here, every resident had to acquire a profession, even rich and educated jews learned some kind of craft. for example, the apostle paul, who had roman citizenship and received an excellent education by jewish standards, was a weaver. he wove rough canvas, which was used to make tents. what was jesus' profession? most are sure that he was a carpenter, but why suddenly? the bible does not explicitly state his profession. it says this: where does he get such wisdom of power? isn't he plotnikov's son? that is, everyone decided that jesus inherited the profession. we can guess that he was a carpenter, since he had to earn his bread with something, and professions were usually passed on to his father in ancient times.

the word tekton would be more correctly translated as zochy, because the word architecture comes from the merger of the words archi, the main one, and tekton, the builder. in russia, until the 14th century, an architect was called an architecton. not without reason, because jesus often turned to construction metaphors in his sermons. christ

was well acquainted with construction skill. according to homer, tekton built ships, houses and temples. there were too few people in nazarite to provide work for the carpenter.

only now world events are beginning to intertwine with his fate. a new procurator, pontius pilate, comes to judea. if we draw an analogy with our days, it was a governor sent from the center. but at that moment no one attached much importance to this event. as did the subsequent baptism of jesus. to summarize: everything we know about jesus is written in the bible, but this the book is about teaching, not about man, so very little is said about christ himself, but we still want to imagine the image of jesus, as we assumed, jesus was

a man with a penetrating look, well-read, educated, and did not avoid holidays. i’m almost sure that he had a good sense of humor, because only a sense of humor can get a person out of any trouble, i’m almost sure of this, i’m sure that he laughed a lot, even when he was feeling bad, he smiled, laughed, that’s all the true image of christ as a man, most likely forever... will remain a secret, for every christian he is different, because in order to turn to jesus with prayer, it is not at all necessary to know what he looked like in earthly life.

she once came to russia to become the wife of the heir to the throne, but now her life was under threat. the emperor was preparing to elevate his mistress to the throne, and for her the lawful one.

frost was blowing from the window, but sofia augusta knew that as soon as she closed it, she would immediately be drawn to sleep, and she should learn the language as soon as possible in order to understand the country, she stayed too long, in the evening a fever began, the doctor said that it was pneumonia, the mother already wanted to call a lutheran pastor, but the princess replied: no, the priest must be russian. after this incident, people at court began to look at her differently, and in st. petersburg they recognized her as one of their own. soon she converted to orthodoxy, receiving a new name ekaterina alekseevna. and the very next

day she became engaged to the heir, the future emperor peter ii. from now on, her fate was forever. heir, but events did not develop at all as planned.

the relationship with my husband did not work out from the first day. the newlyweds simply did not have common topics for conversation. while catherine was enthusiastically reading a publication on history and philosophy, peter, as if he were little until the night, selflessly played with a soldier. but this was not enough, weeks, months, years passed, and there was no marital relationship between peter and catherine; the grand duke’s wife felt rejected and humiliated.

having learned about this, empress elizabeth was indignant. she insisted that peter be examined by a doctor. after this to the heir. they performed a small operation, the effect was unexpected, he abruptly abandoned childhood games and plunged headlong into love adventures. peter has a passion, maid of honor elizaveta vorontsova. the tsarevich did not hide it from his court. passion, spending almost all the time with his beloved, showering her with expensive gifts.

catherine took this as another slap in the face from her husband. meanwhile, time. born in the fall of 1754 in the tenth year

of the marriage of peter and catherine, who became the father of the heir, a young lover or a cured spouse, but it is truly unknown still. in lopetrov's russia, female infidelity was considered an unforgivable sin; married women usually led a reclusive life and, if possible, avoided communication with... strangers. the traditional way of life was changed by peter i. by his decree, the presence of women at holidays, assemblies and balls became mandatory. this so transformed the way of life of the court layers of russian society that soon peter himself wrote about the decline of morals and reproached young people for their dissolute behavior. however, the process could no longer be stopped. by the middle of the 16th century, flirting was considered in europe, followed by russia,

as a sign of good manners; having lovers was the norm, and courtship, secret dates, novels, became part of social and palace life. ekaterina perfectly mastered the art of flirting, but most of all...

ekaterina dashkova in her maiden name vorontsova was the sister of peter ii's favorite elizabeth and his goddaughter. unlike her sister, catherine was one of the most educated women of her time. she became famous as a writer, translator, teacher, and became the director of the st. petersburg academy of sciences and founder of the russian academy. meanwhile, empress elizaveta petrovna became seriously ill and retired. taking advantage of this, peter stopped observing even the appearance of decency. at one of the festive dinners , in front of the courtiers, he insulted his husband. that same evening he awarded his mistress elizaveta vorontsova the order of st. catherine,

which, according to its status, was granted only to a member of the imperial family. the grand duchess took the new humiliation hard. however, hope soon settled in her heart. grigory orlov was known as one of the most popular guards officers. a crazy handsome man, a brave man, a woman's favorite. he became the first true love of the great book. seeing how her legal husband treated her, grigory turned pale and clenched his fists. but how to directly challenge the heir to the throne. this could cost not only your career, but also your life. and yet orlov

believed that sooner or later he would take revenge for his beloved. peter does not deserve the russian crown, which means that gregory will do everything to ensure that this crown goes to catherine. and they will help him with this. brothers. father of five the orlov brothers died 3 years after the birth of the last of their sons. this loss brought the brothers together so much that their friendship became legendary. the place of the head of the family was taken by the eldest of the sons, ivan. the younger ones revered him as a father. ivan managed all the family's estates

and his authority was recognized by his brothers unconditionally. gulyaka grigory especially gave him a lot of trouble. ivan said that while arranging grisha’s affairs, he got tired like a dog. alexey served in the leipvardiya preobrazhensky regiment, with the rank of sergeant. fedor is still a young man participated in the seven-year war, earning fame as a brave man. a tall, stately villager with a cheerful disposition, he remained the favorite of his brothers, who called him darling. the youngest vladimir raised. and brothers, and was then sent by them to study at the university of leipzog. peter knew that his wife was not faithful to him, and did not hide his desire to get a divorce in order to marry vorontsova, but while there was either

a covenant on the throne, the heir’s hands were tied. the empress carefully... elizabeth would never have given her nephew permission to divorce. however, the state’s health did not deteriorate rapidly, and there was no doubt about the death. if peter ascends to the throne and receives full power, it will... have the most unpredictable consequences both for russia and personally for catherine. with his unbridled character , he can do anything, including arresting his wife and imprisoning her in a monastery. the idea

of ​​a palace coup was in the air. the closest people are orlov, dashkov. from my beloved grigory orlov. in such circumstances, catherine could not count on the support of the nobility. even with a calm attitude towards adultery, the birth of children out of wedlock remained a reprehensible phenomenon: the child was deprived of the right to bear his father’s surname, and his mother was subjected to general condemnation; they tried to get rid of unwanted babies, poison

the fetus or throw the child to strangers, which often led to the death of children and women in labor. however, many nobles did not remain indifferent to the fate of their illegitimate offspring. it happened that they adopted them, or gave them surnames, in tune with their own, caring about their upbringing. solemn ceremony. position of president of the russian federation vladimir putin. live stream. may 7 at 12:00. the great russian poet, mentor of the imperial family, vasily andreevich zhukovsky, was born from an extramarital affair between the landowner bunin and his concubine turchanka.

russian composer and scientist chemist alexander borodin was the illegitimate son of a st. petersburg bourgeois woman and the georgian prince gidavanishvili. until the age of 8, he was considered a serf of his father, until he gave him his freedom and bought him his mother four-story house. in order not to compromise his mother, alexander called her aunt. born out of wedlock. architects andrei voronich and karl rossi, artists arest kiprensky and vasily perov, writers alexander gertson and korney chukovsky, the famous ballerina anna pavlova and many other outstanding personalities. december 25, 1761 for christmas. empress elizaveta petrovna died. peter ii took the russian throne. his very first orders shocked the army of courtiers.

being a fan of the prussian king frederick ii. the new autocrat immediately stopped the war with prussia, which the country had successfully waged for 7 years and was one step away from victory. as if in mockery, peter renounced all territorial conquests. it turned out that russian soldiers shed blood in vain on the battlefields; this already looked like high treason. meanwhile, the time was approaching for catherine to give birth. if peter found out about his wife’s pregnancy, he would not avoid a scandal; on the contrary, the emperor would have an exceptional chance to accuse his wife of infidelity and achieve her arrest and divorce. last months ekaterina.

and now gregory is holding his first-born son in his arms. catherine only had a few minutes to spend with her newborn son. the house was already burning down; we had to hurry to take the baby out of the palace. the sons of catherine and grigory orlova named alexei.

as if he didn’t notice, he introduced the hated pro-russian order in the army, prepared for an unpopular war with denmark, mocked orthodox worship and continued

to publicly bully his wife. for several months now peter had been postponing his coronation, overthrowing an uncrowned emperor was not considered a great sin, because he had not yet acquired status.

at the instigation of grigory orlov and his younger brother alexei, the guards regiments became the center of the conspiracy. the guard remained the most combat-ready part of the russian army and often became the main power tool during a change of power. the guard regiments were located directly in the capital and stood guard in the palaces, and the guards officers belonged to the highest strata. coup, peter's daughter elizabeth was proclaimed empress. grigory orlov, his brothers and the guards units, having carried out the state act by catherine herself, understood whose side the guard was on, who ruled the empire. but military

force was not enough to make the coup look legitimate in the eyes of society, and this is exactly what catherine cared about, so her closest friend dashkova became the second center of the conspiracy. nervous, impulsive, always on the move, she attracted the attention of high society to the plight of the state.

rumors spread throughout the capital that catherine had been arrested among the guards trouble arose. the next morning , his brother alexei ran into grigory orlov’s house. he said that one of the participants in the conspiracy was exposed and taken into custody. this meant. that

the threat of arrest hung over the orlovs themselves, they should have acted either slowly or never. grigory ordered his horse to be saddled to follow catherine to petergov, when suddenly his old acquaintance, stepan perfilyev, the emperor’s aide-de-camp, appeared. plans had to be changed on the fly. alexey rushed to petergov. at 5:00 am on july 9, alexey orlov arrived in petergov. he was brief. all is ready, to proclaim you.

possible possible, he elevated his beloved woman to the throne, contrary to all the rules and traditions, by this time peter ii was in oroni inbaum, 40 km from st. petersburg, at any moment he could move

what was true to him. army units approach the capital to try to suppress the uprising. dashkova convinced catherine, in order to prevent bloodshed, she must be arrested first. on june 29, 1762, after spending a little more than 6 months on the russian throne, the emperor signed an abdication, was placed under guard, and then transported to robsha, one of the remote royal estates. grigory and alexei orlov

emphasized that when they started the coup, they did not count on personal gain. immediately after catherine's accession, they submitted a petition. begging to let them go to rest, but the empress was not going to say goodbye to the brothers who became her support on the throne. all five orlov brothers received count titles: peasant lands. even the younger vladimir, who did not participate in the conspiracy. the orlovs acquired unprecedented influence in the country. many even thought that they stood at the helm of the state. the 16th century in russia became the era of empresses. over a hundred over the years, there have been four women on the throne. catherine i, anna ioannovna, elizaveta petrovna, catherine the second. to ensure

the strength of their positions, the russian queens needed male support, both personal and political. they chose for the role of closest advisers, those whom they loved and trusted. they are usually called favorites. being the beloved of the ruling empress is not only an enviable role, but also an extremely responsible one.

the favorites became confidants and advisers for the monarch. they directly influenced government policy. wherein honors were often showered not only on the chosen one, but also... on his relatives and friends, but what if another strong woman was next to the empress. this is exactly what happened to ekaterina dashkova; the emperor’s longtime friend did not attribute to herself the main role in the coup. she did not even hesitate to declare that it was to her that catherine owed the russian throne. such conversations were enough to punish dashka. however, the empress acted differently; she alienated her former comrade-in-arms from the court, granting her estates, serfs and money. meanwhile,

tragic news came from robsha. just a week after his arrest, peter ii died. catherine was beside herself, now in the eyes of her subjects, she became the murderer of her husband, she, who was so proud of the fact that she came to power without shedding a drop of blood. the details of the death of emperor peter ii are still unknown. according to one version, he died naturally. death from a long-standing illness; according to another, the deposed emperor was strangled with the participation or connivance of alexei orlov, who commanded the guard. to save your reputation catherine, he took responsibility for himself

and repented the empress of insufficient vigilance. cognac monte shococa is a product of stellor group. gregory hoped that from now on he and catherine would not need to hide, as before, but he had another rival, palace etiquette. orlov no longer wanted to keep his distance from the woman he loved; he allowed himself to publicly hug the empress and speak affectionately to her, which shocked the court. such an appeal lowered catherine’s prestige; she tried to reason with her favorite. things began to happen between lovers stormy quarrels, after which the queen cajoled orlov with generous gifts. although flirting was extremely common in society,

its rules were marked by emphasized theatricality, and never violated the principles of modesty and chastity. love relationships remained the lot of the boudoir. they were not flaunted; on the contrary, they were carefully hidden. it was considered unworthy to compromise the name of the beloved and to boast about love victories. grigory could not find a place for himself, why his beloved was delaying the announcement of their marriage, was she really so worried that she would think about these people, she is empress, she is free to do what she wants and love who she wants, in response, catherine only repeated, everything has its time, but upon arrival in moscow she became alarmed. gosuda did not go on pilgrimage to

the resurrection monastery, she was accompanied by gregory, not even in the same carriage with her, but next to her, on horseback, but someone started a rumor that a couple was going to get married in the monastery, what started here, excitement, protests, murmurs, among the officers, it was even revealed that the conspirators were planning to physically destroy grigory orlov and all his brothers. russian the nobility rejected the idea of ​​the empress entering into a marganatic marriage. this term denoted a marriage between a representative of the reigning house and a person of lower origin. in the case of a marganatic marriage, neither the spouse nor the children inherited the wealth and titles of the parents of the spouse of higher social status. catherine did not want to obey

the general opinion. in moscow and other cities , a decree of the sovereign was read to the beat of drums, forbidding residents to engage in subjects that did not concern them. ekaterina even decided to raise the issue of her marriage at the state council. finally, nikita ivanovich panin, a longtime rival of the orlovs, took the floor. the empress does what she wants, but mrs. orlova will not be the russian empress. the issue was closed.

gregory's head was spinning with drunkenness, and the days merged one with another in the frenzy of revelry. catherine was ready to give him everything, everything except one thing, official recognition of his rights to her. she tried to reassure her lover as best she could, but the outcome was clear in advance; having gotten married, they would doom themselves to the fate of peter ii. grigory could not calm down his anger, trying to forget himself, he began to allow himself to be betrayed by agula, it was like on the spot. the empress knew about this, but did not find the strength to break with her favorite. there were fewer and fewer people around her whom she truly trusted and, most importantly, she loved gregory. in september 1771 .

the money brought was sealed to stop the spread of infection, but someone started a rumor that the archbishop decided to appropriate all the funds for himself. as a result, he was torn to pieces by the crowd. rioters looted the miracle of fydanskaya monasteries rushed to destroy rich houses and plague hospitals, and captured the kremlin. only thanks to the troops under the command of general pyotr irobkin it was possible to suppress the riot and establish quarantines around

the city, but the epidemic did not stop. catherine knew only one person. who, rushing into this horror, will be able to save the mother throne. she sent her gregory to moscow. arriving in the city, orlov ordered the creation of specialized infectious diseases hospitals, an increase in the total number of hospitals and an increase in doctors' salaries. city were divided into 27 areas, on the territory of which the registration and isolation of patients was carried out. as well as the removal of the dead, and most importantly, those infected who had undergone treatment were offered financial support. men discharged from quarantine received 15 kopecks at city outposts. per day, women - 10. married people discharged from the hospital received 10 rubles. singles at five. at

the same time, a loaf of rye bread cost about 1 kopeck. this measure became after its completion , a medal was minted in honor of grigory orlov with the inscription russia has such sons in itself for deliverance moscow from an ulcer in 1771. victory over the plague made catherine believe that her grisha was capable of much. the empress put him at the head of the russian delegation, which went to negotiate peace with the ottoman empire. the russian-turkish war had been going on for 4 years and both sides needed

a break. however, being a good organizer and a brave warrior, grigory orlov was completely '. the ottoman side refused to discuss this issue. the negotiations ended in failure. catherine's hopes were not justified. she began to grow cold towards her favorite. on the way to st. petersburg, gregory was turned around by the tsars. courier, giving him an order from the sovereign to return to his estate for an indefinite time. korlov received rich compensation, estate services, diamonds, and the main title of prince of the holy roman empire, which catherine specifically begged for him from the austrian emperor.

gregory took these gifts as a bitter mockery. not used to losing, he consoled himself with the thought. nikita panin, a longtime enemy of the orlovs, celebrated his victory. he strengthened his influence at court and he even found a new lover for catherine.

could not erase her from her heart, and meanwhile another contender sought her favor. catherine knew grigory potemkin for a long time, since the time of the palace coup. all these years, the tall, handsome , witty man was in the shadow of his mother-in-law, grigory orlov. he himself, when appearing at court, did not hide his feelings, he clearly strived to become the empress not just a faithful servant, but someone more, but the sovereign... did not notice this for a long time. grigory aleksandrovich

potemkin, being a sergeant of the horse guards participated in the conspiracy that brought catherine ii to power. like other guardsmen, he was awarded a promotion to the rank, formalized the orders of deputies to the settled commission and carried out other assignments.

rum, castro, product of stellor group. over time, grigory orlov again gained access to the empress, as a good friend, nothing more. one day, leaving catherine’s, he began to go down the stairs and saw. that a happy rival was rising to meet him; when the two grigori drew level, potemkin greeted him and asked: “what’s new at court?

orlovlis grinned. nothing, just you go up and i go down. this is the last of the legends about the great favorites of the great empress. according to some estimates, for the entire time."

chismensky, in the same expedition his brother, fyodor, showed himself heroically, commanding the ship. after the rise of potemkin, the orlovs retired. they put the estate in order and successfully farmed. the most famous russian breed of horses in the world - orlovsky trotter, was bred in the voronezh province at the stud farm of alexei orlov, ekaterina was resting after working with papers, when gregory suddenly appeared. after

a short disgrace, he received the right to return to the capital. at the same moment there was a loud barking, whose dog is this? catherine asked in surprise. orlov answered my wife as if nothing had happened. this is how the former favorite informed the empress about his marriage. apparently, my destiny is to love women who cannot be loved,” said grigory. cousin katenka zinovieva grew up before his eyes, and he always took care of her like a brother. katya turned 15 when her parents died. 4 years. forty years later, gregory i felt hopelessly in love. katya reciprocated. church law

prohibited marriages between such close relatives. however, orlov was true to himself; he again decided to make a breakthrough. it is not surprising that the news of gregory’s marriage to his own cousin turned into a scandal. the decision of the senate was harsh; the newlyweds were separated and sent to monasteries for marriage. considered invalid, but unexpectedly for everyone, this decision was canceled by the empress; moreover, she granted the newly-minted princess orlova the court title of state lady and gave her her portrait. what was behind this generosity? friendly affection for a former

favorite, a secret feeling of guilt or an understanding that... that true love in their circle is a rare thing. it happened that the official favorite of the empress found a heartfelt passion on the side. the monarch's reaction was unpredictable. having learned that catherine’s young lover ivan rimsky korsakov fell in love with her friend proskovya bruss, the empress immediately removed her favorite ifreylina from the court. however, when different. the empress herself got engaged young couple. the orlovs traveled through moscow, once saved by gregory from the plague. but human memory is short.

clods flew into their carriage. dirt, a marriage not approved by the church was condemned by people, none of their friends came to their wedding, the count and countess raised glasses of champagne, surrounded by their own serfs. their quiet happiness turned out to be short-lived. 4 years later, ekaterina orlova died of tuberculosis. unable to withstand this blow, gregory lost his mind. he spent the rest of his days on his neboruchny estate, where the moscow neboruchny garden is now located. in in april 1783, four orlov brothers carried the coffin out of the house to place it on

the funeral road. but...

going on a multi-month voyage, catherine ii challenged her long-time geopolitical enemy, the ottoman empire. the empress understood that now was the time to declare russian rights to the fertile

black sea lands, so that the whole world would hear about it. she was not the first woman on the russian throne, but the glory of her reign eclipses the achievements of many male monarchs. with her is already the greatest state received new territories in the west, in the south and in the north. during her reign, the country's population almost doubled; for 34 years, 8 months and 8 days, catherine ruled the russian empire, which stretched from the baltic to the pacific ocean. getting ready to visit the newly annexed lands, catherine recalled another trip. 43 years ago, the young princess angel of cerbs crossed

the russian border. when the girl first saw these endless expanses, something stirred in her soul. the future empress realized with all her being. that her fate is forever connected with russia, and this feeling, as strong as first love, pierced her to the very heart. the territory of the russian state evolved over centuries; its basis was the muscovite kingdom, which arose after the liberation of the ancient russian principalities. from the power of the horde khans. during the reign of ivan the terrible, the remnants of the golden horde became part of muscovy. the movement to the east continued under the kings of the romanov dynasties; by the end of the reign of alexei

mikhailovich, the muscovite kingdom included the left bank of ukraine. thanks to the victory peter i in the northern war with sweden, russia received new lands in the baltic and was proclaimed an empire. but vast territories are big problems, multinational population, different climatic conditions, gigantic distances. to deliver the imperial decree to the far east, the messengers needed almost a year, each region here needed its own approach, and each people... had every right to a special attitude towards it, they had to study each other and learn to live together. arriving in russia, catherine made a sharp break with her past, she

she learned the russian language so well that she spoke it without an accent, stood for long services in orthodox churches, became addicted to folk entertainment, led round dances and... potemkin devoted his days and nights to his favorite pastime, study. his quickness of mind, phenomenal memory, and knowledge of languages ​​brought him a gold medal from moscow university and a trip to

st. petersburg to present himself to empress elizabeth petrovna herself. it seemed that a brilliant academic career awaited the talented young man, but after returning to moscow, grigory began to appear less and less often in classes. in the university... it was not so for the icon-savior monastery, where there were many books, as the students wanted, he ran through the old book collection of the slavic-greek-latin academy, read voraciously. the authorities did not approve of the frequent absenteeism, and the young man was expelled. everything had to start from scratch. potemkin moved to the capital and entered the guards service. soon he found himself in a whirlpool of events that... will dramatically change his fate, vivat katerina flew from everywhere, overthrowing her

husband peter ii, the empress took command of the troops loyal to her; she was riding in the uniform of the preobrazhensky regiment, but then she noticed that the sword did not have the lanyard required by the regulations. suddenly some guards sergeant appeared nearby, he jumped up and quickly tied the lanyard to the hilt of her sword. grigory, the officer introduced himself. and now potemkin was riding next to her, with the woman whom he would love for the rest of his life, with the empress, who from now on ruled a huge power. first of all, the empress decided to count the number of subjects in order determine the tax potential of the country. but

there was another reason: catherine wanted to get to know the people better, for whom she was now responsible before god. at that time, military teams were sent to villages and cities to carry out inspections. they held people for a head count. often the census was accompanied by beatings and exactions, and residents fled from these events like fire. having learned about this, catherine said: “i would also run away.” she ordered not to worry the people, but to oblige the authorities in villages and cities, compile registers of the number of inhabitants. the information received was sent to the capital, where the senate carried out a general calculation. by the beginning of the reign of catherine ii, the country's population was 19 million people. at the end of her reign, 36 million. the last general census in the russian empire. took place in

1897, determined the number of its inhabitants at 125.5 million people, with a population density of 6.7 people per square verst. today the population density of russia is 8.5 people per 1 km. if in moscow this figure is almost 5,000, then in irkutsk there are only three areas. potemkin lost his head, her blue eyes, curls, became, it was no coincidence that politicians, wars, courtiers sought the empress’s favorable gaze, he also tried to attract her attention, caught glances and fell to his knees to kiss her hand, catherine, as if she had no idea about the feelings of the young man guardsman, and so...

which almost deprived him of his last hope of rapprochement. it all started when grigory fell ill with a fever. the inflammation spread to the eye. it gets worse. after improper treatment, my eye stopped seeing completely. potemkin. he was acutely worried about the resulting

deformity, and besides, there was a rumor that his eye was knocked out by the empress’s favorite grigory orlov out of jealousy. potemkin stopped appearing at court, he did not want catherine to see him like this, the sovereign herself pulled him out of his seclusion, ordering him to come to court. of course, grigory could not. refuse, overcoming embarrassment, he put on a black bandage and returned to the capital. even if his love dreams are not destined to come true, potemkin has no right to refuse to serve his fatherland. the empress appreciated his courage. not every courtier with a reputation as a handsome man would risk publicly demonstrating such a mutilation. in addition,

potemkin was witty, well-read, and ambitious. catherine confidently entrusted him with the affairs of the appointed commission. the empress had special aspirations for this body and attracted only those whom she trusted. the laid commission was convened by catherine ii in 1767. the task of this body was to compile a new set of russian laws. representatives of all classes of peoples inhabiting the russian federation were involved in the commission. empire, 28 deputies from the government, 161 from the nobles, 200.

expectations, its participants could not reach a common opinion on any issue, and after the outbreak of the russian-turkish war, the meetings were interrupted. by this time, the empress was convinced that the ideas of popular representation in russia were not yet being adopted. nevertheless, the results of

the commission’s work were used 7 years later during the provincial reform. meanwhile , catherine the second switched to foreign policy issues that required urgent solutions. by order of the sovereign grigory potemkin went to sweden to deliver important papers to the russian envoy in stockholm. representatives of the swedish court gathered in the hall of the royal palace. on the walls, among the old standards, grigory saw russians. the swedish nobleman proudly said: “here are the banners that our ancestors took from yours near narva. potemkin remembered his father, who fought against the swedes, the blood rushed to his face, ours took away your lands and cities, which we still own now.

having learned about this, catherine just smiled. being a brilliant diplomat, potemkin remained a straightforward person and infinitely devoted to his state, and the empress knew how to appreciate this. a century and a half before the reign of catherine ii, the western border of the state passed only 230 km from moscow. by the middle of the 16th century, the empire already included the lands of eastern ukraine and belarus. however, many lived on the territory of the neighboring state of the polish-lithuanian commonwealth. orthodox christians who were discriminated against by the catholic majority. caring for the position of her fellow believers, catherine the great achieved the election of her protege, stanislav ponitovsky, to the polish throne, and then , together with austria and prussia, took part in three sections of the polish-lithuanian commonwealth. the result of these

divisions was the annexation of western ukrainian, western belarusian, part of polish lands, as well as lithuania and courland to russia. thanks to catherine's decision, the borders of the empire. often poorer, the reason for this was also wars, eternal disputes over land between the gentry and the rebellious spirit that reigned here, it persisted even after the polish lands became part of... russian empire. the poles' memory of their own statehood and the desire for

independence more than once led to uprisings against the russian authorities. gregory already had the court rank of chamberlain and the rank of major general, but the court was disgusted with his intrigues. his feelings for catherine had not cooled, but now he did not give himself the will to show them openly. what good is it if the empress expects from him not romantic confessions, but a job well done. this is exactly the kind of thing potemkin was looking for, a big, real case in which he could show himself to the fullest. energy and love. in 1768, the troops of the crimean khan made another raid on russian lands. a new russian-turkish war began, potemkin went to... its volunteers. the crimean khanate

remained one of the last fragments of the golden horde. year after year, the southern border of russia, ukrainian and polish lands were subjected to raids by the khan's cavalry. the khans robbed, burned, and killed. men, women and children were taken captive and sold at the slave market in kafe, today's feodosia. any attempts by russia to gain a foothold in the northern shores of the black sea were brought to warriors with the ottoman empire, because the crimean khanate remained its vassal. throughout the black sea region, from the danube to the don, turkish fortresses stood, threatening the southern borders of the russian empire. ivan the terrible also tried to eliminate this threat, but even so. even peter ii did not succeed in this. now she has arrived. the reports

that the empress received from the russian-turkish front increasingly mentioned the zealous exploits of major general potemkin, but without them, catherine knew what he saw and...

the custom of the crimean tatars and local peasants, he saw the luxury of the vizier and the villages devastated by the ottomans, he saw real life, real people, and not from the windows of a palace or carriage. fleeing from the russian army, the khan's nobles abandoned their numerous wives from grief. potemkin sent these women to the russian borders so that they would not die of hunger.

one day, a letter with a familiar stamp was delivered to potemkin. mister general, lieutenant cavalier, everything that you undertake, you do out of ardent zeal for me and my beloved fatherland. i ask you not to trifle put yourself in danger. grigory alexandrovich took this letter as a confession. the empress loves and is waiting for him in st. petersburg. by that time, the war with the ottoman empire, which had been extremely successful for russia,

was coming to an end. potemkin could share the glory of a talented commander with a pure heart. return to the capital, dreams came true overnight, his dreams of an unattainable beloved woman, her dreams of a determined and intelligent man. from now on, on holiday, next to the empress was her new hero, a handsome man, my dear, on which no king is like. hey!

found in gregory not only a faithful executor of her plans, but also a wise adviser. she confessed to potemkin, i see your burning zeal in everything. a broad meaning, and this zeal was something to apply to; six months after the victory over the turks, the empress suppressed the largest mass uprising in russian history, the pugachev rebellion. now it was necessary to correct errors in the state structure in order to protect the country from new revolts.

ceremony, entry into position of the president of the russian federation, vladimir putin. live broadcast on may 7 at 12:00 moscow time. special attention to ekaterina. devoted to carrying out provincial reform. for the first time, russia was divided into provinces by peter ii. their number has increased over the years. however, each of the provinces occupied too large a territory. the huge state remained divided into gigantic areas without taking into account the nationalities living there, linguistic characteristics, economy, and crafts.

thus, the distant northern vyatka obeyed they tried to control kazan and smolensk. catherine the second decided to reduce the size of the provinces, their number increased to 52 for each about 4000 population. in the administrative center there was a regiment of soldiers, which was supported by the entire province. in certain regions, usually near the border, a general government or, in the russian style, viceroyalty arose. catherine, unlike peter the great. i didn’t like foreign words in public use and was propagated by the russians. the pugachev uprising left a significant part of the empire in ruins. was it is necessary to rebuild destroyed cities, factories, fortresses, and most importantly, take measures to

eradicate the causes of the rebellion. elimination of its consequences ekaterina. when preparing reform projects, grigory potemkin was obliged to delve deeply into the particularities of relations between various peoples, from central russia to the orenburg steppes, the urals and siberia. the basis for the development of siberia was the creation of a system of ostrogs and fortified settlements. first of all, the banks of the rivers tabola, irtysh, and abi were settled.

for the soft gold of siberian sables, martens, arctic foxes that entered the russian treasury were paid huge sums of money abroad. from 1640 to 1650, fur trade provided up to 20% of moscow's income.

when it came to state issues, catherine always reserved the last word for herself; these issues grew more

and more over the years, including the fight against the abuses of officials in managing the national outskirts and building new roads. in 1730 , the government began developing the siberian highway, a road from moscow to lake baikal, and further to china in the far east. the route also gave a new impetus to trade with china, from where tea came to russia. the southern branch of the siberian tract would later be called the great tea route. under catherine , the first russian tea trading company, perlo, was founded in 1787. with his sons, a special clan of tea traders appeared, who were called teapots. it was from this time that tea began to be sold not only in the capitals, but throughout russia. the more

influential potemkin became, the more enemies he made; in order to stay at court he had to have a party of loyalists supporters. neglected the behind-the-scenes game, he relied on catherine’s support, this turned out to be not enough, the nobleman was forced to choose the empress, potemkin or their loyalty.

then catherine made an extraordinary maneuver. over time, catherine’s heart will be occupied by other younger, albeit less talented, nominees. potemkin will defiantly stay away from them, not showing his jealousy in any way. in the meantime, having retained peace in the winter palace, he

has mixed feelings.

but potemkin insisted: this is the exact estimate. to the south, the construction of kherson with a shipyard and a fortress began. the city was built from local stone, timber and iron were delivered along the dnieper. residents were obliged to keep vegetable gardens to feed themselves and the military. and again they rushed by express to st. petersburg, and then back to the south. as her beloved husband, the empress sent gregory either a fur coat or felt boots. he, in

turn, pampered her with trophy gifts, turkish coffee or elegant oriental trinkets. rarely a day passed without a letter from novorossiya.

trees survived until the thirties of xx century. temki named the cities in honor of his beloved woman, and gave the name slava ekaterina to the first ship of the black sea fleet. and he was already preparing to present the empress with the main gift of his life. the endless azure sea, fertile lands, the expanse of the southern mountains. crimea. according to the terms of the agreement concluded in 1774 , kyuchu. treaty of norway, the ottoman empire renounced its crimean possessions. the crimean khanate became an independent state. however, this state of affairs was not satisfactory. no one, neither empress catherine, nor the turkish sultan, nor the crimean nobility. a source of instability remained in crimea, threatening russian borders. the only way to eliminate it was to peacefully annex the peninsula to

russia. and grigory alexandrovich found a way out. with catherine's consent, he organized the resettlement of christians inhabiting the crimean khanate. vans with settlers, with those who had hitherto filled the khan's treasury, blacksmiths and fishermen, engineers and salt workers, reached russian territory. and the tatar nobility rebelled against the one who allowed this, against khan shahingerey. khan asked for help from the russian empress. then potemkin sent troops to the peninsula. but almost no force had to be used. in november 1782. shahin giray signed a renunciation and left crimea, and his khanate ceased to exist. in the manifesto on the annexation of crimea, catherine ii promised the local residents sacredly and unshakably for herself and the successors

to our throne, to support them on an equal basis with our natural subjects, to protect and protect their persons, property, churches and their natural faith. however, this manifesto is several. with part of the russian empire and received name tauride province. at the same time, the king of eastern georgia, irakli ii, trying to save his people from turkish and persian raids, turned to catherine with

a request to accept his kingdom under russian protection. in 1783 , the treaty of st. george was concluded, according to which eastern georgia recognized the protectorate of russia, and catherine. acted as a guarantor of its independence and integrity, the agreement equalized the rights of georgian and russian nobles and allowed for the establishment of trade relations. further expansion of russia into the caucasus catherine's heirs, emperors alexander ii and nicholas i, will take over. in the meantime, potemkin, who received the title of prince of tauride, began active settlement of crimea. the bulk of the migrants. consisted of residents of russian lands, as well as kalmyks, nagai nomads, bulgarians, moldovans, greeks, and armenians. in addition to former subjects of the ottoman empire, immigrants from europe appeared here. karsikans, polish jews, albanians, poles, swedes. during the

time that the newly acquired southern territories were being settled, catherine changed several favorites. and although potemkin did not remain without female attention, their spiritual closeness with catherine was difficult to replace with anything, and what is equally important, their views on the state structure remained united. in crimea, as

throughout the russian empire, religious tolerance and respect for national characteristics prevailed. in local schools. they taught not only in russian, but in greek, tatar, and italian. not only christian churches, but also new mosques were built here. by order of potemkin, a koran was printed for the tatar moles, which was not republished by the last khan. and the tatar aristocracy received the privileges of the russian nobility and was included in the bureaucracy . already the next generation of tatars had surnames formed in russian.

appointed two senate audits of the financial activities of grigory alexandrovich. their result was the complete acquittal of his serene highness. moreover, the treasury remained in debt to his heirs, since potemkin often spent his own money without waiting for the promised allocations. the decision to personally visit the new southern possessions of mature this is not the first year for ekaterina. and finally, the time has come, all allies and enemies must

see that russia is firmly entrenched in the black sea. from st. petersburg the path lay towards kiev. here, accompanied by high-ranking nobles and foreign ambassadors, catherine boarded the dnepr galley. a whole flotilla followed her. along the way, travelers saw

rich villages along the banks, blooming gardens and fat herds. his serene highness was sure that these regions would soon begin to bring russia the greatest profits, but what he saw was so similar miraculously, many did not believe in his successes and later started talking about the so-called potemkin villages. the expression potemkin villages means a false appearance of prosperity. it was first introduced into use by the saxon envoy to the russian court, georg von gelbick. he himself did not participate in the trip, but believed that the settlement on the banks of the dnieper consisted of painted cardboard shields; peasants were allegedly brought from other provinces along with herds and driven along the river from place to place. although this ridiculous story has been refuted many times, it will remain for a long time entrenched in the mass consciousness. kherson

shocked catherine, on the site of a recent desert a city grew up, with a fortress, barracks, shipyards, a port, an admiralty and an arsenal, many inhabitants, a noisy bazaar, even an austrian one. the hero, who joined the voyage in kremenchug, endlessly criticized potemkin’s projects, said in surprise: this already looks like something, before the eyes of the empress three ships of the black sea military... fleet were launched, catherine looked enthusiastically at potemkin,

to whom this the look was more valuable than all of him victories a rich table was laid in the inkerman palace of sevastopol, but due to the tightly drawn curtains, the hall was in twilight. potemkin was preparing the main surprise for the woman he loved: the empress and her retinue entered, at the prince’s sign the curtains were drawn aside and everyone froze. the sevastopol harbor appeared before the eyes of those present. your majesty, this is the russian black sea fleet - said the most serene one. the guns struck, and the glory of catherine ascended on the ship.