Education, History
Reforms of Catherine 2 (briefly). Enlightened absolutism of Catherine 2
What do we know about the Russian Empress Catherine the Great? In the memory of descendants, facts that do not relate to public policy often come up . Catherine was a very big fan of court balls, exquisite toilets. It was always followed by a string of cavaliers. The life of her favorites, once associated with her loving bonds, went down in history. Meanwhile, the Russian Empress was, above all, a smart, bright, extraordinary personality and a talented organizer. It should be noted that under her system of state government was transformed for the first time after the reign of Peter the Great. The reforms of Catherine 2 are of great interest even today . To briefly state them, however, is unlikely to succeed. In general, all of its political changes fit into the mainstream of a theory called enlightened absolutism. This current in the XVIII century has become particularly popular. Many of the spheres of state and public life were touched by the reforms of Catherine 2. The table "Transformation in the Country", given below, clearly shows this.
Childhood and upbringing of Princess Fike
Sofia Frederick August Anhalt-Zerbstskaya - this was the full name of the future Russian empress. She was born in the spring of 1729 in a small German town called Stettin (now it's the territory of Poland). Her father was in the service of the Prussian king. He was a vain person. At one time he was first a regimental commander, then a commandant, and then a governor of his native city. The mother of the future Empress was of royal blood. She was a cousin's aunt Peter III - the future wife of his daughter. Sofia, or, as her relatives called her, Fike, got a home education.
Marriage with the heir to the throne of Russia
In 1744, the Tsarist princess Fike was invited along with the matter to Russia to the royal court for the wedding with the future Russian Emperor Peter III, who was her second cousin.
Catherine's ascension to the Russian throne
The acting Empress Elizaveta Petrovna was extinguished every day, her health was very weak. And relations of crowned spouses did not add up. Peter openly lived with his mistress and spoke of the desire to marry her. Catherine herself soon too was carried away by the 26-year-old camera-cadet Sergei Saltykov. A few months later, Fike gave birth to a son, who was named Paul. The court was rumored that his father was the lover of Catherine. Despite all this, the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna proclaimed the boy the second successor to the throne. And at that time Russia, in alliance with Austria and France, fought against Prussia, where it won one victory after another. This pleased everyone, except the infantile Peter, who considered the King of Prussia Frederick II an unsurpassed military genius. It was clear that in case of his accession to the throne, Russia would conclude a humiliating peace with Prussia, having lost everything that it acquired during the war. Soon it happened. Elizabeth died at Christmas in 1761. After that Peter became the Russian emperor. In March 1762, he concluded a peace with Prussia, which caused a lot of discontent in the ranks of the Russian army. This is what the brothers of Orlov, Catherine's brothers, decided to use against Peter III, one of whom, Grigory, was her lover and the father of her last child. In the Kazan church, Catherine passed the ceremony of anointing and taking oath as the empress of all Russia. The first to be faithful to her sworn soldiers.
General information about the reign of the Empress
A week after the events described, on July 6, Catherine received a letter from Orlov that her husband Peter, who had written the abdication and was deported to the Ropsha manor, was killed. According to eyewitnesses, the newly empress rushed, cried and cried that her descendants would never forgive her. However, other sources indicate that she knew about the upcoming attempt on her husband, since two days before his murder, he was sent to the doctor Paulsen not with medicines, but with tools for autopsy. Whatever it was, no one disputed Catherine's right to the throne. And today we can sum up the results of her 34-year reign. Historians often use the term "enlightened absolutism" to describe its rule within the state. Adherents of this theory are convinced that in the state there should exist a strong autocratic power that will work for the benefit of all its citizens. The enlightened absolutism of Catherine II was expressed primarily in the strengthening of the bureaucratic apparatus, the unification of the system of government and centralization of the country. The Empress believed that the vast territory of Russia and its harsh climate necessitated the emergence and prosperity of the autocracy here. Schematically, it is possible to depict the reforms of Catherine 2.
Table "Transformation in the country"
Item No. | Name | Regulations |
1 | Provincial reform | Territories were divided into governorships and counties, the number of the first increased from 23 to 50. At the head of each province was the governor appointed by the Senate. |
2 | Judicial reform | The Senate became the highest judicial body. The nobles judged the district court, the townspeople - magistrates, peasants - massacres. So-called Soviet courts were created. |
3 | Secularization reform | The monastic lands, together with the peasants who lived on them, went to the disposal of the Economics Board. |
4 | Reform of the Senate | The Senate became the highest judicial authority, was divided into 6 departments. |
5 | City Reform | The city reform of Catherine 2 was that the inhabitants of cities were divided into 6 categories, each of which had its rights, duties and privileges |
6th | Police reform | The Deanery Authority became the organ of the city police department |
7th | Education reform | In the cities, people's schools were established, supported by the state treasury. The people of all classes could study in them. |
8 | Monetary reform | The loan office and the State Bank were formed. For the first time banknotes were issued - paper money. |
As we can see from the data of the table, in these reforms the enlightened absolutism of Catherine 2 fully manifested itself. She sought to concentrate all state power in her hands and ensure the residence of all estates in the country according to the special laws she introduced.
Document "Nakaz" - the concept of enlightened absolutism of Catherine 2
The Empress, who enthusiastically responded to the works of Montesquieu and adopted the basic principles of his theory, attempted to convene a so-called "Stood Commission", whose main goal is to find out the needs of the people for the necessary transformations within the state. This body was attended by 600 deputies from various classes. As the leading document of this Commission, Ekaterina issued the "Nazak", which, in fact, became the theoretical basis for enlightened absolutism. It is well known that he was almost completely rewritten from the writings of Montesquieu, a zealous follower of this theory. Catherine herself admitted that here it belongs to "here and there one line, one word."
Administrative reforms of Catherine 2
These innovations were legalized on November 7, 1775. The system of administrative division of the territory of Russia has changed. Previously, it was three-link: provinces, provinces, counties. And now the regions of the state began to be divided only into governorships and counties. At the head of several viceroyalties stood the governor-general. He obeyed the governors, herald-fiscals and refatheis. The Treasury Department was responsible for finance in the governorship with the support of the Court of Accounts. At the head of each county there was a captain-police officer. In a separate administrative unit was allocated a city, at the head of which instead of the governor was put a governor.
Reform of the Senate of Catherine 2
This new formation was adopted by the Empress on December 15, 1763. According to him, the Senate became the highest judicial authority. In addition, it was divided into 6 departments:
• First - he was in charge of all state and political affairs in St. Petersburg;
• the second - court cases in St. Petersburg;
• the third - medicine, science, art, education, transport;
• the fourth - military naval and land affairs;
• the fifth - state and political affairs in Moscow;
• Sixth - court cases in Moscow.
The reforms of Catherine's administration here were aimed at making the Senate an obedient tool of autocratic power.
Economic reforms
The empress's rule was characterized by the extensive development of the country's economy. Economic reforms of Catherine 2 touched the banking and monetary sphere, foreign trade.
Innovations in the education system
But far from all the transformations of the empress had negative consequences. The reform of the education of Catherine II was begun in 1760. Schools were opened everywhere, children from different classes could visit. Special attention was paid to women's education. In 1764 the Smolensk Institute of Noble Maidens was established. In 1783 the Russian Academy was opened, where prominent foreign scientists were invited. What else did the reform of Catherine's education 2 show? The fact that in the provinces formed orders of public charity, which were administered by the administration of public schools, hospitals, shelters for the crazy and sick, hospitals. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, houses were opened for homeless children who received education and education in them.
Estates under Catherine 2
This transformation still causes controversy among historians. Estate reforms of Catherine II consisted in the publication in 1785 of her two letters, one of which finally consolidated the privileges of the nobility, and the other divided the urban population into 6 categories. The Empress herself called these innovations "the crown of her activity." The "grudged letter to the nobility" suggested the following:
• This class was exempted from quartering of military units, from corporal punishment, from confiscation of property for criminal offenses;
• The nobility received the right to the bowels of the earth, the right to own land, the right to have estate institutions;
• These people were not allowed to hold elective offices if their income from the estate was less than 100 rubles, and they were deprived of the right to vote if they did not have an officer's rank.
What was the city reform of Catherine 2? The Empress ordered to divide the population into 6 categories:
• urban inhabitants (homeowners);
• merchants of 3 guilds;
• artisans;
• Out-of-town and foreign merchants;
• eminent citizens (wealthy merchants, bankers, architects, painters, scientists, composers);
• Posad (without houses).
With regard to these innovations, it can be said that Catherine's policy here 2 contributed to a strong stratification of society into the rich and the poor. At the same time, the economic situation of some of the nobles worsened. Many of them could not enter the civil service without having the opportunity to purchase the necessary clothes and shoes. At the same time, a number of large nobles owned vast territories of the earth and hundreds of thousands of serfs.
Religious politics
What spheres have Catherine's state reforms still touched upon? This strong-willed woman tried to control absolutely everything in her state, including religion. In 1764, she issued a decree, deprived the church of the land. Together with the peasants, these territories were transferred to the administration of a certain Economic Board. Thus, the clergy fell into dependence on the royal power. In general, the Empress tried to pursue a policy of religious tolerance. In the first years of her reign, persecutions against the Old Believers ceased, state support was given to Buddhism, Protestantism, and Judaism.
Catherine 2 as a follower of the theory of the Enlightenment
The 34-year reign of the Empress is filled with many contradictory events. Enlightened absolutism of Catherine II, which she tried to preach among the nobility, was manifested in the "Nakaz" created by her, and in the convening of the Commission, in the class reform, in the administrative division of the territory of Russia, and in the transformations in the sphere of education. True, all these reforms were of limited nature. The estate system, the autocratic rule of government, serfdom remained unshakable. Separate attention deserves the relationship of Catherine with the French Enlightenment (Voltaire, Diderot).
Results of the reign of the great empress
It's time to characterize Catherine's reforms 2 briefly and to sum up her reign. Many transformations were made to her, sometimes very contradictory. The era of the empress is characterized by maximum enslavement of peasants, deprivation of their minimal rights. With her, a decree was issued banning peasants from filing a complaint against their landowner. Prosperity of corruption, and especially on a large scale. The example was presented by the Empress herself, generously endowing her relatives and approximate court and appointing her favorites to responsible state posts. Not surprisingly, after a few years of her rule, the treasury of the country was emptied. What ultimately ended the reforms of Catherine 2? Briefly we can say this: a serious economic crisis and a complete collapse of the state's financial system. Whatever it was, she actively participated in public life and loved becoming her native Russia.
We learned the manifestation of the enlightened absolutism of Catherine II during her reign, some of which she was able to implement.
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