The reign of Catherine II. List of men of Catherine II the Great - Love passions
An ambiguous personality was Catherine the Great - the Russian Empress of German origin. In most articles and films, she is shown as a lover of court balls and luxurious toilets, as well as numerous favorites with whom she once had a very close relationship.
Unfortunately, few people know that she was a very smart, bright and talented organizer. And this is an indisputable fact, since political changes, which occurred during the years of her reign, belonged to In addition, numerous reforms that affected the public and state life of the country are another proof of the originality of her personality.
Origin
Catherine 2, whose biography was so amazing and unusual, was born on May 2, 1729 in Stettin, Germany. Her full name- Sophia Augusta Frederick, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst. Her parents were Prince Christian-August of Anhalt-Zerbst and his equal in title Johanna-Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp, who was related to such royal houses as English, Swedish and Prussian.
The future Russian empress was educated at home. She was taught theology, music, dance, the basics of geography and history, and, in addition to her native German, she also knew French very well. Already in early childhood, she showed her independent character, perseverance and curiosity, preferred lively and outdoor games.
Marriage
In 1744, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna invited the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst to come to Russia with her mother. Here the girl was baptized according to the Orthodox custom and began to be called Ekaterina Alekseevna. From that moment on, she received the status of the official bride of Prince Peter Fedorovich, the future Emperor Peter 3.
So, the fascinating story of Catherine 2 in Russia began with their wedding, which took place on August 21, 1745. After this event, she received the title of Grand Duchess. As you know, her marriage was unhappy initially. Her husband Peter was at that time still an immature youth who played with soldiers instead of spending his time in the company of his wife. Therefore, the future empress was forced to entertain herself: she read for a long time, and also invented various amusements.
Children of Catherine 2
While the wife of Peter 3 looked like a decent lady, the heir to the throne himself never hid, so almost the entire court knew about his romantic passions.
After five years, Catherine 2, whose biography, as you know, was also full of love stories, started her first romance on the side. Guards officer S. V. Saltykov became her chosen one. September 20, 9 years after her marriage, she gave birth to an heir. This event became the subject of court discussions, which, however, continue to this day, but already in scientific circles. Some researchers are sure that the boy’s father was actually Catherine’s lover, and not her husband Peter at all. Others say that he was born of a husband. But be that as it may, the mother did not have time to take care of the child, so Elizaveta Petrovna herself took over his upbringing. Soon the future empress became pregnant again and gave birth to a girl named Anna. Unfortunately, this child lived only 4 months.
After 1750, Catherine had a love relationship with S. Poniatowski, a Polish diplomat who later became King Stanislaw August. At the beginning of 1760, she was already with G. G. Orlov, from whom she gave birth to a third child - the son of Alexei. The boy was given the surname Bobrinsky.
I must say that due to numerous rumors and gossip, as well as the dissolute behavior of his wife, the children of Catherine 2 did not cause any warm feelings in Peter 3. The man clearly doubted his biological paternity.
Needless to say, the future empress categorically rejected all the accusations made by her husband against her. Hiding from the attacks of Peter 3, Catherine preferred to spend most of her time in her boudoir. Relations with her husband spoiled to the extreme led to the fact that she seriously began to fear for her life. She was afraid that, having come to power, Peter 3 would take revenge on her, so she began to look for reliable allies at court.
Accession to the throne
After the death of his mother, Peter 3 ruled the state for only 6 months. For a long time he was spoken of as an ignorant and feeble-minded ruler with many vices. But who created such an image for him? V Lately historians are increasingly inclined to think that such an unsightly image was created by memoirs written by the organizers of the coup themselves - Catherine 2 and E. R. Dashkova.
The fact is that her husband's attitude towards her was not just bad, it was clearly hostile. Therefore, the threat of exile or even arrest looming over her served as an impetus for the preparation of a conspiracy against Peter 3. The Orlov brothers, K. G. Razumovsky, N. I. Panin, E. R. Dashkova and others helped her organize the rebellion. On July 9, 1762, Peter 3 was overthrown, and a new empress, Catherine 2, came to power. The deposed monarch was almost immediately taken to Ropsha (30 miles from St. Petersburg). He was accompanied by a guard of guards under the command of Alexei Orlov.
As you know, the history of Catherine 2 and, in particular, the one arranged by her are full of riddles that excite the minds of most researchers to this day. For example, the cause of the death of Peter 3 has not yet been precisely established 8 days after his overthrow. According to the official version, he died from a whole bunch of diseases caused by prolonged alcohol use.
Until recently, it was believed that Peter 3 died a violent death by hand. Proof of this was a certain letter written by the murderer and sent to Catherine from Ropsha. The original of this document has not been preserved, but there was only a copy allegedly taken by F. V. Rostopchin. Therefore, there is no direct evidence of the assassination of the emperor yet.
Foreign policy
It must be said that Catherine the Great shared the views of Peter the Great to a large extent that Russia on the world stage should take a leading position in all areas, while pursuing an offensive and even to some extent aggressive policy. Evidence of this can serve as a break in the alliance treaty with Prussia, previously concluded by her husband Peter 3. She took this decisive step almost immediately, as soon as she ascended the throne.
The foreign policy of Catherine II was based on the fact that she everywhere tried to elevate her proteges to the throne. It was thanks to her that Duke E. I. Biron returned to the throne of Courland, and in 1763 her protégé, Stanislav August Poniatowski, began to rule in Poland. Such actions led to the fact that Austria began to fear an excessive increase in the influence of the northern state. Its representatives immediately began to incite Russia's old enemy - Turkey - to start a war against her. And Austria still got her way.
We can say that the Russian-Turkish war, which lasted 6 years (from 1768 to 1774), was successful for the Russian Empire. Despite this, the internal political situation that developed not in the best way inside the country forced Catherine 2 to seek peace. As a result, she had to restore former allied relations with Austria. And a compromise between the two countries was reached. Poland became its victim, part of whose territory in 1772 was divided between three states: Russia, Austria and Prussia.
The annexation of lands and the new Russian doctrine
The signing of the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty with Turkey ensured the independence of Crimea, which was beneficial for the Russian state. In subsequent years, there was an increase in imperial influence not only on this peninsula, but also in the Caucasus. The result of this policy was the incorporation of Crimea into Russia in 1782. Soon the Treaty of St. George was signed with the king of Kartli-Kakheti, Heraclius 2, which provided for the presence of Russian troops on the territory of Georgia. Subsequently, these lands were also annexed to Russia.
Catherine 2, whose biography was inextricably linked with the history of the country, from the second half of the 70s of the 18th century, together with the then government, began to form a completely new foreign policy position - the so-called Greek project. Its ultimate goal was the restoration of the Greek, or Byzantine Empire. Constantinople was to become its capital, and its ruler was the grandson of Catherine II, Pavlovich.
By the end of the 70s, the foreign policy of Catherine II returned the country to its former international prestige, which was further strengthened after Russia acted as an intermediary at the Teschen Congress between Prussia and Austria. In 1787, the Empress, with the Polish king and the Austrian monarch, accompanied by her courtiers and foreign diplomats, made a long journey to Crimean peninsula. This grandiose event demonstrated the full military power of the Russian Empire.
Domestic politics
Most of the reforms and transformations that were carried out in Russia were as controversial as Catherine II herself. The years of her reign were marked by the maximum enslavement of the peasantry, as well as the deprivation of even the most minimal rights. It was under her that a decree appeared on the prohibition of filing a complaint against the arbitrariness of landlords. In addition, corruption flourished among the highest state apparatus and officials, and the empress herself served as an example for them, who generously presented both relatives and a large army of her admirers.
What was she like
The personal qualities of Catherine 2 were described by her in her own memoirs. In addition, research by historians, based on numerous documents, suggests that she was a subtle psychologist who was well versed in people. The proof of this is the fact that she selected only talented and bright people as her assistants. Therefore, her era was marked by the appearance of a whole cohort of brilliant commanders and statesmen, poets and writers, artists and musicians.
In dealing with subordinates, Catherine 2 was usually tactful, restrained and patient. According to her, she always carefully listened to her interlocutor, while catching every sensible thought, and then used it for good. Under her, in fact, not a single noisy resignation took place, she did not exile any of the nobles, and even more so did not execute. No wonder her reign is called the "golden age" of the heyday of the Russian nobility.
Catherine 2, whose biography and personality are full of contradictions, at the same time was quite conceited and greatly valued the power she had won. In order to keep her in her hands, she was willing to compromise even at the expense of her own convictions.
Personal life
Portraits of the Empress, painted in her youth, indicate that she had a rather pleasant appearance. Therefore, it is not surprising that the numerous amorous amusements of Catherine 2 entered history. In truth, she could well remarry, but in this case her title, position, and most importantly, the fullness of power, would be jeopardized.
According to the prevailing opinion of most historians, Catherine the Great changed about twenty lovers in her entire life. Very often she presented them with a variety of valuable gifts, generously distributed honors and titles, and all this so that they would be favorable to her.
Board results
It must be said that historians do not undertake to unambiguously evaluate all the events that took place in the Catherine era, since at that time despotism and enlightenment went side by side hand in hand and were inextricably linked. During the years of her reign, there was everything: the development of education, culture and science, the significant strengthening of Russian statehood in the international arena, the development of trade relations and diplomacy. But, as with any ruler, it was not without oppression of the people, who suffered numerous hardships. Such an internal policy could not but cause another popular unrest, which grew into a powerful and full-scale uprising led by Yemelyan Pugachev.
Conclusion
In the 1860s, an idea appeared: to erect a monument to Catherine II in St. Petersburg in honor of her 100th anniversary of her accession to the throne. Its construction lasted 11 years, and the opening took place in 1873 on Alexandria Square. This is the most famous monument to the Empress. During the years of Soviet power, 5 of its monuments were lost. After 2000, several monuments were opened both in Russia and abroad: 2 - in Ukraine and 1 - in Transnistria. In addition, in 2010, a statue appeared in Zerbst (Germany), but not to Empress Catherine 2, but to Sophia Frederick August, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst.
Doctor of Historical Sciences M. RAKHMATULLIN.
During the long decades of the Soviet era, the history of the reign of Catherine II was presented with a clear bias, and the image of the Empress herself was deliberately distorted. From the pages of a few publications, a cunning and conceited German princess appears, who treacherously seized the Russian throne and is most concerned with satisfying her sensual desires. Such judgments are based either on a frankly politicized motive, or purely emotional memories of her contemporaries, or, finally, the tendentious intent of her enemies (especially from among foreign opponents), who tried to discredit the empress's tough and consistent upholding of Russia's national interests. But Voltaire, in one of his letters to Catherine II, called her "Northern Babylon", likening the heroine of Greek mythology, whose name is associated with the creation of one of the seven wonders of the world - hanging gardens. Thus, the great philosopher expressed his admiration for the activities of the Empress in the transformation of Russia, her wise rule. In the proposed essay, an attempt was made to impartially tell about the affairs and personality of Catherine II. "I did my job pretty well"
Crowned Catherine II in all the splendor of her coronation attire. The coronation traditionally took place in Moscow on September 22, 1762.
Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who reigned from 1741 to 1761. Portrait of the middle of the XVIII century.
Peter I married his eldest daughter Tsesarevna Anna Petrovna to the Duke of Holstein Karl-Friedrich. Their son became the heir to the Russian throne, Peter Fedorovich.
Catherine II's mother, Johanna-Elizabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst, who secretly tried to intrigue in favor of the Prussian king, secretly from Russia.
The Prussian King Frederick II, whom the young Russian heir tried to imitate in everything.
Science and life // Illustrations
Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna and Grand Duke Pyotr Fedorovich. Their marriage turned out to be extremely unsuccessful.
Count Grigory Orlov is one of the active organizers and executors of the palace coup that elevated Catherine to the throne.
The most ardent part in the coup of June 1762 was taken by the still very young Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova.
Family portrait of the royal couple, made shortly after the accession to the throne of Peter III. Next to his parents is the young heir Pavel in oriental costume.
The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, where dignitaries and nobles took the oath to Empress Catherine II.
The future Russian Empress Catherine II Alekseevna, born Sophia Frederick Augusta, Princess of Anhaltzerbst, was born on April 21 (May 2), 1729 in Stettin (Prussia), which was provincial at that time. Her father, the unremarkable Prince Christian-August, made a good career by devoted service to the Prussian king: regiment commander, commandant of Stettin, governor. In 1727 (he was then 42 years old) he married the 16-year-old Holstein-Gottorp princess Johanna-Elisabeth.
The somewhat eccentric princess, who had an irrepressible addiction to entertainment and short trips to numerous and, unlike her, rich relatives, put family concerns in the first place. Among the five children, the first-born daughter Fikkhen (that was the name of all the family Sophia Frederic) was not her favorite - they were waiting for a son. “My birth was not particularly joyfully welcomed,” Catherine later wrote in her Notes. The power-hungry and strict parent, out of a desire to "knock out her pride," often rewarded her daughter with slaps in the face for innocent childish pranks and for unchildish stubbornness of character. Little Fikkhen found comfort in a good-natured father. Constantly employed in the service and practically not interfering in the upbringing of children, he nevertheless became for them an example of conscientious service in the state field. “I have never met a more honest person, both in terms of principles and in relation to actions,” Catherine will say about her father at a time when she already knew people well.
Lack of material resources prevented parents from hiring expensive, experienced teachers and governesses. And here fate generously smiled on Sophia Frederica. After the change of several careless governesses, the French emigrant Elisabeth Kardel (nicknamed Babet) became her good mentor. As Catherine II later wrote about her, she "knew almost everything, having learned nothing; she knew all comedies and tragedies like the back of her hand and was very funny." The heartfelt response of the pupil draws Babet "an example of virtue and prudence - she had a naturally elevated soul, a developed mind, an excellent heart; she was patient, meek, cheerful, fair, constant."
Perhaps the main merit of the clever Kardel, who had an exceptionally balanced character, can be called the fact that she attracted the stubborn and secretive at first (the fruits of her previous upbringing) Fikkhen to reading, in which the capricious and wayward princess found true pleasure. A natural consequence of this passion is the soon-to-be developed interest of a girl developed beyond her years in serious works of a philosophical content. It is no coincidence that already in 1744 one of the enlightened friends of the family, the Swedish Count Gyllenborg, jokingly, but not without reason, called Fikchen "a fifteen-year-old philosopher." It is curious that Catherine II herself admitted that the acquisition of "intelligence and virtues" was greatly facilitated by the conviction inspired by her mother, "as if I were completely ugly," which kept the princess from empty social entertainment. Meanwhile, one of her contemporaries recalls: “She was perfectly built, from infancy she was distinguished by a noble posture and was taller than her years. Her facial expression was not beautiful, but very pleasant, and her open look and kind smile made her whole figure very attractive.”
However, the further fate of Sophia (as well as many later German princesses) was determined not by her personal merits, but by the dynastic situation in Russia. The childless Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, immediately after her accession, began to look for an heir worthy of the Russian throne. The choice fell on the only direct successor of the family of Peter the Great, his grandson - Karl Peter Ulrich. The son of the eldest daughter of Peter I Anna and the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Karl Friedrich, was left an orphan at the age of 11. The upbringing of the prince was carried out by pedantic German teachers, led by the pathologically cruel Chamber Marshal Count Otto von Brummer. The ducal offspring, frail from birth, was sometimes kept half-starved, and for any offense they were forced to kneel on peas for hours, often and painfully flogged. “I order you to be whipped so,” Brummer shouted, “that the dogs will lick the blood.” The boy found an outlet in his passion for music, addicted to the pathetically sounding violin. Another passion of his was playing with tin soldiers.
The humiliations to which he was subjected from day to day gave their results: the prince, as contemporaries note, became "hot-tempered, false, loved to brag, learned to lie." He grew up a cowardly, secretive, capricious beyond measure and thought a lot about himself. Here is a laconic portrait of Peter Ulrich, drawn by our brilliant historian V. O. Klyuchevsky: “His way of thinking and acting gave the impression of something surprisingly unthought-out and unfinished. He looked at serious things with a childish look, and treated children’s undertakings with the seriousness of a mature husband. He was like a child who imagined himself to be an adult; in fact, he was an adult who forever remained a child.
Such a "worthy" heir to the Russian throne in January 1742 was hastily (so that he would not be intercepted by the Swedes, whose king he could also become by his pedigree) was delivered to St. Petersburg. In November of the same year, against his will, the prince was converted to Orthodoxy and named Peter Fedorovich. But in his heart he always remained a devout German Lutheran, who did not show any desire to master the language of his new homeland tolerably to any extent. In addition, the heir was not lucky with his studies and education in St. Petersburg either. His main mentor, Academician Yakov Shtelin, completely lacked any pedagogical talents, and he, seeing the amazing inability and indifference of the student, preferred to cater to the constant whims of the underage, and not teach him properly to the mind.
Meanwhile, 14-year-old Pyotr Fedorovich has already found a bride. What was the determining factor in the choice of Princess Sophia by the Russian court? The Saxon resident Petzold wrote about this: being, although "from a noble, but such a small family," she would be an obedient wife without any pretensions to participate in big politics. At the same time, Elizabeth Petrovna's elegiac memories of her failed marriage to Sophia's mother's older brother Karl August (shortly before the wedding, he died of smallpox), and the portraits of the pretty princess delivered to the empress, who even then everyone "liked at first sight" (so Catherine II writes in her Notes without false modesty).
At the end of 1743, Princess Sophia was invited (with Russian money) to Petersburg, where she arrived accompanied by her mother in February of the following year. From there they went to Moscow, where at that time the royal court was located, and on the eve of the birthday (February 9) of Peter Fedorovich, the pretty and dressed up (for the same money) bride appeared before the empress and the grand duke. J. Shtelin writes about the sincere delight of Elizabeth Petrovna at the sight of Sophia. And the mature beauty, stature and greatness of the Russian Tsaritsa made an indelible impression on the young provincial princess. As if they liked each other and betrothed. In any case, the mother of the future bride wrote to her husband that "the Grand Duke loves her." Fikkhen herself assessed more and more soberly: “To tell the truth, I liked the Russian crown more than him (the groom. - M. R.) person".
Indeed, the idyll, if it arose at first, did not last long. Further communication between the Grand Duke and the princess showed a complete dissimilarity in both characters and interests, and outwardly they were strikingly different from each other: the lanky, narrow-shouldered and frail groom lost even more against the background of an unusually attractive bride. When the Grand Duke suffered smallpox, his face was so disfigured by fresh scars that Sophia, seeing the heir, could not restrain herself and was frankly horrified. However, the main thing was different: the amazing infantilism of Pyotr Fedorovich was opposed by the active, purposeful, ambitious nature of the self-aware Princess Sophia Frederica, named in Russia in honor of the mother of Empress Elizabeth Catherine (Alekseevna). This happened with her adoption of Orthodoxy on June 28, 1744. The Empress made noble gifts to the newly converted - a diamond cufflink and a necklace worth 150 thousand rubles. The next day, the official betrothal took place, bringing Catherine the titles of Grand Duchess and Imperial Highness.
Assessing later the situation that arose in the spring of 1744, when Empress Elizabeth, having learned about the frivolous attempts of Sophia's mother, Princess Johanna-Elizabeth, who was prone to intrigues, to act (secretly from the Russian court) in the interests of the Prussian King Frederick II, almost sent her and her daughter back , “to his home” (which the bridegroom, as the bride sensitively caught, would perhaps be glad), Catherine expressed her feelings as follows: “He was almost indifferent to me, but the Russian crown was not indifferent to me.”
On August 21, 1745, the wedding ceremonies began, lasting ten days. Lush balls, masquerades, fireworks, a sea of wine and mountains of treats for the common people on St. Petersburg's Admiralteiskaya Square exceeded all expectations. However, the family life of the newlyweds began with disappointments. As Catherine herself writes, her husband, who had had a hearty supper that evening, "lay down beside me, dozed off and slept safely until morning." And so it went on night after night, month after month, year after year. Pyotr Fedorovich, as before the wedding, selflessly played with dolls, trained (or rather, tortured) a pack of his dogs, arranged daily reviews of an amusing company of court cavaliers of his own age, and at night with passion taught his wife "gun exercise", bringing her to complete exhaustion. It was then that he first discovered an excessive addiction to wine and tobacco.
It is not surprising that Catherine began to experience a physical disgust for her nominal husband, finding solace in reading a wide variety of serious books on the subject and in horseback riding (it used to be that she spent up to 13 hours a day on horseback). She recalled that the famous "Annals" of Tacitus had a strong influence on the formation of her personality, and the latest work of the French educator Charles Louis Montesquieu "On the Spirit of the Laws" became her reference book. She was absorbed in the study of the works of French encyclopedists and already at that time intellectually outgrew everyone around her.
Meanwhile, the aging Empress Elizaveta Petrovna was waiting for the heir and blamed Catherine for the fact that he did not appear. In the end, the empress, at the prompting of trusted persons, arranged a medical examination of the married couple, the results of which we learn from the reports of foreign diplomats: "The Grand Duke was unable to have children from an obstacle removed from the Eastern peoples by circumcision, but which he considered incurable." The news of this plunged Elizabeth Petrovna into shock. "Amazed by this news, like a thunderbolt," writes one of the eyewitnesses, "Elizabeth seemed numb, could not utter a word for a long time, and finally began to sob."
However, the tears did not prevent the empress from agreeing to an immediate operation, and in case of her failure, she ordered to find a suitable "cavalier" for the role of the father of the unborn child. They became the "handsome Serge", 26-year-old chamberlain Sergei Vasilyevich Saltykov. After two miscarriages (in 1752 and 1753), on September 20, 1754, Catherine gave birth to the heir to the throne, named Pavel Petrovich. True, evil tongues at the court almost said aloud that the child should have been called Sergeevich. Pyotr Fedorovich, who had successfully got rid of the illness by that time, also doubted his paternity: “God knows where my wife gets her pregnancy from, I don’t really know if this is my child and should I take it personally?”
Time, meanwhile, showed the unfounded suspicions. Pavel inherited not only the specific features of the appearance of Pyotr Fedorovich, but, more importantly, the features of his character - including mental imbalance, irritability, a tendency to unpredictable actions and an irrepressible love for the senseless drill of soldiers.
Immediately after birth, the heir was excommunicated from his mother and placed under the care of nannies, and Sergei Saltykov was sent from Catherine in love with him to Sweden with an invented diplomatic mission. As for the grand ducal couple, Elizabeth Petrovna, having received the long-awaited heir, lost her former interest in her. With her nephew, because of his obnoxious antics * and foolish antics, she could not stay "even a quarter of an hour, so as not to feel disgust, anger or grief." For example, he drilled holes in the wall of the room where the aunt-empress received her favorite Alexei Razumovsky, and not only watched what was happening there, but invited "friends" from his entourage to look through the peephole. One can imagine the strength of the anger of Elizabeth Petrovna, who learned about the trick. Aunt Empress from now on in her hearts often calls him either a fool, or a freak, or even a "cursed nephew." In such a situation, Ekaterina Alekseevna, who provided the heir to the throne, could calmly reflect on her future fate.
On August 30, 1756, the twenty-year-old Grand Duchess informs the English ambassador to Russia, Sir Charles Herbert Williams, with whom she was in secret correspondence, that she decided to "die or reign." The vital attitudes of the young Catherine in Russia are simple: to please the Grand Duke, to please the Empress, to please the people. Recalling this time, she wrote: “Truly, I did not neglect anything in order to achieve this: obsequiousness, humility, respect, desire to please, desire to do what is right, sincere affection - everything on my part was constantly used to that from 1744 to 1761. I confess that when I lost hope of success in the first paragraph, I redoubled my efforts to fulfill the last two, it seemed to me that more than once I had time in the second, and the third succeeded me in its entirety, without any limitation of any time, and, therefore, I think I have fulfilled my task quite well."
The methods by which Ekaterina obtained the “power of attorney of the Russians” did not contain anything original and, in their simplicity, corresponded in the best possible way to the mental mood and the level of enlightenment of the St. Petersburg high society. Let's listen to her herself: "Attribute this to a deep mind and a long study of my position. Not at all! I owe this to Russian old women<...>And in solemn meetings, and at simple gatherings and parties, I approached the old women, sat down beside them, asked about their health, advised them what remedies to use in case of illness, patiently listened to their endless stories about their young years, about the current boredom, about windiness of young people; she herself asked their advice in various matters and then sincerely thanked them. I knew the names of their pugs, lapdogs, parrots, fools; knew when which of these ladies had a birthday. On this day, my valet came to her, congratulated her on my behalf and brought flowers and fruits from the Oranienbaum greenhouses. In less than two years, the most ardent praise of my mind and heart was heard from all sides and spread throughout Russia. In the simplest and most innocent way, I made myself a loud glory, and when it came to taking the Russian throne, a significant majority ended up on my side.
On December 25, 1761, after a long illness, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna passed away. Senator Trubetskoy, who announced this long-awaited news, immediately proclaimed the accession to the throne of Emperor Peter III. As the remarkable historian S. M. Solovyov writes, “the answer was sobs and groans for the whole palace<...>The majority greeted the new reign gloomily: they knew the character of the new sovereign and did not expect anything good from him. "Ekaterina, if she had the intention, as she herself recalls," to save the state from that death, the danger of which was forced to foresee all the moral and physical qualities of this sovereign " , then, being at that time in the fifth month of pregnancy, she practically could not actively intervene in the course of events.
Perhaps this was for the best for her - for six months of his reign, Peter III managed to turn the capital's society and the nobility as a whole against himself to such an extent that he practically opened the road to power for his wife. Moreover, the attitude towards him was not changed either by the abolition of the hated Secret Chancellery, which caused universal rejoicing, with its dungeons filled with prisoners at the sole infamous cry: "The word and deed of the sovereign!" compulsory civil service and giving them the freedom to choose their place of residence, employment and the right to travel abroad. The last act aroused such a fit of enthusiasm among the nobility that the Senate even set out to erect a monument of pure gold to the benefactor tsar. However, the euphoria did not last long - everything was outweighed by the extremely unpopular actions of the emperor in society, which greatly offended the national dignity of the Russian people.
The adoration of the Prussian king Frederick II, deliberately advertised by Peter III, was subjected to angry condemnation. He loudly proclaimed himself his vassal, for which he received the nickname "Frederick's monkey" among the people. The degree of public discontent jumped especially sharply when Peter III made peace with Prussia and returned to her, without any compensation, the lands conquered by the blood of Russian soldiers. This step practically nullified all the successes of the Seven Years' War for Russia.
Peter III managed to turn the clergy against himself, because, according to his decree of March 21, 1762, they began to hastily implement the decision made under Elizabeth Petrovna on the secularization of church lands: the treasury, devastated by many years of war, demanded replenishment. Moreover, the new tsar threatened to deprive the clergy of their customary lush vestments, replacing them with black pastoral cassocks, and to shave off the beards of the priests.
Did not add glory to the new emperor and addiction to wine. It did not go unnoticed how extremely cynical he behaved during the days of mournful farewell to the late empress, allowing obscene antics, jokes, loud laughter at her coffin ... According to contemporaries, Peter III did not have "a more cruel enemy" these days than himself, because he neglects nothing that might harm him." This is confirmed by Catherine: her husband "in the whole empire had no more fierce enemy than himself." As you can see, Peter III thoroughly prepared the ground for a coup.
It is difficult to say exactly when the concrete outlines of the conspiracy emerged. With a high degree of probability, its occurrence can be attributed to April 1762, when Catherine, after giving birth, received a physical opportunity for real action. The final decision on the conspiracy, apparently, was approved after a family scandal that happened in early June. At one of the gala dinners, Peter III, in the presence of foreign ambassadors and about 500 guests, publicly called his wife a fool several times in a row. This was followed by an order to the adjutant to arrest his wife. And only the persistent persuasion of Prince George Ludwig of Holstein (he was the uncle of the imperial couple) extinguished the conflict. But they did not change the intention of Peter III to free himself from his wife by any means and to fulfill his long-standing desire - to marry the favorite, Elizabeth Romanovna Vorontsova. According to the reviews of persons close to Peter, she "cursed like a soldier, mowed, smelled bad and spat when talking." Pocked, fat, with an exorbitant bust, she was just the type of woman that Pyotr Fyodorovich liked, during drinking parties he loudly called his girlfriend none other than "Romanova." Catherine, on the other hand, was threatened with inevitable tonsure as a nun.
There was no time left to organize a classic conspiracy with lengthy preparation and thinking through all the details. Everything was decided according to the situation, almost at the level of improvisation, however, compensated by the decisive actions of Ekaterina Alekseevna's supporters. Among them was her secret admirer, the Ukrainian hetman K. G. Razumovsky, at the same time the commander of the Izmailovsky regiment, a favorite of the guards. Ober-prosecutor A. I. Glebov, Feldzeugmeister General A. N. Vilboa, police director Baron N. A. Korf, and general-in-chief M. N., who were close to Peter III, also showed obvious sympathy for her. The 18-year-old Princess E. R. Dashkova, unusually energetic and girlishly loyal to Catherine, was also involved in the preparation of the coup (the favorite of Peter III was her sister), who had extensive connections in society due to her proximity to N. I. Panin and the fact that Chancellor M. I. Vorontsov was her own uncle.
It was through the sister of the favorite, who did not arouse any suspicion, that the officers of the Preobrazhensky Regiment - P. B. Passek, S. A. Bredikhin, brothers Alexander and Nikolai Roslavlev, were attracted to participate in the coup. Through other reliable channels, contacts were established with other energetic young guard officers. All of them paved Catherine a relatively easy path to the throne. Among them, the most active and active - "standing out from the crowd of comrades with beauty, strength, youthfulness, sociability" 27-year-old Grigory Grigorievich Orlov (who had long been in a love affair with Catherine - the boy born to her in April 1762 was their son Alexei). Ekaterina's favorite was supported in everything by his two equally valiant guard brothers - Alexei and Fedor. It was the three Orlov brothers who were actually the mainspring of the conspiracy.
In the Horse Guards "everything was directed prudently, boldly and actively" the future favorite of Catherine II, 22-year-old non-commissioned officer G. A. Potemkin and his peers F. A. Khitrovo. By the end of June, according to Catherine, her "accomplices" in the guard were up to 40 officers and about 10 thousand privates. One of the main inspirers of the conspiracy was the tutor of Tsarevich Pavel N. I. Panin. True, he pursued goals different from those of Catherine: the removal of Pyotr Fedorovich from power and the establishment of a regency under his pupil, the infant Tsar Pavel Petrovich. Catherine knows about this, and although such a plan is absolutely unacceptable for her, she, not wanting a fragmentation of her forces, when talking with Panin, is limited to a non-committal phrase: "I'd rather be a mother than the wife of a ruler."
The case hastened the fall of Peter III: a reckless decision to start a war with Denmark (with a completely empty treasury) and command the troops himself, although the emperor's inability to military affairs was a byword. His interests here were limited to a love of colorful uniforms, endless drill and the assimilation of rough soldierly manners, which he considered a sign of masculinity. Even the urgent advice of his idol Frederick II - before the coronation not to go to the theater of operations - had no effect on Peter. And now the guards, spoiled by the free life of the capital under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, and now, at the whim of the tsar, dressed up in hated Prussian uniforms, receive an order to urgently prepare for a campaign that did not at all meet the interests of Russia.
The immediate signal for the beginning of the actions of the conspirators was the accidental arrest on the evening of June 27 of one of the conspirators - Captain Passek. The danger was great. On the night of June 28, Alexei Orlov and Guards Lieutenant Vasily Bibikov hurriedly galloped to Peterhof, where Catherine was. The brothers Grigory and Fyodor, who remained in St. Petersburg, prepared everything for a proper "royal" meeting of her in the capital. At six o'clock in the morning on June 28, Alexei Orlov woke Ekaterina with the words: "It's time to get up: everything is ready for your proclamation." "Like what?" - Ekaterina says awake. "Passek has been arrested," was A. Orlov's reply.
And now the hesitation is discarded, Catherine with the chamber-maid of honor sit in the carriage in which Orlov arrived. V. I. Bibikov and the footman Shkurin are arranged on the backs, Alexei Orlov is on the goats next to the coachman. Grigory Orlov meets them about five miles from the capital. Ekaterina moves into his carriage with fresh horses. In front of the barracks of the Izmailovsky Regiment, the guards enthusiastically take the oath to the new empress. Then the carriage with Catherine and a crowd of soldiers, led by a priest with a cross, are sent to the Semenovsky regiment, which greeted Catherine with a thunderous "Hurrah!" Accompanied by troops, she goes to the Kazan Cathedral, where a prayer service immediately begins and at litanies "the autocratic Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna and the heir to Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich were proclaimed." From the cathedral, Catherine, already empress, goes to the Winter Palace. Here, a little late and terribly upset by this, the guardsmen of the Preobrazhensky regiment joined the two regiments of the guard. By noon, the army units also pulled up.
Meanwhile, members of the Senate and the Synod, and other high officials of the state, are already crowding in the Winter Palace. Without any delay, they took the oath to the Empress according to the text hastily drawn up by the future Secretary of State of Catherine II, G. N. Teplov. The Manifesto on the accession to the throne of Catherine "at the request of all our subjects" was also published. Residents of the northern capital rejoice, the river flows at public expense wine from the cellars of private wine merchants. Excited by the drunk, the common people rejoice heartily and wait for good deeds from the new queen. But she is not up to them yet. Under the exclamations of "Hurrah!" canceled Danish campaign. To attract the fleet to his side, a reliable person was sent to Kronstadt - Admiral I. L. Talyzin. Decrees on the change of power were prudently sent to the part of the Russian army stationed in Pomerania.
And what about Peter III? Did he suspect the threat of a coup and what happened in his inner circle on the ill-fated day of June 28? The surviving documentary evidence clearly shows that he did not even think about the possibility of a coup, confident in the love of his subjects. Hence his disregard for the earlier, albeit vague, warnings.
After spending a late dinner the day before, Peter arrives at Peterhof by noon on June 28 to celebrate his upcoming name day. And he discovers that Catherine is not in Monplaisir - she unexpectedly left for St. Petersburg. Messengers were urgently sent to the city - N. Yu. Trubetskoy and A. I. Shuvalov (one - Colonel of the Semenovsky, the other - of the Preobrazhensky Regiment). However, neither one nor the other returned, swearing allegiance to Catherine without hesitation. But the disappearance of the messengers did not give decisiveness to Peter, who from the very beginning was morally crushed by the complete, in his opinion, hopelessness of the situation. Finally, a decision was made to move to Kronstadt: according to the report of the commandant of the fortress, P. A. Devier, they were supposedly ready to receive the emperor. But while Peter and his people sailed to Kronstadt, Talyzin had already managed to arrive there and, to the delight of the garrison, took everyone to the oath of allegiance to Empress Catherine II. Therefore, the flotilla of the deposed emperor (one galley and one yacht), which approached the fortress at the first hour of the night, was forced to turn back to Oranienbaum. Peter did not accept the advice of the elderly Count B. Kh. Minich, returned from exile, to act "royally", without delaying an hour, go to the troops in Revel and move with them to Petersburg.
Meanwhile, Catherine once again demonstrates her determination by ordering up to 14 thousand troops with artillery to be pulled to Peterhof. The task of the conspirators who seized the throne is complex and at the same time simple: to achieve the "voluntary" decent abdication of Peter from the throne. And on June 29, General M. L. Izmailov delivers to Catherine a pathetic message from Peter III asking for forgiveness and renouncing his rights to the throne. He also expressed his readiness (if allowed), together with E. R. Vorontsova, adjutant A. V. Gudovich, a violin and a beloved pug, to go to live in Holstein, if only he was allocated a boarding house sufficient for a comfortable existence. They demanded from Peter "a written and handwritten certificate" of renunciation of the throne "voluntarily and naturally." Peter agreed to everything and dutifully declared in writing "solemnly to the whole world": "I renounce the government of the Russian state for the rest of my life."
By noon, Peter was taken under arrest, taken to Peterhof, and then transferred to Ropsha, a small country palace 27 miles from St. Petersburg. Here he was put "under a strong guard" allegedly until the premises in Shlisselburg were ready. Aleksey Orlov was appointed the main guard. So, the whole coup, which did not shed a single drop of blood, took less than two days - June 28 and 29. Frederick II later, in a conversation with the French envoy in St. Petersburg, Count L.-F. Segurome gave the following review of the events in Russia: "The lack of courage in Peter III ruined him: he allowed himself to be dethroned like a child sent to sleep".
In the current situation, the physical elimination of Peter was the most correct and hassle-free solution to the problem. As ordered, that's exactly what happened. On the seventh day after the coup, under circumstances that have not yet been fully elucidated, Peter III was put to death. The people were officially announced that Pyotr Fedorovich died of hemorrhoidal colic, which happened "by the will of divine Providence."
Naturally, contemporaries, as later historians, were keenly interested in the question of Catherine's involvement in this tragedy. There are different opinions on this matter, but they are all based on conjectures and assumptions, and there are simply no facts that incriminate Catherine in this crime. Apparently, the French envoy Beranger was right when, in the hot pursuit of events, he wrote: “I do not suspect in this princess such a terrible soul as to think that she participated in the death of the king, but since the deepest secret will probably always be hidden from the general information of the real author of this terrible murder, suspicion and vileness will remain on the empress.
A. I. Herzen spoke more definitely: "It is very likely that Catherine did not give orders to kill Peter III. We know from Shakespeare how these orders are given - with a look, a hint, silence." It is important to note here that all participants in the "accidental" (as A. Orlov explained in his penitential note to the Empress) murder of the deposed emperor not only did not suffer any punishment, but were later superbly awarded with money and serf souls. Thus, Catherine, voluntarily or involuntarily, took this grave sin upon herself. Perhaps that is why the empress showed no less mercy towards her recent enemies: practically none of them was not only sent into exile, according to the established Russian tradition, but was not punished at all. Even Petr's master, Elizaveta Vorontsova, was only quietly placed in her father's house. Moreover, later Catherine II became the godmother of her first child. Truly, generosity and forgivingness are the true weapons of the strong, always bringing them glory and loyal admirers.
On July 6, 1762, the Manifesto signed by Catherine on her accession to the throne was announced in the Senate. On September 22, a solemn coronation took place in Moscow, which met her coolly. Thus began the 34-year reign of Catherine II.
Starting to characterize the long reign of Catherine II and her personality, let's pay attention to one paradoxical fact: the illegality of Catherine's accession to the throne had its undoubted advantages, especially in the first years of her reign, when she "had to work hard, great services and donations to atone for what what legitimate kings have without difficulty. This very necessity was partly the spring of her great and brilliant deeds. Not only the well-known writer and memoirist N. I. Grech, who owns the above judgment, thought so. In this case, he only reflected the opinion of the educated part of society. V. O. Klyuchevsky, speaking about the tasks facing Catherine, who took, and did not receive power by law, and noting the extreme complexity of the situation in Russia after the coup, emphasized the same point: "Power seized always has the character of a bill, according to which waiting for payment, and according to the mood of Russian society, Catherine had to justify various and discordant expectations. Looking ahead, let's say that this bill was repaid by her on time.
In the historical literature, the main contradiction of Catherine's "age of Enlightenment" has long been noted (although not shared by all experts): the empress "wanted so much enlightenment and such light so as not to be afraid of its" inevitable consequence. "In other words, Catherine II found herself in an explosive dilemma: education or slavery? And since she never solved this problem, leaving serfdom intact, she seems to have given rise to subsequent bewilderment about why she did not. But the above formula ("enlightenment - slavery") causes natural questions: were there at that time in Russia the appropriate conditions for the abolition of "slavery" and did the then society realize the need for a radical change in social relations in the country?Let's try to answer them.
Determining the course of her domestic policy, Catherine relied primarily on the book knowledge she had acquired. But not only. The transforming ardor of the empress at first was fueled by her initial assessment of Russia as "a country that has not yet been plowed up" where it is best to carry out all sorts of reforms. That is why on August 8, 1762, only in the sixth week of her reign, Catherine II by a special decree confirmed the March decree of Peter III banning the purchase of serfs by industrialists. From now on, the owners of factories and mines must be content with the work of civilian workers paid according to the contract. It seems that she generally had the intention of abolishing forced labor and doing so in order to rid the country of the "shame of slavery", as required by the spirit of Montesquieu's teachings. But this intention was not yet strong enough in her to decide on such a revolutionary step. In addition, Catherine did not yet have any complete idea of \u200b\u200bRussian reality. On the other hand, as one of the smartest people of the Pushkin era, Prince P. A. Vyazemsky, noted, when the deeds of Catherine II had not yet become "a tradition of deep antiquity", she "loved reforms, but gradual ones, transformations, but not abrupt ones", without breaking.
By 1765, Catherine II came to the conclusion that it was necessary to convene the Legislative Commission in order to bring "in a better order" the existing legislation and in order to reliably find out "the needs and sensitive shortcomings of our people." Recall that attempts to convene the current legislative body - the Legislative Commission - have been made more than once before, but all of them, for various reasons, ended in failure. Considering this, Catherine, endowed with a remarkable mind, resorted to an act unprecedented in the history of Russia: she personally compiled a special "Instruction", which is a detailed program of action for the Commission.
As follows from a letter to Voltaire, she believed that the Russian people were "excellent soil on which good seed increases rapidly; but we also need axioms that are indisputably recognized as true. "And these axioms are known - the ideas of the Enlightenment, which she put as the basis of the new Russian legislation. Even V. O. Klyuchevsky specially singled out the main condition for the implementation of Catherine's transformative plans, which she briefly outlined in "Nakase": "Russia is a European power; Peter I, introducing European manners and customs to the European people, found such conveniences that he himself did not expect. The conclusion followed of itself: the axioms, which are the last and best fruit of European thought, will find the same comforts in this people.
In the literature on the "Instruction" for a long time there has been an opinion about the purely compiling nature of this main Catherine's political work. Justifying such judgments, they usually refer to her own words, spoken to the French philosopher and educator D "Alembert: "You will see how there I robbed President Montesquieu for the benefit of my empire, without naming him. " Indeed, from 526 articles of the "Instruction", divided into 20 chapters, 294 go back to the work of the famous French educator Montesquieu "On the Spirit of Laws", and 108 - to the work of the Italian legal scholar Cesare Beccaria "On Crimes and Punishments". Catherine also widely used the works of other European thinkers. However, it was not a simple arrangement of the works of eminent authors into the Russian style, but their creative rethinking, an attempt to apply the ideas embedded in them to Russian reality.
(To be continued.)
Years of government: 1762-1796
1. For the first time since Peter I reformed the public administration system. Culturally Russia finally became one of the great European powers. Catherine patronized various fields of art: under her rule, the Hermitage and the Public Library appeared in St. Petersburg.
2. Carried out administrative reform, which determined the territorial structure of the country up to before 1917. Formed 29 new provinces and built about 144 cities.
3. Increased the territory of the state by annexing the southern lands - Crimea, the Black Sea region and the eastern part of the Commonwealth. In terms of population, Russia became the largest European country: it accounted for 20% of the population of Europe
4. Brought Russia to the first place in the world in iron smelting. By the end of the 18th century, there were 1200 large enterprises in the country (in 1767 there were only 663 of them).
5. Strengthened the role of Russia in the global economy: the volume of exports increased from 13.9 million rubles in 1760 to 39.6 million rubles in 1790. Sail cloth, cast iron, iron, and also bread were exported in large quantities. The volume of timber exports increased fivefold.
6. Under Catherine II of Russia Academy of Sciences has become one of the leading scientific bases in Europe. The empress paid special attention to the development of women's education: in 1764, the first educational institutions for girls in Russia were opened - the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens and the Educational Society for Noble Maidens.
7. Organized new credit institutions - a state bank and a loan office, and also expanded the range of banking operations (since 1770, banks began to accept deposits for safekeeping) and for the first time launched the issuance of paper money - banknotes.
8. Gave the character of state measures to the fight against epidemics. Having introduced compulsory smallpox vaccination, she decided to set a personal example for her subjects: in 1768, the empress herself was vaccinated against smallpox.
9. She supported Buddhism, in 1764 establishing the post of Khambo Lama - the head of the Buddhists of Eastern Siberia and Transbaikalia. The Buryat lamas recognized Catherine II as the incarnation of the main goddess of White Tara and since then swore allegiance to all Russian rulers.
10 Belonged to those few monarchs who intensively communicated with subjects by drawing up manifestos, instructions and laws. She had the talent of a writer, leaving behind a large collection of works: notes, translations, fables, fairy tales, comedies and essays.
Catherine the Great is one of the most extraordinary women in world history. Her life is a rare example of self-education through deep education and strict discipline.
The epithet "Great" Empress rightfully deserved: she, a German and a foreigner, the Russian people called her "native mother." And historians almost unanimously decided that if Peter I wanted to instill everything German in Russia, then the German Catherine dreamed of reviving precisely Russian traditions. And in many ways it has been very successful.
The long reign of Catherine is the only period of transformation in Russian history, about which one cannot say “they cut down the forest, the chips fly”. The population of the country doubled, while there was practically no censorship, torture was prohibited, elected bodies of estate self-government were created ... The “firm hand”, which the Russian people allegedly needed so much, was completely useless this time.
Princess Sofia
The future Empress Catherine II Alekseevna, nee Sophia Frederick Augusta, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, was born on April 21, 1729 in the unknown Stettin (Prussia). Father - unremarkable Prince Christian-August - thanks to devotion to the Prussian king, he made a good career: regiment commander, commandant of Stettin, governor. Constantly employed in the service, he became for Sofia an example of conscientious service in the public arena.
Sophia was educated at home: she studied German and French, dance, music, the basics of history, geography, and theology. Her independent character and perseverance manifested itself already in early childhood. In 1744, together with her mother, she was summoned to Russia by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. Here, before that, a Lutheran, she was accepted into Orthodoxy under the name Catherine (this name, like the patronymic Alekseevna, was given to her in honor of Elizabeth's mother, Catherine I) and named the bride of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (future Emperor Peter III), with whom the princess married in 1745.
Mind Chamber
Catherine set herself the goal of winning the favor of the Empress, her husband and the Russian people. From the very beginning, her personal life was unsuccessful, but the Grand Duchess reasoned that she always liked the Russian crown more than her fiancé, and turned to reading works on history, jurisprudence and economics. She was absorbed in studying the works of French encyclopedists and already at that time intellectually outgrew everyone around her head.
Catherine really became a patriot of her new homeland: she scrupulously observed the rites of the Orthodox Church, tried to return the Russian national costume to the everyday life of the court, diligently studied the Russian language. She even studied at night and one day became dangerously ill from overwork. The Grand Duchess wrote: “Those who succeeded in Russia could be sure of success throughout Europe. Nowhere, as in Russia, are there such masters of noticing the weaknesses or shortcomings of a foreigner; you can be sure that nothing will be let him down.
Communication between the Grand Duke and the princess demonstrated the cardinal difference between their characters: the infantilism of Peter was opposed by the active, purposeful and ambitious nature of Catherine. She began to fear for her fate if her husband came to power and began to recruit supporters for herself at court. Catherine's ostentatious piety, prudence and sincere love for Russia contrasted sharply with Peter's behavior, which allowed her to gain authority both among high society and among the simple population of St. Petersburg.
Double grip
Having ascended the throne after the death of his mother, Emperor Peter III managed to turn the nobility against himself to such an extent during the six months of his reign that he himself opened the way to power for his wife. As soon as he ascended the throne, he concluded an unfavorable treaty with Prussia for Russia, announced the arrest of the property of the Russian Church and the abolition of monastic land ownership. Supporters of the coup accused Peter III of ignorance, dementia and complete inability to govern the state. A well-read, pious and benevolent wife looked favorably against his background.
When Catherine's relationship with her husband became hostile, the twenty-year-old Grand Duchess decided to "die or reign." Having carefully prepared a plot, she secretly arrived in St. Petersburg and was proclaimed autocratic empress in the barracks of the Izmailovsky regiment. Soldiers from other regiments joined the rebels, unquestioningly swearing allegiance to her. The news of Catherine's accession to the throne quickly spread throughout the city and was greeted with enthusiasm by the people of St. Petersburg. Over 14,000 people surrounded the palace, welcoming the new ruler.
The foreigner Catherine did not have any rights to power, but the “revolution” she committed was presented as a national liberation one. She correctly captured the critical moment in her husband's behavior - his contempt for the country and Orthodoxy. As a result, the grandson of Peter the Great was considered more German than the purebred German Catherine. And this is the result of her own efforts: in the eyes of society, she managed to change her national identity and received the right to “liberate the fatherland” from a foreign yoke.
M. V. Lomonosov about Catherine the Great: “A woman is on the throne - a chamber of mind.”
Upon learning of what had happened, Peter began to send proposals for negotiations, but they were all rejected. Catherine herself, at the head of the guards regiments, came out to meet him and on the way received a written abdication of the emperor from the throne. The long 34-year reign of Catherine II began with a solemn coronation in Moscow on September 22, 1762. In fact, she made a double capture: she took away power from her husband and did not transfer it to her natural heir - her son.
The era of Catherine the Great
Catherine came to the throne, having a certain political program based on the ideas of the Enlightenment and at the same time taking into account the peculiarities of the historical development of Russia. Already in the first years of her reign, the empress carried out a reform of the Senate, which made the work of this institution more efficient, and carried out the secularization of church lands, which replenished the state treasury. At the same time, a number of new educational institutions were founded, including the first educational institutions for women in Russia.
Catherine II was an excellent connoisseur of people, she skillfully selected her assistants, not being afraid of bright and talented personalities. That is why her time is marked by the appearance of a galaxy of prominent statesmen, generals, writers, artists and musicians. During this period, there were no noisy resignations, none of the nobles fell into disgrace - that is why the reign of Catherine is called the "golden age" of the Russian nobility. At the same time, the empress was very vain and valued her power more than anything else. For her sake, she was ready to make any compromises to the detriment of her convictions.
Catherine was distinguished by ostentatious piety, she considered herself the head and defender of the Russian Orthodox Church and skillfully used religion for political interests.
After the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774 and the suppression of the uprising led by Yemelyan Pugachev, the empress independently developed key legislative acts. The most important of them were letters of grant to the nobility and cities. Their main significance is associated with the implementation of the strategic goal of Catherine's reforms - the creation in Russia of full-fledged estates of the Western European type.
Autocracy in the struggle for the future
Catherine was the first Russian monarch who saw in people individuals with their own opinions, character and emotions. She willingly acknowledged their right to make mistakes. From the distant skies of autocracy, Catherine saw a man below and turned him into a measure of her policy - an incredible somersault for Russian despotism. The philanthropy that she made fashionable would later become the main feature of the high culture of the 19th century.
Catherine demanded naturalness from her subjects, and therefore easily, with a smile and self-irony, eliminated any hierarchy. It is known that she, being greedy for flattery, calmly accepted criticism. For example, her secretary of state and the first major Russian poet Derzhavin often argued with the empress on administrative issues. Once their discussion became so heated that the empress invited another of her secretaries: “Sit here, Vasily Stepanovich. This gentleman, it seems to me, wants to kill me. His sharpness had no consequences for Derzhavin.
One of his contemporaries figuratively described the essence of Catherine's reign as follows: "Peter the Great created people in Russia, but Catherine II put her soul into them"
I can’t even believe that two Russian-Turkish wars, the annexation of Crimea and the creation of Novorossia, the construction of the Black Sea Fleet, the three partitions of Poland, which brought Russia Belarus, Western Ukraine, Lithuania and Courland, the war with Persia, the annexation of Georgia and the conquest of the future Azerbaijan , the suppression of the Pugachev rebellion, the war with Sweden, as well as numerous laws on which Catherine worked personally. In total, she issued 5798 acts, that is, an average of 12 laws per month. Her pedantry and diligence are described in detail by contemporaries.
Femininity revolution
Longer than Catherine II in Russian history, only Ivan III (43 years) and Ivan IV the Terrible (37 years) ruled. More than three decades of her reign is almost equal to half the Soviet period, and it is impossible to ignore this circumstance. Therefore, Catherine has always occupied a special place in the mass historical consciousness. However, the attitude towards her was ambiguous: German blood, the murder of her husband, numerous novels, Voltairianism - all this prevented selflessly admiring the empress.
Catherine was the first Russian monarch who saw in people individuals with their own opinions, character and emotions. From the distant skies of autocracy, she saw a man below and turned him into a measure of her policy - an incredible somersault for Russian despotism
Soviet historiography added class cuffs to Catherine: she became a "cruel serf-owner" and a despot. It got to the point that only Peter was allowed to remain the “Great”, she was emphatically called the “Second”. The undoubted victories of the empress, which brought Russia the Crimea, Novorossia, Poland and part of the Transcaucasus, were largely usurped by her military leaders, who, in the struggle for national interests, allegedly heroically overcame the intrigues of the court.
However, the fact that in the mass consciousness the personal life of the Empress overshadowed her political activity, testifies to the search for psychological compensation by descendants. After all, Catherine violated one of the oldest social hierarchies - the superiority of men over women. Her stunning successes, and especially the military ones, caused bewilderment, bordering on irritation, and needed some kind of “but”. Catherine gave cause for anger already by the fact that, contrary to the existing order, she herself chose men for herself. The Empress refused to take for granted not only her nationality: she also tried to overcome the boundaries of her own gender, capturing typically male territory.
Manage passions
Throughout her life, Catherine learned to cope with her feelings and passionate temperament. A long life in a foreign land taught her not to succumb to circumstances, to always remain calm and consistent in her actions. Later, in her memoirs, the empress writes: “I came to Russia, a country completely unknown to me, not knowing what was ahead. Everyone looked at me with annoyance and even contempt: the daughter of a Prussian major general is going to be the Russian empress! However main goal Catherine always remained the love of Russia, which, according to her own admission, "is not a country, but the Universe."
The ability to plan a day, not to deviate from what was planned, not to succumb to the blues or laziness, and at the same time to treat one's body rationally could be attributed to German upbringing. However, it seems that the reason for this behavior is deeper: Catherine subordinated her life to the most important task - to justify her own stay on the throne. Klyuchevsky noted that approval meant for Catherine the same thing as "applause for a debutant." The desire for glory was a way for the empress to actually prove to the world the goodness of her intentions. Such life motivation, of course, turned her into self-made.
The fact that in the mass consciousness the personal life of the empress obscured her political activity testifies to the search for psychological compensation by the descendants. After all, Catherine violated one of the oldest social hierarchies - the superiority of men over women.
For the sake of the goal - to rule the country - Catherine without regrets overcame a lot of givens: both her German origin, and confessional affiliation, and the notorious weakness of the female sex, and the monarchical principle of inheritance, which they dared to remind her of almost in person. In a word, Catherine decisively went beyond the limits of those constants in which her environment tried to put, and with all her successes she proved that "happiness is not as blind as it is imagined."
The craving for knowledge and the increase of experience did not kill the woman in her, in addition, until the last years, Catherine continued to behave actively and energetically. Even in her youth, the future empress wrote in her diary: "It is necessary to create yourself, your character." She brilliantly coped with this task, putting knowledge, determination and self-control at the basis of her life trajectory. She was often compared and continues to be compared with Peter I, but if he, in order to "Europeanize" the country, made violent changes to the Russian way of life, then she meekly finished what her idol had begun. One of his contemporaries figuratively described the essence of Catherine's reign as follows: "Peter the Great created people in Russia, but Catherine II put her soul into them."
text Marina Kvash
Source tmnWoman #2/4 | autumn | 2014
CATHERINE II the Great(1729-96), Russian empress (since 1762). German Princess Sophia Frederick Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst. From 1744 - in Russia. Since 1745, the wife of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, the future emperor, whom she overthrew from the throne (1762), relying on the guards (G. G. and A. G. Orlovs and others). She reorganized the Senate (1763), secularized the lands (1763-64), abolished the hetmanship in Ukraine (1764). Headed the Legislative Commission 1767-69. During her time, the Peasants' War of 1773-75 took place. In 1775, she published the Institution for the Administration of the Province, the Letter of Letter to the Nobility in 1785, and the Letter of Letter to the Cities in 1785. Black Sea coast, Crimea, Kuban region. Adopted under Russian citizenship Vost. Georgia (1783). During the reign of Catherine II, sections of the Commonwealth were carried out (1772, 1793, 1795). Corresponded with other figures of the French Enlightenment. Author of many fiction, dramaturgical, journalistic, popular science works, "Notes".
EKATERINA II Alekseevna(nee Sophia Augusta Frederica, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst), Russian Empress (from 1762-96).
Origin, upbringing and education
Catherine, the daughter of Prince Christian-August of Anhalt-Zerbst, who was in the Prussian service, and Princess Johanna-Elisabeth (nee Princess of Holstein-Gottorp), was related to the royal houses of Sweden, Prussia and England. She was educated at home: she studied German and French, dance, music, the basics of history, geography, and theology. Already in childhood, her independent character, curiosity, perseverance and, at the same time, a penchant for lively, outdoor games, manifested itself. In 1744, Catherine and her mother were summoned to Russia by the Empress, baptized according to Orthodox custom under the name of Catherine Alekseevna and named the bride of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (future Emperor Peter III), whom she married in 1745.
Life in Russia before accession to the throne
Catherine set herself the goal of winning the favor of the Empress, her husband and the Russian people. However, her personal life was unsuccessful: Peter was infantile, so during the first years of marriage there was no marital relationship between them. Paying tribute to the cheerful life of the court, Catherine turned to reading French enlighteners and works on history, jurisprudence and economics. These books shaped her worldview. Catherine became a consistent supporter of the ideas of the Enlightenment. She was also interested in the history, traditions and customs of Russia. In the early 1750s. Catherine began an affair with the Guards officer S.V. Saltykov, and in 1754 gave birth to a son, the future Emperor Paul I, but the rumors that Saltykov was Paul's father are unfounded. In the second half of the 1750s. Catherine had an affair with the Polish diplomat S. Poniatowski (later King Stanislaw August), and in the early 1760s. with G. G. Orlov, from whom she gave birth in 1762 to a son, Alexei, who received the surname Bobrinsky. The deterioration of relations with her husband led to the fact that she began to fear for her fate if he came to power and began to recruit supporters for herself at court. Catherine's ostentatious piety, her prudence, sincere love for Russia - all this contrasted sharply with Peter's behavior and allowed her to gain authority both among the high-society capital society and the general population of St. Petersburg.
Accession to the throne
During the six months of the reign of Peter III, Catherine's relationship with her husband (who openly appeared in the company of E. R. Vorontsova's mistress) continued to deteriorate, becoming clearly hostile. There was a threat of her arrest and possible deportation. Catherine carefully prepared a conspiracy, relying on the support of the Orlov brothers, N.I. Panin, E.R. Dashkova and others. On the night of June 28, 1762, when the emperor was in Oranienbaum, Catherine secretly arrived in St. autocratic empress. Soldiers from other regiments soon joined the rebels. The news of Catherine's accession to the throne quickly spread throughout the city and was greeted with enthusiasm by the people of St. Petersburg. To prevent the actions of the deposed emperor, messengers were sent to the army and to Kronstadt. Meanwhile, Peter, having learned about what had happened, began to send proposals for negotiations to Catherine, which were rejected. The empress herself, at the head of the guards regiments, set out for Petersburg and on the way received Peter's written abdication from the throne.
The nature and manner of government
Catherine II was a subtle psychologist and an excellent connoisseur of people, she skillfully selected her assistants, not being afraid of bright and talented people. That is why Catherine's time was marked by the appearance of a whole galaxy of outstanding statesmen, generals, writers, artists, and musicians. In dealing with subjects, Catherine was, as a rule, restrained, patient, tactful. She was an excellent conversationalist, able to listen carefully to everyone. By her own admission, she did not have a creative mind, but she was good at capturing any sensible thought and using it for her own purposes. During the entire reign of Catherine, there were practically no noisy resignations, none of the nobles was disgraced, exiled, let alone executed. Therefore, there was an idea of Catherine's reign as the "golden age" of the Russian nobility. At the same time, Catherine was very vain and valued her power more than anything in the world. For the sake of her preservation, she is ready to make any compromises to the detriment of her beliefs.
Attitude towards religion and the peasant question
Catherine was distinguished by ostentatious piety, considered herself the head and defender of the Russian Orthodox Church and skillfully used religion in her political interests. Her faith, apparently, was not too deep. In the spirit of the time, she preached religious tolerance. Under her, the persecution of the Old Believers was stopped, Catholic and Protestant churches, mosques were built, but the transition from Orthodoxy to another faith was still severely punished.
Catherine was a staunch opponent of serfdom, considering it inhumane and contrary to the very nature of man. In her papers, many sharp statements on this subject have been preserved, as well as discussions about various options elimination of serfdom. However, she did not dare to do anything concrete in this area because of the well-founded fear of a noble rebellion and another coup. At the same time, Catherine was convinced of the spiritual underdevelopment of the Russian peasants and therefore was in danger of granting them freedom, believing that the life of the peasants among caring landowners was quite prosperous.
Upon closer examination, the biography of Catherine II the Great is replete with a large number of events that significantly influenced the empress of the Russian Empire.
Origin
Family tree of the Romanovs
Family ties of Peter III and Catherine II
The hometown of Catherine the Great is Stettin (now Szczecin in Poland), which was then the capital city of Pomerania. On May 2, 1729, a girl was born in the castle of the above-mentioned city, named at birth Sophia Frederick August of Anhalt-Zerbst.
The mother was the great-aunt of Peter III (who was at that time just a boy) Johanna Elizabeth, Princess of Holstein-Gottorp. The father was the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst - Christian August, the former governor of Stettin. Thus, the future empress was of very noble blood, although not from a royally wealthy family.
Childhood and youth
Francis Boucher - Young Catherine the Great
Being educated at home, Frederica, in addition to her native German, studied Italian, English and French. The basics of geography and theology, music and dancing - the corresponding education of the nobility coexisted with very active children's games. The girl was interested in everything that was happening around, and despite some dissatisfaction of her parents, she took part in games with the boys on the streets of her native city.
When she first saw her future husband in 1739, at Eitin Castle, Frederica did not yet know about the upcoming invitation to Russia. In 1744, at the age of fifteen, she traveled with her mother through Riga to Russia at the invitation of Empress Elizabeth. Immediately after her arrival, she began an active study of the language, traditions, history and religion of her new homeland. The most prominent teachers of the princess were Vasily Adadurov, who taught the language, Simon Todorsky, who taught Orthodoxy with Frederica, and choreographer Lange.
On July 9, Sophia Federica Augusta was officially baptized and converted to Orthodoxy, named Ekaterina Alekseevna - it is this name that she will later glorify.
Marriage
Despite the intrigues of her mother, through which the Prussian King Frederick II tried to remove Chancellor Bestuzhev and increase his influence on the foreign policy of the Russian Empire, Catherine did not fall into disgrace and on September 1, 1745, she was married to Peter Fedorovich, who was her second cousin.
Wedding on the reign of Catherine II. September 22, 1762. Confirmation. Engraving by A.Ya. Kolpashnikov. Last quarter of the 18th century
In view of the categorical inattention on the part of the young spouse, who was exclusively interested in military art and drill, the future empress devoted her time to the study of literature, art and science. At the same time, along with the study of the works of Voltaire, Montesquieu and other enlighteners, the biography of her young years is filled with hunting, various balls and masquerades.
The lack of intimacy with a legitimate spouse could not but affect the appearance of lovers, while Empress Elizabeth was not happy with the lack of heirs-grandchildren.
Having suffered two unsuccessful pregnancies, Catherine gave birth to Pavel, who, by personal decree of Elizabeth, was excommunicated from his mother and brought up separately. According to an unconfirmed theory, Pavel's father was S.V. Saltykov, who was sent from the capital immediately after the birth of the child. In favor of this statement, one can attribute the fact that after the birth of his son, Peter III finally ceased to be interested in his wife and did not hesitate to start favorites.
S. Saltykov
Stanislav August Poniatowski
However, Catherine herself was not inferior to her husband and, thanks to the efforts of the English ambassador Williams, entered into a relationship with Stanislav Poniatowski, the future king of Poland (thanks to the patronage of Catherine II herself). According to some historians, it was from Poniatowski that Anna was born, whose own paternity Peter questioned.
Williams, for some time, was a friend and confidant of Catherine, gave her loans, manipulated and received confidential information regarding Russia's foreign policy plans and the actions of its military units during the seven-year war with Prussia.
The first plans to overthrow her husband, the future Catherine the Great, began to hatch and voice as early as 1756, in letters to Williams. Seeing the morbid state of Empress Elizabeth, and no doubt about Peter's own incompetence, Chancellor Bestuzhev promised to support Catherine. In addition, Catherine attracted English loans to bribe supporters.
In 1758, Elizabeth began to suspect Apraksin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Empire, and Chancellor Bestuzhev of conspiracy. The latter managed to avoid disgrace in time by destroying all correspondence with Catherine. The former favorites, including Williams, recalled to England, were removed from Catherine and she was forced to look for new supporters - they were Dashkova and the Orlov brothers.
British Ambassador C, Williams
Brothers Alexey and Grigory Orlov
On January 5, 1761, Empress Elizabeth died and Peter III ascended the throne by right of succession. The next round in the biography of Catherine began. The new emperor sent his wife to the other end of the Winter Palace, replacing her with his mistress Elizaveta Vorontsova. In 1762, Catherine's carefully hidden pregnancy from Count Grigory Orlov, with whom she began a relationship back in 1760, could in no way be explained by relations with her lawful spouse.
For this reason, to divert attention, on April 22, 1762, one of Catherine's devoted servants set fire to his own house - Peter III, who loved such spectacles, left the palace and Catherine calmly gave birth to Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky.
Organization of the coup
From the very beginning of his reign, Peter III caused dissatisfaction among his subordinates - an alliance with Prussia, which was defeated in the Seven Years' War, an aggravation of relations with Denmark. secularization of church lands and plans to change religious practices.
Taking advantage of her husband's unpopularity among the military, Catherine's supporters began to actively agitate the guard units to go over to the side of the future empress in the event of a coup.
The early morning of July 9, 1762 was the beginning of the overthrow of Peter III. Ekaterina Alekseevna arrived in St. Petersburg from Peterhof, accompanied by the Orlov brothers, and taking advantage of her husband's absence, took the oath first of the guards units, and then of other regiments.
Oath of the Izmailovsky Regiment to Catherine II. Unknown artist. Late 18th - first third of the 19th century
Moving along with the adjoining troops, the empress received from Peter at first a proposal for negotiations, and why the abdication of the throne.
After the conclusion, the biography of the ex-emperor was as sad as it was vague. The arrested husband died while under arrest in Ropsha, and the circumstances of his death have not been fully clarified. According to a number of sources, he was either poisoned or died suddenly from an unknown disease.
Having ascended the throne, Catherine the Great issued a manifesto accusing Peter III of trying to change religion and make peace with hostile Prussia.
Beginning of the reign
In foreign policy, the foundation was laid for the creation of the so-called Northern System, which consisted in the fact that the northern non-Catholic states: Russia, Prussia, England, Sweden, Denmark and Saxony, plus Catholic Poland, united against Austria and France. The first step towards the implementation of the project was considered the conclusion of an agreement with Prussia. Secret articles were attached to the treaty, according to which both allies were obliged to act together in Sweden and Poland in order to prevent their strengthening.
King of Prussia - Frederick II the Great
The course of affairs in Poland was of particular concern to Catherine and Friedrich. They agreed to prevent changes in the Polish constitution, to prevent and destroy all intentions that could lead to this, even resorting to weapons. In a separate article, the allies agreed to patronize Polish dissidents (that is, the non-Catholic minority - Orthodox and Protestants) and persuade the Polish king to equalize their rights with Catholics.
The former King August III died in 1763. Friedrich and Catherine asked challenging task put his protege on the Polish throne. The Empress wanted it to be her former lover, Count Poniatowski. In achieving this, she did not stop either at bribing the deputies of the Sejm, or at the introduction of Russian troops into Poland.
The entire first half of the year was spent in active propaganda of the Russian protege. On August 26, Poniatowski was elected king of Poland. Catherine was very happy about this success and, without delay, ordered Poniatowski to raise the issue of the rights of dissidents, despite the fact that everyone who knew the state of affairs in Poland pointed out the great difficulty and almost impossibility of achieving this goal. Poniatowski wrote to his ambassador in St. Petersburg, Rzhevuski:
“The orders given to Repnin (the Russian ambassador in Warsaw) to bring dissidents into the legislative activity of the republic are thunderbolts both for the country and for me personally. If there is any human possibility, inspire the empress that the crown that she delivered to me will become for me the clothes of Nessus: I will burn in it and my end will be terrible. I clearly foresee the terrible choice ahead of me if the empress insists on her orders: either I will have to refuse her friendship, so dear to my heart and so necessary for my reign and for my state, or I will have to be a traitor to my fatherland.
Russian diplomat N. V. Repnin
Even Repnin was horrified by Catherine's intentions:
“The orders given” on the dissident case are terrible, he wrote to Panin, “truly my hair stands on end when I think about it, having almost no hope, except for the only strength, to fulfill the will of the most merciful empress regarding civil dissident advantages” .
But Catherine was not horrified and ordered Poniatowski to answer that she absolutely did not understand how dissidents admitted to legislative activity would, as a result, be more hostile to the Polish state and government than they are now; cannot understand how the king considers himself a traitor to the fatherland for what justice requires, which will be his glory and the solid good of the state.
“If the king looks at this matter in this way,” Catherine concluded, “then I remain eternal and sensitive regret that I could be deceived in the friendship of the king, in the image of his thoughts and feelings.”
Since the empress so unequivocally expressed her desire, Repnin in Warsaw was forced to act with all possible firmness. By intrigues, bribery and threats, the introduction of Russian troops into the suburbs of Warsaw and the arrest of the most stubborn opponents, Repnin achieved his goal on February 9, 1768. The Sejm agreed with the freedom of religion for dissidents and their political equalization with the Catholic nobility.
It seemed that the goal was achieved, but in reality it was only the beginning of a big war. The dissident “equation set fire to all of Poland. The Sejm, which approved the treaty on February 13, had barely dispersed, when in Bar the lawyer Puławski raised the confederation against him. With his light hand, anti-dissident confederations began to flare up all over Poland.
The answer of the Orthodox to the Bar Confederation was the Haydamak revolt of 1768, in which, together with the Haydamaks (Russian fugitives who had gone to the steppes), the Cossacks led by Zheleznyak And the serfs with the centurion Gonta rose up. At the height of the uprising, one of the Haidamak detachments crossed the border river Kolyma and plundered the Tatar town of Galta. As soon as this became known in Istanbul, a 20,000-strong Turkish corps was moved to the borders. On September 25, the Russian ambassador Obrezkov was arrested, diplomatic relations were broken off - the Russian-Turkish war began. Such an unexpected turn was given by the dissident case.
First wars
Having suddenly received two wars in her hands, Catherine was not at all embarrassed. On the contrary, threats from the west and south only added to her enthusiasm. She wrote to Count Chernyshev:
“The Turks and the French took it into their heads to wake up the cat who was sleeping; I am this cat who promises to make himself known to them, so that the memory does not soon disappear. I find that we freed ourselves from a great burden that crushes the imagination when we got rid of the peace treaty ... Now I am free, I can do everything that my means allow me, and Russia, you know, has not small means ... and now we will set the bell, what did not expect, and now the Turks will be beaten.
The inspiration of the Empress was transferred to her surroundings. Already at the first meeting of the Council on November 4, it was decided to wage a war not defensive, but offensive, and above all to try to raise up the Christians oppressed by Turkey. To this end, on November 12, Grigory Orlov proposed sending an expedition to the Mediterranean in order to promote the Greek uprising.
Catherine liked this plan, and she energetically set about implementing it. On November 16, she wrote to Chernyshev:
"I so tickled our marines by their craft that they became firemen."
And a few days later:
“I have a fleet in excellent care today, and I will truly use it in this way, if God commands, as it has not yet been ...”
Prince A. M. Golitsyn
Hostilities began in 1769. The army of General Golitsyn crossed the Dnieper and took Khotyn. But Catherine was dissatisfied with his slowness and transferred the supreme command to Rumyantsev, who soon took possession of Moldavia and Wallachia, as well as the coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov with Azov and Taganrog. Catherine ordered to fortify these cities and start building a flotilla.
She developed amazing energy this year, worked like a real chief of the general staff, entered into the details of military preparations, drew up plans and instructions. In April, Catherine wrote to Chernyshev:
“I set fire to the Turkish empire from four corners; I don’t know if it will catch fire and burn, but I know that since the beginning they have not yet been used against their great troubles and worries ... We have boiled a lot of porridge, it will be delicious for someone. I have an army in the Kuban, armies against the brainless Poles, ready to fight with the Swedes, and three more inpetto turmoil, which I don’t dare to show ... "
In fact, there were many troubles and worries. In July 1769, a squadron finally sailed from Kronstadt under the command of Spiridov. From 15 large and small ships of the squadron to mediterranean sea only got eight.
With these forces, Alexei Orlov, who was treated in Italy and asked to be the leader of the uprising of Turkish Christians, raised the Morea, but could not give the rebels a solid combat device, and, having failed from the approaching Turkish army, left the Greeks to their fate, annoyed by the fact that he did not find in them Themistocles. Catherine approved of all his actions.
Connecting with another Elphingston squadron that had approached meanwhile, Orlov chased the Turkish fleet and in the Chios Strait near the fortress of Chesme overtook the armada by the number of ships more than twice as strong as the Russian fleet. After a four-hour battle, the Turks took refuge in the Chesme Bay (June 24, 1770). A day later, on a moonlit night, the Russians launched fireships, and by morning the Turkish fleet crowded in the bay was burned (June 26).
Amazing naval victories in the Archipelago were followed by similar land victories in Bessarabia. Ekaterina wrote to Rumyantsev:
“I hope for God’s help and your art in military affairs, so don’t leave this the best way satisfy and accomplish such deeds that will gain you glory and prove how great your zeal is for the fatherland and for me. The Romans did not ask when, where were their two or three legions, how many were the enemy against them, but where is he; they attacked and struck him, and not by the multitude of their troops did they defeat the diverse against their crowd ... "
Inspired by this letter, Rumyantsev in July 1770 twice defeated the many times superior Turkish armies at Larga and Cahul. At the same time, an important fortress on the Dniester, Bendery, was taken. In 1771, General Dolgorukov broke through Perekop to the Crimea and captured the fortresses of Kafa, Kerch and Yenikale. Khan Selim Giray fled to Turkey. The new Khan Sahib-Giray hastened to make peace with the Russians. At this, active actions ended and lengthy peace negotiations began, again returning Catherine to Polish affairs.
Storm Bender
Russia's military successes aroused envy and fear in neighboring countries, primarily in Austria and Prussia. Misunderstandings with Austria reached the point where they started talking loudly about the possibility of war with her. Friedrich strongly inspired the Russian Empress that Russia's desire to annex the Crimea and Moldova could lead to a new European war, since Austria would never agree to this. It is much more reasonable to take part of the Polish possessions as compensation. He directly wrote to his ambassador Solms that it makes no difference to Russia where she gets the reward to which she is entitled for military losses, and since the war started solely because of Poland, Russia has the right to take a reward from the border regions of this republic. At the same time, Austria should have received its part - this will moderate its hostility. The king, too, cannot do without acquiring a part of Poland for himself. This will serve as a reward for the subsidies and other expenses he incurred during the war.
Petersburg liked the idea of partitioning Poland. On July 25, 1772, an agreement between the three powers-shareholders followed, according to which Austria received all of Galicia, Prussia - western Prussia, and Russia - Belarus. Having settled the contradictions with the European neighbors at the expense of Poland, Catherine could start the Turkish negotiations.
Break with Orlov
At the beginning of 1772, through the mediation of the Austrians, they agreed to start a peace congress with the Turks in Focsani in June. Count Grigory Orlov and the former Russian ambassador in Istanbul, Obrezkov, were appointed representatives from the Russian side.
It seemed that nothing foreshadowed the end of the 11-year relationship between the empress and the favorite, and meanwhile Orlov's star had already set. True, before breaking up with him, Catherine suffered from her lover as much as a rare woman is able to endure from her lawful husband
Already in 1765, seven years before the final break between them, Beranger reported from Petersburg:
» This Russian openly violates the laws of love towards the Empress. He has mistresses in the city, who not only do not incur the wrath of the empress for their compliance with Orlov, but, on the contrary, enjoy her patronage. Senator Muraviev, who found his wife with him, almost made a scandal, demanding a divorce; but the queen pacified him by giving him lands in Livonia.
“I can no longer restrain myself from informing Your Majesty of an interesting event that has just happened at this court. The absence of Count Orlov revealed a very natural, but nevertheless unexpected circumstance: Her Majesty found it possible to do without him, change her feelings for him and transfer her disposition to another subject.
A. S. Vasilchakov
Horse guards cornet Vasilchikov, accidentally sent with a small detachment to Tsarskoe Selo to carry guards, attracted the attention of his empress, completely unexpectedly for everyone, because there was nothing special in his appearance, and he himself never tried to advance and is very little known in society. . When the royal court moved from Tsarskoe Selo to Peterhof, Her Majesty for the first time showed him a sign of her disposition, giving him a golden snuffbox for the proper maintenance of the guards.
No significance was attached to this occasion, however, Vasilchikov's frequent visits to Peterhof, the care with which she hastened to distinguish him from others, her calmer and more cheerful disposition since Orlov's departure, the displeasure of the latter's relatives and friends, and finally, many other minor circumstances opened the eyes of the courtiers .
Although everything is still kept secret, none of those close to him doubt that Vasilchikov is already in full favor with the Empress; they were especially convinced of this from the day when he was granted by the chamber junker .. "
Meanwhile, Orlov encountered insurmountable obstacles to peace in Focsani. The Turks did not want to recognize the independence of the Tatars. On August 18, Orlov broke off negotiations and left for Iasi, the headquarters of the Russian army. Here he was caught by the news of the dramatic change that followed in his life. Orlov abandoned everything and rushed to Petersburg on post horses, hoping to regain his former rights. A hundred miles from the capital, he was stopped by the order of the empress: Orlov was ordered to go to his estates and not leave there until the quarantine expired (he was traveling from the territory where the plague was raging). Although the favorite did not immediately have to reconcile, at the beginning of 1773 he nevertheless arrived in St. Petersburg and was sympathetically received by the empress, but there could no longer be any talk of previous relations.
“I owe a lot to the Orlov family,” said Ekaterina, “I showered them with riches and honors; and I will always patronize them, and they can be useful to me; but my decision is unchanged: I endured eleven years; now I want to live as I please, and quite independently. As for the prince, he can do whatever he pleases: he is free to travel or stay in the empire, drink, hunt, take his mistresses ... He will behave well, honor and glory to him, they will behave badly - he is ashamed ... "
***
The years 1773 and 1774 were restless for Catherine: the Poles continued to resist, the Turks did not want to make peace. The war, exhausting the state budget, continued, and meanwhile a new threat arose in the Urals. In September, Yemelyan Pugachev raised an uprising. In October, the rebels gathered strength for the siege of Orenburg, and the nobles around the empress openly panicked.
Catherine's heart affairs also did not go well. Later, she confessed to Potemkin, referring to her relationship with Vasilchikov:
“I was more sad than I can say, and never more than when other people are happy, and all sorts of caresses forced tears in me, so I think that from my birth I did not cry as much as these one and a half years; at first I thought that I would get used to it, but what happened next, it got worse, because on the other side (that is, from Vasilchikov’s side) they began to sulk for three months, and I must admit that I have never been happier than when I get angry and leave me alone, and His caress made me cry.
It is known that in her favorites, Catherine was looking for not only lovers, but also assistants in the matter of government. In the end, she succeeded in making good statesmen out of the Orlovs. Less fortunate with Vasilchikov. However, another contender remained in the reserve, which Catherine had long liked - Grigory Potemkin. Ekaterina knew and celebrated him for 12 years. In 1762, Potemkin served as a sergeant-major in a horse guard regiment and took an active part in the coup. In the list of awards after the events of June 28, he was assigned the rank of cornet. Ekaterina crossed out this line and wrote "captain-lieutenant" in her own hand.
In 1773 he was granted the rank of lieutenant general. In June of this year, Potemkin was in battle under the walls of Silistria. But a few months later, he suddenly asked for leave and quickly, hastily left the army. The reason for this was the event that decided his life: he received the following letter from Catherine:
"Mr Lieutenant General! You, I imagine, are so busy looking at Silistria that you have no time to read letters. I do not know whether the bombardment has hitherto been successful, but, in spite of this, I am sure that - whatever you personally undertake - no other goal can be prescribed than your ardent zeal for the benefit of me personally and dear homeland, whom you lovingly serve. But, on the other hand, since I wish to preserve diligent, brave, intelligent and efficient people, I ask you not to be in danger unnecessarily. After reading this letter, you may ask why it was written; I can answer this for you: so that you have confidence in how I think of you, just as I wish you well.
In January 1774, Potemkin was in St. Petersburg, waited another six weeks, testing the ground, strengthening his chances, and on February 27 he wrote a letter to the Empress, in which he asked graciously to appoint him adjutant general, "if she considered his services worthy." Three days later he received a favorable answer, and on March 20 Vasilchikov was sent an imperial command to go to Moscow. He retired, making way for Potemkin, who was destined to become Catherine's most famous and powerful favorite. In a matter of months, he made a dizzying career.
In May he was introduced to the Council, in June he was granted the title of count, in October he was promoted to general-in-chief, and in November he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. All of Catherine's friends were perplexed and found the choice of the empress strange, extravagant, even tasteless, for Potemkin was ugly, crooked in one eye, bow-legged, harsh and even rude. Grimm could not hide his astonishment.
"Why? Catherine answered him. “I bet because I distanced myself from some excellent, but too boring gentleman, who was immediately replaced, myself, really, I don’t know how, one of the greatest fun, the most interesting eccentric that can be found in our iron age.”
She was very pleased with her new acquisition.
“Oh, what a head this man has,” she said, “and this good head is funny as the devil.”
Several months passed, and Potemkin became a real ruler, an omnipotent man, before whom all rivals humbled themselves and all heads bowed, starting with the head of Catherine. His accession to the Council was tantamount to becoming the first minister. He directs domestic and foreign policy and forces Chernyshev to give him the position of chairman of the military collegium.
On July 10, 1774, negotiations with Turkey ended with the signing of the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty, according to which:
- the independence of the Tatars and the Crimean Khanate from the Ottoman Empire was recognized;
- Kerch and Yenikale in the Crimea are ceded to Russia;
- Russia departs the castle of Kinburn and the steppe between the Dnieper and the Bug, Azov, Greater and Lesser Kabarda;
- free navigation of merchant ships of the Russian Empire through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles;
- Moldova and Wallachia received the right to autonomy and came under Russian protection;
- The Russian Empire received the right to build a Christian church in Constantinople, and the Turkish authorities undertook to ensure its protection
- A ban on the oppression of the Orthodox in Transcaucasia, on the collection of tribute by people from Georgia and Mingrelia.
- 4.5 million rubles indemnity.
The joy of the empress was great - no one expected such a favorable peace. But at the same time more and more disturbing news came from the east. Pugachev has already been defeated twice. He fled, but his flight seemed like an invasion. Never was the success of the uprising more significant than in the summer of 1774, never had the rebellion raged with such power and cruelty.
The indignation spread like wildfire from one village to another, from province to province. This sad news made a deep impression in St. Petersburg and overshadowed the victorious mood after the end of the Turkish war. Only in August Pugachev was finally defeated and captured. On January 10, 1775 he was executed in Moscow.
As for Polish affairs, on February 16, 1775, the Sejm finally passed a law on the equalization of dissidents in political rights with Catholics. Thus, despite all the obstacles, Catherine brought this difficult task to the end and successfully completed three bloody wars - two external and one internal.
The execution of Yemelyan Pugachev
***
The Pugachev uprising revealed serious shortcomings of the existing regional administration: firstly, the former provinces represented too extensive administrative districts, and secondly, these districts were supplied with too not enough institutions with meager personnel, thirdly, various departments were mixed in this department: the same department was in charge of administrative affairs, and finance, and the criminal and civil courts. In order to eliminate these shortcomings in 1775, Catherine began a provincial reform.
First of all, she introduced a new regional division: instead of the 20 vast provinces into which Russia was then divided, now the entire empire was divided into 50 provinces. The basis of the provincial division was taken exclusively by the number of population. The provinces of Catherine are districts of 300-400 thousand inhabitants. They were subdivided into counties with a population of 20-30 thousand inhabitants. Each province received a uniform structure, administrative and judicial.
In the summer of 1775, Catherine stayed in Moscow, where the house of the princes Golitsyns at the Prechistensky Gates was placed at her disposal. In early July, Field Marshal Count Rumyantsev, the winner of the Turks, arrived in Moscow. The news has survived that Catherine, dressed in a Russian sundress, met Rumyantsev. on the porch of the Golitsyn house and, embracing, kissed. At the same time, she drew attention to Zavadovsky, a powerful, stately and exceptionally handsome man who accompanied the field marshal. Noticing the tender and interested look of the empress, cast by her at Zavadovsky, the field marshal immediately introduced the handsome man to Catherine, flatteringly speaking of him as a man of excellent education, hardworking, honest and brave.
Catherine granted Zavadovsky a diamond ring with her name on it and appointed her office secretary. Soon he was granted the rank of major general and adjutant general, became in charge of the personal office of the empress and became one of the people closest to her. At the same time, Potemkin noticed that his charm for the Empress had weakened. In April 1776, he went on vacation to revise the Novgorod province. A few days after his departure, Zavadovsky settled in his place.
P. V. Zavadovsky
But, having ceased to be a lover, Potemkin, granted in 1776 to the princes, retained all his influence and sincere friendship with the empress. Almost until his death, he remained the second person in the state, determined domestic and foreign policy, and none of the subsequent numerous favorites, up to Platon Zubov, even tried to play the role of a statesman. All of them were close to Catherine by Potemkin himself, who tried in this way to influence the location of the empress.
First of all, he tried to remove Zavadovsky. Potemkin had to spend almost a year on this, and luck did not come before he discovered Semyon Zorich. He was a hero-cavalryman and a handsome man, a Serb by origin. Potemkin took Zorich to his aide-de-camp and almost immediately presented him for appointment as commander of the life hussar squadron. Since the life hussars were the personal guard of the empress, Zorich's appointment to the post was preceded by his introduction to Catherine.
S. G. Zorich
In May 1777, Potemkin arranged an audience with the empress with a potential favorite - and he was not mistaken in his calculation. Zavadovsky was suddenly granted a six-month vacation, and Zorich was granted the rank of colonel, adjutant wing and chief of the life hussar squadron. Zorich was already under forty, and he was full of manly beauty, however, unlike Zavadovsky, he was poorly educated (later he himself admitted that from the age of 15 he went to war and that until close to the empress he remained a complete ignoramus). Catherine tried to instill in him literary and scientific tastes, but seems to have had little success in this.
Zorich was stubborn and reluctant to educate. In September 1777, he became a major general, and in the fall of 1778, an earl. But having received this title, he was suddenly offended, as he expected a princely title. Soon after, he had a quarrel with Potemkin, which almost ended in a duel. Find out about this, Catherine ordered Zorich to go to her estate Shklov.
Even before Potemkin began to look for a new favorite for his girlfriend. Several candidates were considered, among which, they say, there was even some kind of Persian, distinguished by extraordinary physical data. Finally, Potemkin settled on three officers - Bergman, Rontsov and Ivan Korsakov. Gelbich says that Ekaterina went to the reception room, when all three applicants appointed for an audience were there. Each of them stood with a bouquet of flowers, and she graciously talked first with Bergman, then with Rontsov, and finally with Korsakov. The extraordinary beauty and grace of the latter captivated her. Catherine graciously smiled at everyone, but with a bouquet of flowers sent Korsakov to Potemkin, who became the next favorite. From other sources it is known that Korsakov did not immediately reach the desired position.
In general, in 1778, Catherine experienced a kind of moral breakdown and was fond of several young people at once. In June, the Englishman Harris notes the rise of Korsakov, and in August he speaks of his rivals, who are trying to wrest the grace of the Empress from him; they are supported on the one hand by Potemkin, and on the other by Panin, together with Orlov; in September, Strakhov, the "lowest jester", prevails over everyone, four months later, Major of the Semenovsky regiment Levashev, a young man patronized by Countess Bruce, takes his place. Then Korsakov again returns to his former position, but now he is fighting with some kind of Potemkin's favorite Stoyanov. In 1779, he finally won a complete victory over his competitors, became a chamberlain and adjutant general.
Grimm, who considered his friend's infatuation a mere whim, Catherine wrote:
"Whim? Do you know what this is: the expression is completely inappropriate in this case when they talk about Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus (as Catherine called Korsakov), and about this subject of temptation for all artists and despair for all sculptors. Admiration, enthusiasm, and not whim, excite such exemplary creations of nature ... Pyrrhus never made a single ignoble or ungraceful gesture or movement ... But all this, in general, is not effeminacy, but, on the contrary, courage, and he is what you would like he was…"
In addition to his amazing appearance, Korsakov charmed the Empress with his wonderful voice. The reign of a new favorite constitutes an epoch in the history of Russian music. Catherine invited the first artists of Italy to St. Petersburg so that Korsakov could sing with them. She wrote to Grimm:
"Never have I met anyone so capable of enjoying harmonic sounds as Pyrrha, King of Epirus."
Rimsky-Korsakov I. N.
Unfortunately for himself, Korsakov failed to maintain his height. Once, in early 1780, Catherine found her favorite in the arms of her friend and confidante, Countess Bruce. This greatly cooled her ardor, and soon Korsakov's place was taken by the 22-year-old horse guard Alexander Lanskoy.
Lanskoy was introduced to Ekaterina by Chief of Police Tolstoy, he liked the empress at first sight: she granted him to the adjutant wing and gave 10,000 rubles to equip him. But he did not become a favorite. However, Lanskoy showed a lot of common sense from the very beginning and turned to Potemkin for support, who appointed him one of his adjutants and directed his court education for about six months.
He discovered in his pupil a mass of excellent qualities, and in the spring of 1780, with a light heart, he recommended him to the Empress as a cordial friend. Catherine promoted Lansky to colonel, then to adjutant general and chamberlain, and soon he settled in the palace in the empty apartments of the former favorite.
Of all Catherine's lovers, this was, without a doubt, the most pleasant and sweetest. According to contemporaries, Lanskoy did not enter into any intrigues, tried not to harm anyone and completely abandoned public affairs, rightly believing that politics would force him to make enemies for himself. The only all-consuming passion of Lansky was Catherine, He wanted to reign in her heart alone and did everything to achieve this. There was something maternal in the 54-year-old empress's passion for him. She caressed and educated him as her beloved child. Catherine wrote to Grimm:
“In order for you to form an idea about this young man, you need to convey what Prince Orlov said about him to one of his friends: “See what a person she will make of him! ..” He absorbs everything with greed! He began by swallowing all the poets and their poems in one winter; and in the other, a few historians ... Without studying anything, we will have countless knowledge and find pleasure in communicating with everything that is the best and most dedicated. In addition, we build and plant; besides, we are charitable, cheerful, honest and full of simplicity.
Under the guidance of his mentor Lanskoy, he studied French, got acquainted with philosophy and, finally, became interested in the works of art with which the empress liked to surround herself. The four years spent in Lansky's company were perhaps the most calm and happy in Catherine's life, as evidenced by many contemporaries. However, she always led a very moderate and measured life.
***
The daily routine of the Empress
Catherine usually woke up at six in the morning. At the beginning of her reign, she herself dressed and kindled the fireplace. Later, she was dressed in the mornings by chamberlain Perekusikhin. Ekaterina rinsed her mouth with warm water, rubbed her cheeks with ice and went to her office. Here, very strong morning coffee was waiting for her, usually accompanied by heavy cream and biscuits. The Empress herself ate little, but half a dozen Italian Greyhounds, who always shared breakfast with Catherine, emptied the sugar bowl and the basket of biscuits. Having finished eating, the empress let the dogs out for a walk, and she herself sat down to work and wrote until nine o'clock.
At nine she returned to the bedroom and received the speakers. The Chief of Police was the first to enter. To read the papers submitted for signature, the Empress put on glasses. Then the secretary appeared and work with documents began.
As you know, the Empress read and wrote in three languages, but at the same time she made many syntactical and grammatical errors, not only in Russian and French, but also in her native German. Mistakes in Russian, of course, were the most annoying of all. Catherine was aware of this and once confessed to one of her secretaries:
“Don't laugh at my Russian spelling; I'll tell you why I didn't have time to study it well. Upon my arrival here, I began to learn the Russian language with great diligence. Aunt Elizaveta Petrovna, learning about this, said to my chamberlain: enough to teach her, she is smart enough without that. Thus, I could learn Russian only from books without a teacher, and this is the very reason that I do not know spelling well.
The secretaries had to rewrite all the drafts of the Empress cleanly. But classes with the secretary were interrupted now and then by visits from generals, ministers and dignitaries. This went on until dinner, which was usually at one or two.
Having dismissed the secretary, Ekaterina went to the small dressing room, where the old hairdresser Kolov combed her hair. Catherine took off her hood and cap, put on an extremely simple, open and free dress with double sleeves and wide shoes with low heels. On weekdays, the Empress did not wear any jewelry. On ceremonial occasions, Catherine wore an expensive velvet dress, the so-called "Russian style", and adorned her hair with a crown. She did not follow the Parisian fashions and did not encourage this expensive pleasure in her court ladies.
After finishing the toilet, Catherine went to the official restroom, where they finished dressing her. It was time for a small exit. Grandchildren, a favorite and several close friends like Lev Naryshkin gathered here. The empress was served pieces of ice, and she quite openly rubbed her cheeks with them. Then the hair was covered with a small tulle cap, and the toilet ended there. The whole ceremony lasted about 10 minutes. After that, everyone went to the table.
On weekdays, twelve people were invited to dinner. The favorite sat on the right hand. The dinner lasted about an hour and was very simple. Catherine never cared about the sophistication of her table. Her favorite dish was boiled beef with pickles. As a drink, she used currant juice. In the last years of her life, on the advice of doctors, Catherine drank a glass of Madeira or Rhine wine. Dessert was accompanied by fruits, mostly apples and cherries.
Among the chefs of Catherine, one cooked very badly. But she did not notice this, and when, after many years, her attention was finally called to this, she did not allow him to be calculated, saying that he served too long in her house. She managed only when he was on duty, and, sitting down at the table, said to the guests:
“We are now on a Diet, you need to be patient, but after that we will eat well.”
After dinner, Catherine talked with the guests for several minutes, then everyone dispersed. Ekaterina sat down at the hoop - she embroidered very skillfully - and Betsky read aloud to her. When Betsky, having grown old, began to lose his sight, she did not want to replace him with anyone and began to read herself, putting on glasses.
Analyzing the numerous references to the books she read, scattered in her correspondence, we can safely say that Catherine was aware of all the book novelties of her time, and read everything indiscriminately: from philosophical treatises and historical writings to novels. She, of course, could not assimilate deeply all this enormous material, and her erudition remained largely superficial, and her knowledge shallow, but in general she could judge a variety of problems.
The rest lasted about an hour. Then the empress was informed about the arrival of the secretary: twice a week she sorted out foreign mail with him and made notes on the margins of dispatches. On other fixed days, officials came to her with reports or for orders.
In the moments of a break in business, Catherine carelessly had fun with the children.
In 1776 she wrote to her friend Madame Boelcke:
“You have to be funny. Only this helps us to overcome and endure everything. I tell you this from experience, because I have overcome and endured a lot in my life. But all the same, I laughed when I could, and I swear to you that at the present time, when I bear the brunt of my position, I play with my heart, when the opportunity presents itself, blind man's blind with my son, and very often without him. We come up with an excuse for it, we say, "It's good for health," but, between us it will be said, we do it just to fool around."
At four o'clock the working day of the Empress ended, and it was time for rest and entertainment. Catherine walked along the long gallery from the Winter Palace to the Hermitage. It was her favorite place stay. She was accompanied by a favorite. She reviewed and posted new collections, played a game of billiards, and occasionally carved ivory. At six o'clock the Empress returned to the reception rooms of the Hermitage, which were already filled with persons admitted to the court.
Count Hord in his memoirs described the Hermitage as follows:
“It occupies an entire wing of the Imperial Palace and consists of an art gallery, two large rooms for a card game and another where they dine on two tables “family style”, and next to these rooms is winter Garden, indoor and well lit. There they walk among the trees and numerous pots of flowers. Various birds fly and sing there, mainly canaries. The garden is heated by underground ovens; despite the harsh climate, it always reigns a pleasant temperature.
This so charming apartment is made even better by the freedom that reigns here. Everyone feels at ease: the empress has expelled all etiquette from here. Here they walk, play, sing; everyone does what he likes. The art gallery abounds with first-class masterpieces".
All sorts of games were a huge success at these meetings. Catherine was the first to participate in them, aroused gaiety in everyone and allowed all sorts of liberties.
At ten o'clock the game ended, and Catherine retired to the inner chambers. Dinner was served only on ceremonial occasions, but even then Catherine sat down at the table only for show. Returning to her room, she went into the bedroom, drank a large glass of boiled water and went to bed.
Such was the private life of Catherine according to the memoirs of contemporaries. Her intimate life is less known, although it is also not a secret. The Empress was an amorous woman, who until her death retained the ability to be carried away by young people.
There were more than a dozen of her official lovers. With all this, as already mentioned, she was not at all a beauty.
“To tell you the truth,” Catherine herself wrote, “I never considered myself extremely beautiful, but I liked it, and I think that this was my strength.”
All the portraits that have come down to us confirm this opinion. But there is no doubt that there was something extremely attractive in this woman, which eluded the brush of all painters and made many sincerely admire her appearance. With age, the Empress did not lose her attractiveness, although she became more and more stout.
Catherine was not at all windy or depraved. Many of her connections lasted for years, and although the empress was far from being indifferent to sensual pleasures, spiritual communication with a close man remained very important for her too. But it is also true that after the Orlovs, Catherine never raped her heart. If the favorite ceased to interest her, she resigned without any ceremony.
At the next evening reception, the courtiers noticed that the empress was staring at some unknown lieutenant, who had been introduced to her only the day before or who had previously been lost in the brilliant crowd. Everyone understood what that meant. Happy young man with a short order, they were summoned to the palace and subjected to repeated tests for compliance in the performance of the direct intimate duties of the favorite of the empress.
A. M. Turgenev tells about this rite, through which all Catherine's lovers went through:
“They usually sent to Anna Stepanovna Protasova for a trial of the favorite of Her Majesty. Upon inspection of the concubine destined for the highest rank to the mother empress by the life physician Rogerson and on the certificate presented as fit for service regarding health, the recruited to Anna Stepanovna Protasova was escorted for a three-night test. When the betrothed fully satisfied the requirements of Protasova, she informed the most merciful empress about the trustworthiness of the tested, and then the first meeting was appointed according to the established etiquette of the court or according to the charter of the highest for consecration to the rank of concubine to the confirmed.
Perekusikhina Marya Savvishna and the valet Zakhar Konstantinovich were obliged to dine with the chosen one on the same day. At 10 pm, when the empress was already in bed, Perekusikhina led the recruit into the bedchamber of the most pious, dressed in a Chinese dressing gown, with a book in her hands, and left him to read in armchairs near the anointed bed. The next day, Perekusikhina took the initiate out of the bedchamber and handed him over to Zakhar Konstantinovich, who led the newly appointed concubine to the halls prepared for him; here Zakhar reported already servilely to the favorite that the most merciful empress deigned to appoint him with the highest person as her adjutant wing, brought him an adjutant wing uniform with a diamond agraph and 100,000 rubles of pocket money.
Before the empress even went out, in the winter to the Hermitage, and in the summer, in Tsarskoe Selo, to the garden, to take a walk with the new adjutant wing, to whom she gave her hand to guide her, the front hall of the new favorite was filled with the first state dignitaries, nobles, courtiers to bring him the most zealous congratulations on receiving the highest mercy. The most highly enlightened pastor, the metropolitan, usually came to the favorite the next day to consecrate him and blessed him with holy water..
Subsequently, the procedure became more complicated, and after Potemkin, the favorites were checked not only by the assayer-maid of honor Protasova, but also by Countess Bruce, and Perekusikhina, and Utochkin.
In June 1784, Lanskoy fell seriously and dangerously ill - it was said that he undermined his health by abusing stimulant drugs. Catherine did not leave the sufferer for an hour, almost stopped eating, left all her affairs and looked after him, like a mother for her only infinitely beloved son. Then she wrote:
"Malignant fever combined with a toad brought him to the grave in five days."
On the evening of June 25, Lanskoy died. Catherine's grief was boundless.
“When I began this letter, I was in happiness and joy, and my thoughts raced so fast that I did not have time to follow them,” she wrote to Grimm. “Now everything has changed: I suffer terribly, and my happiness is no more; I thought that I could not bear the irretrievable loss that I suffered a week ago when my best friend. I hoped that he would be the support of my old age: he also aspired to this, tried to instill in himself all my tastes. This was a young man whom I brought up who was grateful, meek, honest, who shared my sorrows when I had them, and rejoiced in my joys.
In a word, I, sobbing, have the misfortune to tell you that General Lansky is gone ... and my room, which I used to love so much, has now turned into an empty cave; I can hardly move on it like a shadow: on the eve of his death, I had a sore throat and a violent fever; however, since yesterday I have been on my feet, but I am weak and so depressed that I cannot see a human face, so as not to burst into tears at the first word. I can neither sleep nor eat. Reading irritates me, writing exhausts my strength. I don't know what will become of me now; I know only one thing, that never in all my life have I been so unhappy as since my best and kindest friend left me. I opened the drawer, found this started sheet, wrote these lines on it, but I can no longer ... "
“I confess to you that all this time I have been unable to write to you, because I knew that this would make us both suffer. A week after I wrote you my last letter in July, Fyodor Orlov and Prince Potemkin came to see me. Until that moment I could not see a human face, but these knew what to do: they roared along with me, and then I felt at ease with them; but I still had a long time to recover, and because of the sensitivity to my grief, I became insensitive to everything else; my grief increased and was remembered at every step and at every word.
However, do not think that because of this terrible state I have neglected even the smallest thing that requires my attention. In the most painful moments, they came to me for orders, and I gave them sensibly and reasonably; this particularly struck General Saltykov. Two months passed like this without any relief; at last the first quiet hours came, and then the days. It was already autumn outside, it was getting damp, and the palace in Tsarskoe Selo had to be heated. All of mine went into a frenzy from this and so strong that on September 5, not knowing where to lay my head, I ordered the carriage to be laid down and arrived unexpectedly and in such a way that no one suspected it, to the city where I stopped in the Hermitage ... "
In the Winter Palace, all the doors were locked. Catherine ordered to knock down the door to the Hermitage and went to bed. But waking up at one in the morning, she ordered the cannons to be fired, which usually announced her arrival, and alarmed the whole city. The entire garrison rose to their feet, all the courtiers were frightened, and even she herself was surprised that she had made such a fuss. But a few days later, after giving an audience to the diplomatic corps, they appeared with their usual face, calm, healthy and fresh, friendly, as before the disaster, and smiling as always.
Soon life went back into its groove, and the eternally in love returned to life. But ten months passed before she wrote to Grimm again:
“I will tell you in one word, instead of a hundred, that I have a friend who is very capable and worthy of this name.”
This friend was the brilliant young officer Alexander Yermolov, represented by the same indispensable Potemkin. He moved to the long-empty chambers of the favorites. The summer of 1785 was one of the most joyful in Catherine's life: one noisy pleasure was replaced by another. The aging empress felt a new surge of legislative energy. This year, two famous letters of commendation appeared - to the nobility and cities. These acts completed the local government reform begun in 1775.
At the beginning of 1786, Catherine began to grow cold towards Yermolov. The resignation of the latter was accelerated by the fact that he took it into his head to intrigue against Potemkin himself. In June, the Empress asked her to tell her lover that she allowed him to go abroad for three years.
Yermolov's successor was the 28-year-old captain of the guard Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov, a distant relative of Potemkin and his adjutant. Having made a mistake with the previous favorite, Potemkin looked closely at Mamonov for a long time before recommending him to Catherine. In August 1786, Mamonov was introduced to the Empress and was soon appointed adjutant wing. Contemporaries noted that he could not be called handsome.
Mamonov was distinguished by his tall stature and physical strength, had a bony face, slightly slanted eyes, glowing with intelligence, and conversations with him gave the Empress considerable pleasure. A month later, he became an ensign of the cavalry guards and a major general in the army, and in 1788 he was granted a count. The first honors did not turn the head of the new favorite - he showed restraint, tact and gained a reputation as an intelligent, cautious person. Mamonov spoke German well and English and spoke French fluently. In addition, he proved himself to be a good poet and playwright, which especially appealed to Catherine.
Thanks to all these qualities, as well as the fact that Mamonov constantly studied, read a lot and tried to seriously delve into state affairs, he became an adviser to the empress.
Catherine wrote to Grimm:
“The red caftan (as she called Mamonov) is worn by a creature with a beautiful heart and a very sincere soul. Mind for four, inexhaustible gaiety, a lot of originality in understanding things and conveying them, excellent education, a lot of knowledge that can give brilliance to the mind. We hide as a crime the inclination to poetry; we love music passionately, we understand everything unusually easily. What only we do not know by heart! We recite, chatter in the tone of a better society; exquisitely polite; we write in Russian and French, as rarely anyone else, as much in style as in beauty of writing. Our appearance is quite consistent with our internal qualities: we have wonderful black eyes with eyebrows that are extremely outlined; below average height, noble appearance, free gait; in a word, we are just as reliable in our souls as we are dexterous, strong and brilliant on the outside.
***
Travel to Crimea
In 1787, Catherine made one of her longest and most famous journeys - she went to the Crimea, which from 17.83 was annexed to Russia. Before Catherine had time to return to St. Petersburg, the news broke out about the break in relations with Turkey and the arrest of the Russian ambassador in Istanbul: the second Turkish war began. To top it off, the situation of the 60s was repeated) when one war pulled another.
As soon as they gathered forces to repulse in the south, it became known that the Swedish king Gustav III intended to attack defenseless Petersburg. The king came to Finland and sent a demand to Vice-Chancellor Osterman to return to Sweden all the lands ceded under the Nystadt and Abov worlds, and to return the Crimea to Porte.
In July 1788, the Swedish War began. Potemkin was busy in the south, and all the hardships of the war fell entirely on the shoulders of Catherine. She was personally involved in everything. affairs for the management of the maritime department, ordered, for example, to build several new barracks and hospitals, to fix and put in order the Revel port.
A few years later, she recalled this era in a letter to Grimm: “There is a reason why it seemed that I did everything so well at that time: I was then alone, with almost no helpers, and, being afraid to miss something out of ignorance or forgetfulness, I showed an activity that no one considered me capable of; I interfered in incredible details to such an extent that I even turned into an army quartermaster, but, according to everyone, soldiers have never been fed better in a country where it was impossible to get any provisions ... "
On August 3, 1790, the Treaty of Versailles was concluded; the borders of both states remained the same as they were before the war.
Behind these troubles in 1789 there was another change of favorites. In June, Catherine found out that Mamonov was having an affair with the maid of honor Daria Shcherbatov. The Empress reacted to treason quite calmly. She recently turned 60 years old, besides, a long experience of love relationships taught her condescension. She bought several villages for Mamontov, with more than 2,000 peasants, gave her bride jewelry and betrothed them herself. Over the years of his favor, Mamonov had gifts and money from Catherine for about 900 thousand rubles. The last hundred thousand, in addition to the three thousand peasants, he received when leaving with his wife for Moscow. At this time, he could already see his successor.
On June 20, Ekaterina chose the 22-year-old second-captain of the Horse Guards Platon Zubov as the favorite. In July, Toth was granted the rank of colonel and adjutant wing. At first, the empress's entourage did not take him seriously.
Bezborodko wrote to Vorontsov:
“This child is well-mannered, but not far-sighted; I don't think he will last long in his place.
However, Bezborodko was wrong. Zubov was destined to become the last favorite of the great empress - he retained his position until her death.
Catherine confessed to Potemkin in August of the same year:
“I came back to life like a fly after hibernation… I am cheerful and healthy again.”
She was moved by Zubov's youth and the fact that he cried when he was not allowed into the rooms of the Empress. Despite his mild appearance, Zubov turned out to be a prudent and dexterous lover. His influence on the empress became so great over the years that he managed to achieve the almost impossible: he nullified Potemkin's charm and completely ousted him from Catherine's heart. Having taken all the threads of management into his own hands, in the last years of Catherine's life he acquired a tremendous influence on affairs.
***
The war with Turkey continued. In 1790, Suvorov took Izmail, and Potemkin - Vendors. After that, Porte had no choice but to yield. In December 1791, peace was concluded in Iasi. Russia received the interfluve of the Dniester and the Bug, where Odessa was soon built; Crimea was recognized as her possession.
Potemkin did not live long enough to see this joyful day. He died on October 5, 1791 on the way from Iasi to Nikolaev. Catherine's grief was very great. According to the testimony of the French commissioner Genet, "at this news she lost consciousness, blood rushed to her head, and she was forced to open a vein." Who can replace such a person? she repeated to her secretary Khrapovitsky. “I and all of us are now like snails who are afraid to stick their heads out of their shells.”
She wrote to Grimm:
“Yesterday I was hit like a butt on the head ... My student, my friend, one might say, an idol, Prince Potemkin of Tauride died ... Oh, my God! Now I am truly my own helper. I have to train my people again!”
The last remarkable act of Catherine was the division of Poland and the annexation of western Russian lands to Russia. The second and third sections, which followed in 1793 and 1795, were a logical continuation of the first. Many years of anarchy and the events of 1772 brought many nobles to their senses. During the four-year Sejm of 1788-1791, the reforming party drafted a new constitution, adopted on May 3, 1791. She established hereditary royal power with the Sejm without the right to veto, the admission of deputies from the townspeople, the complete equality of dissidents, the abolition of confederations. All this happened in the wake of frenzied anti-Russian speeches and in defiance of all previous agreements, according to which Russia guaranteed the Polish constitution. Catherine was forced to endure impudence for the time being, but she wrote to members of the foreign collegium:
“... I will not agree to any of this new order of things, during the approval of which not only did they not pay any attention to Russia, but showered it with insults, bullied it every minute ...”
And indeed, as soon as peace was concluded with Turkey, Poland was occupied by Russian troops, and a Russian garrison was brought into Warsaw. This served as a prologue to the section. In November, the Prussian ambassador in St. Petersburg, Count Goltz, presented a map of Poland, which outlined the area desired by Prussia. In December, after a detailed study of the map, Catherine approved the Russian share of the partition. Most of Belarus went to Russia. After the final collapse of the May constitution, its adherents, both those who had gone abroad and those who remained in Warsaw, had one means of acting in favor of a lost enterprise: plotting, arousing displeasure, and waiting for an opportunity to raise an uprising. All this has been done.
Warsaw was to become the center of the performance. A well-prepared uprising began early in the morning on April 6 (17), 1794 and was a surprise for the Russian garrison. Most of the soldiers were killed, and only a few units with heavy damage were able to break out of the city. Not trusting the king, the patriots proclaimed General Kosciuszko as supreme ruler. In response, a third partition agreement was reached between Austria, Prussia and Russia in September. Krakow and Sendomierz provinces were to go to Austria. The Bug and Neman became the borders of Russia. In addition, Courland and Lithuania retreated to it. The rest of Poland with Warsaw was given to Prussia. On November 4, Suvorov took Warsaw. The revolutionary government was destroyed and power returned to the king. Stanislav-August wrote to Catherine:
“The fate of Poland is in your hands; your power and wisdom will solve it; whatever the fate that you assign to me personally, I cannot forget my duty to my people, imploring Your Majesty's generosity for them.
Catherine replied:
“It was not in my power to prevent disastrous consequences and to fill up under the feet of the Polish people the abyss dug by their corrupters and into which they are finally carried away ...”
On October 13, 1795, the third section was made; Poland disappeared from the map of Europe. This partition was soon followed by the death of the Russian empress. The decline of Catherine's moral and physical strength began in 1792. She was broken both by the death of Potemkin and by the extraordinary tension that she had to endure during the last war. The French envoy Genet wrote:
“Catherine is clearly aging, she herself sees this, and melancholy takes possession of her soul.”
Catherine complained: "The years make everyone see in black". Dropsy overcame the Empress. It became increasingly difficult for her to walk. She stubbornly fought old age and illnesses, but in September 1796, after her granddaughter's engagement to King Gustav IV of Sweden did not take place, Catherine went to bed. She did not leave colic, wounds opened on her legs. Only at the end of October did the empress feel better. On the evening of November 4, Catherine gathered an intimate circle in the Hermitage, was very cheerful all evening and laughed at Naryshkin's jokes. However, she left earlier than usual, saying that she had colic from laughter. The next day, Catherine got up at her usual hour, talked with the favorite, worked with the secretary, and, dismissing the latter, ordered him to wait in the hallway. He waited an unusually long time and began to worry. Half an hour later, the faithful Zubov decided to look into the bedroom. The Empress was not there; was not in toilet room. Zubov called people in alarm; they ran to the dressing room and there they saw the immovable empress with a reddened face, foaming at the mouth and wheezing with a death rattle. Ekaterina was carried into the bedroom and laid on the floor. She resisted death for about a day and a half, but did not come to her senses and died on the morning of November 6.
She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Thus ended the reign of Catherine II the Great, one of the most famous Russian women politicians.
Catherine composed the following epitaph for her future tombstone:
Catherine II is buried here. She arrived in Russia in 1744 to marry Peter III. At fourteen, she made a threefold decision: to please her husband, Elizabeth, and the people. She did not miss anything in order to achieve success in this respect. Eighteen years of boredom and loneliness led her to read many books. Having ascended the Russian throne, she made every effort to give her subjects happiness, freedom and material well-being. She forgave easily and hated no one. She was indulgent, loved life, had a cheerful disposition, was a true republican in her convictions and had a good heart. She had friends. The job was easy for her. She enjoyed secular entertainment and the arts.
