When it comes to female emperors, many people will think of Wu Zetian, and abroad, there is also such a female emperor, she is the only empress in Russia known as the "female emperor", and even the same name as Peter the Great. During her reign, she pushed Russia to its peak, and she also said that if she lived to be two hundred years old, Europe would crawl at her feet. Such bold words are something that many people will not even think about. And it is such a female emperor, with countless lovers, she also did not hesitate to poison her husband in order to seize her husband's power. Who is this "female emperor"? How could she become the only female emperor of Russia?
Princesses with a difference
This female emperor was Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great. She was born in 1729 to a declining aristocratic family and was a purebred German. Her parents named her Sophia Augustus, and soon her father was made duke and given a fief of a small German principality, and she was also known as "Princess Sophia".
Although he was born into an aristocrat and became a princess, his family was not as wealthy as most nobles, but his life was better than that of ordinary people.
As a princess, she is not as dignified and elegant as other princesses, but more lively and cute, cheerful and active. Her mother thought she was too naughty and often restrained her, educating her very harshly to become a quiet and elegant princess.
However, Sophia often sneaked out and played with other friends, and there was no princess shelf at all, and she was more naughty than the average noble lady. She is like the big heroine in novels and film and television dramas, she has been different since she was a child, and she must not be an ordinary person in the future.
Princess Sophia loved to read, especially Montesquieu's books, which made her think more advanced than ordinary people. She also wrote to Montesquieu, but Montesquieu did not expect that Montesquieu would return the letter to her, and they kept the correspondence in this way. Unique and outstanding, she is also destined to be very different from ordinary aristocratic ladies.
However, Sophia also has the same point as other noble ladies, that is, intermarriage with other nobles, and the marriage of the door is also her fate. Because of this so-called fate, she also lost the freedom and innocence of the past.
Become the fiancée of the heir to the throne
In 1742, her cousin Karl Peter Ulrich was chosen by Empress Elizabeth as the heir to the throne, and Peter's family once turned the reins, and many noble ladies also hoped to be favored by Peter. As Peter's relative, Sophia's family also began to usher in glory, and most of the people who came to their house came from the royal family.
Sophia's father intends to marry her cousin Peter, and if she can marry the royal heir, it will be a supreme honor for their family. His decision was also supported by many people, the most supportive of which was Frederick II, the king of Prussia, who actually favored Sophia, although she was only 13 years old at the time.
Frederick II also had correspondence with Sophia, and he asked Sophia's mother to take her to Berlin to meet the princess. He was looking forward to meeting her, waiting left and right, and finally waiting for her.
She was beautiful and bright, generous, and a little different, and Frederick II admired and was very satisfied, so he asked the best painter to paint a portrait of Sophia. He thought that Sophia could become the empress of Russia, so he sent the painting to St. Petersburg overnight and presented it to Elizabeth.
The choice of the princess is also not sloppy, Elizabeth and her royal family discussed for a long time, among many girls, finally chose Sophia, because marriage with the Sophia family is conducive to the development of the royal family. However, before deciding on a candidate, Elizabeth and the royal family still need to meet Sophia.
So, 15-year-old Sophia followed her mother to the palace. At that time, the road was far away, they set off in January, the weather was very cold, they were bumpy all the way, and even camped out in the wind, staying in the farmer's house many times on the way, and almost fell ill. But after a long journey, they finally arrived in Moscow.
On February 9, 1744, they entered the palace, where Elizabeth and Peter welcomed them warmly, and Elizabeth had a good impression of Sophia.
After settling down in Russia, Sophia studied Russian and Orthodox etiquette assiduously, comparing her former lively and mischievous counterparts. She used to read in her room, and sometimes at night the attendants were already asleep, but the lights in her room were still on.
The room was warm, and she practiced etiquette or read barefoot in the room, but the Russian winter was harsh, and she fell ill and suffered from pneumonia. For half a month, she had a high fever and was always in a coma, occasionally waking up.
Everyone thought that Sophia was going to die, and even some people had begun to arrange things for her, and her mother had also found a priest to pray for her, but she asked her mother to invite the priest teacher who taught her Orthodox etiquette, and when the news reached the court, they had more affection for Sophia. A month later, Sophia did not die of illness, but miraculously recovered. The marriage between the royal family and Sophia was finally determined.
In June 1744, Sophia was baptized in the Orthodox Church and renamed Ekaterina Alexeyevna, meaning pure and immaculate. And she also spoke Russian very standardly, and when she talked to people, she answered fluently, and she once again won the favor of others.
Sophia is about to enter her marriage, but this marriage is gray.
The unfortunate marriage led to her ushering in the "lover regime"
She became the fiancée of Peter III, which was undoubtedly a great joy for the family, and she herself greeted her fiancé with expectations. On the day of the meeting with Empress Elizabeth, Peter was polite and should have been a good husband. But soon, her illusions were shattered.
After some time of contact, Peter confessed to her that he had fallen in love with someone else, and although he was the maid of Empress Elizabeth, he liked it from the bottom of his heart. He could not deceive his heart, nor could he develop love for Catherine.
In 1745, the wedding ceremony came as promised, and Catherine knew that Peter did not like her, but under pressure from the empress and the family, she married the man who would never love her.
They were blessed, but only she herself knew her suffering, and from now on she would be like a widow, while Peter could spend her days with her lover. So after five years of marriage, Catherine was still a girl.
In order to pass the time and maintain her position, she not only had to take care of Empress Elizabeth, but also read a lot of books, dabbling in politics, economics, law, history, philosophy and so on. She also became friends with celebrities such as Voltaire.
Elizabeth was very satisfied with her, and seeing Peter who did not learn any skills gave her a headache, so she hoped that Catherine would give birth to an heir soon. This was undoubtedly a difficult thing for her not to be favored by Peter, and she had a lover at that time.
In the face of her husband's disregard, she could not bear the loneliness and desire, so she had her first lover, Chernesov. However, their relationship was short-lived, and after ending the relationship, Catherine met another person.
At that time, there was a recognized beautiful man in Russia, named Saltkov, but he was also favored by Empress Elizabeth, and finally he chose the younger Catherine, but then Elizabeth became suspicious of him, and he feared that it would lead to murder, so he immediately took refuge in the countryside.
After that, she had many lovers, including officers, the sons of ministers, nobles, etc., and they also brought many benefits to Catherine's political status, some military power, political support, etc. According to research, before her death, there were 23 lovers around her, and the youngest was 38 years old with her. And Catherine's son Paul and daughter Anna, according to legend, are not Peter's, but Paul and Peter are like a mold carved out, whether it is true or not, no one can say clearly. However, his daughter Anna, Peter, has publicly stated that he does not know who she was born to, and his attitude towards her has become increasingly unreasonable.
Catherine became more and more intolerable, and there were only three ways to go forward: one was to be Peter's nominal wife, endure everything, and die of the most regrets; second, she was deposed and sent to the monastery for a life of loneliness; third, she was in full control of her own life.
Staged a coup d'état and became a female emperor
In 1754, Catherine gave birth to her son Paul, her first child in nine years of marriage, and Empress Elizabeth, who held him so dear, took him away from Catherine and raised him as the next generation of heirs. Poor Catherine, on the other hand, was left unattended, and all eyes were on Paul, and they all seemed to have forgotten her, while she lay on the delivery bed for three hours, and finally endured the pain and walked back to her bed alone. It is no wonder that she would later seize power and put it on anyone and accept such treatment.
Catherine also finally understood that she was only a reproductive tool for the royal family, and no one cared about her life or death. She suddenly woke up and began to win over some ministers and regain people's hearts.
In 1758, Catherine's daughter Anna was born, but Peter publicly humiliated her, claiming that she did not know which wild man she had given birth to, which made her feel a deep insult. And when her daughter died tragically, only anger and resentment remained in her heart.
On 5 January 1762, Empress Elizabeth died of illness and Peter III officially took power. The death of the Empress also made Peter and Catherine no longer play husband and wife dramas like before.
Soon after taking the throne, Peter III set a fire in the palace to end Catherine's life, when she had a child in her belly. Fortunately, she did not deserve to die, escaped from death, and successfully saved herself and the fetus in her abdomen.
In April, she gave birth to a son, of course, to the father of which was not Peter III, but Orlov, who was an officer. When Peter III heard about it, he ordered Catherine's arrest, but his men persuaded her, believing that this was not the time to tear her face. But Peter III publicly insulted her at the celebration, and the relationship between the two became even worse.
Peter III defeated Prussia in the Seven Years' War in Russia, but he was not a qualified king, at least for Russia. After the defeat of Prussia, Peter III returned all the territory of the other side and did not ask for reparations, which was a good thing for Prussia, but in Russia, his decision caused public outrage.
Moreover, Peter III tried to change orthodoxy to Lutheranism. As we all know, changing a religion in a hurry will set off a storm in the country, and his decision to do so is undoubtedly to seek his own death.
He gradually lost the hearts of the people, but Catherine has been recovering people's hearts and consolidating her power.
At the end of June, Catherine finally staged a palace coup d'état, overthrowing Peter III and imprisoning him, and she ascended the throne as Catherine II.
Later, Peter III died of illness, although some people speculated that it was Catherine's hand, but it has not been verified.
A female emperor who strives to rule
After taking power, Catherine faced the mess left by Peter III. The financial and military aspects are on the verge of bankruptcy, and Russia still owes foreign debt.
To this end, Catherine proposed a series of governance goals, carried out reforms, vigorously promoted agriculture and commerce, promoted the prosperity of commerce and trade, and increased the revenue of the national treasury. However, her consolidated slave system made the slaves more painful and intensified the contradiction between the nobles and slaves.
She had also established many schools to make education accessible to more people, and in order to encourage women to attend school, she had also opened girls' schools, which had also contributed to the development of education in Russia.
In order to fill the treasury, she encouraged the development of industry and commerce, and suppressed overdeveloped religions, transferring religious property to the state.
Of course, the empress was not only satisfied with the development of the country, she also vigorously expanded the territory, fought everywhere, and divided Poland many times, making Poland a vassal state of Russia. The Russian army invaded Turkey on the pretext of hunting down polish anti-Russian forces, defeated it, and opened the Mouth of the Black Sea, which was also one thing that Peter the Great had always wanted to open, but never succeeded.
During Catherine's 34 years of rule in Russia, she fought many foreign wars, expanding its land area by 790,000 square kilometers, making Russian power throughout Europe daunting. Catherine also frequently intervened in Europe, calling it "mediation", which proved that Russia was the most powerful country in Europe at that time.
At that time, many people died of smallpox diseases, and Catherine authorized the introduction of vaccines to vaccinate the people, which also greatly reduced the mortality rate of the Russians at that time.
In addition to slaves, the Russian people praised the wise rule of the empress, and her merits enabled the people to live a rich life, and the overall national strength of Russia was also greatly enhanced, and it became stronger, so she was awarded the title of "Great Emperor" and became the only female emperor in Russian history.
On November 6, 1796, the female emperor also completed her life. And she is also like Wu Zetian in the history of the mainland, merit is right and wrong, and future generations talk about it at will.
From the lady of the fallen nobles to the wise and divine female emperor, she has had sorrow and pain, but she has never given up. Although her life is also controversial, her success is unquestionable.