Skip to main content

Catherine II the Great Biography

Catherine II the Great

(Catherine II of Russia, called the Great; Stettin, today Szazecin, present-day Poland, 1729-Saint Petersburg, 1796) Empress of Russia (1762-1796).German princess of the Anhalt-Zerbst dynasty, was sent by her family to Russia to marry Grand Duke Peter, grandson of Tsar Peter I of Russia, also called Peter the Great.Once established in Saint Petersburg, she changed her original name, Sofía Augusta, to Catherine Alexeievna, and entered the Russian Orthodox Church, a gesture that proved decisive for her political future.Catherine married the Grand Duke in 1745, who acceded to the Russian throne in January 1762 under the name of Peter III.

Catherine the Great, Tsarina of Russia

Tsar Peter III's disdainful attitude towards Russian traditions and, above all, his iconoclastic politics and secularization of goods earned him the enmity of many sectors, led by the Church and the imperial guard.Given these circumstances and the poor understanding of the royal couple, Catherine staged a coup d'etat at the end of June "for the defense of orthodoxy and the glory of Russia." The Orlov brothers revolted the imperial guard regiments, and the tsar was arrested, forced to abdicate, and shortly thereafter assassinated.The fact that this crime was kept secret was exploited by Pugachev, between 1773 and 1774, to stir up the popular masses in the name of Peter III.

During his reign, the Russian economy grew considerably thanks to the free labor of a large part of the workforce, trade and industrial liberalization measures and an immigration policy that favored agricultural colonization, especially among Crimea and Kuban, and the founding of cities like Sevastopol and Kherson.

The empress developed at the same time her enlightenment program in the field of education (she founded numerous schools) and tried to Europeanize the country, for which she favored the penetration of enlightened ideas, invited the court to numerous European intellectuals and promoted the use of the French language in nobility and court circles; towards the end of her reign, however, the outbreak of the French Revolution intensified her autocratic attitudes.In religious matters, she adopted a policy of tolerance that ended with the persecution of dissidents from the Orthodox Church.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Joseph Bramah Biography

Joseph Bramah (Stainborough, 1749-London, 1814) British inventor.A mechanic by profession, he carried out numerous practical inventions: a security lock, a hydraulic press, the water-closet or toilet system, a printer to number banknotes, etc.
Post a Comment
Read more

Josef sudek Biography

Josef Sudek (Kolín, 1896-Prague, 1976) Czechoslovakian photographer.It began with landscapes and panoramas of Prague in which it followed the pictorial style.Later he concentrated on everyday objects, romantic interiors, still lifes and portraits.
Post a Comment
Read more

Frank Capra Biography

Frank Capra (Palermo, Italy, 1897-La Quinta, United States, 1991) American film director of Italian origin, maximum representative of the American comedy of the 30s, which he endowed with a golden humanistic optimism.When he was six years old, his family emigrated to the United States.He studied at the California Institute of Technology, and upon graduation (1918), he obtained a job as a professor in the army.In 1921 he began his film career, and in 1931 he achieved his first great success as a director with The Miracle Woman . Frank Capra The 1930s would in fact be the most valued of his career, as masterpieces such as It Happened One Night belong to it (1934), starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.The film tells the story of a young heiress named Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), elegant and somewhat headstrong, who has married a ladyboy.Her father, who disapproves of the marriage, forces her to divorce, but the young woman flees from her father's yacht to return ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jose Sanchez Guerra Biography

José Sánchez Guerra (Cabra, 1859-Madrid, 1935) Spanish politician.A member of the Cortes for the Liberal Party, he supported Maura.Minister of the Interior (1903-1904) and Development (1908-1909), he held the leadership of the Government (March-December 1922), but had to resign as a result of the Annual disaster.When the dictatorship was proclaimed, he went into exile (1927) to France.In 1929 he returned to Spain to lead an uprising against the dictatorship, which failed.After the fall of Berenguer, he tried to save the monarchy, unsuccessfully, meeting with the Revolutionary Committee.Shortly after, he left politics.
Post a Comment
Read more

Jose Maria of Heredia Biography

José María de Heredia (La Fortuna, 1842-Bourdonné, 1905) Cuban poet who was known as "the Frenchified Heredia" for his training within that culture and for his biography, which led him to reside most of his life in Paris. José María de Heredia Descendant of one of the conquerors who were with Hernán Cortés in America and son of a mother French, José María de Heredia studied in France (from 1851 to 1858, at the Saint-Vincent de Senlis school) and Cuba (from 1859 to 1861, at the Faculty of Letters in Havana).He became known in the latter country thanks to his first verses, composed in the style of Leconte de Lisle, of whom he was to become a disciple and faithful friend. When he settled permanently in Paris in 1861, José María de Heredia devoted himself, with little interest, to legal studies, and followed the École des Chartes courses with greater enthusiasm.At the same time, he published in Parnassian magazines the poetic essays later collected in Los trophies (189...
Post a Comment
Read more

Heinrich maier Biography

Heinrich Maier (Heidenheim, 1867-Berlin, 1933) German philosopher.He produced a "critical realism", along the lines of H.Driesch.He is the author, among other works, of Aristotle's syllogistics (1896-1900) and of The philosophy of reality (1926-1935).
Post a Comment
Read more

Cesar Uribe Piedrahita Biography

César Uribe Piedrahita (Medellín, 1897-Bogotá, 1951) Colombian doctor and writer.Wise in science and letters, in his time he embodied the ideal of Renaissance humanism, and left a brief but intense literary production characterized by his deep concern for the problems of his nation and, in general, for the demand for a series of social reforms, political, economic and cultural that contribute to improve the living conditions of the less favored classes. In his youth, inclined towards the study of scientific disciplines, he studied Medicine at the University of Antioquia, where he graduated in 1922 to complete his medical training in the North American classrooms of Harvard.He was soon considered an eminence in his facultative specialty (parasitology), before leaving Harvard University he had already carried out various teaching and research functions there, for which, on his return to his native country, he was appointed director of the National Institute of Hygiene. From this p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Emilio Butragueño Biography

Emilio Butragueño (Madrid, 1963) Spanish footballer, outstanding striker and scorer of the 1980s.From the 83-84 season he played for Real Madrid, a team in which he spent twelve seasons and with which he won five consecutive leagues (1986 to 1990), two King's Cups, two Super Cups and two UEFA Cups (1985 and 86).In the League he was the top scorer in the 90-91 season. Emilio Butragueño His qualities are remembered for his skill in dribbling short in the area and his fast unmarking.Despite scoring a good number of goals each season, he stood out particularly for his refined passes to his teammates; For years he formed a lethal scorer tandem with the Mexican player Hugo Sánchez. Called "El Buitre", his nickname gave name to a whole generation of excellent Spanish footballers: the so-called "Quinta del Buitre", from the players such as Míchel, Rafael Martín Vázquez, Manuel Sanchis and Miguel Pardeza were part of it.At Real Madrid, the Quinta added their t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jose Mauri Biography

José Mauri (Valencia, 1856-Havana, 1937) Spanish composer.Installed in Cuba for most of his life, he founded the conservatory that bears his name there (1914).His work includes numerous songs and the opera The Slave (1921).
Post a Comment
Read more