Early Years of Catherine the Great’s Rule (Research Paper Sample)

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Early Years of Catherine the Great’s Rule
Catherine the Great was born on May 2, 1729, in the German city of Stettin, now in Poland, and reigned as Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She was the first woman to lead the Russian Empire. She rose through the ranks of a highly-structured Russian monarchy to become empress after plotting the coup of her husband, Peter III. The unquestionable brilliance she had, along with her absolute authority over the whole nation, enabled her to lead Russia to glory. She sought educational and modernizing initiatives in an effort to build Russia as one of the great civilizations of Europe. Her reign was definitely not without its issues, but she accomplished a great deal during her time in power, which saw the Russian Empire expand significantly on all fronts, socially, politically, and economically, among other things. Since her early years in power, Catherine the Great has had a significant influence on Russia, resulting in a slew of improvements and changes to the nation's growth.
Early Life and Marriage
Catherine was born in Alt-Stettin, Region of Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia, Holy Roman Empire, on the 15th of May, 1729, and was the daughter of a noble family. Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg was the name of the young Princess during birth (Kamenskii 2). Her mother Johanna Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp was married into a noble German family (Kamenskii 2). Her paternal father Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, came from the governing German aristocracy of Anhalt (Kamenskii 2). She was related to two Swedish kings, Gustav III and Charles XIII, who were also her cousins. Thus, in line with the pattern then prevalent among German royal families, she obtained her first schooling from a French governess and instructors which exposed her to the neoclassical masterpieces of notable playwrights like Corneille, Moliere, and Racine during her formative years. She was raised in a middling household that did not have a lot of money, and she had a very unremarkable upbringing, during which she was regularly referred to as a tomboy and taught herself to be a proficient swordswoman. Several of her mother's affluent relatives, who were both nobility and royal kin, contributed to her ascent to power and prominence. Following her second cousin Peter III's conversion to Orthodoxy, her uncle succeeded to the Swedish crown as the heir to the kingdom. Due to the upwards of 300 independent nations that comprised the Holy Roman Empire, many of which were weak and feeble, the Holy Roman Empire had an extremely competitive government structure, with the many royal families competing for influence over one another, frequently via marriages of convenience. One of the most effective ways for smaller German royal households to advance their aspirations was via marriage, and Sophie was prepped from an early age to marry an influential supreme leader in an attempt to optimize the stance of the ruling dynasty of Anhalt (Solly). Sophie's father was the leader of Anhalt, and she grew up in the home of Anhalt. Sophie, in addition to her typical German, grew her fluency in French, which was the lingua franca of European ruling classes in the 1700s, and her schooling as a woman was standard practice and ambivalent to the acknowledgment of a princess. 
The diplomatic decision was made that she should marry her distant cousin in order to enhance the connection between Prussia and Russia, so undermining Austria's authority and bringing the Russian chancellor Betuzhev to his knees. Catherine and Peter III first met when they were eleven years old, and their relationship although rocky continued ever since. This was despite the fact that Catherine loathed his character, she shunned him by all means. Beginning in 1744, Catherine committed herself to studying Russian and doing whatever was necessary to be crowned Empress of Russia. Catherine was suffering from pleuritis that closely led to her death, and she attributes her recovery to frequent bloodletting in her memoirs, which are available online. Elizabeth, Catherine thought she would have to impress her, and she tried to appease Elizabeth to succeed in this new land, which necessitated her learning the language and adhering to the religious beliefs of the time. Sophia had been entrusted to a scholarly clergyman who would instruct her in the beliefs of the Russian Orthodox Church, and she was eager to understand all she could about them.
The transition to Orthodoxy was a significant responsibility, and the priests were able to alleviate her anxieties by mentoring her. When Catherin's mom became ill, it was Elizabeth who battled beside her and stayed by her side till she was cured completely. Catherine notes in her memoirs that she grasped the repercussions of gaining Russian patronage when she was fourteen years old. The following year, she tied the knot with her second cousin, but the union didn't really work properly. Catherine was aggressive, bright, adaptive, and popular with the Russian people, but her spouse was the complete antithesis of all of these characteristics. Prussian Emperor Peter the Great was known for being a temperamental, defiant, and obstinate individual who loved his adversary, Empress Elizabeth's rival Fedrick II of Prussia. Upon studying Tacitus' "Annals," she had a better understanding of the dynamics of political authority. Catherine was regarded with suspicion by the Russian courts upon