Copy & Pasted Notes
Catherine’s Reforms Catherine's Political Reform: A. Gave back lots of rights to the nobles, appeased them B. Charter of Nobility- ended meritocracy, made alliance with nobility C. Partitions of Poland, got ports on Black Sea Catherine's Social Reform: A. Prime example of an enlightened despot -followed developments of Enlightenment B. Russia never really produced Enlightenment thought of their own C. Restrictions on torture, religious toleration D. In terms of cultural mindset she essentially built on what Peter had already started Catherine the Great continued Peter the Great's reforms of the Russian state, further increasing central control over the provinces. Her goal was to rationalize and reform the administration of the Russian Empire. One of the most prosperous periods for Russia , Catherine undertook a wide range of internal political reforms, and waged two successful wars against the Ottoman Empire and extend the borders of Russia . Her achievements played a key role in the development of Russia as a modern state not only in a political sense but also in a cultural sense. Under her rule many she directed the building of the Hermitage Museum . Commissioning building all over Russia , Catherine founded academies, journals, libraries, and corresponded with French Encyclopedists, including Voltaire, Diderot, and d'Alembert Here is a direct quote from the site noted below: "During her reign, Catherine the Great expanded Russia's borders to the Black Sea and into central Europe. She promoted westernization and modernization though within the context of her autocratic control over Russia and increasing the control of landed gentry over serfs. Catherine the Great promoted education and the Enlightenment among the elite. She kept up a correspondence with many figures of the Enlightenment in Europe" Catherine the Great is remembered as one of the greatest reformers of Russia. During her reign, Catherine continued the reforms begun by Peter the Great that ultimately led to the emergence of Russia onto the worldwide stage of politics. Catherine proceeded to "Westernize" Russia. However, unlike Peter the Great, Catherine scorned force and instead focused on pursuing individualistic endeavors. Her reforms went even farther after a failed peasant revolt in 1773 led by Yemelian Pugachev threatened Eastern Russia. As a result, Catherine the Great instituted several drastic reforms within the Russian society. First, she established the Free Economic Society (1765) to encourage the modernization of agriculture and industry. Second, she encouraged foreign investment in economically underdeveloped areas. Third, Catherine relaxed the censorship law and encouraged education for the nobles and middle class. During Catherine's reign, Russia also achieved great military success and gained large tracts of land. Following two successful wars against the Ottoman Empire, Russia annexed Crimea, which gave it access to the Black Sea. In addition, Russia's control over Poland and Luxembourg allowed it to annex three separate tracts of land. By the time of her death on Nov. 17, 1796, Catherine the Great had pushed Russia into the modern era. Moreover, Russia entered the modern era as a dominant player in the world. http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/easteurope/cathygreat.html With the throne more firmly in her grasp, she turned to reforming industry, education, health, and administration. Her first intention was drawing the country out of debt by focusing on agriculture. Catherine encouraged horse, sheep, and cattle breeding. She offered grants for farmers to purchase new machinery and learn western methods. Catherine “acknowledged that not a small number of such regions still lie fallow, that could be advantageously and easily most usefully utilized to be populated and lived in” (Germans From Russia). She offered pleasing terms in German and French newspapers to foreigners who wanted to settle in Russia (History Web). If they could not afford the journey, they had the option of notifying the Russian ambassador near them, who would finance their voyage. All immigrants were allowed to enter Russia on the terms that they announced their presence, and were willing to be detained, but once settled, were to be exempt from taxes for a certain time. When Catherine allowed foreigners http://www.alaskahistoryday.com/uploads/4/9/1/1/4911518/catherine_the_great_-_reforming_russia.pdf Catherine and Voltaire[edit] Catherine first initiated the relationship between herself and Voltaire, and she went to very great lengths to make his acquaintance. In the autumn of 1763, Catherine arranged for her Genevan secretary François-Pierre Pictet, an acquaintance of Voltaire, to send Voltaire a letter (supposedly written by Catherine herself) in which Pictet praised her at great length.[15] Catherine made many other attempts to link herself to the French philosophes: she offered to publish the Encyclopédie in Russia, arranged for several of Voltaire's plays to be produced at the Court of St. Petersburg, asked for copies of his complete works, and invited him to come to Russia. Her flattery eventually won over Voltaire, and they began writing letters to each other in the autumn of 1763, continuing to do so until Voltaire's death fifteen years later. A relationship with Voltaire benefited Catherine for several reasons. Firstly, Catherine felt the need to strengthen her claim to power, having only recently taken the throne from her husband in a coup d'état. Since the philosophes significantly shaped public opinion in Western Europe, Catherine wanted desperately to gain Voltaire's approval. She used him to spread support of her policies throughout Western Europe. Voltaire also interested Catherine on an intellectual level, as they shared a common interest in politics, philosophy, and literature. Her correspondence with Voltaire provided an outlet for her intellectual curiosity.[16] Voltaire likewise benefited from Catherine's friendship. Long an admirer of enlightened despotism, Voltaire approved of Catherine's secular policies. He thought that his correspondence with Catherine would help him explore the possibilities for enlightened despotism and allow him to compare the laws and customs of Russia with those of France. By 1763, Voltaire had long been interested in Russia on an intellectual level, having written in 1759 the Histoire de l'Empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand. Furthermore, because Voltaire was persecuted in Europe for his ideas and even exiled from Paris, he appreciated the Russian Empress's flattery and recognition of his talents and progressive thinking. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Enlightenment#Catherine_and_Voltaire The enlightenment The Enlightenment was a sprawling intellectual, philosophical, cultural, and social movement that spread through England, France, Germany, and other parts of Europe during the 1700s. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, however, opened a path for independent thought, and the fields of mathematics, astronomy, physics, politics, economics, philosophy, and medicine were drastically updated and expanded. The amount of new knowledge that emerged was staggering. Just as important was the enthusiasm with which people approached the Enlightenment: intellectual salons popped up in France, philosophical discussions were held, and the increasingly literate population read books and passed them around feverishly. The Enlightenment and all of the new knowledge thus permeated nearly every facet of civilized life. Not everyone participated, as many uneducated, rural citizens were unable to share in the Enlightenment during its course. But even their time would come, as the Enlightenment also prompted the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, which provided rural dwellers with jobs and new cities in which to live. Whether considered from an intellectual, political, or social standpoint, the advancements of the Enlightenment transformed the Western world into an intelligent and self-aware civilization. Moreover, it directly inspired the creation of the world’s first great democracy, the United States of America. The new freedoms and ideas sometimes led to abuses—in particular, the descent of the French Revolution from a positive, productive coup into tyranny and bedlam. In response to the violence of the French Revolution, some Europeans began to blame the Enlightenment’s attacks on tradition and breakdown of norms for inducing the anarchy. Indeed, it took time for people to overcome this opinion and appreciate the Enlightenment’s beneficial effect on their daily lives. But concrete, productive changes did, in fact, appear, under guises as varied as the ideas that inspired them. The effects of Enlightenment thought soon permeated both European and American life, from improved women’s rights to more efficient steam engines, from fairer judicial systems to increased educational opportunities, from revolutionary economic theories to a rich array of literature and music. These ideas, works, and principles of the Enlightenment would continue to affect Europe and the rest of the Western world for decades and even centuries to come. Nearly every theory or fact that is held in modern science has a foundation in the Enlightenment; in fact, many remain just as they were established. Yet it is not simply the knowledge attained during the Enlightenment that makes the era so pivotal—it’s also the era’s groundbreaking and tenacious new approaches to investigation, reasoning, and problem solving that make it so important. Never before had people been so vocal about making a difference in the world; although some may have been persecuted for their new ideas, it nevertheless became indisputable that thought had the power to incite real change. Just like calculus or free trade, the very concept of freedom of expression had to come from somewhere, and it too had firm roots in the Enlightenment. http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/enlightenment/context.html |
Note Summary & My Thoughts
Catherine's Reforms Political Reforms
Social Reforms
Cultural Reforms
General
Reforms
I find it really interesting that Catherine came up with so many different reforms. I thought she would actually have only had a few key ideas but the amount of reforms she had shows how she shaped Russia and the amount of influence the enlightenment had on her. I think for my essay I will categorise the reforms into social, cultural and political paragraphs. Catherine's Correspondence with Philosophers and their influence
I find the amount of effort Catherine went to in order to have correspondence with the philosophers, especially voltaire, is very intriguing. It shows the kinds of interests she had and her desire to use the ideas of the enlightenment to shape her leadership. The Enlightenment
I think the era of the Enlightenment was fascinating as it was the beginning of our use of science to improve our knowledge of the world. I find it really interesting how the Enlightenment was the cause of a lot of progress and that its ideas were adopted by a number of countries. |