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Mar. 29, 2005 One of the most interesting figures in Russian history was Tsarina Ekaterina II, Empress Catherine the Great (1729-1796). She was born Sophia Augusta Frederika, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst. Anhalt-Zerbst, now in Poland, was essentially a German principality in those times, when Germany was fragmented into dozens of small countries. She assumed the name Catherine when, in 1744, she married the man who would become Tsar Pyotr (Peter) III. This marriage was arranged by Peter’s mother, Tsarina Elizaveta. At the time of her marriage, Catherine assumed residency in Russia, adopted the Russian Orthodox faith, and began to learn the Russian language. Catherine the Great’s biographers always describe her as very beautiful, though extant portraits of her do not seem to bear out that description, but most of them date from her maturity. Perhaps as a young woman she was beautiful, or perhaps her beauty was merely a legend originating in courtly flattery. Here is a specimen. http://www.pickens.k12.sc.us/dhsteachers/instructional_staff/wilsonwe/catherine%20the%20great.jpg Tsar Peter, her husband, who ascended the throne on December 25, 1761, was sexually impotent and retarded. When he left Russia to oversee a campaign in Denmark, Catherine would not allow him back in the country unless he abdicated. He was thus deposed and imprisoned. On July 7, 1762, he was assassinated by Count Alexei Orlov, at one time a favorite of Empress Catherine. There is some doubt concerning whether Catherine instigated the regicide. In this way, a German woman conquered the Russian Empire and went on to become one of the greatest figures in Russian history. Russia has fought eleven wars with Turkey, between 1676 and 1918, and two of them during the reign of Catherine the Great. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1668-1674, victorious Russia gained control of Crimea, the peninsula on the north shore of the Black Sea, now in the Ukraine. After that conquest, Catherine encouraged settlers to populate the region and invested sums of money for development. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792, Sultans Mustafa III and Selim III were again defeated by Catherine, and the annexation of Crimea confirmed. During the reign of Catherine, Poland ceased to exist as an independent country. Three tripartite partitions of Polish lands were effectuated by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795. Thus Catherine added quite a bit of territory to the Russian Empire. Enpress Catherine was a brilliant woman and considered herself a philosopher as well as an empress. She corresponded regularly with Voltaire, the great French philosopher, deist and spearhead of the Enlightenment. She embraced many of the ideals of freedom of thought and speech that were in vogue in France at that time, not foreseeing that all this liberty and license would lead to the French Revolution of 1789, which was the death knell of the French monarchy. At that time, she began to rethink the ideas she had gotten from Voltaire and distanced herself somewhat from the Enlightenment. She died of a stroke in 1706, and was succeeded by her son Pavel (Paul) I. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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