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 Warfare with Ottoman Turks.

 1769, 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
<http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ca-Ch/Catherine-the-Great.html>.
 “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.