Peter was her second cousin. [28] From 1762, the Great Imperial Crown was the coronation crown of all Romanov emperors until the monarchy's abolition in 1917. After the death of the Empress Elizabeth on 5 January 1762 (OS: 25 December 1761), Peter succeeded to the throne as Emperor Peter III, and Catherine became empress consort. They often became trusted advisors who she then promoted into positions of authority. When Sophie arrived in Russia in 1744, she spared no effort to ingratiate herself not only with Empress Elizabeth but with her husband and with the Russian people as well. Although the government knew that Judaism existed, Catherine and her advisers had no real definition of what a Jew is because the term meant many things during her reign. Does Catherine Sedgwick's Use Of The Rhetorical Appeals In Dog How Did Catherine the Great's Husband Die - Did Catherine the Great In 1787, Catherine conducted a triumphal procession in the Crimea, which helped provoke the next Russo-Turkish War.[35]. This second lost pregnancy was also attributed to Saltykov; Born at the Winter Palace, officially he was a son of Peter III but in her memoirs, Catherine implies very strongly that Saltykov was the biological father of the child. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. For Latin Empress, see, Partitions of PolishLithuanian Commonwealth. Her mother was Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. K. D. Bugrov, "Nikita Panin and Catherine II: Conceptual aspect of political relations". When Catherine agreed to the First Partition of Poland, the large new Jewish element was treated as a separate people, defined by their religion. However, military conscription and the economy continued to depend on serfdom, and the increasing demands of the state and of private landowners intensified the exploitation of serf labour. While this was considered a controversial method at the time, she succeeded. [117] In later years, Catherine amended her thoughts. Those in a position to smear her reputation were men. [125] Some of these men loved her in return, and she always showed generosity towards them, even after the affair ended. In the same year, Catherine issued the Charter of the Towns, which distributed all people into six groups as a way to limit the power of nobles and create a middle estate. This is why some serfs were able to do things such as to accumulate wealth. [19] In the first version of her memoirs, edited and published by Alexander Hertzen, Catherine strongly implied that the real father of her son Paul was not Peter, but rather Saltykov.[20]. [33][34], The Russian victories procured access to the Black Sea and allowed Catherine's government to incorporate present-day southern Ukraine, where the Russians founded the new cities of Odessa, Nikolayev, Yekaterinoslav (literally: "the Glory of Catherine"), and Kherson. In 1769, a last major CrimeanNogai slave raid, which ravaged the Russian held territories in Ukraine, saw the capture of up to 20,000 slaves. [102], However, in accord with her anti-Ottoman policy, Catherine promoted the protection and fostering of Christians under Turkish rule. The monarch was succeeded by her son,. [86] She believed a 'new kind of person' could be created by inculcating Russian children with European education. There's no question Catherine was behind the coup that led to her husband's overthrow and her eventual coronation as Empress Yekaterina Alekseyevna Romanova, aka Catherine II. By the end of her reign, 50 provinces and nearly 500 districts were created, government officials numbering more than double this were appointed, and spending on local government increased sixfold. The nobles were imposing a stricter rule than ever, reducing the land of each serf and restricting their freedoms further beginning around 1767. Paper notes were issued upon payment of similar sums in copper money, which were also refunded upon the presentation of those notes. She avoided force and tried persuasion (and money) to integrate Muslim areas into her empire. Kamenskii A. The attitude of the serfs toward their autocrat had historically been a positive one. Besides her native German, Sophie became fluent in French, the lingua franca of European elites in the 18th century. [153], Empress Catherine's correspondence with Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Wrttemberg, (the father of Catherine's daughter-in-law Maria Feodorovna) written between 1768 and 1795, is preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart (Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart) in Stuttgart, Germany.[154]. Because the Moscow Foundling Home was not established as a state-funded institution, it represented an opportunity to experiment with new educational theories. A poor student who felt a stronger allegiance to his home country of Prussia than Russia, the heir spent much of his time indulging in various vicesand unsuccessfully working to paint himself as an effective military commander. Catherine The Great: Who was her husband? How did he really die? Publicly, Catherine evinced an air of charm, wit and self-deprecation. Still, there was a start of industry, mainly textiles around Moscow and ironworks in the Ural Mountains, with a labour force mainly of serfs, bound to the works. Her enemies, however, saw things differently. Jerzy Lojek, "Catherine II's Armed Intervention in Poland: Origins of the Political Decisions at the Russian Court in 1791 and 1792. Her foreign policy lacked a long-term strategy and from the very start was characterised by a series of mistakes. Rumour and degrading slander became the weapon by which they would take jabs at her legacy. She called Potemkin for help mostly military and he became devoted to her. Rumours of Catherine's private life had a small basis in the fact that she took many young lovers, even in old age. Taxes doubled again for those of Jewish descent in 1794, and Catherine officially declared that Jews bore no relation to Russians. With Peter out of the picture, Catherine was able to consolidate power from a position of strength. [102], In 1762, to help mend the rift between the Orthodox church and a sect that called themselves the Old Believers, Catherine passed an act that allowed Old Believers to practise their faith openly without interference. Catherine I Of Russia Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life Russians continue to admire Catherine, the German, the usurper and profligate, and regard her as a source of national pride. And if you can't find enough dirt to your satisfaction, make stuff up. in by H. M. Scott, ed., Romanovs. While the nobility provided appreciable amounts of money for these institutions, they preferred to send their own children to private, prestigious institutions. [CDATA[// >