Domestic policy of Catherine II. Domestic and foreign policy of Catherine II. "Enlightened absolutism

“Her reign was successful. As a conscientious German, Catherine worked diligently for the country that gave her such a good and profitable position. She naturally saw the happiness of Russia in the greatest possible expansion of the boundaries of the Russian state. By nature, she was smart and cunning, well versed in the intrigues of European diplomacy. Cunning and flexibility were the basis of what in Europe, depending on the circumstances, was called the policy of Northern Semiramis or the crimes of Moscow Messalina. (M. Aldanov "Devil's Bridge")

Years of reign of Russia by Catherine the Great 1762-1796

The real name of Catherine II was Sophia Augusta Frederick of Anhalt-Zerbstsk. She was the daughter of Prince Anhalt-Zerbst, who represented “a side line of one of the eight branches of the Anhalst house,” the commandant of the city of Stettin, which was in Pomerania, an area subject to the kingdom of Prussia (today the Polish city of Szczecin).

“In 1742, the Prussian king Frederick II, wanting to annoy the Saxon court, who expected to marry his princess Maria Anna to the heir to the Russian throne, Peter Karl Ulrich of Holstein, who suddenly became Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, began to hastily look for another bride for the Grand Duke.

The Prussian king had three German princesses in mind for this purpose: two of Hesse-Darmstadt and one of Zerbst. The latter was the most suitable for age, but Friedrich knew nothing about the fifteen-year-old bride herself. They only said that her mother, Johanna-Elizabeth, led a very frivolous lifestyle and that little Fike was hardly really the daughter of the Zerbst prince Christian August, who served as governor in Stetin ”

How long, short, but in the end, the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna chose little Fike as a wife for her nephew Karl-Ulrich, who became Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich in Russia, the future Emperor Peter the Third.

Biography of Catherine II. Briefly

• 1729, April 21 (old style) - Catherine II was born
• 1742, December 27 - on the advice of Frederick II, the mother of Princess Fikkhen (Fike) sent a letter to Elizabeth with congratulations for the New Year
• 1743, January - kind letter in return
• 1743, December 21 - Johanna-Elizabeth and Fikchen received a letter from Brumner, the tutor of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, with an invitation to come to Russia

“Your Grace,” Brummer wrote pointedly, “are too enlightened not to understand the true meaning of the impatience with which Her Imperial Majesty wishes to see you here as soon as possible, as well as your princess, your daughter, about whom rumor has told us so much good”

• December 21, 1743 - on the same day a letter from Frederick II was received in Zerbst. The Prussian king ... strongly advised to go and keep the trip a strict secret (so that the Saxons would not find out ahead of time)
• 1744, February 3 - German princesses arrived in St. Petersburg
• 1744, February 9 - the future Catherine the Great and her mother arrived in Moscow, where at that moment there was a courtyard
• 1744, February 18 - Johanna-Elizabeth sent a letter to her husband with the news that their daughter was the bride of the future Russian Tsar
• 1745, June 28 - Sophia Augusta Frederica adopted Orthodoxy and the new name Catherine
• 1745, August 21 - marriage and Catherine
• 1754, September 20 - Catherine gave birth to a son, heir to the throne of Paul
• 1757, December 9 - Catherine had a daughter, Anna, who died 3 months later
• 1761, December 25 - Elizaveta Petrovna died. Peter III became king

“Peter the Third was the son of the daughter of Peter I and the grandson of the sister of Charles XII. Elizabeth, having ascended the Russian throne and wishing to secure it beyond her father's line, sent Major Korf on a mission to take her nephew from Kiel at all costs and bring him to Petersburg. Here the Duke of Holstein, Karl-Peter-Ulrich, was transformed into Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich and forced to study the Russian language and the Orthodox catechism. But nature was not as favorable to him as fate .... He was born and grew up as a frail child, poorly endowed with abilities. Early becoming an orphan, Peter in Holstein received a worthless upbringing under the guidance of an ignorant courtier.

Humiliated and embarrassed in everything, he acquired bad tastes and habits, became irritable, quarrelsome, stubborn and false, acquired a sad tendency to lie ...., and in Russia he also learned to get drunk. In Holstein, he was taught so badly that he came to Russia as a 14-year-old ignoramus and even struck Empress Elizabeth with his ignorance. The rapid change of circumstances and educational programs completely confused his already fragile head. Forced to study this and that without connection and order, Peter ended up learning nothing, and the dissimilarity between the Holstein and Russian situation, the senselessness of Kiel and Petersburg impressions completely weaned him from understanding his surroundings. ... He was fond of military glory and the strategic genius of Frederick II ... " (V. O. Klyuchevsky "Course of Russian History")

• 1761, April 13 - Peter made peace with Frederick. All the lands captured by Russia from Prussia in the course were returned to the Germans
• 1761, May 29 - the union treaty of Prussia and Russia. Russian troops were placed at the disposal of Frederick, which caused sharp discontent among the guards.

(The flag of the guard) “became the empress. The emperor lived badly with his wife, threatened to divorce her and even imprison her in a monastery, and put in her place a person close to him, the niece of Chancellor Count Vorontsov. Catherine kept aloof for a long time, patiently enduring her position and not entering into direct relations with the dissatisfied. (Klyuchevsky)

• 1761, June 9 - at a ceremonial dinner on the occasion of the confirmation of this peace treaty, the emperor proclaimed a toast to the imperial family. Ekaterina drank her glass while sitting. When asked by Peter why she did not get up, she replied that she did not consider it necessary, since the imperial family consists of the emperor, herself and their son, the heir to the throne. “And my uncles, the Holstein princes?” - Peter objected and ordered Adjutant General Gudovich, who was standing behind his chair, to approach Catherine and say an abusive word to her. But, fearing that Gudovich would soften this impolite word during the transmission, Pyotr himself shouted it across the table aloud.

  The Empress wept. That same evening she was ordered to arrest her, which, however, was not carried out at the request of one of Peter's uncles, the unwitting culprits of this scene. Since that time, Catherine began to listen more carefully to the proposals of her friends, which were made to her, starting from the very death of Elizabeth. The enterprise was sympathized with many persons of high Petersburg society, for the most part personally offended by Peter

• 1761, June 28 -. Catherine is proclaimed empress
• 1761, June 29 - Peter the Third abdicated
• 1761, July 6 - killed in prison
• 1761, September 2 - Coronation of Catherine II in Moscow
• 1787, January 2-July 1 -
• 1796, November 6 - death of Catherine the Great

Domestic policy of Catherine II

- Change in central government: in 1763 streamlining the structure and powers of the Senate
- Liquidation of the autonomy of Ukraine: liquidation of the hetmanate (1764), liquidation of the Zaporozhian Sich (1775), serfdom of the peasantry (1783)
- Further subordination of the church to the state: secularization of church and monastery lands, 900 thousand church serfs became state serfs (1764)
- Improving legislation: a decree on tolerance for schismatics (1764), the right of landowners to exile peasants to hard labor (1765), the introduction of a noble monopoly on distillation (1765), a ban on peasants to file complaints against landowners (1768), the creation of separate courts for nobles, townspeople and peasants (1775), etc.
- Improving the administrative system of Russia: the division of Russia into 50 provinces instead of 20, the division of provinces into districts, the division of power in the provinces by function (administrative, judicial, financial) (1775);
- Strengthening the position of the nobility (1785):

• confirmation of all class rights and privileges of the nobility: exemption from compulsory service, from poll tax, corporal punishment; the right to unlimited disposal of the estate and land together with the peasants;
• the creation of noble class institutions: county and provincial noble assemblies, which met every three years and elected county and provincial marshals of the nobility;
• conferring the title of "noble" on the nobility.

“Catherine II was well aware that she could stay on the throne, only in every possible way pleasing the nobility and officers, in order to prevent or at least reduce the danger of a new palace conspiracy. This is what Catherine did. Her entire internal policy was to ensure that the life of officers at her court and in the guards was as profitable and pleasant as possible.

- Economic innovations: the establishment of a financial commission for the unification of money; establishment of a commission on commerce (1763); a manifesto on the conduct of a general demarcation to fix land plots; the establishment of the Free Economic Society to help noble entrepreneurship (1765); financial reform: the introduction of paper money - bank notes (1769), the creation of two bank notes (1768), the issuance of the first Russian external loan (1769); establishment of a postal department (1781); permission to start printing houses for private individuals (1783)

Foreign policy of Catherine II

• 1764 - Treaty with Prussia
• 1768-1774 - Russian-Turkish war
• 1778 - Restoration of the alliance with Prussia
• 1780 - Union of Russia, Denmark. and Sweden to protect navigation during the American War of Independence
• 1780 - Defensive alliance of Russia and Austria
• 1783, April 8 -
• 1783, August 4 - the establishment of a Russian protectorate over Georgia
• 1787-1791 —
• 1786, December 31 - trade agreement with France
• 1788 June - August - war with Sweden
• 1792 - rupture of relations with France
• 1793, March 14 - treaty of friendship with England
• 1772, 1193, 1795 - participation together with Prussia and Austria in the partitions of Poland
• 1796 - war in Persia in response to the Persian invasion of Georgia

Personal life of Catherine II. Briefly

“Catherine, by her nature, was neither evil nor cruel ... and excessively power-hungry: all her life she was invariably under the influence of successive favorites, to whom she gladly ceded her power, interfering in their orders with the country only when they very clearly showed their inexperience, inability or stupidity: she was smarter and more experienced in business than all her lovers, with the exception of Prince Potemkin.
There was nothing excessive in Catherine's nature, except for a strange mixture of the most rude and ever-increasing sensuality over the years with purely German, practical sentimentality. At sixty-five, she fell in love like a girl with twenty-year-old officers and sincerely believed that they were also in love with her. In her seventies, she cried bitter tears when it seemed to her that Platon Zubov was more restrained with her than usual.(Mark Aldanov)

Enlightened absolutism in Russia.

Politics of PeterIII. Palace coup

June 28, 1762

Elizabeth Petrovna, like Anna Ioannovna, was preoccupied with the problem of succession to the throne. Therefore, in 1742, her nephew, the Duke of Holstein, Karl Peter Ulrich, was brought to St. Petersburg, who became known as the Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich (he was the son of Elizabeth's older sister, Anna, who married the Duke of Holstein, but by the time he arrived in Russia, he was an orphan ).

The choice of Elizabeth was unsuccessful. Peter III was uneducated, rude, often cruel, in addition, he defiantly expressed contempt for everything Russian and frankly admired the Prussian king Frederick II, especially his army. As a result, he made many enemies while still being a Grand Duke.

In 1745, Peter III married a princess from the small German principality Sophia Augusta Frederica, who received the name Ekaterina Alekseevna in Russia. Relations between spouses, people very different in their intellectual and moral development, were cold, and sometimes simply hostile.

German Ekaterina very quickly mastered the Russian language, diligently studied the history, culture, religion and traditions of Russia, was constantly interested in politics, law and philosophy of European countries. While still a Grand Duchess, she won the sympathy and respect of Russian dignitaries, courtiers, and most importantly, she became very popular in the guards regiments.

After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna in December 1761, Peter III became Emperor of Russia. He reigned for only 186 days, but during this time he adopted very important laws:

- gave the nobles the right to choose: to serve or not to serve;

the Secret Chancellery was liquidated, which made it possible to limit denunciations and torture;

the persecution of schismatics ceased and a decree was issued on the equalization of all religions in Russia, which the Holy Synod regarded as an insult to the Orthodox faith and the Church; the decree on the transfer of church and monastery lands to the disposal of the state (the decree and secularization) further aggravated the relationship of Peter III with the church.

The greatest dissatisfaction was caused by the conclusion of a humiliating peace with Prussia and the demonstrative worship of Frederick II, the intention to withdraw the guards from St. Petersburg and start a war with Denmark for Holstein interests alien to Russia.

A conspiracy arose against Peter III, in which his wife Catherine, brothers Grigory and Alexei Orlovs, N.I. Panin, Princess Ekaterina Dashkova and others. They could count on the support of 10 thousand guardsmen.

June 28, 1762, when Peter III was not in St. Petersburg, the Guards regiments proclaimed Catherine the Empress. Being in St. Petersburg, Peter III surrendered without resistance and a week later was killed in Ropsha. The 34-year reign of Catherine II (1762 - 1796) began.

Catherine's domestic policyII

in the 60-70s.XVIIIin.

Having come to power, Catherine II sought to show herself as an enlightened empress who takes care of all her subjects without exception, although this did not stop her from rewarding her supporters with money, lands and peasants.

Catherine II understood the need for reforms, including those directed against serfdom, but her entire policy, first of all, met the interests of the nobility and was of a serf nature, being called the "golden age of the Russian nobility."

Catherine II considered herself a supporter of the ideas of the French Enlightenment, corresponded with Voltaire for a long time, invited Diderot to Russia to compile a Russian encyclopedia, and even drew up a program for raising her grandchildren based on the ideas of the Enlightenment. However, in all these views, she used only the idea of ​​an enlightened monarch, who guarantees and protects the rights of all subjects, takes care of the interests of the state and people.

Main legislative acts:

1762 - Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility- freed the nobles from compulsory service and corporal punishment;

1764 - Decree on secularization - the church lost almost all the lands and peasants who were transferred to the college of economy, these peasants were replaced by corvée with cash rent, which caused their full approval. The church completely lost its independence and finally turned into a part of the state apparatus.

1765 - the nobles received a monopoly on distillation. A general survey (section) of the lands was carried out, as a result of which all the lands previously captured by the nobles became their property; peasants were forbidden to enter any government service, study at the university and become monks; and the landlords received the right, without trial or investigation, to exile peasants to hard labor for any period (the exiled was counted as a recruit to the landowner);

1767 Decree that any complaint of the peasants against the landowner is equated with a state crime, the guilty were punished with a whip, exiled to hard labor; landlords received the right to sell peasants at retail without land, set the size of corvée and dues, take away any property and interfere in the private life of peasants.

Work of the Legislative Commission (1768 - 1769)

The reign of Catherine II called enlightened absolutism, which meant an attempt to transform the most outdated feudal orders (subordination of the church to the state, school reform, the creation of a system of judiciary, etc.); strengthen the position of the nobility, and some reforms contributed to the development of capitalism.

2. The convocation of the Legislative Commission was preceded by a trip of Catherine II across Russia: she visited the cities of the central provinces, the Baltic region and traveled along the Volga to Simbirsk. This trip gave rise to broad reform plans.

In 1766, Catherine II compiled order, which was based on the works of Montesquieu and the lawyer Beccaria. There were several main ideas in the Nakaz:

The authority of all government agencies must be based on laws.

Autocracy is necessary for Russia, but subject to laws.

During the interrogation, torture should not be used and it is better not to use the death penalty.

Serfdom is condemned (both from an economic and a moral point of view).

It is said about the equality of citizens before the laws and it is emphasized that this is necessary not in order “to deprive people of their natural liberty”, but in order to guarantee rights while observing duties.

The first version of the Order turned out to be very radical; in the second version, the role of the nobles and the monarch as a guarantor of the greatness of the state and the rights of citizens was more emphasized.

The established commission began to work in the summer of 1767 in the Faceted Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. The Empress was presented with the title of "Great Wise Mother of the Fatherland". She also emphasized: “I ordered them to make laws for the Russian Empire, and they make apologies for my qualities,” but did not reject the title.

The work of the Legislative Commission showed that it was useless to raise the issue of the abolition of serfdom, since the nobility was categorically against it. It was not possible to draw up a new code of laws, either. Catherine's mandate was built on liberal ideas. In 1768 the Legislative Commission was dissolved under the pretext of the outbreak of war with Turkey, but all its materials were used by the government in further reforms.

6. Although Catherine emphasized that autocracy is the only necessary government for Russia, and the horrors of serfdom are associated only with poor education and low culture of the landowners, nevertheless, for the first time, the peasant question was brought up for discussion by society. In 1769, 2 satirical magazines appeared:

the magazine "Vsyakaya Vsyachina" was published by the empress herself and all its materials sought to show that the shortcomings and vices in the life of society were not associated with autocracy and serfdom, but with specific bad people;

Enlightener N.I. Novikov’s journal “Druten” entered into a dispute with the queen’s journal, criticized the high society, officials and denounced serfdom, emphasizing that it was the cause of all evils.

State and administrative reforms of CatherineII.

In response to the strengthening of serfdom, the most powerful peasant war took place under the leadership of Pugachev (1773-1775), which not only forced the government to quickly end the war with Turkey, but also to take a number of measures to improve the local government system.

In 1775, a law on provinces was issued, according to which the country is divided into 50 provinces with an approximately equal number of inhabitants in each (300-400 thousand). Each province was divided into 10-12 counties (20-30 thousand inhabitants in each), all provinces and counties had the same governing bodies with the same staff of officials, which made it possible to almost completely control the life of the province. At the head of the province was a governor appointed by the emperor. The nobles received the right to elect their leader both in the province and in the counties, who considered mutual disputes and claims, and made a decision to bring the nobleman to court.

The development of industry continued within the framework of maintaining serf legislation, but Catherine II forbade non-nobles to use serf labor and canceled the assignment of peasants to factories. In 1775, the Manifesto on the freedom of enterprise was published allowing peasants to engage in entrepreneurial activities. This accelerated the growth of manufactories based on freelance labor.

To acquaint nobles and entrepreneurs with advanced farming methods. Catherine II issued manifestos urging foreigners to move to Russia. They were granted religious freedom and tax breaks. Especially many colonists came from Germany. They were settled on the black earth lands of the Volga region. An agricultural innovation was also introduced here - the cultivation of potatoes (brought from Ireland in 1765).

1782 - the city government was changed: the administrative power in the city was with the mayor, and the judicial power was with the chief of police.

Finally formed the judiciary. The court was strictly estate in nature:

nobles were judged only by the noble assembly (court of honor);

servicemen were judged by a military board;

the clergy - the bishops' court;

townspeople - provincial and city magistrates.

All court hearings were closed, the peasants were judged and punished by the landlords themselves.

Under Catherine II, the class rights of the nobility and urban residents were legally formalized. The state guaranteed these estates the preservation of their rights and positions (under Peter I, all estates had only duties). In 1785 Catherine II published two Letters of commendation - to cities and the nobility in which these rights were enshrined.

The reign of Catherine II the Great is one of the most complex topics in history. This is probably because it occupies most of the second half of the 18th century. This post will briefly describe the domestic policy of Catherine 2. This topic simply needs to be studied in order to be well versed in history when completing exam tasks.

The most important

Few people understand why historical events are poorly remembered. In fact, everything is perfectly remembered, if you keep in mind the most important thing. The most important thing is the concept of this or that government or the driving contradiction. Having marked these things, it is easy to remember them, as well as the entire outline of events.

The concept of the reign of Catherine the Great was Enlightened absolutism - a European concept popular in the 18th century, which, in a nutshell, consisted in recognizing the leading role in the history and development of states for an enlightened monarch. Such a monarch, a sage on the throne, a philosopher will be able to lead society to progress and enlightenment. The main ideas of the Enlightenment can be found in the work of Charles Louis Monetskyo "On the Spirit of the Laws" and in the writings of other enlighteners.

These ideas are generally simple: they included observance of laws by the people, the idea that people are naturally good, and the state should awaken this goodness in people through enlightenment.

Sophia Augusta Frederica Anhalt of Zerbskaya (real name of the Empress) learned these principles as a young educated girl. And when she became empress, she tried to implement them in Russia.

However, the main contradiction of her reign was that this was not possible. The first blow was dealt to her mood by the Legislative Commission, in which the entire color of society gathered. And not a single estate wanted to put an end to serfdom. On the contrary, everyone was looking for benefits for themselves in the slave position of 90 percent of the population of the state.

Nevertheless, something was realized, at least in the first half of the reign of the Empress - before the uprising of Yemelyan Pugachev. His uprising became, as it were, a watershed between the empress of liberal views and the conservative ruler.

reforms

Within the framework of one post, it is impossible to consider in detail the entire domestic policy of Catherine, but it can be done briefly. I’ll tell you where to find out everything in detail at the end of the post.

Secularization of church lands in 1764

This reform was actually started by Peter the Third. But it was already Catherine the Great who realized it. All church and monastery lands were now transferred to the state, and the peasants were transferred to the category of economic peasants. The state could give these lands to whoever it wanted.

The secularization of the lands meant the end of the centuries-old rivalry between ecclesiastical and secular authorities, which peaked during the reigns of Alexei Mikhailovich and Peter the Great.

Convocation of the Legislative Commission

• Reason: the need to adopt a new code of laws, a new Code, because the Cathedral Code of 1649 has long been outdated.
• Dates of the meeting: from June 1767 to December 1768
• Results: the new code of laws was never adopted. The task of codifying Russian legislation will only be realized under Nicholas the First. The reason for the dissolution is the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war.

The uprising of Yemelyan Pugachev

A serious event in the field of domestic politics, since it showed all the inconsistency of serfdom, on the one hand, and the crisis in relations between the authorities and the Cossacks, on the other.

Results: the suppression of the uprising. The consequences of this uprising was the provincial reform of Catherine the Great.

Provincial reform

In November 1775, the Empress publishes the "Institution for the Administration of the Provinces of the Russian Empire". The main goal: to change the state-territorial structure in favor of better tax collection, as well as to strengthen the power of governors so that they can more effectively resist peasant uprisings.

As a result, the provinces began to be divided only into counties (they used to be divided into provinces), and they themselves were disaggregated: there were more of them.

The entire structure of state authorities has also changed. You can see the most important of these changes in this table:

As you can see, the empress, despite the fact that the entire reform was pro-noble, tried to implement the principle of separation of powers, albeit in a truncated version. This system of authorities will continue until the bourgeois reforms of Alexander the Second Liberator

A charter to the nobility and cities of 1785

Parsing letters of commendation is a serious educational task. It cannot be solved within the scope of this post. But I enclose links to the full texts of these important documents:

• Complaint to the nobility
• Complaint letter to cities

Results

The main question for the results: why do we put this empress on a par with Ivan the Third, Peter the Great and call it great? Because this empress completed most of the domestic and foreign political processes.

In the field of domestic policy, the process of formation of the authorities of the absolute monarchy was completed, the system of state administration was put in order; the nobility reached the peak of its rights and its power, the “third estate” was more or less formed - the townspeople, who were given excellent rights under the Charter to the cities. The only trouble is that this layer was very small and could not become the backbone of the state.

In the field of foreign policy: Russia annexed the Crimea (1783), Eastern Georgia (1783), all the old Russian lands during the three partitions of Poland, and reached its natural boundaries. The issue of access to the Black Sea was resolved. Actually a lot has been done.

But the main thing has not been done: a new code of laws has not been adopted, and serfdom has not been abolished. Could this have been achieved? I think no.

Much attention was paid to Catherine's policy foreign policy: numerous wars, of course, were expensive, they devastated the treasury. Although there are not only negative consequences here, the new conquered territories had a positive effect on the economy. The chernozem lands of Novorossia, Ukraine and the Crimea began to be quickly developed, which contributed to the growth of agricultural production. But the lifting of the ban on the export of grain led to the fact that famine often began to flourish in the villages. In addition, the price of bread has risen.

In addition, the volume of industrial production also increased. In 1740, Russia overtook England in terms of the amount of iron smelted. Under Catherine II, Russia was an exporting country. She sold sailcloth, iron, cast iron, timber, bread, and so on.

She pursued a policy of protectionism, while Catherine, on the contrary, switched to liberalization. She abolished several foreign trade monopolies and a ban on grain exports.

Catherine II set fixed prices for salt, hoping thereby to increase competition and improve the quality of the goods, but as a result, the cost of salt soon began to rise.

In 1754, the State Loan Bank was opened, which consisted of the Noble and Merchant banks. They made loans at low interest rates. The noble bank served, respectively, only the nobles, their estates and jewelry acted as collateral. In 1768, another noble bank was opened, it offered loans for up to 20 years, the main purpose of creating this institution was to support the ruined nobles.

Promissory notes were also distributed, which greatly simplified the process of international trade.

In 1763, to reduce inflation, it was forbidden to exchange copper money for silver. In 1768, Count Yakov Sievers suggested to Catherine that paper money should be put into circulation. A year later, the first paper money appeared, they were supposed to displace copper coins from circulation and replenish the treasury, which was depleted due to the Russian-Turkish war.

Reforms of education, science and culture of Catherine II

One of the goals of Catherine II was the enlightenment of the people whom she rules. The Empress paid attention to women's education, in 1764 the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens was opened - the first women's educational institution in Russia. In 1768, the Empress founded a number of city schools and colleges.

On October 11, 1783, the Russian Academy was founded. All teachers were invited from foreign countries, teaching was conducted in Latin and French. Also, an observatory, an anatomical theater, a botanical garden, a physics office, etc. were opened. The first public library appeared in St. Petersburg.

The position of the nobility and peasants under Catherine II

It is believed that it was under Catherine II that the nobility had the greatest rights and privileges, the period of her reign is even called the “golden age of the nobility”. On April 21, 1785, two charters were issued: “A Charter for the rights, liberties and advantages of the noble nobility” and “A charter for cities”. In accordance with them, already existing rights granted to them were assigned to the nobles. They could not be subjected to physical punishment, even if they committed criminal offenses, their estates could not be confiscated. In the trial of a nobleman, the verdict must necessarily be agreed with the empress.

Despite the fact that Catherine II believed that all people should be free, it was during her reign that the serfs were in the worst conditions, they were considered slaves. They could not move more than 30 miles from their village without the permission of the landowner and the authorities, they could not take the oath. The landowners traded peasants, lost them in gambling, gave them, exchanged them, and punished them. In 1765, a decree was adopted, according to which, for the disobedience of a serf, the landowner could be sent not only into exile, but even to hard labor. The peasants could not complain about the master (in accordance with the decree of 1767). Serfdom was introduced in Little Russia and New Russia, and also tightened up in Right-Bank Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland and Belarus.

National policy of Catherine II

In 1762, Catherine issued two manifestos in which she called for foreigners to move to the Russian state, and also offered them a number of benefits. After that, German settlements in the Volga region were formed rather quickly. The effect of these manifestos exceeded all expectations, in 1766 the authorities were even forced to suspend the reception of foreigners.

The Russian state included lands that used to belong to the Commonwealth. As a result, about 1 million Jews appeared in Russia. In 1791, Catherine II established the so-called Pale of Settlement, i.e. border beyond which Jews were forbidden to live. If they accepted Orthodoxy, all restrictions were removed from them.

As a result, each nationality had its own living conditions, its own special economic regime. It is noteworthy that the indigenous population had the least privileges and the worst conditions.

In 1774 he was concluded Kyuchuk-Kainarji Treaty, as a result of which the Russian Empire received the Crimea and, consequently, access to the Black Sea. Now there was no need to grant privileges to the Zaporizhian Cossacks. In June 1775, the Zaporozhian Sich was liquidated.

Conspiracies against Catherine II and internal unrest

As you know, Catherine II did not have official rights to the throne, so they constantly tried to overthrow her. From 1764 to 1773, conspiracies were organized by seven "False Peters III". The eighth was Emelyan Pugachev, who became the leader of the Peasant War of 1773-1775, but in the end the rebellion was suppressed, and Pugachev was executed.

In addition, the former Russian emperor plotted against Catherine the Great, but they were also not successful, and Ivan himself was killed.

In 1771, a plague epidemic broke out in Moscow, which led to an uprising. September 26 (15) Plague Riot, as a result of which the people defeated the Chudov Monastery, and then captured the Donskoy Monastery. Lieutenant General Eropkin and G. G. Orlov with troops suppressed the rebellion in three days.

In the period from 1762 to 1778 Freemasonry flourished among the nobility in the Russian Empire. Catherine II did not establish bans on their activities as long as they did not contradict her interests. In 1786, all the lodges whose publicistic publications hinted at her rule were closed, and books were banned.