Of all the women who reigned in Russia in the 18th century, only Catherine II ruled independently, delving into all the affairs of the internal and foreign policy. She saw her main tasks in strengthening the autocracy, reorganizing the state apparatus with the aim of strengthening it, and strengthening the international position of Russia. To a large extent, she succeeded, and the time of her reign is one of the brilliant pages of Russian history. Catherine II immediately began to fight against the pro-German orientation of Peter III. All Germans were removed from the ruling circles. Russian nationalism becomes the ideology of the state.

Domestic policy and reforms of Catherine II

Catherine II declared herself the successor of Peter I. Already at the beginning of her reign, she concentrated all legislative and administrative power in her hands. The Senate was the legislature. In 1763, Catherine divided the Senate into 6 departments, each with certain powers and competences. In doing so, she weakened him as a legislature. In 1764, in order to suppress the desire for secession in Ukraine, Catherine II liquidated the hetmanship (autonomy). In 1654, Ukraine became part of Russia with the rights of the widest autonomy. But independent tendencies flared up from time to time in Ukraine, and the situation here was constantly unstable. Catherine II believed that for internal strength, a multinational empire should be governed by uniform principles. In the autumn of 1764, she accepted the resignation of Hetman K. G. Razumovsky and appointed Prosecutor General P. A. Rumyantsev to Ukraine. At the very beginning of her reign, Catherine II decided to regulate relations between the Church and secular authorities. Since the time of Peter I, the Church has been subordinate to the state. The financial situation in the country was difficult, and the Church was a major owner in the state. Catherine II was Orthodox, performed all Orthodox rites, but she was a pragmatic ruler. In order to replenish the state treasury, in 1764 she carried out the secularization (conversion by the state of church property to secular property) of church lands. 500 monasteries were abolished, 1 million souls of peasants passed to the treasury. Due to this, the state treasury was significantly replenished. This made it possible to ease the financial crisis in the country, to pay off the army, which had not received a salary for a long time. The influence of the Church on the life of society has been significantly reduced.

Politics of enlightened absolutism

In her policy, Catherine II began to rely on the nobility. The nobility was the backbone of the throne and performed the most important functions: the nobles were the organizers of production, generals, major administrators, courtiers. Catherine II began to pursue the so-called policy of enlightened absolutism. The policy of enlightened absolutism was characteristic of countries with a monarchical form of government and with a relatively slow development of capitalist relations. Enlightened absolutism, on the one hand, pursued a policy in the interests of the nobility (it retained its political rights and economic privileges), on the other hand, in every possible way contributed to the further development of capitalist relations. In particular, such a policy was pursued by the Austrian emperor Joseph II, the Prussian king Frederick II, the Swedish king Gustav III, and others. From the very beginning of her reign, Catherine II began to strive to achieve the internal order of the state. She believed that injustices in the state could be eradicated with the help of good laws. And she decided to adopt new legislation instead of the Cathedral Code of Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649, which would take into account the interests of all estates. For this purpose, in 1767, the Legislative Commission was convened. 572 deputies represented the nobility, merchants, Cossacks. The noble deputies played the leading role in the Commission - 45%. In the new legislation, Catherine II tried to carry out the ideas of Western European thinkers about a just society. Catherine revised the works of the outstanding thinkers Ch. L. Montesquieu, C. Beccaria, J. F. Bielfeld, D. Diderot, and others, and for the Commission compiled the famous "Order of Empress Catherine."

"Instruction" consisted of 20 chapters, divided into 526 articles. In general, it was an integral work, which spoke about the need for a strong autocratic power in Russia and the class structure of Russian society, about legality, about the relationship between law and morality, about the dangers of torture and corporal punishment. At the fifth meeting, the Commission presented the Empress with the title of "Great, Wise Mother of the Fatherland." The commission worked for more than two years, but its work was not crowned with success, since the nobility, as well as deputies from other classes, stood guard only for their rights and privileges. The work of the Legislative Commission showed that the nobility could not become the spokesman for the interests of all classes. In Russia there was no power, except for the monarchy, capable of rising above its narrowly selfish interests and acting in the interests of all classes. An attempt by Catherine II to transfer Western European liberal ideas to Russian soil ended in failure. The commission was dissolved. Nevertheless, the work of the Legislative Commission was of great importance, since the Empress was able to get acquainted with the opinions and wishes of the Russian society, which she took into account in her future policy. Catherine II's attitude to serfdom.

Catherine II was a European-educated woman and shared the views of Western European thinkers on serfdom as an inhuman phenomenon. But by the time of her accession to the throne, she had thoroughly studied the country and society, which she now ruled. She understood that there was a huge difference between the abstract arguments of Western European enlighteners about freedom and Russian reality. About half of the landlord peasants were in the position of slaves. The entire landlord economy was based on serfdom. Serfdom became a habitual, everyday phenomenon, a natural state for the peasants. In addition, Catherine II was convinced that the Russian people were not yet ready to take care of themselves. For such radical changes in fate as the abolition of serfdom, it must be prepared gradually over a long period of time. Russia was not ready for a new social order, and she could not raise the question of the abolition of serfdom in Russia. Peasant war led by E. I. Pugachev (1773 - 1775). In the 60s - 70s. a powerful wave of speeches by peasants, Cossacks, and working people swept across the country. The empress was particularly concerned about the performances of the Cossacks Since the time of Ivan the Terrible, settlements of free people - Cossacks - began to form on the outskirts of the empire. Over time, the Cossacks began to consolidate into a special layer of Russian society, living according to its own laws. The Cossacks caused a lot of anxiety to the authorities, since robbery played a significant role in their lives. Trying to achieve stability on the borders of the state, Catherine II launched an attack on the Cossacks. Cossack self-government was limited, the government began to introduce army orders in the Cossack units. In particular, the Yaik (Ural) Cossacks were deprived of the right to duty-free fishing and salt extraction. Then the Yaik Cossacks refused to obey the authorities. In 1775, Catherine II liquidated the Zaporozhian Sich. Zaporozhian Cossacks asked the Empress to leave them in the Cossacks. Catherine II resettled the Cossacks to develop the newly annexed Kuban, giving them certain privileges. Thus began the history of the Kuban Cossacks.

Provincial reform

In order to further prevent peasant uprisings, Catherine II decided to reform local government. In 1775, a clearer territorial division of the empire was carried out. The territory began to be divided into administrative units with a certain amount of taxable (who paid taxes) population. The province became the largest territorial-administrative unit. In each province, 300-400 thousand souls of the male tax-paying population were to live. The governor was at the head of the province. He was appointed personally by the Empress and was directly subordinate to her. The governor in the province had all the power. He controlled the activities of all institutions and all officials. In order to ensure order in the provinces, all military units and teams were subordinate to the governor. By the mid 1790s. There were 50 provinces in the country. The provinces were divided into districts of 20 - 30 thousand souls. All management in the counties was given to the nobility. The nobles elected for 3 years the captain - police officer (head of the ride) and assessors of the Lower Zemstvo Court. The captain - police officer and the Lower Zemsky Court were the main authorities in the county. The city was an independent administrative unit. The mayor ruled the city.

He was appointed by the government from retired nobles. The city was divided into parts of 200 - 700 houses, headed by a private bailiff, and into blocks of 50 - 100 houses, headed by a district warden. Catherine II separated the judiciary from the executive. All estates, except for the serfs, were to take part in local government. Each estate received its own court. After the provincial reform, all boards ceased to function, except for the most important ones - Foreign, Military, Admiralty. Their functions began to be carried out by provincial bodies. Formation of the estate structure. During the reign of Catherine II, the final formation of the estate system in Russia took place. On April 21, 1785, on her birthday, the Empress issued a "Charter to the nobility", which was a set, a collection of noble privileges, formalized by law. From now on, the nobility was sharply separated from other classes. The freedom of the nobility from paying taxes, from compulsory service was confirmed. Nobles could only be judged by a noble court. Only nobles had the right to own land and serfs. Catherine II forbade subjecting nobles to corporal punishment. She believed that this would help the Russian nobility to get rid of the slave psychology and acquire personal dignity. The nobles were given the title of "noble class".

Complaint letter to cities

· nobility and clergy;

merchants, divided depending on the capital into three guilds (merchants of the 1st guild - the richest - had the preferential right to conduct domestic and foreign trade; merchants of the 2nd guild stood below, they had the right to large-scale domestic trade; merchants of the 3rd guild were engaged in small county and urban commerce)

shop artisans;

foreigners permanently living in cities;

eminent citizens and capitalists;

townspeople (those who lived in crafts).

Residents of the city every 3 years elected a self-government body - the General City Duma, the mayor and judges. The adopted documents completed the formation of the estate system in Russia: the entire population of Russia was divided into estates. From now on, they began to represent closed groups that had different rights and privileges. Class affiliation began to be inherited, the transition from one class to another was extremely difficult. The design of the estate system at that time played a positive role in society, since belonging to the estate made it possible to develop within the estate.

Foreign policy under Catherine II

Foreign policy of Catherine II. Foreign policy issues were paramount for Catherine II. Peter I won for Russia access to the sea in the Baltic. But for the development of trade, for the protection of the borders in the south of Russia, the shores of the Black and Seas of Azov. This inevitably had to lead to a clash with the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) - the mistress of the Black Sea. The strengthening of Russia worried the major European countries - England, Austria, France, and they began to make efforts to push Russia and the Ottoman Empire together and thereby weaken both.

Russian- Turkish war 1768 - 1774

In 1768, Turkey, supported by France, began military operations against Russia in Ukraine and the Caucasus. The first Russian-Turkish war in the reign of Catherine II began. In 1770, on the tributaries of the Prut River - Larga and Kagul - commander P. A. Rumyantsev defeated the Turkish army. Brilliant victories were won at sea. Russia did not have its own fleet on the Black Sea. A small Russian squadron under the leadership of Admiral G. A. Spiridov left the Baltic, circled Europe and entered the Mediterranean Sea. Here A. G. Orlov took over the leadership of the hostilities. Russian command turned to military stratagem. In 1770 all Turkish fleet managed to lure them into the cramped Chesme Bay, lock them up and set them on fire at night. The Turkish fleet burned down in the Chesme Bay overnight. In 1771, Russian troops occupied all the main centers of the Crimea. (Crimea has been under Turkish protection since 1475. For Russia, Crimea was a "robber's nest" and represented a great danger.) In 1772, the Crimean Khan Shagin Giray proclaimed Crimea's independence from Turkey. This was the first stage in the annexation of Crimea to Russia. Turkey recognized the independence of Crimea; - Russia received the right to unimpeded navigation on the Black Sea and the right to pass through the Bosporus and Dardanelles; - Russia received the right to have its own fleet on the Black Sea; - Georgia was freed from the hardest tribute by young men and girls sent to Turkey; - the rights of Orthodox peoples in Ottoman Empire(Moldovans, Greeks, Romanians, Georgians, etc.) expanded. In 1783, Russian troops entered the Crimea without any warning. The Turkish Sultan could not do anything. The Crimean Khanate was liquidated, the Crimea became part of Russia.. The vast territories of the northern Black Sea region went to Russia. They received the name Novorossiya. G. A. Potemkin, the most talented favorite of Catherine II, was appointed governor of Novorossia. He took up the arrangement of this region and the construction of the Black Sea Fleet.

Georgievsky treatise

In the 90s. 18th century Russia's position in Transcaucasia and the Caucasus began to strengthen. Turkey and Persia also stepped up their expansion into Georgia. Georgia at that time was going through a period feudal fragmentation and was not single state. Kakheti and Kartalinia under the rule of Heraclius II united into Eastern Georgia. The Georgian principalities in the west - Imeretia, Mengrelia, Guria each had their own kings or sovereign princes. Turkey and Persia carried out devastating raids on Georgian lands. Kakheti and Kartalinia paid a shameful tribute beautiful girls Persians, and Imereti, Mengrelia, Guria - the same tribute to the Turks. The kingdoms were in constant conflict with each other. The small Georgian people, in order to preserve their "I", needed a strong patron. On July 24, 1783, in the fortress of Georgievsk (Northern Caucasus), an agreement was concluded between the Georgian king of Eastern Georgia (Kakheti and Kartalinia) Erekle II and Russia on patronage. The Georgievsky Treaty was signed, according to which Eastern Georgia, exhausted under the blows of the Turks, passed under the protection of Russia while maintaining autonomy.

Russia guaranteed Eastern Georgia territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. Fearing military clashes with Turkey, Russia refused to conclude the same agreement with the western Georgian principalities. In 1787, Catherine II decided to visit Novorossia accompanied by a brilliant retinue. For 4 years, the indefatigable G. A. Potemkin turned Novorossia into a flourishing land. He founded the cities of Kherson, Nikolaev, Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), Nikopol, and Odessa. G. A. Potemkin started agriculture, crafts, created industry. He invited immigrants from other countries, attracted them with low taxes. The first ships of the Black Sea Fleet were built in Kherson. In the convenient bay of Akhtiar, the construction of Sevastopol, the main base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, began. Later, for his labors for the good of the Russian state, he received the title of the Most Serene Prince and an honorary addition to the surname - Potemkin - Tauride. (Tavrida is the ancient name of the Crimea). In Turkey, the journey of Catherine II was regarded as Russia's desire to further expand Russia's borders in the south at the expense of Turkish territories. In 1787, the Turkish Sultan declared war on Russia. The second Russian-Turkish war in the reign of Catherine II began.

The military talent of A.V. Suvorov had blossomed by this time. In July 1789 he defeated the Turks at Focsany, and in August 1789 on the Rymnik River. The victory was close, but it was impossible without the capture of Ishmael. Izmail - a Turkish fortress, built shortly before by the French, with walls 25 meters high, was considered impregnable and was the pride of the Turkish Sultan. In 1790, A. V. Suvorov received an order to take Izmail. Near Izmail, his military fate was at stake: A. V. Suvorov was already 60 years old. A. V. Suvorov wrote to the commandant of Izmail: "24 hours for reflection - freedom, my first shot - already captivity; assault - death." Early morning On December 11, 1790, Russian troops launched an assault on the fortress. After 6 hours. Ishmael was taken. The way to Istanbul was opened to Russian troops. Brilliant victories were also won at sea. In 1791, the commander of the young Black Sea Fleet, F.F. Ushakov, defeated the Turkish fleet at Cape Kaliakria. The Turks hurried to sit down at the negotiating table. In 1791, a peace treaty was concluded in Iasi. According to the Yassy peace treaty: - The Ottoman Empire recognized the Crimea as a possession of Russia; - Russia included the territories between the Bug and Dniester rivers, as well as Taman and Kuban; - Turkey recognized the Russian patronage of Georgia, established by the Treaty of St. George in 1783.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Sections of the Commonwealth (1772, 1793, 1795). At this time, the situation in the Commonwealth escalated. The Commonwealth arose in 1569 from the unification of Poland and Lithuania. The king of the Commonwealth was elected by the Polish nobility and largely dependent on it. The right to legislate belonged to the Sejm - the assembly of people's representatives. For the adoption of the law, the consent of all those present "liberum veto" was required, which was extremely difficult. Even one "no" vote forbade the adoption of a decision. The Polish king was powerless before the nobility, there was always no consent at the Sejm. Groupings of the Polish nobility were constantly at odds with each other. Often, acting in selfish interests and not thinking about the fate of their state, the Polish magnates in their civil strife resorted to the help of other states. This led to the fact that by the second half of the XVIII century. Poland turned into an unviable state: laws were not issued in Poland, rural and urban life was stagnant. The idea of dividing Poland as an unpredictable state that causes a lot of unrest to its neighbors appeared in international politics as early as early XVIII in. in Prussia and Austria.

During the time of Catherine II, one could expect the collapse of the Commonwealth from day to day. The Prussian king again put forward a plan for the dismemberment of Poland and invited Russia to join him. Catherine II considered it expedient to preserve a united Poland, but then decided to use the weakness of Poland and return those ancient Russian lands that had been captured by Poland during the period of feudal fragmentation. In 1772, 1793, 1795 Austria, Prussia, Russia produced three divisions of the Commonwealth. In 1772, the first partition of the Commonwealth took place. Russia ceded the eastern part of Belarus along the Western Dvina and the Upper Dnieper. Polish nobles tried to save Poland. In 1791, the Constitution was adopted, which abolished the election of the king and the right of "liberum veto". The Polish army was strengthened, the third estate was admitted to the Sejm. In 1793, the second partition of the Commonwealth took place. Central Belarus with Minsk, Right-Bank Ukraine went to Russia. On March 12, 1974, Polish patriots led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko rebelled to try to save the doomed Polish state. Catherine II sent troops to Poland under the command of A. V. Suvorov. On October 24, the troops of A. V. Suvorov entered Warsaw. The uprising was put down. T. Kosciuszko was arrested and sent to Russia. This predetermined the third division of the Commonwealth.

In 1795, the third partition of the Commonwealth took place. Lithuania, Western Belarus, Volyn, Courland went to Russia. The Poles lost their statehood. Until 1918, Polish lands were part of Prussia, Austria, and Russia. Thus, as a result of the three divisions of the Commonwealth, Russia returned all the ancient Russian lands, and also received new territories - Lithuania and Courland. Ethnically Polish regions were not annexed to Russia. During the time of Catherine II, Russian explorers begin to explore the northwestern part North America. Thus, the foreign policy of Catherine II significantly expanded the territories Russian state. At that time, the formation of state territories, fixing borders. All states sought to expand their influence in the outside world. The European powers actively built their colonial empires. Russia also followed the prevailing logic of the then political thinking. There was an active construction of the Russian Empire. November 6, 1796 Catherine II died. The German princess entered the Russian and world history one of the greatest Russian rulers.

Realizing the difficulties of her position, avoiding clashes with the nobles who gave her the throne and crown, wanting to smooth the impression of seizing power and become popular in a foreign country, the empress devoted herself and her policy to serving the interests of this class. The desire of the government to help the nobility to adapt their economy to the developing commodity-money relations and overcome the negative impact of the emerging capitalist system on the serfdom was the most important direction internal policy of Catherine II in the second half of the 18th century. Started by her predecessors, this domestic policy of Catherine II gained even wider scope during her reign.

Grants were the source of the growth of noble land ownership and soul ownership. The generosity of the Empress surpassed everything that was familiar to the history of the previous time. She granted 18,000 serfs and 86,000 rubles to the participants in the coup, who secured her the throne. premium. During her reign, she distributed 800 thousand peasants of both sexes to the nobles.

In order to strengthen the monopoly rights of the nobles to land, a decree was subordinated to the prohibition of industrialists to buy serfs for their enterprises. As long as the nobles did not engage in entrepreneurship, industrialists widely used the right to buy peasants for factories. As soon as the landlords built cloth and linen manufactories in their estates, the government deprived the merchants of this privilege.

New privileges for the nobility

Catherine, enthroned by the noble guards, knew that the nobility was not content with the law on the freedom of the nobles, but demanded the expansion and strengthening of their rights as the ruling class. The nobles acquired a new privilege in the manifesto "On the granting of liberties and freedom to all Russian nobility." The decree promulgated by Peter III in 1762 was confirmed by Catherine II. From now on, a nobleman could retire at any time, he could not serve anywhere at all.

It was assumed that the nobles, freed from service in the barracks and offices, would rush to the village in order to manage the estates themselves, and not through clerks and introduce economic improvements. Since an enormous amount of land, the most productive force in the then national economy, was concentrated in the hands of the nobility, he was to become the leader of the entire national economy, freed from service. But the presence of serfs in the noble economy - the ability to get everything for free, by order - explains the lack of enterprise, indifference to technical knowledge and improvement of management techniques of many nobles on their estates. Each new economic need of the landowner was usually satisfied by establishing a new tax on serf souls.

At the same time, we must not forget that it was in the era of Catherine that such original landowners-owners appeared as A. T. Bolotov, who became one of the founders of Russian agronomic science, the author of many articles on agronomy, botany, and the organization of landlord economy.

Under the patronage of Catherine, her closest associates in 1765 in St. Petersburg established the Free economic society seeking to rationalize Agriculture and increase the productivity of serf labor.

General survey in 1765 Serfdom.

In 1765, the government manifesto began general survey. An attempt to implement it in 1754 was unsuccessful. Caused by the desire to streamline land holdings in connection with the general revival of the economy and to expand noble land ownership by eliminating free peasant borrowings and legalizing landowner seizures of state land, the general land surveying established that actual ownership in 1765 should serve as the basis for securing the right to the future. This process was accompanied by the sale from the treasury to the landowners at a cheap price of steppe lands that had no "legal" owners.

Main feature the domestic policy of Catherine II was expressed in full and frank support ruling class nobles. Such an internal policy of Catherine II, as under no other of the rulers, strengthened serfdom in Russia.

The decrees of the 1960s crowned the feudal legislation, which turned the serfs into people completely defenseless against the arbitrariness of the landlords. The decree, issued on the sixth day after Catherine's accession, encouraged the landlords in their "inviolable possession" of estates and peasants. Another decree, published in 1763, laid the maintenance military teams sent to suppress peasant uprisings, on the peasants themselves. The decree pursued edifying goals - "so that others, fearing him, would not pester those disobedient." According to the decree of January 17, 1765, the landowner could send the peasant not only into exile, but also to hard labor, and the period of hard labor was set by him; he was also given the right to return the exiled from hard labor at any time. Another decree of 1767 forbade peasants to complain about their master. Any petition of a serf was equated with a false denunciation of the landowner; the measure of punishment for the disobedient was also determined - exile to Nerchinsk.

"Golden Age of the Russian nobility"

The second, no less important side of the policy of absolutism in the sphere of administration in the second half of the 18th century was the legal registration of the rights and privileges of the estates, their duties and obligations, the creation of estate organizations.

In order to formalize the estate privileges of the nobility in 1785, a Letter of Complaint to the nobility was issued. “Charter for the rights of liberty and the advantages of a noble Russian nobility” was a set of noble privileges, formalized by the legislative act of Catherine II of 21.04. 1785. Under Peter I, the nobility carried out lifelong military and other service to the state, but already under Anna Ioannovna it was possible to limit this service to 25 years. The nobles got the opportunity to start their service not with an ordinary or simple sailor, but with an officer, having passed the noble military school.

Peter III issued a decree on the freedom of the nobility, giving the right to serve or not to serve, but this decree was suspended. Now, the freedom of the nobles from compulsory service was confirmed. Complete release nobility made sense for several reasons:

1) there was a sufficient number of trained people who were knowledgeable in various matters of military and civil administration;
2) the nobles themselves were aware of the need to serve the state and considered it an honor to shed blood for the fatherland;
3) when the nobles were cut off from the lands all their lives, the farms fell into decay, which adversely affected the country's economy.

Now many of them could manage their own peasants. And the attitude towards the peasants on the part of the owner was much better than on the part of an accidental manager. The landowner was interested in ensuring that his peasants were not ruined.

With a letter of grant, the nobility was recognized as the leading class in the state and exempted from paying taxes, they could not be subjected to corporal punishment, only a court of nobility could judge. Only nobles had the right to own land and serfs, they also owned subsoil in their estates, they could engage in trade and set up factories, their houses were free from standing troops, their estates were not subject to confiscation.

The nobility received the right to self-government, constituted a “noble society”, the body of which was a noble assembly, convened every three years in the province and district, which elected provincial and district marshals of the nobility, court assessors and police captains who headed the district administration. With this charter, the nobility was encouraged to participate widely in local government.

Under Catherine II, the nobles held the positions of local executive and judiciary. The charter granted to the nobility was supposed to strengthen the position of the nobility and consolidate its privileges. Contributed to greater consolidation of the ruling class. Its action was also extended to the nobles of the Baltic States, Ukraine, Belarus and the Don. The charter granted to the nobility testified to the desire of Russian absolutism to strengthen its social support in an atmosphere of exacerbation of class contradictions. The nobility turned into the politically dominant class in the state.

Under Catherine II, the nobleman became a member of the privileged provincial noble corporation, which held in its hands local government. A charter of 1785 established that a nobleman could not lose his rank without trial. A nobleman passes on his title to his children and wife, is free from taxes and corporal punishment, everything that is in his estate is the inalienable property of a nobleman; he is free from public service, but cannot take part in elections for noble positions if he does not have an officer's rank. These became the most important rights of all nobles under Catherine II. In addition, noble societies had all the rights of legal entities. The nobility came to such results by the end of the 18th century: exclusive personal rights, a broad right to class self-government and a strong influence on local government, therefore the era of the reign of Catherine II is called the "golden age of the Russian nobility."

"Golden Age" of Catherine II the Great (1762 - 1796)

Of all the women who reigned in Russia in the 18th century, only Catherine II ruled independently, delving into all matters of domestic and foreign policy. She saw her main tasks in strengthening the autocracy, reorganizing the state apparatus with the aim of strengthening it, and strengthening the international position of Russia. To a large extent, she succeeded, and the time of her reign is one of the brilliant pages of Russian history.

Domestic politics

Catherine II immediately began to fight against the pro-German orientation of Peter III. All Germans were removed from the ruling circles. Russian nationalism becomes the ideology of the state.

In 1764, in order to suppress the desire for secession in Ukraine, Catherine II abolished the hetmanship (autonomy). In 1654, Ukraine became part of Russia with the rights of the widest autonomy. But independent tendencies flared up from time to time in Ukraine, and the situation here was constantly unstable. Catherine believed that for internal strength, a multinational empire should be governed by uniform principles. In the autumn of 1764, she received the retired hetman P.A. Razumovsky and appointed Prosecutor General P.A. Rumyantsev.

At the very beginning of her reign, Catherine decided to regulate relations between the Church and secular authorities. Since the time of Peter I, the Church has been subordinate to the state. The financial situation in the country was difficult, and the Church was a major owner in the state. Catherine II was Orthodox, performed all Orthodox rites, but she was a pragmatic ruler. In order to replenish the state treasury, in 1764 she carried out the secularization (conversion by the state of church property to secular property) of church lands. 500 monasteries were abolished, 1 million souls of peasants passed to the treasury. Due to this, the state treasury was significantly replenished. This made it possible to ease the financial crisis in the country, to pay off the army, which had not received a salary for a long time. The influence of the Church on the life of society has been significantly reduced.

Politics of enlightened absolutism. In her policy, Catherine began to rely on the nobility. The nobility was the backbone of the throne and performed the most important functions: the nobles were the organizers of production, generals, major administrators, courtiers.

Catherine began to pursue the so-called policy of enlightened absolutism. The policy of enlightened absolutism was characteristic of countries with a monarchical form of government and with a relatively slow development of capitalist relations. Enlightened absolutism, on the one hand, pursued a policy in the interests of the nobility (retained its political rights and economic privileges), on the other hand, contributed in every possible way further development capitalist relations. In particular, such a policy was pursued by the Austrian emperor Joseph II, the Prussian king Frederick II, the Swedish king Gustav III, and others.

From the very beginning of her reign, Catherine II began to strive to achieve the internal order of the state. She believed that injustices in the state could be eradicated with the help of good laws. And she decided to adopt new legislation instead of the Cathedral Code of Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649, which would take into account the interests of all estates.

For this purpose, in 1767, the Legislative Commission was convened. 572 deputies represented the nobility, merchants, Cossacks. The noble deputies played the leading role in the Commission - 45%. In the new legislation, Catherine tried to carry out the ideas of Western European thinkers about a just society. Catherine revised the works of outstanding thinkers Sh.L. Montesquieu, C. Beccaria, Ya.F. Bielfeld, D. Diderot and others and compiled the famous "Order of Empress Catherine" for the Commission. "Instruction" consisted of 20 chapters, divided into 526 articles. In general, it was an integral work, which spoke about the need for a strong autocratic power in Russia and the class structure of Russian society, about legality, about the relationship between law and morality, about the dangers of torture and corporal punishment.

At the fifth meeting, the Commission presented the Empress with the title of "Great, Wise Mother of the Fatherland." The commission worked for more than two years, but its work was not crowned with success, since the nobility and the deputies themselves from other classes stood guard only for their rights and privileges. The work of the Legislative Commission showed that the nobility could not become the spokesman for the interests of all classes. In Russia there was no power, except for the monarchy, capable of rising above its narrowly selfish interests and acting in the interests of all classes. An attempt by Catherine II to transfer Western European liberal ideas to Russian soil ended in failure. The commission was dissolved.

Nevertheless, the work of the Legislative Commission was of great importance, since the empress was able to get acquainted with the opinions and wishes of the Russian society, which she took into account in her future policy.

Catherine's attitude to serfdom. Catherine II was a European-educated woman and shared the views of Western European thinkers on serfdom as an inhuman phenomenon. But by the time of her accession to the throne, she had thoroughly studied the country and society, which she now ruled. She understood that there was a huge difference between the abstract reasoning of Western European enlighteners about freedom and Russian reality. About half of the landlord peasants were in the position of slaves. The entire landlord economy was based on serfdom. Serfdom became a habitual, everyday phenomenon, a natural state for the peasants. In addition, Catherine was convinced that the Russian people were not spiritually developed and were not yet ready to take care of themselves. For such radical changes in fate as the abolition of serfdom, it must be prepared gradually over a long period of time. Russia was not ready for a new social order, and she could not raise the question of the abolition of serfdom in Russia.

Peasant war under the control of E.I. Pugachev (1773 - 1775). In the 60s - 70s. a powerful wave of speeches by peasants, Cossacks, and working people swept across the country. The Empress was especially worried about the performances of the Cossacks. Since the time of Ivan the Terrible, settlements of free people - Cossacks - began to form on the outskirts of the empire. Over time, the Cossacks began to consolidate into a special layer of Russian society, living according to its own laws. The Cossacks caused a lot of anxiety to the authorities, since robbery played a significant role in their lives. Trying to achieve stability on the borders of the state, Catherine II launched an attack on the Cossacks. Cossack self-government was limited, the government began to introduce army orders in the Cossack units. In particular, the Yaik (Ural) Cossacks were deprived of the right to duty-free fishing and salt extraction. Then the Yaik Cossacks refused to obey the authorities.

In 1773 -1775. in Russia began the most powerful peasant war under the leadership of E.I. Pugachev. E.I. Pugachev was born in the village of Zimoveyskaya on the Don. He was a participant in the Seven Years and Russian-Turkish wars, had the first officer rank of cornet. E.I. Pugachev acted as a petitioner about the needs of the Cossacks. For this he was arrested, then fled from the Kazan prison to the Yaik Cossacks. He introduced himself to the Yaik Cossacks as the surviving Emperor Peter III. With a team of 80 people. he moved to the Yaitsky town - the center of the Yaik Cossacks. Soon his detachment turned into an army of 30-40 thousand, equipped with artillery. Social and National composition Pugachevites was diverse: Cossacks, serfs, workers of the Ural factories and manufactories, Russians, Tatars, Kalmyks, Bashkirs, etc. E.I. Pugachev created the Military Board, which included his associates I. Chika-Zarubin, Khlopusha, I. Beloborodov, S. Yulaev. The troops of the Pugachevites besieged Orenburg for 6 months. Government troops were moved against the rebels, at the head of which Catherine II put the former head of the Legislative Commission, General A.I. Bibikov. March 22, 1774 near the fortress Tatishcheva E.I. Pugachev was defeated. The siege of Orenburg was lifted.

After that E.I. Pugachev moved to the territory of Bashkiria and the mining Urals. From there, the Pugachevites moved to the Volga and in July 1774 took Kazan. July 31, 1774 E.I. Pugachev announced a manifesto, which later historians will call the "Letter of Letters to the Peasantry." E.I. Pugachev "commended" the peasants with "liberty and freedom", lands and lands, exempted them from recruiting sets, poll taxes, called on the peasants to "catch, execute and hang" the nobles, landowners. Kazan was approached by government troops led by Colonel I.I. Michelson. They liberated Kazan from the rebels. With a detachment of 500 people. E.I. Pugachev moved to the right bank of the Volga. The Pugachevites captured a number of cities: Saratov, Penza, Alatyr, Saransk. In the areas covered by the uprising, the Pugachevites exterminated nobles, landowners, officers, and service people. Catherine II took energetic measures. At the head of government troops, instead of the deceased A.I. Bibikov was staged by P.I. Panin. A.V. was called from the theater of the Russian - Turkish war. Suvorov. An attempt by E.I. Pugachev to take Tsaritsyn ended in failure. With a small detachment, he crossed to the left bank of the Volga, where he hoped to take refuge with the Yaik Cossacks. But the wealthy Cossacks, fearing the wrath of the empress, seized E.I. Pugachev and on September 12, 1774 gave him to I.I. Michelson. In a wooden cage E.I. Pugachev was sent to Moscow. January 10, 1775 E.I. Pugachev and his associates were executed in Moscow on Bolotnaya Square. By this time, all the centers of the uprising were suppressed. House of E.I. Pugachev in the village of Zimoveyskaya was burned, the place of the house was sprinkled with salt so that the memory of him would never be revived. The Yaik River has since been renamed the Urals, the Yaik Cossacks have been renamed the Ural Cossacks.

In 1775, Catherine II liquidated the Zaporizhian Sich. Zaporozhian Cossacks asked the Empress to leave them in the Cossacks. Catherine II resettled the Cossacks to develop the newly annexed Kuban, giving them certain privileges. Thus began the history of the Kuban Cossacks.

Provincial reform. In order to further prevent peasant uprisings, Catherine II decided to reform local government.

In 1775, a clearer territorial division of the empire was carried out. The territory began to be divided into administrative units with a certain number of taxable (who paid taxes) population.

The province became the largest territorial-administrative unit. In each province, 300-400 thousand souls of the male tax-paying population were to live. The governor was at the head of the province. He was appointed personally by the Empress and was directly subordinate to her. The governor in the province had all the power. He controlled the activities of all institutions and all officials. In order to ensure order in the provinces, all military units and teams were subordinate to the governor. By the mid 90s. There were 50 provinces in the country.

The provinces were divided into districts of 20 - 30 thousand souls. All management in the counties was given to the nobility. The nobles elected the captain - police officer (head of the county) and assessors of the Lower Zemsky Court for 3 years. The captain - police officer and the Lower Zemsky Court were the main authorities in the county.

The city was an independent administrative unit. The mayor ruled the city. He was appointed by the government from retired nobles. The city was divided into parts of 200 - 700 houses, headed by a private bailiff, and into blocks of 50 - 100 houses, headed by a district warden.

Catherine II separated the judiciary from the executive. All estates, except for the serfs, were to take part in local government. Each estate received its own court.

After the provincial reform, all boards ceased to function, except for the most important ones - Foreign, Military, Admiralty. Their functions began to be carried out by provincial bodies.

Formation of the estate structure. During the reign of Catherine II, the final formation of the estate system in Russia took place. On April 21, 1785, on her birthday, the Empress issued a "Charter to the nobility", which was a set, a collection of noble privileges, formalized by law. From now on, the nobility was sharply separated from other classes. The freedom of the nobility from paying taxes, from compulsory service was confirmed. Nobles could only be judged by a noble court. Only nobles had the right to own land and serfs. Catherine forbade subjecting nobles to corporal punishment. She believed that this would help the Russian nobility to get rid of the slave psychology and acquire personal dignity. The nobles were given the title of "noble class".

In 1785, the "Letter of Letters to the Cities" was published. It determined the rights and obligations of the urban population, the system of governance in cities. The entire urban population was entered into the City Philistine Book and divided into 6 categories:

nobility and clergy;

merchants, divided depending on the capital into three guilds (merchants of the 1st guild - the richest - had the pre-emptive right to conduct domestic and foreign trade; merchants of the 2nd guild stood below, they had the right to large-scale domestic trade; merchants of the 3rd guild were engaged in small county and city trade);

guild artisans;

foreigners permanently living in cities;

eminent citizens and capitalists;

townspeople (those who lived by crafts).

Residents of the city every 3 years elected a self-government body - the General City Duma, the mayor and judges.

The adopted documents completed the design of the estate system in Russia: the entire population of Russia was divided into estates. From now on, they began to represent closed groups that had different rights and privileges. Class belonging began to be inherited, the transition from one class to another was extremely difficult.

The design of the estate system at that time played a positive role in society, since belonging to the estate made it possible to develop within the estate.

Education reform. Catherine II believed that the Russian people were not spiritually developed. In her opinion, upbringing and education could develop a Russian person. Through upbringing and education, the empress decided to create a new "breed of people" who, through the family, would spread the principles of the new upbringing to the whole society.

Catherine II entrusted the development of the education reform to the President of the Academy of Arts I.I. Betsky. According to his plan, a network of schools should be created in Russia, where children aged 6 to 18-20 would be brought up in isolation from the bad influence of society. Catherine II invited one of the best teachers in Europe, Serb F.I. Jankovic de Mirievo. Catherine II believed that the introduction of enlightenment would be followed by a beneficial result: moral and social vices would disappear, slavery, ignorance, and superstition would end.

Soon closed schools, educational houses, institutes for girls, nobles, townspeople were created, in which experienced teachers engaged in the education and upbringing of boys and girls. In the provinces, a network of people's classless two-class schools was created in the counties and four-class schools in the provincial cities. A classroom lesson system was introduced in schools (single dates for the beginning and end of classes), methods of teaching disciplines and educational literature were developed, and uniform curricula were created.

As a result of the education reform in Russia during the reign of Catherine II, a system of secondary education was created, and by the end of the century in Russia there were 550 educational institutions With total number 60-70 thousand people

The policy of Catherine II in the field of education later bore fruit - a unique phenomenon of world culture arose - the Russian noble culture of the 19th century, which to this day has enduring significance.

Foreign policy

Foreign policy issues were paramount for Catherine II. Peter I won for Russia access to the sea in the Baltic. But for the development of trade, for the protection of the borders in the south of Russia, the shores of the Black and Azov Seas were needed. This inevitably had to lead to a clash with the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) - the mistress of the Black Sea. The strengthening of Russia worried major European countries- England, Austria, France, and they began to make efforts to push Russia and the Ottoman Empire and thereby weaken both.

Russian-Turkish war 1768 - 1774 In 1768, Turkey, supported by France, began hostilities against Russia in Ukraine and the Caucasus. The first Russian-Turkish war in the reign of Catherine II began. In 1770, on the tributaries of the Prut River - Larga and Kagul - commander P.A. Rumyantsev defeated the Turkish army. Brilliant victories were won at sea. Russia did not have its own fleet on the Black Sea. A small Russian squadron under the leadership of Admiral G.A. Spiridova left the Baltic, circled Europe and entered the Mediterranean. Here, A.G. took over the leadership of the hostilities. Orlov. The Russian command went to a military trick. In 1770, the entire Turkish fleet was lured into the cramped Chesme Bay, locked up and set on fire at night. The Turkish fleet burned down in the Chesme Bay overnight. In 1771, Russian troops occupied all the main centers of the Crimea. (Crimea had been under Turkish protection since 1475. For Russia, Crimea was a "robber's nest" and posed a great danger.) In 1772, the Crimean Khan Shagin Giray proclaimed Crimea's independence from Turkey. This was the first stage in the annexation of Crimea to Russia.

During the reign of Catherine II, the military talent of the great Russian commander A.V. Suvorov (1730 - 1800). His military service started at the age of 18. The service completely absorbed him. The young officer was interested in literally everything: the military training of a soldier, his life, health. At that time, there was no system for training soldiers (recruits) in the Russian army. From this, the soldiers, yesterday's peasants, died in the very first battles. A.V. Suvorov was the first to develop a system of rules of conduct in battle specifically for soldiers. To convey the "salt" (main content) military science to an illiterate soldier, the rules of conduct in battle A.V. Suvorov designed in the form of proverbs and sayings. A well-organized system of training soldiers was outlined in the famous book "The Science of Victory". Suvorov believed that victory in battle brings not a numerical superiority, but the morale of a soldier. Strengthens the spirit of a soldier - love for the motherland, pride in national identity, faith in God. A.V. himself Suvorov was a true Christian, and he attached paramount importance to the religious education of the soldiers. Prayers were performed before the battle. Before the decisive battles, A.V. Suvorov forced the soldiers to put on clean underwear, everyone participated in the prayer service. After the battle, prayers were also performed for the dead right on the field, and A.V. Suvorov sang himself along with the choristers.

And the illiterate peasants of the famous commander turned into a miracle - heroes. Troops A.V. Suvorov began to defeat any enemy. So, in 1773, Suvorov's troops took the Turkish fortresses Turtukai, and in 1774 - Kozludzha. In 1774, a peace treaty was signed in the Bulgarian village of Kyuchuk - Kaynardzhi:

Turkey recognized the independence of Crimea;

Russia received the right to unhindered navigation on the Black Sea and the right to pass through the Bosporus and Dardanelles;

Russia received the right to have its own fleet on the Black Sea;

Georgia was liberated from the heaviest tribute by young men and girls sent to Turkey;

the rights of Orthodox peoples in the Ottoman Empire (Moldovans, Greeks, Romanians, Georgians, etc.) expanded.

In 1783, Russian troops entered the Crimea without any warning. The Turkish Sultan could not do anything. The Crimean Khanate was liquidated, Crimea became part of Russia. Russia ceded the vast territories of the northern Black Sea region. They received the name Novorossiya. G.A., the most talented favorite of Catherine II, was appointed governor of Novorossia. Potemkin. He took up the arrangement of this region and the construction of the Black Sea Fleet.

Georgievsky treatise. In the 90s. XVIII century Russia's position in Transcaucasia and the Caucasus began to strengthen. Turkey and Persia also stepped up their expansion into Georgia. Georgia at that time was going through a period of feudal fragmentation and was not a single state. Kakheti and Kartalinia under the rule of Heraclius II united into Eastern Georgia. The Georgian principalities in the west - Imeretia, Mengrelia, Guria each had their own kings or sovereign princes. Turkey and Persia carried out devastating raids on Georgian lands. Kakheti and Kartaliniya paid a shameful tribute to the Persians with beautiful girls, and Imereti, Mengrelia, Guria paid the same tribute to the Turks. The kingdoms were in constant conflict with each other. The small Georgian people, in order to preserve their "I", needed a strong patron.

On July 27, 1783, in the fortress of Georgievsk (Northern Caucasus), an agreement was concluded between the Georgian king of Eastern Georgia (Kakheti and Kartalinia) Erekle II and Russia on patronage. The Georgievsky Treaty was signed, according to which Eastern Georgia, exhausted under the blows of the Turks, passed under the protection of Russia while maintaining autonomy. Russia guaranteed Eastern Georgia territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. Fearing military clashes with Turkey, Russia refused to conclude the same agreement with the western Georgian principalities.

In 1787, Catherine decided to visit Novorossia accompanied by a brilliant retinue. For 4 years, the tireless G.A. Potemkin turned Novorossia into a flourishing region. He founded the cities of Kherson, Nikolaev, Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), Nikopol, and Odessa. G.A. Potemkin started agriculture, crafts, created industry. He invited immigrants from other countries, attracted them with low taxes. The first ships of the Black Sea Fleet were built in Kherson. In the convenient bay of Akhtiar, the construction of Sevastopol, the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, began. Later, for his labors for the benefit of the Russian state, he received the title of the Most Serene Prince and an honorary addition to the surname - Potemkin - Tauride. (Tavrida is the ancient name of the Crimea).

In Turkey, Catherine's journey was regarded as Russia's desire to further expand Russia's borders in the south at the expense of Turkish territories.

In 1787 Turkish sultan declared war on Russia.

Russian - Turkish war 1787 - 1791 The second Russian-Turkish war began in the reign of Catherine II. Military talent A.V. Suvorov by this time flourished. In July 1789 he defeated the Turks at Focsany, and in August 1789 on the Rymnik River. The victory was close, but it was impossible without the capture of Ishmael. Izmail - a Turkish fortress, built shortly before by the French, with walls 25 meters high, was considered impregnable and was the pride of the Turkish Sultan.

In 1790 A.V. Suvorov was ordered to take Ishmael. Near Izmail, his military fate was at stake: A.V. Suvorov was already 60 years old. Commandant Izmail A.V. Suvorov wrote: "24 hours for reflection - freedom, my first shot - already captivity; assault - death." In the early morning of December 11, 1790, Russian troops launched an assault on the fortress. One of the main blows was delivered by General M.I. Kutuzov. The forces of the troops of M.I. Kutuzov dried up, and he was already preparing to retreat. And then right on the battlefield A.V. Suvorov sent him an order that a telegram about the victory had been sent to St. Petersburg, and M.I. Kutuzov was appointed commandant of Ishmael. M.I. Kutuzov understood: he must either take Ishmael or die under its walls. After 6 hours. Ishmael was taken. Russia rejoiced. On the capture of Ishmael G.R. Derzhavin wrote the poem "Thunder of victory, resound!". Composer O.A. Kozlovsky wrote the music. The resulting song G.A. Potemkin turned it into an unofficial national Russian anthem.

The way to Istanbul was opened to Russian troops. Brilliant victories were also won at sea. Commander of the young Black Sea Fleet F.F. Ushakov in 1791 defeated the Turkish fleet at Cape Kaliakria.

The Turks hurried to sit down at the negotiating table. In 1791, a peace treaty was concluded in Iasi. According to the Iasi Peace Treaty:

The Ottoman Empire recognized Crimea as a possession of Russia;

Russia included the territories between the rivers Bug and Dniester, as well as Taman and Kuban;

Turkey recognized the Russian patronage of Georgia, established by the Treaty of St. George in 1783.

Sections of the Commonwealth (1772, 1793, 1795). At this time, the situation in the Commonwealth escalated. The Commonwealth arose in 1569 from the unification of Poland and Lithuania. The king of the Commonwealth was elected by the Polish nobility and largely dependent on it. The right to legislate belonged to the Sejm - the assembly of people's representatives. For the adoption of the law, the consent of all those present "liberum veto" was required, which was extremely difficult. Even one "no" vote forbade the adoption of a decision. The Polish king was powerless before the nobility, there was always no consent at the Sejm. Groupings of the Polish nobility were constantly at odds with each other. Often, acting in selfish interests and not thinking about the fate of their state, the Polish magnates in their civil strife resorted to the help of other states. This led to the fact that by the second half of the eighteenth century. Poland turned into an unviable state: laws were not issued in Poland, rural and urban life was stagnant. The idea of dividing Poland as an unpredictable state, causing a lot of unrest to its neighbors, appeared in international politics as early as the beginning of the 18th century. in Prussia and Austria. During the time of Catherine II, one could expect the collapse of the Commonwealth from day to day. The Prussian king again put forward a plan for the dismemberment of Poland and invited Russia to join him. Catherine II considered it expedient to preserve a united Poland, but then decided to use the weakness of Poland and return those ancient Russian lands that had been captured by Poland during the period of feudal fragmentation.

In 1772, 1793, 1795 Austria, Prussia, Russia produced three divisions of the Commonwealth.

In 1772, the first partition of the Commonwealth took place. Russia ceded the eastern part of Belarus along the Western Dvina and the Upper Dnieper. Polish nobles tried to save Poland. In 1791, the Constitution was adopted, which abolished the election of the king and the right of "liberum veto". The Polish army was strengthened, the third estate was admitted to the Sejm.

In 1793, the second partition of the Commonwealth took place. Central Belarus with Minsk, Right-Bank Ukraine went to Russia. On March 12, 1974, Polish patriots led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko rebelled to try to save the doomed Polish state. Catherine II sent troops to Poland under the command of A.V. Suvorov. On November 4, the troops of A.V. Suvorov entered Warsaw. The uprising was put down. T. Kosciuszko was arrested and sent to Russia. This predetermined the third division of the Commonwealth. A young officer and composer M. Oginsky fought in the ranks of T. Kosciuszko's troops. Everything that happened to Poland deeply wounded his heart. In 1794 he wrote a polonaise "Farewell to the Motherland". This work, also known as Oginsky's Polonaise, has become a masterpiece of world musical culture.

Thus, as a result of the three divisions of the Commonwealth, Russia returned all the ancient Russian lands, and also received new territories - Lithuania and Courland. Ethnically Polish regions were not annexed to Russia.

During the time of Catherine II, Russian explorers began to explore the northwestern part of North America.

Thus, the foreign policy of Catherine II significantly expanded the territory of the Russian state. In those days, the formation of state territories and the consolidation of borders were still in progress. All states sought to expand their influence in the outside world. The European powers actively built their colonial empires. Russia also followed the prevailing logic of the then political thinking. There was an active construction of the Russian Empire.

November 6, 1796 Catherine II died. The German princess entered Russian and world history as one of the greatest Russian rulers.

The reign of Catherine II is called the "golden age", because. The German princess restored the Russian monarchy to its former glory. In foreign policy after the conquests of Catherine II, all European states were looking for an alliance and support for Russia. The head of Russian foreign policy under Catherine II, Chancellor A.A. Bezborodko said at the end of his career to young diplomats: "I don't know how it will be with you, but with us, not a single gun in Europe dared to fire without our permission."

Bibliography

Buganov V.I., Buganov A.V. Generals of the 18th century - M., "Patriot", 1992.

Catherine II and her entourage. /Comp. intro. Art. and note. A.I. Yukhta. - M.: Press, 1996.

Pavlenko N.I. Catherine the Great. - M.: Mol. guard, 2000.

Mikhailov O.N. Suvorov. - M., 1973.

Nobility under Catherine II

The internal content of Catherine’s activities (historians tell us) was the growth of noble privileges, but (we will add) the privileges of the highest elite, when compared with the capabilities of the “simple” nobility, exceeded everything that can be imagined. Although Catherine formally proclaimed herself the successor to the cause of Peter I, contrary to Peter's traditions, the elite turned out to be uncontrolled.

Formally, the post-Petrine legislation brought a lot of joy to the feudal estate in the form of expanding rights and privileges. By decree of 1727, it was allowed to release the nobility from service to the estates to bring the economy in order. Since 1736, one of the sons in each noble family received the right not to serve in the army and devote himself to household chores on the estate. From the same year, a nobleman already enters the service not from the age of 15, but from the age of 20, and with an experience of 25 years, he receives the right to retire. By decree of 1740, the military service class was allowed to choose between military and civil fields. The decree of 1746 secured the monopoly right of the nobility to own populated lands and serfs. Since 1754, the upper class began to be officially called "noble". But each time, out of all the nobility, several hundred of the most noble and wealthy families received the highest benefit.

It also happened with the Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility. It was adopted on February 18, 1762 by Peter III: he freed the nobility from the mandatory nature of public service (as we can see, the nobles received their liberty 99 years and 1 day before the emancipation of the peasants on February 19, 1861). A few months after her accession, Catherine issued a decree on “bringing the content of the Manifesto to the best perfection”: she very vaguely confirmed the fact of the release of the nobles and ordered to work out articles that “most encourage their ambition for the benefit and service of Our and Our dear fatherland.”

The Empress stated that, in her opinion, “noble thoughts have rooted in the hearts of all true Russian patriots boundless jealousy towards Us ... and therefore We do not find the need for forced service, which has been needed until now ... ". But, apparently, the real reason for her neglect of the “need for coercion” was that most of the nobles simply could not feed themselves otherwise than by going to the service. The poorest landowners had plots of arable land in one or several villages, but more often they owned the land jointly with other landowners - even more than that, individual landownership was rather an exception. A. T. Bolotov reported that in late XVIII century majority Russian villages belonged to two or more landowners. Quite often a village with 500 inhabitants belonged to thirty or forty landowners, and Haxthausen was once shown a village with 260 peasants, owned by 83 owners!

Richard Pipes writes:

“98% either did not have serfs at all, or had so few of them that their labor and dues did not provide the owners with a decent standard of living. These people - unless they were supported by relatives or patrons - had to rely only on the generosity of the crown. As a result, even after receiving liberties in 1762 and 1785. the nobility could not do without royal favors, for only the monarchy had positions, estates and serfs that they needed to feed themselves.

But the highest aristocracy could not deny themselves anything. So, the Morozovs, thanks to their family ties with the royal house, had 9,000 peasant households scattered over 19 provinces. Vorontsov, during the 18th century, many estates in sixteen provinces fell from imperial grants, in which 25,000 male serfs cultivated 283,000 hectares. The same applies to P. Sheremetev's fortune, which was the largest in Russia during Catherine's reign: 186,000 souls belonging to him with 1.1 million hectares were located in 17 provinces.

And here is what you can read about the morals of the highest nobility in A. S. Pushkin:

“The reign of Catherine II had a new and strong influence on the political and moral state of Russia. Elevated to the throne by a conspiracy of several rebels, she enriched them at the expense of the people and humiliated our restless nobility. If to reign means to know the weakness of the human soul and use it, then in this respect Catherine deserves the surprise of posterity. Her splendor blinded, her friendliness attracted, her bounties tied. The very voluptuousness of this cunning woman asserted her dominion. Producing a faint grumbling among the people, accustomed to respect the vices of their rulers, it aroused vile competition in the highest states, because neither intelligence, nor merit, nor talents were needed to achieve second place in the state ...

We have seen how Catherine humiliated the spirit of the nobility. In this matter, her favorites zealously helped her. It is worth recalling the slaps that they generously handed out to our princes and boyars, the glorious Potemkin receipt, which is still kept in one of the government offices of the state, the monkey of Count Zubov, the coffee pot of Prince Kutuzov, and so on. etc."

(Pushkin’s explanation: “Potemkin once sent an adjutant to take 100,000 rubles from a state-owned place. Officials did not dare to release this amount without written form. Potemkin, on the other side of their relationship, personally attributed: give, e ... m ... ".)

Interestingly, in the first years of her reign, Catherine intended to limit the freedoms of the landowners! Only without meeting the consent of the court nobility, she, completely dependent on the mindset of the elite, on the contrary, issued new decrees that strengthened the power of the landlords. The landlords were given the right to exile the peasants "for their presumptuous state" to hard labor (1765), and the serfs were forbidden to file complaints against their masters under pain of punishment with a whip and exile to Nerchinsk for eternal hard labor (1767). In addition, the number of serfs increased significantly as a result of the distribution of 800,000 state peasants to the highest dignitaries and favorites and the legal registration of serfdom in Ukraine in 1783.

In April 1785 it was published charter"to the right of liberties and the advantages of the noble Russian nobility." All the privileges that were given to the nobility after Peter I were confirmed: the monopoly right of the nobles to own peasants, lands and subsoil; their rights to their own corporations, freedom from the poll tax, conscription, corporal punishment, confiscation of estates for criminal offenses. And on top of that, the right to petition the government for their needs, for trade and entrepreneurship, the transfer of a title of nobility by inheritance and the inability to lose it otherwise than through a court, etc. Most importantly: the letter confirmed the freedom of the nobles from public service.

All this aroused in the noble (read: court) historiography boundless and still not passing love for Catherine II and her time.

But if you look at the socio-economic situation of the country, with which it came to the end of Catherine's reign, you can only be horrified: the decline in production and the impoverishment of the people against the backdrop of the economic rise of the nobility and general venality.

A. S. Pushkin wrote:

“Catherine knew the tricks and robberies of her lovers, but was silent. Encouraged by such weakness, they did not know the measure of their greed, and the most distant relatives of the temporary worker greedily used his short reign. From the village came these huge estates of completely unknown families and a complete lack of honor and honesty in the upper class of the people. From the chancellor to the last recorder, everything was stolen and everything was for sale. Thus, the depraved empress corrupted her state.

Catherine destroyed the rank (or rather, the name) of slavery, and gave away about a million state peasants (that is, free cultivators) and enslaved free Little Russia and the Polish provinces. Catherine destroyed torture - and the secret office flourished under her patriarchal rule; Catherine loved enlightenment, and Novikov, who spread the first rays of it, passed from the hands of Sheshkovsky into a dungeon, where he remained until her death. Radishchev was exiled to Siberia; Knyaznin died under the rods - and Fonvizin, whom she was afraid of, would not have escaped the same fate if not for his extraordinary fame.

Contemporary foreign writers showered Catherine with excessive praise; very natural; they knew her only by correspondence with Voltaire and by the stories of those whom she allowed to travel.

The farce of our deputies, so obscenely acted out, had its effect in Europe; “Instruction” was read everywhere and in all languages. It was enough to put her along with the Titus and Trajans, but, rereading this hypocritical "Instruction", one cannot refrain from righteous indignation. It was forgivable for the Ferney philosopher to exalt the virtues of Tartuffe in a skirt and in a crown, he did not know, he could not know the truth, but the meanness of Russian writers is not clear to me.

(Ibid., pp. 91–92)

The post-Petrine inclusion of Russia into the system of the European market and the international division of labor as an exporter mainly of food and raw materials caused the unconditional dominance of the land-owning nobility in politics, and in the economy it caused a “price revolution”, their rapid growth. As once in Europe (in the 16th century), so now in Russia the price of bread has risen the most. Accordingly, the sown areas and mining on the ground grew.

In short, the "golden age" of the upper stratum of the nobility under Catherine's "enlightened absolutism" resulted from the intensification of corvée exploitation of the peasants. The benefits of grain exports and the complete power of the nobles over the serfs led to a sharp increase in labor rent: three-quarters of the landlord peasants became corvee, and the duration of the corvee could reach a whole week, which had never been allowed before.

Another result was a decrease in the urban commercial and industrial population: the high cost of bread and the profitability of its sale prompted many owners of small capitals - merchants and artisans, to take up arable land. At one time, Russia began its exports from the trade in furs and wax; at the beginning of the 18th century, animal products (leather, lard, meat) and hemp dominated the export list. Thanks to Peter's drastic measures, textiles became the main export item (36%) by 1725; the iron trade also began. After his death, the "open" market, pulling up domestic prices in Russia to world levels and the issuance of money led to the fact that the main place again passed to hemp, and remained with it until the end of the century, when bread "caught up" with it, followed by flax and fat; the share of iron was the largest in 1750 (15% of exports), but by 1769 it had fallen to 10%, and by 1800 to 6%. In fact, the empress planned for Russia to lag behind in its development.

The desire of the titled nobility to increase the profitability of their estates, of course, was not limited to the strengthening of corvee and the export of grain. The patrimonial industry expanded, especially distillation directly related to arable farming (Catherine secured the noble monopoly on distillation established by Elizabeth by the Charter on distillation) and cloth manufactory, provided with state orders. The nobility also dominated the metallurgical, potash, glass, and stationery industries.

We see a similar situation in the 20th century: in its beginning, the main export commodity was bread, in the second half it was complex equipment and science-intensive products, today it is again raw materials: oil and gas, despite the fact that in some places they also make airplanes (one a year) . The poor quality of state administration always leads to a slowdown in development and an increase in the well-being of the elite due to the export of a product that is in high demand at the moment, and the impoverishment of the bulk of the population.

Both today and then, the state was caught between the need to increase the gross agricultural product and maintain stability. Apparently, understanding the essence of the problem, the empress, strengthening the power of the soul owner, at the same time appealed to his sense of responsibility to the state and the throne for the dependent population entrusted to him, as a representative of the upper class, however, appealing not to Christian values and humane ideas of the Enlightenment, but to common sense owner. And in the same vein, she talked with her foreign correspondents:

“There are no definite conditions between the masters and the peasants, - she wrote to Diderot- but every owner who has common sense tries to treat his cow carefully, not to exhaust her and not to demand excessive milk from her.

Yes, the increased pressure on the farmers was accompanied by the desire of the authorities and the landlord to keep the peasant from ruin; and yet, throughout the eighteenth century, the distance between the privileged and the tax-paying population in terms of living standards and worldview rapidly increased.

Only the social mechanisms laid down by Peter I allowed Russia to maintain stability even under Catherine II, despite the ill-conceivedness and inefficiency of many of her activities, and even despite the fact that the "higher" nobles were able to transfer the development of the country from the Byzantine style of government to the Polish one, and the economy stagnated. We must be aware that a complete collapse during this period was avoided only thanks to the defeat of Turkey and the acquisition of southern black soil and the emergence of a new export product - bread, which gave the country a large reserve for survival.

The conquest of the south was a long-term program in Russian politics; Ivan the Terrible thought about this. The country has been preparing for this program for a long time. The fact that it was realized during the time of Catherine II is an accident. But this event allowed the reign of this empress, which was rather mediocre, from the point of view of the goals of the state, to appear very good in the eyes of posterity.

And the bread of the south not only allowed it to hold on, but also gave a fair amount of stability (and a reserve for development) to the reigns of the 19th century.

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