On a frosty winter morning on February 12, 1744, bypassing the border barrier of the city of Riga, a carriage with two women drove into the territory of the Russian Empire. One of them was the wife of the sovereign German prince of Anh alt-Zerbst, Johann Elisabeth. Sitting next to her was her fifteen-year-old daughter, Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anh alt-Zerbst, the future Russian empress and autocrat Catherine 2, who earned the title of Great for her deeds. One of the brightest pages of national history is associated with the name of this woman.
Russia inherited
The era of the reign of Catherine II began with a palace coup on June 28, 1762, as a result of which only yesterday a modest and inconspicuous German princess, who received the name Catherine in Orthodoxy, took the place of her extremely unpopular husband, Emperor Peter III.
As Catherine II testified in her memoirs, Russia, which she inherited from the former Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, needed fundamental reforms of her entire way of life. Salaries were not paid in the army, since the treasury was extremely depleted. AbsenceThe correct organization of the state economy led to the decline of trade, since its main branches were monopolized.
Serious problems were observed in the military and naval departments. Corruption among government officials, which every year was becoming increasingly large, made itself felt with particular acuteness. Bribery permeated the judiciary, and the laws were enforced only when it was to the benefit of the rich and powerful.
Outstanding figures of the Catherine era
As a statesman of the highest rank, Catherine 2 possessed a very valuable quality - the ability to catch any sensible thought, and then implement it for her own purposes. The empress selected people who were part of her inner circle based on their business qualities, without being afraid of talented and bright personalities. Thanks to this, the era of the reign of Catherine 2 was marked by the appearance of a whole galaxy of outstanding statesmen, military leaders, writers, musicians and artists. It was the conditions created during this period that helped to fully reveal their abilities.
Pushkin - G. Derzhavin. Along with them, we should also mention those who stood at the origins of Russian musical culture - these are the composer, teacher and conductor D. Bortnyansky, the outstanding violinist Ivan Khandoshkin, as well as the founder of the RussianNational Opera V. Pashkevich.
Action Program
The history of the era of Catherine II was formed on the basis of tasks, the scope of which the Empress outlined for herself as follows:
- Maximum effort should be made to enlighten the nation she has fallen to rule.
- To streamline public life, it is necessary to instill in society respect for existing laws.
- To maintain internal order in the state, it is important to create a police force that meets all the necessary requirements.
- It is necessary to promote the prosperity of the country's economy and abundance in it.
- It is necessary to increase the combat capability of the army in every possible way, and thus raise the authority of Russia in the face of other states.
Start of implementation of plans
The whole era of Catherine II was the period of implementation of these plans. The very next year after coming to power, the empress carried out a Senate reform, which made it possible to greatly increase the efficiency of public administration. As a result of the changes made to the work of this authority, the senate, divided into 6 separate departments, and having lost the functions of managing the state apparatus, became the highest judicial and administrative institution.
Secularization of church lands
It is known that during the reign of Catherine II, Russia became the scene of a large-scale action to seize (secularize) and transfer church lands to the state fund. The need for such actions, which met with a very ambiguous response in society, was caused by the desire by all meansfill the state budget deficit.
As a result of the measures taken, about 500 monasteries were abolished, which made it possible to transfer 1 million serf souls to state ownership. Due to this, significant funds began to flow into the treasury. In a short time, the government paid off its debt to the army and managed to ease the general economic crisis. One of the consequences of this process was also a significant weakening of the influence of the church on the life of secular society.
Law reform attempt
The era of Catherine II was also marked by an attempt to raise the structure of Russia's internal life to a higher level. The empress believed that most of the injustices in the state could be overcome by legal means, by developing a set of laws that would meet the interests of all sections of society. It was supposed to replace the obsolete Cathedral Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, adopted in 1649.
To implement the plan, in 1767 the Legislative Commission was created, consisting of 572 deputies representing the nobility, merchants and Cossacks. The empress herself joined in her work. Having carefully studied the works of Western thinkers, she compiled a document called "The Order of Empress Catherine", which consisted of 20 chapters, divided into 526 articles.
It emphasized the need for a class structure of the state and the creation of conditions in it that ensure a strong autocratic power. In addition, many issues were considered, both legal and purely moral.character. Unfortunately, these works did not bring the expected result. After working for two years, the Commission was unable to develop the necessary code of laws, since all its members stood guard only for their narrow interests and privileges.
Reform of the territorial division of the state
It is worth mentioning another important undertaking undertaken by Catherine II. The era of absolutism in all countries of the world without exception was characterized by rigid centralized power. In order to ensure it more effectively in Russia, the Empress undertook a new administrative division of the state in 1775.
From now on, the entire territory of the country consisted of 50 provinces, 300-400 thousand inhabitants each, which, in turn, were divided into counties with a population of 20 to 30 thousand people. This contributed not only to the exercise of control over the life of all, even the most remote regions of the country, but also to a more accurate accounting of taxable souls, that is, persons subject to taxation.
Extension of noble privileges
The era of Catherine II was a very favorable period for the Russian nobles. In 1785, a document was published, developed by the Empress and called the "Charter to the Nobility". Based on this set of privileges, formalized in the form of law, representatives of the upper class were sharply separated from the rest of the population of the country.
They were guaranteed exemption from paying taxes and compulsory public service, as it had been established since the time of Peter 1. Criminal and civil caseswere subject to consideration only by a special noble court, and it was forbidden to apply corporal punishment to them. According to the empress, this was supposed to contribute to the eradication of servile psychology among the nobles and to instill in them self-esteem.
The Empress is the enlightener of the people
Russia in the era of Catherine II took a big step forward on the path of public education. As a result of another state reform, the system of secondary education was put into practice. Within its framework, a number of closed educational institutions began to operate throughout Russia, among which were educational houses, noble and city schools, as well as institutes for noble maidens. In addition, classless two-year county and four-year city schools have become widespread in the provinces. As a result of the development of teaching methods for various disciplines, unified training plans were introduced.
The era of enlightenment of Catherine 2 is also memorable for the creation of a system of women's education. It began with the opening in St. Petersburg in 1764 of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens and the creation of an Educational Society for them. From now on, young noblewomen were required not only to speak several foreign languages, but also to study a number of academic disciplines.
During the reign of Catherine II, the Russian Academy of Sciences, having risen to an unprecedented height, took a leading place in Europe. On its basis, a physics cabinet and an observatory, a botanical garden and a cabinet of curiosities, an anatomic altheater and an extensive library. Thus, the culture of the era of Catherine II created a solid foundation for the further development of scientific thought in Russia.
Good deeds of the Empress
Under Catherine II, who rightfully deserved the title of the Great, there was progress in all areas of life. The population of the country has significantly increased, which is an indisputable evidence of the improvement in the lives of its citizens. As a result, hundreds of new towns and villages appeared. Industry and agriculture received an unprecedented impetus in their development, as a result of which Russia began to export bread for the first time. All this gave a significant increase in income, which made it possible to increase the treasury by 4 times.
The name of the Empress is also associated with such two important events in Russian history as the appearance of paper money and the beginning of vaccination against smallpox, and Catherine, in order to set an example for others, was the first to allow herself to be vaccinated. Since then, the prevention of this terrible disease, which claimed thousands of lives, has been carried out regularly.
Expansion of Russian territory
The merits of Catherine the Great in expanding the country's borders are indisputable. During the years of her reign, wars were fought twice with the Ottoman Empire (1768-1774 and 1787-1791). As a result of the victories won, Russia was able to secure access to the Black Sea and include in its composition the territories that were called Little Russia. These included the Crimea, the Northern Black Sea region, and the Kuban region. In 1783, Russia took Georgia under its citizenship.
The era of Catherine 2was also marked by events related to the division of the Commonwe alth. As a result of active hostilities that took place in 1772, 1793 and 1795, Russia again included lands that had been taken away from it in former times by the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. These include Western Belarus, Volyn, Lithuania and Courland.
Strengthening serfdom
At the same time, it should be noted that the period of the reign of Catherine II was marked by such a negative phenomenon as even greater enslavement of the peasants. Despite the fact that, being an enlightened person and thinking at the European level, the empress understood the perniciousness of serfdom, and even worked on a project to abolish it, she was forced to submit to a tradition that had been established for centuries.
Even in the first days of her reign, Catherine issued a decree demanding from the peasants complete and unquestioning obedience to the landowners. Under her rule, the practice of distributing land, together with the peasants living on it, became the property of favorites, and also as a reward for excellence in public service.
At the same time, the very form of exploitation of the peasants became tougher. It is known, in particular, that for those of them who paid the owner dues (they were mainly residents of the northern regions of Russia, where agriculture is inefficient), the amount collected doubled. At the same time, the position of the peasants, who were obliged to work out the corvée on the landlords' lands, worsened. If before their work was limited to three days a week, now this rule has been abolished, and everything depended on the arbitrariness of the owner.
Reaction to such oppression were uprisings that periodically flared up in different parts of the country, the largest of which was the peasant war led by Emelyan Pugachev, which engulfed the Urals and the Volga region in the period 1773–1775
Epilogue
Having completed her thirty-four-year reign, the Empress passed away on November 17, 1796. However, this did not end the era of palace coups in Russia. Catherine 2 left behind her heir to the throne - her son Paul, who was crowned on April 16, 1797 and killed by the conspirators 4 years later.
