18th Century Expansion
The resistance to Peter the Great’s modernization efforts was widespread, and opponents of his reforms included Peter’s only son to reach adulthood, his heir Tsarevich Alexei. So determined was Peter to bend his heir to his will, that Alexei ended up fleeing Russia and seeking asylum in the Austrian Empire – a move that Peter viewed as treason. So he inveigled his son to return with promises of forgiveness and reconciliation, but as Alexei crossed the border into Russia, he was arrested, imprisoned, and killed soon thereafter in 1718.
After Peter’s death in 1725, he was succeeded on the throne by a series of mediocrities, until 1762, when Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great (1729 – 1796), became Tsarina, or Empress, of Russia. She was born Sophie Friederike August von Anhalt-Zerbst into a minor German aristocratic family. At age 14, she was married to Peter the Great’s grandson, Grand Duke Peter. Born and raised in Germany, this Peter was only Russian by blood – and only in part, at that.
The marriage proved a disaster, as Catherine’s husband was neurotic, unstable, and probably impotent. The following 18 years were full of humiliation and disappointment. She took a series of lovers, and strongly hinted that none of the children born during her marriage were her husband’s. When her husband became Tsar Peter III in 1761, he quickly alienated his court and nobles by making little effort to hide his contempt for Russia, or to mask his preference for his native Germany.
When Peter III started making preparations to rid himself of Catherine, she beat her husband to the punch, and joined a conspiracy that staged a successful military coup in 1762. Peter was seized and forced to abdicate, and 8 days later, was murdered. Having gotten rid of her husband, Catherine ascended the throne in her own right as Empress Catherine II.
She immediately relaunched Peter the Great’s westernization drive, which had flagged after his death. Empress Catherine, a German princess born and raised in the West, was well aware of how her new homeland was far behind the rest of Europe. So she resumed the modernization efforts with a will. By the end of her reign, Russia had joined the mainstream of European political and cultural life.
During Catherine’s 34-year reign, the Russian Empire expanded rapidly with a combination of conquests and diplomacy, and over 200,000 square miles were added to her realm. To the west, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned with Austria and Prussia, with Russia getting the lion’s share. To the south, successful wars against the Ottoman Turks led to the conquest and annexation of the Crimean Khanate. The territories of Novorossiya – the Russian-speaking parts of today’s Ukraine – were also colonized by Russians during her reign. Colonization also stretched far into the east, across Siberia, the Bering Strait, and to Alaska and down the western coast of North America all the way to California.
Domestically, Catherine’s government reformed the laws and administration of the Russian Empire, bringing them closer to contemporary European standards. As with Peter the Great, however, the reforms did not extend to the majority of Russians, the serfs, whose repression actually worsened. Serfdom expanded during Catherine’s reign, as the practice was introduced into regions that had been previously farmed by free peasants.
