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| “Catherine
the Great: A Short History” by Isabel de Madariaga
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Catherine the Great, the famous Russian Empress, was one
of those historical figures whose personality constantly draw
attention of specialists researching the history of Russia
and Europe as well as all those who were simply interested
in life and work of really outstanding people of different
epochs. No wonder that there were many books written concerning
the life and work of Catherine the Great that may be viewed
one of the most significant rulers of Russia after Peter the
Great. Among the variety of books dedicated to the life of
this woman, the book “Catherine the Great: A Short History”
by Isabel de Madariaga is one of the most noteworthy. In fact,
this book is quite controversial since, on the one hand, it
provides a profound research of life and work of Catherine
the great, while, on the other hand, many historians are very
skeptical about the fundamentalism of this book underlying
that there are substantial gaps in the narration and analysis
of Catherine’s life and achievements.
Basically, the author of the book focuses on the research
of Catherine’s life and work as Russian Empress. It
is worthy of mention that Isabel de Madariaga tends to romanticize
the image of the Empress a little bit as the main message
of the entire work may be briefly described as the story of
the life of the Empress that could be characterized as an
enlighten despot. Such a definition actually reveals the essence
of the whole book and the attitude of the author to Catherine
the Great. It should be said that the author develops a concept
of a basically good-natured woman who constantly strived for
the power not for the power’s sake but rather for the
sake of the progress of the country she ruled, even though
her good nature were hidden in the depth of her soul. In fact,
this is exactly the image of Catherine the Great that a reader
may see on reading the book and this is why it is possible
to speak about certain idealization of the Empress by Isabel
de Madiagara.
At the same time, it should be said that the book basically
fulfils the main goal of the writer who obviously intended
to show the reign of the Empress Catherine the Great in details
and reveal the main details of her reign. Obviously, the author
is focused on the life and work of Catherine the Great as
the Empress, while other episodes of her life remain practically
unnoticed, or to put it more precisely, described superficially.
For instance, it is important to say that Isabel de Madiagara
pays little attention to the childhood of Catherine and her
early life to the moment of her ascension to the Russian throne.
In fact, this part of her life is depicted in the Prologue
of the book that actually makes it quite difficult to fully
understand the formation of Catherine the Great as a personality
and state woman. In such a situation, it is possible to speak
about the lack of information about her early life as a drawback
of the book since it was unquestionably a very important period
in her life but the author focuses on it quite superficially
singling out only the major events, which are also selected
quite subjectively.
In stark contrast to the early life the reign of Catherine
the Great is depicted in details. In this respect, it is important
to underline that the author is particularly attentive to
the growing concentration of power in the hands of Catherine
the Great. In such a way, Isabel de Madiagara probably attempts
to trace how Catherine actually becomes the Great. In this
respect, it is worthy of mention that the author in the precise
chronological order depicts in details the enforcement of
Catherine’s power in Russia. After the secret assassination
of Peter II, Catherine the Great has to constantly deal with
different fractions struggling for power in Russia. The author
skillfully depicts as Catherine the Great practically manipulated
by the most powerful people in Russia at that epoch in order
to achieve her own interests and enforce her power, including
her backing of the Orlovs, and giving in to Panin’s
idea of council, she strengthen her power through the revival
of an old idea of prestige of serving to the monarch. Isabel
Madiagara underlines the importance of the assembly of 1767
which contributed to the further reinforcement of Catherine’s
power in Russia.
At the same time, the author does not view this strengthening
of the power of Catherine as a personal vanity or a desire
to gain more power to be the absolute despot. Instead, the
author regards the reinforcement of Catherine’s power
as an attempt to gain the leadership in order to bring the
progress to the country. Isabel de Madariaga underlines the
enlightenment and progressiveness of Catherine the Great which
had actually changed the attitude of the Russian monarch to
her people making her closer to Russian society to the extent
that she did not need anymore numerous mediators but preferred
address directly to her ‘children’, though excluding
certain layers of society such as serfs.
As a result, the author concludes that Catherine the Great
brought progress to Russia making the country closer to Europe
but, at the same time, attempting to be similar to European
monarchs, she developed her own unique model of power combining
the quality of an enlightened monarch with the absolute power
she fully enjoyed on the Russian throne.
Obviously, the book is well and logically structured. The
main events of Catherine’s life and details of her reign
are chronologically presented and discussed with a clear message
conveyed to readers throughout the book. At the same time,
the book can hardly be named perfect or it can hardly pretend
to be the full description of the life and work of Catherine
the Great. The book obviously lacks the description and profound
analysis of the early life of Catherine, as it has been already
mentioned above. Moreover, the author basically focuses on
the reign of Catherine but her analysis seems to be a bit
fragmentary since she basically concentrates her attention
on Catherine, her nearest surrounding and her court, while
the profound analysis of the major trends in socio-economic
life in terms of the entire country seems to be omitted or,
at least, insufficient.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to agree that such a profound
interest to the personality of Catherine the Great and her
surrounding makes the book quite interesting to read but it
seems as if the author risks to lose in historical analysis
of Catherine’s epoch for the sake of understanding and
analysis of the personality and reign of the Empress. In other
words, the author tends to focus on the personality rather
than on the epoch or the country. Though, it meets the main
goal of the book. This is why it is hardly possible to be
very critical in relation to the book and the author.
At the same time, it is important to underlie the great attention
Isabel de Madariaga paid to the primary sources. The author
carefully analyzes the correspondence of Catherine the Great
with such outstanding people of the epoch as Voltaire. The
author also analyzes the memoirs dedicated to the reign of
Catherine the Great. In such a way she attempts to better
characterize the Empress as an enlightened ruler using primary
sources demonstrating the extent to which her innovations
were progressive.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible
to conclude that basically the book is interesting for a wide
range of readers who are interested in the reign of Catherine
the Great but it would be apparently insufficient for those
who want to better understand the Russian Empire under her
rule.
Bibliography:
1. Madariaga, Isabel de. Catherine the Great: A Short History.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990.
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