What you must do in this unit
- Read the textbook chapters 19, 20 21 and 22.
- Check the remarks by Professor Blois and Professor Evans on Catherine the Great.
- Study the Questions to Consider and the Key Terms for the Unit.
What you can do in this unit
- Read chapter 17 and chapter 18 from Mary Platt Parmele (1843-1911) A Short History of Russia (1907, 4th edition). These are short chapters, and this is optional reading.
- Watch the narrated Prezi created by Malorie Garrett on Catherine the Great.
Some videos that you can watch for this unit
- There is a PBS biography of Catherine the Great that you may be able to find on YouTube somewhere.
- Catherine II Biography
- The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934)
- The Hermitage Museum
- St. Petersburg, Russia Hermitage Museum part 2
- For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant video for this unit of the course. Send the title of the video, the URL and a brief explanation of why you find the video interesting and applicable to the material that is being studied in this unit.
Extra Credit Options
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Aleksandr Radishchev (1749-1802), Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow (1790) and write a one-page paper explaining why this novel was considered dangerous by Catherine the Great.
- For up to 25 points of extra credit, read Isabel de Madariaga, Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great (1981), an excellent scholarly biography, and write a one-page paper that details the author's interpretations of Catherine's reign.
- For up to 10 points of extra credit, read The Instructions of Catherine II to the Legislative Commission of 1767 (The "Nakaz") and write a paragraph that answers the question, What was the rationale in the Nakaz justifying the autocracy? The link will probably not work, but I have a copy on this website.
- For up to 10 points of extra credit, read Catherine's Proclamation upon ascending the throne, her letter to D'Alembert and the comments by the English ambassador and then write a paragraph that assesses the character of Catherine the Great as an "enlightened" ruler of Russia.
Unit Learning Objectives
- Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to (1) demonstrate a knowledge of the important historical developments connected with the reign of Tsarina Catherine the Great and (2) assess the impact of Enlightenment ideas on the Russian educated elite in the eighteenth century.