Catherine the Great

Podcast Transcript

Catherine the Great was one of the most influential rulers in Russian history, transforming the Russian Empire into a major European power through territorial expansion, internal reforms, and cultural patronage.

Her reign marked the pinnacle of Enlightened Absolutism in Russia, as she embraced Western philosophical ideals while consolidating autocratic rule.

Yet, she was unlike every other Russian ruler in one important aspect…and it wasn’t the fact that she was a woman.

Learn more about Catherine the Great and how she managed to change Russia on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

The woman known as Catherine the Great was born Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst Dornburg on May 2, 1729, in Stettin, Prussia, which is now modern-day Szczecin, Poland.

This tells you the first two things you should know about Catherine the Great. The first is that her name was not Catherine at birth. The second is that she wasn’t Russian.

One of the most famous leaders in Russian history wasn’t ethnically Russian.

Her father, Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst, was a Prussian general and a member of the petty German nobility. Her mother, Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp, was ambitious and distantly related to the ruling houses of Europe, which would prove instrumental in Sophie’s path to power.

The young Sophie received an education typical of German nobility of her time, learning French, which was the language of European diplomacy in the 18th century, German, and later Russian.

She was also instructed in dancing, music, and the social graces expected of aristocratic women. However, what set Sophie apart was her intellectual curiosity and voracious appetite for reading, particularly works of philosophy and political theory.

At age 14, Sophie was selected by the Russian leader, Empress Elizabeth, to marry Grand Duke Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, heir to the Russian throne and the grandson of Peter the Great.

This invitation represented a calculated political move by Elizabeth, who sought to strengthen Russia’s ties with the German states while ensuring the succession remained within her family line.

Upon arriving in Russia, Sophie demonstrated remarkable adaptability and political acumen that would serve her throughout her life. She immediately began learning the Russian language and customs, converted from Lutheranism to the Russian Orthodox church, and took the name Yekaterina Alekseyevna. This transformation was not merely ceremonial but represented a genuine commitment to becoming Russian rather than remaining a foreign princess.

She married Peter in 1745 and became Grand Duchess Catherine. Their marriage was fraught from the beginning. Peter was emotionally unstable and immature, and the two quickly grew apart.

When Empress Elizabeth died in 1762, Peter ascended the throne as Peter III.

Catherine, meanwhile, had spent almost 18 years as Grand Duchess cultivating support among the military, political elite, and the Orthodox Church.

She also engaged in extensive self-education, reading works by Enlightenment philosophers like Voltaire, Diderot, and Montesquieu. This intellectual development was crucial because it provided her with the theoretical framework she would later use to justify and implement her reforms as emperess.

Catherine’s ascension to the throne came through one of history’s most successful palace coups. When Peter III became emperor in January 1762, his erratic behavior and pro-Prussian policies quickly alienated the military, nobility, and Orthodox Church. He withdrew Russia from the Seven Years’ War just as victory seemed within reach, returned conquered territories to Prussia, and planned to attack Denmark to reclaim his native Holstein.

Catherine recognized that Peter’s reign threatened Russia’s stability and her own survival. Working with key conspirators, including her lover Grigory Orlov and his brothers, she carefully orchestrated Peter’s overthrow. On July 9, 1762, while Peter was away from the capital, Catherine appeared before the Izmailovsky Guards regiment in St. Petersburg and proclaimed herself empress.

As a side note, the official title of the rulers of Russia at this time was Emperor or Empress, not Tsar or Tsarina. The older term tsar had officially been changed to Emperor in 1721, even though the term tsar continued to be used informally until 1917.

The coup succeeded because Catherine had spent years building relationships and demonstrating her commitment to Russian interests. The military, clergy, and nobility saw her as a preferable alternative to the increasingly unstable Peter III.

Peter abdicated, was arrested, and died a little more than a week later, under mysterious circumstances—possibly murdered. Catherine publicly denied any part in his death.

On September 22, 1762, Catherine was crowned Empress of Russia as Catherine II, despite not being of Russian blood or a direct heir.

Catherine’s reign lasted 34 years, one of the longest in Russian history. It is widely regarded as the Golden Age of the Russian Empire, marked by military expansion, administrative reform, and a flourishing of the arts and Enlightenment ideas.

Catherine saw herself as an “Enlightened Despot” and was heavily influenced by Western philosophers with whom she corresponded with on a regular basis..

Catherine’s most ambitious project was the creation of a new legal code for Russia. In 1767, she convened the Legislative Commission, bringing together representatives from various social classes to help draft comprehensive legal reforms. Her instruction to this commission outlined principles drawn from Enlightenment philosophy, emphasizing the rule of law, proportional punishment, and individual rights.

Though the commission ultimately failed to produce a completely new code, the process itself was revolutionary. For the first time in Russian history, representatives from merchants, state peasants, and even some ethnic minorities were given a voice in governance. Catherine utilized the commission’s discussions more effectively to understand the empire’s diverse needs and challenges.

She also restructured provincial administration through the Provincial Reform of 1775, dividing the empire into 50 provinces of roughly equal size. This reform created more efficient local government and established new institutions for education, public health, and social welfare. The reform represented a significant step toward modern administrative practices, helping to integrate Russia’s vast territories under centralized control.

Catherine understood that Russia’s development required not just political reform but cultural transformation. She established Russia’s first state schools for both boys and girls, founded the Hermitage as a center for art and culture, and supported the development of Russian literature and theater.

Her correspondence with Voltaire and other French philosophers brought Enlightenment ideas directly into Russian intellectual life. She established the Free Economic Society, Russia’s first economic organization, and encouraged agricultural innovation and manufacturing development. Catherine also founded Russia’s first medical schools and hospitals, recognizing that public health was essential for national strength.

Catherine’s military campaigns significantly expanded Russian territory and influence. Her two wars against the Ottoman Empire secured Russia’s access to the Black Sea and established Russian influence in the Balkans.

The annexation of Crimea in 1783 gave Russia control over this strategically crucial peninsula and marked the beginning of Russian dominance in the Black Sea region.

These territorial gains were not merely military conquests but represented careful strategic planning. Catherine understood that Russia needed secure borders and access to warm-water ports for economic development. Her expansion southward toward the Black Sea opened new trade routes and brought fertile agricultural lands under Russian control.

Catherine also played a central role in the partitions of Poland, which led to the eventual dissolution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Initially, she installed her former lover, Stanis?aw Poniatowski, as King of Poland in 1764, expecting him to act as a compliant ally. However, Poland’s attempts at independence alarmed Catherine, who saw them as a threat to Russian influence.

In response, she supported conservative Polish nobles through the Confederation of Targowica and used their resistance to reform as a pretext for military intervention.

In 1772, Russia, along with Prussia and Austria, carried out the First Partition of Poland, seizing large territories under the guise of maintaining stability.

After the 1794 uprising led by Tadeusz Ko?ciuszko, a hero in the American Revolution, Catherine responded decisively. She crushed the rebellion and subsequently collaborated again with Austria and Prussia in the Second Partition of 1793 and the Third Partition of 1795, which effectively erased Poland from the map for over a century.

At the core of Catherine’s rule were some very serious contradictions. Despite claiming to be an enlightened monarch, expousing the values of the Enlightenment, her actions often fell far short.

While she spoke eloquently about human rights and legal equality, she simultaneously expanded serfdom and increased noble privileges at peasant expense.

The most serious challenge to Catherine’s rule came from Emelian Pugachev’s rebellion from 1773 to 1775, which exposed the deep social tensions within Russian society. Pugachev, a Cossack claiming to be the deceased Peter III, led a massive uprising of serfs, Cossacks, and ethnic minorities against imperial authority.

The rebellion’s scale and brutality shocked Catherine, forcing her to confront the contradictions in her reform program. While she advocated for legal equality and human dignity, her policies had actually made things worse for Russia’s peasant majority.

The suppression of the rebellion required significant military effort and demonstrated that Enlightenment ideals alone could not resolve Russia’s fundamental social problems.

Catherine’s response to the Pugachev rebellion revealed the practical limits of enlightened despotism. Rather than addressing the underlying causes of peasant discontent, she chose to strengthen the nobility’s control over serfs through the Charter to the Nobility in 1785. This document formally codified noble privileges while making serf conditions even more restrictive.

This decision reflected Catherine’s understanding that her power ultimately depended on the support of the nobility. While she seemed to genuinely believe in Enlightenment principles, she also recognized that fully implementing them would threaten the social order that maintained her authority.

Catherine’s personal life was as complex and carefully managed as her public policy.

Her marriage to Peter III had been loveless and politically arranged, but produced one legitimate heir, Paul.

As empress, she conducted several significant romantic relationships that also served political purposes, which included at least one illegitimate daughter.

Her most important relationships were with Grigory Orlov, who helped engineer her rise to power, and later with Grigory Potemkin, who became her closest advisor and partner in southern expansion policies. Potemkin, in particular, combined romantic partnership with genuine political collaboration, helping Catherine develop and implement her most ambitious territorial and administrative reforms.

Catherine died on November 17, 1796, at the age of 67, due to complications from a stroke.

Her 42-year-old son became Emperor Paul I.

Paul had a very contentious relationship with his mother, and she kept him out of politics for most of his life, which meant that when he ascended to the throne, he was woefully unprepared.

He had a very short reign and spent much of it undoing the reforms made by his mother. He was assassinated in 1801, and his son, Alexander, had a hand in his murder.

Catherine’s legacy is mixed.

On one hand, she transformed Russia from a relatively backward European power into a major international force capable of competing with established powers like Austria, France, and Britain. Her territorial expansions brought approximately 200,000 square miles under Russian control, almost the size of France, and established Russia as the dominant power in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea.

Catherine’s cultural and educational initiatives laid the foundations for Russia’s 19th-century literary and artistic achievements. The schools she established, the cultural institutions she founded, and the intellectual climate she fostered created conditions that would produce figures such as Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, and Fyodor Dostoevsky.

On the other hand, her failure to address serfdom’s fundamental injustices also contributed to the social tensions that would eventually culminate in the 1917 Revolution, nearly a century later.

Her strengthening of noble privileges at the expense of peasants created social contradictions that her successors would struggle unsuccessfully to resolve.

Ultimately, her story is that of a minor German princess who went on to become the ruler of one of the world’s largest countries. A country that she wasn’t even a native of.

The Executive Producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The Associate Producers are Austin Oetken and Cameron Kieffer.

I have a special announcement.

July 1st will be the 5th anniversary of Everything Everywhere Daily.

As such, I’m going to be hosting a small event on the evening of Saturday, July 19th. It will be held at McFleshman’s Brewing Company in Appleton, WI, a place you might be familiar with if you listen to the other podcast I host.

I realize that this show has a global audience, and the vast majority of you will not be able to attend.

However, if you are in the area and would like to come out to meet me and other listeners of the show in person, I’d love to see you.

I have created a Facebook event where you can RSVP if you are interested in attending. I have a link to it in the show notes so we can get an idea of the number of people attending.

This is your big chance to ask me any questions that haven’t made the Q&A episodes, or even pitch me an episode idea in person.

I might have some other things I might roll out depending on the number of people that RSVP. I will let you know as the date gets close.