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Catherine the Great in my opinion was an absolute monarch. I will now give a quick overview and timeline of Catherine the Great to show some of her achievements. She was born in 1729 in what is now Stettin Poland into the family of Prince Christian August, Catherine was christened Sophia Augusta Frederica. At the age of 15 she was the bride of the heir to the throne, Peter Feodorovich. They married in 1745, and she was christened into the Orthodox Church as Ekaterina Alexeevna. highly intelligent and strong willed, she quickly mastered the Russian language.
A reader of historical and philosophical works, in 1762, with the support of the Imperial Guard, she overthrew her husband Peter III. She was crowned Empress of All Russia in 1762. Her rule was one of the most prosperous periods of the Russian Empire. She undertook a wide range of internal political reforms, waged two successful wars against the Ottoman Empire and occupied vast territories on Russia's southern boundaries, eventually advancing the country's border to the Black Sea. She then later died. A very small overview of Louis the 14 is that he had a 72 year long reign and that he was his own king and no one ever got in his way.
Now to explain this all, I will compare a few of Catherine's achievements to Louis the 14 in three paragraphs. The first will compare the wars Louis and Catherine's have won and lost. The second will include both there government policies, and the last paragraph will have both of there social lives, cultural thoughts, and the regions that they conquered lost. Catherine wanted power over Poland. She had succeeded in making the Polish king, Stanislaw Poniatowski, an agent of Russian wishes. In 1768, war erupted when Polish nobles rebelled and formed the Confederation of the Bar, which opposed Russian influence over the king.
The fighting spilled over into Turkey, which promptly declared war on Russia in hopes of reestablishing its sphere of influence in Poland. But Turkey was defeated both on land and sea, and in the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji of 1774, Russia gained permanent access to the Black Sea. To prevent further outbreaks, Catherine published her "Statute of 1775 on Provincial Government. She began active plans to colonize vast southern regions of Russia.
Turkey, however, had plans to reconquer the Black Sea region from southern Russia. When late in 1787 Turkey declared war, Russia once again severely defeated its neighbor to the south. By 1792, the Peace of Jassy was signed, reaffirming Russia's presence along the Black Sea. It also brought an end to the kingdom of Poland. Catherine was Christened into an orthodox church. Catherine did not speculate to much on religion or being her power upon a religion.
Louis the 14 on the other hand was a true Catholic. He also hated protestants, he hated them so much that he slaughtered Many of them and burned them at the stake. Louis the 14 goverment and region of choice was bureaucracy which combines both politics and religion into a goverment. Catherine's governing policies were similar to Louis in various ways. She, like Louis, originally tried to change her country's feudal past by eliminating serfdom. brother.
Both monarchs ruled with central government. Catherine earned her title, "Catherine the Great", with her successful foreign policies. She expanded Russia's southern and western borders She directly participated in the literary and intellectual life of Russian society. From this she decided that an extensive school system could widen the pool of educated personnel to fill new government offices. Catherine published another major reform in 1785; the "Charters to the Nobility and Towns" reaffirmed the freedom of the nobility to leave state service and guaranteed their right to own land. Catherine's "Charter of 1785 " was a landmark in Russian civil rights and political development.
Catherine believed that the greater the population, the greater the strength of the Russian Empire. At the beginning of her reign, some 20 million people lived in Russia; by the end of her reign, she had extended the borders of the Russian Empire to include some 36 million Catherine was quite the absolute monarch. For reasons as follow, She expanded Russia's southern and western borders she set up a commission in 1782. By the end of her reign, this commission increased the number of grade schools in Russia from 50 to about 550. Another is when she lifted the ban on owning a private printing press, the publication of books flourished. during the last ten years of her reign 3, 000 books were released, surpassing every previous decade in russia history.
Her first publication that gave her fame was the Instruction, which describes her ideal government for Russia. SOme of Catherines thoughts on land are that it can be best cultivated by those who are free and own their land. Catherine was instrumental in strengthening serfdom. During her reign girls were sold for 10 rubles, and she gifted various noblemen with over 800, 000 peasants. Stimulated by Catherine's laws and writings, Russian society matured intellectually as public debate expanded. Catherine the great died in 1796 of a stroke.
In all Catherine's reign was 34 years, which does not compare to louis the 14, 72 year reign but louis had the luck of becoming a king at the age of 5. Also Louis came to true power at 23 when mazarin died. Bibliography:
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