter was unable to consummate the marriage, while others think he was infertile.” After giving birth to Paul, Elizabeth ended up raising him and Catherine never really showed Paul any love compared to the other three kids she had.

On January 5th , 1762 Empress Elizabeth had died. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica Article Elizabeth had Russia “allied with Austria and France, was engaged in the Seven Years War against Prussia”. After Elizabeth died, Peter became the Emperor of Russia. Peter ended up changing all the plans that Elizabeth had before she died, he ended the Russian’s involvement in the Seven Years War, and he made an alliance with Frederick II of Prussia. Catherine became fearful because Peter started to show his hatred for Russia and started to show love for Germany. Peter wanted to kill Catherine, so before he was able to strike Catherine had to strike first. Catherine had the support of the army that was in St.Peterburg where he lover Gregory Orlov was, and she had the support from the courts and public opinion. in Moscow and St.Peterburg. On July 9th , 1762 Catherine led the army to Peter to force him to step down from the Throne in Russia, eight Days after this on July 17th he was assassinated. According to Catherine II Biography article “Peter was murdered by Alexel Orlov, the brother of Catherine’s lover Gregory. Though there is no proof that Catherine knew of the murder before it happened, it cast a pall over her reign from the start.” After the assassination of Emperor Peter, Catherine was crowed on September 1762 in Moscow to begin her thirty-four years on the throne.

While Catherine The Great was on the throne for thirty-four years she had many accomplishments and dreams for Russia. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica Catherine “had dreamed of establishing a reign of order and justice, of spreading education, creating a court to rival Versailles, and developing a national culture that would be more than an imitation of French Models.” Catherine knew this was too much to succeed in, but she tried extremely hard to make it happen. The first accomplishment, that Catherine succeeded in was building boarding schools that were for girls. There were two requirements that the girls needed to be accepted into the boarding school they had to be raised in a noble family and from St.Peterburg After creating the boarding schools, Catherine ended up creating free schools all around Russia. The second accomplishment, Catherine made was building theaters in St.Peterburg for people to watch opera and ballet performances. During this time, Catherine wrote some French stories the names of them were Diderot, and D’Alembart and Voltaire. The third accomplishment, Catherine made was making the Nakaz. The Nakaz was an effort for the social and political reforms. According to Catherine II Biography the Nakaz was “how the country’s legal system should run, with a push for capital punishment and torture to be outlawed and calling every man to be declared equal.” In 1767, after finishing write up of the Nakaz, Catherine brought all different social classes together to create the Legislative Commision. The Legislative Commision didn’t create any laws, but it was the first time in history where Russians expressed their feelings and concerns about their country. The Nakaz was mostly known for the ideas that everyone suggested than its influence.

The fourth accomplishment, that Catherine succeeded in was having a Victory against Turkey. The war started in 1768 and ended in 1774. According to Catherine II Biography the reason for the war was because “Russia expanded its border. She made substantial gains in Poland, where she earlier installed her former lover, Polish count Stanislaw Poniatowski on the country’s throne.” The reason Catherine went to Poland was because she didn’t like how Poland was treating the Orthodox Russia’s that had been living on the east side of Poland. This caused a conflict between Turkey and Russia. While the war lasted many years, Russia was going through extreme difficulties during this time. A plague spread all over Moscow which caused anxiety all around about the plague. Another complication was in 1773 when Yemelyan Pugachov who was a former officer decided to pretend to be the deceased Emperor Peter. Pugachov had a ton of supporters and took over many large territories. During this time in 1774 Turkey had been defeated by Catherine and her army, which made her seem untouchable. After the war, the Ottoman Empire signed a peace treaty with Catherine that meant bringing new land to the Empire and giving Russia support in the Black Sea. After the peace treaty was signed Catherine was ready to capture Pugachov. In 1775, all Pugachov supporter left him stranded and he was beheaded shortly after that. The last success that Catherine had was expanding Russia westwards and southwards. Catherine had succeeded in making Russia 200,000 square miles. After expanding, hundreds of towns were built, and old towns were built brand new. This caused trade to increase and for communication to start around the country. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica “These achievements together was the glory of military victories and the fame of brilliant court, to which the greatest minds of Europe were drawn, have won her a distinguished place in history. This was the last achievement that Catherine made before she had died.

On November 17th, 1796, Catherine The Great had died from having a stroke. The stroke caused Catherine to go into a Coma that she had never recovered from and passed away. Before she had died, she wanted her favorite son Alexander to be the heir of the throne, but it was too late to make this decision because she had died before placing him as the heir. Paul her least favorite son was the heir of the throne and inherited everything that Catherine had. Paul’s time on the throne was cut short five years later because he was assassinated, which gave Catherine’s Grandson Alexander I the opportunity to be the ruler of the Romanov Dynasty.

I think Catherine The Great was important to history because she was the longest female Empress of Russia to ever be on the throne for thirty-four years. I do believe that her love affairs clouded a ton of her success for Russia because she had about twelve lovers before she had died. Catherine made Russia a great country because she expanded the land, trade, culture, art, performances all around the country. Catherine was also known for creating the Nakaz for political and social reforms. After finishing the Nakaz, Catherine brought all social classes together to discuss everyone’s feelings about Russia and what needs to be fixed. I don’t think the other rulers were capable of doing what Catherine did. I do believe that Catherine did some terrible things while she was still alive, but I think she did more good than harm for Russia. My theory on Catherine is that as a kid she didn’t get the love she deserved from her family, all they cared about was there social status they had in front of people instead of showing each other love. I think this is the reason why she had so many lovers and didn’t give her son Paul the love he deserved because she didn’t know what love was. I feel she was like her mom Johanna because her mom showed her brother Wilhelm more love than Catherine and Catherine showed her son Alexander more love than she showed Paul.