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Catherine II.F.Rokotov

Facts about the life and reign of one of the most powerful, glorious and controversial monarchs of the Russian Empire, Empress Catherine II

1. During the reign of Catherine the Great from 1762 to 1796, the possessions of the empire expanded significantly. Of the 50 provinces, 11 were acquired during the years of her reign. The amount of state revenues increased from 16 to 68 million rubles. 144 new cities were built (more than 4 cities per year throughout the reign). The army almost doubled, the number of ships of the Russian fleet increased from 20 to 67 battleships, not counting other ships. The army and navy scored 78 brilliant victories, which strengthened Russia's international prestige.

Palace embankment

Access to the Black and Azov Seas was won, Crimea, Ukraine (except for the Lvov region), Belarus, Eastern Poland, and Kabarda were annexed. The annexation of Georgia to Russia began.

At the same time, during her reign, only one execution was carried out - the leader of the peasant uprising, Emelyan Pugachev.

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  F. Rokotov

2. The daily routine of the Empress was far from the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe inhabitants of the royal life. Her day was scheduled by the hour, and its routine remained unchanged throughout her reign. Only the time of sleep changed: if in her mature years Catherine got up at 5, then closer to old age - at 6, and by the end of her life even at 7 in the morning. After breakfast, the empress received high-ranking officials and secretaries of state. The days and hours of reception of each official were constant. The working day ended at four o'clock, and it was time for rest. The hours of work and rest, breakfast, lunch and dinner were also constant. At 10 or 11 pm Catherine finished the day and went to bed.



3. Every day, 90 rubles were spent on the food of the Empress (for comparison: the salary of a soldier during the reign of Catherine was only 7 rubles a year). Boiled beef with pickles was a favorite dish, and currant juice was used as a drink. For dessert, preference was given to apples and cherries.



4. After dinner, the empress took up needlework, and Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy at that time read aloud to her. Ekaterina "masterfully sewed on canvas", knitted on knitting needles. Having finished reading, she moved to the Hermitage, where she sharpened from bone, wood, amber, engraved, played billiards.

View of the Winter Palace

5. Catherine was indifferent to fashion. She did not notice her, and sometimes quite deliberately ignored her. On weekdays, the Empress wore a simple dress and did not wear jewelry.



D. Levitsky

6. By her own admission, she did not have a creative mind, but she wrote plays, and even sent some of them to Voltaire for "reviewing".



7. Catherine came up with a special suit for the six-month-old Tsarevich Alexander, the pattern of which was asked from her by the Prussian prince and the Swedish king for their own children. And for her beloved subjects, the empress invented the cut of the Russian dress, which they were forced to wear at her court.



Accession of Catherine II to the throne.F.Fontebasso.1762

8. People who knew Catherine closely note her attractive appearance not only in her youth, but also in her mature years, her exceptionally friendly appearance, ease of handling. Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, who was first introduced to her with her husband in Tsarskoye Selo at the end of August 1781, described Catherine as follows: "a very attractive woman with lovely expressive eyes and an intelligent look"

View of the Fontanka

9. Catherine was aware that men liked her and she herself was not indifferent to their beauty and masculinity. "I received from nature a great sensitivity and appearance, if not beautiful, then at least attractive. I liked it from the first time and did not use any art and embellishment for this."

I. Fayzullin. Ekaterina's visit to Kazan

10. The Empress was quick-tempered, but knew how to control herself, and never made decisions in a fit of anger. She was very polite even with the servants, no one heard a rude word from her, she did not order, but asked to fulfill her will. Her rule, according to the testimony of Count Segur, was "to praise aloud, and to scold on the sly."

Catherine on the balcony of the Winter Palace, welcomed by the guards and the people on the day of the coup, June 28, 1762. Kestner



Oath of the Izmailovsky Regiment to Catherine II




Catherine's procession along the Peterhof road on the day of the palace coup on June 28, 1762

11. Rules hung on the walls of the ballrooms under Catherine II: it was forbidden to stand in front of the empress, even if she approached the guest and spoke to him while standing. It was forbidden to be in a gloomy frame of mind, insult each other." And on the shield at the entrance to the Hermitage there was an inscription: "The mistress of these places does not tolerate coercion."

scepter

12. Thomas Dimsdale, an English physician was called from London to introduce smallpox inoculation into Russia. Knowing about the resistance of society to innovation, Empress Catherine II decided to set a personal example and became one of the first patients of Dimsdale. In 1768, an Englishman vaccinated her and Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich with smallpox. The recovery of the Empress and her son was a significant event in the life of the Russian court.



Johann the Elder Lampi

13. The Empress was a heavy smoker. The cunning Ekaterina, not wanting her snow-white gloves to be saturated with a yellow nicotine coating, ordered to wrap the tip of each cigar with a ribbon of expensive silk.

Coronation of Catherine II

14. The Empress read and wrote in German, French and Russian, but made many mistakes. Catherine was aware of this and once confessed to one of her secretaries that "she could only learn Russian from books without a teacher," since "Aunt Elizaveta Petrovna told my chamberlain: teach her enough, she's already smart." As a result, she made four mistakes in a three-letter word: instead of "more", she wrote "ischo".

Portrait of Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna.I.Argunov.1762

15. Long before her death, Catherine composed an epitaph for her future tombstone: “Here lies Catherine the Second. She arrived in Russia in 1744 to marry Peter III. At the age of fourteen, she made a threefold decision: to please her husband, Elizabeth and the people She missed nothing to succeed in this respect Eighteen years of boredom and loneliness led her to read many books.

Inauguration of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Jacobi

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."

Exit of the Empress. A. N. Benois

Gallery of portraits of Empress Catherine II the Great



Artist Antoine Pen. Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of Catherine II

Father, Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, came from the Zerbst-Dorneburg line of the House of Anhalt and was in the service of the Prussian king, was a regimental commander, commandant, then governor of the city of Stettin, where the future empress was born, ran for the Dukes of Courland, but unsuccessfully , finished his service as a Prussian field marshal.



Artist Antoine Pen. Johanna Elisabeth of Anhalt of Zerbst, mother of Catherine II

Mother - Johanna Elizabeth, from the Gottorp ruling house, was the cousin of the future Peter III. The family tree of Johann Elisabeth goes back to Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the first Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and the founder of the Oldenburg dynasty.

Grotto Georg-Christoph (Grooth, Groot).1748



shetty castle



Grotto. PORTRAIT OF GRAND DUKE PETER FYODOROVICH AND GRAND DUCHESS EKATERINA ALEXEEVNA.1760s.

Pietro Antonio Rotari.1760,1761




V. Eriksen. Equestrian portrait of Catherine the Great



Eriksen, Vigilius.1762

"Presenting a letter to Catherine II", based on the plot of the story "The Captain's Daughter", I. O. Miodushevsky

Eriksen.Catherine II at the mirror.1762

Ivan Argunov.1762

V.Eriksen.1782

Eriksen. Coronation portrait



Eriksen.Catherine II at the mirror.1779



Eriksen.1780

Lampi Johann-Batis.1794

R. Brompton. 1782

The allegory is dedicated to Catherine's trip to the Crimea after its annexation to Russia. 1783

D.Levitsky.1782

P.D. Levitsky. Portrait of Catherine II .1783

Alexey Antropov

Empress visiting M. Lomonosov. I. Fedorov

Portrait of Empress Catherine II in a traveling suit.SHIBANOV Mikhail. 1780

V.Borovikovsky.Catherine IIfor a walk in Tsarskoye Selo park.1794

Portrait of Catherine II. A. Roslin

Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich.Portrait of Catherine II

Allegory for the victory of Catherine II over the Turks and Tatars. S. Torelli

Favorites of Catherine II

Grigory Potemkin

Perhaps the most important among the favorites, who did not lose his influence even after Catherine began to pay attention to others. He earned the attention of the empress even during the palace coup. She singled him out among other employees of the Horse Guards Regiment, he immediately became a chamber junker at court with a corresponding salary and a gift in the form of 400 peasant souls.Grigory Potemkin is one of the few lovers of Catherine II, who not only pleased her personally, but also did a lot of good for the country. Not only the “Potemkin villages” were built by him. It was thanks to Potemkin that the active development of Novorossia and the Crimea began. Although his actions were partly the reason for the start of the Russian-Turkish war, it ended with another victory for Russian weapons. In 1776, Potemkin ceases to be a favorite, but remains a man whose advice Catherine II listened to until his death. Including, in the choice of new favorites.

Grigory Potemkin and Elizaveta Temkina, daughter of the Most Serene Prince and Russian Empress

J. de Velli. Portrait of Counts G. G. and A. G. Orlovs

Grigory Orlov

Grigory Orlov grew up in Moscow, but exemplary service, distinction in the Seven Years' War contributed to his transfer to the capital, St. Petersburg. There he received the fame of a swashbuckler and "Don Juan". Tall, stately, handsome - the young wife of the future emperor, Ekaterina Alekseevna, simply could not help but pay attention to him.His appointment as treasurer of the Office of the Main Artillery and Fortification allowed Catherine to use public money to organize a palace coup.Although he was not a major statesman, sometimes he fulfilled the delicate requests of the Empress herself. Thus, according to one version, together with his brother Orlov, he killed the lawful husband of Catherine II, the deposed Emperor Peter III.

Stanislav August Poniatowski

Known for his graceful manners, Stanisław August Poniatowski, an ancient Polish aristocrat, first met Catherine in 1756. He lived in London for many years and ended up in St. Petersburg as part of the British diplomatic mission. Poniatowski was not an official favorite, but he was still considered the lover of the Empress, which gave him weight in society. With the warm support of Catherine II, Poniatowski became the king of Poland. It is possible that Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, recognized by Peter III, is actually the daughter of Catherine and a handsome Polish man. Peter III complained: “God knows where my wife gets pregnant from; I don’t know for sure whether this child is mine and whether I should recognize him as mine. ”

Petr Zavadovsky

This time, Catherine was attracted by Zavadovsky, a representative of a well-known Cossack family. He was brought to court by Count Pyotr Rumyantsev, a favorite of another empress, Elizaveta Petrovna. A charming man with a pleasant character, Catherine II was once again struck to the very heart. In addition, she found him "quieter and more peaceful" than Potemkin.In 1775 he was appointed cabinet secretary. Zavadovsky received the rank of major general, 4 thousand peasant souls. He even settled in the palace. Such an approach to the empress alarmed Potemkin, and as a result of palace intrigues, Zavadovsky was removed - he left for his estate. Despite this, he remained faithful to her and passionately loved her for a long time, marrying only 10 years later. In 1780, he was recalled by the empress back to St. Petersburg, where he held high administrative positions, including becoming the first minister of public education.

Platon Zubov

Platon Zubov began his journey to Catherine with a service in the Semyonovsky regiment. Enjoyed the patronage of Count Nikolai Saltykov, educator of the grandchildren of the Empress. Zubov began to command the horse guards, who went to Tsarskoe Selo to carry guards. On June 21, 1789, with the help of the lady of state Anna Naryshkina, he received an audience with Catherine II and since then spent almost every evening with her. Just a few days later he was promoted to colonel and settled in the palace. At court, he was coldly received, but Catherine II was crazy about him. After the death of Potemkin, Zubov plays an increasingly important role, and Catherine did not have time to be disappointed in him - she died in 1796. Thus, he became the last favorite of the Empress. Later, he will take an active part in a conspiracy against Emperor Paul I, as a result of which he was killed, and Zubov's friend Alexander I became the head of state. Guglielmi, Gregorio. Apotheosis of the reign of Catherine II .1767

At birth, the girl was given the name Sophia Frederica Augusta. Her father, Christian August, was the prince of the small German principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, but he won fame for his achievements in the military field. The mother of the future Catherine, Princess of Holstein-Gottorp Johanna Elizabeth, cared little about raising her daughter. And because the girl was raised by a governess.

Catherine was educated by tutors, and, among them, a chaplain who gave the girl religious lessons. However, the girl had her own point of view on many questions. She also mastered three languages: German, French and Russian.

Entry into the royal family of Russia

In 1744, the girl goes with her mother to Russia. The German princess becomes engaged to Grand Duke Peter and converts to Orthodoxy, receiving the name Catherine at baptism.

August 21, 1745 Catherine marries the heir to the throne of Russia, becoming a princess. However, family life was far from happy.

After long childless years, Catherine II finally gave birth to an heir. Her son Pavel was born on September 20, 1754. And then heated debate flared up about who really is the boy's father. Be that as it may, Catherine hardly saw her first-born: shortly after birth, Empress Elizabeth takes the child to be raised.

Seizure of the throne

On December 25, 1761, after the death of Empress Elizabeth, Peter III ascended the throne, and Catherine became the wife of the emperor. However, it has little to do with state affairs. Peter and his wife were frankly cruel. Soon, due to the stubborn support he provided to Prussia, Peter becomes a stranger to many court, secular and military officials. The founder of what today we call progressive internal state reforms, Peter also quarreled with the Orthodox Church, taking away church lands. And now, six months later, Peter was deposed from the throne as a result of a conspiracy that Catherine entered into with her lover, Russian lieutenant Grigory Orlov, and a number of other persons, in order to seize power. She successfully manages to force her husband to abdicate and take control of the empire into her own hands. A few days after the abdication, in one of his estates, in Ropsha, Peter was strangled. What role Catherine played in the murder of her husband is unclear to this day.

Fearing herself to be thrown off by the opposing forces, Catherine is trying with all her might to win the favor of the troops and the church. She recalls the troops sent by Peter to the war against Denmark and in every possible way encourages and gives gifts to those who go over to her side. She even compares herself to Peter the Great, whom she reveres, declaring that she is following in his footsteps.

Governing body

Despite the fact that Catherine is a supporter of absolutism, she still makes a number of attempts to carry out social and political reforms. She publishes a document, the "Order", in which she proposes to abolish the death penalty and torture, and also proclaims the equality of all people. However, the Senate resolutely refuses any attempts to change the feudal system.

After finishing work on the "Order", in 1767, Catherine convenes representatives of various social and economic strata of the population to form the Legislative Commission. The commission did not leave a legislative body, but its convocation went down in history as the first time that representatives of the Russian people from all over the empire had the opportunity to express their ideas about the needs and problems of the country.

Later, in 1785, Catherine issues the Charter of the Nobility, in which she radically changes politics and challenges the power of the upper classes, in which most of the masses are under the yoke of serfdom.

Catherine, a religious skeptic by nature, seeks to subjugate the Orthodox Church to her power. At the beginning of her reign, she returned land and property to the church, but soon changed her views. The empress declares the church a part of the state, and therefore all her possessions, including more than a million serfs, become the property of the empire and are subject to taxes.

Foreign policy

During her reign, Catherine expands the borders of the Russian Empire. She makes significant acquisitions in Poland, having previously seated her former lover, the Polish prince Stanislaw Poniatowski, on the throne of the kingdom. Under the agreement of 1772, Catherine gives part of the lands of the Commonwealth to Prussia and Austria, while the eastern part of the kingdom, where many Russian Orthodox live, goes to the Russian Empire.

But such actions cause extreme disapproval of Turkey. In 1774, Catherine makes peace with the Ottoman Empire, according to which the Russian state receives new lands and access to the Black Sea. One of the heroes of the Russian-Turkish war was Grigory Potemkin, a reliable adviser and lover of Catherine.

Potemkin, a loyal supporter of the policy of the empress, himself proved himself to be an outstanding statesman. It was he, in 1783, who convinced Catherine to annex the Crimea to the empire, thereby strengthening her position on the Black Sea.

Love for education and art

At the time of Catherine's accession to the throne, Russia for Europe was a backward and provincial state. The Empress is trying with all her might to change this opinion, expanding the possibilities for new ideas in education and the arts. In St. Petersburg, she establishes a boarding school for girls of noble birth, and later free schools open in all cities of Russia.

Catherine patronizes many cultural projects. She is gaining fame as an ardent collector of art, and most of her collection is exhibited in her residence in St. Petersburg, in the Hermitage.

Catherine, passionately fond of literature, is especially favorable to the philosophers and writers of the Enlightenment. Endowed with literary talent, the empress describes her own life in a collection of memoirs.

Personal life

The love life of Catherine II became the subject of many gossip and false facts. The myths about her insatiability have been debunked, but this royal person really had many love affairs in her life. She could not remarry, because marriage could shake her position, and therefore in society she had to wear a mask of chastity. But, far from prying eyes, Catherine showed a remarkable interest in men.

End of reign

By 1796, Catherine had absolute power in the empire for several decades. And in the last years of her reign, she showed all the same vivacity of mind and strength of spirit. But in mid-November 1796, she was found unconscious on the bathroom floor. At that time, everyone came to the conclusion that she had a stroke.

The great Russian Empress Catherine II survived until the next night, but she never regained consciousness. November 17, 1796 she died. Her son, Pavel, ordered to put the remains of his father next to her coffin, arranging a funeral for Peter III, which he was not awarded after the murder. Catherine II and Peter III are buried in the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul.

Catherine II made a significant contribution to the development of the Russian Empire, carrying out educational reforms and encouraging the development of the arts. During her reign, she expanded the borders of the state with the help of the military power of the empire and her own diplomatic talent.

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A foreigner by birth, she sincerely loved Russia and cared about the welfare of her subjects. Having taken the throne through a palace coup, the wife of Peter III tried to bring the best ideas of the European Enlightenment to life in Russian society. At the same time, Catherine opposed the beginning of the Great French Revolution (1789-1799), outraged by the execution of the French king Louis XVI Bourbon (January 21, 1793) and foreshadowing Russia's participation in the anti-French coalition of European states at the beginning of the 19th century.

Catherine II Alekseevna (nee Sophia Augusta Frederick, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst) was born on May 2, 1729 in the German city of Stettin (modern territory of Poland), and died on November 17, 1796 in St. Petersburg.

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, the course of which, in addition to dancing and foreign languages, also included the basics of history, geography and theology.

In 1744, together with her mother, she was invited to Russia by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, and baptized according to Orthodox tradition under the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. Soon her engagement to Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (the future Emperor Peter III) was announced, and in 1745 they were married.

Catherine understood that the court loved Elizabeth, did not accept many of the oddities of the heir to the throne, and, perhaps, after the death of Elizabeth, it was she who, with the support of the court, would ascend the Russian throne. Catherine studied the works of the French Enlightenment, as well as jurisprudence, which had a significant impact on her worldview. In addition, she made as much effort as possible to study and, perhaps, understand the history and traditions of the Russian state. Because of her desire to know everything Russian, Catherine won the love of not only the court, but the whole of St. Petersburg.

After the death of Elizaveta Petrovna, Catherine's relationship with her husband, never characterized by warmth and understanding, continued to deteriorate, taking on clearly hostile forms. Fearing arrest, Catherine, with the support of the Orlov brothers, N.I. Panin, K.G. Razumovsky, E.R. Dashkova on the night of June 28, 1762, when the emperor was in Oranienbaum, made a palace coup. Peter III was exiled to Ropsha, where he soon died under mysterious circumstances.

Starting her reign, Catherine tried to implement the ideas of the Enlightenment and arrange the state in accordance with the ideals of this most powerful European intellectual movement. Almost from the first days of her reign, she has been actively involved in public affairs, proposing reforms that are significant for society. On her initiative, in 1763, the Senate was reformed, which significantly increased the efficiency of its work. Wishing to strengthen the dependence of the church on the state, and to provide additional land resources to the nobility, who supported the policy of reforming society, Catherine secularized church lands (1754). The unification of the administration of the territories of the Russian Empire began, and the hetmanship in Ukraine was abolished.

The champion of the Enlightenment, Catherine, creates a number of new educational institutions, including for women (Smolny Institute, Catherine's School).

In 1767, the empress convened a commission, which included representatives of all segments of the population, including peasants (except serfs), to draw up a new code - a set of laws. In order to guide the work of the Legislative Commission, Catherine wrote the "Instruction", the text of which was based on the writings of enlightenment authors. This document, in fact, was the liberal program of her reign.

After the end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. and the suppression of the uprising under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev, a new stage of Catherine's reforms began, when the empress independently developed the most important legislative acts and, using the unlimited power of her power, put them into practice.

In 1775, a manifesto was issued allowing the free opening of any industrial enterprises. In the same year, a provincial reform was carried out, which introduced a new administrative-territorial division of the country, which remained until 1917. In 1785, Catherine issued letters of commendation to the nobility and cities.

In the foreign policy arena, Catherine II continued to pursue an offensive policy in all directions - northern, western and southern. The results of foreign policy can be called the strengthening of Russia's influence on European affairs, the three sections of the Commonwealth, the strengthening of positions in the Baltic states, the annexation of Crimea, Georgia, and participation in countering the forces of revolutionary France.

The contribution of Catherine II to Russian history is so significant that many works of our culture keep her memory.

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 Semiramis", 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 her 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 taken 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, a 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 also 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 in these days "a more cruel enemy 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." Pockmarked, 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 Grigoryevich 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 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, to 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 under Empress Elizabeth Petrovna by a free capital life, and now, at the whim of the tsar, dressed up in hated Prussian-style 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 pitiful 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 the Commission's actions.

As follows from a letter to Voltaire, she believed that the Russian people are "excellent soil in which good seed grows rapidly; but we also need axioms that are undeniably recognized as true." And these axioms are well known - the ideas of the Enlightenment, which she put as the basis of the new Russian legislation. Even V. O. Klyuchevsky specifically singled out the main condition for the implementation of Catherine’s reform plans, which she briefly stated in the “Instruction”: “Russia is a European power; Peter I, introducing European customs and customs among the European people, found such conveniences as I did not expect it myself. The conclusion followed by 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.)

Portrait of Catherine II. F. S. Rokotov, 1763

Even during her lifetime, Catherine II was called the Great, and this honorary title was preserved for her in the official imperial historiography. The attitude of Russian and European society towards the most outstanding empress of the 18th century was, however, completely ambiguous. This is quite natural - in Catherine, as well as in the whole appearance of Catherine's Russia, incompatible features were combined: sin and virtue, greatness and meanness, subtlety of artistic taste and vulgarity, reasonable moderation of enlightened Europeanism and cruel Asian despotism. Empress Catherine II is one of the most striking phenomena of Russian history.

Portrait of Princess Sofia Augusta Friederike. A. R. Lischevskaya. 1742

Sophia Frederick Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst April 21 (May 2), 1729 in the then German city of Stettin - the capital of Pomerania (Pomerania). Now the city is called Szczecin, among other territories, it was voluntarily transferred by the Soviet Union, following the results of World War II, to Poland and is the capital of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland.

Stettin Castle, where the future empress was born

Father, Christian August Anhalt-Zerbst, came from the Zerbst-Dorneburg line of the House of Anhalt and was in the service of the Prussian king, was a regimental commander, commandant, then governor of the city of Stettin, where the future empress was born, ran for the Dukes of Courland, but unsuccessfully , finished his service as a Prussian field marshal.

Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst - Prince of Anhalt-Dornburg, Prussian Field Marshal General (1742), father of Catherine II.

Mother - Johanna Elizabeth, from the Gottorp ruling house, was the cousin of the future Peter III. The family tree of Johann Elisabeth goes back to Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the first Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and the founder of the Oldenburg dynasty.

Maternal uncle Adolf-Friedrich was in 1743 elected heir to the Swedish throne, which he entered in 1751 under the name of Adolf-Fredrik. Another uncle, Karl Eytinsky, according to the plan of Catherine I, was to become the husband of her daughter Elizabeth, but died on the eve of the wedding celebrations.

Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp - mother of Empress Catherine the Great, daughter of Prince Christian August of Lübeck, princess of the House of Holstein-Gottorp.

Catherine was educated at home in the family of the Duke of Zerbst. She studied English, French and Italian, dances, music, the basics of history, geography, theology. She grew up a frisky, inquisitive, playful girl, she loved to flaunt her courage in front of the boys, with whom she easily played on the Stettin streets. Parents were unhappy with the "boyish" behavior of their daughter, but they were happy that Frederica took care of her younger sister Augusta.

Her mother called her Fike or Fikkhen German when she was a child. Figchen - comes from the name Frederica, that is, "little Frederica" ​​Parents did not burden her with their upbringing. His father was diligently engaged in the service, and his mother, a quarrelsome and restless woman, traveled all over Europe from time to time in search of adventures on undercover affairs of Frederick the Great. The daughter, apparently, only thanked fate for the fact that her mother was often not at home, because in raising her children, John-Elizabeth adhered to the simplest rules and could easily slap a slap in the face. Home lessons were not in vain, our heroine learned to patiently endure insults and wait in the wings.

Princess Fike

Catherine owed her marriage to Empress Elizabeth, who, without further ado, decided to look for a bride in the bowels of her own family. Sofya-Augusta was the second cousin of the groom, and Elizabeth considered this marriage to be her family affair. However, family relations did not bring happiness to Sophia-Augusta at the court of the Russian Empress.

In 1743, the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, while choosing a bride for her heir, Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (the future Russian Emperor Peter III), remembered that on her deathbed her mother bequeathed her to become the wife of the Holstein prince, the brother of Johann Elizabeth.

Eytin Castle

Princess Fike, 1745, Antonio Pesce

Perhaps it was this circumstance that tipped the scales in Frederica's favor; earlier, Elizabeth had vigorously supported her uncle's election to the Swedish throne and had exchanged portraits with her mother. In 1744, the Zerbst princess, together with her mother, was invited to Russia to marry Peter Fedorovich. For the first time, she saw her future husband in the Eytinsky castle in 1739.

Catherine after her arrival in Russia, portrait by Louis Caravaque
Princess Fike by Pesce

Immediately after her arrival in Russia, she began to study the Russian language, history, Orthodoxy, Russian traditions, as she sought to get to know Russia as fully as possible, which she perceived as a new homeland. Among her teachers are the famous preacher Simon Todorsky (Orthodoxy teacher), the author of the first Russian grammar Vasily Adadurov (Russian language teacher) and choreographer Lange (dance teacher).

Writing exercises in calligraphy and French by Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbskaya

In an effort to learn Russian as quickly as possible, the future empress studied at night, sitting at an open window in the frosty air. She soon fell ill with pneumonia, and her condition was so severe that her mother offered to bring a Lutheran pastor. Sophia, however, refused and sent for Simon Todorsky. This circumstance added to her popularity at the Russian court. On June 28 (July 9), 1744, Sophia Frederick Augusta converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy and received the name Ekaterina Alekseevna (the same name and patronymic as Elizabeth's mother, Catherine I), and the next day was betrothed to the future emperor.

1744, by Grotta

Fike was a pretty girl, but she was not called a beauty. From a political point of view, she also did not have any special advantages - her family did not have any independent influence. In general, she was lucky in a big way - for the first, but not the last time. Fika had to do what in the language of the XVIII was called "enter the case", that is, to please the queen, the Grand Duke and gain confidence in the wayward St. Petersburg court. And the yard was difficult. Most of all, it resembled a theater, where there was a permanent performance with a mass of participants circling in a sparkling round dance around the unsurpassed prima - Queen Elizabeth. The real business, as usual, was done behind the scenes.

1744, by Grotta

It was difficult to integrate organically into the ensemble of virtuosos of the court-political game, even more difficult to understand the cunning mechanics of the relationships that controlled the court action. Princess Johanna and her daughter were at first greeted with cordiality; Elizaveta Petrovna even burst into tears at the meeting, seeing in the face of Johanna Elizabeth features that resembled the deceased groom. That was the first and last success of the princess at the St. Petersburg court.

Soon the frivolous Johanna got involved in intrigues and was forever removed from Russia. The young princess Fike, as best she could, distanced herself from her mother and in every possible way servility to Elizabeth. But the main thing is that the Zerbst princess tried to become “her own” for the empress and the court as soon as possible.

Here is an excerpt from her memoirs: “I, who made it a rule to please the people with whom I had to live, assimilated their mode of action, their manner; I wanted to be Russian, so that Russians would love me". The appearance of Sophia with her mother in St. Petersburg was accompanied by political intrigue, in which her mother, Princess Zerbstskaya, was involved. She was a fan of King Frederick II of Prussia, and the latter decided to use her stay at the Russian imperial court to establish his influence on Russian foreign policy.

To do this, it was planned, through intrigue and influence on the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, to remove Chancellor Bestuzhev, who pursued an anti-Prussian policy, from the affairs and replace him with another nobleman who sympathized with Prussia. However, Bestuzhev managed to intercept the letters of Princess Zerbst Frederick II and present them to Elizabeth Petrovna. After the latter found out about the “ugly role of the Prussian spy” that Sophia’s mother played at her court, she immediately changed her attitude towards her and disgraced her. However, this did not affect the position of Sophia herself, who did not take part in this intrigue

Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna with her husband Peter III Fedorovich

On August 21, 1745, at the age of sixteen, Catherine was married to Peter Fedorovich, who was 17 years old and who was her second cousin. For the first years of their life together, Peter was not at all interested in his wife, and there was no marital relationship between them. Ekaterina will write about this later:

I saw very well that the Grand Duke did not love me at all; two weeks after the wedding, he told me that he was in love with the girl Carr, the maid of honor of the Empress. He told Count Divier, his chamberlain, that there was no comparison between this girl and me. Divyer claimed otherwise, and he became angry with him; this scene took place almost in my presence, and I saw this quarrel. To tell the truth, I told myself that with this man I would certainly be very unhappy if I succumbed to the feeling of love for him, for which they paid so poorly, and that there would be something to die of jealousy without any benefit to anyone.

1747, by Grotta. in a hunting suit

So, out of pride, I tried to force myself not to be jealous of a person who does not love me, but in order not to be jealous of him, there was no other choice than not to love him. If he wanted to be loved, it would not be difficult for me: I was naturally inclined and accustomed to fulfill my duties, but for this I would need to have a husband with common sense, and mine did not have

Family relations with Peter III did not work out. Her seventeen-year-old husband devotedly devoted himself to playing soldiers and had little interest in his wife. At first, complete indifference prevailed in their relationship: there was not even hatred, but Catherine's adored aunt became the true tyrant of Catherine.

1745, with Peter, by Grotta

The aging Elizabeth kept her niece like a wild bird in a cage, seeing, apparently, subconsciously, in her a rival to her power. She did not allow Catherine to go out without asking for a walk, even go to the bathhouse, did not allow her to rearrange furniture and have ink and pens. In the palace, the wife of the heir was followed relentlessly, reporting to Elizabeth about every step of Catherine, peeping through the keyholes and printing out her letters to her parents.

True, sometimes the capricious Elizabeth became generous with rich gifts, but expressions of favor immediately alternated with rude reprimands, threatening even beatings. “Not a day passed,” Catherine wrote, “that they didn’t scold me and didn’t snitch on me.” After one of these obscene scenes, she succumbed to a terrible impulse: the maid who entered her found her with a large knife in her hand, which, fortunately, turned out to be so blunt that it could not even overcome the corset.

Catherine II with her cousin Gustav III in Sweden (Stockholm, National Museum of Sweden)

It was a momentary breakdown. For the most part, Catherine had a natural optimism and knew how to restrain herself. She perfectly understood what her reward awaited, and endured everything for the sake of power. And she, in spite of everything, had no doubt that sooner or later there would be a holiday on her street. "Everything I did always tended towards this, and my whole life was a search for means to achieve this."

Ekaterina continues to educate herself. She reads books on history, philosophy, jurisprudence, the works of Voltaire, Montesquieu, Tacitus, Bayle, and a large amount of other literature. The main entertainments for her were hunting, horseback riding, dancing and masquerades. The absence of marital relations with the Grand Duke contributed to the appearance of Catherine's lovers. Meanwhile, Empress Elizabeth expressed dissatisfaction with the absence of children from the spouses.

1758, by Grotta
1762, by Frixen
The marriage triumph of Princess Fike turned into a real drama for her. For the family life of Peter and Catherine did not work out from the very beginning. They could get along well while they were a bride and groom - in fact, two children who found themselves in a foreign and incomprehensible country. But when they became spouses, they discovered many reasons for mutual dissatisfaction. Peter was distinguished by infantilism and insufficient education - to the early matured and well-trained Catherine, he seemed uncouth, hopeless half-wit.
Over time, the spouses also showed more significant differences in views and temperaments, affecting the sphere of politics. The Grand Duke was openly weary of the order that had developed at the court of Elizabeth, he did not put the Russian Empire too high and did not hide his admiration for Frederick II of Prussia.

Works by Grotta

Catherine, who owed a lot to the Prussian king and internally agreed with him on many issues, considered her husband’s enthusiastic attitude towards a foreign monarch (far from being friendly towards the Russian state and the Russian sovereign) completely inappropriate. The heavy despotism of Empress Elizabeth, with her periodic attacks of irritability and suspicion, the Grand Duchess, unlike her husband, endured patiently, like bouts of bad weather, due to the climatic features of Russia.

But the worst thing is that the harmony of intimate relations has not been established between the spouses. Later, Catherine blamed Peter for everything - they say, he neglected marital duties. According to some sources, it was Catherine who showed coldness to her husband already in the first years of marriage. The situation for Catherine looked very tragic, because her main duty was to give offspring to the Romanov family.

1762, by Eriksen

Failing to fulfill it, she could lose everything she had achieved in Russia. Peter did not feel much better either, who during the several years of his stay near the capricious aunt managed to prove himself not in the best way and lost his former empress's goodwill. In the end, they overcame themselves and in the ninth year of marriage, in 1754 they created an offspring, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich.

After that, the couple practically gave each other complete freedom. Even before the birth of Pavel, a handsome aristocrat Sergei Saltykov appeared near the Grand Duchess. Becoming the second man in Catherine's life, he was the first to ignite the fire of real sensuality in her, which then flared up brighter, warming and scorching numerous lovers. When Saltykov was tactfully removed from the court, Stanislav Ponyatovsky, a noble Polish gentry, took his place.

Stanislav II August Poniatowski - the last king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1764-1795.

Their romance soon ceased to be a secret for others, and for Peter himself. Poniatowski, in accordance with his position at the British Embassy, ​​became an active participant in the intrigues that Prussian and British diplomacy wove in St. Petersburg. Peter and Catherine were also embroiled in the vicissitudes of a dangerous game directed against the policies of Empress Elizabeth. When the case was revealed, Poniatowski was forced to hastily leave Russia.

Abandoned by the Polish handsome man, the Grand Duchess did not suffer long: in 1759, the guardsman Grigory Orlov, a military officer, a desperate brave man, a reveler and a breter, took possession of her heart. He was destined to play a decisive role in the coup that raised Catherine to the throne and saved her from her hateful husband. Orlov stayed near his beloved Empress for a decade and a half. Then the tastes of Catherine, who was already entering old age, began to change, the charm of Oryol's bodily strength and prowess melted away in the heat of passions of big politics, in which the gallant guardsman could not be a worthy partner.

Portrait of Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tauride.Lumpy, Johann (senior)

Then Catherine went through a whole series of heartfelt hobbies. And there was only one lover-companion, a real assistant in the affairs of the reign - Grigory Potemkin, the Most Serene Prince of Tauride. Potemkin remained in favor with Catherine until his death. The last favorite was the youth Zubov, who tried to play the role of an outstanding statesman and put forward absolutely fantastic projects for this, which, however, no one took seriously.

In the last years of the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, the young Grand Duchess was quite clearly aware of her prospects. The key idea of ​​this realization was expressed as early as 1756 in one of Catherine's letters: "I will reign or perish."