Empress Catherine the Great ruled Russia for approximately thirty years from 1762 to 1796 when she died. She was known throughout the world as an unusual ruler, having taken over the throne after the brutal death of her husband Peter the third. There she was made Empress of all Russia, this was unusual because instead of being made regent for her son they circumnavigated the rules and she was made Empress Regnant. During her time on the throne she made many radical and life changing decisions. She was a voracious reader and writer, often helping to translate others works into Russian. She herself was inspired by Voltaire, Diderot, and Montesquieu. All of which culminated in her greatest work “Great Instruction”, which was the beginning of basically all her future endeavors. Catherine the Great was an enlightened ruler who tried to bring about a new way of life in Russia, by allowing certain freedoms and educating the public. Catherine the Great was able to gain the loyalty of …show more content…
After it’s publication in 1667 it was read aloud in public every month from cover to cover, thus they were subjected to a flood of unheard of ideas from their Empress. 6 Some of the more radical statements within the Instruction were her comparing Russia to European power. 7 Meaning that she was comparing Russia in all ways to that of other European countries, such as Britain, France, and Spain. Catherine tried to make this true by making what she thought of as “Enlightened” reforms. One of which was to say that “the innocent ought not to be tortured; and in the eye of the law every person is innocent whose crime is not yet proved”.6 Those were just two of a number of statements made within the Great Instruction, which made way for a whole new slew of ideas and
The French revolution is notably the start of the creation of modern Europe. Within this revolution, the country experienced a drastic change in power and in government. Along with the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon, played a huge role in the changes in Europe economy. Under napoleons rule and conquest, similar to the French revolution, citizens experienced great depression, debt, and confusion. Similar to the American Revolution, the French revolution was influenced by enlightenment ideas particularly the concepts of popular sovereignty and inalienable rights.
In The Reforming Tsar: The Redefinition of Autocratic Duty in Eighteenth Century Russia, Cynthia Whittaker argues that depending on the historical, cultural and contextual period, there can be demarcated two types, both distinctive and contrasting, of Russian sovereigns, namely the “good tsar” and the “reforming tsar”. The scholar juxtaposes the two models of monarchs against the backdrop of “medieval” versus “modern” type of governance. According to it the “good tsar” typology, which is typical for the earlier Muscovy realm, defines the ruler as pious and inert, characterized by its liturgical form and static nature of the rule. The “good tsar” is bound to uphold Orthodoxy, preserve and control public order, help the poor and the underdogs
Thomas Paine originally came from Thetford, United Kingdom, born into a Quaker family. Paine received little formal education from Thetford Grammar School in the years 1744 to 1749, but learned standards for an educational foundation such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. In his youth, he worked alongside his father as a stay maker and “later worked as an officer of the excise, hunting smugglers, and collecting liquor and tobacco taxes” (Biography). Unfortunately, Paine was unsuccessful in his work attempts despite holding multiple jobs while living in England. After his termination as an excise officer, he met Benjamin Franklin who convinced Paine to move to America and provided him with letters detailing life in the new nation.
34. Catherine the Great of Russia did what? built a strong alliance with the nobility
Catherine read some philosophes’ works and exchanged many letters with Voltaire. She made a command to review Russia's’ laws in 1767 and based on the ideas of Montesquieu and Beccaria she had a few goals which sadly never were accomplished. Some
Eloquent, brilliant, unorthodox, poise, and loyal – all of these unique characteristics allowed Dashkova to gain the highest regard among the members of the elite society and more importantly, to earn the respect of Catherine the Great. Dashkova is a peculiar female character. She’s fully narcissistic, but at the same time, rejects her recognition and claims herself as unworthy of the credits Catherine II had given her. In her autobiography The Memoirs of Princess Dashkova, Dashkova justifies her role as a noble woman, her early-life contribution in helping Catherine rise to the throne, and the frugal life she bore as a widow and a mother of two. Dashkova voiced her significance in a society where
Catherine the Great was an amazing ruler and because of the changes that she made and the opportunities that she made available, she also made Russia great. Although she was a strict ruler, she did it for the good of her
The woman who was to become Catherine the Great was born Sophie Augusta Fredericka. During her teen years Sophie blossomed into a beautiful young woman and had excellent health. She later went on to marry Peter III the future emperor and grandson of Peter the Great. During her reign as empress Catherine encountered many conflicts, which she surpassed so successfully that even now so many years after her death she is still remembered. Even though she was known to have many lovers during her lifetime and had three illegitimate children two of who survived, her strong spirit, willingness to make Russia a better place, and her political victories made her one of the greatest empress ever.
Although most absolute monarchs were mentioned more negatively, Catherine the Great improved many things that helped Russia. She modernized Russia. She
Yekaterina: Russia’s Golden Empress From a small German principality to the very forefront of European politics, and from Sophie Friederike of Anhalt-Zerbst to Empress Yekaterina Alekseyevna, Catherine the Great became one of Russia’s most influential rulers in history. She is regarded as one of the most powerful women the world has ever seen (Massie, 2011). Marked by political, societal, and cultural reforms, her reign, proclaimed the Catherinian Age and the golden age of the Russian Empire, changed the country irrevocably. Catherine’s development of Enlightenment values, along with her relationships with the French philosophes greatly impacted how she ruled (Lambirth, 2012).
She also expanded Russia's empire while reducing the clergy's power and maintaining foreign relations. As a lover of arts and education Catherine established the Smolny institute. She was regarded as "Great" for the vast land she acquired during her rule. She and her descendants expanded Russia their absolutists agenda along with the land. The Russian Revolution occurring decades after Catherine the Great's rule, was the most significant event of the twentieth century (History.com, Catherine).
One of the most interesting, hard-working and powerful people to grace the pages of history during the eighteenth century was Catherine II, Empress of Russia. Historians have not always been so kind to her memory, and all too often one reads accounts of her private life, ignoring her many achievements. The stories of her love affairs have been overly misinterpreted and can be traced to a handful of French writers in the years immediately after Catherine's death, when Republican France was fighting for its life against a coalition that included Russia.
Catherine the Great was the German wife of Peter III. She corresponded actively with Voltaire and other prominent eighteenth-century thinkers, and paid lip service to their liberal ideas; but she did little to reform or modernize Russia. She introduced such western ideas as pleased her, at the same time increasing Russian autocracy and military power. In addition, she extended Russia's boundaries southward and westward. Catherine joined with Austria and Prussia in three partitions that completely eliminated independent Poland.
During the 16th through 18th centuries, European civilization experienced big changes to its social, political, and economic structures. A break from the Middle Ages began during the Scientific Revolution when respected thinkers of the time began to explore new possibilities, such as the likelihood of a sun-centered universe instead of an earth-centered one. The Enlightenment was an intellectual and cultural movement that pointed out the danger of unchecked authority and concentrated on values of law, reason, humanity, and religious toleration. The French Revolution represented a broad wave of political changes and democratic ideas that splashed France, and subsequently, all of Europe. The Industrial Revolution changed the way people lived
Enlightenment ideas of the 1700th inspired the third estate to revolt against absolute authority and the social class system of the Old Regime. The third estate were the lower class citizens who made up nearly ninety-seven percent of the French population during the time, most of which are discontent with their living conditions. They began to question the social structure with ideas from philosophers such as Rousseau and Voltaire. The citizens were especially influenced by the Enlightenment ideals of equality, democracy, and liberty. Using logic and reason, most of the third estate believed that people are naturally born equal and that they should not be subordinate to anyone in society. In addition, the Enlightenment also emphasized