Biography of Catherine II of Russia

Empress lit

21 April 1729
6 November 1796
Catherine Alexeyevna of Russia, passed into history with the name of Catherine "the great", was born on 21 April 1729 in Stettin. Empress of Russia from 1762 until his death, cultured and intelligent, is famous for being an example of enlightened monarch. The future Empress was born as Sophia Frederica Amalia, daughter of Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, Germanic, and Joan of Holstein-Gottorp. Since his teens, although not particularly beautiful, gives proof of its vitality, proving many cultural interests and rejecting the pessimistic and Lutheran education mold that is imparted. His life is intertwined inseparably, as was customary in the European dynastic families, with other noble houses and, in her case, with that of Empress Elisabeth.
In 1742, in fact, is the designation for the hand of Elizabeth, the Duke of Holstein, the young Peter, son of his sister Anna. He is, in fact, the successor to the throne of Russia. Spend only three years and Elizabeth decides to give in marriage to the successor Peter the young Sophia Frederica Amalia. The future Catherine the great is then conducted together with her mother in Russia in order to provide for his public conversion. The Russia is the capital of Christian orthodoxy and the young Sofia must fulfill these religious obligations if it wants to enter the Russian Royal Palace. In 1745, therefore, Sophia Frederica Amalia is renamed according to the Orthodox Rite under the name Catherine Alexeyevna and few months later marries Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, his cousin via matrilineal. Peter is ready to be Peter III, Emperor of Russia, but his wife, despite being a mere political marriage, begins from this point on an artwork of slow and skillful in his court settlement, due to its innate intelligence. Soon the young Catherine comes in thanks of Empress Elisabeth.
Its culture, formed on the works of the encyclopaedists, the place definitely head and shoulders above your husband, decidedly less shrewd and intelligent than you. In addition, these proved prone to drunkenness, mistreating the bride in public with violent or aggressive. The marriage proves to be a failure in every respect, but the couple gave birth to a son, Paul, who after the death of Empress Catherine renamed Paul Petrovich. His birth takes place in St. Petersburg, the day 1 October 1754. For though her grandmother Elizabeth takes away from the Court, dealing with him and removing it from the mother's care. In January 1762 Peter comes to power as Peter III, Emperor of Russia. Among its decisions to the Government there are a number of measures which result in a generalized discontent among the ruling classes.
Initialling the peace with Prussia having withdrawn the troops following the seven years ' war, without obtaining anything for Russia. Schedule an unpopular war against Denmark and aggravates his situation increasingly manifesting its desire to transform Russia into a country Lutheran, his original faith. So, in the same year he took office, is the conspiracy that he officially dismissed. Just six months after two officers of the Imperial Guard, Alexei and Grigory Orlov, organize the conspiracy and bringing Catherine King. According to sources, Grigory is the lover of Tsarina which, as we know, in no way opposed to the conspiracy. Catherine is conducted with great pomp in the city of Petersburg, supported by the nobility, and left to proclaim the Empress in place of ousted Peter III, who prefer to abdicate. Shortly after, locked up in the prison of Ropsha, Czar dethroned is killed in mysterious circumstances on which always rests with the suspicion of responsibility for his wife, listed as the likely instigator of the assassination. On 20 June of 1762 Catherine Alexeyevna rises to power by the name of Catherine II. According to tradition, enlightenment mold absolutist Empress provides a centralization of all powers of Government, taking in hand the control of each task.
His is a paternalistic despotism, breadth of interventions in many fields. These include for example the acquisition in 1767 a code based on the dictates of Montesquieu and Beccaria, cornerstones of the enlightenment experience. In 1774 the Cossack Pugachev weapon a revolt against the Central Government, but Catherine II manages to dominate by 1775. Subsequently became interested in the problems of education, provides an almost complete restoration of State finances and gives life to local governorates, the better to dominate from the Center the entire country. In 1783 the Crimea to Russia annette, removing it from the domain of Turkey, following the war involving the Russians with the Turks for nearly a decade, with conclusion in 1774. To achieve this takes advantage of the undoubted talents of her new lover, Grigory Potyomkin, already known during the Pugachev uprising. Then gets, by 1795, all the eastern regions of Poland, de facto split with Prussia and Austria. Even in this situation, Catherine II submits his influence derived from his previous relationship with Stanislaus Poniatowski, place right by the Empress, years before, on the Polish throne.
Sniffing danger coming from revolutionary France, in 1789 rather than loosen the clamp for the serfs, and despite his earlier statements to open themselves to their wishes, in fact it stiffens the measures, increasing in their number, the louder the centralization of power to her work. However, Catherine II is being done in the literary field with autographed works, articles, sketches of satire and processed by piglio argumentative. Among his comedies, educational and critical purposes often directed at his opponents, included "The deceived" and "The Siberian sorcerer". The Empress is a convinced and enlightenment in the manner of enlightenment, writes poured into more artistic fields. Acquainted with Voltaire, Diderot and d'Alembert, who in their work provide for the definition of "Large", consolidating its work, which, however, in key enlightenment is expressed almost exclusively in exquisitely scholastic and educational field. Thanks to her, in fact, the establishment of education houses in the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, in addition to opening many schools for adults in the various capitals of the country. Catherine Alexeyevna of Russia, called Catherine the great, dies at Tsarskoe Selo, the 6 November 1796 at the age of 67 years. After his death, his son, who became Czar, Paul I, not appreciating the work of the mother, in December of that year demanding that the remains of the father be exhumed and buried with full honours in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, along with all other Czars, according to Russian tradition.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.