Over spring break I enjoyed reading Pulitzer Prize?winning Russian imperial biographer Robert K. Massie's reexamination of one of the greatest leaders of the early modern era. In his book, "Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman," which weighs in at 656 pages, Massie paints an interesting portrait of the Tsarina and her attempts to modernize Russia in the innovative, iconoclastic tradition of her 'Great' predecessor, Tsar Peter.
Catherine, one of Russia's greatest leaders, was ironically not a native Russian. Born Sophia Augusta Fredericka on April 21, 1729, into provincial German nobility, Catherine was married as a teenager to the impotent and humorless German?born nephew of childless Tsarina Elizabeth. After they ascended the Russian throne in 1761, Catherine seized the Russian crown from her unpopular husband Tsar Peter III (who soon after died under mysterious circumstances) and ruled her adopted homeland for 34 years.
She established Russia as a major European power with victories over the Ottoman Empire and three ruthless partitions of Poland. "A majestic figure in the age of monarchy," Massie writes, "Catherine was a proto?modern reformer and politician who also understood the value of good publicity, which she cultivated by patronizing French Enlightenment 'philosophes' Voltaire and Diderot." These men in turn presented her as a model of the benevolent autocrat they hoped would reform the 18th century's ossified, oppressive divine right monarchies. Catherine, however, was able to promulgate only limited social reform in the face of opposition from the Russian nobility, whose support was needed by Catherine, herself a foreign?born usurper plagued by revolts aimed at restoring a male Romanov to the throne.
Massie devotes half his text to a vivid, interesting narrative of the difficult years prior to Catherine's ascent to the imperial throne. We see Catherine developing the formidable skills she would ably deploy as empress, adroitly handling her puerile husband and his imperious aunt with a guileful blend of charm, submissiveness and carefully chosen moments of defiance. Catherine adopted the Orthodox faith and quickly learned to speak fluent Russian. This part of the book showcases Massie at his storytelling best, mixing biographical narrative, historical analysis and attention?grabbing, amusing anecdotes. His prose flows naturally, and Massie shows great skill in breaking down the complicated and unfamiliar geography of 18th?century Russia, as well as simplifying for the reader the intricate social order of the Russian aristocracy that Catherine so successfully navigated.
As Massie tackles Catherine's long reign, however, his style becomes increasingly episodic and less cohesive, with disconnected anecdotes competing with the central narrative. For example, the extraneous history of an aristocrat who married a serf and a bizarre musing on how long it takes to die after being guillotined add unnecessary pages to an already lengthy story. The chronology of Catherine's reign nevertheless moves forward: Catherine is presented as a hardworking, well?informed ruler with leanings toward humane social reform but with a firm belief that Russia could be governed only by an absolute, though enlightened, monarch.
"Catherine the Great" is an adept portrait of a ruler that sympathetically assesses Catherine as a worthy successor to Peter the Great in the effort to modernize the vast Russian Empire. Historians may wish Massie had devoted more time to the underlying forces in Russian society that limited Catherine's achievements, but general readers will find this an absorbing, classic biography written in understandable and fluid prose. It is a worthy tribute to Massie, now 82, who began his career with the 1969 Pulitzer Prize winner, "Nicholas and Alexandra." Rating: ****
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James Barasch is a sophomore majoring in history. He can be reached at James.Barasch@tufts.edu.
