History vs. Russia’s most infamous empress - Carolyn Harris

[0:01]If only you knew all the perils and misfortunes that have threatened me, and that I have overcome. So, who's next? Catherine the Great, is it? Don't let the name fool you. Catherine the Great started her rule by murdering her husband and spent it oppressing the masses and intimidating anyone who questioned her. These accusations of murder are highly speculative, your honor, and Catherine's rise to greatness is hardly so vulgar. Born Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst, a region now part of Germany. She was just a teenager when Russia's Empress Elizabeth invited her to the Russian court in 1744. A scheming teenager with only one goal: to gain power by marrying the Empress' nephew and heir, the future Peter III. She bribed courtiers to support the marriage and eventually convinced the Empress herself to bless their union. All this despite later admitting she never had feelings for Peter. Political marriages were hardly concerned with feelings. Besides, Russia was lucky Catherine came along. Not only was Peter notoriously bad-tempered, he was also raised in Germany and preferred German customs, making him an embarrassment in the Russian court. Meanwhile, Catherine gave her life to Russia. After the marriage, she changed her name, converted to the Russian Orthodox Church. She even caught pneumonia staying up all night learning Russian. Ah, that's dedication. Your honor, these remarks against Peter's character are all slander. Almost everything we know about his temperament comes from Catherine's scathing memoirs. Well, here's something from the history books. After Empress Elizabeth died in 1762, Peter became an immediately unpopular ruler. At the time, Russia had been fighting the Prussian/European alliance in the 7 Years' War. But Peter was so eager to protect his beloved Germany that he abruptly switched sides, just as Russian troops were about to march on Berlin. Many Russians saw this as disloyalty from a man who preferred his former homeland to his real one. Perhaps Peter would have had the time to become a great ruler if Catherine hadn't started a military coup in which Peter was murdered just six months into his reign. Objection, we don't know for sure that Catherine was behind Peter's death. But we do know she handed him over as a prisoner to her lover and his brother, who obviously wanted Peter dead. This is all speculation, your honor. What's more important is that Catherine's rule was supported by prominent members of the military, church, and nobility. Probably because she squashed anyone who opposed her. Just look at Empress Elizabeth's cousin, Ivan VI. He was next in line for the throne, so Catherine imprisoned him for life. Uh, excuse me? Actually, Elizabeth imprisoned Ivan when she overthrew him in 1741. Catherine merely maintained this arrangement. And decreed Ivan should be killed if anyone tried to save him, which is exactly what happened during a failed rescue attempt. I won't deny Catherine's commitment to keeping the throne. But she did so with the desire to move Russia into the future as a student of France's Enlightenment philosophy, which preached freedom of thought and socially beneficial policies. Catherine made the legal system less punitive, opened schools for girls, guaranteed religious equality, and commissioned new hospitals. She also promoted the arts and transformed Russia into a cultural center. Always to keep the masses happy and reduce the chance of revolution. Besides, her enlightened values mostly improved life for urban nobles. Catherine never helped the unpaid peasant workers, known as serfs, because she knew it would turn the nobility against her. Her approach to social reforms wasn't perfect, but it was standard. At the time, European monarchs with progressive ideas called themselves enlightened despots. They saw themselves as qualified to decide what ideology was best for their subjects, and Catherine was no exception. She was exceptionally ruthless. She participated in three partitions of Poland, annexed Crimea to expand her empire, and supported the colonization of Alaska and its indigenous peoples. At home, she brutally suppressed the Pugachev peasant revolt, sending troops who killed hundreds of rebelling serfs, and ordering Pugachev to be publicly quartered and decapitated. That doesn't sound very enlightened. Well, it only gets worse. After the French Revolution of 1789, Catherine grew paranoid about being overthrown. She started associating the French Enlightenment with the French Monarchy's collapse and turned her back on the movement's philosophical values. She began censoring the publication of foreign books and limiting free speech in the Russian court. It's true that by the end of her life, Catherine became increasingly reactionary. But she still managed to raise a well-regarded successor, her grandson, Tsar Alexander I, led Russia to victory over Napoleon. And her son, Paul I, who reigned between Catherine and Alexander, was as ill-tempered as Peter III. His brief reign also ended with assassination, but not before he passed a law making female succession practically impossible. In fact, Russia hasn't had a female ruler since Catherine died in 1796. I guess stubbornness runs in the family. Strategic alliances, military might, cutting-edge philosophy. Catherine the Great used many tools to transform her country. But taking a closer look at who prospered and who suffered under her rule, are all part of putting history on trial. Meanwhile, during this same period in France, Queen Marie Antoinette had become a symbol for everything wrong with monarchy. But was she really a wasteful queen or a convenient scapegoat? Take a closer look at her legacy with this video.