Jacob Catherine

By Jacob Mojeski

“I Praise Loudly, I Blame Softly” – Catherine

Royal Childhood 

Born in German City of Slettin, 1729.

 Education

influenced by her royal background.

 1745,

married at the age of 16 to Russia’s Grand Duke Peter.

Ramanov Dynasty Issues After the Death of Peter the Great, nobles and the army determined succession.  By the end of Elizabeth I rule, the tsar had lost almost all of its power.  Catherine’s husband, Peter III now, succeeds Elizabeth to the throne.  Unhappy Marriage. 

Enlightenment Learning  Serves

for 20 years in Elizabeth’s court.

 Befriends

important Nobles and reads books of Philosophes widely.

 Experience

made her a shrewd person.

Early Reign 

Murder of Peter.  Familiarity with enlightenment and encouraged reforms. - “The Instruction”  Relationship with Philosophes.  1767, summoned legislative commission.  1768, dismissed commission.  Absolutism?

Relationship With Nobles  Limited

Reforms on authority.

 Limited

educated class.

 1785,

Charter of Nobility, Gave strong rights and power to nobility.

Economic Growth  Peter

the Great ideas.  Attempted to suppress internal trade barriers.  Exports grew  Favored expansion of middle class.  Friendship with philosophes.

Drive For A Warm-Water Port  Required  1769,

Warfare with Ottoman Turks.

War declared by the Turks.

 1771,

Russia gained control of Ottoman Provinces and Crimean coast.

 1774,

Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardji

Partition of Poland Causes: - Unwelcomed Russians. - Ottoman need for aid from Prussia. 

Fredrick The Greats proposal - Defenseless Poland is no match for its more ambitious neighbors.

Later Policies  FEAR

OF PEASANTS - Pugachev Rebellion

 The

French Revolution - Enlightenment halts - Offensive authors exiled

Enlightened Despot? Enlightenment Ideas

Despotism

•Friend and Supporter of Diderot and •Brutally suppressed Pugachev’s Voltaire Rebellion •Religious Toleration

•Conceded more power to the nobles

•Restrictions on Torture

•Serfdom became equivalent to Slavery

•Education for Women

•Destruction of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

•The Instruction

•Halted Enlightenment during French Revolution

Bibliography      

“Catherine the Great”. Encyclopedia of World Biography. 11/17/09 . “Catherine the Great Quotes”. 11/17/09 http://thinkexist.com/quotes/catherine the great/. “Catherine II”. Enclycopaedia Britannica 2009. 11/17/09 http://www.britannica.come?EBchecked/topic/99597/Catherine-II. Lewis,Jone.”Catherine the Great”. 11/17/09 http://womenhistory.about.com/od/catherinegreat/p/catherinegreat.htm. “Character and Legacy”. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. 11/17/09http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0857215.html. Kagan,Donald, Ozment Steven, and Turner Frank. The Western Heritage Ninth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2007.