Titans of History

CATHERINE THE GREAT

1729–1796

Be gentle, humane, accessible, compassionate and open-handed; don’t let your grandeur prevent you from mixing kindly with the humble and putting yourself in their shoes … I swear by Providence to stamp these words in my heart.

Catherine’s private note to herself on becoming empress (1762)

Catherine the Great was not only a successful politician, a triumphant empire-builder and a remarkable self-made woman of strong passions in a male-dominated age, she was also arguably the most humane ruler that Russia has ever produced. She ranks with Elizabeth I of England as one of history’s outstanding female monarchs—though her achievements were even greater than Elizabeth’s.

Catherine was certainly ruthless in her pursuit of power and admiration, self-indulgent in her famous love affairs and enormously extravagant in her enjoyment of arts and luxury—but she was also overwhelmingly benevolent, decent in her intentions, loyal to her friends, merciful to her enemies, tolerant of others, industrious, intellectual and enormously intelligent. Her success was against all the odds. She was not even Russian, had no claim to the throne and found herself, at the age of fourteen, thrown into a loveless marriage and the brutal bear pit of the Russian court.

She was not actually named Catherine, being born Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, a minor German princess in the patchwork of little principalities that was the Holy Roman Empire, which served as a sort of matchmaking agency for the monarchies of Europe. In 1746 the Empress Elizaveta of Russia summoned Princess Sophie to St. Petersburg to marry her heir, Grand Duke Peter. She converted to the Orthodox Church, took the name Catherine and learned Russian—but found her husband disappointing. Puny, poxy, prejudiced, foolish and cowardly, Grand Duke Peter was out of his depth as the Russian heir—and as Catherine’s husband. He also was German, but while Catherine embraced all Russian culture, he despised and feared Russia. She immediately charmed the empress, won friends and admirers among the courtiers and the Guards regiments, and proved adept at politics. It is uncertain if Peter even consummated the marriage, but it is certain that he did not satisfy the passionate Catherine.

When no child was forthcoming, the empress herself arranged for Catherine to take her first lover, Serge Saltykov. A son, Grand Duke Paul, was born. Catherine was not beautiful, but she was handsome, small and curvaceous, with bright blue eyes and thick auburn hair. She went on to take other lovers, though she only had a dozen in her entire lifetime—almost seventy years—which hardly justifies her reputation as a nymphomaniac. She was never promiscuous, more a serial dater. She enjoyed sex but was more of a romantic who longed to settle with one man.

Amid the vicious rivalries at the Russian court during the Seven Years’ War, Catherine’s intrigues almost destroyed her. But she used her cunning and charm to survive, shrewdly taking Grigory Orlov, a popular Guards officer, as her lover. When Elizaveta died and her husband succeeded to the throne, Peter III took only six months to alienate everyone. On June 28, 1762, dressed in male uniform, Catherine seized power. By the rules of the day, Peter had to be murdered to protect her dubious claim to the throne; the Orlovs strangled him—and she knew she would forever bear the blame.

Once in power, however, she ruled cautiously and sensibly. She set about expanding Russia south toward the Black Sea, seizing territory from the Ottoman Turks. She called a legislative commission to study the abolition of serfdom and the making of proper laws. She corresponded with the philosophes, including Voltaire, who hailed her as the Great. The huge peasant revolt of Pugachev and the realities of aristocratic rule meant that many of these ambitions ended in disappointment, but her rule was decent, sensible and orderly—she worked hard to make Russian law and society more merciful and humane.

When her long relationship with Orlov broke down, Catherine found the love of her life, who was also to be her partner in power. Prince Potemkin was a dashing one-eyed cavalry general who was as politically brilliant as she was; but where he was wild and imaginative, she was sensible and diligent. The combination worked. Their fiery sexual affair started in late 1773, recorded in the most outrageous and romantic letters ever written by a monarch. They probably married, secretly, but when their affair ended, Potemkin became her co-ruler and best friend. Together they fought the Turks, annexed the Crimea, built cities, outwitted the English, constructed a Black Sea fleet, bought art collections. Following Potemkin’s advice, Catherine found love with a series of ever-younger favorites, whom she enjoyed teaching about the classics, but who played no political role. These young men usually humiliated the old empress by running off with a girl their own age, leaving Potemkin to comfort her. When he died in 1791, the aging Catherine was heartbroken and allowed a talentless young lover, Platon Zubov, to replace him, leading to political mistakes, including the annexation of Poland and a bungled Swedish alliance.

Catherine’s achievements—political, military and artistic—were colossal nevertheless. Her reign was a golden age, her vision of Russia essentially a liberal one, and her character exuded invincibility. Catherine the Great remains not only the paragon of Russian rulers, but history’s most accomplished female potentate.