The Memoirs of Catherine the Great

Catherine's personal papers, letters, etc are featured heavily throughout the book.

It is often only by making critical use of contemporary or near-contemporary bureaucratic records, military reports, or, in certain auspicious circumstances, personal correspondence, that modern historians are able to fabricate their rough, and frequently simplified, portraits of the monarchs or leaders of old; precious few of this figures, tragically, ever found time or motivation to pen memoirs to illuminate later generations as to their internal drives and personal struggles. With such a near-complete lack of material authored by these historical figures themselves, succeeding generations are frequently left unsatisfied by the dry, one-dimensional, caricatures made possible by unreliable third party accounts often written decades following the figure's demise; such sketches are essentially no more than rote enumerations of the figure's pivotal, outward, deeds. In happy contrasts to this dearth of first-hand historical authorship stands Sophia Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst, more commonly known to English-speaking historians as Catherine II, Empress and Autocrat of Russia from 1762 to 1796; perhaps more so than other other appellation, however, Catherine is remembered as the "Enlightened," for her keen academic interest in the governmental ideals of the Enlightenment, which stressed the freedom and betterment of the masses, particularly in the political sphere. Under Catherine's steady stewardship, during which she clearly displayed a shrewd intelligence and political savvy, the Russian Empire enjoyed one the most prosperous periods in its long and often sordid history, devouring Poland and expanding to its natural southern extend through the annexation of the Crimea. Yet, Catherine's memoirs, penned at an indeterminate time before her death and left unfinished mid-sentence, deal in no way with the political and military wrangling of her thirty-year imperial reign; instead, the memoirs have as their focus the formative years of Catherine's life, spanning from her earliest childhood, to her marriage to her often-derided husband Czar Peter III, to the months immediately preceding the shadowy series of events leading to her coronation of sole ruler of All the Russias. It is in studying these fascinating accounts of Catherine's youth that historians today are able to more fully appreciate not only Catherine's keen intellect and academic knowledge, but also the extremely shrewd propaganda techniques which she employed in order to shape later perceptions of her and to justify her usurpation of the throne. Catherine, known to history as one of Russia's most successful monarchs, was, in fact, not or Russian but of German descent. It is perhaps one of the most striking aspects of her memoirs that she, after departing her homelands in the German states for the far-away and alien court of the Empress Elizabeth, never again upon arriving in Russia acknowledges or alludes to her German heritage. From the moment she is cast into the intrigue of the co

Very interesting insight into the mind of a strong woman that lived long ago. Human nature never really changes does it? :-)

This rather large collection can be very absorbing in spite of its "pedestrian" style. Even a bad translation (which it likely was not) couldn't be an excuse to call it good writing, but memoirs are not really known for being Pulitzer material. "Alibiographies," these are sometimes called, and the stories in "Memoirs" are very often told by Catherine to make herself a favorable picture. As historian Will Durant says about the work, it is not so much false, as it is partial. Truthfully, though, it would be hard to name any other autobiography that did not do the same. The most glaring difference between "her version" and the "world's version," for example, has to be her thoughts and descriptions of her husband, Czar Peter III. The reader will find this easy -- and interesting -- to spot all through the memoirs! Durant also implies, though, that Catherine's memoirs fills many gaps, at least as material for further reading. No matter the partiality shown in the book, it is blindingly clear that Catherine was head and shoulders above almost all her contemporaries in intelligence, energy, curiosity, and shrewdness. A word of personal annoyance with this book. It took more than three-quarters of the pages to run across the telling of her first non-husband love relationship. Even then the fateful paragraph was extra-long and in an unexpectedly different style, and had to be read twice to catch on. All that work for so little naughty information!

Catherine the Great has long suffered from mixed press. Jeesh, I mean there was the fact she almost certainly had her demented husband, who just happened to be the Czar, conveniently snuffed, she enacted brutal laws in retaliation for a wee bit of disloyalty on behalf of the Russian peasantry, and, well, let's not forget that nasty rumor about how fond she was of horses. Ahem. But you know, this was also one of the greatest rulers in Russian history, a pen-pal of Voltaire, hand-picked agent of Frederick the Great, and above all else, an improbable survivor against whom the deck was stacked pretty high. I think Catherine used these memoirs to sway the public's feelings about her. That's a nice way of saying I suspect the ol' gal fibbed a time or two. But so what? This is still an invaluable first-hand account of a time and place about which we might otherwise have known far less than we do, but for courtesy of her gifted prose. Sure, Catherine wasn't perfect but she wasn't a monster, either, as so many other Russian rulers have been. She had a good sense of humor, she liked to read and she made an art of political pragmatism. Catherine also tried to do what was right (especially what was right for her) and early in her reign, this German on the Russian throne brought about a number of amazingly liberal reforms that ended laws that were suffocating Mother Russia, even during the Age of Enlightenment. I say, let historians debate all they want, Catherine deserved to have her say and her point of view is privileged. If for nothing else than the details of her era, this memoir is worth its weight in sable and caviar.