FEBRUARY 8, 2023 – Later known as “Catherine the Great,” Sophia Augustus was considered the most enlightened monarch of her era. Many historians today also conclude that of all absolute rulers of the 18th century, Catherine was a standout.
I recently completed reading Robert Massie’s acclaimed biography of the thoroughly German princess who, by a fascinating maze of relationships and circumstances, became Empress of “all the Russias.”
As with his other biographies, in Catherine the Great Massie presents not only a cogent synthesis of broad-ranging sources but also a deep understanding of human nature. As an added bonus, his writing draws the reader in and doesn’t let go until the last sentence.
The daughter of minor nobility, Sophia was hand-picked by Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, to marry Elizabeth’s German nephew Peter III, grandson of Peter the Great. The top priority of the childless Elizabeth’s was for Sophia and Peter III to produce an heir—to ensure a two-generational line of succession following Elizabeth’s reign. As part of the bargain, Sophia converted from Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy. She took the plunge without looking back, learned Russian (she soon achieved a remarkable command but never lost her accent) and embraced the culture. Peter III, meanwhile, remained stubbornly German in dress and outlook. By any standard, he was a “loser,” who preferred playing toy soldiers (or his violin!) to producing an heir—let alone learning the ropes of governance. In the course of transformation into a “Russian,” Sophia was renamed Catherine II, after Elizabeth’s mother.
The full story of Catherine the Great’s ascension to power is replete with the sublime as well as intrigue and the murder of Peter III. If her husband was a lug, she was enlightened—a student of Montesquieu, a correspondent of Voltaire, a friend of Diderot. She also genuinely wanted to improve the lot of her subjects, including millions of serfs, and in seeing the need for a cogent, unified legal code, sat down and wrote one—devoting to the herculean effort, two to three hours daily for two years.
She brought the Enlightenment to Russia, was the leading art collector of her day, led the charge to inoculate her subjects against smallpox, and supported the expansion of educational and charitable works. Super-charged intellectually, Catherine actively recruited Western thinkers, artists and scientists. A major part of her legacy was the flowering of the arts and literature among Russian generations that followed her death in 1796. In foreign affairs, under the military and strategic prowess of her lover (husband?), Gregory Potemkin, Russia defeated the Turks, annexed the Crimea, lands south, and gained a permanent foothold on the shores Black Sea. She also presided over the three Partitions of Poland, adding tens of millions of subjects and huge swaths of territory to Russia.
There were negatives. When the French Revolution went sideways, Catherine’s reaction was severe. Overnight she slammed the door on free speech and discarded her liberal notions of the Rights of Man. In Poland, she allowed barbaric military actions against civilian populations. After the First Partition of Poland (1791) and annexation of predominantly Jewish territories, Catherine forced Jewish subjects into the Pale of Settlement.
The details and totality of Massie’s study of Catherine dazzle the reader—much as an epic film leaves the viewer stunned in place until the credits have rolled to the end. As is the case with all history, however, I struggle with my gauge and prism, calibrated as they are by modern standards. From a 21st century perspective, what’s not to like about an 18th century monarch who studied the most liberal thinkers of the day? Yet, from the perspective of modern opposition to anti-Semitism or from an understanding of 20th century Polish history, what’s not to hate about an 18th century monarch who codified anti-Semitism and erased Poland from the map?
Whether Catherine II is loved or hated, however, she’s rightly called, Catherine the Great.
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© 2023 by Eric Nilsson
