Catherine The Grand Tsarina
Russia's most colorful and perhaps most misunderstood tsarina
The life, reign and death of one of Russia's most colorful rulers.
Famous Queens
Early Life
Sophie Augusta Fredericka was the daughter of Christian Augustus, a Prussian general in Germany (now Poland) on April 21, 1729. By all accounts, her mother, Johanna, was cold and abusive. As a child, a French governess and various tutors educated the child who would become Catherine The Great. She converted to Orthodoxy when she married the heir to the Russian throne, the Grand Duke Peter of Holstein, the grandson of Peter The Great , much to the disdain of her devout Lutheran father. The marriage, which took place on April 21, 1745 in St. Petersburg, was loveless, and Catherine the Great disliked her husband intensely.
Tsarina and Queen
She called herself Catherine II and assiduously studied the Russian language until she mastered it. Determined to wear the crown at all costs, mistresses and lovers abounded on both sides throughout their unhappy union, which lasted until his supposedly accidental death in July of 1762. Although she was in every way an autocrat, Catherine The Great's reign promoted education and the Enlightenment among Russia's elite. Catherine The Great also fostered the westernization and the modernization of Russia, expanding its borders to the Black Sea and into Central Europe. She corresponded with many of the great minds of her era, including Voltaireand Diderot.
Foreign Affairs and The Reign of Catherine The Great
Russian expansion was at the expense of two powers: the Ottoman Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The first Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) established Russia's supremacy in Southeastern Europe and gave Russia access to the Black Sea. A second Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792) also ended in cataclysmic Turkish defeat.
In the eyes of Europe, Catherine The Great wanted to be perceived as an "enlightened" sovereign. She paved the way for Russia to become an international mediator and acted as such in the War of Bavarian Succession (1778-1779), which was fought between Prussia and Austria.
Her Infamous Reputation and Death
Catherine The Great came to the throne with her lover, Count Gregory Orlov's active support. While still committed to him and married to Peter, she took many other lovers as well. Catherine The Great was a harsh mother to her son, Paul, and when she died on November 5, 1796 after suffering a stroke while taking a bath, palace intrigue generated many false stories of a sexual nature that have survived to this day. Buried at Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, there can be no doubt as to where Catherine The Great is sleeping now!
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