Catherine II- Enlightened Monarch or

Absolute Monarch
Catherine II, the ruler of Russia from 1762-1796 was not an absolute monarch,
she was an enlightened monarch who worked to make Russia a better nation.
Catherine was not like other rulers who came before her like Peter the great who only
wanted to westernize Russia and make it more like western Europe.
Catherine was an enlightened monarch because she made new places for
people to live and made the navy better than it was before. If it wasnt for her being an
enlightened monarch and ruler, the peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire in 1774 would
not have occurred and the Ottoman Empire would have become more powerful and
tried to overthrow Catherine. As a ruler of Russia for 34 years, Catherine formed a
legislative commission, that met for the first time in 1767 and worked together to make
laws. The legislative commission was made up of delegates, who were all from different
classes, economically and socially. By bringing people together, Catherine was able to
show people that she favorited legal reforms and wanted to make Russia have equality
for all. Also as ruler, Catherine II created boarding schools for girls, along with many free
schools for children to attend. She also built a theater, since she loved the arts. By
doing the things she has done, especially with the creation of the schools and new cities
and towns, Catherine was able to be a great enlightened monarch of Russia for 34
years.
Many people would be go against saying Catherine II was an enlightened
monarch and say she was instead an absolute monarch. People would say she is an
absolute monarch because she created the legal document a document Nakaz which
pushed for capital punishment to be used in extreme circumstances, torture to be
outlawed, and calling for every subject to be equal before the law. As Nakaz was being
to become finalized, the people of Russia started to have more freedom to express the
way they thought about Russia and the problems with the nation. Even though Nakaz
was non-absolute, not following through with the document made it absolute. By Nakaz
falling through due to the poached rebellion, Catherine began to hate the serfs due to
the rebellion, Catherine ended up taking away their freedoms, along with making their
status worse than it was before. Catherine also forced the serfs into conditions they did
not want to have. In working to stop the rebellion uprising, and help preventing other
rebellions from happening, Catherine improved the military by making them very strong.
By doing this, it shows that Catherine II had control over peoples rights and could make
them do what she asked for.
In conclusion, Catherine II, the ruler of Russia from 1762-1796, was not an
absolute monarch, she was instead an enlightened monarch of Russia. If she was an
absolute monarch she would not have made the changes to Russia that she did,
especially adding more places to live and get a better education. Even though at the
end Catherine believed that ruling in an absolute form was the best was to run the
government, she was more of an enlightened monarch than an absolute monarch.
Catherine II was not an absolute ruler that held all the power.
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