XI International Conference of the Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia
10th-14th July 2023
Elena Teibenbacher (Karl-Franzens-University, Graz, Austria), "'Only by Russia a German princess could be thus transformed...': the “Russification” of Catherine II according to Western sources"
Empress Catherine II (1729-1796) argued her adaption to Russian traditions as necessary compliance, as a symbol of respectful enlightened rulership and as indispensable for her political survival.
In contrast, this article discusses the depiction of Catherine II in 18th and 19th century western European sources as being transformed and corrupted by Russian political and societal culture. It analyzes how the Empress was portrayed pars pro toto as a representative of characteristics commonly associated with Russian autocratic rulership and non-European culture. It looks at sources that address the “Russification” of Catherine II from different angles. Some tailor it to Catherine’s person and character individually, some are more apologetic or even justifying while others set it into larger contexts such as culture or gender.
This article aims at answering the following questions: How did general perceptions of Russian political and societal culture intertwine with the ambivalent image of Catherine II as a wife unseating her husband, as a woman of questionable virtue and as female ruler per se? How did her role in the European political power-play correlate with those depictions? Furthermore, did sources as early as the 18th and 19th century acknowledge the underlying issue of “generalization through Russification” and attempt to detangle the knot? Finally, to what degree can today’s historians separate those interwoven aspects?
