The Empress was inspired by the idea of an enlightened monarchy. About the enlightened monarchy in Xviii v. wrote Voltaire, Rousseau and other enlighteners 1. In those days, many believed that history was happening
1 Enlighteners - thinkers of the 18th century, who expressed ideas about "natural equality of people", fought for the establishment of political freedom in society, the abolition of class privileges, civil equality of people before the law, in other words - "for the kingdom of reason." Enlighteners spoke about the need for education and dissemination of scientific knowledge. Many educators spoke out against obscurantism and prejudice. They ridiculed and scourged arbitrariness and despotism. The largest educators were: J. Locke - in England; Voltaire, J. J. Rousseau, C. Montesquieu, D. Diderot, P. A. Holbach, C. A. Helvetius - in France; G.E. Lessing, I.G. Herder, F. Schiller, I.V. Goethe - in Germany; T. Jefferson, B. Franklin, T. Payne - in North America.
the actions of great people: generals, dignitaries and, of course, monarchs, on whom the prosperity or misfortune of states depends.
The enlighteners were indignant at the absurdity, arbitrariness, injustice of the life around them, but they thought that an enlightened ruler could change all this. You just need to issue perfect laws and see that they are strictly followed. Then the strong will not be able to offend the weak, the rich will not pull the last veins out of the poor. And the weak and the poor will not encroach on the wealth and position of the rich out of envy. Social equilibrium, the common good, will prevail.
To impose order only by coercion, the best minds believed Xviii centuries, it is impossible. This is despotism. It is necessary to convince people that laws and order are for the common good. And you can only convince educated subjects who have a developed mind. Therefore, the main instrument for correcting society is enlightenment. The more schools, universities, books - the better.
Gradually, as the society is enlightened, the monarch must expand the rights and freedoms of his subjects. But you should not rush to grant rights and freedoms, so as not to get into the position of a trainer who has let down an untamed bear.
Many European monarchs tried to follow the ideas of enlightened absolutism, in particular the Prussian king Frederick II, who corresponded with Voltaire. Enlighteners and educated crowned persons of the 18th century. I wanted to create a "union of thinkers and kings" in the name of reason and the common good.
But in reality it did not work well. Voltaire, the “ruler of thoughts,” the “uncrowned king of Europe,” could not get along in his fatherland with the “sun king” Louis XIV and his successor Louis XV, because he was constantly convinced how the words of the French monarchs were at odds with their deeds. In life, kings, rather, were guided by the famous phrase of Louis XIV: "The state is me!" Having stayed with Frederick II, seeing the arbitrariness of officials in the country, the wild drill in the army, the "dirt" of court life, Voltaire was very disappointed in the "enlightened absolutism" of the Prussian model.
1. How did the thinkers of the Enlightenment explain the events of public life?
According to the thought of the Enlightenment, the events of social life were explained on the basis of simple laws, in the end, boiled down to the rationality of what was happening. They brought the life of society closer to the life of nature, believing that the laws of interaction between people are easy to calculate, if you discard prejudices.
2. What did the theory of social contract associate the emergence and functions of the state with? What state structure D. Locke considered ideal?
The theory of the social contract just connected the emergence of the state with this very contract, according to which people voluntarily transferred to the state the function of protecting their natural rights. Given the English experience, for Locke, the ideal state was a state with a separation of legislative and executive powers (which was already partly done in England with the development of parliamentary functions).
3. Why did France become the spiritual center of European enlightenment? Describe the views of Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot.
France became the center of European enlightenment because, even before that, it became the center of European culture. Thanks to the latter, education and the printed word were held in high esteem here. Almost half of the country's adult men could read. Passion for new ideas, including the ideas of the enlighteners, became fashionable even among the highest aristocracy. It was in this environment that the greatest minds of the era flourished.
Voltaire was an active champion of natural law and actively spoke out in specific cases of its violation. But the main circle of his ideas was centered around religion. He criticized the ideas of the Catholic Church and absolutism, which based its rights on Catholic ideology. But at the same time, Voltaire equally fiercely criticized atheism, since without religion, society is devoid of moral guidelines.
D. Diderot is known as the publisher of the "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts", where he tried to summarize the basic knowledge of his era. He denied the dualistic doctrine of the bifurcation of the material and spiritual principles, recognizing that there is only matter with sensitivity, and complex and diverse phenomena are only the result of the movement of its particles. Man is only what the general system of upbringing and the change of facts make of him.
J.J. Rousseau most fully of the encyclopedists considered precisely the laws of social development and the prospects for such. He believed that man by nature possesses free will and from the beginning of time he used this will. According to him, the state arose as a result of a natural contract between people. However, with the appearance of inequality in property, the social contract has been distorted, from which all injustices arise.
4. Which of the enlighteners adhered to the republican ideas? How did the enlighteners explain the need for separation of powers?
According to the enlighteners, the separation of powers is necessary so that none of the branches of government subjugates the rest, that is, in order to avoid autocracy. Sh.L. de Montesquieu took this idea to its logical conclusion by writing about a system of checks and balances. Many of the educators were inclined towards the republican form of government. The most followers in this were J.J. Russo.
5. Why did the ideas of the Enlightenment not spread as widely in the German states as in England and France? What were the features of the German Enlightenment?
There were many German states; there was no such center of culture and education as Paris in France. In addition, the local elite have long been accustomed to communicate on a variety of topics in French, especially on topics of advanced ideas. German aristocrats simply subscribed books from France and joined the pan-European Enlightenment centered in Paris.
Therefore, the German enlighteners did not call so radically for the reorganization of society. But on the other hand, it was they who focused on the interest in their own language and traditions, the originality of German culture. It is from the German enlightened circles that interest in everything national begins, which spread throughout Europe in the next era of romanticism.
6. How do you explain the spread of the ideas of enlightened absolutism? Fill the table.
In the XVIII century. the ideas of the enlighteners promised the reorganization of society on a reasonable basis. It was assumed that it would be possible to establish the state apparatus as a clock mechanism, to make it work without interruptions. This idea was very attractive to monarchs. In addition, these ideas were in vogue in the high society of Europe, and young princes were fond of them purely humanly, and having received power, they tried to realize the dreams of youth in practice. Moreover, the image of an enlightened monarch was beneficial, because it increased authority among the representatives of high society who were also keen on enlightenment.
7. Make a conclusion about how consistently the ideas of the Enlightenment were implemented in the activities of the rulers. Which of these ideas could not be realized by the enlightened monarchs?
The enlighteners did not have a single program that the monarchs could consistently carry out: each of the thinkers had their own ideas. The rulers of large European states have implemented some of them. However, they could not, for example, introduce a republican sphere of government, and not only because they did not want to deprive themselves of power, but also because at that time some ideas could cause great indignation in society. No wonder Catherine II wrote to one of the enlighteners about the fact that philosophers work with paper that will endure everything, but the rulers have to deal with the backs of their subjects, who are more sensitive.
Catherine II: the origins and essence of the dualism of domestic politics.
Catherine II (1762-1796) was a German princess. As the wife of the heir to the Russian throne, she has learned well the “rules of the game” of the Russian political elite. Being a well-educated, energetic and skillful ruler, she did not dare to undertake radical reforms. At the beginning of her reign, she planned to turn Russia into a state of "common good" with wise laws, enlightened citizens, but an absolute monarch at its head. Her time is called enlightened absolutism.
To prepare the new state legislation (Code) in 1767, 572 deputies were elected from different classes (except for the landlord peasants and clergy). In the Legislative Commission, acute social contradictions, clashes of interests were revealed, and under the pretext of the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war (1768-1774), the tsarina dismissed the commission.
In 1775, the regional (provincial) reform 1775 year. The country was divided into 50 provinces of 300-400 thousand inhabitants each. The governor was the head of the province. The territory of several provinces was headed by a governor-general or a vicegerent. These persons were appointed by the empress and had tremendous powers. Provinces were divided into ten counties of 20-30 thousand inhabitants. The power in the district was the lower zemstvo court with a captain-police officer at the head. In the work of provincial and uyezd governing bodies, in the corresponding judicial instances, elected from the nobility took part. By Honors to cities(1785) city government bodies were created. All-Russian legislation was extended to the Right-Bank Ukraine and the Don. The Zaporozhye Sich was liquidated, the Cossacks were resettled to the Kuban, their liberties were limited.
Was held secularization(transfer into the hands of the state) monastic (church) land tenure. The cost of maintaining the church was reduced by 5 times. The development of new territories took place. Sevastopol, Odessa and other cities appeared. But serfdom was established on the new lands. Catherine gave up to 800 thousand state peasants to her favorites.
The internal policy of Catherine II was characterized by a kind of dualism (duality). She tried to create an image of herself as an enlightened monarch. She forbade the nobles to address her with the words "I, serf, yours ...". But with regard to the peasantry, all the common people, all the "screws" were tightened.
"Enlightened Absolutism".
Under enlightened absolutism means the policy that was carried out in the second half of the XVIII century. in a number of monarchical countries of Europe. This policy was aimed at eliminating the remnants of the medieval system in favor of capitalist relations. The enlightened monarchs declared their desire to rule in the interests of the common good, on a reasonable basis, not only in accordance with their enormous rights, but also remembering their responsibilities. Your first duty enlightened monarchs considered the enlightenment of the people, the patronage of the arts, whose workers, in turn, glorified the monarchs, created a brilliant facade of absolutist regimes.
In Russia, Peter the Great became the first absolute monarch. He did a lot in the cultural sphere. His daughter Elizaveta Petrovna founded the first professional theater (1754, F.G. Volkov), Moscow University (1755, M.V. Lomonosov), the Academy of Arts (1757)
During the reign of Catherine II or "Russian Semiramis" outstanding architects worked. Under Catherine II, the Mining Institute was opened in St. Petersburg (1773), the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and the Public Library in St. Petersburg. The foundation of the Smolny Institute laid the foundation for women's education in Russia. For the first time, vaccination against the plague was carried out. The specially created Russian Academy had a humanitarian orientation and dealt with the problems of the Russian language. Both Russian academies were headed by E.R. Dashkova.
Catherine II herself wrote not only laws, but also plays and memoirs. But she did not tolerate criticism of the monarchy, remaining, above all, absolute monarch.
New legal status of the nobility.
With a letter of gratitude to the nobility (1785), Catherine formalized the privileged status of this class. Only the nobles could own lands and peasants, over whom their power was unlimited. The nobles were exempted from any taxes, standing soldiers, from torture and corporal punishment. They could conduct duty-free wholesale, including international trade, start factories, etc. Catherine provided that only men from 25 years old who had a certain number of serfs and a certain rank for the state could be elected leaders of noble societies and other elected officials. service. This forced some of the nobles to serve or be listed in the service.
In cities, in accordance with the Charter to Cities (1785), each of the six categories of citizens had its own status. Most of the ordinary townspeople carried capitation, recruitment and other duties amounted to taxable estate.
The peasantry remained completely disenfranchised. The landowners could send their peasants to Siberia for any duty, offsetting for recruits. The corvee was up to 6 days a week. Got spread "Month", under which the peasants were deprived of their allotments and for work only for the landowner received meager food supplies. According to the law, landowners could not force their peasants to marry, punish with a whip and kill, since serfs were taxpayers. However, the landlords often performed cruel arbitrariness. Daria Saltykova beat 90 of her serfs to death.
Partitions of Poland. The annexation of Crimea and a number of other territories in the south.
Catherine has achieved significant results in the foreign policy sphere. As a result of the successful Russian-Turkish wars (1768-1774, 1787-1791) and the brilliant victories of the Russian troops under the command of P.A. Rumyantseva, A.V. Suvorov, F.F. Ushakov and other military leaders, Russia received vast territories in the Northern Black Sea region. Crimea (1783), Kabarda passed to Russia. Georgia passed under the protectorate of Russia (1783). Russia acquired the Black Sea Fleet and the right to enter the Mediterranean Sea.
In the western direction, Russia, together with Austria and Prussia, took part in the partitions of the weakened Rzeczpospolita (1772, 1793, 1795). All of Belarus, Right-Bank Ukraine, Volhynia, Lithuania and Courland went to Russia. Russia took part in the struggle of the European monarchies against the French Revolution. But the United States of America with its "armed neutrality" helped to achieve independence from England.
Under Catherine II, the territory of the empire grew significantly. Government revenues quadrupled. The population increased from 19 to 36 million. The time of her reign is called "The golden age of the nobility", and herself by Catherine the Great.
Russia and Europe in the 18th century. Changes in the international position of the empire.
Throughout the XVIII century. Russia's international position has changed radically. Russia established itself in the Baltic and Black Seas, appeared in the Mediterranean Sea. In the 80s of the XVIII century. Catherine II, within the framework of the "Greek project", proposed to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II to create a buffer state between the Russian, Ottoman and Habsburg empires within Moldova, Wallachia and Bessarabia under the name of Dacia, headed by a Christian monarch. Plans were also made to liberate Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria from the Ottomans.
The economic power of the Russian state grew. Russian army throughout the 18th century. practically did not know defeat. “Without my decision, not a single cannon fires in Europe,” said Catherine II.
The first Europeans to visit Alaska on August 21, 1732 were members of the St. Gabriel "under the supervision of the geodesist M.S. Gvozdev and navigator I. Fedorov. It was the expedition of A.F. Shestakov and D.I. Pavlutsky 1729-1735 From 1799 to 1867, Alaska was under the control of the Russian-American Company. G.I. Shelikhov (1747-1796) organized commercial merchant shipping between the Kuril and Aleutian island ridge since 1775. led an expedition to Russian America, during which he founded the first Russian settlements in North America.
The foreign policy successes of Russia, the strengthening of its geopolitical position, and the active colonial policy were watched with great concern in England, France and other European countries.
Russian Culture of the 18th Century: From Peter's Initiatives to the “Age of Enlightenment”.
In the spiritual and cultural sphere, thanks to the breadth of horizons and energy of Peter I, many innovations appeared.
Even at the beginning of the 17th century. Boris Godunov was thinking about creating a university, but no one returned from the first group sent to study abroad. In 1687, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was opened in Russia, but the origin of higher education is usually associated with the name of Peter the Great, who established the Navigation School in Moscow in 1701. Navigatskaya, Artillery and other schools trained specialists for the army, navy, and public service ... The formation of the Russian intelligentsia.
The first universities in Europe appeared in the 11th century. Some believe that it was a university in Constantinople (1045), others prefer the University of Bologna (1051). In 1200, the famous Sorbonne appeared in Paris, then Oxford, Cambridge, etc. By the end of the 15th century. there were 60 "temples of science" in Europe. In 1725, the Academy of Sciences was founded in Russia, and with it university... The university had an academic gymnasium.
The first Russian museum was Kunstkamera... Began to go out newspaper "Vedomosti"... St. Petersburg, founded in 1703, became the new capital of the country (from 1712). Large-scale construction was carried out in the new city according to a single architectural concept.
Under Catherine II (1762-1796) a harmonious system of public education emerged for the first time, based on primary schools. Priests began to be trained in theological seminaries, and they received secular civic education in gymnasiums. Education was of a class character.
In the field of technology, Russian inventors worked in line with the common European, especially British efforts. Ivan Polzunov invented the steam engine. Ivan Kulibin came up with a lot of original mechanisms and designs that were used by the royal court. The outstanding inventor of original machine tools and mechanisms was A.K. Nartov. After Peter the Great, who himself owned 14 crafts, for a long time there was no one to appreciate and finance Russian achievements. It seemed easier to buy new items abroad.
In the second half of the 18th century. G.R. Derzhavin, M.V. Lomonosov, V.K. Trediakovsky, in prose - D.I. Fonvizin, M. Novikov, A. N. Radishchev.
During the 18th century, architecture made a huge step forward. Peter the Great himself is considered to be the author of the idea of the master plan of St. Petersburg, the projects of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Admiralty, standard projects for the development of St. Petersburg with residential buildings for the noble and for the "mean" people. Detailed development of the first plan of the "northern capital" was carried out by P.M. Eropkin. In St. Petersburg, the industrial infrastructure developed rapidly, connected with servicing the needs of the army, navy, government agencies, the courtyard, and the city under construction. In the eyes of one generation, St. Petersburg has become the largest center of Russian foreign trade. State institutions were located here, for example, in the monumental building of the Twelve Collegia (architect D. Trezzini). Peter and Paul Cathedral became the burial vault of Russian tsars, starting with Peter the Great.
In the 1703-1760s, the architecture was dominated by a luxurious, bright, somewhat pretentious baroque style. In this style, the greatest master F.B. Rastrelli built the Winter Palace and the Smolny Monastery, the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo and the Grand Palace in Peterhof.
From the 1760s to the 1840s, classicism prevailed. IN AND. Bazhenov built the Pashkov House in Moscow (the building of the V.I.Lenin Library), the Engineering Castle in St. Petersburg, and developed a grandiose plan for the reconstruction of the Kremlin. M.F. Kazakov in this style built the Kremlin Senate, the old building of Moscow University and the Noble Assembly with the Column Hall in Moscow. In St. Petersburg, classicism classicism D. Quarenghi built in St. Petersburg the Concert Hall pavilion and the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, the Assignation Bank (now the University of Economics and Finance), the Hermitage Theater, and the Smolny Institute.
In painting, he received the greatest development portrait... The gallery of beautiful images was created by artists I. Argunov, D.G. Levitsky, V.L. Borovikovsky and others.
In the XVIII century. Russian rulers acquired a collection of sculptures for the Summer Garden, paintings for the Hermitage, rarities and unique items for the Kunstkamera, jewelry for the Gold and Diamond funds, the Armory. Members of the royal family, large landowners, and the church acted as patrons of the arts.
In the XVIII century. fruits of culture, superficial westernization used by a smaller part of society. The creators, bearers of culture were mostly nobles, often foreigners. Other strata of the population also participate, even those who come from serfs.
Peter's reforms meant a powerful breakthrough in cultural life.
Recent studies of the history of the Russian state in the 17th-18th centuries.
The question of the formation and nature of the Russian autocracy occupies an important place in domestic and foreign historiography.
The basis of the concept "State feudalism"(L.V. Milov and others) laid down the assessment of the natural and climatic factor. The low fertility of the Russian lands led to the fact that the ruling class of landowners, feudal lords, sought to subjugate the peasant farmers as much as possible. The autocratic state in the best way expressed the interests of landowners and patrimonials.
Russia followed the same path as Western Europe. And it was a move towards lawful state, which appeared in Russia only in the second half of the 18th century. This is the position of the author of the fundamental monograph B.N. Mironov. 7
The famous orientalist L.S. Vasiliev, the Russian state of the 17th-18th centuries. reminds eastern despotism like the Sultan's Turkey. Some authors in relation to the same object use the term "politarism".
Yu.V. Dvornichenko believes that during the XVI-XVII centuries. formed Russian state-serfdom(GKS in the abbreviation of the author). One side of this system was a strong monarchical, autocratic power, and the other side was the enslavement of the entire population, the desire to attach it to the land, to tax or service. “The people in the sweat of their brow earned funds, and the state took them away and divided them (so to infinity) between the“ managers ”, leaving nothing to the people,” the researcher notes the peculiarity of this system 8.
Many consider the influence of the foreign policy factor to be the most important. The weak statehood of Ancient Rus was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars. It took the Moscow princes a lot of effort to recreate the sovereign Russian state. The nobility, the core of the army served the state, and the peasants provided this service. For ease of management, the peasants were firmly attached to the land and landowners. Nobles from compulsory civil service in the 18th century freed, and the peasants "rode" until 1861.
The transition from the estate-representative monarchy of the XVI-XVII centuries. to the absolute monarchy of the XVIII - early XX centuries. was a contradictory, intermittent process. Russian rulers from Rurik to Putin have consistently sought to maximize their power. "The state is swelling, the people are withering," V.O. Klyuchevsky.
"Enlightened monarchy" in Russia is called the state policy, which was led by Empress Catherine II, who ruled in 1762-1796. In the style of her leadership of the country, she was guided by the then Western standards. What was the policy of enlightened absolutism? Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, France - all these countries, like Russia, then adhered to this course. It consisted in carrying out reforms that renewed the state structure and abolished some feudal vestiges.
Power in the country remained exclusively in the hands of the autocratic ruler. This feature was the main contradiction that distinguished the policy of enlightened absolutism. The Habsburg monarchy, Russia and other major European powers embarked on the path of reform as a result of the rise of capitalism. The changes were tightly controlled from above and therefore never became complete
Origins
The Russian enlightened monarchy arose under the influence of French culture, which shaped the views of Catherine II, her entourage and a significant part of the educated people of the country. On the one hand, it was the aristocratic fashion for etiquette, European dresses, hairstyles and hats. However, French influences were reflected in the spiritual climate of the nobility.
Wealthy merchants and trade people, as well as high-ranking officials began to get acquainted with Western European humanitarian culture, history, philosophy, art and literature even under Peter I. In the era of Catherine, this process reached its peak. It is the educated aristocracy that is the social support of the monarchy in the period of enlightened absolutism. Books and visiting foreigners laid progressive ideas in the representatives of the nobility. Rich people began to travel frequently to Europe, explore the world, compare Western customs and customs with Russian ones.
Ekaterina's "Order"
Catherine II came to power in 1762. She was German by birth, had a European education and habits, corresponded with the great French enlighteners. This "intellectual baggage" affected the style of government. The Empress wanted to reform the state, make it more efficient and more modern. This is how the enlightened monarchy of Catherine II appeared.
Already in the same 1762, the empress's advisor Nikita Panin presented her with a draft reform of the imperial council. The statesman argued that the previous system of governing the country was ineffective due to the fact that it allowed the emergence of influential favorites. The transition from absolutism to an enlightened monarchy also consisted in the fact that Catherine opposed herself to the former rulers of the post-Petrine era, when all kinds of courtiers ruled politics.
In general, Panin proposed creating an advisory body. Ekaterina rejected his project, deciding to supplement this document. This is how the plan for a complete restructuring of the previous legislation was born. The main thing that the empress wanted to achieve was order in governing the country. For this, it was necessary to completely revise the old laws and add new ones.
Soon, Catherine established a Commission to create a draft of a new Code. As a recommendation for her, the Empress composed The Order. It contained more than 500 articles in which the basic principles of the Russian legal system were formulated. Catherine's document referred to the works of the great thinkers of that time: Montesquieu, Beccaria, Justa, Bielfeld. The "Mandate" reflected everything that the enlightened monarchy in Russia represented. The peculiarities, content, meaning of this document went back to the ideology of the advanced enlighteners.
The theoretical arguments of Catherine were even too liberal and therefore inapplicable to the then Russian reality, since they struck a blow at the interests of the privileged nobility - the main support of state power. One way or another, but many of the empress's reasoning remained only within the bounds of good wishes. On the other hand, in the "Order" Catherine stated that Russia is a European power. So she confirmed the political course laid down by Peter I.
Layers of the Russian population
Catherine II believed that the enlightened monarchy in Russia was based on the class division of society. She called the absolutist model an ideal state. The Empress explained her loyalty to the "natural" right of some to rule, and others to be ruled. Catherine's postulates were based on references to the history of Russia, where autocracy had the most ancient roots.
The monarch was called not only a source of power, but also a figure consolidating the entire society. He had no restrictions other than ethical ones. The monarch, Catherine believed, had to show condescension and ensure "the bliss of one and all." The enlightened monarchy set as its goal not to restrict the freedom of people, but to direct their energy and activity towards achieving common prosperity.
The empress divided Russian society into three main strata: the nobility, the middle class, and the peasantry. She called freedom the right to do what remains within the framework of the law. Laws were declared the main instrument of the state. They were built and formulated according to the "spirit of the people", that is, mentality. All this was to be provided by the enlightened monarchy of the second half of the 18th century. Catherine II was the first Russian ruler to speak about the need to humanize criminal law. She considered the main goal of the state not to punish criminals, but to prevent their crimes.
Economy
The economic pillars of the enlightened monarchy were property rights and agriculture. The main condition for the country's prosperity, Catherine called the hard work of all Russian classes. Calling agriculture the basis of the country's economy, the empress was not cunning. In the second half of the 18th century, Russia remained a deeply agrarian country, in which industry lagged noticeably behind European.
Many villages during the reign of Catherine II were declared cities, but in fact they remained the same villages with the same occupations of the population and appearance. This contradiction was the essence of the agrarian and patriarchal nature of Russia. Even with the imaginary cities, the country's urban population was no more than 5%.
Russian industry, like agriculture, remained serfdom. In factories and manufactories, forced labor was widely used, since the labor of civilian workers cost enterprises an order of magnitude more. Meanwhile, in England, Russia has already started exporting mainly semi-finished products and natural raw materials. The economy almost did not produce finished products for the foreign market.
Judgment and religion
The last chapters of Catherine's "Order" were devoted to the courts. The enlightened monarchy in Russia, in short, could not interact with society without this arbiter. Legal proceedings were of fundamental importance, which the Empress could not but understand. Ekaterina delegated many functions to this institution. In particular, the court had to defend the principle of freedom of religion, which extended to all residents of Russia. Catherine also touched on the topic of religion in her correspondence. She was opposed to the forced conversion to Christianity of the non-Russian peoples of the country.
An enlightened monarchy is a state firmly based on adherence to regulations and laws. That is why Catherine's Legislative Commission prohibited the holding of extraordinary court hearings. Also, the empress spoke out against the oppression of freedom of speech. However, this did not prevent her from unleashing repressions on those who, in her opinion, encroached on state order with their publications.
The peasant question
The main dilemma faced by the enlightened monarchy in Russia was the future of serfdom. In the era of Catherine II, the slavery position of the peasants was never abolished. But it was serfdom that was most criticized by the progressive strata of society. This social evil became the target of attacks by Nikolai Novikov's satirical magazines ("The Purse", "Drone", "The Painter"). Like Radishchev, he did not wait for cardinal changes initiated from above, but was imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress.
The fallacy of serfdom consisted not only in the most inhuman slavery of the peasants, but also in the fact that it hindered the economic development of the Empire. Freedom was necessary for the estates in order to work for their own benefit. Work for the landowner, who took away crops and earnings, a priori could not be effective. The enrichment of the peasantry took place only after its liberation in 1861. The enlightened monarchy of Catherine II, in short, did not dare to take this step in order to preserve internal stability, which consisted in the absence of conflict between the authorities and the landowners. The rest of the empress's transformations in the village, in this case, remained only decorations. It was her period of government that was the era of the greatest enslavement of the peasants. Already under the son of Catherine Paul I, the corvee decreased, becoming a three-day corvee.
Criticism of the autocracy
French rationalism and the ideas of the Enlightenment pointed to the shortcomings of feudal forms of government. This is how the first criticism of autocracy was born. The enlightened monarchy, however, was precisely an unlimited form of power. The state welcomed the reforms, but they had to come from above and not affect the main thing - autocracy. That is why the era of Catherine II and her contemporaries is called the era of enlightened absolutism.
The first to publicly criticize the autocracy was the writer His ode "Liberty" was the first revolutionary poem in Russia. After the publication of Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow, Radishchev was sent into exile. Thus, the enlightened monarchy of Catherine II, although it was positioned as a progressive state, did not at all allow free-thinkers to change the state system.
Education
In many respects, the transition from absolutism to an enlightened monarchy occurred thanks to the activities of prominent scientists. The main luminary of Russian science in the 18th century was Mikhail Lomonosov. In 1755 he founded Moscow University. At the same time, enlightenment utopianism was promoted in Masonic lodges, which became extremely popular among the nobles.
In the second half of the 18th century, a new network of closed educational institutions appeared, in which the children of noblemen, merchants, clergy, soldiers, and commoners studied. All of them were of a pronounced class character. Here, as elsewhere, the advantage was in the hands of the nobles. All kinds of buildings were opened for them, where teaching was conducted according to Western European standards.
Collapsing reforms
The activities of the Legislative Commission of Catherine II best demonstrate the relationship between the concepts of "absolute monarchy" and "enlightened absolutism." The Empress tried to create a state that would resemble the models that were described by the main European thinkers of the 18th century. However, the contradiction was that the Enlightenment and absolute monarchy could not be compatible. While retaining autocratic power, Catherine herself impeded the development of state institutions. However, not a single European monarch of the Enlightenment era dared to undertake radical reforms.
Perhaps Catherine would have gone to further transformations, if not for several dramatic events of the second half of the 18th century. The first happened in Russia itself. We are talking about the Pugachev uprising that swept the Urals and the Volga region in 1773-1775. The riot began among the Cossacks. Then he embraced the national and peasant strata. Serfs smashed the estates of the nobles, killed yesterday's oppressors. At the peak of the uprising, many large cities, including Orenburg and Ufa, were under the control of Yemelyan Pugachev. Catherine was seriously scared of the largest riot in the last century. When the troops defeated the Pugachevites, there was a reaction from the authorities, and the reforms stopped. Later, the era of Catherine became the "golden age" of the nobility, when their privileges reached their maximum scale.
Other events that influenced the views of the empress were two revolutions: the war for the independence of the American colonies and the revolution in France. The latter overthrew the Bourbon monarchy. Catherine initiated the creation of an anti-French coalition, which included all the major European powers with the former absolutist way of life.
Cities and townspeople
In 1785, the Certificate of Merit was issued to the cities, in which Catherine regulated the status of city residents. They were divided into several categories according to social and property characteristics. The first class of "true urban dwellers" included the noblemen who owned real estate, as well as the clergy and bureaucracy. This was followed by guild merchants, guild craftsmen, nonresident, foreigners, residents of the settlement. Eminent citizens stood out separately. These were people with university degrees, owners of large capital, bankers, owners of ships.
The privileges of a person depended on the status. For example, eminent citizens received the right to have their own garden, country courtyard and carriage. Also, people with voting rights were identified in the letter. The bourgeoisie and merchants received the beginnings of self-government. The diploma ordered to organize meetings of the wealthiest and most influential citizens every 3 years. Elected judicial institutions - magistrates - were founded. The situation, formed thanks to the literacy, remained until 1870, that is, until the reforms of Alexander II.
Noble privileges
Simultaneously with the Certificate of Appreciation to the cities, an even more important document was published. This document became a symbol of the entire and enlightened monarchy as a whole. He developed the ideas laid down in the Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility, adopted in 1762 under Peter III. Catherine's letter of honor stated that the landowners were the only legal elite in Russian society.
The title of nobility was made hereditary, inalienable and extended to the entire noble family. The aristocrat could lose it only in the event of a criminal offense. So Catherine consolidated in practice her own thesis that the behavior of all nobles, without exception, had to correspond to their high position.
By virtue of their "noble origin" landowners were exempted from corporal punishment. Their property rights extended to different types of property and, most importantly, to serfs. The nobles could, at will, become entrepreneurs, for example, engage in maritime trade. Persons of noble birth were allowed to have factories and factories. Personal taxes did not apply to aristocrats.
Nobles could create their own societies - Noble Assemblies, which had political rights and their own finances. Such organizations were allowed to send projects of reforms and transformations to the monarch. The assemblies were created on a territorial basis and were tied to the province. These self-government bodies were appointed by the governors.
The certificate of honor completed the long process of exalting the estate of the landowners. The document recorded that it was the nobles who were considered the main driving force in society in Russia. The entire enlightened Russian monarchy was based on this principle. The influence of the nobility gradually began to decline already during the reign of Catherine's successor, Paul I. This emperor, being the heir in conflict with his mother, tried to cancel all her innovations. Paul allowed corporal punishment to be applied to the nobles, forbade them to address him personally. Many of Paul's decisions were reversed under his son Alexander I. However, in the new 19th century, Russia has already entered a new stage in its development. Enlightened absolutism remained a symbol of one era - the reign of Catherine II.
