Catherine the Great

Catherine's Early Life and Journey to Russia

Catherine the Great's journey from an obscure German princess to the absolute ruler of the Russian Empire is a remarkable story of survival and ambition. She was born in the fragmented landscape of eighteenth-century Germany, where her father, Prince Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, was a nobleman of rigid military virtue. His life was defined by order and thrift until, at age thirty-seven, he married the fifteen-year-old Princess Johanna Elizabeth. It was a mismatch of temperaments, as he was a reclusive soldier, while she was a vivacious girl accustomed to the luxury of high courts. Trapped in the dull garrison town of Stettin, Johanna pinned her hopes for escape on her children. When her firstborn, Sophia, arrived in 1729, Johanna was devastated that the child was a girl rather than a male heir. This rejection defined Sophia’s childhood, and while her mother doted on a sickly younger brother, Sophia was merely tolerated. To cope, she learned to seal off her emotions and adopt a mask of humility and obedience, which were tactics that would later serve her well as a ruler.

Despite the lack of maternal affection, Sophia received a rigorous education that shaped her intellect. Her governess, Babet Cardel, provided the warmth Sophia craved and instilled in her a lifelong love for French literature and logic. In contrast, her religious tutor, Pastor Wagner, was a pedantic man who tried to force-feed her Lutheran dogma. Sophia’s sharp mind resisted his pressure, leading her to conclude that she would only ever yield to gentleness and reason. As she entered her teens, she grew into a slender, intelligent young woman with a ready wit. She realized that marriage was her only escape from her mother’s volatile temper and the bleakness of provincial life. Her ambition was clear, as she did not just want a husband, but rather a position that would elevate her far above her current station.

Opportunity arrived in 1744 when Empress Elizabeth of Russia summoned Sophia and Johanna to the imperial court. Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, had seized the throne in a coup and needed an heir to secure her dynasty. She chose her nephew, Peter Ulrich, who was Sophia’s second cousin, to be the future Tsar. Sophia was selected as his potential bride, and King Frederick II of Prussia supported the match, hoping Johanna would act as his secret agent to undermine the pro-Austrian Russian Vice-Chancellor, Bestuzhev. Sophia’s father, a devout Lutheran, agonized over the requirement that his daughter convert to Russian Orthodoxy, but he eventually yielded to political necessity. At fourteen, Sophia left Germany for the vast, frozen empire of the East, never to return.

Upon arriving in Russia, Sophia immediately recognized that her success depended on winning over the Empress and the Russian people. While her mother, Johanna, became entangled in clumsy political intrigues and alienated the court with her arrogance, Sophia threw herself into learning the Russian language and Orthodox faith. She rose at night to practice her vocabulary barefoot on cold stone floors, eventually contracting a life-threatening case of pneumonia. During her recovery, her request for an Orthodox priest rather than a Lutheran pastor won the hearts of the Russian public. Empress Elizabeth personally nursed her, forming a maternal bond that Sophia cherished, even as she realized the Empress could be both incredibly generous and terrifyingly volatile.

The transition to Russian life was much harder for her future husband, Grand Duke Peter. Brought from Holstein to a country he detested, Peter remained a stubborn German nationalist who mocked Russian customs and religion. He was physically frail and emotionally stunted, preferring to play with toy soldiers and drill his servants rather than engage in the duties of a prince. His relationship with Sophia was strictly platonic, and he treated her as a playmate, even confiding in her about his crushes on other women. The situation worsened when Peter contracted smallpox, which left his face hideously scarred. When Sophia first saw him after his illness, she was privately horrified by his appearance. Peter sensed her revulsion, and the incident created a permanent rift of insecurity and resentment between them.

Despite the couple’s mutual lack of affection and warnings from doctors that Peter was too immature for marriage, Empress Elizabeth insisted on a grand wedding in 1745. She was desperate for an heir to secure the Romanov line, so the ceremony went ahead as a spectacle of silver brocade and diamonds. However, the wedding night was a complete failure. Peter, smelling of beer and tobacco, ignored his bride to talk about how much his servants would laugh to see them in bed together, and then he fell asleep. For the next nine years, the marriage remained unconsummated. Catherine, as she was now named following her Orthodox conversion, realized she was alone in a dangerous court. She resolved to suppress her feelings and focus on a single goal, which was surviving the intrigues of the palace and eventually ruling the empire in her own right.

The final chapter of Catherine's youth closed with the departure of her mother from the Russian court. Johanna’s tenure in Russia had been a disaster, as her involvement in a failed plot against Vice-Chancellor Bestuzhev led to her absolute disgrace. Empress Elizabeth had grown to despise Johanna’s duplicity and greed, and she ordered her back to Germany shortly after the wedding. Catherine felt a brief pang of homesickness as her mother left, but she did not follow her back home. Now sixteen, the Grand Duchess was a foreigner in a strange land, tied to a husband who did not love her and a sovereign who watched her every move. Left with nothing but her books and her ambition, she began the long, patient wait for political power.