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Catherine The Great: Absolute Rule

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Liberalism Liberalism generated in Europe in the 17th century and generally focused on the protection of property and individual rights. Opello (2004) describes this concept as an instance of the “universal law of reason” (p. 94). The absolute power of a state should, therefore, be limited with the help of ‘popular sovereignty’, which involved the public in state decision and its own protection. Also the ‘general will’ of the population led to a focus on freedom, especially in communication, seen in the new expressions of public opinion in the media. This new emergence of sovereignty subsequently emerged new individual rights, which focused on private property rights and the protection from inefficient absolute rule (Opello, 2004). When Catherine the Great (II) was declared as Empress in 1762 she continued the westernization process of Peter the Great. Although continuing this process, Catherine II faced different interests than her predecessor Peter the Great who was mainly interested in building a stable relation to the rest of Europe. Since she was primarily influenced by the ideas of the period of Enlightenment and of French philosophers like Montesquieu or Voltaire her interest in ruling Russia was based more on philosophy (Palmer, 2007). Her first reforms in 1767 were the ‘Legislative …show more content…

As the first eras consisted of just relatively sufficient systems and could be diminished easily by the following figures, after a specific analysis, this paper states, that Peter the Great had the major actions and innovations to shape the state of Russia as it is known today. He emerged a foundation of strength, protection and competition, which withstood foreign dangers and oppressions inside the state. His military and social reforms resembled the innovations of European states, which are most definitely considered modern states already, seen in Robert’s

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Peter the Great led the first westernization of Russia in history, permanently changing Russia and its culture permanently. By the time Peter came to power in the late seventeenth century, Russia had fallen behind Western Europe in terms of becoming a modern society. Technologically, and culturally Russia was centuries behind, it had had no Renaissance, no Reformation, and no Scientific Revolution unlike the West. Russia was effectively seen as medieval Europe, with little to show for itself compared to its far advanced neighbor. This is what Peter wanted to change whilst in power; he wanted to achieve ‘Western ends’ of modernity in anyway possible.

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Peter Alexeyevich Romanov was a Russian Emperor who ruled the Russian Tsardom from 1682 to his death in 1725. During his rule, he lead successful wars that expanded Russia, ultimately forming Russia into a major European power. He also sought to modernize Russia, replacing the traditional medieval style social and political systems with ideas based on science and modernism through cultural revolution. This change in idealism was inspired by Westernization and Enlightenment, and his efforts have made a lasting legacy which can be seen in some of Russia’s governmental institutions today. Peter was born on June 9th, 1672 to the Tsar Alexis and his second wife, Natalya Naryshkina.

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Both Catherine the Great and Peter the Great sought to enhance and further Russia’s international position. This I believe is most consistent with classical realism as they both sought to place their country in a more powerful position, through the expansion of both their state abroad and within their nation-state. These readers without a doubt westernized Russia, but were limited by the constraints of the Russian culture and power structure. The first issue I would tackles is the attempt of Peter the Great to establish Russia as a formidable regional power by taking the traditional metrics of power such as a more centralized government and modernizing the Russian military.

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Peter the Great is one of Russia’s greatest reformers. Peter set a goal to make Russia stronger through westernization. Peter made many changes to Russia in hopes of making it a better country. He is also known for creating the first Russian navy and various naval representatives. Both Peter the Great and Louis XIV attempted

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Part A: Two continuities that Ivan III, Ivan the IV, Peter the Great and Catherine the Great used to consolidate their political power over Russia was the use to religion and military support to gain more power. Ivan III thought that the smart way to consolidate his power would be to organize a strong army which held an emphasis on military and to also tie in religion and nationalism to gather and gain support for his campaigns. This also can be shown how Peter the Great created a stronger and more organized military and also improved weaponry. Another continuity was through expansion which all these leaders did. When Ivan III gained control he chose to unify city states and make ongoing changes which showed how Russia was growing and changing.

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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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Peter the great transformed Russia into one of the most powerful states in Europe with a modern and efficient military. He also made several reforms to the domestic and political structures of Russia that is still influential till now. He is a visionary and is influenced by the western world. He organize a large embassy and went to a number of European countries to learn some skills and import ideas from the western world into Russian society. Thereby transforming Russia into a modernized country.

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This is most of the great, cultural achievements of Peter The Great in Russia. Peter The Great was a great role model and military leader. Although Peter impacted Russia negatively and positively through westernization and opening Russia to the West(Riasanovsky 1). Overall Peter had huge impact on

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Perhaps one of the most influential leaders in Russian history, Catherine the great’s 34 year long reign was characterized by her incredible foresight and transformational leadership which modernized Russia. Despite being of German descent, Catherine was able to assume supreme power as empress of Russia by winning the support of her subjects. During her reign, Russia was transformed from a remote, underpopulated land with poor education, and little patronage for the arts to a political superpower. Immediately upon arriving in Russia, Catherine began learning Russian so that she could better pursue her dream of expanding the Russian empire. In order to do this, she attempted several reforms to support education, and extended the political rights of poor people.

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Peter the Great, a Ruthless but Prosperous Czar Peter the Great was conceived in Moscow, Russia on June 9, 1672, He was a Russian czar in the late seventeenth century who is best known for his intensive and broad changes trying to set up Russia as an incredible country. He made a solid navy force, restructured his armed force as indicated by Western principles, secularized schools, regulated more prominent control over the reactionary Orthodox Church, and presented new regulatory and regional divisions of the nation. During his period, Peter embraced broad changes trying to re-set up Russia as an awesome country. Peter overcame resistance from the nation 's medieval privileged and started a progression of changes that influenced all zones of

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Catherine the Great Catherine the Great was an absolute ruler who, inspired by the philosophy of reasoning and logical thought in Europe regarded as the Enlightenment period in the 18th century, implemented policies and principles that reflected these ideas and hence was undoubtedly an Enlightened ruler to a significant extent. She was particularly aligned with the ideas of philosophes Voltaire, Montesquieu and Beccaria, and introduced Western influences as well as Enlightened concepts that were the necessary foundations of the modernisation of Russia. Catherine’s reformation of the educational system proved to be a wise decision as she opened it to all classes and both men and women, hence reinforcing her status as an Enlightened ruler. Moreover,

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In the reading Enlightened Absolutists: Enlightened or Absolute, I have read about what the French ambassador of Russia thinks about Catherine, the Great of Russia. She seems to combine every kind of ambition in her personality. What may add to her luster will have attraction for her. The French ambassador says “She will endeavor to reform the administration justice and to invigorate the laws; but her policies will be based on Machiavellianism; and I should not be surprised if in this field she rivals the king of Prussia” (spielvogel 536). Catherine will adopt the prejudices of her entourage regarding the superiority and probity of her actions but also by a display of her strength.

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Another great absolute ruler was Maria Theresa who ruled Austria. She didn’t have a good start since she was a female. The reason why she was put in as an absolute ruler in the first place was because her father, Charles VI, wanted the Hapsburgs to continue to rule the Austrian throne but he had no male heir. In order to make sure that other powers in Europe would not seize his kingdom after his death, he convinced European monarchs to accept Maria Theresa, his eldest daughter, as the next ruler of Austria. In 1740, when Charles died, 23 year-old Maria Theresa, inherited the country.

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