How Did Catherine II Changed Russia

From 1856 onwards the aim of turning Russia from a once agrarian, illiterate and backwards country and into a political superpower was set. A multitude of developments began with Nicholas II being a catalyst of change for the Russian people. Writers of Marxist Russia such as Joan Hasler1 however believe that the Tsars abdication merely prevented revolution happening for a few years. The significance of his abdication caused demands for a new and improved governmental structure to be in place in order to get Russia back on its feet after the devastating defeat in world war one. New political developments took place after the abdication of the Tsar including a new improved Duma who quickly realised they had little trust and loyalty to the tsar and decided to take it upon themselves to improves Russia on their own. Nearing the end of the Romanov dynasty there were 3 new political groups aiming to rule Russia, the duma, the Bolsheviks and the soviets which alone gives us significant evidence that the Tsars reign and abdication created a significant turning point in the political development 1856-1964.

Over the period of 67 years, Catherine the Great- a former Empress of Russia in the 1700’s- used various methods in order to implement foreign policy unto her nation and the nations around her. Her accomplishments in foreign policy not only caused drastic changes in her own country for her own people, but also in surrounding countries and their people. The most impressive and life-altering achievement of Catherine the Great, was the way in which she intelligently and manipulatively went about her way in seizing control over one-third of Poland. Catherine II first began her rule in the year 1762, with the help and advocacy of multiple allies, some of which included the supportive countries of; Austria, England, and France. (Erikson 187)

The speaker is Baron de Breteuil, a French diplomat from Moscow. The speaker is credible because even though he acknowledges how certain aspects of her reign will flourish and how her passion proves useful in Russian society, he does mention negative vices that will inflict havoc upon her sovereignty and ultimately lead to internal faults in her empire.

Eloquent, brilliant, unorthodox, poise, and loyal – all of these unique characteristics allowed Dashkova to gain the highest regard among the members of the elite society and more importantly, to earn the respect of Catherine the Great. Dashkova is a peculiar female character. She’s fully narcissistic, but at the same time, rejects her recognition and claims herself as unworthy of the credits Catherine II had given her. In her autobiography The Memoirs of Princess Dashkova, Dashkova justifies her role as a noble woman, her early-life contribution in helping Catherine rise to the throne, and the frugal life she bore as a widow and a mother of two. Dashkova voiced her significance in a society where

Empress Catherine the Great ruled Russia for approximately thirty years from 1762 to 1796 when she died. She was known throughout the world as an unusual ruler, having taken over the throne after the brutal death of her husband Peter the third. There she was made Empress of all Russia, this was unusual because instead of being made regent for her son they circumnavigated the rules and she was made Empress Regnant. During her time on the throne she made many radical and life changing decisions. She was a voracious reader and writer, often helping to translate others works into Russian. She herself was inspired by Voltaire, Diderot, and Montesquieu. All of which culminated in her greatest work “Great Instruction”, which was the beginning of basically all her future endeavors. Catherine the Great was an enlightened ruler who tried to bring about a new way of life in Russia, by allowing certain freedoms and educating the public.

Tsarina Alexandra Romanov is accused of having a serious helping hand in the ultimate demise of Russia and eventual revolution that occurred. While many of the Tsarina’s actions did contribute to the eventual failures in Russia, Tsarina Alexandra was dealing with much more than just the political nature of Russia during the time of World War I. The Tsarina found herself struggling with finding a balance between the Russian distrust due to her lineage, her struggle to produce an heir, and finding her place with Tsar Nicholas II away at the front. In a time when the Romanov family was the center of distrust, the German princess found herself conflicted between her strong religious beliefs, Russian patriotism, and her desire to protect Russian aristocracy in order to provide her son a future as Tsar. With all these conflicting allegiances in her life, Tsarina Alexandra found herself trying to establish her role as a leader of the Russian people, a mother, and a wife while also trying to balance her duty as a Tsarina in the scope of family and war.

     During Catherine’s reign she had many political victories. She won many battles on the war front but she was also quite good at political victories. Pugachev tried to

Despite all the work Alexander II did toward reforming Russia, the “Era of Great Reforms” left one crucial aspect unaltered: the power of the emperor. The intentional neglect of this was what kept the reforms from realizing their true potential. This led to dissatisfaction, which encouraged repression, terror, and most importantly: revolution. The first was the Polish Rebellion, caused by the failure of Russian authorities to suppress Polish nationalism. Although the Poles failed, other minorities sprung up for their voice

34. Catherine the Great of Russia did what? built a strong alliance with the nobility

During the !7th and 18th centuries numerous revolutions arose due to strong political leaders and their desire to accomplish ambitious goals. Often, specific policies are enforced by governments in an attempt to reform society. Most changes during these centuries were based on political power and were inspired by other countries’ successes. Specifically, in Russia and France, two strong leaders came to power after a period of weakness for their country with desires of governmental and social change.

They are attributed with “westernizing” Russia and reformed the country using models used in Europe. Both Peter and Catherine the Great focused on St. Petersburg as Peter established it as the capital; whereas Catherine focused on expanding the beauty of the city. While these are incidents of where their rule benefitted Russia, there are also examples of where their rule hurt Russia. For instance, Peter worked at expanding the autocracy while enforcing the servitude on the peasants. The differences between these rulers was that Peter strove to add governmental features to Russia, such as growing the Russian army and adopting certain habits he had observed in Western countries. Catherine, however, focused on adding to the prestige of Russia by adding new buildings and incorporating art into St. Petersburg which added not structural changes, but was effective in making the city more beautiful.

In this essay, I will explore the reforms of peter the great through historical authors and determine whether Peter I of Russia was successful in evolving of the Tsardom of Russia into a contemporary European empire. On top of this I will be looking to see if his attempts at modernization in Russia had a lasting affect on Russian politics. In my analysis, I have gained understanding of the political climate of Russia during Peters youth, his military reforms, and his education reforms. Some contemporaries believe that the reign of Peter the Great was one of the great turning points in Russian history, and indeed of European history as well . Before Peter’s reign, Russia was a mostly forgotten state, that was largely looked upon as a barbaric

During the late seventeenth century Russia underwent drastic transformations in order to westernize their medieval states. The idea of westernization caused chaos within the Imperial Empire; people in power were mentally unstable and would travel outside of palace gates in order to get what they wanted, a determined and curious young boy came into power changing everything, and a young lady not of Russian blood became queen and finalized everything.

Catherine the Great was a German born empress of Russia in the 18th century. While she made much progress in her reign, she is remembered for her busy love life and the rumors made about her death. In her portrait, she is almost illuminated and is dressed as Minerva, the Roman goddess of war, art, and intellect. It could be assumed, based on these details, that she was an important figure in her time, an advocate for the arts and education, and had successful strategies in many battles. In history, she is recognized for her many lovers and the advantages they provided for her in overthrowing her husband, Peter III, and ruling Russia. She also won the nobles support in exchange for the freedom of the serfs, which led to uprisings around the same time the French Revolution was occurring. While Catherine’s portrait accurately shows her leadership skills, she is commonly known as the woman of scandals and manipulation. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian’s portrait reveals his actions, which is much different from Catherine’s display of qualities.

Catherine the great accomplished a lot in her reign over Russia, but what she was most known for was that she expanded Russia's borders southward and westward all they way to the Black Sea. Adding territories including Crimea, Belarus and Lithuania. But this was not an easy task. She had to fight and win several wars to gain these territories. Not all the gaine land was through blood shed. Agreements with Prussia and Austria led to the extending of land in Poland.