First of all, the foreign queen on the altar of power
Catherine II, formerly known as Sophia August, was born in Szczecin, Prussia. She received a good European education since she was a child, and also traveled to major cities in Europe with her parents to meet palaces and princes of various countries. Sophia August was determined to achieve something great when she was a child. 1744, Sophia was chosen by Queen Elizabeth of Russia as the wife of Peter III, heir to the Russian throne. Excited Sophia came to Petersburg immediately after a long journey accompanied by her mother. In order to be a competent queen, she studied Russian hard and converted to the Orthodox Church, taking her Christian name as yekaterina. However, married life is not happy. On the one hand, the romantic Peter III often cheated on his wife. On the other hand, Queen Elizabeth is very uneasy about the future queen from a foreign country. Therefore, after yekaterina came to Russia, he spent a long time in pain, loneliness, tension and depression. She studied harder, learned the way of governing the country, served Queen Elizabeth more diligently, and at the same time vigorously supported her cronies in politics and the military. She once wrote to her mother: "I don't have books all the time, I suffer everywhere, but I never have joy." 1762, Peter III succeeded to the throne, but a series of internal and external policies pursued by this czar with mediocre intelligence, petty behavior and no feelings for Russia met with dissatisfaction from all walks of life. Yekaterina took advantage of this opportunity, with the support of imperial guards, to launch a coup on June 24th of the same year, overthrew the rule of Peter III, and became czar in July of 18, known as Catherine II in history (yekaterina, the wife of Peter I, was the first). In order to prevent the resurgence of Peter III's power, she ordered her men to kill Peter III. Marx once commented that Catherine II stepped on thousands of bodies, including her husband's, and ascended the Russian throne.
Second, Catherine II's "sandwich martial arts"
Catherine II came to power in the turbulent autumn of Russian history. After the death of Peter I, Russia fell into a period of chaos (1725-1762). In the past 37 years, Russia has changed six czars, which has caused instability in the domestic political situation and seriously affected the domestic economic development. In foreign policy, both Queen Elizabeth and Peter III adopted a pro-Prussian policy, which led to Russia's extreme isolation in Europe. In this context, Catherine II made major adjustments in political, economic and foreign policies.
Vigorously strengthen the autocratic system, centralization of authority and aristocratic privileges to stabilize the domestic situation. The Parliament Building established during the period of Peter I has become a fortress of aristocratic politics. In February of 1763 65438, Catherine II issued a decree, which divided the Privy Council into six chambers, directly presided over three powerful chambers-the army chamber, the navy chamber and the diplomatic chamber, and established the post of chief prosecutor who was directly responsible to her. The chief prosecutor supervised and handled the affairs of the Privy Council on behalf of the Tsar. 1775 10, 165438+ promulgated a decree on the provincial management system of the Russian empire, abolishing the original three-level (provincial, state and county) management system and replacing it with a two-level (provincial and county) management system. There are 50 provinces in China, and the governors and deputy governors are directly appointed by the czar. Provinces and counties have councils, all of which are represented by nobles. Noble representatives have the right to make their own demands to the governor until the tsar. In order to prevent the governors from monopolizing power and being arrogant, the czar appointed several governors to rule two or three provinces. The governor is not only the highest commander of the local garrison, but also the highest local chief executive, and is also a member of the Central Military Academy. As a result of the reform, the czar's personal dictatorship has been greatly strengthened, and centralization of authority has been strengthened, so that the czar can control the central and local governments more directly and effectively through the Privy Council, courts, governors and provincial councils.
Catherine II knew that the social basis of his rule was aristocrats and serf owners, so he tried his best to meet the demands of aristocrats and serf owners politically and economically. The imperial edict on the rights, freedoms and privileges of Russian aristocrats was promulgated, which legally confirmed that your family is a privileged class in Russia. This class does not undertake any national obligations, and is not subject to any legal restrictions and punishment except plotting against the crimes of the Tsar. This policy was welcomed by the nobles, so Catherine II was honored as the "Queen of the nobility", and her 34 years in power were called the golden age of aristocratic dictatorship.