Before Catherine I converted to the Orthodox Church, her name was Marta. In the Northern War, he became a prisoner of Russian troops near Marienpol, and soon got the favor of Peter I. After her husband died, with the support of the Guards, she was crowned the queen of the Russian Empire in 1725. But he did not participate in national politics, and the real power was in the hands of Mensh Chikov. According to the will of Peter the Great, the Russian Academy of Sciences was established (1726) and the Supreme Privy Council was established. A few days before his death, he signed a testament to Peter Alekseyevich Romanov.
екатеринаII Ekaterina II (1729- 1796), Queen of Russia (1762-/kloc)
If I live to be 200 years old, the whole of Europe will crawl at my feet-Catherine II.
If we don't agree to reduce cruelty and improve people's unbearable living conditions, sooner or later, they will do it by themselves regardless of our opposition. Catherine II
To govern a country as big as Russia, we can only use absolute monarchy, otherwise it is the worst policy. Catherine II
Yekaterina, formerly known as Sophia, was born in a small German duke's family. Since she was a child, she has traveled with her mother to many European cities and visited the courts of many German princes. However, the turning point of her fate occurred in 1744, when the Russian queen Yelisavita chose a wife for her heir Peter (later Peter III), and yekaterina was invited to the Russian court as a candidate.
When yekaterina and his mother's carriage galloped on the post road in the Eastern European plain, Catherine I might be full of expectations for the future. Being familiar with the court struggle since childhood, she obviously has enough psychological preparation for the complicated court life she will face in the future. After arriving in Moscow, yekaterina was quickly appointed as the spouse of the Crown Prince, but the next 18 years was not easy for her. Queen Jelisavita was cold and hot to her, which made her more miserable. Her husband Peter is a fragile, weak-willed and eccentric man. He dotes on his mistress and often humiliates yekaterina. During this period, yekaterina claimed that "no books, no pain, but never happiness", accumulated knowledge in books, and secretly organized a small group to bring her lover Gregory? The young guards officer, led by orlov's five brothers, became an iron fist to support her.
1762, Queen Yeli Savita died, and pregnant yekaterina dared not make a move, watching her husband and sworn enemy Peter ascend to the throne and become Tsar Peter III. After Peter III came to power, a series of jaw-dropping actions finally drove him to the wall. He ordered the Russian army, which had a good situation and was in sight of victory in the Seven-Year War, to stop fighting, withdraw from the occupied Prussian land and sign a peace treaty with King Frederick II of Prussia. Because he is an admirer of Frederick II, he is also prepared to "personally lead some troops and obey the command of Frederick II". At home, he hoped that Russians would convert to Lutheranism, declare the Orthodox Church a heretic and confiscate its property. In this way, people will naturally change their minds. With the help of orlov brothers and Cossack leader Razumovski, yekaterina staged a coup, successfully seized the throne and imprisoned Peter III. A few days later, Peter III died mysteriously. After 18 years of humiliation, yekaterina finally waited for this day and became the master of the largest empire in the world.
According to legend, Peter III died at the hands of yekaterina's favorite concubine Alexei orlov. On the night of Peter III's death, he looked flustered, with messy hair and tattered clothes. Maybe he took care of Peter III himself. On the other hand, in fact, yekaterina could have brought Peter's murderer to justice, so as to clear his suspicion and leave a good reputation. However, she didn't do this. Alexei orlov and others who made great contributions to her winning the throne died on the political stage for their own reputation. This also seems to reflect the other side of yekaterina's personality, that is, she has a manly mind and lofty sentiments, which she simply disdains. Since these people work for her, she has an obligation to protect them, promote them and share the fruits of victory with them. Perhaps this is the reason why a foreign women can ascend to the throne of the czar!
Catherine II's greatest achievement is Russia's foreign aggression and expansion, which is also her main influence on history. Including three partition of Poland, two wars against Turkey and one war against Sweden.
On the Polish issue, yekaterina adopted a step-by-step strategy. First, she manipulated the Polish election meeting in 1763 to help her lover poniatowski ascend to the Polish throne. 1772, Russia divided Poland with Prussia and Austria for the first time, and obtained a part of Belarus and Latvia. Polish patriots rebelled before their demise. 179 1 year, the Patriotic Party adopted the Constitution of May 3rd, announcing the abolition of the system of freely choosing the king and the right of free veto. As a result, Russia and Prussia jointly suppressed it. Yekaterina's army captured Warsaw, declared the Constitution invalid on May 3rd, and signed an agreement with Prussia to carve up Poland for the second time. Poland is a part of western Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. Under the bayonet of yekaterina's army, 1793, the last Polish parliament passed this trampled agreement in the form of "acquiescence". Yekaterina may want to keep a puppet kingdom for his lover, but 1794, Polish national salvation uprising surged. After the Polish uprising was suppressed by the United States and Austria, in order to avoid falling asleep, she decided to carve up Poland for the third time, so that the country completely disappeared from the map. Divided Poland three times, the greedy polar bear got more than 460,000 square kilometers of land.
During the reign of Peter the Great, he failed to realize his wish to let the Black Sea lead to the sea. Turkey has always been the number one enemy of Russia. However, the yekaterina-era war against Turkey went unexpectedly smoothly. 1768, under the provocation of Russia, Turkey declared war on Russia. Originally considered as a close contest, it shows Russia's one-sided advantage. It has won great victories in the Danube, Crimea, Caucasus and Aegean Sea. In the peace treaty of 1774, Turkey recognized the independence of the Crimean Khanate and the freedom of Russian merchant ships.
Turkey and Russia are preparing for war. 1787 War broke out again between the two countries. This time, suvorov led Russia, and Izmir wiped out more than 20,000 enemies in the First World War. Turkey once again signed a contract to cede the land between the South Bug River and the left bank of the Transnistrian River, and the Crimea region was forced to be ceded to Russia. Yekaterina was the biggest catalyst in the process that the once powerful Ottoman Turkish Empire became the sick man of West Asia.
There was another episode in the second Russian-Turkish war. Gustav, the Swedish "king of actors", tried to attack the Russian Baltic fleet and was defeated. Sweden, Poland and Turkey have always been the three main targets of Russia's expansion in Europe, and they won a great victory in the period of Catherine II.
Looking at the greatly expanded Russian territory, yekaterina said with great pride: "If I can live to be 200 years old, the whole of Europe will crawl at my feet!"
Yekaterina read many works of western European enlightenment thinkers in his early years. In that era of popular "enlightened autocracy", she also made herself a fashionable suitor. After she acceded to the throne, she corresponded closely with Voltaire and sponsored Diderot, the representative of the Encyclopedia School. She founded various schools, advocated literary creation, adopted encouraging policies for the development of capitalist industry and commerce, and lifted trade restrictions. However, after sitting on the throne of czar autocracy, her thoughts gradually changed.
1773, the peasant uprising led by pugachev disguised as Tsar Peter III, after more than a year of repression, did not occupy a big city with strategic significance, but it still made her feel a great threat. She further strengthened centralization, such as changing the three-level system of "province, state and county" to the two-level system of "province and county", giving the nobles more and more power. 1787 promulgated the imperial edict of Russian nobility, freedom and privilege, which is a concentrated expression, so she is called the "noble queen". In this regard, although it is beneficial to consolidate the rule in the short term, in the long run, it intensifies the contradiction between aristocratic serf owners and serfs, and the exploitation and oppression suffered by serfs further deepens. Serfdom has always been a major problem in Russian society. Catherine II aggravated it and pushed this thorny problem to her descendants to solve.
On the other hand, by giving more freedom to the aristocrats, the advanced elements among them can fully contact with the liberal ideas of western Europe, which opens a door for Russia's modernization. The first cry of Russia to overthrow the czar's autocracy and serfdom came from the progressive aristocrats.
It is said that yekaterina is very romantic. Among her lovers is Gregory? Orlov, potemkin and poniatowski, but she doesn't admit that she is dissolute and shameless.
In a word, Catherine II's influence on history is mainly reflected in the change of territory. She made Poland perish, Turkey rapidly declined, and at the same time made Russia strong, and its ruling power further approached the heart of Europe.