Catherine 2 in the history of the Russian Empire is not just one of the rulers of a huge state, it is a whole era, an exceptional phenomenon. Under her, many reforms and conquests were carried out. Russia of Catherine’s times is a great power, aspiring to world hegemony.
What do we most often hear about Catherine the Great?
The descendants are ungrateful. Perhaps that is why the “most interesting” facts about Catherine 2 relate, as a rule, to some vile details of her personal life, partly ridiculous, composed of evil languages.
The average layman “knows for sure” that she was a power-hungry, cruel woman (she killed her husband, heartfelt), and even depraved. Numerous lovers of Catherine 2, the first among whom is
Grigory Potemkin, have long become
a byword. They also attribute to her wild orgies, portraying the Russian Empress as a sort of Messalina, but this is nothing more than fiction, there is no confirmation of such insinuations.
Novels and favorites
Of course, she had many novels. Even before the removal of Paul III from power, in the early 50s, she managed to bring Saltykov, an officer of the guard, closer. When the future Emperor Pavel I was born in 1754, persistent rumors circulated that his father was not at all a Russian autocrat. However, there is no evidence for this.
I must say that the lovers of Catherine 2 changed quite often. Five years after the beginning of the affair with Saltykov, the empress tenderly was friends with Ponyatovsky, the future king of Poland. After another half a decade, in the early 60s, Grigory Orlov, who ultimately helped her to seize power, became her lover.
Unsuccessful marriage - a successful coup
With her husband, Peter III, Catherine’s relationship did not work out. There is a lot of writing that the Russian emperor was an ebullient and infantile man, and according to some sources, he had purely medical problems with his psyche. He didn’t set his wife in anything, openly lived with his favorite, Vorontsova, and by 1762 the circumstances for the lawful spouse of the autocrat were in a menacing way: she was constantly afraid of expulsion or even death.
In part, the coup d'etat that the future autocratic empress Catherine 2 carried out was a preemptive strike from the series “either I him, or he me”. I must say that Peter III was not particularly popular. When Catherine was proclaimed empress (this happened in the Izmailovsky barracks), St. Petersburg exploded in delight. Still, the personality of Catherine 2 was captivating: undeniably smart, restrained, educated woman, she combined better with the throne than her odious husband.
The coup was timed to coincide with the absence of the emperor, who went (to his misfortune) to Oranienbaum. Having learned about the tricks of his wife, Peter III tried to reason with her, but the freshly baked Empress Catherine 2 did not want to think about negotiations. The tsar was forced to abdicate - and yesterday's Prussian princess Sophia Augusta Frederica began to rule the vast country single-handedly.
Wise caution
However, it is hardly fair to speak of absolute power: Catherine was forced to act cautiously, with an eye on her surroundings. What ends the attempt to live in her own way, without reckoning with anyone, she knew firsthand: how it came, so it could leave.
The Empress absolutely did not seek to quarrel with anyone, and if we were to look for interesting facts about Catherine 2, we should definitely mention that she did not quarrel with any of her lovers. When she did not pursue yesterday's favorites, did not disgrace for what was said. The style of her communication with her subjects cannot but admire: the empress was considerate, restrained, and adapted to her interlocutor.
Brilliant surroundings
They say that the king makes the retinue. From this point of view, equal to Catherine 2 rulers have never been in Russia. She, like no one else, was able to appreciate the abilities of the people around her. It is not in vain that the reign of Catherine 2 was marked by the appearance of a number of prominent statesmen. A truly talented person, the empress could forgive a lot.
A striking example is her relationship with the magnificent Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, who, as you know,
didn’t go into his pocket for a word and, in a sense, was a rather skittish nonconformist. As far as the empress was able to speak the same language with her great subjects, a brief correspondence follows after the triumphal capture by the legendary commander of Warsaw. The lucky winner,
without hesitation, wrote to his mistress: “Hurray! Our Warsaw ”- to which he received an equally succinct answer:“ Hurray! Field Marshal Suvorov! "
The Age of Enlightenment and Serfdom
Sometimes you have to read that all the enlightening efforts of Catherine, her flirting with Voltaire and other liberal things are nothing more than a bluff. That in fact it contributed to the strengthening of serfdom, finally enslaving the already unhappy peasants. It is unlikely that this point of view is true, because in defense of the “accused” very interesting facts are told about Catherine 2. For example, the one that with her appeared on the map of Russia more than two hundred cities, and the population increased by a third (more than 10 million).
Catherine’s archive revealed numerous thoughts on the abolition of serfdom, various options for the implementation of this reform, but this did not come true.
Considering interests
Before condemning the empress, however, it should be remembered that such "innovations" would hardly have met with enthusiasm among the Russian landlords, and the empress did not want to quarrel with powerful nobles, since her authority relied on their support and she tried not to make her influential subjects.
The reign of Catherine 2 is not in vain called the "golden age of the nobility": the great empress issued a letter of honor to the nobility, securing class privileges, and treated her "subordinates" very carefully and tactfully. It is known, for example, that the empress had a very quick-tempered character, but she learned to curb her passion and never made hasty decisions, waiting for the anger to subside.
Perhaps the only influential estate affected by Catherine was the Orthodox clergy. The empress thoroughly “shocked” the holy monasteries on the subject of tax-free lands and transferred the monastic serfs to the status of state (thereby, as is commonly believed, greatly facilitating their fate, and this is no less than almost two million people).
Achievements and Successes
The humanitarian policy at the time of Catherine 2 was at its best (especially considering the level of development of natural law throughout the world). This is evidenced by at least the fact that during the entire period of her reign only one person was executed. But here hardly anyone would refuse to understand the Russian autocrat, because this unfortunate was Emelyan Pugachev, who declared himself “miraculously survived” by Emperor Peter III and delivered to Ekaterina a complete barrel of trouble in the form of a large-scale peasant uprising. What-what, and the Empress was not going to share power.
She ruled her country as wisely as possible, tirelessly caring for her prosperity, strengthening Russian positions on the world stage. Many interesting facts about Catherine 2 speak in favor of this thesis, because the number of industrial enterprises doubled thanks to her reforms, Crimea joined the empire, and great successes were achieved in the Caucasus. The sovereign's foreign policy was offensive, which greatly unnerved some European powers.
Milestone in history
The whole career of this great woman suggests that she was guided primarily by the mind - a very outstanding, flexible, devoid of prejudice. How strong and open was the personality of Catherine 2, the history of the vaccine against smallpox, which the empress did for herself and her son (heir, by the way, the throne) testifies to. It was a truly courageous act, which became one of the steps on the path to the complete extermination of the terrible disease that once mowed down entire cities.
The empress’s religious tolerance also deserves special mention: during her reign, non-believers were not persecuted, and grateful Buddhists even proclaimed it to be one of the manifestations of White Tara (whatever that means).
Thus, replicating greasy information about Catherine 2, the authors of dirty insinuations demonstrate only their ignorance. For its time, it was truly a great ruler, who did a lot for Russia. Her achievements are undeniable, and her vices are greatly exaggerated.