Catherine the Great - The Enlightened Empress Documentary

[Music] the woman known to history as Sophie fredericka August 1 and holds earths Thornburg who would late to be known as Catherine the Great was born on the 2nd of may 17 29 in the city of Stetten in Prussian Pomerania in modern-day Poland her mother Johanna Elizabeth was the daughter of Christian August of Holstein got off who in turn was the youngest son Christian Albert Duke of Holstein got off and his wife the daughter of King Frederick the 3rd of denmark princess fredericka Amalia Sophie's father was Christian August Prince of and hold Zerbst who rose to prominence with imp Russia as a military commander under its King Frederick the Great and after a long military career was made a knight of the order of the Black Eagle which was Prussia's highest chivalric order and was later ultimately promoted to the rank of general Field Marshal of the Prussian army in 1742 Sophie was born into the noble elite of Prussian society meaning that she was given the very best education from an early age under the tutelage of a French governess although she later stated in reference to her youth that she could see nothing of interest in it despite her family's titles lineage and military background Sophie's parents were relatively poor meaning that her rise to power within Russia would come to depend on the backing of her mother and close family who do to Prussia's rivalry with Austria would soon seek her hand in marriage to her second cousin Peter of halston got off who was in contention to succeed Empress Elisabeth to the Russian throne the reason for the Prussian Peter being a candidate to succeed Elizabeth was that the Russian Empress had remained unmarried and thusly childless and had instead satisfied her apparently voracious nocturnal desires by bedding a series of commoners including an Army sergeant and a number of lowly serfs despite failing to produce an air Empress Elizabeth is also remembered today as continuing her father Peter the Great's of modernization of Russia that had seen the Sodom transformed from a backward many evil feudal kingdom into a resurgent European power that had reclaimed large portions of the baltic coast from the Swedes who had conquered ingria over a hundred years before after Peter the Great's death in 1725 the Russian throne was occupied by four czars in 16 years including Peters second wife Catherine the first he died in 1727 and his grandson from his first marriage Peter the second who died at the age of 14 in 1730 the throne was then taken by Anna the daughter of Peter the Great's half-brother Ivan the fifth until 1740 when Ivan the fits last surviving great grandchild the infant Ivan the sixth ascended to the Russian throne but was surely after was deposed by Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth in 1741 although some historians claim the Russian enlightenment began in the reign of her father Peter the Great Elizabeth's ascension to the Russian throne marked introduction of the concept of enlightened absolutism otherwise known as benevolent despotism across the Sodom that had been first theorized in an essay by the Prussian King Frederick the Great in an attempt to fuse the form of governance that is absolute monarchy with the new theories and philosophies of the Enlightenment the enlightenment itself was a period in 18th century Europe when scientists and philosophers were beginning to question the old held assumptions of Western civilization primarily by the use of reason that began to erode the grip of the Catholic faith as well as the supposed divine right of the countenance absolute monarchies in favor of more scientific individualist libertarian philosophies and freedoms that would in time pave the way for the rise of liberalism and even socialism in the 19th century as well as science itself naturally many European rulers struggled to come to terms with these new ideas however the more enlightened one art such as Frederick the Great who can perhaps be best described as a benevolent dictator use the concept of enlightened absolutism to essentially maintain their grasp on power by promoting education for the upper and middle classes religious tolerance and increased freedom of speech as well as private property rights indeed many European rulers subsequently adopted benevolent despotism over the coming decades including Frederick the Great Napoleon Bonaparte and Catherine the Great herself and it could even be said that the concept of enlightened absolutism even persisted well into the 20th century in Europe finally meeting his demise after World War Two as some claimed that the likes of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong were enlightened despots which is hotly debated Elizabeth however would come to embrace the ideas and policies outlined by the likes of Frederick the Great which would in turn shape the rule of Catherine the Great over the coming years who would herself continue to modernize Russia and in the process become one of these are domes most venerated and respected monarchs as she grew older it became evident to Elizabeth that producing an heir was impossible therefore she decided that upon her death the Russian throne would pass to her nephew Charles Peter Ulrich of shrill fig Hall Stein got off the only surviving child of Elizabeth's elder sister Anna who had died in 1728 of a bacterial infection just four days after her son's birth another reason for Elizabeth choosing her nephew to succeed her was her fear of a coup in support of the deposed Ivan vi who she had herself deposed and had since kept in solitary confinement and given his jailers express orders that if any escape or coup was attempted he was to be eliminated immediately the prospect of Peter becoming Russia's new Tsar inevitably made him the most eligible bachelor in Eastern Europe and it was this prospect combined with both Sophie's and Peters family connections within Prussia that would eventually see her become his bride as well as this the marriage also had powerful backers within the prussian state itself in the shape of Frederick the Great who along with one of Empress Elizabeth's top advisors Jean Armand Delos stock wants to forge greater ties between Prussia and Russia against Austria however these plans were in turn opposed by Elizabeth's Chancellor Alexei best to Zev who supported a Pro Austrian and anti Prussian foreign policy according to accounts Sophie and Peter had first met when she was 10 and he was 11 shortly after he had been named Duke of Holstein got off upon his father Charles Frederick's death in 1739 however the meeting between the two was not exactly love at first sight as Sophie disliked her suit his complexion drinking and fondness of playing with toy soldiers in 1742 at the age of 14 Peter relocated to Russia where his aunt Elizabeth made him king of Finland after Russia retook the country in the russo swedish war and shortly afterwards Sophie along with her mother joined her future husband in Russia in 1744 over the coming months Sophie took the time to ingratiate herself with Russian customs and evidently quickly became attached to her new home as within a matter of months she became fluent in Russian and is said to have been liked by Empress Elisabeth despite evidently impressing the Russian court illness almost cut Sophie's life short in 1744 by what she would later describe as an attack of pleurisy or an inflammation of the lungs there nearly killed her and at one point when her mother called for a Lutheran Protestant priest Sophie roused from her slumber and cried I don't want any Lutheran I want my Orthodox father in the end Sophie made a full recovery with the aid of bloodletting meaning that the formalities for her marriage to Peter were soon able to continue and finally despite her parents reservations sophie was formally accepted into the russian orthodox church on the 28th of june 1744 where she was renamed Ekaterina or Catherine and a year later on the 21st of August 1745 at the age of 16 she was finally married to Peter in the Russian capital or st. Petersburg after the ceremony both Peter and Catherine made their home in the Russian royal residence of already in bound west of Saint Petersburg where they would hold court however the couple's union proved to be an unhappy distant one as the two disliked each other and there are rumours that both took lovers and lived opposite ends of the palace this dislike for one another would over the years evidently turn into hatred and suspicion as Peter became increasingly unpopular within the royal residence as he would drill his servants in the early hours of the morning I would also burst into Catherine's room late at night and keep her awake with his drunken singing leading her to state that he was an idiot and a good-for-nothing drunkard from Holstein despite their evident disdain for one another Peter and Catherine nonetheless parented at least one and possibly two children together over the coming years a son the future emperor pulled the first in 1754 and a daughter Anna in 1757 who died in infancy prompting Peter who evidently suspected that the child was not his own to state to go to hell when he was confronted with the baby's body which no doubt Grady hurt his wife and only increased her hatred of him indeed Catherine would later claim that she had never shared a bed with Peter at all thusly meaning that all of her children were illegitimate however there is no concrete evidence to suggest that this is true and over the coming years Catherine would go on to parent two more children Aleksey in 1762 and Elizabeth in 1775 both of whom were the fruits of her various lover's loins then on Christmas Eve 1761 Empress Elizabeth suffered a massive stroke she had been complaining of dizzy spells for some time but at point-blank refused to take any of the medications her physicians have prescribed her and had even forbidden anyone to mention the word death in her presence however regardless her health went into rapid decline over the following weeks and she ultimately passed away on the 5th of January 1762 aged just 52 this was the day that both Peter and Catherine had been waiting for and soon afterward he was crowned as Emperor of Russia as Catherine was given the title of Empress consort before both moved from their Iranian Bowne residence to the Winter Palace in st. Petersburg but despite his sending to the throne Peter showed little sign of changing his ways and his reign would ultimately prove to be unpopular and short discontent against the new Emperor first manifested itself when Peter decided to support Prussia's Frederick the Great who despite previously trying to improve relations with Empress Elizabeth had ultimately found himself fighting against Russia in the global conflict that is now known as the Seven Years War in which Prussia and its ally Great Britain fought against France Austria the Russian Empire Spain and Sweden as well as others and against the odds emerged victorious indeed the turning point of the Seven Years War from a Prussian perspective was Empress Elisabeth death as their war effort was in dire straits by this time the low point coming when the Russians sacked Berlin in October of 1760 however Peter who after all had been born in the now German city of kil greatly admired Frederick the Great and two months after his ascension to the Russian throne the new Tsar signed a peace treaty with Prussia and afterward sent troops to aid Frederick the great against his Austrian arch enemies this in turn effectively swung the war in Eastern Europe in precious favor as they would ultimately emerge victorious from the Seven Years War after securing Silesia in October of 1762 that forced the Austrians to the negotiating table - following the air at which they signed the treaty of Hubertus Berg on the 15th of February 1763 that established Prussia as a major European power that would one day unite all of Germany under its rule after this Emperor Peter sought to extend Russia's influence over the Danish territory of felt reg in order to bring it under the umbrella of his neighboring Duchy of Holstein got off however the Danes understandably being greatly alarmed by this course of events then threatened to annex the free city of Hamburg in northern Germany in order to force the city's banks to give them loans in order to keep fighting Peter saw this as all the justification he required and therefore were dispatched 45 thousand Russian troops however the Emperor would never get the chance to seize Holstein as by this time events in Russia were about to overtake him as the country's nobility had become greatly discontented with his rule and in particular his decision to ally with the Prussians against Austria Peter who seems to have been oblivious of the hatred his court and nobility had for him then left st. Petersburg in July of 1762 along with his German born courtiers and relatives for a short break at his old residence of a rhenium bowel but Catherine however conspicuously stayed behind as she had in the six months since her husband's ascension been plotting with the Russian opponents Peter to take the throne for herself however shortly after Peter left st. Petersburg Katherine then learned that one of her co-conspirators had been arrested thusly the Empress crossed the capital and headed to the headquarters of the elite Ismail offski regiment of the Russian army where she made a speech in which she begged for the soldiers support and protection against her husband luckily for Catherine instead of arresting her the soldiers agreed therefore she then left for the nearby seminoff ski barracks where the Orthodox clergyman was standing by to formally proclaim her as the sole empress of the Russian Empire and sown shortly afterwards Catherine with a full backing of the Russian state and Church formally took power and ordered her husband to be taken into captivity peter who had been outmaneuvered was finally taken prisoner on the 9th of july 1762 and whilst in custody signed away his throne in a formal abdication before being transported to the rupture palace outside the st. Petersburg where according to accounts he was assassinated on the 17th of july by Grigory Orlov who was the brother of Catherine's lover and favorite Alexei Olav who had played a crucial role in the coup however it should be said that there is no certainty as to hell Peter met his end as it is unclear if all of was acting under orders or his own initiative however Catherine's Ascension was not met with applause from all sides as later in 1764 a plot was foiled to release Ivan the sick from captivity who had been imprisoned by Empress Elisabeth meaning that he was soon dispatched as a consequence no doubt on Catherine's express orders however despite this her legitimacy to rule is still hotly debated today as some historians question where the Catherine was really the official Empress of Russia or if she was in fact merely the region for her son Paul and there were even rumors of a coup to depose her in the 1770s in order to place her son on to the throne instead nonetheless after her husband's death few could challenge Catherine who on the 22nd of September 1762 was formally crowned as Empress of Russia at the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow for which new crown was made that is known as the russian imperial crown that was crafted from over 70 pearls and 5000 Indian diamonds they're covered to gold and silver spherical lobes representing the eastern and western Roman empires in the middle of which was mounted a large ruby under a diamond-encrusted Orthodox cross after her coronation Katherine set about the affairs of the Russian state and began to implement her intended program of reform and modernization as she was determined that her empire should be the equal of its European rivals especially in terms of the strength of his economy which was largely dependent on cheap low-skilled peasant or serf labor this class of peasants that had once been common across much of Europe had by the 18th century steadily decreased in numbers until finally countries such as Russia were amongst the last incorporate serfdom into his social order whereby workers or laborers would not be given a parcel of land to work on for which they would pay their landlord a certain fraction of their crops or livestock Catherine who like many rulers was wary of liberating the lower classes stopped short of reforming or even abolishing serfdom completely but instead gave serfs the right and lodged complaints with the local governors against their landlords which gave Russia's poorest some measure of protection and rights although Catherine's real reasons for establishing a process of grievance is said to have been because she did not want to deal with the serfs complaints herself this disdain of the poor is also evidenced by Catherine gifting state-owned farms to Nobles meaning that their workforce then became serfs overnight and she even reversed a proclamation of Peter the Great that prevented the Orthodox Church from owning serfs that would in time come to have serious consequences as there was a large revolt of serfs across Russia between 1773 and 1775 against the increasingly punitive and strict rules the nobility were imposing on them this rebellion that is known today as Pugachev's rebellion after Yom Elian puka chef a former Army officer he used the widespread unrest to set up an alternative government in the name of the late Tsar Peter the third which was located in the area between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains Ain in an attempt to rally the support of the peasantry Pugachev outlawed serfdom which presented Catherine's government with a considerable problem as it was a challenge to the Imperial administration and the power of the nobility as well as Catherine herself both of whom were dependent on peasant labor however this insurrection was not to last as Pugachev was soon captured tried and executed in Moscow in January of 1775 after which his reforms were reversed in earnest this episode clearly Illustrated to Catherine the limitations and even dangers that abolishing serfdom could present but also showed the limitations of having a large population of unskilled serfs within Russia as the country's economy from the ground up was entirely dependent on having an abundance of cheap unskilled labour meaning that there were relatively few skilled professions available which were vital if the Empire was to modernize and compete with the Western powers in an effort to rectify this catherine then decided to supplement the unskilled russian workforce by encouraging foreign migration eastwards especially by german farmers into the more fertile regions of her empire particularly around the basin of the river volga these farmers who being proficient in the more modern Western methods of farming soon helped to increase agricultural output especially in the cultivation of crops such as wheat and tobacco as well as the raising of life's och that in turn enabled professions such as carpentry in ironworking to grow more common this policy soon paid katherine dividends as during her reign the volga region became the agricultural center of the russian economy which also came to prosper under her leadership due to other measures such as the printing of paper money and the opening of banks that proved to be crucial as until this time the Russian state had been almost entirely dependent on metal currency in turn meaning that if gold silver and copper were in short supply coins could not be minted which combined with the scarcity of metal caused rapid price inflation as well as the economy catherine instigated an overhaul of the russian education system which like the other areas of her empire liked desperately behind the country's European rivals and to rectify this the Empress established an education commission which during her reign would transform the education of many of her subjects from five to fifteen years of age in the new Western style these reforms were overseen by Catherine's educational advisor Ivan Betts coy and included the setting up of special orphanages such as the Moscow foundling home and the smullin Lee Institute which was a special school for girls firstly of noble and later of the middle classes indeed Catherine insisted that her younger subjects be their girls or boys should receive an education and later in her reign these educational reforms would also be rolled out across Russia an estimate suggested that over 60,000 pupils pass through Catherine's state schools during her reign which are said to have numbered in the region of 550 across Russia's many provinces these schools were not like they're modern contemporaries as play time was forbidden in favor of a curriculum based on the learning of mathematics science history basic skills and morals as well as respect for the Empress and was enforced by means of incredibly strict discipline in what were according to accounts extremely cold classrooms as it was thought that the heat was not good for children's health or concentration another floor of Catherine's educational reforms was the many noble families point-blank refused to send their children to state schools and as well as this lower middle class families objected to the western-style curriculum but despite these problems it is widely acknowledged that catherine did improve and enlarge the russian school system however she did not believe that peasant should receive an education as she thought they were easier to control if they were ignorant and she even at one point stated in a letter to an advisor that plebeian should not be educated otherwise they will know as much as you or I given her evident dislike for the unwashed masses it is fair to state that Catherine's adoption of enlightenment thinking merely extended to cultural and scientific affairs or in other words in ways that would be of benefit to her as clearly from her point of view an educated peasantry was not desirable whereas an educated middle class and strong industrial base would strengthen Russia against its rivals and in doing so strengthened her indeed it could be argued that catherine was an enlightened moderniser providing that she benefited from it the reforms that were arguably closer to Catherine's heart than any other were her now famous patronage of Russian arts and literature including the most famous example which is the Hermitage Museum in st. Petersburg which was established in 1764 and is renowned for housing the largest number of paintings on earth and despite claiming that she was no connoisseur of the Arts merely a lover of them Catherine did try her hand at producing her own creative works including fictional stories her own memoirs which are extensive as well as comedies her work even earned the praise of some of Europe's most celebrated writers and philosophers such as Voltaire who Catherine exchanged correspondence with for nearly 15 years and who gave her the title of the star of the north and even though the two never met the empress grieved for Voltaire when he died in 1778 and later brought from his relatives the majority of his book collection which is now housed in the National Library of Russia despite these reforms Catherine is perhaps best known today for her liberated personal life as she famously never remarried after her husband's death and instead took numerous lovers during her reign and despite the fact that various accounts state that the Empress was not particularly beautiful she nonetheless took advantage of her position to seduce many of the young and ambitious men within her Court who were eager to earn her favor it could even be said that the reason Catherine did not take a second husband was due to her wishing to maintain control over all state affairs possible proof of which can be found in the fact that she did not retain any of her numerous lovers for long and often cast them aside when she grew bored or met someone more interesting despite this nearly all of Catherine's lovers when she was finished with them were rewarded with titles lands or pensions for life and in return many of them would do favours for the Empress an example of which was Grigory Potemkin who suggested a suitable lower to replace him after his relationship with Catherine had ended and would later become a crucial figure in her regime particularly in her wars against the Ottomans indeed some say that Catherine even married Potemkin although there is no evidence for this however what is certain is that the Empress enjoyed the company of as many as 22 different men of varying ages and social standings during her reign from mere commoners to aristocracy all of whom were rewarded for their nocturnal endeavors with large sums of money estates and in some cases thousands of serfs these included Alexander Dmitri manonoff nikolas alexander souk pietre Zavod offski prince Zubov and Grigory all of with whom Katherine parented a son named Alexei however perhaps the most famous and important lover Katherine took was stanislav pania toski who it is claimed was the real father of Katherine's deceased daughter anna however this is contested what is certain is that the pleasures of the flesh were extremely important to Katherine as she even collected erotic furniture and works of art during her lifetime such as tables with male members for legs as well as other furniture with both male and female genitalia carved into erotic patterns along with revealing suggestive pictures as well as statues throughout her palaces as well as this the Empress even had prospective lovers vetted or tested by her ladies-in-waiting including countess press Kavya Bruce who would spend a night with every and any gentleman who called the Empress's eyes or vice versa however when the countess became close to one of Catherine's latest lovers she was dismissed from her position as she had incurred the Empress's severe displeasure all this paints a figure of a woman who delighted in the pleasures and luxury her position afforded her who as well as being a competent and intelligent ruler was also determined to enjoy her life and reign to the full and maintained control over every aspect of her life from warfare and diplomacy to romance and bedtime pursuits indeed the French author Charles Francois filbert Mouse all stated that Catherine had but two passions and never left her until her last breath those being the love of man which degenerated into licentiousness and the love of glory that sunk into vanity upon ending her relationships Catherine would also reward her lovers with positions of power the most famous of these as previously mentioned was stanislav Auguste Poniatowski who after their relationship ended katherine later supported in his successful candidacy to become the new king of the polish-lithuanian Commonwealth in 1763 after the death of its King Augustus the third however this scene sparked fears from the likes of Frederick the Great that Catherine intended to marry Poniatowski thusly forming a Polish Union however the Empress denied this and insisted that her new polish puppet king should marry another woman instead a constitutional monarchy Poland in Lithuania had been a United Kingdom for hundreds of years but given that its rulers did not have absolute power over the kingdom its government was often paralyzed by indecision and his nobles were often bribed by the surrounding powers to stop reforms and new legislation which ultimately culminated in the kingdom along with his new king falling under Catherine's thumb [Music] one of the foreign leaders who regarded the Commonwealth with envious eyes was Prussia's King Frederick the Great who had long hated the Slavs and in particular the pols whom he had great disdain for and had once even stated that all these people with surnames ending with skee deserve only contempt the prussian king along with other regional powers bordering poland such as russia had for a long time been vying with one another to gain greater influence over the country although as time went by Catherine the Great and Russia began to exert a particularly strong influence over Poland Lithuania as his evidence by Stanislav pony a tough skis ascension to the throne Frederic however had long wanted to join the Kingdom of Prussia with Eastern Prussia and had steadily been undermining Poland through various means such as printing polish banknotes in order to devaluate his currency and preventing the Polish government at any opportunity he could to reform or modernize by means of bribery or threats these policies ultimately culminated in Frederick with the help of his brother Prince Henry Frederick agreeing to the first partition of Poland in 1772 in which Prussia Austria and Russia occupied various areas of Poland Lithuania by occupying them with their respective armies which made all three countries more powerful and wealthier while simultaneously weakening the neighbor effectively signaling the beginning of the end of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth as the kingdom would later be divided twice more in 1793 and 1794 after the first partition of Poland Catherine then sought to expand Russia's borders in other areas and as war with the major European neighbors was not seen as advisable the Empress's choice instead was to seek territorial gain to the south which would inevitably lead to conflict with the powerful Muslim Ottoman Empire before embarking on aggressive expansion however Catherine agreed a trade agreement with Great Britain in 1766 but stopped short of entering into a full military alliance as she feared that doing so would make the island nation even more powerful than it already was as it had emerged victorious from the Seven Years War therefore she calculated that close ties with the country could potentially anger and isolate the continents other major powers it was perhaps her reluctance to go to war against Russia's rivals to the west they're prompted Catherine to turn her attention to the south as in the time of Peter the Great Russia had sought to gain territory in Azov region of the Black Sea however Catherine's predecessor had been unable to secure Russian domination of the region therefore the Empress now sought to wrestle control of the Black Sea ports from the Ottoman Empire in what is now known as the first russo-turkish war from 1768 to 1774 during this conflict Catherine's armies Double Altman's a series of defeats that included the naval battle of Chashma that took place from the 5th to the 7th of July 1779 or than Anatolian Coast in which a Russian fleet decimated the Ottoman Navy effectively giving Catherine near total domination of both the Black Sea as well as the Aegean as a result this success was then added to on land in the Battle of cagoule on the 21st of July 1779 he guard to be one of the largest land battles of the 18th century in which a Russian army of 40,000 men inflicted massive losses on an ottoman and Crimean Khanate force nearly double its size in Moldavia in which nearly 20,000 Muslims were killed which essentially brought the majority of southern Ukraine under Catherine and Russia's control although she had previously converted to the Russian Orthodox faith Catherine did not practice her faith with any great enthusiasm indeed she would during her reign cease church property and even sell the belongings of the country's clergy and monasteries to pay for her Wars but on the other hand she still protected the Orthodox religion by restricting and regulating the practice of other faiths such as Catholicism and Islam and offered foreigners financial inducements to convert to the Orthodox faith upon immigrating to the country however Katherine's policies towards Jews were entirely different from her policies towards other religions and even though there was only a tiny number of Jewish people in Russia at the beginning of her reign in 1772 catherine along with maria theresa of austria agreed to the previously mentioned plan devised by Frederick the Great of Prussia in which the three nations would cease large portions of land from the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth this at a stroke added hundreds of thousands of Jews to the Russian population and so Katherine allowed her new subjects to effectively live as separate entities within Russian society independent of the church in return for higher taxes although Jews who converted were exempt from these taxes and also allowed to join the mercantile classes as free citizens which in turn was unpopular with Catherine's other subjects eventually leading her to ban Jews from Moscow's middle classes in 1790 although these measures would today be seen as anti-semitic the Jews in truth fared about as well under Catherine as Russia's other religions as the Orthodox Church itself was heavily taxed during her reign in which Catherine even seized or closed churches and monasteries and prevented the clergy from having any say in the governance of the country and severely restricted the teaching of Christianity in Russian schools in short the Russian Empire under Catherine the Great became more secular than ever before as in reference to arts and culture she was evidently a true believer in the Enlightenment however any group be at the church or peasantry that could potentially challenge her rule was suppressed in many instances whereas the nobility in middle classes were protected as Catherine depended on them for the majority of her tax income ministers of state and army officers to Catherine signs offered her far more than religion ever could and as such she encouraged the emigration of as many scientists to Russia as possible including botanists mathematicians and astronomers including and as Johann Lexel who would after moving to st. Petersburg and its state-funded Academy of Science go on to make important contributions in the field of celestial mechanics and would ultimately have a comet named after him as well as being a patron of science catherine was also eager to incorporate the principles of the Enlightenment into Russia's system of governance and so in 1766 she established a grand Commission in Moscow that was comprised of around 650 members who in turn came from various levels of Russian society including government officials the nobility the burghers or middle classes and lastly the peasantry the purpose of this new body was to identify issues or problems and find remedies to them and to see that this prototype parliament did not over extend his remit Catherine also issued a list of instructions that the Commission was to rule in adherence with the philosophies and ideas of the Enlightenment however it soon became evident to many within the Russian nobility as well as the Empress herself that this body was in danger of introducing a democratic government within Russia meaning it was eventually disbanded despite this failure the Empress did undertake several governmental and legal reforms to the Russian state including the setting up of provinces as well as districts across Russia and restricting the power of the nobility by issuing the charter of towns in 1785 which placed all people into six social groups in order to curtail the power of the nobility by creating new upper-middle class population and these policies were also combined with other new laws concerning a wide range of sectors such as sea trade and even policing it was around this time that the prospect of war with the Ottomans reared its ugly head once again as Russia's southern rival attempted to retake the territories it had lost to Catherine in a conflict that is now known as the second russo-turkish war between 1787 and 1792 however the Ottomans were ultimately defeated once again as Catherine's army seized control of the Crimea before the Empress finally concluded a peace treaty with the Ottomans shortly afterwards however it was this second conflict with the Turks they gave Catherine's cousin boost up the 3rd of Sweden the opportunity he had been seeking to attack his northern rival as he was experiencing domestic discontent within Sweden at a time and thusly decided to attack Russia along the Baltic coast in June of 1788 with the ultimate goal of assaulting st. Petersburg but despite Gustaf's best laid plans the Russian Baltic Fleet was able to defeat the Swedes in the Battle of Hawkman on the 17th of July 1788 meaning that the swedish king's plans for an invasion of ingria was sidelined as were any russian hopes of advances after the later battle or spence ii in july of 1790 in which the russians were in turn defeated themselves which forced both sides to conclude a peace treaty that was finally agreed in August of 1790 spurred on by these successes catherine's final military adventure would be her war on persia and what is now known as the persian expedition of 1796 that started after the muslim kingdom under argA muhammad khan had invaded russia's neighbour georgia the year before and as russia had previously promised to protect georgia from foreign aggression catherine orders her forces to march against the muslims many people within russia assumed this expedition would be led by the veteran commander ivan gordeyevitch however catherine instead chose the relatively young and inexperienced count valerian Zubov the brother of her lover Platon Zubov who quickly pushed the Turks back into Monday Iran however despite the successes of valerian and the high regard the Empress had for his brother would soon be cast into disfavor when Catherine's sample came to the throne after her death during this time Catherine began to change her mind about her previous policies of enlightened absolutism as she along with the majority of uros monarchs had watched with horror and the unfolding events of the French Revolution of 1789 that many thought could easily spread across Europe and lead to the downfall of its royal dynasties this increasing dislike for the philosophies of the Enlightenment was also increased by events within the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth that in 1791 enacted the May Constitution that was designed to bring about a constitutional monarchy in which the Polish nobility would be placed on an even social footing with ordinary townspeople and give the peasantry government support effectively ending serfdom as the nobility could no longer do as they wished with the lower orders Catherine naturally saw this as a threat to the social order within Russia itself and thusly decided to invade Poland in 1792 after which she decided to end any prospect of a resurgence of Polish democratic values by agreeing to the final partition of Poland between Russia and Austria in 1795 that saw the once proud and powerful Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth erased from the map of Europe entirely until the two nations were eventually resurrected after the first world war in 1918 during the later stages of her reign Catherine sought to mediate in the walls and struggles of her European neighbors by establishing the League of armed neutrality which was a coalition of European countries who agreed to defend neutral shipping from the Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War as the British were seizing the merchant ships of other nations they believed were aiding the French who were allied to the rebellious thirteen colonies in the last months of her life Catherine thought to form greater ties with the new Swedish king who starved the fourth Adolf when he visited st. Petersburg in the autumn of 1796 when Catherine attempted to arrange a marriage between Gustav and her grand daughter Alexandra who she hoped would become the queen of Sweden initially all seem to be going well as a royal bull was arranged to be held on the 11th of September 1796 when the engagement of Gustav and Alexandre was due to be announced however much to Catherine's displeasure the swedish king failed to attend the festivities and instead left for stockholm as he was aggrieved that his prospective bride would not convert to the lutheran process and faith catherine was so annoyed by this affront that her health was severely affected however she soon recovered over the coming weeks and began to make plans to announce her favorite grandson Alexander Paul's son as her successor as although Catherine had parented an heir to her throne in the shape of Paul her regard for him was not much higher than that of which she held for his father therefore she late in her reign decided to disinherit him in favor of her grandson however these plans would never come to fruition as on the 16th of November 1796 Catherine awoke from a good night's sleep but just after her breakfast collapsed from a severe stroke whilst on her commode and was found unconscious on the floor of her chambers by her servants barely alive shortly afterwards the Empress was put to bed and her attending doctor correctly diagnosed her as having had a stroke but despite his best efforts Catherine subsequently fell into a coma and ultimately died the following evening on the 17th of November 1796 at the age of 67 in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg over the coming days an autopsy was carried out on the late Empress which concluded that she had indeed died from a cerebral hemorrhage however despite this various rumours arose regarding her demise including one which stated that she met her end engaging in relations with a horse when the harness holding her equine companion in position above her broke crushing her under its weight another tool tale regarding Catherine's final moments even stated that she was dispatched by means of a spring-loaded blades hidden in her toilet seat that had been activated when she sat down however historians agree that all of these accounts are fanciful in the extreme and ultimately Catherine the Great was laid to rest wearing a silver brocade dress and a golden crown in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in st. Petersburg despite Catherine's wishes she was succeeded by her son Paul who became Paul the first of Russia however the new Emperor's mother would get her way in the end as Paul himself was assassinated in March of 1801 at the age of 46 and was in turn succeeded by his son in Catherine's favorite grandson Alexander the first who would go on to become one of Russia's most revered czars himself as he led his country to victory during a pole Ian Bonaparte's invasion in 1812 although Catherine the Great was not Russian by birth she is widely regarded as being one of her adopted country's most successful and venerated rulers as she introduced the enlightenment to the Russian Empire and brought about many reforms in its governance including social and administrative changes and also led it to numerous victories against his neighbouring rivals Catherine is also one of the few women in history of the world who has been granted the title of great and despite being a foreigner she was after her death as she was through the Soviet era to the modern day widely respected and admired by the Russian people as by the time of her death she had made the country more powerful than it had ever been before as well as this Catherine's court and her personal life are amongst the most famous and controversial of any European ruler as she largely rejected the old conventions of the Russian state and embraced the philosophies and ideas of the Enlightenment both in the governance of our country as well as in her liberated and voracious private life Catherines critics also state that she deserves criticism for deposing her husband and further claimed that she was power-hungry in matters of state and was promiscuous in her bedchamber however to counter this her supporters say as it was commonplace for male rulers to take numerous mistresses Catherine can hardly be criticized for emulating them despite these successes many of Catherine's critics state that her reforms and military victories were only secured on the advice or actions of her ministers and commanders however her supporters state that all of her reforms and victories were undertaken and secured on her own orders and therefore she must bear the responsibility for and credit for their successes and also stained as she can hardly be criticized for having the intelligence to surround herself with extremely competent ministers and advisers that she could trust to implement her decisions all-in-all it is widely accepted that Catherine the Great is one of history's most powerful and remarkable women who in a time of male supremacy proved herself to be the equal of her contemporary European rulers and in many ways even proved herself to be superior to them what do you think of Catherine the Great was she a power-hungry despot who sought to use the Russian state for her own pleasures and glory or was she one of history's greatest female rulers who not only brought her country military successes but also brought the values of the Enlightenment to her adopted country and in the process made it more powerful than it had ever been before let us know what you think in the comments section and in the mean time thank you very much for watching you you

Channel: The People Profiles

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Rating: 4.7683644 out of 5

Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel

Id: uNWrxlOlmUU

Length: 46min 29sec (2789 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 21 2019