Biography of Catherine the Great
One of the most interesting, hard-working and powerful people to grace the pages of history during the eighteenth century was Catherine II, Empress of Russia. Historians have not always been so kind to her memory, and all too often one reads accounts of her private life, ignoring her many achievements. The stories of her love affairs have been overly misinterpreted and can be traced to a handful of French writers in the years immediately after Catherine's death, when Republican France was fighting for its life against a coalition that included Russia.
Catherine was born Sophia Augusta Frederika of Anhalt-Zerbst on April 21, 1729 in Stettin, then Germany, now Poland. Her father, Prince Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, was a high-ranking officer in the Prussian Army and a minor prince among the principalities in Germany. He married the much younger Princess Johanna of Holstein-Gottorp. Years before, Johanna's brother Karl August of Holstein-Gottorp had gone to Russia to marry the Princess Elizabeth Petrovna. However the Prince died of small pox, leaving Elizabeth heart-broken. Elizabeth's sister, Anna gave birth to a son named Peter Ulrich, however tragedy once again struck as Anna's died of tuberculosis three months after giving birth to Peter.
Peter, who eventually became Tsar Peter III, was the only surviving male descendent and the potentially heir to the throne of Russia after his father died. In November 1741, Elizabeth seized the throne with the help of the Imperial Guards, and formally declared her nephew Peter heir to the throne. Peter was now 14 years old, and it was time for him to find a bride. Elizabeth had always remembered the family of her dead fiancée with fondness, and chose Sophie as the bride to be. The Empress Elizabeth seemed to have taken an instant liking to Sophie at an early age. Sophie began to learn the Russian language and studied the Orthodox religion, which of course pleased the Empress.
On June 28, Sophie was received into the Church in a great ceremony, and as a result changed her name to Catherine. Catherine was now the second highest-ranking lady in the country. Shortly after, Peter obtained measles, which started to show all the symptoms of small pox. Catherine found him to be a most pitiful creature, and it was with dismay that she looked towards her wedding day. The royal...
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...h the many relationships she formed with men. Perhaps we misunderstand her many attachments. She loved to teach, and she had much knowledge to give. We can see from her many letters to Baron von Grimm, that she took pride in the education of her young protégés. Perhaps what many historians interpret as promiscuous behavior, was nothing more than her filling the lonely hours by sharing her vast knowledge with the young men she deemed worthy of her attention. She had long and lasting relationships with Orlov and Potemkin, and it seems that she was capable of being faithful and devoted.
Russia owes her much. After a long reign of thirty-four years, Catherine died of a stroke on November 17, 1796. History knows her as Catherine the Great, a title she was offered during her lifetime and rejected. "I leave it to posterity to judge impartially what I have done" she said at the time; and Catherine has done well. Domestically, She dealt with peasant revolts, pretenders, and noble opposition. Abroad, she increased Russia's territory, prestige and international importance. Regardless of her much emphasized personal life and sexual relations, she deserves the title because she earned it.
Peter preferred to live comfortably, and didn’t have a need for extravagance as much as Louis XIV did. But that didn’t mean he didn’t think big. Peter’s main goals were to modernize Russia, and to make it a major European power—a force to be reckoned with—and also to gain control of the church. He tried to achieve these in many different ways. One way he attempted to make Russia more powerful was by westernizing the country. He traveled all over Western Europe, learning about the culture, more modern practices and way of ...
(weternize) Catherine the great proceeded to finish what Peter the Great started; she made sure that by the end of her reign Russia was westernized. The enlightenment period had a huge impact in her decision making, by limiting the use of torture
Catherine II, or more commonly known as Catherine the Great, reigned over Russia with the ideas of Enlightenment. These ideas are best seen in her attempt at a new law code, the Nakaz. From reading the Nakaz, someone can see that Catherine saw the Enlightenment ideas of natural law, freedom, and liberty as the most important. The new law code was created not only to enforce the enlightenment ideas, but also to have a more concise law code for the people of Russia. Catherine argued that a trend towards Enlightenment of government would help connect Russia with the West. The creation of the Nakaz served as a way for Catherine to try and incorporate an enlightened view into her ruling.
Throughout history, women are often included as a side note to occurrences of their ages, most often seen as small and unimportant among patriarchs. Despite this shortcoming in historical documentations, some events do look more closely through the eyes of women. The French Revolution of the eighteenth century is one of these events. This investigation will be exploring the French Revolution, and asking: to what extent did women make an impact? In Thomas Streissguth’s book, Women of the French Revolution, he highlights several women of France, while also analyzing their contribution to the course of the revolution. With his book as a major source, the investigation will explore the topics of women’s riots and salons, individual women, and women as a whole.
Strage, Mark. Women of Power: The Life and Times of Catherine de’ Medici. New York: A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book, 1976. Print.
“‘La magnificence et la galanterie n’ont jamais paru en France avec tant d’éclat que dans les dernières annèes du règne de Henri second.’ (p. 35)... However, this image of classical perfection is quickly fractured by the mention of the event that guides the life of the court-the passion of Henry II for the Duchesse de Valentinois Later in the narrative, the heroine, like the reader, asks for further explanation for this unusual passion between a woman not only much older than the king, but one who, in addition to having been Henry’s father’s mistress, also has several other lovers..” (Judovitz, 1038-1039)
Before Peter the Great took control of Russia, it differed drastically from the states and societies that lye further west. During the seventeenth century, Russia was a highly firm and restricted society; one in which people did not have rights and/or control of their own lives. Around the area of Moscow, Peter inherited a huge territorial aggregation. At the time, Western Europe was sparsely populated, and the level of economic development was too low for European standards. It was practically impossible to give an accurate approximation of what the population in Russia actually was, but it was estimated to be around 10 to 12 million during the late seventeenth century. The government prior to Peter the Great was in effect of promising the landlords a secure supply of peasants by the extension of serfdom.
"How Tatiana De Rosnay Turned French History Into ‘Sarah’s Key’." Speakeasy RSS. N.p., 14 July 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.
Peter the Great, the most influential czar and military leader in Russian history, transformed his country from an almost medieval backwater region into one of the world's great powers at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Peter combined Western ideas with Russian tradition to modernize his country and to create a powerful army and navy. Born the only child of Czar Alexis and his second wife, Natalya Naryshkin, on June 9, 1672, in Moscow, Peter struggled with his half brothers and sisters for power after the czar's death. In 1689, following a series of political and military movements, Peter, at age seventeen, became the sole Russian authority. While celebrated mostly for his "Westernization" of Russia, Peter put most of his energy into achievements that related directly to the military and warfare. His reign of more than thirty-five years saw peace prevail for only a single year. During his first decade of rule, Peter grew from a gangly teenager into a formidable, robust figure at six and a half feet tall - a physical -development prelude of the growth and presence he would bring to Russia. Possessing a keen interest in military history and theories, Peter established two personal guard regiments to experiment with drills and to develop war games, enabling him to better understand his studies. The young Peter realized that land power alone could not establish Russian military might, and so he began an upgrade of his navy. In 1696, Peter, at only twenty-four years of age, launched an offensive against the Turks at Azov. That victory provided Russia access to the Black Sea. Despite this success, Peter knew that neither his armed forces nor his country as a whole compared favorable with the other European powers. Having assumed the throne of a country that had missed both the Renaissance and the Reformation, which left it nearly a century behind the rest of Europe in cultural and scientific developments, Peter was determined to understand how and why the Russians lagged behind their neighbors.In 1697-98, Peter traveled throughout Europe under a pseudonym and without his courtly trappings. He studied shipbuilding in Holland and England and observed gunnery practice in Prussia. Along the way he visited military and civilian schools, factories, and museums as well as military arsenals and installations. When Peter returned to Russia, he brought along Western educators, businessmen, and military personnel to serve as advisers.
The Romanov family story is one that ends in tragedy and mystery. The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for over 300 years coming to an end with Nicholas II. The book The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & The Fall of Imperial Russia, written by Candace Fleming, tells the story of Tsar Nicholas II of how he came to become the Tsar and fell trying to protect his family. Fleming tells the story of young Nicholas coming to power when his father, Alexander III, died and how ill-prepared Nicholas was to rule due to his father’s inferior teaching skills. The story goes on to Nicholas meeting his future wife, Alexandra, and how they had four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia. With each daughter came a disappointment of not having an heir
In the early stages of Catherine's life the surfacing modern age was bringing with it social turmoil which spread throughout Europe (Giordani 3). During Catherine's lifetime, according to Mary Ann Sullivan in her essay “St. Catherine of Siena,” the center of Catholic rule fluctuated between Rome and Avignon and contributed to a schism between popes in Italy and France (1). Catherine was born 23rd in a line of 25 children and, according to Sullivan “even at a young age, [she] sensed the troubled society around her and wanted to help” (1). While her parents were not exceptionally religious, St. Catherine's biographer Blessed Raymond of Capua discusses Catherine's early zeal for Catholic practices: “When she was about five she learned the Hail Mary, and repeated it over and over again as often as she could…she was inspired by heaven to address the Blessed Virgin in this way whenever she went up and down stairs, stopping to kneel on each step as she did so” (24). Her devotion to the Virgin Mary would become especially important in a vision she had around this time while walking with her brother to visit one of her sisters.
The future queen was raised like any other royal child. She received tutoring and did very well in music and languages. She spent some time in the care of her stepmother, Catherine Parr, after her father's death in 1547. Catherine made sure that Elizabeth was educated to the highest of standards. There was tension between Catherine and her new husband, Thomas Seymour, that led Elizabeth to return to the royal estate in Hatfield. Thomas Seymour was found guilty of conspiracy and executed. It was found out that he wanted to wed Elizabeth to gain power.
Catherine of Aragon was born on December 16th, 1485 and died on January 7th, 1536. Catherine was the first born daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Both of her parents later on funded Christopher Columbus’s long voyages to the New World in 1492. At a very, very young age of just 3 years old; Catherine was to be betrothed to Prince Arthur and married him when she turned 16, in the year 1501. Sadly, her husband died 5 months later and she acquired a very important title in her young life; the title of being the very First Woman to be an Ambassador of the Spanish Court in England. Soon after being the ambassador, Catherine was to be married to Arthur’s youngest brother, Henry VIII. Her title then went from being an ambassador, to a Princess, and finally to the highest title; a Queen. Catherine ruled England from 1509-1533 by the side of Henry. Catherine was painfully unaware of the fact that Henry was having an affair with his mistress; and soon to be wife, Anne Boleyn. The reason being for his infidelity was due to the fact that Catherine hadn’t p...
Saint Catherine was born in Siena, Italy on March 25, 1347. She was one of twenty-five children, and she had a twin but she died when she was just an infant. Her father, Giacomo di Benincasa, was a cloth dyer and her mother, Lapa Piagenti, was the daughter of a poet. Catherine grew up being a very happy child. It is reported that when she was around 6, she she had a vision of God. When she was 7, she vowed to give her whole life to God.
Many people see Queen Elizabeth II as just a queen but what most people don’t know is that she has countless qualities besides just being royalty. She was born as Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on April 21, 1926 in London. She has pretty much lived her whole life as a royal as she started her reign at the young age of 16 years old. Queen Elizabeth II has earned many titles and recognitions though out her reign. During her control, many have said that she has tried to make the British monarchy more modern and sensitive to the public.