Catherine the Great

Just finished Robert Massie’s amazing biography of the Empress whose power and craft might have been equaled by only one woman in history, Elizabeth I. This is a part of history my education sadly neglected, probably because the main events were happening around the same time as the American Revolution, and that’s all that our teachers seemed to think existed in the late 18th century.

She was a reader, a thinker, a believer in the efficiency of the absolute monarch and the future of the principles of the Enlightenment. She won wars and raised the cultural literacy level of her nation. She demanded informality and honesty in her regular evening gatherings of 20 friends and dignitaries. She abhorred torture and capital punishment. She routinely woke at six every day, drank a pot of coffee, and put in 16 hours of work.

She explained to one of her nobles why her commands and laws seemed to always be blindly obeyed:
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“It is not as easy as you think. In the first place, my orders would not be carried out unless they were the kind of orders which could be carried out. You know with what prudence and circumspection I act in the promulgation of my laws. I examine the circumstances, I take advice, I consult the enlightened part of the people, and in this way I find out what sort of effect my laws will have. And when I am already convinced in advance of good approval, then I issue my orders, and have the pleasure of what you call blind obedience. This is the foundation of unlimited power. But believe me, they will not obey blindly when orders are not adapted to the opinion of the people.”

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