"wife. It is clear that Menshikov and Marta formed a lifetime alliance. It is possible that Menshikov, who was quite jealous of Peter's attentions and knew his tastes, wanted to procure a mistress on whom he could rely. In any case, in 1703, while visiting Menshikov at his home, Peter met Marta. In 1704, she was well established in the Tsar's household as his mistress, and gave birth to a son, Peter. In 1705, she converted to Orthodoxy and took the new name of Catherine Alexeyevna (""Yekaterina Alexeyevna""). She and Darya Menshikova accompanied Peter and Menshikov on their military excursions."
"her daughter Elizabeth and granddaughter-in-law Catherine the Great, all of whom continued Peter the Great's policies in modernizing Russia. At the time of Peter's death the Russian Army, composed of 130,000 men and supplemented by another 100,000 Cossacks, was easily the largest in Europe. However, the expense of the military was proving ruinous to the Russian economy, consuming some 65% of the government's annual revenue. Since the nation was at peace, Catherine was determined to reduce military expenditure. For most of her reign, Catherine I was controlled by her advisers. However, on this single issue, the reduction of military expenses,"
"Catherine the Great (TV series) Catherine The Great is a 2015 Russian television series starring Yuliya Snigir as Catherine the Great. It was scheduled to premiere in late 2015 on Channel One Russia. The history of Catherine the Great from the moment she arrived in Russia as the new bride of Peter III and her ascent to the Russian throne. Nearly 20 years of palace intrigues, conspiracies, the struggle for power and personal dramas. Filming was completed from December 2013 to August 2014 in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast (including Peter and Paul Fortress, Constantine Palace, Gatchina, and Lenfilm Studios)."
"her heir. In time, she married him off to a German princess, Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst. In 1762, shortly after the death of Empress Elizabeth, Sophia, who had taken the Russian name Catherine upon her marriage, overthrew her unpopular husband, with the aid of her lover, Grigory Orlov. She reigned as Catherine the Great. Catherine's son, Paul I, who succeeded his mother in 1796, was particularly proud to be a great-grandson of Peter the Great, although his mother's memoirs arguably insinuate that Paul's natural father was, in fact, her lover Serge Saltykov, rather than her husband, Peter. Painfully aware of the"
"following the precedent established when Catherine I succeeded her husband Peter the Great in 1725. Historians debate Catherine's technical status, whether as a regent or as a usurper, tolerable only during the minority of her son, Grand Duke Paul. In the 1770s, a group of nobles connected with Paul (Nikita Panin and others) considered a new ""coup"" to depose Catherine and transfer the crown to Paul, whose power they envisaged restricting in a kind of constitutional monarchy. Nothing came of this, however, and Catherine reigned until her death. Catherine was crowned at the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow on 22 September"
"Catherine the Great Catherine II (Russian: Екатерина Алексеевна ""Yekaterina Alekseyevna""; – ), also known as Catherine the Great (, ""Yekaterina Velikaya""), born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, was Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796, the country's longest-ruling female leader. She came to power following a ""coup d'état"" when her husband, Peter III, was overthrown. Under her reign, Russia was revitalized; it grew larger and stronger, and was recognised as one of the great powers of Europe. In her accession to power and her rule of the empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory"
"about a year prior and expelled the newly established Russian garrisons in the Caucasus. Catherine brought many of the policies of Peter the Great to fruition and set the foundation for the 19th century empire. Russia became a power capable of competing with its European neighbors in the military, political, and diplomatic spheres. Russia's elite became culturally more like the elites of Central and West European countries. The organization of society and the government system, from Peter the Great's central institutions to Catherine's provincial administration, remained basically unchanged until the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and, in some respects,"
"During the reign of Catherine I, young Peter was ignored; but by the time she died in 1727, it had become clear to those in power that the only male-line grandson of Peter the Great could not be kept from his inheritance much longer. The majority of the nation and three-quarters of the nobility were on his side, while his uncle, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI (Peter's uncle on his mother's side), persistently urged Peter's claims through the imperial ambassador at Saint Petersburg. Through the efforts of Menshikov, Peter was named Catherine's heir apparent, even though Catherine had two"
"Catherine I. Catherine had been a maid in the household of Peter the Great and, although no documentary record exists, they are said to have married secretly at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in St. Petersburg at some point between 23 October and 1 December 1707. Peter valued Catherine and married her again (this time officially) at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg on 9 February 1712. On this day, the two children previously born to them (Anna and Elizabeth) were legitimized by their father. The circumstances of Elizabeth's birth would later be used by her political opponents to"
"was Eudoxia Lopukhina, Peter the Great's first wife. Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), the wife of Nicholas II of Russia, was the last Russian Empress. Eudoxia Lopukhina was sent to a monastery in 1698 (which was the usual way the Emperor ""divorced"" his wife), and she died in 1731. In 1712 Peter married in church Catherine I of Russia. The Russian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1721, and Catherine became Empress by marriage. After Peter's death she became ruling Empress by her own right. In following centuries the title ""tsarina"" was in unofficial informal use – a kind of ""pet"
"be produced. Cathrine was featured in an episode of the ""Epic Rap Battles of History"" against Ivan the Terrible, Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great and Pompey the Great. She is portrayed by Meghan Tonjes. Pre-eminent figures in Catherinian Russia include: Catherine the Great Catherine II (Russian: Екатерина Алексеевна ""Yekaterina Alekseyevna""; – ), also known as Catherine the Great (, ""Yekaterina Velikaya""), born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, was Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796, the country's longest-ruling female leader. She came to power following a ""coup d'état"" when her husband, Peter III, was overthrown. Under her reign, Russia was"
"Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia (Ekaterina Mikhailovna Romanova), () (28 August 1827 – 12 May 1894), was the third of five daughters of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia, youngest son of Tsar Paul I, and Princess Charlotte of Württemberg. She was born in St. Petersburg. She had two elder sisters, Grand Duchess Maria and Grand Duchess Yelizaveta, called ""Lili"". Two more sisters were born after her, Alexandra and Anna, who both died young. On 16 February 1851 in St. Petersburg, Catherine married Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1824–76), second son of Georg,"
"resurgence of the Russian nobility that began after the death of Peter the Great. Catherine promulgated the Charter to the Gentry reaffirming rights and freedoms of the Russian nobility and abolishing mandatory state service. She seized control of all the church lands, drastically reduced the size of the monasteries, and put the surviving clergy on a tight budget. Catherine spent heavily to promote an expansive foreign policy. She extended Russian political control over the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with actions, including the support of the Targowica Confederation. The cost of her campaigns, on top of the oppressive social system that required serfs"
"At the moment the crew is working on scenarios of the second and third season. They will tell the life of the Empress from 1762 to 1775 and from 1775 to 1796, respectively. The second season was expected to be finished in 2016. Catherine the Great (TV series) Catherine The Great is a 2015 Russian television series starring Yuliya Snigir as Catherine the Great. It was scheduled to premiere in late 2015 on Channel One Russia. The history of Catherine the Great from the moment she arrived in Russia as the new bride of Peter III and her ascent to"
"V's daughters, she seems to have been the most capable. In 1708 the family moved to the new capital, Saint Petersburg. According to contemporaries, Catherine was a short, dark-haired, and pale beauty and was a popular socialite with her charm and sociability. At the request of her uncle Peter I, she was married on 19 April 1716 in Danzig to Karl Leopold, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He had initially proposed to Catherine's sister Anna (then Dowager Duchess of Courland) but Peter I instead chose Catherine to be his bride. The marriage created a political alliance between Russia and Mecklenburg against Sweden,"
"produced more goods, and enlisted thousands of troops during Catherine's reign. While she acquired new lands, including Crimea and Poland, updated the army, and supported burgeoning manufactures, she really wanted to westernize Russia by reforming it, specifically the lives of the gentry, qualitatively. Bringing Russia to an equal level with the rest of Europe intellectually was a major concern of Catherine's. For this reason she created laws that justified her rule. Almost every Russian ruler has sought to conquer ports in warm waters. Peter I fought the Ottoman Empire over the Crimea. Gaining access to the Crimea would have given"
"Catherine Pavlovna of Russia Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia (; 21 May 1788 [OS 10 May 1788] – 9 January 1819) later Queen Catharina Pavlovna of Württemberg, was the fourth daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia and Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. She became the Queen of Württemberg upon her marriage to her first cousin Crown Prince William who eventually became King William I of Württemberg in 1816. Ekaterina was born in St. Petersburg and named after her grandmother, Catherine the Great. Described as beautiful and vivacious, she had a happy childhood and her education was carefully supervised"
"to Anisya, as his mother's relative, to ask his father for mercy during his conflict and arrest. She is a character in A. Tolstoy's ""Peter the Great"". Anisya Kirillovna Tolstaya Anisya Kirillovna Tolstaya (died 1732), was a Russian noblewoman, lady-in-waiting and royal mistress to Tsar Peter the Great. She was likely related to empress Natalya Naryshkina. She served as maid-of-honour to Natalya Alexeyevna of Russia. After the marriage of Tsar Peter to the future Catherine I of Russia, she was appointed to the court of empress Catherine. In 1717, she belonged to the entourage accompanying Peter and Catherine to Europe."
"understand the significance of Catherine's rule, one must look back on Peter the Great's reign. Peter established the idea of a ""reforming tsar."" He broke away from the old Muscovite conception of the Russian sovereign as ""good tsar."" From his reign on all tsars were judged by the standard of: modernizing economics, society, politics and cultural life, gaining influence abroad, and leading Russia on secular Western European ideas. No longer did leaders paternalistically protect the Russian homeland. Russia became a major European power because of Peter's reforms. From Peter's rule set the precedent for succeeding leaders. For the next 150"
"years, Russian rulers followed ""reform conservatism"" which consisted of maintaining the state's power, fighting off fundamental change, but also adopting progressive changes that gave the autocracy a feature of liberalism, which was actually conservative in practice. Considered the ""only articulate ideologist to rule Russia between Ivan IV and Lenin"", Catherine not only wanted to have military and political equality with Western European countries but she also strove to emulate their enlightened rule by supplanting western thought and practices onto the Russian gentry. Catherine did this because of universal standards Europeans used to compare themselves. In contrast to Peter I, who"
"but was carved down during transportation to its current size. The equestrian statue of Peter the Great is situated in the Senate Square (formerly the Decembrists Square), in Saint Petersburg. Catherine the Great, a German princess who married into the Romanov line, was anxious to connect herself to Peter the Great to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people. She ordered its construction, and had it inscribed with the phrase Petro Primo Catharina Secunda MDCCLXXXII in Latin and Петру перьвому Екатерина вторая, лѣта 1782 in Russian, both meaning 'Catherine the Second to Peter the First, 1782', an expression of"
"Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia, Tsesarevna of Russia (Anna Petrovna Romanova) ; 27 January 1708, in Moscow – 4 March 1728, in Kiel) was the elder daughter of Emperor Peter I of Russia and Empress Catherine I of Russia. Her sister, Elizabeth of Russia, ruled as Empress between 1741 and 1762. While a potential heir in the reign of her father and her mother, she never acceded to the throne due to political reasons. However, her son Peter would rule as Emperor in 1762, succeeding Elizabeth. She was the ""Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp"" by"
"Peter the Great Peter the Great (), Peter I () or Peter Alexeyevich (; – ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars, he expanded the Tsardom into a much larger empire that became a major European power and also laid the groundwork for the Russian navy after capturing ports at Azov and the Baltic Sea. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones"
"Young Catherine Young Catherine is a 1991 British TV miniseries based on the early life of Catherine II of Russia. It stars Julia Ormond as Catherine and Vanessa Redgrave as Empress Elizabeth. The year is 1744, and the beautiful young Catherine (Julia Ormond) is torn from her homeland to marry Peter (Reece Dinsdale), the heir to the Russian throne. However his aunt, Elizabeth, Empress of Russia (Vanessa Redgrave), rules the empire with an iron hand, and Peter proves neither fit for the throne nor the marriage bed. Treated as an outsider and at great risk from enemies who influence her"
"to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America. Catherine reformed the administration of Russian guberniyas, and many new cities and towns were founded on her orders. An admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernise Russia along Western European lines. However, military conscription and the economy continued to depend on serfdom, and the increasing demands of the state and private landowners led to increased levels of reliance on serfs. This was one of the chief reasons behind several rebellions, including the large-scale Pugachev's Rebellion of cossacks and peasants. The period of Catherine the Great's rule, the Catherinian Era, is considered the"
"known under her Russian name Matryona) had been publicly whipped in 1718 and exiled to Siberia after Peter the Great had learnt about her brother Willem's affair with his wife Catherine. Sergei Saltykov (1726–1765) Count Sergei Vasilievich Saltykov (; c. 1726 – 1765) was a Russian officer (chamberlain) who became the first lover of Empress Catherine the Great after her arrival in Russia. In her memoirs, Empress Catherine II implies very strongly that he was the biological father of her son, Paul I of Russia. It was reported that Paul is ""almost certainly the child of her lover."" However, Paul"
"Catherine was able to have her way. The resulting tax relief on the peasantry led to the reputation of Catherine I as a just and fair ruler. The Supreme Privy Council concentrated power in the hands of one party, and thus was an executive innovation. In foreign affairs, Russia reluctantly joined the Austro-Spanish league to defend the interests of Catherine's son-in-law, the Duke of Holstein, against Great Britain. Catherine gave her name to Catherinehof near St. Petersburg, and built the first bridges in the new capital. She was also the first royal owner of the Tsarskoye Selo estate, where the"
"Catherine was present at her daughter's conversion to the Orthodox religion, where she received the name ""Anna Leopoldovna"", in order to make her acceptable as an heiress to the throne. Catherine died one month later and was buried next to her mother in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra monastery. Tsarevna Catherine Ivanovna of Russia Tsarevna Catherine Ivanovna of Russia (20 October 1691 – 14 June 1733) was a daughter of Tsar Ivan V and Praskovia Saltykova, eldest sister of Empress Anna of Russia and niece of Peter the Great. By her marriage, she was a Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Catherine was born"
"could see the benefits of Britain's friendship, she was wary of Britain's increased power following its victory in the Seven Years' War, which threatened the European balance of power. Peter the Great had succeeded in gaining a toehold in the south, on the edge of the Black Sea, in the Azov campaigns. Catherine completed the conquest of the south, making Russia the dominant power in south-eastern Europe after the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–74. Russia inflicted some of the heaviest defeats ever suffered by the Ottoman Empire, including the Battle of Chesma (5–7 July 1770) and the Battle of Kagul (21"
"and approach to ruling the nobility; yet the cultural impact of the “Greats” – Peter and Catherine – was set in stone. Ironically, by introducing the nobility to political literature from Western Europe, Catherine exposed Russia's autocracy to them as archaic and illiberal. While the nobility was conservative as a whole, a liberal and radical minority remained constant throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, resorting to violence on multiple occasions in order to challenge Russia's traditional political system (see Decembrist Revolt, Narodnaya Volya). Although Peter the Great is considered by many to be the first westernizer of Russia, there"
"Tsarevna Catherine Ivanovna of Russia Tsarevna Catherine Ivanovna of Russia (20 October 1691 – 14 June 1733) was a daughter of Tsar Ivan V and Praskovia Saltykova, eldest sister of Empress Anna of Russia and niece of Peter the Great. By her marriage, she was a Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Catherine was born in Moscow and baptized at Chudov Monastery; her godparents were her uncle Tsar Peter I and her great-aunt Princess Tatiana (daughter of Tsar Michael I. She was the third of five daughters, but the early deaths of her older sisters Maria (on 23 February 1692, aged three) and"
"rise to power. Voltaire as propagandist A foreign-born woman and usurper of the Russian throne, Catherine the Great held no legitimate claim to the crown. Her sole connection with the house of Romanov derived from her marriage to the late Emperor, Peter III, whose murder she was widely known to have orchestrated. The royals who held genealogical claims to the throne overtly devised plots to replace the new Tsarina. Both Ivan VI and Paul I, armed with supporters, threatened Catherine's rule, as well as the guards who possessed the military might to overthrow the Empress. In a letter to Voltaire"
"from house to house. On a date already set for a week before she died, Catherine had intended to formally announce that Paul would be excluded from the succession, and that the crown would go to her eldest grandson, Alexander (whom she greatly favoured, and who subsequently became the emperor Alexander I in 1801). Her harshness towards Paul probably stemmed as much from political distrust as from what she saw of his character. Keeping Paul in a state of semi-captivity in Gatchina and Pavlovsk, she resolved not to allow her son to dispute or to share in her authority during"