By Lyubov Tsarevskaya Some historians describe the 18th century as the age of women. Indeed, women took turns in ruling Russia from the death of Peter the Great in 1725 to the end of the century. The most brilliant and gifted of them was Catherine II (the Great), whose reign (from 1762 to 1796) became quite a landmark in Russia’s history. Since Empress Elizabeth had no children, she proclaimed her nephew, the 14-year-old Duke Karl Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein, the successor to the Russian throne. He was brought to Russia, adopted Orthodoxy and came to be called Pyotr. Elizabeth was grieved to see that he was infantile, weak-headed and ill-mannered. But she had no alternative.
On January 26th, 1744 Ficke came to Russia. Before her marriage she had studied Russian and adopted Orthodoxy and the name of Yekaterina (Catherine). The following year she married the Grand Duke Peter, the successor to the Russian throne. Theirs was not a happy marriage, since they were ill-matched. He was talkative, inconsistent and quick-tempered, while she was attentive, meek, cordial and intelligent. The Grand Duke and Duchess seemed incompatible even in outward appearance: Peter was lanky, with a lively mind and a malicious look on his small face. Catherine, on the other hand, was strong and well-built, boasting a proud gait and a lovely figure, an open-air look, beautiful thick chestnut hair and dark eyes, and snow-white skin. Peter, who married because he dared not even think of going against his aunt’s will, remained infantile for years to come: he liked playing war games and chasing after ladies in waiting. Catherine did not see him as a man who could make her happy and despised him. This is what she wrote in her memoirs: “I am one of those women who think that their husband is to blame if they don’t love him, because I was ready to love mine very much indeed, if I had had a good chance to and if he had been kind enough to wish so. … I thought of something that was cruel to him… I said to myself: if you fall in love with that man, you will make yourself the unhappiest person in the world, for your character will aspire to mutuality. But this man ignores you, he will speak of almost nothing but his dolls and is interested more in any other woman than yourself. You are too proud to fret and fume, hence: check yourself when you start feeling tenderness for that man. Think of yourself, madam. This first imprint on my heart has never left me, but I was careful not to utter a word about my firm decision, that’s not to fall in love head over heels with anyone who would prove incapable of repaying me for my love.” Obviously, the two were unhappy not because Peter was infantile and callous, or because Catherine was too proud of herself and made exacting demands on her husband, but because she pursued her own ends when she agreed to marry Peter. She admits this in her memoirs when she writes: “But frankly, I think I like the Russian Crown much more than this man.” The problem was that Catherine, too, bothered little to cement their marriage alliance. She saw herself as Peter’s rival, and the ambition that burned within her prevented her from achieving family happiness. Catherine gave birth to her son Paul when she had been married for more than eight years. The Empress Elizabeth took the newborn child away from her as the property of the state to bring him up the way she saw fit. The mother, it seemed, had filled an order and was no longer needed. She was depressed by her utter loneliness, her only consolation being the books that she read. At first Catherine read indiscriminately. But pretty soon she gave up French novels in favour of books on history and then was carried away by the works of the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment, specifically François Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Charles de Montesquieu. Serious philosophical reading sharpened her mind, suggested fresh ideas and taught her to think big. Catherine would not grow despondent, actually she bent over backwards to gain a certain position at the court. To achieve this, she made it a point to make everyone like her. To make Russians accept her as one of their own she followed the Russian customs, attended long religious services and even took steam baths. Eventually she grew very popular with the public. On December 25th, 1761 Empress Elizabeth died and Peter mounted the throne as Russia’s monarch Peter III.
Once he became Emperor, Peter did not see it as shameful to publicly humiliate and insult Catherine, made no secret of the fact that he carried on with a lady in waiting and threatened to banish his wife to a convent or a fortress. Peter’s moves alienated the Guards, the nobility and his wife. On June 28th, 1762 Catherine, supported by the Guards, staged a Coup to depose the Emperor. Unable to protect himself, Peter III quickly agreed to sign his abdication and was disposed of in a matter of days by the officers who were ordered to guard him. Once Catherine rid herself of her husband and rival, and the noose, she became an autocratic Empress and independent as a woman. On the eve of her coronation the court jeweler made her a Grand Imperial Crown that weighed a whole five pounds. But Catherine liked it and told the jeweler that she would manage to wear the load throughout the four- or five-hour ceremony. Actually, she bore the load for a whole 34 years, for as long as her reign lasted.
To become the Great Empress, the one that went down in history, Catherine had to learn a great deal and work even more. As a workaholic she was second only to Peter the Great, of all Russian Tsars. She was sorry the day could not be stretched to more than 24 hours. This is what she wrote about her workday: “I get up punctually at six in the morning, have a cup of strong coffee with cream and then until eight I receive people who report to me on different matters. Then I edit draft laws. After lunch I write numerous letters. In short, I work like a horse.” Her favourite occupation was lawmaking. Catherine personally wrote instructions for drafting a code of laws that would embrace all aspects of Russian life. Representatives of all estates from all over Russia came to St. Petersburg to discuss the code. The development created a strong impression on Europeans and proved the Empress’s personal triumph. But Russia also had to prove that it was strong militarily. Russia convincingly won the war of 1768 through 1771 against Turkey both on land and at sea and gained access to the Black Sea. From then on Russian ships could sail through the Straits. It was a dream of Peter the Great that Russia should expand to the Black Sea, a dream that came true at last. Russia had, besides, got Azov, consolidated its grip on the Strait of Kerch and established protectorate over Moldavia and Walachia. It is people who win victories, and one must admit that the reign of Catherine was the age of outstanding statesmen, politicians and military leaders, as well as painters and writers. There is a monument to Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg, with a bench at her feet, and sitting on the bench are nine people who gained prominence during her reign, her closest associates: military leaders Alexander Suvorov and Pyotr Rumiantsev, Duke Grigory Potyomkin, Count Alexei Orlov, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Duchess Catherine Dashkova, poet Gavrila Derzhavin and others. But at least a dozen and a half other celebrities deserve the right to sit next to these nine people. All these people developed their endowments under Catherine’s care. She possessed a rare talent for selecting people, granting them the privilege of her complete trust, making them feel indebted and infinitely grateful to her. Since Catherine attached great importance to the selection of personnel in accordance with their personal qualities, she advised the descendants: “Study the people, try to use them without putting your whole faith in them indiscriminately; try to find true values even if you have to go to the back of beyond; more often than not these values are unpretentious, hiding at a distance. Valour will not display itself from out of the crowd, it makes no nuisance of itself, it’s not mean or playing up its merits.” Catherine the Great was the most Russian Empress of all Russian monarchs. It is astonishing that a 100 percent German had acquired a truly Russian spirit. This psychological metamorphosis had been prompted by her love for and gratefulness to the country that made her a Great Empress, that became her second Fatherland and brought her everlasting fame. “I only wish this country well, a country that our Lord has brought me to,” she said. “This country’s glory glorifies me, too.” Any traveller who ventured a disrespectful comment on Russia turned into her personal enemy. Catherine admired the people of Russia who made her feel completely safe in any scrape. “Russians, the Empress said, are a very special nation on the Globe. Our Lord has imparted qualities to them that no other nation can boast of.” And how she was carried away by the Russian language! She retained a
slight German accent until her death, but the Empress’s Russian was rich
in words, varied and lively. She left her own, even if minor, mark on the
history of Russian literature. She was the first translator into Russian
of Homer’s “Iliad”, she wrote plays and her epistolary legacy is enormous.
“I am convinced that whatever you do can only be dictated by your great love for me personally and for our dear Fatherland,” she wrote in a letter. “But since I try to keep safe the devoted, brave and capable people, I beg you not to subject yourself to senseless danger. When you read this letter, you will probably wonder why I have written it. I shall tell you why: so you will understand what I think of you, since I always wish you well.” Those feelings were mutual beyond any doubt. Clever and energetic, Grigory Potyomkin was a good match for Catherine. Vested with great power, he became a kind of vice-emperor of the south of the Empire. It was thanks to his restless efforts that the whole of southern Ukraine was developed and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was built, to defeat Turks on numerous subsequent occasions. Catherine the Great’s reign was a time of glory and power for Russia. As one of her diplomats aptly noted, “not a single gun in Europe dared be fired without Russia’s permission”. Under her rule the Russians felt they had come to be Europe’s most important nation. Much was forgiven Catherine for that alone. ______________________ Illustrations: A. Peskov, The Life of Famous People, “Paul I”, Moscow, Molodaya Gvardiya, 2003
02/24/2005
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When the
Empress decided she should find a fiancée for her nephew, she considered
numerous princesses from Europe’s Royal Houses and thought the best choice
was a 15-year-old daughter of the ruler of a minor German principality
Anhalt-Zerbst Sophie Friederike Auguste, whose pet name was Ficke. The
choice was prompted by the fact that Ficke was a Protestant and could easily
convert to Orthodoxy. Besides, she had no influential connections and was
therefore unable to set up her own “party”, as it were, at the Court to
meddle in state affairs. The fact that she was lovely was also seen as
an asset. It never occurred to the Empress (nor could it, for that matter)
that the unassuming girl would eventually grow into an extremely influential
person thanks to her own intelligence and strong character.
Unlike Catherine’s,
Peter’s behaviour antagonized Russian society. He remained German at heart,
so he bothered little to understand Russian ways, which he strongly disliked.
What’s more, he insulted the national feelings of Russians by imposing
German rules. In the Guards Peter enforced discipline Prussian style, ordered
the troops to wear the uncomfortably tight Prussian uniform and promoted
chiefly Holstein officers.
Catherine
felt the burden of the crown at once. For, one thing is to dream about
gaining power, and another thing is to actually rule such a vast country
as Russia. But as an intelligent person, she realized the impressive scale
of the problems that she was to tackle. The Empress gave up the idea to
reform Russia’s political system. The French philosophers’ ideas of a republican
rule, which she admired, were no good for Russia. She realized that such
a huge country as Russia would be unable to exist without autocracy, that
it would collapse, unable to resist the inevitable internecine strife,
and would fail to protect itself from attacks by rapacious neighbours.
For that reason the Empress restricted her reforms that served to consolidate
autocratic government. The reign of Catherine the Great became the heyday
of monarchy, which was based on the nobility who were granted enormous
benefits.
But however
independent, firm or powerful, Catherine couldn’t do without a male mind,
will and support. She was still a woman, and small wonder that she had
favourites. She so much wanted them to become efficient statesmen; alas,
only few managed to live up to her expectations. The most prominent of
them was, perhaps, Duke Grigory Potyomkin.
