Catherine The Great: The Idea Of Enlightened Absolutism

The Pugachev Uprising was a major social upheaval. The Russian Empire experienced this during the 1768-1774 war with the Ottoman Empire. In 1773, a Don Cossack, Emel'yan Pugachev, declared himself as the re-emergent tsar Peter III. This made other Cossacks and industrial workers in the Ural Mountains want to join in a rebellion. Russia's preoccupation with the war enabled Pugachev to take control of a part of the Volga area, however the Russia’s regular army managed to crush the rebellion in 1774.

Enlightened Despotism in 18th Century Eastern Europe: Not So Enlightened The 1700s saw the advent of enlightened absolutism, a form of government in which monarchs, including Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia (1762-1796); Joseph II, King of Austria (1741-1790); and Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1740-1786), sought to govern based on the concepts of the French philosophes, especially those of Diderot and Voltaire. Although Eastern European absolutists of this era studied enlightened ideas, they often failed to implement many substantial reform changes within their realms. While the reigns of Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great, and Joseph II brought about some success in education, economic development, religious toleration, and legal justice, most of their policies were not for the good of their people.

Catherine De Medici and Elizabeth I of Tudor were both powerful and well-known women, rulers/advisors. However, they were viewed by their people very differently and had a different impact on their state. Elizabeth was a wise Queen who sparked an age of prosperity known as the Elizabethan age. Catherine de Medici although not a Queen because Salic laws only allowed males to rule, still had a major impact in France by being the advisor of her three sons all of who were kings. Both Elizabeth and Catherine were judged for being women, but that just add on to other struggles they faced.

Catherine the Great of Russia was an enlightened despot, which means she used ideas from the Enlightenment to strengthen the ideas of her rule. Catherine the Great includes many statements that reflect the ideas our nation values in a democratic system. She had many structural rules regarding the means of punishment one is to receive, many of which we still hold in our government today. Firstly, she was against all kinds of corporal punishments. In America, a democratic society, the 8th amendment states the way in which people should receive punishment.

Absolutism is a form of government in which a ruler at a certain time period controls every aspect of politics and military in that country. An absolute monarch is defined as not one limited by a constitution, but referred to as one that wields unrestricted political power over the ruling state and its people. This absolutist, the successor of Matthias, Ferdinand II, also know as the Holy Roman Emperor, was the king of Bohemia from 1617-1619/1620-1637, and the king of Hungary from 1618-1625. Ferdinand II was born on July 9, 1578, in Graz, Austria.

The Enlightenment was one of the greatest movements of human history. It brought on an era of intelligence, rationalism, and human rights. It gave birth to many ideologies, mainly proposed by the philosophes of the time, which had a tremendous impact on society today. Enlightened despotism was perhaps one of the most prevalent ideologies to arise during this era. It was primarily formulated by Voltaire, who explained that optimum societal progress would be achieved through the presence of an enlightened monarchy (Cranston).

Catherine’s reforms should not only be thought of as her legacy, but also should raise her to the status of an Enlightened

Elizabeth I is one of the greatest Monarchs to be the head of state in the 16th Century. As a monarch and person she broke boundaries and demonstrated religious tolerance, more so than previous. During the reign of Elizabeth I, England’s economic status stabilized and she was apart of the Renaissance period, which was one o the most significant and transformative periods. She represents the ideal woman and maintains the idea of purity. After the reign of Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I had a lot to do to earn the trust of the people, that a female Monarch is possible to be successful.

She was the last monarch of the Tudor family and her queen are questioned on whether she influenced the spirit of the Reformation. While some may argue that her

One being her thoughts, the other her actions based on what she believed was expected. An example is in the Swedish invasion she cursed at Gustav III when on her own, but openly she kept silent, unconcerned. One could say that she built up a policy of contradictions (Brechka 46). “Ambition alone sustained [her]” (Catherine II quoted in Herzen 40) and such passion to rule and create an egalitarian society of equalism and stability was the goal. The opinions on Catherine’s decisions still vary, however a saloniére responsible for governance of the French Enlightenment, Suzanne Necker mentioned how Catherine was “the model woman of the Century” (Suzanne Necker quoted in Goodman 521).

Enlightenment Thinkers argued that just as the inner workings of nature could be understood by human reason, so reason offered the means to understand and improve society. There were limits to how far “enlightened” rulers would follow through on reform. Few rulers were willing to undermine the traditions that gave them power. Most philosophes thought that if society were to become enlightened, the change would have to come from above. That provided some monarchs, so-called enlightened despots, with a new rationale for absolute power.

Medieval Times were covered in deceit and secrecy and one of the main duties of a Queen in the Middle Ages was to help the King and other nobility find ways to spy on rivals, start conflicts or wars or simply spread important gossip through the country. One of the most famous medieval queens was Eleanor of Aquitaine. She was most likely born in the year 1122 as historians do not have the direct date of which she was born. Eleanor was a powerful and wealthy woman in Western Europe during the middle ages she married twice and had a total of 10 kids. To become a queen in the middle ages she had to acquire it through marriage or less commonly inheritance.

The Enlightenment, a time period between 1600c. and 1800c. , emphasized using reason, logic, and science to solve problems within society. European thinkers, such as Baron De Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, and J.H. Bernardin de Saint, used logic to question the authority of kings and queens. They also stressed freedom for all, humanism, and equality between rulers and their citizens.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, absolute monarchs in western and eastern Europe were qualified by being the sole rulers of their state, expansionism, inspiring loyalty, and centralization of political, economic, and social powers. Perhaps the greatest example of an absolute monarch, Louis XIV of France, summarized absolut views “I am the state.” Louis, also known as Sun King, made efforts to have France completely revolve around himself. Monarchs greedy strive towards power, left Europe in desperate need in political, and most importantly social reform, making way for philosophes and later enlightened despotism to improve quality of life. Philosophes were thinkers of the 18th century who concentrated on expressing social problems, causing

The Age of Enlightenment is also call the Age of Reason. Enlightenment was an intellectual movement used to establish a system of authoritative ethics, government, aesthetics and religion. It was felt this system would allow people to see truth regarding all of reality. (New World Encyclopedia) “The Enlightenment was a reaction to the rise and successes of modern service in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The achievements of Isaac Newton brought about widespread optimism and confidence regarding the power of human reason to control nature to human life.”