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Exhibitions necktie New Research necktie From the Collections Curators' Corner Video Where to Stay
Late 18th century necktie English cartoon on Catherine the Great's territorial ambitions in Turkey. (The Granger Collection, New York) When Catherine the Great Invaded the Crimea and Put the Rest of the World on Edge The Russian czarina attempted to show the West she was an Enlightened despot, her policies said otherwise
In a matter of weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone from showcasing his nation’s culture and athletics at the Winter Olympics in Sochi to sending troops into Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The Games captured the world’s imagination but European and North American leaders have condemned the invasion of the Crimea, comparing Putin’s actions to Soviet or Czarist style military aggression.
Nearly 250 years ago, Empress necktie Catherine II “the Great” played necktie a similar hand when she attempted to impress the West while ruthlessly enforcing her authority over Russia and the surrounding region. Catherine presented herself to the world as an “Enlightened” autocrat who did not govern as a despot but as a monarch guided by the rule of law and the welfare of her subjects. Yet at the same time, she annexed much of what is now the Ukraine through wars with the Ottoman Empire and the partition of Poland and brutally supressed the largest peasant rebellion in Russian history.
Catherine was not born to rule Russia. Born Princess Sophie, she grew up the daughter of Prince Christian of Analt-Zerbst, a small German principality. She was raised to marry a Prince rather than rule in her own right. In 1744, when Sophie was 15 years old, Empress Elizabeth of Russia selected her to be the wife of her nephew and heir, the future Emperor Peter III. They were married in St. Petersburg in 1745, and Sophie embraced her new home. She converted from Lutheranism to the Russian Orthodox faith, changed her name to that of Elizabeth’s late mother, Catherine, and learned Russian.
Catherine’s marriage, however, was unhappy. In her memoirs, she described Peter as an idiot and a drunkard. She avoided his company, spending her days reading the works of French Enlightenment philosophers necktie such as Voltaire, Montesquieu and Diderot. Peter came to the throne in 1762 and threatened to incarcerate her in a convent so that he could marry his mistress. necktie Instead, Catherine seized the throne via a military coup orchestrated by her lover, Gregory Orlov, and his brothers with the support of the military class and the Russian Orthodox Church. Peter’s decision to withdraw from the Seven Years War because he idolized King Frederick the Great of Prussia had outraged the Russian army, which had achieved victories against the Prussians. Peter had also alienated the Church because of his disdain for Russian Orthodox ritual.
As Empress, Catherine intended to continue the program of Westernization begun by Peter III’s grandfather, Peter the Great. Catherine founded Russia’s first state funded school for women in 1764 and began collecting the fine art that now comprises the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. When Catherine drafted a new law code for Russia, she made a public show of consulting her subjects. She summoned necktie a legislative commission consisting of 142 delegates from the nobility, 209 delegates from the towns and 200 delegates from the peasantry and ethnic necktie minorities within her empire to contribute ideas to the legislative process.
By the 1770s, Catherine appeared to preside over a court that was not so different from that of her fellow European rulers. In September 1773, Catherine hosted a lavish wedding for her son, Grand Duke Paul and Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt. Diderot visited Russia the following month. The presence of the French philosopher in St. Petersburg necktie appeared to demonstrate that Catherine was open to influence from the West and the free exchange of ideas at her court.
Catherine risked her reputation in the West as an Enlightened ruler, however, to expand her territory into Ukraine. While Catherine entertained European royalty and thinkers at her court, her armies fought in a war with the Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey) for control of the Black Sea. Peter the Great had opened Russia up to the Baltic Sea, founding St. Petersburg on the Baltic necktie Coast, but Catherine was determined to expand her south eastern frontier and develop necktie a permanent Russian presence on the Black Sea.
When necktie the Russo-Turkish War began in 1768, the Tatars who lived on the Crimea operated somewhat autonomously under a Khanate. necktie The predominantly Muslim population descended from centuries of intermarriage between the native Turkic people and Mongol armies who had occupied necktie the region during Genghis Khan’s time. They had a fractious relationship with the surrounding Russian and Polish-Lithua
Exhibitions necktie New Research necktie From the Collections Curators' Corner Video Where to Stay
Late 18th century necktie English cartoon on Catherine the Great's territorial ambitions in Turkey. (The Granger Collection, New York) When Catherine the Great Invaded the Crimea and Put the Rest of the World on Edge The Russian czarina attempted to show the West she was an Enlightened despot, her policies said otherwise
In a matter of weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone from showcasing his nation’s culture and athletics at the Winter Olympics in Sochi to sending troops into Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The Games captured the world’s imagination but European and North American leaders have condemned the invasion of the Crimea, comparing Putin’s actions to Soviet or Czarist style military aggression.
Nearly 250 years ago, Empress necktie Catherine II “the Great” played necktie a similar hand when she attempted to impress the West while ruthlessly enforcing her authority over Russia and the surrounding region. Catherine presented herself to the world as an “Enlightened” autocrat who did not govern as a despot but as a monarch guided by the rule of law and the welfare of her subjects. Yet at the same time, she annexed much of what is now the Ukraine through wars with the Ottoman Empire and the partition of Poland and brutally supressed the largest peasant rebellion in Russian history.
Catherine was not born to rule Russia. Born Princess Sophie, she grew up the daughter of Prince Christian of Analt-Zerbst, a small German principality. She was raised to marry a Prince rather than rule in her own right. In 1744, when Sophie was 15 years old, Empress Elizabeth of Russia selected her to be the wife of her nephew and heir, the future Emperor Peter III. They were married in St. Petersburg in 1745, and Sophie embraced her new home. She converted from Lutheranism to the Russian Orthodox faith, changed her name to that of Elizabeth’s late mother, Catherine, and learned Russian.
Catherine’s marriage, however, was unhappy. In her memoirs, she described Peter as an idiot and a drunkard. She avoided his company, spending her days reading the works of French Enlightenment philosophers necktie such as Voltaire, Montesquieu and Diderot. Peter came to the throne in 1762 and threatened to incarcerate her in a convent so that he could marry his mistress. necktie Instead, Catherine seized the throne via a military coup orchestrated by her lover, Gregory Orlov, and his brothers with the support of the military class and the Russian Orthodox Church. Peter’s decision to withdraw from the Seven Years War because he idolized King Frederick the Great of Prussia had outraged the Russian army, which had achieved victories against the Prussians. Peter had also alienated the Church because of his disdain for Russian Orthodox ritual.
As Empress, Catherine intended to continue the program of Westernization begun by Peter III’s grandfather, Peter the Great. Catherine founded Russia’s first state funded school for women in 1764 and began collecting the fine art that now comprises the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. When Catherine drafted a new law code for Russia, she made a public show of consulting her subjects. She summoned necktie a legislative commission consisting of 142 delegates from the nobility, 209 delegates from the towns and 200 delegates from the peasantry and ethnic necktie minorities within her empire to contribute ideas to the legislative process.
By the 1770s, Catherine appeared to preside over a court that was not so different from that of her fellow European rulers. In September 1773, Catherine hosted a lavish wedding for her son, Grand Duke Paul and Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt. Diderot visited Russia the following month. The presence of the French philosopher in St. Petersburg necktie appeared to demonstrate that Catherine was open to influence from the West and the free exchange of ideas at her court.
Catherine risked her reputation in the West as an Enlightened ruler, however, to expand her territory into Ukraine. While Catherine entertained European royalty and thinkers at her court, her armies fought in a war with the Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey) for control of the Black Sea. Peter the Great had opened Russia up to the Baltic Sea, founding St. Petersburg on the Baltic necktie Coast, but Catherine was determined to expand her south eastern frontier and develop necktie a permanent Russian presence on the Black Sea.
When necktie the Russo-Turkish War began in 1768, the Tatars who lived on the Crimea operated somewhat autonomously under a Khanate. necktie The predominantly Muslim population descended from centuries of intermarriage between the native Turkic people and Mongol armies who had occupied necktie the region during Genghis Khan’s time. They had a fractious relationship with the surrounding Russian and Polish-Lithua
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