catherine the great cause of death

She succeeded her husband as empress regnant, following the precedent established when Catherine I succeeded her husband Peter the Great in 1725. [d] As a patron of the arts, she presided over the age of the Russian Enlightenment, including the establishment of the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens, the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe. Due to various rumours of Catherine's promiscuity, Peter was led to believe he was not the child's biological father and is known to have proclaimed, "Go to the devil!" Two wings were devoted to her collections of "curiosities". The life of a serf belonged to the state. But when he arrived at his palace and found it abandoned, he realized what had occurred. The Tokugawa shogunate received the mission, but negotiations failed. Rumours of Catherine's private life had a small basis in the fact that she took many young lovers, even in old age. [79] For philosophy, she liked books promoting what has been called "enlightened despotism", which she embraced as her ideal of an autocratic but reformist government that operated according to the rule of law, not the whims of the ruler, hence her interest in Blackstone's legal commentaries. ]]> Catherines failure to abolish feudalism is often cited as justification for characterizing her as a hypocritical, albeit enlightened, despot. Born without a drop of Russian blood inside her veins, the German-born Sophie Friederike Auguste died as Catherine the Great of Russia, whose successful 34-year reign became known as the Golden Age of Russia. It was a failure because it narrowed and stifled entrepreneurship and did not reward economic development. Sergei Saltykov was used to make Peter jealous, and relations with Saltykov were platonic. Finally Catherine annexed the Crimea in 1783. [70] By 1790, the Hermitage was home to 38,000 books, 10,000 gems and 10,000 drawings. This was another attempt to organise and passively control the outer fringes of her country. Poniatowski, through his mother's side, came from the Czartoryski family, prominent members of the pro-Russian faction in Poland; Poniatowski and Catherine were eighth cousins, twice removed, by their mutual ancestor King Christian I of Denmark, by virtue of Poniatowski's maternal descent from the Scottish House of Stuart. The peasants were discontented because of many other factors as well, including crop failure, and epidemics, especially a major epidemic in 1771. The Corps then began to take children from a very young age and educate them until the age of 21, with a broadened curriculum that included the sciences, philosophy, ethics, history, and international law. This spurred Russian interest in opening trade with Japan to the south for supplies and food. She thus spent much of this time alone in her private boudoir to hide away from Peter's abrasive personality. document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) In the west the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by Catherine's former lover King Stanisaw August Poniatowski, was eventually partitioned, with the Russian Empire gaining the largest share. Converted Jews could gain permission to enter the merchant class and farm as free peasants under Russian rule. While the measure appeared to be progressive on paper, the reality of the situation remained stark for most peasants, and in 1881, revolutionaries assassinated the increasingly reactionary czara clear example of what Hartley deems autocracy tempered by assassination, or the idea that a ruler had almost unlimited powers but was always vulnerable to being dethroned if he or she alienated the elites., After Pugachevs uprising, Catherine shifted focus to what Massie describes as more readily achievable aims: namely, the expansion of her empire and the enrichment of its culture.. Paul ascended to the throne and was known as Emperor Paul I. Catherine's will was discovered in . These were the privileges a serf was entitled to and that nobles were bound to carry out. Her mother was Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. Catherine perceived that the Qianlong Emperor was an unpleasant and arrogant neighbour, once saying: "I shall not die until I have ejected the Turks from Europe, suppressed the pride of China and established trade with India". If Catherine the Great had one overarching goal as empress, it was, in her words, to "drag Russia out of its medieval stupor and into the modern world". Historical accounts portray Joanna as a cold, abusive woman who loved gossip and court intrigues. After defeating Polish loyalist forces in the PolishRussian War of 1792 and in the Kociuszko Uprising (1794), Russia completed the partitioning of Poland, dividing all of the remaining Commonwealth territory with Prussia and Austria (1795). She nationalised all of the church lands to help pay for her wars, largely emptied the monasteries, and forced most of the remaining clergymen to survive as farmers or from fees for baptisms and other services. But whereas she downplayed this background in favor of presenting herself as a Russian patriot, he catered to his home country by abandoning conquests against Prussia and pursuing a military campaign in Denmark that was of little value to Russia. It also stipulated in detail the subjects to be taught at every age and the method of teaching. Madame Vige Le Brun vividly describes the empress in her memoirs:[85], the sight of this famous woman so impressed me that I found it impossible to think of anything: I could only stare at her. Catherine gave away 66,000 serfs from 1762 to 1772, 202,000 from 1773 to 1793, and 100,000 in one day: 18 August 1795. Grigory Potemkin was involved in the palace coup of 1762. She was a patron of the . In 1780, she established a League of Armed Neutrality, designed to defend neutral shipping from being searched by the British Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War. In their eyes, Catherine was the very definition of unnatural and so stories of outlandish sexual behaviour became a way of insinuating how her position in the world was not natural to her gender. [93], Not long after the Moscow Foundling Home, at the instigation of her factotum, Ivan Betskoy, she wrote a manual for the education of young children, drawing from the ideas of John Locke, and founded the famous Smolny Institute in 1764, first of its kind in Russia. As Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Peter planned war against Denmark, Russia's traditional ally against Sweden. Peter . Peter ceased Russian operations against Prussia, and Frederick suggested the partition of Polish territories with Russia. The serfs probably followed someone who was pretending to be the true empress because of their feelings of disconnection to Catherine and her policies empowering the nobles, but this was not the first time they followed a pretender under Catherine's reign. [103] Nevertheless, Catherine's Russia provided an asylum and a base for regrouping to the Jesuits following the suppression of the Jesuits in most of Europe in 1773. Along the way, she became a very passionate, knowledgeable proponent of painting, sculpture, books, architecture, opera, theater and literature. The commission had to consider the needs of the Russian Empire and the means of satisfying them. Catherine was eventually able to put down the uprising, but the carnage exacted on both sides was substantial. [59] Some serfs did apply for freedom and were successful. The attitude of the serfs toward their autocrat had historically been a positive one. [52], Catherine paid a great deal of attention to financial reform, and relied heavily on the advice of Prince A. How can history remember her for anything else if she died whilst trying to have sexual intercourse with a horse? [43] In 1762, he unilaterally abrogated the Treaty of Kyakhta, which governed the caravan trade between the two empires. Alexander Radishchev published his Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow in 1790, shortly after the start of the French Revolution. Potemkin also convinced Catherine to expand the universities in Russia to increase the number of scientists. Bored with her husband, Catherine became an avid reader of books, mostly in French. Briefwechsel mit der Kaiserin Katharina", "Alexander the Great vs Ivan the Terrible", "The Ambiguous Legal Status of Russian Jewry in the Reign of Catherine II", "Catherine II and the Serfs: A Reconsideration of Some Problems", Bibliography of Russian history (16131917), Some of the code of laws mentioned above, along with other information, Manifesto of the Empress Catherine II, inviting foreign immigration, Biography of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, Family tree of the ancestors of Catherine the Great, Diaries and Letters: Catherine II German Princess Who Came to Rule Russia, Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lneburg, Catherine Alexeievna (Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst), Natalia Alexeievna (Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt), Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Wrttemberg), Anna Feodorovna (Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld), Alexandra Feodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia), Elena Pavlovna (Charlotte of Wrttemberg), Alexandra Iosifovna (Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg), Maria Pavlovna (Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin), Elizabeth Feodorovna (Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine), Alexandra Georgievna (Alexandra of Greece and Denmark), Elizaveta Mavrikievna (Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg), Anastasia Nikolaevna (Anastasia of Montenegro), Militza Nikolaevna of Montenegro (Milica of Montenegro), Maria Georgievna (Maria of Greece and Denmark), Viktoria Feodorovna (Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catherine_the_Great&oldid=1142635143, 18th-century people from the Russian Empire, 18th-century women from the Russian Empire, Burials at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Lutheranism, Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Mistresses of Stanisaw August Poniatowski, People of the War of the Bavarian Succession, Recipients of the Order of St. George of the First Degree, Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland), Articles containing Russian-language text, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from May 2020, Articles lacking reliable references from November 2018, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Articles lacking in-text citations from July 2022, Articles containing explicitly cited English-language text, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2008, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2009, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from August 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2022, All articles needing additional references, Articles needing additional references from April 2022, Articles needing additional references from December 2022, Articles with Russian-language sources (ru), Articles with self-published sources from November 2021, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the New International Encyclopedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, According to court gossip, this lost pregnancy was attributed to. They indeed helped modernise the sector that totally dominated the Russian economy. I think Catherine realized that her own position and her own life [were] probably under threat, and so she acted., These tensions culminated in a July 9, 1762, coup. Look at the mirror, however, and an entirely different ruler appears: Her reflection is this private, determined, ambitious Catherine, says Jaques. [58] Some serfs were able to use their new status to their advantage. Russians continue to admire Catherine, the German, the usurper and profligate, and regard her as a source of national pride. All of this was true before Catherine's reign, and this is the system she inherited. Writing for History Extra, Hartley describes Catherines Russia as an undoubtedly aggressive nation that clashed with the Ottomans, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania and the Crimea in pursuit of additional territory for an already vast empire. In 1780, Emperor Joseph II, the son of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, toyed with the idea of determining whether or not to enter an alliance with Russia, and asked to meet Catherine. Russian poets wrote about his virtues, the court praised him, foreign ambassadors fought for his favour, and his family moved into the palace. [9] It was during this period that she first read Voltaire and the other philosophes of the French Enlightenment. When the frail Grand Duchess died on 8 March 1759, she was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery with Catherine and Elizabeth present. In addition to the advisory commission, Catherine established a Commission of National Schools under Pyotr Zavadovsky. In the east Russians became the first Europeans to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America. Catherine II (born Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 1729 - 17 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. Assisted by highly successful generals such as Alexander Suvorov and Pyotr Rumyantsev, and admirals such as Samuel Greig and Fyodor Ushakov, she governed at a time when the Russian Empire was expanding rapidly by conquest and diplomacy. However, the Legislative Commission of 1767 offered several seats to people professing the Islamic faith. [108] Jewish members of society were required to pay double the tax of their Orthodox neighbours. The global trade of Russian natural resources and Russian grain provoked famines, starvation and fear of famines in Russia. For all her show of sensuality, Catherine was actually rather prudish, says Jaques. Wikimedia Commons. Those in a position to smear her reputation were men. She appointed General Aleksandr Bibikov to put down the uprising, but she needed Potemkin's advice on military strategy. The official cause of death was advertised as hemorrhoidal colican absurd diagnosis that soon became a popular euphemism for assassination, according to Montefiore. At first, she attempted to revise clerical studies, proposing a reform of religious schools. The monarch was succeeded by her son,. Catherines contributions to Russias cultural landscape were far more successful than her failed socioeconomic reforms. The fifth film. The empress played a direct role in many of these initiatives. Sette, Alessandro. Some claimed Catherine failed to supply enough money to support her educational program. Like Empress Elizabeth before her, Catherine had given strict instructions that Ivan was to be killed in the event of any such attempt. [62] This happened more often during Catherine's reign because of the new schools she established. Spread fertilizer over the soil, all the way to the edges of the canopy. The most famous of these rumors is that she died after having sex with her horse. B. Catherine the Great's Foreign Policy Reconsidered. After the decisive defeat of the Russian fleet at the Battle of Svensksund in 1790, the parties signed the Treaty of Vrl (14 August 1790), returning all conquered territories to their respective owners and confirming the Treaty of bo. Construction of many mansions of the nobility, in the classical style endorsed by the empress, changed the face of the country. Many cities and towns were founded on Catherine's orders in the newly conquered lands, most notably Odessa, Yekaterinoslav (to-day known as Dnipro), Kherson, Nikolayev, and Sevastopol. She was also very fat, but her face was still beautiful, and she wore her white hair up, framing it perfectly. Apply organic citrus and avocado . In the Treaty of Georgievsk (1783), Russia agreed to protect Georgia against any new invasion and further political aspirations of their Persian suzerains. In 1777, the empress described to Voltaire her legal innovations within a backward Russia as progressing "little by little". Her foreign policy lacked a long-term strategy and from the very start was characterised by a series of mistakes. The statute sought to efficiently govern Russia by increasing population and dividing the country into provinces and districts. Larry was not just a beloved family member, but also a husband, friend, mentor, peer, inventor, advisor, and audio enthusiast. The belief at the time was that women were inferior to men, whose role was to be subordinate to their husbands. On a personal level, Pugachevs success challenged many of Catherines Enlightenment beliefs, leaving her with memories that haunted her for the rest of her life, according to Massie. He was strongly in favour of the adoption of the Austrian three-tier model of trivial, real, and normal schools at the village, town, and provincial capital levels. She credited her survival to frequent bloodletting; in a single day, she had four phlebotomies. She lost the large territories of the Russian protectorate of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania and left its territories to Prussia and Austria. [40], In 1764, Catherine placed Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, her former lover, on the Polish throne. Later, several rumours circulated regarding the cause and manner of her death. Historians have argued that the horse myth represents how her enemies wished to paint her rule and her ascension to the throne as unnatural. AETNUK. Catherine was stretched on a ceremonial bed surrounded by the coats of arms of all the towns in Russia. [121][122] The percentage of state money spent on the court increased from 10% in 1767 to 11% in 1781 to 14% in 1795. However, because her second cousin Peter III converted to Orthodox Christianity, her mother's brother became the heir to the Swedish throne[4] and two of her first cousins, Gustav III and Charles XIII, later became Kings of Sweden. Despite his objections, on 28 June 1744, the Russian Orthodox Church received Princess Sophie as a member with the new name Catherine (Yekaterina or Ekaterina) and the (artificial) patronymic (Alekseyevna, daughter of Aleksey), so that she was in all respects the namesake of Catherine I, the mother of Elizabeth and the grandmother of Peter III. The answer is misogyny. The crown contains 75 pearls and 4,936 Indian diamonds forming laurel and oak leaves, the symbols of power and strength, and is surmounted by a 398.62-carat ruby spinel that previously belonged to the Empress Elizabeth, and a diamond cross. Catherine I of Russia. Her face was left uncovered, and her fair hand rested on the bed. They often became trusted advisors who she then promoted into positions of authority. News of Catherine's plan spread, and Frederick II (others say the Ottoman sultan) warned her that if she tried to conquer Poland by marrying Poniatowski, all of Europe would oppose her. Peter and Catherine had both been involved in a 1749 Russian military plot to crown Peter (together with Catherine) in Elizabeth's stead. She launched the Moscow Foundling Home and lying-in hospital, 1764, and Paul's Hospital, 1763. Catherine, 26 years old and already married to the then-Grand Duke Peter for some 10 years, met the 22-year-old Poniatowski in 1755, therefore well before encountering the Orlov brothers. Catherine the Great was worried that her son, Paul, was not emotionally fit to rule so she planned to replace him with his son, Alexander, as her heir. Catherine saw Orlov as very useful, and he became instrumental in the 28 June 1762 coup d'tat against her husband, but she preferred to remain the dowager empress of Russia rather than marrying anyone. She provided support to a Polish anti-reform group known as the Targowica Confederation. Featuring Elle Fanning as the empress and Nicholas Hoult as her mercurial husband, Peter III, The Great differs from the 2019 HBO miniseries Catherine the Great, which starred Helen Mirren as its title character. Derided both in her day and in modern times as a hypocritical warmonger with an unnatural sexual appetite, Catherine was a woman of contradictions whose brazen exploits have long overshadowed the accomplishments that won her the Great moniker in the first place. Her goal was to modernise education across Russia. 679 Words; 3 Pages; Open Document. By the winter of 1773, the Pugachev revolt had started to threaten. At the time of Peter III's overthrow, other potential rivals for the throne included Ivan VI (17401764), who had been confined at Schlsselburg in Lake Ladoga from the age of six months and who was thought to be insane. Friday, Feb. 1 is the American Liked by Catherine Porter All the ladies, some of whom took turn to watch by the body, would go and kiss this hand, or at least appear to." Catherine II[a] (born Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 1729 17 November 1796),[b] most commonly known as Catherine the Great,[c] was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. Catherine's undated will, discovered in early 1792 among her papers by her secretary Alexander Vasilievich Khrapovitsky, gave specific instructions should she die: "Lay out my corpse dressed in white, with a golden crown on my head, and on it inscribe my Christian name. Apart from providing that experience, the marriage was unsuccessfulit was not consummated for years due to Peter III's mental immaturity. [95], From 1768 to 1774, no progress was made in setting up a national school system. Potemkin quickly gained positions and awards. [126] The last of her lovers, Platon Zubov, was 40 years her junior. Gustav Adolph felt pressured to accept that Alexandra would not convert to Lutheranism, and though he was delighted by the young lady, he refused to appear at the ball and left for Stockholm. Hulu's new series, The Great, follows Catherine the Great and her husband Peter III of Russia, who died under mysterious circumstances after his brief ascent to . The bonnet which held her white hair was not decorated with ribbons, but with the most beautiful diamonds. After holding more than 200 sittings, the so-called Commission dissolved without getting beyond the realm of theory. Catherine, for her part, claimed in her memoirs that all his actions bordered on insanity. By claiming the throne, she wrote, she had saved Russia from the disaster that all this Princes moral and physical faculties promised.. [49], Catherine imposed a comprehensive system of state regulation of merchants' activities. The crown was produced in a record two months and weighed 2.3kg (5.1 lbs). Catherine never even mentioned her daughter's death in her memoirs. Based on her writings, she found Peter detestable upon meeting him. The use of these notes continued until 1849. [5] In accordance with the custom then prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess and from tutors. When she wrote her memoirs, she said she made the decision then to do whatever was necessary and to profess to believe whatever was required of her to become qualified to wear the crown. The objective was to strengthen the friendship between Prussia and Russia, to weaken the influence of Austria, and to overthrow the chancellor Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, a known partisan of the Austrian alliance on whom Russian Empress Elizabeth relied. In the south the Crimean Khanate was crushed following victories over the Bar Confederation and Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War. Before her death she recognized Peter II, the grandson of Peter I and Eudoxia, as her successor. [139][140] According to lisabeth Vige Le Brun: "The empress's body lay in state for six weeks in a large and magnificently decorated room in the castle, which was kept lit day and night. May 14, 2020. [89] In 1764, she sent for Dumaresq to come to Russia and then appointed him to the educational commission. The cabinet was said to have enormous penises for legs, whilst other erotic imagery adorned its sides. In 1757, Poniatowski served in the British Army during the Seven Years' War, thus severing close relationships with Catherine. (Former Empress of Russia (1725 - 1727)) Catherine I of Russia was the Empress of Russia from 1724 until her death. As many of the democratic principles frightened her more moderate and experienced advisors, she refrained from immediately putting them into practice. She expanded Russia's borders to the Black Sea and into central Europe during her reign. In the same year, Catherine issued the Charter of the Towns, which distributed all people into six groups as a way to limit the power of nobles and create a middle estate. Catherine the Great is a monarch mired in misconception. [114] Endowments from the government replaced income from privately held lands. If all went as planned, according to Massie, the proposed legal code would raise the levels of government administration, of justice, and of tolerance within her empire. But these changes failed to materialize, and Catherines suggestions remained just that. The ultimate goal for the Russian government, however, was to topple the anti-Russian shah (king), and to replace him with a half-brother, Morteza Qoli Khan, who had defected to Russia and was therefore pro-Russian. Cookie Policy Poniatowski accepted the throne, and thereby put himself under Catherine's control. Grigory Orlov and his other three brothers found themselves rewarded with titles, money, swords, and other gifts, but Catherine did not marry Grigory, who proved inept at politics and useless when asked for advice. in, Inna Gorbatov, "Voltaire and Russia in the Age of Enlightenment.". Russian economic development was well below the standards in western Europe. M. B. W. Trent, "Catherine the Great Invites Euler to Return to St. Her hunger for fame centred on her daughter's prospects of becoming empress of Russia, but she infuriated Empress Elizabeth, who eventually banned her from the country for spying for King Frederick. On the night of 8 July (OS: 27 June 1762),[22] Catherine was given the news that one of her co-conspirators had been arrested by her estranged husband and that all they had been planning must take place at once. There's no question Catherine was behind the coup that led to her husband's overthrow and her eventual coronation as Empress Yekaterina Alekseyevna Romanova, aka Catherine II. Catherine held western European philosophies and culture close to her heart, and she wanted to surround herself with like-minded people within Russia. [45] The Dzungar genocide which was committed by the Qing state had led many Dzungars to seek sanctuary in the Russian Empire, and it was also one of the reasons for the abrogation of the Treaty of Kyakhta. In 1772, Catherine wrote to Potemkin. When Catherine agreed to the First Partition of Poland, the large new Jewish element was treated as a separate people, defined by their religion. "Did Orlov Buy the Orlov". Other than these, the rights of a serf were very limited. A shrewd statesman, Panin dedicated much effort and millions of roubles to setting up a "Northern Accord" between Russia, Prussia, Poland and Sweden, to counter the power of the BourbonHabsburg League. Her dynasty lost power because of this and of a war with Austria and Germany, impossible without her foreign policy.[48]. Russia invaded Poland on 26 August 1764, threatening to fight, and imposing Poniatowski as king. Its surprising that someone whos waging war with the Ottoman Empire and partitioning Poland and annexing the Crimea has time to make sketches for one of her palaces, but she was very hands on, says Jaques. Historians consider her efforts to be a success. However, if the empress' policies were too extreme or too disliked, she was not considered the true empress. When Sophie arrived in Russia in 1744, she spared no effort to ingratiate herself not only with Empress Elizabeth but with her husband and with the Russian people as well. Catherines success as a ruler was also a driving factor behind the rumours. The formidable Catherine had little time for her heir. She found that piecemeal reform worked poorly because there was no overall view of a comprehensive state budget. It was charged with admitting destitute and extramarital children to educate them in any way the state deemed fit.

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