00:00Women who change the world.
00:30A great wind is blowing, and that either gives you imagination or a headache.
00:37Catherine the Great.
00:39Catherine II was born Sophia Augusta Frederica in the German city of Stetten, Prussia, now
00:46Zietzen, Poland, on April 21st, 1729.
00:51She was the daughter of Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst and Princess Johanna Elizabeth
00:56of Holstein-Gotharp.
00:58Catherine's education emphasized the subjects considered proper for one of her class, religion,
01:04Lutheranism, history, French, German, and music.
01:09When Catherine was 15, she went to Russia at the invitation of Empress Elizabeth to meet
01:15the heir to the throne, the Grand Duke Peter.
01:18Soon after Catherine converted to the Russian Orthodox faith, she and the young Grand Duke
01:23were married in 1745.
01:26However, her loveless marriage did not overshadow her intellectual and political interests.
01:32Unlike her husband, the German-born Catherine took care to demonstrate her dedication to
01:38Russia and the Russian Orthodox faith.
01:40When Empress Elizabeth died on December 25th, 1761, Peter was proclaimed Emperor Peter III and
01:49Catherine became Empress.
01:51Peter had created many enemies within the government, the military, and the Church.
01:56Soon, there was a plot to overthrow him.
01:59But those involved in the plot had underestimated Catherine's ambition.
02:04On June 28, 1762, she rallied the troops of St. Petersburg to her support and declared herself
02:11Catherine II.
02:13By 1764, Catherine felt secure enough to begin work on reform or improving social conditions.
02:19Catherine's proposal, the instruction, was widely distributed in Europe and caused a sensation
02:26because it called for a legal system far in advance of the times.
02:31It proposed a system providing equal protection under law for all persons.
02:36It also emphasized prevention of criminal acts rather than harsh punishment for them.
02:42Foreign affairs began to demand Catherine's attention.
02:45She had sent troops to suppress a revolt that aimed at reducing Russia's influence in Poland.
02:51Soon, Turkey and Austria joined in by supporting the revolution in Poland.
02:56Two years later, after lengthy negotiations, Catherine concluded peace talks with Turkey.
03:02From this, Russia received its first foothold on the Black Sea coast.
03:07Russian merchant ships were allowed the right of sailing on the Black Sea and through the Dardanelles,
03:12a key waterway in Europe.
03:15Even before the peace talks ended, Catherine had to concern herself with a revolt led by the Cossack,
03:22Yimelin Pugachev.
03:24The rebel leader claimed that reports of Peter III's death were false and that he was Peter III.
03:30Soon, tens of thousands were following him and the uprising was within threatening range of Moscow.
03:37Pugachev's defeat required several major expeditions by the imperial forces.
03:42A feeling of security returned to the government only after his capture late in 1774.
03:49Much of Catherine's fame rests on what she accomplished during the dozen years following the Pugachev uprising.
03:56In 1786, she adopted a plan that would create a large-scale educational system.
04:03Unfortunately, she was unable to carry out the entire plan, but she did add to the number of the country's elementary and secondary schools.
04:11The arts and sciences also received much attention during Catherine's reign, not only because she believed them to be important in themselves,
04:20but also because she saw them as a means by which Russia could earn a reputation as a center of civilization.
04:27As she grew older, Catherine became greatly troubled because her heir, Paul, was becoming mentally unstable.
04:35She considered naming Paul's oldest son, Alexander, as her successor.
04:40Before she was able to alter her original arrangement, however, she died of a stroke on November 6, 1796.
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