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The Influence Of Catherine The Great: Enlightened Absolutism

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The Enlightenment, the intellectual movement that stressed reason and individualism rather than tradition, sparked a change in the political systems of many Eastern and Central European rulers during the eighteenth century. Before the Enlightenment, the majority of rulers relied on absolutism and expected strict adherence to their laws. However, following the Enlightenment the philosophes, intellectuals involved in the movement, believed that it was crucial to educate the monarchs about the emergence of new ideals, which could be applied to their governments. Because the European monarchs were among the most educated in society, they were attracted to any ideas that could improve or reform society. The resulting ideal coined the term “enlightened …show more content…

Unlike Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great rejected the social contract theory of the Enlightenment. However, Catherine the Great had three goals in mind once she claimed the throne, which could be achieved with the use of Enlightenment ideas. First of all, she worked to introduce the culture of Western Europe to Russia, that was previously introduced by Peter the Great. In order to achieve this goal, Catherine the Great imported architects, sculptors, artists, and intellectuals from the West. Furthermore, Catherine the Great was a patron of the arts, meaning that she bought several pieces of Western art to show her support. Consequently, Catherine the Great became the symbol of the Russian nobility. Also, her second goal was domestic reform and improving the laws of Russia was her major concern during her reign. One of the major triumphs of Catherine the Great was her restriction of torture and religious toleration as well as improving the education system in Russia. Although, the downside of Catherine the Great’s reign was that the nobility had special privileges and serfdom was rather oppressive; creating a social division between the classes. The last goal of Catherine the Great was territorial expansion, in which she was able to partition part of Poland along with Frederick of Prussia and Austria. Overall, Catherine the Great was a woman of the Enlightenment who applied those ideals to her reign and was able to civilize Russia as a

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Much like Peter she was bent on establishing naval bases for the Russian navy and was able to once again secure ports as Russia annexed Crimea and land along the Black Sea from the Ottoman Empire. An excellent example of this was Catherine the Great as she sought to emulate the West, by releasing statements in support of Western ideals of human rights. But in reality she also expanded serfdom and violently crushed peasant revolutions. This shows, that although Catherine may have wanted to emulate western culture, she also wanted to maintain her power and would crush these uprisings at the cost of these values.

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As an absolute monarch, Catherine the Great changed Russia in many positive ways; multiple historians even consider her to be one of the most enlightened rulers of her time. Catherine was the longest reigning female monarch of Russia and accomplished many things during her 34 years in the crown. She dreamed of establishing a reign of order and justice, of spreading education and of developing a national culture. By writing several books, pamphlets and educational materials, she improved Russia’s schooling system. Looking to improve the education of her people, Catherine studied the systems created by other countries.

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Alexander II’s greatest reform was the emancipation of the serfs. 90% of the Russian population at the time lived in serfdom, and as Russia began to become more and more modern, it was clear that the benefits outweigh the costs of freeing the serfs. Alexander II’s greatest aim was to modernize Russia. He would do this through giving more power to the people, Urbanizing and industrializing Russia, and to prevent uprising in the country. He was mostly successful in this goal, but he was never able to fully achieve it.

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Catherine made Russia a significant force in Europe as a well governed political country as well as expanded the Russian territory, through this she showed great leadership styles such she was a good team leader, participative leader, servant leader and transformational leader As a women in a male dominated society, Catherine the great was met with resistance at first. She wanted to

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Enlightenment The enlightenment was a time in which leaders and philosophers promoted ideas during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that influenced people's thoughts concerning politics, social justice, human progress and religion forever. As said by Philosopher Immanuel Kant, “Enlightenment is defined as the upset of the established order/the awakening of one’s mind/forsaking society’s imposed mindset and establishing one for yourself.” (Document 12) These scientists like Issac Newton and writers like John Locke were challenging the old ways and because of that people became socially aware.

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The Enlightenment was created in France in the 1700’s. It was a movement in Europe that was about applying reason to all aspects of life. During this movement, Philosophers used five concepts that they built upon to create the Enlightenment; reason, nature, happiness, progress, and an envy for England's glorious revolution and their bill of rights. The Enlightenment was a European movement that sparked and challenged new ideas about the relationship of common people to their governments. Over a period of time Enlightenment ideas spread outside of Europe and created a change of governments around the globe.

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Different factors had a part to play in starting or even propelling ‘the Age of Enlightenment’, including the rule of the Church and State which experienced a power struggle among them, in addition to the Western discovery of latest societies with noticeably exclusive cultural traditions and norms. Many intellectuals felt unhappy with the fixed social styles amongst their very own collectives, and angry at their governments' refusal to provide non-public rights. The lasting political effect of the Enlightenment can't be overstated. At the least three fundamental political revolutions came about throughout this time period in Britain, America, and France.

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The Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government.

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She had corresponded with enlightened philosophes such as Diderot, wishing to get their opinions and their feedback regarding the Nakaz: the statement of legal principles conceived by Catherine. “On the trip home from Russia, Diderot began to make comments on a copy of the Nakaz that Catherine had given him.” (Clure 889). These actions reflect how much importance the principles of the enlightenment were to Catherine II during her rule. They guided her and inspired her, assisting her in transforming Russia.

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Going to the museums starting with the Russian Museum then the Hermitage and finally the Political museum was the continuation of the story that began with Peter, because we then start seeing and learning the other tsar that succeeded him, taking into high regards the great work that Catherine and the last great tsar Alexander II did. Catherine as I was able to see did perhaps the most of all because she did not only left Russia established as great empire with a huge landmass, but also a country that had a many source and means of building their own things as well as buying great pieces of art and literature of other cultures who were very talented and world renown. The empress who although was not Russian by birth had for sure the hearth

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One being her thoughts, the other her actions based on what she believed was expected. An example is in the Swedish invasion she cursed at Gustav III when on her own, but openly she kept silent, unconcerned. One could say that she built up a policy of contradictions (Brechka 46). “Ambition alone sustained [her]” (Catherine II quoted in Herzen 40) and such passion to rule and create an egalitarian society of equalism and stability was the goal. The opinions on Catherine’s decisions still vary, however a saloniére responsible for governance of the French Enlightenment, Suzanne Necker mentioned how Catherine was “the model woman of the Century” (Suzanne Necker quoted in Goodman 521).

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The Enlightenment gave people power to make the changes they wanted for independence and politics using intellect and reason, their natural right. The norm of a society that is modelled today became reason over

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