History of Russia Lectures for technical students. Part 1. Учебное пособие

rine II Saint-Petersburg was rebuilt and became one of the most beautiful and cultural centers in Europe.

The Empire was expanded in almost every direction: from Eastern Europe to Alaska America's Pacific Northwest. The territory of Russia was increased greatly from 11 to 50 provinces. The population grew in some times. She founded 144 cities and towns – more than 4 city a year. Catherine reign was supreme: she pursued reform, promoted local government, opened schools and universities. She encouraged Russian elites to challenge tradition. The entire Russian elite felt as though they were having a honeymoon period with the Empress because they finally discovered that they had an Empress who spoke the same language as they did, the language of the Enlightenment, who had the same goals as they did. Catherine made Russia a state based on law not based on personal rule and the elite applauded the Empress. In 1762 in the age of enlightenment philosophers and writers heralded the rights of man, the belief that reason could perfect human society. Catherine saw herself as a priestess of the liberal movement. The rights of man were confronted by the Empress Catherine with a dangerous paradox for Russia where the economy was built on the slave labor of the serfs Human Rights were an explosive ideal.

It was enormous staff between sections of educated society and peasant’s population. Russia became increasingly difficult to govern. Catherine’s high ideals didn’t apply to peasants but empress knew her power depended on the loyalty of the nobility. So emancipation of serves would be undermine and perhaps dispossessed the aristocracy which would bring her own downfall.

Catherine II attempted to increase Russian territory at the weaker neighbors (Poland and Ottoman Empire). She sent troops to help Polish King for suppressing revolt and supporting Russian influence there. War of 1768-1774 against Turkey resulted in bringing Southern Ukraine, the Northern Caucasus and the Crimea. In this war Turks formed an alliance with the polish opposition, Russia was supported by Great Britain. In

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1772 Austria and Russia annexed Polish territory during the First Partition of Poland. After long-lasting negotiations, 2 years later, Catherine wrote down the peace with Turkey. Russia received a territorial concession on the Black Sea coast. Russian merchant ships could sail in the Black Sea.

With Austria’s support Catherine began to conduct so aggressive policy which led to a new war (1787). Russian army totally defeated Turkish army after four years. Result of it was a large territory on the Black Sea coast and annexation The Crimean Peninsula. Polish nationalists started revolt against Russian influence in Poland. But after the Second and The Third partitions of Poland Polish state was divided into parts between Russia, Prussia and Austria and Poland didn’t exist anymore.

In villages along the Volga, the peasants took matters in their own hands. In 1773 Cossack and army deserter – Emelian Pugachev proclaimed himself as Catharine’s dead husband – Peter the third and tried to get power. Pugachev settled up a court and started issuing edicts. He promised to give freedom the serfs and divide up the land. So this was quite revolutionary and attractive for many parts of the population. After a year the rebellion gripped the Volga River basin. Many people followed Pugachev to Moscow from the South. The rebels murdered hated landowners and sacked their homes. Catherine sent Russian army headed by A. Suvorov against Pugachev and forces of rebellions were defeated. In 1774 the Pretender was captured, brought to court in an iron cage, interrogated and executed. His peasant revolt died with him. After this Catherine renamed the river Yaik (the center of Cossak revolt) into the Ural. The revolt was a major landmark in Catherine’s reign. She concluded to strengthen local authority.

Human rights ended for Catherine where they threatened her absolute rule. It's been said by people who were in her entourage that she developed a fear of the common people and conviction that it was much too early to free the serves. Like Tsar Peter the Great Catherine was committed to reform. There's a very clear logic in Russian expansion. Terri-

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torial expansion brings aristocracy many benefits. The state itself is a sort of deal between the tsar and the aristocracy and both of them gain tremendously from expansion.

Catherine knew that one territorial goal had always tantalized the tsars to expand – shores of the Black sea. Seizing the Black sea coast from the Ottoman Empire would become the Tsarina's enduring obsession. In 1768 Catherine's army marched to the years of warfare with Ottoman Turks and their allies. She could not be a general in the field, but she paid a lot of attention to the armed forces made sure that they were loyal to her; she gave them all sorts of favors. One victorious commander in the Turkish campaigns was Gregoriy Potemkin, he had special favor of the Empress. Soon his positioning eclipsed old favorite Gregoriy Orlov. Potemkin was tall, one-eyed; he lost an eye in the battle, greasy, brutish. All those qualities repulsed most women and he was satisfying the Empress. Potemkin gained a lot of power in the Empire. The moody battlescarred warrior became the Empress's closest advisor and the great love of her life. He was awarded chambers in the Winter Palace and for years he could be seen roaming about in the halls at night. It appeared that they had a very passionate affair and may have been secretly married.

Catherine used someone who grew into a great statesman. One of the great statesman and all of Russian history was G. Potemkin. Potemkin enlisted in Russian-Turkish war and planned of dismembering of the Ottoman Empire. The first step was conquering the strategic Black Sea Peninsula – the Crimea. The Crimea dominated over the Black Sea, controlling of it would give Russia a commanding southern stronghold. In 1784 Russia officially took control of the Peninsula. The Empress gave Potemkin the title of the Prince of the Crimea to show her gratitude. After 20 years on the throne the Empress Catherine have realized age-old dream of the tsars. Russia got the Crimea and became leading Black sea power.

Catherine unveiled a monument to Peter the Great in the heart of St. Petersburg. The Magnificent Bronze Horseman became a symbol of her

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legitimacy, one more link in the chain between a German princess and the dynasty of the Romanovs. She wanted to make clear to them that she was going to follow the kind of policy that Peter the Great had that Russia was going to be great again and she actually was offered the title of the great in the first year of her reign and she rejected and said this is absurd, this is only something that posterity can decide. Catherine now considered herself truly Russian. Once when doctors came to bleed the Empress she joked that she hoped they would drain the last drop of her German blood.

At the end Catherine’s legacy was shaped by blood, blood in the streets of Paris over a thousand miles away, the blood of the French Revolution. The Empress Catherine of Russia entered the last decade of the 18th century, as the most powerful woman on Earth. Her dominions stretched from Poland to Alaska. She ruled nearly 30 million nobles, commoners and serves with the formed hand and formed face with progress and reform. Catherine introduced public participation in government in a way that had never occurred before in Russian history and thereby laid the foundations for what is called today a civil society. She is one of the greatest monarchs of the 18th century, one of the greatest monarchs in Russia and perhaps one of the greatest monarchs of all time. But the Empress was powerless to affect history a continent away. In 1793 revolutionary terror claimed the life of Louis XVI King of France. For Catherine his execution was a crime against God's will. She saw Louis XVI beheaded and she started doubting that the enlightenment ideals may have resulted in all of this, so she became panicked by the French revolution. In 1796 the revolution flooded out of France as the army of the French Republic, marched into Italy led by a brilliant young commander Napoleon Bonaparte and made his entrance of the grand stage of history.

67 years old Catherine knew her own exit from history was not far off. She was adamant that her Empire would continue to be led by her heir. By law Catherine could choose who would be her heir on the throne.

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Tsarevitch Paul, her son, was born from her murdered husband Peter, was not necessarily first choice. Catherine was afraid of Paul. She saw dangerous qualities in him. He was a cruel, unstable, dangerous person and he asked a lot of questions about what had happened with his father and why his mother on the throne was and that made him dangerous to Catherine. Tsarevich was unwelcomed and uncomfortable in his mother's court, he devoted his life to drilling his Prussian style battalions. In Catherine's eyes the best thing which Paul did was to breed children particularly his firstborn the Grand Duke Alexander.

Alexander was a favorite grandson of Catherine. Alexander had a difficult interesting childhood and adolescence. He was in a sense stock between his grandmother the Empress Catherine and his father. Alexander had to be pretending to both of them that he sympathized with both sides and that bread in him a certain caution a certain tendency always to be charming to everyone, to make everybody believe that he agreed with them. Catherine had the finest of liberal scholars tutor for Alexander whom taught him enlightenment ideals. His father Paul taught him to be a military drill master.

As Catherine faced mortality the question of her successor – her son or her grandson – became actual. In 1796 (November the 5) the Empress was paralyzed by a stroke. The following night the German princess who ruled the Russian empire for 34 years was dead. Some historians claim that her son Paul search Catherine's chambers before the body was cold and burned any papers that threatened his right to be crowned. Tsar Paul the first wasted no time taking revenge on his mother. He dug out the corpse of his father Peter III, put him in a coffin and placed him right next to her at the funeral, so that they would be eternally together which he just thought with a divine joke.

Part II

Catherine used to say that she arrived in Russia without a dowry. That is not quite true. She did bring a dowry: her German sense of time. “In

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the immensity of Russia, a year is no more than a day”, – Catherine once wrote. For Catherine a day became the equivalent of a Russian gentleman’s week, so thoroughly did she fill it. Not a moment was lost. Up at seven every morning, she consistently worked a ten-hour day and six-day week. It was no affectation that made her choose as her emblem the bee, and the motto “Utility”– to Russia, of course.

The second element in Catherine’s success was the ability to choose able men. “Search for true merit”, she wrote in a memo to herself, “be it at the other end of the world, for usually it is modest and rearing”. By true merit Catherine meant an honest man who worked as hard as she did. Catherine, who was young when she came to the throne, chose young helpers such as brothers Orlovs, Nikita Panin, Prince Repnin. This element of youth helps to explain the energy of her reign.

How did Catherine treat her helpers? Giovanni Casanova, who had 4 conversations with the Empress in 1765 and was something of a connoisseur of women, noticed that Catherine was sweet and affable and held back her knowledge: ”she seemed to know less than she did. With these qualities and her undemanding manner, she could demand more than Frederick of Prussia and obtain this”. Catherine put the same thing slightly differently: “My first principle in dealing with men is to make them believe that they want to do what I tell them to do”. Catherine kept her chosen men: “When I have given someone a post unless he commits a crime he is sure of keeping it. Should he prove incompetent, I work with one of his deputies, but I will not disgrace him, for the initial fault would have been mine, not his”.

Under Elizabeth, imperial orders were so slowly carried out that the expression “they are waiting for the third ukase” had almost come to be a proverb, because the first and the second were never complied with.

Catherine facilitated her helpers’ task by restoring respect for the imperial ukase.

Empress Catherine got up at seven, but if she had a lot to do, at five thirty. Catherine’s breakfast consisted of a cup of black coffee without

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anything to eat. She said her morning prayers and than sat at her desk to begin works. Some rulers, such as Napoleon, feel the need to speak their thoughts to secretaries; others prefer to write their thoughts down by themselves, to this category Catherine belonged. In the early morning she drafted ukases, directives, projects, and memorandum: these she passed to a secretary who corrected misspellings. She wrote letters in her own hand to provincial governors, ambassadors, generals, admirals. She conducted much of her foreign policy by letters, writing to her fellow sovereigns, especially Frederick of Prussia, who over a period of 24 years received 180 letters from Catherine. Always her pen was busy, if she had no one special to write to she would write little memorandum to herself.

In mid-morning Catherine began to receive the men who helped her to govern. Each came on a specified day, made his report and presented problems. Catherine discussed the difficulties and usually asked for his advice.

Catherine had dinner at 2 usually with a number of invited guests, in the company of her son Paul and G. Orlov. The food in St. Petersburg was accounted very well, though expensive, by foreign residents: there was caviar, oysters, a variety of fish, woodcock, duck, hare, plentiful fruit, and sour cream with everything. Only cheese was lacking. Catherine ate little and was not especially fond of delicacies. She liked best of all a dish from her girlhood: salt pork and pickled cabbage and for dessert sour milk flavored with nutmeg. She drunk moderately: sometimes a glass of wine diluted with water, sometimes water and red current juice.

Catherine’s health improved when she became Empress and continued good during the first half of her reign. But she did suffer from severe headaches of 2 kinds: one accompanied by spasms and vomiting – which she attributed to wind; the other followed by a deep lethargy.

In the afternoon Catherine either returned to her desk or undertook a public engagement, such as visiting the State porcelain works or initiating a new project (a school, a canal and so on). “It seems to me closely linked with creation, and creation has always appealed to me”. She liked

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Russia and said: “Only in Russia I’m good for something”. Catherine disliked the military parade which had so thrilled her husband and when she drove out her carriage had no military guard, only the footmen behind. She positively hated wigs, so that the wig went out of fashion at court. Cosmetics she rarely wore, so that among the Court ladies, their cheeks painted red in Russian style, she stood out by her paleness.

Catherine usually went for a walk in the garden. Then supper came, a light meal which she sometimes skipped. After supper Empress relaxed with a few close friends. She could amuse friends with her imitations of animals and of a cat’s concert. She liked whist and often gave evening whist parties. Empress was very particular about getting full nights sleep, and unless there was some important celebration the light went out in the palace soon after 10 o’clock.

On Sundays Empress attended Mass. Like an ordinary worshipper, she stood during the 2-hour ceremony. She was moving towards a typically XVIII th-century belief in progress, in particular progress for Russia, and she saw herself as being helped by Providence to forward the wellbeing of the Russian people. On Sundays Catherine had time for her pleasures. Reading was her favorite. She read books on Russian history, agricultural books, geological reports, the latest journals of navigators and explorers, and even a code of Danish laws. One of Empress’s few outdoor activities in winter was going for ride on the Toboggan Hills constructed by Elizabeth midway between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. When she went for her Sunday walk, Catherine took with her Sir Tom, an English whippet whose correct name was Tom Anderson. She was devoted to Sir Tom, knitted him a woolen blanket and allowed him to sleep in her bedroom.

TASKS

1. Answer the following questions:

1.What was German dowry of Catherine II?

2.Could she choose able men for her policy?

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3.Why was Catherine able to get power?

4.Why did she become as great as Peter I?

5.Was she devoted mother for her son Paul?

6.Why was her life-style simple but working day – hard? What hobbies did she have?

2.Watch video “History of Russian Empire” (Matteo Zilli, part

12-13 of 20) and summarize new information.

3.Topics for writing essay.

1.Relations of Catherine with her son Paul.

2.Catherine's contribution to the development of Russia.

3.Russia accepted Catherine II as its Empress.

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LECTURE 7. SUCCESSORS OF CATHERINE

THE GREAT: PAUL AND ALEXANDER

After Catherine’s death in 1796 Paul rushed out a decree that only the males of the Romanov’s line were fit to were the Russian crown. Paul had been eager to have power for more than 20 years and it was the reason that he made such a mess of things, because he was a man in a hurry, always felt that he didn't have much time left so he had to do everything overnight.

Paul reversed policy without reason. New Emperor directed every element of Russian life: from the way how people dressed to what they were allowed to do at funeral or wedding. Rumors of a coup to put Alexander on the throne began after Paul's coronation. Alexander was approached by many members of Russian elite about the need to get rid of his father and Alexander himself recognized that his father was proving to be quite erratic, quite capricious. Paul became convinced he was a target for assassination. He built a palace like a fortress with a moat in St. Petersburg. He moved in before the plaster was dry and placed his son Alexander under home arrest. Within days the crew plotters was on the move. At night of March 11, 1801 influential man from the inner circle of court swept the guards at Paul’s palace-fortress. The conspirators found a tsar hiding in his bedroom, scuffle turned into a deadly roll.

Plotters told Alexander that Paul would simply be pushed aside and Alexander persuaded himself. But you couldn't have a retired tsar sitting in some palace of Petersburg waiting for the next coup against. Alexander had no part in the plot but he did nothing to stop it.

Under Alexander I it was difficult to know in what direction Russia would go: he couldn't make that decision. As Alexander wavered about

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