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Isabel De Madariaga

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Catherine the Great: A Short History Kindle Edition

by Isabel de Madariaga (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.4 11 ratings

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There is no shortage of biographies of Catherine the Great, of varying quality and degrees of sensationalism. But there exists no brief account of her reign that incorporates the extensive research findings of the last twenty years and presents them accessibly, accurately, and concisely to the student and the general reader. Following her magisterial Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great, Isabel de Madariaga has written the most informative, balanced and up-to-date short study of this spectacular period in Russian history. De Madariaga establishes an authoritative account of the events of Catherine's life, disentangling the myth from the verifiable reality. But her principal aim is to provide an account of the achievements of the thirty-four-year reign. Well-read and intelligent, Catherine presided over a fundamental reorganization of central and local government, of financial administration, of law, and of literary and cultural life. De Madariaga tracks the changes and explains the reforms, placing them in the context of eighteenth-century Europe and the ideas of the Enlightenment and of the French Revolution. Chapters on the wars against the Turkish empire, the annexation of the Crimea in 1783, and the partition of Poland demonstrate Catherine's part in building Russia into a formidable European power. The text is distinguished throughout by the attention paid to historical controversies over the interpretation of Catherine's policies and to teh historiography on the period in general. Praised by French writers of her day and attacked by later historians for her neglect of the welfare of the serfs, Catherine's achievements are now measured against the difficulties she met. The book points to the problems Catherine faced, the human and material resources on which she could draw, and the intellectual climate in which she operated. De Madariaga considers past and present assessments of Catherine and consolidates balanced judgments, profound understanding, and exhaustive reserach into a highly assimilable form.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

De Madariaga (Univ. of London) has published extensively in the scholarly literature on Catherine II and her reign (1762-96). In this book she summarizes her scholarship for general readers, focusing not on biography, but on Catherine as working Empress, deeply involved in the work of her Legislative Commission (1767), in reform of local administration, in foreign policy, and in the intellectual traditions of the Enlightenment. Writing with great admiration for Catherine's accomplishments and minimizing, perhaps, the harsh conditions outside of court circles, the author carefully points out areas where other historians disagree with her and gaps in existing scholarship (especially Soviet scholarship). Libraries that want a recent scholarly treatment will prefer John T. Alexander's Catherine the Great (Oxford, 1989), but this is a fine summary of the period for others.
- Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00CA5WQW8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press (January 1, 1991)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 1991
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3801 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 249 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #2,026,000 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #263 in Historical Russian Biographies
- #1,435 in Historical Russia Biographies
- #1,776 in Biographies of Royalty (Kindle Store)

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3.4 11 ratings

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MES

Great read

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2014

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This is a great read that puts the reign of Catherine the Great into context without dwelling on the usual sensationalism.

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mewells4

One Star

Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2016

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AWFUL BOOK NOT WORTH MY MONEY DIDNT FINISH IT

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2013

This book is a short history of Catherine the Great's reign consisting of 218 pages. It is an introduction and covers major highlights over a 30 year span from the coup d'etat that landed Catherine in power to her final days and fatal stroke (not the fabled horse romp).

It depicts the communal culture of Russia that I find to be very different from American culture. Though Catherine was an absolutist, she was influenced greatly by the enlightenment. She remained an elitist and perhaps displayed cognitive dissonance in her attempts at censorship and imperial conquests. She had a large sexual appetite and many lovers throughout her reign that she made no attempt in hiding.

My only complaint about this book is that the last chapter should have been the introduction. It explains Catherine's ideological influences which would have helped gain a better picture of who Catherine was having read that first.

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Bruce Kendall

A Superior Study of a Great Woman

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2000

Catherine is one of history's most complex, intelligent, strong-willed and resourceful women. de Mariaga's account is accurate and straightforward. Though she lacks the rhetorical flourish and eye-for-drama that makes Troyat's bio such a joy to read, de Mariaga pays closer attention to historical detail and gives the reader a keener sense of the political atmosphere Catherine faced and then recreated in her image.
de Mariaga doesn't dwell long on Catherine's formative years, dealing with the entire period from German childhood to ascension to the Russian throne in the prologue. She does mention the effect that Plutarch, Tacitus and Montesquieu had on the fifteen year Catherine. When the Swede, Count Gyllenborg urged her to read these authors, Catherine acted on the suggestion by ordering the library of the Academy of Sciences and its bookshop be sent to her. The books, when they came, were over the head of a fifteen-year old, but she turned to them later in life. de Mariaga tells us that years later, while awaiting news from Potemkin during the second Turkish campaign, Catherine (along with her newest consort, Zubov) distracts herself by translating Plutarch' Lives.
Catherine had to deal with many powerful factions when she came to power, following Peter II's secret assassination by the Orlov's. Some of the aristocratic members of her early cabinet, especially Panin, were hoping for a parliamentarian form of government, with a select few advisors wielding the majority of the power. Catherine, with the backing of the Orlovs, displayed her mettle early on in circumventing such notions. As far as she was concerned, Russia would remain an an autocrcy. Yet she was diplomatic enough not to appear heavy-handed in her decision-making and gave the impression, even to those she disagreed with strongly, that she was considering their proposals. She gave into Panin on his idea of a councl, but it was to be fashioned by her, so the old idea of service to the sovereign was reinforced. Even so it took her a good five years to consolidate her authority and spoil the ambitions of those who wanted to keep her a figurehead regent serving only until the czarevich Paul reached his majority.
de Mariaga stresses the importance of the assembly of 1767 in helping validate Catherine's rule and cementing her government. The assembly was important in that it allowed Catherine to come in contact with a wide cross-section of the Empire, and allowed her to confer new status on previously disenfranchised segments of the population (except the serfs, of course), at the expense of the nobility. The nobility found itself unable to resist Catherine's power-grab, for she was now speaking directly to "her children" with the divine voice of the Enlightenment. To have denounced her plan before a national assembly would have been tantamount to denouncing providence itself.
Catherine epitomized the "enlightened despot." She combined the "enlightened" political model of Montesqieu with her own brand of absolute power. A case could be made that she wasn't so much power-hungry as unwilling to share policy-making with those less-enlightened than she; namely, the Russian nobility whom she saw (correctly) as interested primarily in maintaining their wealth and status.
Catherine corresponded frquently with Voltaire. She brought Diderot to Russia. She wrote voluminously on subjects ranging from political science to drama. She was a Rennaissance Man in woman's garb in an Age of Enlightenment. Her diplomatic skills were exemplary. She could be ruthless and iron-fisted when the occasion dictated it. She, like Peter the Great before her, forged a new Russia, less dependent on old superstitions and the whip, more attuned to education and the new humanism. While her sexual proclivities have been vastly over-sensationalized, it could well be stated that in the area of bedroom-diplomacy Cleopatra was her only rival.
Again, if you are a reader interested in good story-as-bio, stick to Troyat. If you are interested in the political panorama of 18th c. Russia, de Mariaga is the best guide I know of.

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