Catherine the Great
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Catherine the Great was one of the most influential rulers in Russian history, transforming the Russian Empire into a major European power through territorial expansion, internal reforms, and cultural patronage. Her reign marked the pinnacle of enlightened absolutism in Russia as she embraced Western philosophical ideas while consolidating autocratic rule. Yet she was unlike every other Russian ruler in one important aspect, and it wasn't the fact that she was a woman.

Learn more about Catherine the Great and how she managed to change Russia on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by Planet Money. Tariffs, mean coins, Girl Scout cookies, what do they all have in common? Money.

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The woman known as Catherine the Great was born Zofie Federica Augusta von Anhalt-Zerps-Dornberg on May 2nd, 1729 in Stettin, Prussia, which is now modern-day Stettin, Poland. And this tells you the first two things you need to know about Catherine the Great. The first is that her name was not Catherine at birth. And the second is that she wasn't Russian. One of the most famous leaders in Russian history wasn't ethnically Russian, she was German.

Her father, Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, was a Prussian general and a member of the petty German nobility. Her mother, Johanna Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp, was an ambitious and distantly related to the ruling houses of Europe, which would prove instrumental in Sophie's path to power. The young Sophie received an education typical of German nobility of her time, learning French, which was the language of European diplomacy in the 18th century, as well as German and later Russian.

She was also instructed in dancing, music, and the social graces expected of aristocratic women. However, what set Sophie apart was her intellectual curiosity and voracious appetite for reading, particularly works of philosophy and political theory. At the age of 14, Sophie was selected by the Russian leader, Empress Elizabeth, to marry Grand Duke Peter of Holstein-Gottrup, heir to the Russian throne and the grandson of Peter the Great.

This invitation represented a calculated political move by Elizabeth, who sought to strengthen Russia's ties with the German states while ensuring the succession remained within her family line. Upon arriving in Russia, Sophie demonstrated remarkable adaptability and political acumen that would serve her throughout her life. She immediately began learning the Russian language and customs, converted from Lutheranism to the Russian Orthodox Church, and took the name Yekaterina Alexeyevna.

The transformation was not merely ceremonial, but represented a genuine commitment to becoming Russian rather than remaining a foreign princess. She married Peter in 1745 and became the Grand Duchess Catherine. Their marriage was fraught from the beginning. Peter was emotionally unstable and immature, and the two quickly grew apart. When Empress Elizabeth died in 1762, Peter ascended to the throne as Emperor Peter III.

Catherine, meanwhile, had spent almost 18 years as Grand Duchess, cultivating support amongst the military, political elite, and the Orthodox Church. She also engaged in extensive self-education, reading works by Enlightenment philosophers like Voltaire, Diderot, and Montesquieu. This intellectual development was crucial because it provided her with the theoretical framework she would later use to justify and implement her reforms as Empress.

Catherine's ascension to the throne came through one of history's most successful palace coups. When Peter III became emperor in January of 1762, his erratic behavior and pro-Prussian policies quickly alienated the military, the nobility, and the Orthodox Church. He withdrew Russia from the Seven Years' War, just as victory seemed within reach, and returned conquered territories to Prussia and planned to attack Denmark to reclaim his native Holstein.

Catherine recognized that Peter's reign threatened Russia's stability and her own survival. Working with key conspirators, including her lover Grigory Orlov and his brothers, she carefully orchestrated Peter's overthrow. On July 9, 1762, while Peter was away from the capital, Catherine appeared before the Izmalovsky Guards Regiment in St. Petersburg and proclaimed herself Empress.

As a side note, the official title of rulers of Russia at this time was Emperor or Empress, not Tsar or Tsarina. The older term Tsar had officially been changed to Emperor in 1721 to make it align with other monarchs in Europe, although the term Tsar continued to be used informally until 1917 when the monarchy collapsed. The coup succeeded because Catherine had spent years building relationships and demonstrating her commitment to Russian interests.

The military clergy and nobility saw her as a preferable alternative to the increasingly unstable Peter III. Peter abdicated, was arrested, and died a little more than a week later under mysterious circumstances, possibly murdered, although Catherine publicly denied any part in his death. On September 22, 1762, Catherine was crowned Empress of Russia as Catherine II, despite not being of Russian blood or even a direct heir.

Catherine's reign lasted 34 years, one of the longest in Russian history. It's widely regarded as the golden age of the Russian Empire, marked by military expansion, administrative reform, and a flourishing of the arts and enlightenment ideas. Catherine saw herself as an enlightened despot and was heavily influenced by Western philosophers with whom she corresponded with on a regular basis. Catherine's most ambitious project was the creation of a new legal code for Russia.

In 1767, she convened the Legislative Commission, bringing together representatives from various social classes to help draft comprehensive legal reforms. Her instruction to this commission outlined principles drawn from Enlightenment philosophy, emphasizing the rule of law, proportional punishment, and individual rights. Though the commission ultimately failed to produce a completely new code, the process itself was revolutionary for Russia.

For the first time in Russian history, representatives from merchants, state peasants, and even some ethnic minority groups were given a voice in governance. Catherine utilized the commission's discussions to more effectively understand the empire's diverse needs and challenges. She also restructured provincial administration through the Provincial Reform of 1775, dividing the empire into 50 provinces of roughly equal size.

This reform created more efficient local government and established new institutions for education, public health, and social welfare. The reform represented a significant step towards modern administrative practices, helping to integrate Russia's vast territories under a single centralized control. Catherine understood that Russia's development required not just political reform but cultural transformation.

She established Russia's first state schools for both boys and girls, founded the Hermitage as a center for art and culture, and supported the development of Russian literature and theater. Her correspondence with Voltaire and other French philosophers brought Enlightenment ideas directly into Russian intellectual life. She established the Free Economic Society, Russia's first economic organization, and encouraged agricultural innovation and manufacturing development.

Catherine also founded Russia's first medical schools and hospitals, recognizing that public health was essential for national strength. Catherine's military campaign significantly expanded Russian territory and influence. Her two wars against the Ottoman Empire secured Russia's access to the Black Sea and established Russian influence in the Balkans. The annexation of Crimea in 1783 gave Russia control of this strategically crucial peninsula and marked the beginning of Russian dominance in the Black Sea region.

These territorial gains were not mere military conquests, but represented careful strategic planning. Catherine understood that Russia needed secure borders and access to warm water ports for economic development. Her expansion southward towards the Black Sea opened up new trade routes and brought fertile agricultural lands under Russian control. Catherine also played a central role in the partitions of Poland, which led to the eventual dissolution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

She initially installed her former lover Stanislaw Pojnatowski as King of Poland in 1764, expecting him to act as a compliant ally. However, Poland's attempts at independence alarmed Catherine, who saw them as a threat to Russian influence. In response, she supported conservative Polish nobles through the Confederation of Targowica and used their resistance to reform as a pretext for military intervention.

In 1772, Russia, along with Prussia and Austria, carried out the first partition of Poland, seizing large territories under the guise of maintaining stability.

After the 1794 uprising by Tadeusz Kozioszko, a hero in the American Revolution, Catherine responded decisively. She crushed the rebellion and subsequently collaborated again with Austria and Prussia in the second partition of Poland in 1793 and the third partition in 1795, which effectively erased Poland from the map for over a century.

As you can probably guess, at the core of Catherine's rule were some very serious contradictions. Despite claiming to be an enlightened monarch, espousing the values of the Enlightenment, her actions often fell far short. While she spoke eloquently about human rights and legal equality, she simultaneously expanded serfdom and increased noble privileges at peasant expense.

The most serious challenge to Catherine's rule came from Emilian Pugachev's Rebellion from 1773 to 1775, which exposed the deep social tensions within Russian society. Pugachev, a Cossack claiming to be the deceased Peter III, led a massive uprising of serfs, Cossacks, and ethnic minorities against imperial authority. The rebellion's scale and brutality shocked Catherine, which forced her to confront the contradictions in her own reform program.

While she was advocating for things like legal equality and human dignity, her policies had actually made things worse for Russia's peasant majority. The suppression of the rebellion required significant military effort and demonstrated that the Enlightenment ideas alone could not resolve Russia's fundamental social problems. Catherine's response to the Pugachev rebellion revealed the practical limitations of her Enlightened despotism.

Rather than addressing the underlying causes of peasant discontent, she chose to strengthen the nobility's control over serfs through the Charter to the Nobility in 1785. This document formally codified noble privileges while making serf conditions even more restrictive. This decision reflected Catherine's understanding that her power ultimately depended upon the support of the nobility and not the peasants.

While she seemed to genuinely believe in enlightened principles, at least in theory, she also recognized that fully implementing them would threaten the social order that maintained her authority. Catherine's personal life was as complex and carefully managed as her public policy. Her marriage to Peter III had been loveless and politically arranged, but produced one legitimate heir, her son Paul.

As Empress, she conducted several significant romantic relationships that also served political purposes, which included at least one illegitimate daughter. Her most important relationships were with Grigory Orlov, who helped engineer her rise to power, and later with Grigory Potemkin, who became her closest advisor and partner in southern expansion policies.

Potemkin, in particular, combined romantic partnership with genuine political collaboration, helping Catherine develop and implement her most ambitious territorial administrative reforms. Catherine the Great died on November 17, 1796, at the age of 67, due to complications from a stroke. Her 42-year-old son became Emperor Paul I.

Paul had a very contentious relationship with his mother, and she had kept him out of politics for most of his life, which meant that when he ascended to the throne, he was woefully unprepared. He had a very short reign and spent much of it undoing the reforms made by his mother. He was assassinated in 1801, and his son Alexander had a hand in his murder. Catherine's legacy is mixed.

On the one hand, she transformed Russia from a relatively backward European power into a major international force capable of competing with established powers like Austria, France, and Britain. Her territorial expansion brought approximately 200,000 square miles under Russian control, almost the size of France, and established Russia as the dominant power in both Eastern Europe and the Black Sea.

Catherine's cultural and educational initiatives laid the foundation for Russia's 19th century literary and artistic achievements. The schools she established, the cultural institutions she founded, and the intellectual climate she fostered created conditions that would later produce figures such as Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

On the other hand, her failure to address serfdom's fundamental injustices also contributed to the social tensions that would eventually accumulate in the 1917 revolution nearly a century later. Her strengthening of noble privileges at the expense of peasants created social contradictions that her successors would struggle unsuccessfully to resolve.

But ultimately, the story of Catherine the Great is that of a minor German princess who went on to become the ruler of one of the largest countries in the world, a country that she wasn't even a native of. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Okun and Cameron Kiefer. I have a special announcement. July 1st will be the fifth anniversary of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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