In the history of Russia, there are only two people, who are revered by Russians as the Emperor.
One was the greatest emperor in Russian history, the one who carried out Westernization reforms - Peter the Great.
The other was Catherine the Great.
Peter the Great
Catherine the Great
She was the only female emperor in Russian history.
She was honored by Russia as": "Wise and Great Emperor." ”
She is the woman that Russian President Vladimir Putin admires the most.
She ruled the vast Tsarist Russia for 34 years.
"If Russia wants to gain the respect of its own people and the countries around it, it must become a formidable and powerful state," she said. ”
During her reign, known as the "Golden Age of the Russian Aristocracy," the nobility was exempt from military service and taxes, and was granted the right to run factories and trade.
She was the first Russian monarch to seize Crimea from Turkey.
She defeated Turkey twice, divided Poland three times, and posterity commented on her: "She conquered the Crimean Tatars, she orchestrated the demise of the Polish state, she began the conquest of the Caucasus, she opened up territory for Russia in Central Asia, she annexed the Aleutian Islands, she approved Russia's first settlement in Alaska." ”
Tsarist Russia under her rule, spanning three continents of Europe, Asia and the United States, was the most powerful country in Europe at that time.
She was Catherine the Great.
First, Catherine
Catherine
Catherine's original name was Sophia. August.
Born in Prussia in 1729, she was the daughter of a fallen nobleman in the Prussian kingdom.
Her father was a general in the Prussian army and was made Duke of Anhalt for his distinguished military exploits.
Prussia
Mother Joanna. Elizabeth, a cousin of the King of Sweden, and Tsar's Empress Elizabeth Petrovna is also a cousin.
When she was a child, Catherine was lively and intelligent.
In her youth, Catherine inherited the temperament of her father as a soldier, very strong and courageous.
Young Catherine
2. Look for a princess
In 1743, the Russian Empress succeeded her 15-year-old nephew to her name as her future heir to the throne.
At the same time, it was planned to find a princess for the Russian prince.
King Frederick II of Prussia wanted to establish an alliance with the powerful Tsarist Russia, so he arranged for the best painters in the country to paint portraits of the country's aristocratic ladies of the right age, and then sent these portraits to the Russian empress for the Russian empress to choose.
Frederick II
The Russian Empress took a crush on the 14-year-old Catherine.
Third, ambitious
In 1744, at the invitation of the Russian Empress, Catherine arrived in Moscow with her mother and met Peter, the Russian prince.
Peter's first impression of Catherine was very bad.
Catherine wrote in her diary: "In the castle of Peter I, I met this pale, alcoholic, bad habit. ”
Prince Peter of Russia
Although Catherine had a very bad impression of Peter and did not like him at all, she was ambitious and wanted to become the crown princess of the powerful Tsarist Russia.
This is a strong woman who knows what she wants and is willing to give up love for power.
With a strong intention, Catherine settled in Russia.
Russia became Catherine's second home.
4. Be recognized
In order to become a Russian princess, Catherine asked the Russian Empress to find the best Russian teacher for her.
Later, she also changed her faith from Protestantism to Orthodox Christianity, the state religion of Russia.
Orthodox
She tried everything to move closer to Russia, from language to religion.
The position of princess of Russia, she is bound to win.
Catherine studied Russian very hard.
In the winter of more than -forty degrees, in order to keep her head clear, she opened the window and studied barefoot.
While her Russian language level improved by leaps and bounds, she developed pneumonia because of her long-term inhalation of cold air.
This time, she was so sick that she lay in bed and couldn't eat for ten days.
As Catherine was about to fall unconscious, Catherine's mother brought in a Protestant priest to pray for her.
Catherine was furious and adamantly refused to allow the Protestant priests to pray for her, instead asking the Orthodox priests to pray for her.
Catherine's mother could not help her, so she had to hire an Orthodox priest for her.
Catherine's mother believed that Catherine had betrayed Protestantism and betrayed her native Prussia.
Catherine's deeds, on the other hand, touched the Russian Empress, touched the Russian State Religion Orthodox Church, and touched the Russian upper nobility.
Eventually, under the prayers of the Orthodox priests, Catherine miraculously recovered.
After Catherine's recovery, the Russian court unanimously recognized Catherine's status as a Russian crown princess.
5. The Crown Princess
On 28 June 1744, the Russian Empress officia officiated in catherine's baptism to the Orthodox Church and gave catherine the name Catherine. Alexeievna.
Catherine. Alexeievna, which is the name of the Russian Empress Mother.
The Russian Empress gave her mother's name to Catherine, which is enough to show the Russian Empress's appreciation and importance to Catherine.
The day of the Orthodox baptism was the first time that Catherine appeared openly in the russian field of vision.
She spoke fluent Russian to the Russian nobility and amazed everyone.
The next day, the Russian Empress held a grand engagement ceremony for Peter and Catherine.
On August 21, 1745, Catherine and Peter held a grand wedding.
At the wedding, Peter was officially established as the heir to the Russian throne, and Catherine naturally became the Russian Crown Princess.
Catherine and her husband Peter
After many years of dreams, it was finally realized. Catherine felt like the happiest person in the world.
Sixth, lost to the maid
On the night of the wedding, Peter was very drunk.
Facing his newlywed wife, Peter did not show any joy or happiness.
Peter said to Catherine, "I don't like you at all, and I married you entirely by the Empress's orders and arrangements." ”
Catherine was stunned, like a winter of more than minus forty degrees, and was poured a whole bucket of cold water from head to toe, cold to the bone.
Peter continued, "I have someone I like, and I like the maid at the Queen's side. ”
Catherine suddenly felt like the sky was spinning, as if the sky had fallen.
Catherine wrote sadly in her diary: "Husband Peter did not like me, he fell in love with the queen's maid. ”
She actually lost to a maid, and Catherine, who had always been strong, felt very sad.
7. Dark marriage
Catherine's bleak married life began.
Because the two did not love each other at all, Catherine stayed alone in the empty house for five years.
During these five years, Catherine could only pass the time by reading, horseback hunting, masquerades and other social activities.
During this time, Catherine read a large number of books on philosophy, history, and law, and maintained close correspondence with Voltaire, Montesquieu and others.
Voltaire
Montesquieu
Reading and exchanging letters allowed Catherine to broaden her international horizons and embrace new and advanced enlightenment ideas.
Horseback hunting and masquerades allowed her to meet many Janissary officers and upper Russian nobles.
Eighth, hate to the bone
After five years of marriage, Peter and Catherine had been separated for a long time and therefore had no children.
This made the Russian Empress very anxious.
She said to Catherine angrily, "If you don't have another child, you'll go back to Prussia." ”
Catherine felt the crisis, felt threatened in her position as a princess.
In her ninth year of marriage, Catherine gave birth to her first son, Paul.
Paul's birth made the Russian Empress very happy.
In 1758, Catherine became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter, Anna.
At the court banquet, with the participation of the upper Russian nobles, Peter mocked Catherine in public: "The devil knows how she got pregnant?" ”
Catherine's husband Peter
This sentence completely angered Catherine and made Catherine hate Peter to the bone.
Catherine wrote in her diary: "Is it to coexist and die as a backup wife? Is it to wait for the abolition? Or proactive planning? ”
By this time Catherine had decided to get rid of her well-behaved husband Peter.
Catherine, while co-opting the upper Russian nobility and military officers, also used the British ambassador to Russia, Charles A. K. Williams, with the full support of the British and the Kingdom of Prussia.
IX. Intensification of contradictions
In 1761, the Russian Empress died, and Peter ascended the throne as Emperor of Russia, known in history as "Peter III".
Peter III
Peter III, who had been studying in Prussia since childhood, had a fondness for Prussia, but had no affection for Tsarist Russia, and could not even speak Russian.
Drinking and playing with dolls was his hobby, but he had no interest in governing the country.
At the beginning of his accession to the throne, Peter III, despite the objections of his ministers, returned to Prussia the prussian territory occupied by Russia through war for hundreds of years.
Peter III's traitorous behavior disappointed the Russian court and nobles.
Peter III's prestige and position were also shaken.
In 1762, Empress Catherine became pregnant again.
The birth of the child made Peter III furious, and the contradictions between husband and wife intensified to the peak.
Peter III ordered the Janissaries to imprison Catherine.
Faced with the imminent crisis of being abolished, Catherine decided to make a desperate bet and took the opportunity to launch a mutiny.
At the end of 1762, with the support of prime minister Razumowski, Duke Volkonsky, and emperor Panning, Catherine instigated a mutiny of the Palace Janissaries, captured Peter III, and forced Peter III to write an abdication edict to pass the throne to himself.
Eight days later, Peter III died.
The choice of the Russian people
Catherine ascended the throne, but doubts abounded.
The Russians generally believed that Catherine's throne was usurped.
So Catherine issued an edict saying, "Peter III's perverse behavior is a betrayal of Russia and a crime against Russia." I staged a mutiny because I was forced to stand in The interests of Russia. My ascension to the throne as emperor is also the choice of the Russian people. ”
Catherine's supporters were mainly the upper Russian nobility and the army.
11. A formidable power
Catherine, who ascended the throne as empress, began to exert great efforts to govern and enrich the country and strengthen the army.
Catherine II
Politically, Catherine actively co-opted the upper Russian nobility, increased the privileges of the nobility, and promulgated the "Royal Privilege Book of Nobles" to strengthen the power of the nobility throughout the country.
Militarily, Catherine reused The Officers of the Janissaries, expanded territory everywhere, and enforced the Russian state policy system in the conquered areas, rewarding officers and nobles, making officers and nobles a privileged class in Russia.
The Baltic Fleet was formed, and through two wars with Turkey, it seized the military stronghold of Crimea, controlled the Gulf of Azov, and expanded Russia's territorial reach to the northern shore of the Black Sea.
Capture Transcaucasia, defeat Sweden and enter the Balkans.
Culturally, Catherine not only built and developed the Russian Academy of Sciences, but also vigorously built schools, created Russia's first women's college, and encouraged aristocratic women to attend school.
In 1796, Catherine died of illness.
Before her death, Catherine said with regret: "If I can live to be 200 years old, then the whole of Europe will crawl under my feet." ”
Catherine's great achievements made Russia stronger and stronger, and was honored by the Russian people as "the Great".