Historian François Cruzet writes that Russia under Catherine: had neither a free peasantry, nor a significant middle class, nor legal norms hospitable to private enterprise. They could not escape poverty and difficult working conditions, especially given the poor quality of the farmland throughout much of Russia. He took power after his father was murdered. She made many educational reforms despite the lack of a national school system. [85] For philosophy, she liked books promoting what has been called "enlightened despotism", which she embraced as her ideal of an autocratic but reformist government that operated according to the rule of law, not the whims of the ruler, hence her interest in Blackstone's legal commentaries. [12], Catherine first met her future husband, her second cousin, who would become Peter III of Russia, at the age of 10. [29] Despite the worsening life for the serfs, the majority of the population still saw Elizabeth as a benevolent ruler, when compared to the German brutes who dominated the court during Anna Ivanonva and Ivan VI's sovereignties. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, signed 10 July 1774, gave the Russians territories at Azov, Kerch, Yenikale, Kinburn, and the small strip of Black Sea coast between the rivers Dnieper and Bug. The Congress of Vienna created the Kingdom of Poland (Russian Poland), to which Alexander granted a constitution. As a result of the country's poorly developed agricultural system, the peasant diet was high in meat, fish, milk, and butter products, with bread and grains less crucial, except in especially indigent areas. This spurred Russian interest in opening trade with Japan to the south for supplies and food. The use of these notes continued until 1849. The story claimed that her maids believed that Catherine spent too much unsupervised time with her favourite horse, Dudley. [41] The wealthy and well educated garnered vast libraries, demonstrating their great opulence and worldliness. The British ambassador James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury reported back to London: Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, the British ambassador to Russia, offered Stanisław Poniatowski a place in the embassy in return for gaining Catherine as an ally. Napoleon defeated the Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz, north of Vienna, in 1805 and trounced the Russians at Friedland, near modern Kaliningard. Elizabeth requested for her new legal heir from Catherine. Paper notes were issued upon payment of similar sums in copper money, which were also refunded upon the presentation of those notes. Very few members of the nobility entered the church, which became even less important than it had been. The Pugachev Uprising bolstered Catherine's determination to reorganize Russia's provincial administration. Groomed for the throne by Catherine II and raised in the spirit of enlightenment, Alexander also had an inclination toward romanticism and religious mysticism, particularly in the latter period of his reign. This war, lasting 1735-1739 “secured the restoration of Azov to Russia and some lands between Azov and the Dniester” but at high casualty rates, mainly due to disease. Catherine was crowned at the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow on 22 September 1762. In his later years he tried to create a world order based on Christian principals and backtracked on many of the reforms he launched as a young tsar. They refused to comply, and in 1764, she deported over 20,000 Old Believers to Siberia on the grounds of their faith. Alexander II Assassinated by an Anarchist Suicide Bomber. Catherine decided to have herself inoculated against smallpox by Thomas Dimsdale, a British doctor. [Source: Library of Congress, July 1996 *]. In her struggle against those restrictions, Anna had the support of other nobles who feared oligarchic rule more than autocracy. [2] With the help of Aleksandr Menshikov (her advisor, ex-lover and leader of the palace guards), she gained the throne by emphasizing this connection to Peter I and her maternal nature. Under Alexander I, Russia continued its expansion. Catherine waged a new war against Persia in 1796 after they, under the new king Agha Mohammad Khan, had again invaded Georgia and established rule in 1795 and had expelled the newly established Russian garrisons in the Caucasus. 10–12. She came to power following a coup d'état funded by the British embassy that overthrew her husband and second cousin, Peter III. Converted Jews could gain permission to enter the merchant class and farm as free peasants under Russian rule.