Peter was completely insane and also impotent. There were days when Catherine even thought about suicide. After ten years of marriage, she gave birth to a son. In all likelihood, the father of the child was Sergei Saltykov, a young Russian nobleman, Catherine's first lover. As Peter became completely insane and increasingly unpopular with the people and at court, Catherine's chances of inheriting the Russian throne looked completely hopeless. Peter, in addition, began to threaten Catherine with a divorce. She decided to organize a coup d'état. In June 1762, Peter, who by that time had already been emperor for half a year, was seized by another crazy idea. He decided to declare war on Denmark. To prepare for military operations, he left the capital. Catherine, guarded by a regiment of the imperial guard, left for St. Petersburg, and declared herself empress. Peter, shocked by this news, was immediately arrested and killed. Catherine's main accomplice was her lovers Count Grigory Orlov and his two brothers. All three were officers of the imperial guard. During her more than 30 years of rule, Catherine significantly weakened the power of the clergy in Russia, put down a major peasant uprising, reorganized the state administration apparatus, introduced serfdom in Ukraine, and added more than 200,000 square kilometers to Russian territory.

Even before marriage, Catherine was extremely sensual. So, at night she often masturbated, holding a pillow between her legs. Since Peter was completely impotent and completely uninterested in sex, the bed for him was the place where he could only sleep or play with his favorite toys. At 23, she was still a virgin. One night on an island in the Baltic Sea, Catherine's lady-in-waiting left her alone (possibly at the direction of Catherine herself) with Saltykov, a famous young seducer. He promised to give Catherine great pleasure, and she really did not remain disappointed. Catherine was finally able to give free rein to her sexuality. Soon she was already the mother of two children. Naturally, Peter was considered the father of both children, although one day his close associates heard such words from him: “I don’t understand how she becomes pregnant.” Catherine's second child died shortly after his real father, a young Polish nobleman who worked at the British embassy, ​​was expelled from Russia in disgrace.

Three more children were born to Catherine from Grigory Orlov. Fluffy skirts and lace each time successfully hid her pregnancy. The first child was born to Catherine from Orlov during Peter's lifetime. During childbirth, a large fire was set up near the palace by Catherine's faithful servants to distract Peter. It was well known to everyone that he was a great lover of such spectacles. The remaining two children were brought up in the homes of Catherine's servants and ladies-in-waiting. These maneuvers were necessary for Catherine, since she refused to marry Orlov, as she did not want to end the Romanov dynasty. In response to this refusal, Gregory turned Catherine's court into his harem. However, she remained faithful to him for 14 years and finally abandoned him only when he seduced her 13-year-old cousin.

Catherine is already 43 years old. She still remained very attractive, and her sensuality and voluptuousness only increased. One of her faithful supporters, cavalry officer Grigory Potemkin, swore his loyalty to her until the end of his life, and then went to the monastery. He did not return to social life until Catherine promised to make him her official favourite.

For two years, Catherine and her 35-year-old favorite led a stormy love life filled with quarrels and reconciliations. When Catherine tired of Gregory, he, wanting to get rid of her, but not lose his influence at court, managed to convince her that she could change her favorites as easily as any of her other servants. He even swore to her that he himself would be engaged in their selection.

Such a system worked great until Ekaterina turned 60. A potential favorite first got to be examined by Ekaterina's personal doctor, who checked him for any signs of a venereal disease. If a favorite candidate was recognized as healthy, he had to pass another test - his masculinity was tested by one of Catherine's ladies-in-waiting, whom she herself chose for this purpose. The next step, if the candidate, of course, reached it, was moving into special apartments in the palace. These apartments were located directly above Catherine's bedroom, and a separate staircase, unknown to outsiders, led there. In the apartments, the favorite found a significant amount of money prepared in advance for him. Officially, at court, the favorite had the position of Catherine's chief adjutant. When the favorite changed, the outgoing "night emperor", as they were sometimes called, received some kind of generous gift, for example, a large amount of money or an estate with 4,000 serfs.

Over the 16 years of the existence of this system, Catherine has changed 13 favorites. In 1789, 60-year-old Catherine fell in love with a 22-year-old officer of the Imperial Guard Platon Zubov. Zubov remained the main object of Catherine's sexual interest until her death at the age of 67. There were rumors among the people that Catherine died while trying to have sexual relations with a stallion. In fact, she died two days after suffering a severe heart attack.

Peter's impotence is probably explained by the deformity of his penis, which could be corrected with surgery. Saltykov and his close friends once got Peter drunk and persuaded him to undergo such an operation. This was done in order to explain Catherine's next pregnancy. It is not known whether Peter had sexual relations with Catherine after that, but after a while he began to have mistresses.

In 1764, Catherine made the Polish Count Stanisław Poniatowski, her second lover, who had once been expelled from Russia, King of Poland. When Poniatowski was unable to cope with his internal political opponents, and the situation in the country began to get out of his control, Catherine simply erased Poland from the world map, annexing part of this country and giving the rest to Prussia and Austria.

The fate of the rest of Catherine's lovers and favorites turned out differently. Grigory Orlov went crazy. Before his death, it always seemed to him that he was being haunted by the ghost of Peter, although the assassination of the emperor was planned by Alexei, brother of Grigory Orlov. Alexander Lansky, a favorite of Catherine's favorites, died of diphtheria, undermining his health by excessive use of aphrodisiacs. Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov, grandfather of the famous Russian composer, lost his place as favorite after he returned to Countess Bruce, Catherine's lady-in-waiting, for more "trials". It was Countess Bruce who at that time was the maid of honor who "gave the go-ahead" after the candidate proved to her that she had considerable sexual capabilities and was able to satisfy the empress. The Countess was replaced in this post by a woman of a more mature age. Another favorite, Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov, was allowed to leave his post and marry a pregnant courtier. Catherine sulked for three days, and then gave the newlyweds a luxurious wedding gift.

The personal life and career of most of Catherine's favorites has developed very successfully.

Catherine II.F.Rokotov

Facts about the life and reign of one of the most powerful, glorious and controversial monarchs of the Russian Empire, Empress Catherine II

1. During the reign of Catherine the Great from 1762 to 1796, the possessions of the empire expanded significantly. Of the 50 provinces, 11 were acquired during the years of her reign. The amount of state revenues increased from 16 to 68 million rubles. 144 new cities were built (more than 4 cities per year throughout the reign). The army almost doubled, the number of ships of the Russian fleet increased from 20 to 67 battleships, not counting other ships. The army and navy scored 78 brilliant victories, which strengthened Russia's international prestige.

Palace embankment

Access to the Black and Azov Seas was won, Crimea, Ukraine (except for the Lvov region), Belarus, Eastern Poland, and Kabarda were annexed. The annexation of Georgia to Russia began.

At the same time, during her reign, only one execution was carried out - the leader of the peasant uprising, Emelyan Pugachev.



F. Rokotov

2. The daily routine of the Empress was far from the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe inhabitants of the royal life. Her day was scheduled by the hour, and its routine remained unchanged throughout her reign. Only the time of sleep changed: if in her mature years Catherine got up at 5, then closer to old age - at 6, and by the end of her life even at 7 in the morning. After breakfast, the empress received high-ranking officials and secretaries of state. The days and hours of reception of each official were constant. The working day ended at four o'clock, and it was time for rest. The hours of work and rest, breakfast, lunch and dinner were also constant. At 10 or 11 pm Catherine finished the day and went to bed.



3. Every day, 90 rubles were spent on the food of the Empress (for comparison: the salary of a soldier during the reign of Catherine was only 7 rubles a year). Boiled beef with pickles was a favorite dish, and currant juice was used as a drink. For dessert, preference was given to apples and cherries.



4. After dinner, the empress took up needlework, and Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy at that time read aloud to her. Ekaterina "masterfully sewed on canvas", knitted on knitting needles. Having finished reading, she moved to the Hermitage, where she sharpened from bone, wood, amber, engraved, played billiards.



View of the Winter Palace

5. Catherine was indifferent to fashion. She did not notice her, and sometimes quite deliberately ignored her. On weekdays, the Empress wore a simple dress and did not wear jewelry.



D. Levitsky

6. By her own admission, she did not have a creative mind, but she wrote plays, and even sent some of them to Voltaire for "reviewing".



7. Catherine came up with a special suit for the six-month-old Tsarevich Alexander, the pattern of which was asked from her by the Prussian prince and the Swedish king for their own children. And for her beloved subjects, the empress invented the cut of the Russian dress, which they were forced to wear at her court.

8. People who knew Catherine closely note her attractive appearance not only in her youth, but also in her mature years, her exceptionally friendly appearance, ease of handling. Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, who was first introduced to her with her husband in Tsarskoye Selo at the end of August 1781, described Catherine as follows: "a very attractive woman with lovely expressive eyes and an intelligent look"



View of the Fontanka

9. Catherine was aware that men liked her and she herself was not indifferent to their beauty and masculinity. "I received from nature a great sensitivity and appearance, if not beautiful, then at least attractive. I liked it from the first time and did not use any art and embellishment for this."

I. Fayzullin. Ekaterina's visit to Kazan

10. The Empress was quick-tempered, but knew how to control herself, and never made decisions in a fit of anger. She was very polite even with the servants, no one heard a rude word from her, she did not order, but asked to fulfill her will. Her rule, according to the testimony of Count Segur, was "to praise aloud, and to scold on the sly."

Oath of the Izmailovsky Regiment to Catherine II

11. Rules hung on the walls of the ballrooms under Catherine II: it was forbidden to stand in front of the empress, even if she approached the guest and spoke to him while standing. It was forbidden to be in a gloomy frame of mind, insult each other." And on the shield at the entrance to the Hermitage there was an inscription: "The mistress of these places does not tolerate coercion."



scepter

12. Thomas Dimsdale, an English physician was called from London to introduce smallpox inoculation into Russia. Knowing about the resistance of society to innovation, Empress Catherine II decided to set a personal example and became one of the first patients of Dimsdale. In 1768, an Englishman vaccinated her and Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich with smallpox. The recovery of the Empress and her son was a significant event in the life of the Russian court.



Johann the Elder Lampi

13. The Empress was a heavy smoker. The cunning Ekaterina, not wanting her snow-white gloves to be saturated with a yellow nicotine coating, ordered to wrap the tip of each cigar with a ribbon of expensive silk.



Coronation of Catherine II

14. The Empress read and wrote in German, French and Russian, but made many mistakes. Ekaterina was aware of this and once confessed to one of her secretaries that "she could only learn Russian from books without a teacher," since "Aunt Elizaveta Petrovna told my chamberlain: teach her enough, she's already smart." As a result, she made four mistakes in a three-letter word: instead of "more", she wrote "ischo".



15. Long before her death, Catherine composed an epitaph for her future tombstone: “Here lies Catherine II. She arrived in Russia in 1744 to marry Peter III. At fourteen, she made a threefold decision: to please her husband, Elizabeth and the people "She did not miss anything in order to achieve success in this respect. Eighteen years of boredom and loneliness prompted her to read many books. Having ascended the Russian throne, she made every effort to give her subjects happiness, freedom and material well-being. She forgave easily and hated no one. She was indulgent, loved life, had a cheerful disposition, was a true republican in her convictions and had a good heart. She had friends. Work was given to her easily. She liked social entertainment and the arts. "

Gallery of portraits of Empress Catherine II the Great



Artist Antoine Pen. Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of Catherine II

Father, Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, came from the Zerbst-Dorneburg line of the House of Anhalt and was in the service of the Prussian king, was a regimental commander, commandant, then governor of the city of Stettin, where the future empress was born, ran for the Dukes of Courland, but unsuccessfully , finished his service as a Prussian field marshal.



Artist Antoine Pen. Johanna Elisabeth of Anhalt of Zerbst, mother of Catherine II

Mother - Johanna Elizabeth, from the Gottorp ruling house, was the cousin of the future Peter III. The family tree of Johann Elisabeth goes back to Christian I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the first Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and the founder of the Oldenburg dynasty.



Grotto Georg-Christoph (Grooth, Groot).1748






shetty castle

Georg Groth



Grotto. PORTRAIT OF GRAND DUKE PETER FYODOROVICH AND GRAND DUCHESS EKATERINA ALEXEEVNA. 1760s.



Pietro Antonio Rotari.1760,1761




V. Eriksen. Equestrian portrait of Catherine the Great



Eriksen, Vigilius.1762

I. P. Argunov Portrait of Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna.1762



Eriksen.Catherine II at the mirror.1762



Ivan Argunov.1762



V.Eriksen.1782

Eriksen.1779



Eriksen.Catherine II at the mirror.1779



Eriksen.1780


Lampi Johann-Batis.1794



R. Brompton. 1782



D.Levitsky.1782

P.D. Levitsky. Portrait of Catherine II .1783

Alexey Antropov

Portrait of Empress Catherine II in a traveling suit.SHIBANOV Mikhail. 1780

V.Borovikovsky.Catherine IIfor a walk in Tsarskoye Selo park.1794

Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich.Portrait of Catherine II

Favorites of Catherine II

Grigory Potemkin

Perhaps the most important among the favorites, who did not lose his influence even after Catherine began to pay attention to others. He earned the attention of the empress even during the palace coup. She singled him out among other employees of the Horse Guards Regiment, he immediately became a chamber junker at court with a corresponding salary and a gift in the form of 400 peasant souls.Grigory Potemkin is one of the few lovers of Catherine II, who not only pleased her personally, but also did a lot of good for the country. Not only the “Potemkin villages” were built by him. It was thanks to Potemkin that the active development of Novorossia and the Crimea began. Although his actions were partly the reason for the start of the Russian-Turkish war, it ended with another victory for Russian weapons. In 1776, Potemkin ceases to be a favorite, but remains a man whose advice Catherine II listened to until his death. Including, in the choice of new favorites.

Grigory Potemkin and Elizaveta Temkina, daughter of the Most Serene Prince and Russian Empress

J. de Velli. Portrait of Counts G. G. and A. G. Orlovs

Grigory Orlov

Grigory Orlov grew up in Moscow, but exemplary service, distinction in the Seven Years' War contributed to his transfer to the capital, St. Petersburg. There he received the fame of a swashbuckler and "Don Juan". Tall, stately, handsome - the young wife of the future emperor, Ekaterina Alekseevna, simply could not help but pay attention to him.His appointment as treasurer of the Office of the Main Artillery and Fortification allowed Catherine to use public money to organize a palace coup.Although he was not a major statesman, sometimes he fulfilled the delicate requests of the Empress herself. Thus, according to one version, together with his brother Orlov, he killed the lawful husband of Catherine II, the deposed Emperor Peter III.

Stanislav August Poniatowski

Known for his graceful manners, Stanisław August Poniatowski, an ancient Polish aristocrat, first met Catherine in 1756. He lived in London for many years and ended up in St. Petersburg as part of the British diplomatic mission. Poniatowski was not an official favorite, but he was still considered the lover of the Empress, which gave him weight in society. With the ardent support of Catherine II, Poniatowski became the king of Poland. It is possible that Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, recognized by Peter III, is actually the daughter of Catherine and a handsome Polish man. Peter III complained: “God knows where my wife gets pregnant from; I don’t know for sure whether this child is mine and whether I should recognize him as mine. ”

Petr Zavadovsky

This time, Catherine was attracted by Zavadovsky, a representative of a well-known Cossack family. He was brought to court by Count Pyotr Rumyantsev, a favorite of another empress, Elizaveta Petrovna. A charming man with a pleasant character, Catherine II was once again struck to the very heart. In addition, she found him "quieter and more peaceful" than Potemkin.In 1775 he was appointed cabinet secretary. Zavadovsky received the rank of major general, 4 thousand peasant souls. He even settled in the palace. Such an approach to the empress alarmed Potemkin, and as a result of palace intrigues, Zavadovsky was removed - he left for his estate. Despite this, he remained faithful to her and passionately loved her for a long time, marrying only 10 years later. In 1780, he was recalled by the empress back to St. Petersburg, where he held high administrative positions, including becoming the first minister of public education.

Platon Zubov

Platon Zubov began his journey to Catherine with a service in the Semyonovsky regiment. Enjoyed the patronage of Count Nikolai Saltykov, educator of the grandchildren of the Empress. Zubov began to command the horse guards, who went to Tsarskoe Selo to carry guards. On June 21, 1789, with the help of the lady of state Anna Naryshkina, he received an audience with Catherine II and since then spent almost every evening with her. Just a few days later he was promoted to colonel and settled in the palace. At court, he was coldly received, but Catherine II was crazy about him. After the death of Potemkin, Zubov plays an increasingly important role, and Catherine did not have time to be disappointed in him - she died in 1796. Thus, he became the last favorite of the Empress. Later, he will take an active part in a conspiracy against Emperor Paul I, as a result of which he was killed, and Zubov's friend Alexander I became the head of state. Guglielmi, Gregorio. Apotheosis of the reign of Catherine II .1767

April 21 (May 2), 1729 in the German city of Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) was born Sophia Augusta Frederick of Anhalt-Zerbst, the future Russian Empress Catherine II.

In 1785, Catherine II issued the famous lawsnodative acts - Letters of grant to cities and the nobility. For the Russian nobility, the Catherine's document meant the legal consolidation of almost all the rights and privileges that the nobles had, including exemption from compulsory public service.The charter to the cities established new elective city institutions, expanded the circle of voters and consolidated the foundations of self-government.

In 1773 by decree of CatherineII in St. Petersburg, for the training of specialists in metalworking industries, the first in Russia and the second in the world higher technical educational institution, the Mining School, was founded. In 1781, the foundation was laid for the creation of a nationwide system of public education in Russia- A network of urban school institutions based on the class-lesson system has been created. In subsequent years, the empress also continued to develop plans for major changes in the field of education. AT1783 Catherine issued a decree II "On Free Printing Houses", which allowed private individuals to engage in publishing activities. In 1795 Catherine the Great approved the construction project of the building of the first public library in St. Petersburg..

During her reign, the Russian empress waged two successful wars against the Ottoman Turks (Russian-Turkish wars of 1768-1774 and 1787-1791), as a result of which Russia finally gained a foothold on the Black Sea. Leading an alliance with Austria and Prussia, Catherine participated in the three partitions of Poland. In 1795 the empressa manifesto was issued on the accession of Courland "for all eternity to the Russian Empire."

The era of Empress Catherine the Great was marked by the emergence of a galaxy of prominent statesmen, generals, writers, and artists. Among them, a special place wasadjutant generalI. I. Shuvalov;Count P. A. Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky; Admiral V. Ya. Chichagov; Generalissimo A. V. Suvorov; Field Marshal G. A. Potemkin; educator, book publisher N. I. Novikov; historian, archaeologist, artist, writer, collector A. N. Olenin, President of the Russian Academy E. R. Dashkova.

On the morning of November 6 (17), 1796, Catherine II died and was buried in the tomb of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. 77 years after the death of Catherine in St. Petersburg on Alexandrinsky Square (now Ostrovsky Square) a monument to the great Empress was solemnly opened.

Lit .: Brikner A. G. The history of Catherine II. SPb., 1885; Grotto Ya. K. Education of Catherine II // Ancient and New Russia. 1875. V. 1. No. 2. S. 110-125; The same [Electronic resource]. URL:http://memoirs.ru/texts/Grot_DNR_75_2.htm; Catherine II. Her life and writings: Sat. historical and literary articles. M., 1910;Joanna Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst. News written by Princess Joanna-Elizaveta of Anhalt-Zerbst, mother of Empress Catherine, about her arrival with her daughter in Russia and about the celebrations on the occasion of joining Orthodoxy and the marriage of the latter. 1744-1745 // Collection of the Russian Historical Society. 1871. T. 7. S. 7-67; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://memoirs.ru/texts/IoannaSRIO71.htm; Kamensky A. B. Life and fate of Empress Catherine the Great. M., 1997; Omelchenko O. A. "Legitimate monarchy" of Catherine II. M., 1993; A. M. Turgenev's stories about Empress Catherine II // Russian Antiquity. 1897. V. 89. No. 1. S. 171-176; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://memoirs.ru/texts/Turgenev897.htm ; Tarle E.V. Catherine II and her diplomacy. Ch. 1-2. M., 1945.

See also in the Presidential Library:

Catherine II (1729-1796) // Romanov dynasty. 400th anniversary of the Zemsky Sobor of 1613: collection.

Upon closer examination, the biography of Catherine II the Great is replete with a large number of events that significantly influenced the empress of the Russian Empire.

Origin

Family tree of the Romanovs

Family ties of Peter III and Catherine II

The hometown of Catherine the Great is Stettin (now Szczecin in Poland), which was then the capital city of Pomerania. On May 2, 1729, a girl was born in the castle of the above-mentioned city, named at birth Sophia Frederick August of Anhalt-Zerbst.

The mother was the great-aunt of Peter III (who was at that time just a boy) Johanna Elizabeth, Princess of Holstein-Gottorp. The father was the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst - Christian August, the former governor of Stettin. Thus, the future empress was of very noble blood, although not from a royally wealthy family.

Childhood and youth

Francis Boucher - Young Catherine the Great

Being educated at home, Frederica, in addition to her native German, studied Italian, English and French. The basics of geography and theology, music and dancing - the corresponding education of the nobility coexisted with very active children's games. The girl was interested in everything that was happening around, and despite some dissatisfaction of her parents, she took part in games with the boys on the streets of her native city.

When she first saw her future husband in 1739, at Eitin Castle, Frederica did not yet know about the upcoming invitation to Russia. In 1744, at the age of fifteen, she traveled with her mother through Riga to Russia at the invitation of Empress Elizabeth. Immediately after her arrival, she began an active study of the language, traditions, history and religion of her new homeland. The most prominent teachers of the princess were Vasily Adadurov, who taught the language, Simon Todorsky, who taught Orthodoxy with Frederica, and choreographer Lange.

On July 9, Sophia Federica Augusta was officially baptized and converted to Orthodoxy, named Ekaterina Alekseevna - it is this name that she will later glorify.

Marriage

Despite the intrigues of her mother, through which the Prussian King Frederick II tried to remove Chancellor Bestuzhev and increase his influence on the foreign policy of the Russian Empire, Catherine did not fall into disgrace and on September 1, 1745, she was married to Peter Fedorovich, who was her second cousin.

Wedding on the reign of Catherine II. September 22, 1762. Confirmation. Engraving by A.Ya. Kolpashnikov. Last quarter of the 18th century

In view of the categorical inattention on the part of the young spouse, who was exclusively interested in military art and drill, the future empress devoted her time to the study of literature, art and science. At the same time, along with the study of the works of Voltaire, Montesquieu and other enlighteners, the biography of her young years is filled with hunting, various balls and masquerades.

The lack of intimacy with a legitimate spouse could not but affect the appearance of lovers, while Empress Elizabeth was not happy with the lack of heirs-grandchildren.

Having suffered two unsuccessful pregnancies, Catherine gave birth to Pavel, who, by personal decree of Elizabeth, was excommunicated from his mother and brought up separately. According to an unconfirmed theory, Pavel's father was S.V. Saltykov, who was sent from the capital immediately after the birth of the child. In favor of this statement, one can attribute the fact that after the birth of his son, Peter III finally ceased to be interested in his wife and did not hesitate to start favorites.

S. Saltykov

Stanislav August Poniatowski

However, Catherine herself was not inferior to her husband and, thanks to the efforts of the English ambassador Williams, entered into a relationship with Stanislav Poniatowski, the future king of Poland (thanks to the patronage of Catherine II herself). According to some historians, it was from Poniatowski that Anna was born, whose own paternity Peter questioned.

Williams, for some time, was a friend and confidant of Catherine, gave her loans, manipulated and received confidential information regarding Russia's foreign policy plans and the actions of its military units during the seven-year war with Prussia.

The first plans to overthrow her husband, the future Catherine the Great, began to hatch and voice as early as 1756, in letters to Williams. Seeing the morbid state of Empress Elizabeth, and no doubt about Peter's own incompetence, Chancellor Bestuzhev promised to support Catherine. In addition, Catherine attracted English loans to bribe supporters.

In 1758, Elizabeth began to suspect Apraksin, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Empire, and Chancellor Bestuzhev of conspiracy. The latter managed to avoid disgrace in time by destroying all correspondence with Catherine. The former favorites, including Williams, recalled to England, were removed from Catherine and she was forced to look for new supporters - they were Dashkova and the Orlov brothers.

British Ambassador C, Williams

Brothers Alexey and Grigory Orlov

On January 5, 1761, Empress Elizabeth died and Peter III ascended the throne by right of succession. The next round in the biography of Catherine began. The new emperor sent his wife to the other end of the Winter Palace, replacing her with his mistress Elizaveta Vorontsova. In 1762, Catherine's carefully hidden pregnancy from Count Grigory Orlov, with whom she began a relationship back in 1760, could in no way be explained by relations with her lawful spouse.

For this reason, to divert attention, on April 22, 1762, one of Catherine's devoted servants set fire to his own house - Peter III, who loved such spectacles, left the palace and Catherine calmly gave birth to Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky.

Organization of the coup

From the very beginning of his reign, Peter III caused dissatisfaction among his subordinates - an alliance with Prussia, which was defeated in the Seven Years' War, an aggravation of relations with Denmark. secularization of church lands and plans to change religious practices.

Taking advantage of her husband's unpopularity among the military, Catherine's supporters began to actively agitate the guard units to go over to the side of the future empress in the event of a coup.

The early morning of July 9, 1762 was the beginning of the overthrow of Peter III. Ekaterina Alekseevna arrived in St. Petersburg from Peterhof, accompanied by the Orlov brothers, and taking advantage of her husband's absence, took the oath first of the guards units, and then of other regiments.

Oath of the Izmailovsky Regiment to Catherine II. Unknown artist. Late 18th - first third of the 19th century

Moving along with the adjoining troops, the empress received from Peter at first a proposal for negotiations, and why the abdication of the throne.

After the conclusion, the biography of the ex-emperor was as sad as it was vague. The arrested husband died while under arrest in Ropsha, and the circumstances of his death have not been fully clarified. According to a number of sources, he was either poisoned or died suddenly from an unknown disease.

Having ascended the throne, Catherine the Great issued a manifesto accusing Peter III of trying to change religion and make peace with hostile Prussia.

Beginning of the reign

In foreign policy, the foundation was laid for the creation of the so-called Northern System, which consisted in the fact that the northern non-Catholic states: Russia, Prussia, England, Sweden, Denmark and Saxony, plus Catholic Poland, united against Austria and France. The first step towards the implementation of the project was considered the conclusion of an agreement with Prussia. Secret articles were attached to the treaty, according to which both allies were obliged to act together in Sweden and Poland in order to prevent their strengthening.

King of Prussia - Frederick II the Great

The course of affairs in Poland was of particular concern to Catherine and Friedrich. They agreed to prevent changes in the Polish constitution, to prevent and destroy all intentions that could lead to this, even resorting to weapons. In a separate article, the allies agreed to patronize Polish dissidents (that is, the non-Catholic minority - Orthodox and Protestants) and persuade the Polish king to equalize their rights with Catholics.

The former King August III died in 1763. Friedrich and Catherine set themselves the difficult task of placing their protege on the Polish throne. The Empress wanted it to be her former lover, Count Poniatowski. In achieving this, she did not stop either at bribing the deputies of the Sejm, or at the introduction of Russian troops into Poland.

The entire first half of the year was spent in active propaganda of the Russian protege. On August 26, Poniatowski was elected king of Poland. Catherine was very happy about this success and, without delay, ordered Poniatowski to raise the issue of the rights of dissidents, despite the fact that everyone who knew the state of affairs in Poland pointed out the great difficulty and almost impossibility of achieving this goal. Poniatowski wrote to his ambassador in St. Petersburg, Rzhevuski:

“The orders given to Repnin (the Russian ambassador in Warsaw) to bring dissidents into the legislative activity of the republic are thunderbolts both for the country and for me personally. If there is any human possibility, inspire the empress that the crown that she delivered to me will become for me the clothes of Nessus: I will burn in it and my end will be terrible. I clearly foresee the terrible choice ahead of me if the empress insists on her orders: either I will have to refuse her friendship, so dear to my heart and so necessary for my reign and for my state, or I will have to be a traitor to my fatherland.

Russian diplomat N. V. Repnin

Even Repnin was horrified by Catherine's intentions:
“The orders given” on the dissident case are terrible, he wrote to Panin, “truly my hair stands on end when I think about it, having almost no hope, except for the only strength, to fulfill the will of the most merciful empress regarding civil dissident advantages” .

But Catherine was not horrified and ordered Poniatowski to answer that she absolutely did not understand how dissidents admitted to legislative activity would, as a result, be more hostile to the Polish state and government than they are now; cannot understand how the king considers himself a traitor to the fatherland for what justice requires, which will be his glory and the solid good of the state.
“If the king looks at this matter in this way,” Catherine concluded, “then I remain eternal and sensitive regret that I could be deceived in the friendship of the king, in the image of his thoughts and feelings.”

Since the empress so unequivocally expressed her desire, Repnin in Warsaw was forced to act with all possible firmness. By intrigues, bribery and threats, the introduction of Russian troops into the suburbs of Warsaw and the arrest of the most stubborn opponents, Repnin achieved his goal on February 9, 1768. The Sejm agreed with the freedom of religion for dissidents and their political equalization with the Catholic nobility.

It seemed that the goal was achieved, but in reality it was only the beginning of a big war. The dissident “equation set fire to all of Poland. The Sejm, which approved the treaty on February 13, had barely dispersed, when in Bar the lawyer Puławski raised the confederation against him. With his light hand, anti-dissident confederations began to flare up all over Poland.

The answer of the Orthodox to the Bar Confederation was the Haydamak revolt of 1768, in which, together with the Haydamaks (Russian fugitives who had gone to the steppes), the Cossacks led by Zheleznyak And the serfs with the centurion Gonta rose up. At the height of the uprising, one of the Haidamak detachments crossed the border river Kolyma and plundered the Tatar town of Galta. As soon as this became known in Istanbul, a 20,000-strong Turkish corps was moved to the borders. On September 25, the Russian ambassador Obrezkov was arrested, diplomatic relations were broken off - the Russian-Turkish war began. Such an unexpected turn was given by the dissident case.

First wars

Having suddenly received two wars in her hands, Catherine was not at all embarrassed. On the contrary, threats from the west and south only added to her enthusiasm. She wrote to Count Chernyshev:
“The Turks and the French took it into their heads to wake up the cat who was sleeping; I am this cat who promises to make himself known to them, so that the memory does not soon disappear. I find that we freed ourselves from a great burden that crushes the imagination when we got rid of the peace treaty ... Now I am free, I can do everything that my means allow me, and Russia, you know, has not small means ... and now we will set the bell, what did not expect, and now the Turks will be beaten.

The inspiration of the Empress was transferred to her surroundings. Already at the first meeting of the Council on November 4, it was decided to wage a war not defensive, but offensive, and above all to try to raise up the Christians oppressed by Turkey. To this end, on November 12, Grigory Orlov proposed sending an expedition to the Mediterranean in order to promote the Greek uprising.

Catherine liked this plan, and she energetically set about implementing it. On November 16, she wrote to Chernyshev:
"I so tickled our marines by their craft that they became firemen."

And a few days later:
“I have a fleet in excellent care today, and I will truly use it in this way, if God commands, as it has not yet been ...”

Prince A. M. Golitsyn

Hostilities began in 1769. The army of General Golitsyn crossed the Dnieper and took Khotyn. But Catherine was dissatisfied with his slowness and transferred the supreme command to Rumyantsev, who soon took possession of Moldavia and Wallachia, as well as the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov with Azov and Taganrog. Catherine ordered to fortify these cities and start building a flotilla.

She developed amazing energy this year, worked like a real chief of the general staff, entered into the details of military preparations, drew up plans and instructions. In April, Catherine wrote to Chernyshev:
“I set fire to the Turkish empire from four corners; I don’t know if it will catch fire and burn, but I know that since the beginning they have not yet been used against their great troubles and worries ... We have boiled a lot of porridge, it will be delicious for someone. I have an army in the Kuban, armies against the brainless Poles, ready to fight with the Swedes, and three more inpetto turmoil, which I don’t dare to show ... "

In fact, there were many troubles and worries. In July 1769, a squadron finally sailed from Kronstadt under the command of Spiridov. Of the 15 large and small ships of the squadron, only eight reached the Mediterranean.

With these forces, Alexei Orlov, who was treated in Italy and asked to be the leader of the uprising of Turkish Christians, raised the Morea, but could not give the rebels a solid combat device, and, having failed at the approaching Turkish army, left the Greeks to their fate, annoyed by the fact that he did not find in them Themistocles. Catherine approved of all his actions.

Connecting with another Elphingston squadron that had approached meanwhile, Orlov chased the Turkish fleet and in the Chios Strait near the fortress of Chesme overtook the armada by the number of ships more than twice as strong as the Russian fleet. After a four-hour battle, the Turks took refuge in the Chesme Bay (June 24, 1770). A day later, on a moonlit night, the Russians launched fireships, and by morning the Turkish fleet crowded in the bay was burned (June 26).

Amazing naval victories in the Archipelago were followed by similar land victories in Bessarabia. Ekaterina wrote to Rumyantsev:
“I hope for God's help and your art in military affairs, that you will not leave this in the best way to satisfy and carry out such deeds that will gain you glory and prove how great your zeal for the fatherland and for me. The Romans did not ask when, where were their two or three legions, how many were the enemy against them, but where is he; they attacked and struck him, and not by the multitude of their troops did they defeat the diverse against their crowd ... "

Inspired by this letter, Rumyantsev in July 1770 twice defeated the many times superior Turkish armies at Larga and Cahul. At the same time, an important fortress on the Dniester, Bendery, was taken. In 1771, General Dolgorukov broke through Perekop to the Crimea and captured the fortresses of Kafa, Kerch and Yenikale. Khan Selim Giray fled to Turkey. The new Khan Sahib-Giray hastened to make peace with the Russians. At this, active actions ended and lengthy peace negotiations began, again returning Catherine to Polish affairs.

Storm Bender

Russia's military successes aroused envy and fear in neighboring countries, primarily in Austria and Prussia. Misunderstandings with Austria reached the point where they started talking loudly about the possibility of war with her. Friedrich strongly inspired the Russian Empress that Russia's desire to annex the Crimea and Moldova could lead to a new European war, since Austria would never agree to this. It is much more reasonable to take part of the Polish possessions as compensation. He directly wrote to his ambassador Solms that it makes no difference to Russia where she gets the reward to which she is entitled for military losses, and since the war started solely because of Poland, Russia has the right to take a reward from the border regions of this republic. At the same time, Austria should have received its part - this will moderate its hostility. The king, too, cannot do without acquiring a part of Poland for himself. This will serve as a reward for the subsidies and other expenses he incurred during the war.

Petersburg liked the idea of ​​partitioning Poland. On July 25, 1772, an agreement between the three powers-shareholders followed, according to which Austria received all of Galicia, Prussia - western Prussia, and Russia - Belarus. Having settled the contradictions with the European neighbors at the expense of Poland, Catherine could start the Turkish negotiations.

Break with Orlov

At the beginning of 1772, through the mediation of the Austrians, they agreed to start a peace congress with the Turks in Focsani in June. Count Grigory Orlov and the former Russian ambassador in Istanbul, Obrezkov, were appointed representatives from the Russian side.

It seemed that nothing foreshadowed the end of the 11-year relationship between the empress and the favorite, and meanwhile Orlov's star had already set. True, before breaking up with him, Catherine suffered from her lover as much as a rare woman is able to endure from her lawful husband

Already in 1765, seven years before the final break between them, Beranger reported from Petersburg:
» This Russian openly violates the laws of love towards the Empress. He has mistresses in the city, who not only do not incur the wrath of the empress for their compliance with Orlov, but, on the contrary, enjoy her patronage. Senator Muraviev, who found his wife with him, almost made a scandal, demanding a divorce; but the queen pacified him by giving him lands in Livonia.

But, apparently, Catherine was actually not at all as indifferent to these betrayals as it might seem. Less than two weeks after Orlov's departure, the Prussian envoy Solms was already reporting to Berlin:
“I can no longer restrain myself from informing Your Majesty of an interesting event that has just happened at this court. The absence of Count Orlov revealed a very natural, but nevertheless unexpected circumstance: Her Majesty found it possible to do without him, change her feelings for him and transfer her disposition to another subject.

A. S. Vasilchakov

Horse guards cornet Vasilchikov, accidentally sent with a small detachment to Tsarskoe Selo to carry guards, attracted the attention of his empress, completely unexpectedly for everyone, because there was nothing special in his appearance, and he himself never tried to advance and is very little known in society. . When the royal court moved from Tsarskoe Selo to Peterhof, Her Majesty for the first time showed him a sign of her disposition, giving him a golden snuffbox for the proper maintenance of the guards.

No significance was attached to this occasion, however, Vasilchikov's frequent visits to Peterhof, the care with which she hastened to distinguish him from others, her calmer and more cheerful disposition since Orlov's departure, the displeasure of the latter's relatives and friends, and finally many other minor circumstances opened the eyes of the courtiers .

Although everything is still kept secret, none of those close to him doubt that Vasilchikov is already in full favor with the Empress; they were especially convinced of this from the day when he was granted by the chamber junker .. "

Meanwhile, Orlov encountered insurmountable obstacles to peace in Focsani. The Turks did not want to recognize the independence of the Tatars. On August 18, Orlov broke off negotiations and left for Iasi, the headquarters of the Russian army. Here he was caught by the news of the dramatic change that followed in his life. Orlov abandoned everything and rushed to Petersburg on post horses, hoping to regain his former rights. A hundred miles from the capital, he was stopped by the order of the empress: Orlov was ordered to go to his estates and not leave there until the quarantine expired (he was traveling from the territory where the plague was raging). Although the favorite did not immediately have to reconcile, at the beginning of 1773 he nevertheless arrived in St. Petersburg and was sympathetically received by the empress, but there could no longer be any talk of previous relations.

“I owe a lot to the Orlov family,” said Ekaterina, “I showered them with riches and honors; and I will always patronize them, and they can be useful to me; but my decision is unchanged: I endured eleven years; now I want to live as I please, and quite independently. As for the prince, he can do whatever he pleases: he is free to travel or stay in the empire, drink, hunt, take his mistresses ... He will behave well, honor and glory to him, they will behave badly - he is ashamed ... "
***

The years 1773 and 1774 were restless for Catherine: the Poles continued to resist, the Turks did not want to make peace. The war, exhausting the state budget, continued, and meanwhile a new threat arose in the Urals. In September, Yemelyan Pugachev raised an uprising. In October, the rebels gathered strength for the siege of Orenburg, and the nobles around the empress openly panicked.

Catherine's heart affairs also did not go well. Later, she confessed to Potemkin, referring to her relationship with Vasilchikov:
“I was more sad than I can say, and never more than when other people are happy, and all sorts of caresses forced tears in me, so I think that from my birth I did not cry as much as these one and a half years; at first I thought that I would get used to it, but what happened next, it got worse, because on the other side (that is, from Vasilchikov’s side) they began to sulk for three months, and I must admit that I have never been happier than when I get angry and leave me alone, and His caress made me cry.

It is known that in her favorites, Catherine was looking for not only lovers, but also assistants in the matter of government. In the end, she succeeded in making good statesmen out of the Orlovs. Less fortunate with Vasilchikov. However, another contender remained in the reserve, which Catherine had long liked - Grigory Potemkin. Ekaterina knew and celebrated him for 12 years. In 1762, Potemkin served as a sergeant-major in a horse guard regiment and took an active part in the coup. In the list of awards after the events of June 28, he was assigned the rank of cornet. Ekaterina crossed out this line and wrote "captain-lieutenant" in her own hand.

In 1773 he was granted the rank of lieutenant general. In June of this year, Potemkin was in battle under the walls of Silistria. But a few months later, he suddenly asked for leave and quickly, hastily left the army. The reason for this was the event that decided his life: he received the following letter from Catherine:
"Mr Lieutenant General! You, I imagine, are so busy looking at Silistria that you have no time to read letters. I do not know whether the bombardment has hitherto been successful, but, in spite of this, I am sure that - whatever you personally undertake - no other goal can be prescribed than your ardent zeal for the benefit of me personally and dear homeland, whom you lovingly serve. But, on the other hand, since I wish to preserve diligent, brave, intelligent and efficient people, I ask you not to be in danger unnecessarily. After reading this letter, you may ask why it was written; I can answer this for you: so that you have confidence in how I think of you, just as I wish you well.

In January 1774, Potemkin was in St. Petersburg, waited another six weeks, testing the ground, strengthening his chances, and on February 27 he wrote a letter to the Empress, in which he asked graciously to appoint him adjutant general, "if she considered his services worthy." Three days later he received a favorable answer, and on March 20 Vasilchikov was sent an imperial order to go to Moscow. He retired, making way for Potemkin, who was destined to become Catherine's most famous and powerful favorite. In a matter of months, he made a dizzying career.

In May he was introduced to the Council, in June he was granted the title of count, in October he was promoted to general-in-chief, and in November he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. All of Catherine's friends were perplexed and found the choice of the empress strange, extravagant, even tasteless, for Potemkin was ugly, crooked in one eye, bow-legged, harsh and even rude. Grimm could not hide his astonishment.
"Why? Catherine answered him. “I bet because I distanced myself from some excellent, but too boring gentleman, who was immediately replaced, myself, really, I don’t know how, one of the greatest fun, the most interesting eccentric that can be found in our iron age.”

She was very pleased with her new acquisition.
“Oh, what a head this man has,” she said, “and this good head is funny as the devil.”

Several months passed, and Potemkin became a real ruler, an omnipotent man, before whom all rivals humbled themselves and all heads bowed, starting with the head of Catherine. His accession to the Council was tantamount to becoming the first minister. He directs domestic and foreign policy and forces Chernyshev to give him the position of chairman of the military collegium.

On July 10, 1774, negotiations with Turkey ended with the signing of the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty, according to which:

• the independence of the Tatars and the Crimean Khanate from the Ottoman Empire was recognized;
• Kerch and Yenikale in the Crimea are ceded to Russia;
• Russia departs the castle of Kinburn and the steppe between the Dnieper and the Bug, Azov, Greater and Lesser Kabarda;
• free navigation of merchant ships of the Russian Empire through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles;
• Moldova and Wallachia received the right to autonomy and came under Russian protection;
• The Russian Empire received the right to build a Christian church in Constantinople, and the Turkish authorities undertook to ensure its protection
• A ban on the oppression of the Orthodox in Transcaucasia, on the collection of tribute by people from Georgia and Mingrelia.
• 4.5 million rubles indemnity.

The joy of the empress was great - no one expected such a favorable peace. But at the same time more and more disturbing news came from the east. Pugachev has already been defeated twice. He fled, but his flight seemed like an invasion. Never was the success of the uprising more significant than in the summer of 1774, never had the rebellion raged with such power and cruelty.

The indignation spread like wildfire from one village to another, from province to province. This sad news made a deep impression in St. Petersburg and overshadowed the victorious mood after the end of the Turkish war. Only in August Pugachev was finally defeated and captured. On January 10, 1775 he was executed in Moscow.

As for Polish affairs, on February 16, 1775, the Sejm finally passed a law on the equalization of dissidents in political rights with Catholics. Thus, despite all the obstacles, Catherine brought this difficult task to the end and successfully completed three bloody wars - two external and one internal.

The execution of Yemelyan Pugachev

***
The Pugachev uprising revealed the serious shortcomings of the existing regional administration: firstly, the former provinces represented too extensive administrative districts, secondly, these districts were provided with too few institutions with meager personnel, and thirdly, various departments were mixed in this administration: one and the same department was in charge of administrative affairs, and finances, and the criminal and civil courts. In order to eliminate these shortcomings in 1775, Catherine began a provincial reform.

First of all, she introduced a new regional division: instead of the 20 vast provinces into which Russia was then divided, now the entire empire was divided into 50 provinces. The basis of the provincial division was taken exclusively by the number of population. The provinces of Catherine are districts of 300-400 thousand inhabitants. They were subdivided into counties with a population of 20-30 thousand inhabitants. Each province received a uniform structure, administrative and judicial.

In the summer of 1775, Catherine stayed in Moscow, where the house of the princes Golitsyns at the Prechistensky Gates was placed at her disposal. In early July, Field Marshal Count Rumyantsev, the winner of the Turks, arrived in Moscow. The news has survived that Catherine, dressed in a Russian sundress, met Rumyantsev. on the porch of the Golitsyn house and, embracing, kissed. At the same time, she drew attention to Zavadovsky, a powerful, stately and exceptionally handsome man who accompanied the field marshal. Noticing the affectionate and interested look of the empress, cast by her at Zavadovsky, the field marshal immediately introduced the handsome man to Catherine, flatteringly speaking of him as a man of excellent education, hardworking, honest and brave.

Catherine granted Zavadovsky a diamond ring with her name on it and appointed her office secretary. Soon he was granted the rank of major general and adjutant general, became in charge of the personal office of the empress and became one of the people closest to her. At the same time, Potemkin noticed that his charm for the Empress had weakened. In April 1776, he went on vacation to revise the Novgorod province. A few days after his departure, Zavadovsky settled in his place.

P. V. Zavadovsky

But, having ceased to be a lover, Potemkin, granted in 1776 to the princes, retained all his influence and sincere friendship with the empress. Almost until his death, he remained the second person in the state, determined domestic and foreign policy, and none of the subsequent numerous favorites, up to Platon Zubov, even tried to play the role of a statesman. All of them were close to Catherine by Potemkin himself, who tried in this way to influence the location of the empress.

First of all, he tried to remove Zavadovsky. Potemkin had to spend almost a year on this, and luck did not come before he discovered Semyon Zorich. He was a hero-cavalryman and a handsome man, a Serb by origin. Potemkin took Zorich to his aide-de-camp and almost immediately presented him for appointment as commander of the life hussar squadron. Since the life hussars were the personal guard of the empress, Zorich's appointment to the post was preceded by his introduction to Catherine.

S. G. Zorich

In May 1777, Potemkin arranged an audience with the empress with a potential favorite - and he was not mistaken in his calculation. Zavadovsky was suddenly granted a six-month vacation, and Zorich was granted the rank of colonel, adjutant wing and chief of the life hussar squadron. Zorich was already under forty, and he was full of manly beauty, however, unlike Zavadovsky, he was poorly educated (later he himself admitted that from the age of 15 he went to war and that until close to the empress he remained a complete ignoramus). Catherine tried to instill in him literary and scientific tastes, but seems to have had little success in this.

Zorich was stubborn and reluctant to educate. In September 1777, he became a major general, and in the fall of 1778, an earl. But having received this title, he was suddenly offended, as he expected a princely title. Soon after, he had a quarrel with Potemkin, which almost ended in a duel. Find out about this, Catherine ordered Zorich to go to her estate Shklov.

Even before Potemkin began to look for a new favorite for his girlfriend. Several candidates were considered, among which, they say, there was even some kind of Persian, distinguished by extraordinary physical data. Finally, Potemkin settled on three officers - Bergman, Rontsov and Ivan Korsakov. Gelbich says that Ekaterina went to the reception room, when all three applicants appointed for an audience were there. Each of them stood with a bouquet of flowers, and she graciously talked first with Bergman, then with Rontsov, and finally with Korsakov. The extraordinary beauty and grace of the latter captivated her. Catherine graciously smiled at everyone, but with a bouquet of flowers sent Korsakov to Potemkin, who became the next favorite. From other sources it is known that Korsakov did not immediately reach the desired position.

In general, in 1778, Catherine experienced a kind of moral breakdown and was fond of several young people at once. In June, the Englishman Harris notes the rise of Korsakov, and in August he speaks of his rivals, who are trying to wrest the grace of the Empress from him; they are supported on the one hand by Potemkin, and on the other by Panin, together with Orlov; in September, Strakhov, the "lowest jester", prevails over everyone, four months later, Major of the Semenovsky regiment Levashev, a young man patronized by Countess Bruce, takes his place. Then Korsakov again returns to his former position, but now he is fighting with some kind of Potemkin's favorite Stoyanov. In 1779, he finally won a complete victory over his competitors, became a chamberlain and adjutant general.

Grimm, who considered his friend's infatuation a mere whim, Catherine wrote:
"Whim? Do you know what this is: the expression is completely inappropriate in this case when they talk about Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus (as Catherine called Korsakov), and about this subject of temptation for all artists and despair for all sculptors. Admiration, enthusiasm, and not whimsy excite such exemplary creations of nature ... Pyrrhus never made a single ignoble or ungraceful gesture or movement ... But all this, in general, is not effeminacy, but, on the contrary, courage, and he is what you would like he was…"

In addition to his amazing appearance, Korsakov charmed the Empress with his wonderful voice. The reign of a new favorite constitutes an epoch in the history of Russian music. Catherine invited the first artists of Italy to St. Petersburg so that Korsakov could sing with them. She wrote to Grimm:

"Never have I met anyone so capable of enjoying harmonic sounds as Pyrrha, King of Epirus."

Rimsky-Korsakov I. N.

Unfortunately for himself, Korsakov failed to maintain his height. Once, in early 1780, Catherine found her favorite in the arms of her friend and confidante, Countess Bruce. This greatly cooled her ardor, and soon Korsakov's place was taken by the 22-year-old horse guard Alexander Lanskoy.

Lanskoy was introduced to Ekaterina by Chief of Police Tolstoy, he liked the empress at first sight: she granted him to the adjutant wing and gave 10,000 rubles to equip him. But he did not become a favorite. However, Lanskoy showed a lot of common sense from the very beginning and turned to Potemkin for support, who appointed him one of his adjutants and directed his court education for about six months.

He discovered in his pupil a mass of excellent qualities, and in the spring of 1780, with a light heart, he recommended him to the Empress as a cordial friend. Catherine promoted Lansky to colonel, then to adjutant general and chamberlain, and soon he settled in the palace in the empty apartments of the former favorite.

Of all Catherine's lovers, this was, without a doubt, the most pleasant and sweetest. According to contemporaries, Lanskoy did not enter into any intrigues, tried not to harm anyone and completely abandoned public affairs, rightly believing that politics would force him to make enemies for himself. The only all-consuming passion of Lansky was Catherine, He wanted to reign in her heart alone and did everything to achieve this. There was something maternal in the 54-year-old empress's passion for him. She caressed and educated him as her beloved child. Catherine wrote to Grimm:
“In order for you to form an idea about this young man, you need to convey what Prince Orlov said about him to one of his friends: “See what a person she will make of him! ..” He absorbs everything with greed! He began by swallowing all the poets and their poems in one winter; and in the other, a few historians ... Without studying anything, we will have countless knowledge and find pleasure in communicating with everything that is the best and most dedicated. In addition, we build and plant; besides, we are charitable, cheerful, honest and full of simplicity.

Under the guidance of his mentor Lanskoy, he studied French, got acquainted with philosophy and, finally, became interested in the works of art with which the empress liked to surround herself. The four years spent in Lansky's company were perhaps the most calm and happy in Catherine's life, as evidenced by many contemporaries. However, she always led a very moderate and measured life.
***

The daily routine of the Empress

Catherine usually woke up at six in the morning. At the beginning of her reign, she herself dressed and kindled the fireplace. Later, she was dressed in the mornings by chamberlain Perekusikhin. Ekaterina rinsed her mouth with warm water, rubbed her cheeks with ice and went to her office. Here, very strong morning coffee was waiting for her, usually accompanied by heavy cream and biscuits. The Empress herself ate little, but half a dozen Italian Greyhounds, who always shared breakfast with Catherine, emptied the sugar bowl and the basket of biscuits. Having finished eating, the empress let the dogs out for a walk, and she herself sat down to work and wrote until nine o'clock.

At nine she returned to the bedroom and received the speakers. The Chief of Police was the first to enter. To read the papers submitted for signature, the Empress put on glasses. Then the secretary appeared and work with documents began.

As you know, the Empress read and wrote in three languages, but at the same time she made many syntactical and grammatical errors, not only in Russian and French, but also in her native German. Mistakes in Russian, of course, were the most annoying of all. Catherine was aware of this and once confessed to one of her secretaries:
“Don't laugh at my Russian spelling; I'll tell you why I didn't have time to study it well. Upon my arrival here, I began to learn the Russian language with great diligence. Aunt Elizaveta Petrovna, learning about this, said to my chamberlain: enough to teach her, she is smart enough without that. Thus, I could learn Russian only from books without a teacher, and this is the very reason that I do not know spelling well.

The secretaries had to rewrite all the drafts of the Empress cleanly. But classes with the secretary were interrupted now and then by visits from generals, ministers and dignitaries. This went on until dinner, which was usually at one or two.

Having dismissed the secretary, Ekaterina went to the small dressing room, where the old hairdresser Kolov combed her hair. Catherine took off her hood and cap, put on an extremely simple, open and free dress with double sleeves and wide shoes with low heels. On weekdays, the Empress did not wear any jewelry. On ceremonial occasions, Catherine wore an expensive velvet dress, the so-called "Russian style", and adorned her hair with a crown. She did not follow the Parisian fashions and did not encourage this expensive pleasure in her court ladies.

After finishing the toilet, Catherine went to the official restroom, where they finished dressing her. It was time for a small exit. Grandchildren, a favorite and several close friends like Lev Naryshkin gathered here. The empress was served pieces of ice, and she quite openly rubbed her cheeks with them. Then the hair was covered with a small tulle cap, and the toilet ended there. The whole ceremony lasted about 10 minutes. After that, everyone went to the table.

On weekdays, twelve people were invited to dinner. The favorite sat on the right hand. The dinner lasted about an hour and was very simple. Catherine never cared about the sophistication of her table. Her favorite dish was boiled beef with pickles. As a drink, she used currant juice. In the last years of her life, on the advice of doctors, Catherine drank a glass of Madeira or Rhine wine. Dessert was accompanied by fruits, mostly apples and cherries.

Among the chefs of Catherine, one cooked very badly. But she did not notice this, and when, after many years, her attention was finally called to this, she did not allow him to be calculated, saying that he served too long in her house. She managed only when he was on duty, and, sitting down at the table, said to the guests:
“We are now on a Diet, you need to be patient, but after that we will eat well.”

After dinner, Catherine talked with the guests for several minutes, then everyone dispersed. Ekaterina sat down at the hoop - she embroidered very skillfully - and Betsky read aloud to her. When Betsky, having grown old, began to lose his sight, she did not want to replace him with anyone and began to read herself, putting on glasses.

Analyzing the numerous references to the books she read, scattered in her correspondence, we can safely say that Catherine was aware of all the book novelties of her time, and she read everything indiscriminately: from philosophical treatises and historical writings to novels. She, of course, could not assimilate deeply all this enormous material, and her erudition remained largely superficial, and her knowledge shallow, but in general she could judge a variety of problems.

The rest lasted about an hour. Then the empress was informed about the arrival of the secretary: twice a week she sorted out foreign mail with him and made notes on the margins of dispatches. On other fixed days, officials came to her with reports or for orders.
In the moments of a break in business, Catherine carelessly had fun with the children.

In 1776 she wrote to her friend Madame Boelcke:
“You have to be funny. Only this helps us to overcome and endure everything. I tell you this from experience, because I have overcome and endured a lot in my life. But all the same, I laughed when I could, and I swear to you that at the present time, when I bear the brunt of my position, I play with my heart, when the opportunity presents itself, blind man's blind with my son, and very often without him. We come up with an excuse for it, we say, "It's good for health," but, between us it will be said, we do it just to fool around."

At four o'clock the working day of the Empress ended, and it was time for rest and entertainment. Catherine walked along the long gallery from the Winter Palace to the Hermitage. It was her favorite place to stay. She was accompanied by a favorite. She reviewed and posted new collections, played a game of billiards, and occasionally carved ivory. At six o'clock the Empress returned to the reception rooms of the Hermitage, which were already filled with persons admitted to the court.

Count Hord in his memoirs described the Hermitage as follows:
“It occupies a whole wing of the imperial palace and consists of an art gallery, two large rooms for card games and another where they dine on two tables “family”, and next to these rooms is a winter garden, covered and well lit. There they walk among the trees and numerous pots of flowers. Various birds fly and sing there, mainly canaries. The garden is heated by underground stoves; despite the harsh climate, it always reigns a pleasant temperature.

This so charming apartment is made even better by the freedom that reigns here. Everyone feels at ease: the empress has expelled all etiquette from here. Here they walk, play, sing; everyone does what he likes. The art gallery abounds with first-class masterpieces".

All sorts of games were a huge success at these meetings. Catherine was the first to participate in them, aroused gaiety in everyone and allowed all sorts of liberties.

At ten o'clock the game ended, and Catherine retired to the inner chambers. Dinner was served only on ceremonial occasions, but even then Catherine sat down at the table only for show .. Returning to her room, she went into the bedroom, drank a large glass of boiled water and went to bed.
Such was the private life of Catherine according to the memoirs of contemporaries. Her intimate life is less known, although it is also not a secret. The Empress was an amorous woman, who until her death retained the ability to be carried away by young people.

There were more than a dozen of her official lovers. With all this, as already mentioned, she was not at all a beauty.
“To tell you the truth,” Catherine herself wrote, “I never considered myself extremely beautiful, but I liked it, and I think that this was my strength.”

All the portraits that have come down to us confirm this opinion. But there is no doubt that there was something extremely attractive in this woman, which eluded the brush of all painters and made many sincerely admire her appearance. With age, the Empress did not lose her attractiveness, although she became more and more stout.

Catherine was not at all windy or depraved. Many of her connections lasted for years, and although the empress was far from being indifferent to sensual pleasures, spiritual communication with a close man remained very important for her too. But it is also true that after the Orlovs, Catherine never raped her heart. If the favorite ceased to interest her, she resigned without any ceremony.

At the next evening reception, the courtiers noticed that the empress was staring at some unknown lieutenant, who had been introduced to her only the day before or who had previously been lost in the brilliant crowd. Everyone understood what that meant. In the afternoon, a young man was summoned to the palace by a short order and subjected to repeated tests for compliance in the performance of the direct intimate duties of the favorite of the empress.

A. M. Turgenev tells about this rite, through which all Catherine's lovers went through:
“They usually sent to Anna Stepanovna Protasova for a trial of the favorite of Her Majesty. Upon inspection of the concubine destined for the highest rank to the mother empress by the life physician Rogerson and on the certificate of being fit for service regarding health, the recruited to Anna Stepanovna Protasova was escorted to a three-night test. When the betrothed fully satisfied the requirements of Protasova, she informed the most merciful empress about the trustworthiness of the tested, and then the first meeting was appointed according to the established etiquette of the court or according to the charter of the highest for consecration to the rank of concubine to the confirmed.

Perekusikhina Marya Savvishna and the valet Zakhar Konstantinovich were obliged to dine with the chosen one on the same day. At 10 pm, when the empress was already in bed, Perekusikhina led the recruit into the bedchamber of the most pious, dressed in a Chinese dressing gown, with a book in her hands, and left him to read in the armchairs near the anointed bed. The next day, Perekusikhina took the initiate out of the bedchamber and handed him over to Zakhar Konstantinovich, who led the newly appointed concubine to the halls prepared for him; here Zakhar reported already slavishly to the favorite that the most merciful empress deigned to appoint him with the highest person as her adjutant wing, brought him an adjutant wing uniform with a diamond agraph and 100,000 rubles of pocket money.

Before the empress even went out, in the winter to the Hermitage, and in the summer, in Tsarskoye Selo, to the garden, to take a walk with the new adjutant wing, to whom she gave her hand to guide her, the front hall of the new favorite was filled with the first state dignitaries, nobles, courtiers to bring him the most zealous congratulations on receiving the highest mercy. The most highly enlightened pastor, the metropolitan, usually came to the favorite the next day to consecrate him and blessed him with holy water..

Subsequently, the procedure became more complicated, and after Potemkin, the favorites were checked not only by the assayer-maid of honor Protasova, but also by Countess Bruce, and Perekusikhina, and Utochkin.

In June 1784, Lanskoy fell seriously and dangerously ill - it was said that he undermined his health by abusing stimulant drugs. Catherine did not leave the sufferer for an hour, almost stopped eating, left all her affairs and looked after him, like a mother for her only infinitely beloved son. Then she wrote:
"Malignant fever combined with a toad brought him to the grave in five days."

On the evening of June 25, Lanskoy died. Catherine's grief was boundless.
“When I began this letter, I was in happiness and joy, and my thoughts raced so fast that I did not have time to follow them,” she wrote to Grimm. “Now everything has changed: I suffer terribly, and my happiness is no more; I thought I couldn't bear the irretrievable loss I suffered a week ago when my best friend passed away. I hoped that he would be the support of my old age: he also aspired to this, tried to instill in himself all my tastes. This was a young man whom I brought up who was grateful, meek, honest, who shared my sorrows when I had them, and rejoiced in my joys.

In a word, I, sobbing, have the misfortune to tell you that General Lansky is gone ... and my room, which I used to love so much, has now turned into an empty cave; I can hardly move on it like a shadow: on the eve of his death, I had a sore throat and a violent fever; however, since yesterday I have been on my feet, but I am weak and so depressed that I cannot see a human face, so as not to burst into tears at the first word. I can neither sleep nor eat. Reading irritates me, writing exhausts my strength. I don't know what will become of me now; I know only one thing, that never in all my life have I been so unhappy as since my best and kindest friend left me. I opened the drawer, found this started sheet, wrote these lines on it, but I can no longer ... "

“I confess to you that all this time I have been unable to write to you, because I knew that this would make us both suffer. A week after I wrote you my last letter in July, Fyodor Orlov and Prince Potemkin came to see me. Until that moment I could not see a human face, but these knew what to do: they roared along with me, and then I felt at ease with them; but I still had a long time to recover, and because of the sensitivity to my grief, I became insensitive to everything else; my grief increased and was remembered at every step and at every word.

However, do not think that because of this terrible state I have neglected even the smallest thing that requires my attention. In the most painful moments, they came to me for orders, and I gave them sensibly and reasonably; this particularly struck General Saltykov. Two months passed like this without any relief; at last the first quiet hours came, and then the days. It was already autumn outside, it was getting damp, and the palace in Tsarskoe Selo had to be heated. All of mine went into a frenzy from this and so strong that on September 5, not knowing where to lay my head, I ordered the carriage to be laid down and arrived unexpectedly and in such a way that no one suspected it, to the city where I stopped in the Hermitage ... "

In the Winter Palace, all the doors were locked. Catherine ordered to knock down the door to the Hermitage and went to bed. But waking up at one in the morning, she ordered the cannons to be fired, which usually announced her arrival, and alarmed the whole city. The entire garrison rose to their feet, all the courtiers were frightened, and even she herself was surprised that she had made such a fuss. But a few days later, after giving an audience to the diplomatic corps, they appeared with their usual face, calm, healthy and fresh, friendly, as before the disaster, and smiling as always.

Soon life went back into its groove, and the eternally in love returned to life. But ten months passed before she wrote to Grimm again:
“I will tell you in one word, instead of a hundred, that I have a friend who is very capable and worthy of this name.”

This friend was the brilliant young officer Alexander Yermolov, represented by the same indispensable Potemkin. He moved to the long-empty chambers of the favorites. The summer of 1785 was one of the most joyful in Catherine's life: one noisy pleasure was replaced by another. The aging empress felt a new surge of legislative energy. This year, two famous letters of commendation appeared - to the nobility and cities. These acts completed the local government reform begun in 1775.

At the beginning of 1786, Catherine began to grow cold towards Yermolov. The resignation of the latter was accelerated by the fact that he took it into his head to intrigue against Potemkin himself. In June, the Empress asked her to tell her lover that she allowed him to go abroad for three years.

Yermolov's successor was the 28-year-old captain of the guard Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov, a distant relative of Potemkin and his adjutant. Having made a mistake with the previous favorite, Potemkin looked closely at Mamonov for a long time before recommending him to Catherine. In August 1786, Mamonov was introduced to the Empress and was soon appointed adjutant wing. Contemporaries noted that he could not be called handsome.

Mamonov was distinguished by his tall stature and physical strength, had a bony face, slightly slanted eyes, glowing with intelligence, and conversations with him gave the Empress considerable pleasure. A month later, he became an ensign of the cavalry guards and a major general in the army, and in 1788 he was granted a count. The first honors did not turn the head of the new favorite - he showed restraint, tact and gained a reputation as an intelligent, cautious person. Mamonov spoke German and English well, and knew French perfectly. In addition, he proved himself to be a good poet and playwright, which especially appealed to Catherine.

Thanks to all these qualities, as well as the fact that Mamonov constantly studied, read a lot and tried to seriously delve into state affairs, he became an adviser to the empress.

Catherine wrote to Grimm:
“The red caftan (as she called Mamonov) is worn by a creature with a beautiful heart and a very sincere soul. Mind for four, inexhaustible gaiety, a lot of originality in understanding things and conveying them, excellent education, a lot of knowledge that can give brilliance to the mind. We hide as a crime the inclination to poetry; we love music passionately, we understand everything unusually easily. What only we do not know by heart! We recite, chatter in the tone of a better society; exquisitely polite; we write in Russian and French, as rarely anyone else, as much in style as in beauty of writing. Our appearance is quite consistent with our internal qualities: we have wonderful black eyes with eyebrows that are extremely outlined; below average height, noble appearance, free gait; in a word, we are just as reliable in our souls as we are dexterous, strong and brilliant on the outside.
***

Travel to Crimea

In 1787, Catherine made one of her longest and most famous journeys - she went to the Crimea, which from 17.83 was annexed to Russia. Before Catherine had time to return to St. Petersburg, the news broke out about the break in relations with Turkey and the arrest of the Russian ambassador in Istanbul: the second Turkish war began. To top it off, the situation of the 60s was repeated) when one war pulled another.

As soon as they gathered forces to repulse in the south, it became known that the Swedish king Gustav III intended to attack defenseless Petersburg. The king came to Finland and sent a demand to Vice-Chancellor Osterman to return to Sweden all the lands ceded under the Nystadt and Abov worlds, and to return the Crimea to Porte.

In July 1788, the Swedish War began. Potemkin was busy in the south, and all the hardships of the war fell entirely on the shoulders of Catherine. She was personally involved in everything. affairs for the management of the maritime department, ordered, for example, to build several new barracks and hospitals, to fix and put in order the Revel port.

A few years later, she recalled this era in a letter to Grimm: “There is a reason why it seemed that I did everything so well at that time: I was then alone, with almost no helpers, and, being afraid to miss something out of ignorance or forgetfulness, I showed an activity that no one considered me capable of; I interfered in incredible details to such an extent that I even turned into an army quartermaster, but, according to everyone, soldiers have never been fed better in a country where it was impossible to get any provisions ... "

On August 3, 1790, the Treaty of Versailles was concluded; the borders of both states remained the same as they were before the war.

Behind these troubles in 1789 there was another change of favorites. In June, Catherine found out that Mamonov was having an affair with the maid of honor Daria Shcherbatov. The Empress reacted to treason quite calmly. She recently turned 60 years old, besides, a long experience of love relationships taught her condescension. She bought several villages for Mamontov, with more than 2,000 peasants, gave her bride jewelry and betrothed them herself. Over the years of his favor, Mamonov had gifts and money from Catherine for about 900 thousand rubles. The last hundred thousand, in addition to the three thousand peasants, he received when leaving with his wife for Moscow. At this time, he could already see his successor.

On June 20, Ekaterina chose the 22-year-old second-captain of the Horse Guards Platon Zubov as the favorite. In July, Toth was granted the rank of colonel and adjutant wing. At first, the empress's entourage did not take him seriously.

Bezborodko wrote to Vorontsov:
“This child is well-mannered, but not far-sighted; I don't think he will last long in his place.

However, Bezborodko was wrong. Zubov was destined to become the last favorite of the great empress - he retained his position until her death.

Catherine confessed to Potemkin in August of the same year:
“I came back to life like a fly after hibernation… I am cheerful and healthy again.”

She was moved by Zubov's youth and the fact that he cried when he was not allowed into the rooms of the Empress. Despite his mild appearance, Zubov turned out to be a prudent and dexterous lover. His influence on the empress became so great over the years that he managed to achieve the almost impossible: he nullified Potemkin's charm and completely ousted him from Catherine's heart. Having taken all the threads of management into his own hands, in the last years of Catherine's life he acquired a tremendous influence on affairs.
***
The war with Turkey continued. In 1790, Suvorov took Izmail, and Potemkin - Vendors. After that, Porte had no choice but to yield. In December 1791, peace was concluded in Iasi. Russia received the interfluve of the Dniester and the Bug, where Odessa was soon built; Crimea was recognized as her possession.

Potemkin did not live long enough to see this joyful day. He died on October 5, 1791 on the way from Iasi to Nikolaev. Catherine's grief was very great. According to the testimony of the French commissioner Genet, "at this news she lost consciousness, blood rushed to her head, and she was forced to open a vein." Who can replace such a person? she repeated to her secretary Khrapovitsky. “I and all of us are now like snails who are afraid to stick their heads out of their shells.”

She wrote to Grimm:

“Yesterday I was hit like a butt on the head ... My student, my friend, one might say, an idol, Prince Potemkin of Tauride died ... Oh, my God! Now I am truly my own helper. I have to train my people again!”
The last remarkable act of Catherine was the division of Poland and the annexation of western Russian lands to Russia. The second and third sections, which followed in 1793 and 1795, were a logical continuation of the first. Many years of anarchy and the events of 1772 brought many nobles to their senses. During the four-year Sejm of 1788-1791, the reforming party drafted a new constitution, adopted on May 3, 1791. She established hereditary royal power with the Sejm without the right to veto, the admission of deputies from the townspeople, the complete equality of dissidents, the abolition of confederations. All this happened in the wake of frenzied anti-Russian speeches and in defiance of all previous agreements, according to which Russia guaranteed the Polish constitution. Catherine was forced to endure impudence for the time being, but she wrote to members of the foreign collegium:

“... I will not agree to any of this new order of things, during the approval of which not only did they not pay any attention to Russia, but showered it with insults, bullied it every minute ...”

And indeed, as soon as peace was concluded with Turkey, Poland was occupied by Russian troops, and a Russian garrison was brought into Warsaw. This served as a prologue to the section. In November, the Prussian ambassador in St. Petersburg, Count Goltz, presented a map of Poland, which outlined the area desired by Prussia. In December, after a detailed study of the map, Catherine approved the Russian share of the partition. Most of Belarus went to Russia. After the final collapse of the May constitution, its adherents, both those who went abroad and those who remained in Warsaw, had one means to act in favor of a lost enterprise: plot, stir up displeasure, and wait for an opportunity to raise an uprising. All this has been done.
Warsaw was to become the center of the performance. A well-prepared uprising began early in the morning on April 6 (17), 1794 and was a surprise for the Russian garrison. Most of the soldiers were killed, and only a few units with heavy damage were able to break out of the city. Not trusting the king, the patriots proclaimed General Kosciuszko as supreme ruler. In response, a third partition agreement was reached between Austria, Prussia and Russia in September. Krakow and Sendomierz provinces were to go to Austria. The Bug and Neman became the borders of Russia. In addition, Courland and Lithuania retreated to it. The rest of Poland with Warsaw was given to Prussia. On November 4, Suvorov took Warsaw. The revolutionary government was destroyed and power returned to the king. Stanislav-August wrote to Catherine:
“The fate of Poland is in your hands; your power and wisdom will solve it; whatever the fate that you assign to me personally, I cannot forget my duty to my people, imploring Your Majesty's generosity for them.

Catherine replied:
“It was not in my power to prevent disastrous consequences and to fill up under the feet of the Polish people the abyss dug by their corrupters and into which they are finally carried away ...”

On October 13, 1795, the third section was made; Poland disappeared from the map of Europe. This partition was soon followed by the death of the Russian empress. The decline of Catherine's moral and physical strength began in 1792. She was broken both by the death of Potemkin and by the extraordinary tension that she had to endure during the last war. The French envoy Genet wrote:

“Catherine is clearly aging, she herself sees this, and melancholy takes possession of her soul.”

Catherine complained: "The years make everyone see in black". Dropsy overcame the Empress. It became increasingly difficult for her to walk. She stubbornly fought old age and illnesses, but in September 1796, after her granddaughter's engagement to King Gustav IV of Sweden did not take place, Catherine went to bed. She did not leave colic, wounds opened on her legs. Only at the end of October did the empress feel better. On the evening of November 4, Catherine gathered an intimate circle in the Hermitage, was very cheerful all evening and laughed at Naryshkin's jokes. However, she left earlier than usual, saying that she had colic from laughter. The next day, Catherine got up at her usual hour, talked with the favorite, worked with the secretary, and, dismissing the latter, ordered him to wait in the hallway. He waited an unusually long time and began to worry. Half an hour later, the faithful Zubov decided to look into the bedroom. The Empress was not there; was not in the toilet room. Zubov called people in alarm; they ran to the dressing room and there they saw the immovable empress with a reddened face, foaming at the mouth and wheezing with a death rattle. Ekaterina was carried into the bedroom and laid on the floor. She resisted death for about a day and a half, but did not come to her senses and died on the morning of November 6.
She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Thus ended the reign of Catherine II the Great, one of the most famous Russian women politicians.

Catherine composed the following epitaph for her future tombstone:

Catherine II is buried here. She arrived in Russia in 1744 to marry Peter III. At fourteen, she made a threefold decision: to please her husband, Elizabeth, and the people. She did not miss anything in order to achieve success in this respect. Eighteen years of boredom and loneliness led her to read many books. Having ascended the Russian throne, she made every effort to give her subjects happiness, freedom and material well-being. She forgave easily and hated no one. She was indulgent, loved life, had a cheerful disposition, was a true republican in her convictions and had a good heart. She had friends. The job was easy for her. She enjoyed secular entertainment and the arts.

On February 14, 1744, an event occurred that was extremely important for the subsequent history of Russia. She arrived in St. Petersburg accompanied by her mother Princess Sophie Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst. A high mission was entrusted to the 14-year-old girl - she was to become the wife of the heir to the Russian throne, give birth to her husband's sons and thereby strengthen the ruling dynasty.

court leapfrog

The middle of the 18th century in Russia went down in history as the “epoch of palace coups”. In 1722 Peter I issued a decree on the succession to the throne, according to which the emperor himself could appoint his successor. This decree played a cruel joke on Peter himself, who did not have time to express his will before his death.

There was no obvious and unconditional contender: Peter's sons had died by that time, and all the other candidates did not find universal support.

Most Serene Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov managed to enthrone the wife of Peter I Catherine who became empress under the name Catherine I. Her reign lasted only two years, and after her death, the grandson of Peter the Great, the son of the prince, ascended the throne. Alexei Peter II.

The struggle for influence over the young king ended with the unfortunate teenager catching a cold on one of the many hunts and dying on the eve of his own wedding.

The nobles, who again faced the problem of choosing a monarch, preferred the dowager Duchess of Courland Anna Ioannovna, daughters Ivan V brother of Peter the Great.

Anna Ioannovna did not have children who could legally take the Russian throne, and appointed her nephew as heir John Antonovich, who by the time of accession to the throne was not even six months old.

In 1741, another coup took place in Russia, as a result of which the daughter of Peter the Great ascended the throne. Elizabeth.

Looking for an heir

Elizaveta Petrovna, 1756. Artist Toque Louis (1696-1772)

Before ascending the throne, Elizabeth Petrovna, who by that time was already 32 years old, immediately raised the question of an heir. The Russian elite did not want a repeat of the Troubles and strove for stability.

The problem was that the officially unmarried Elizaveta Petrovna, just like Anna Ioannovna, could not give the empire, so to speak, a natural heir.

Elizabeth had many favorites, with one of whom, Alexey Razumovsky, she, according to one version, even entered into a secret marriage. Moreover, the empress may even have given birth to children for him.

But in any case, they could not become heirs to the throne.

Therefore, Elizaveta Petrovna and her entourage began to look for a suitable heir. The choice fell on a 13-year-old Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, son of sister Elizabeth Petrovna Anna and Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Karl Friedrich.

The childhood of Elizabeth's nephew was difficult: his mother died of a cold that she received during fireworks in honor of the birth of her son. The father did not pay much attention to the upbringing of his son, and the appointed teachers of all pedagogical methods preferred the rod. The boy became very ill when, at the age of 11, his father died and his distant relatives took him in.

At the same time, Karl Peter Ulrich was a great-nephew Charles XII and was a pretender to the Swedish throne.

Nevertheless, the Russian envoys managed to get the boy to move to St. Petersburg.

What did not work for Elizabeth and Catherine?

Pyotr Fedorovich when he was the Grand Duke. Portrait Georg Christopher Groth (1716-1749)

Elizaveta Petrovna, who saw her nephew alive for the first time, was in a slight shock - a thin, sickly-looking teenager with a wild look, spoke French with difficulty, had no manners, and was not burdened with knowledge at all.

The Empress rather presumptuously decided that in Russia the guy would be quickly re-educated. To begin with, the heir was transferred to Orthodoxy, named Petr Fedorovich and appointed him teachers. But teachers spent time with Petrusha in vain - until the end of his days, Pyotr Fedorovich never mastered the Russian language, and in general he was one of the most poorly educated Russian monarchs.

After they found an heir, it was necessary to find a bride for him. Elizabeth Petrovna generally had far-reaching plans: from Pyotr Fedorovich and his wife, she was going to get offspring, and then raise her grandson on her own from birth, so that he would become the successor to the empress. However, in the end, this plan was not destined to come true.

It is curious that Catherine the Great will subsequently try to carry out a similar maneuver, preparing her grandson as heirs, Alexander Pavlovich, and also fail.

Princess as Cinderella

However, back to our story. The main "fair of the royal brides" in the XVIII century was Germany. There was no single state, but there were many principalities and duchies, small and insignificant, but possessing an overabundance of well-born, but poor young girls.

Considering the candidates, Elizaveta Petrovna remembered the Holstein prince, who in her youth was predicted to be her husband. The prince's sister Johanna Elizabeth, a daughter was growing up - Sophia Augusta Frederica. The girl's father was Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, a representative of an ancient princely family. However, large incomes were not attached to a big name, because Christian Augustus was in the service of the Prussian king. And although the prince ended his career with the rank of Prussian field marshal, he and his family spent most of his life in poverty.

Sophia Augusta Frederica was educated at home solely because her father could not afford to hire expensive tutors. The girl even had to darn her own stockings, so there was no need to talk about any pampered princess.

At the same time, Fike, as Sophia Augusta Frederic was called at home, was distinguished by curiosity, a craving for study, and also for street games. Fike was a real daredevil and took part in boyish amusements, which did not please her mother too much.

The Tsar's Bride and the Unfortunate Conspirator

The news that the Russian Empress was considering Fike as the bride of the heir to the Russian throne struck the girl's parents. For them, it was a real gift of fate. Fike herself, who had a sharp mind from her youth, understood that this was her chance to escape from a poor parental home into another, brilliant and vibrant life.

Catherine after her arrival in Russia, a portrait by Louis Caravaque.