Catherine The Great Inspires Me!

It's a long stretched weekend in a cool wintery season. Most of my friends took the opportunity to cross border over a four hour drive to neighboring Dubai for winter shopping and some skyscrappers sightings. Some went camping at the Wadis from Wadi Hoqayn to Wadi Henai. Others went up the canyons at the mountain of the sun or Jebel Sham and later crossed to the green mountain called Jebel Akhdar for spectacular scenic views. A few preferred to lay their bodies on the soft dunes while staring at the stars for 1001 Arabian night experience. Nearer to home, many families went to Seeb Beaches and collected buckets and buckets of fresh clams during low tide. In my case, the three to four off days over the long weekend was well spent with Mr Right @home-sweet-home. 

After being invited for a Birthday Bash of a to be young doctor with Black & Red theme that lasted till wee hours, we had great time over the two remaining days to soften our elderly muscles by relaxing them without doing anything except our eyes glued on the screens - he at PS3 and me on my faithful iPad watching movies one after the other :D Of all the classic movies The Aristocrat, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Muskateers and others which I watched, the biography of the longest ruling Empress of Russia Catherine The Great inspired me the most. Her Power, Her Intrigue and Her Passion truly brought to mind about something on 'everyone has a story to tell' and to be shared!

Born on 1729 in Stettin and barely fifteen the former German-Prussian Princess Sophia Augusta Frederika left her home to the Russian court and later married to Peter III, then Grand Duke Peter of Holstein-Gottorp. She was named Catherine after being received into the Russian Orthodox Church. An inteligent young lady she even learned Russian language. She also escaped from her lifeless marriage to other passions mainly riding, reading, diplomacy, arts and culture. She read widely and corresponded with many thinkers of that era namely French writer Francois-Marie Arouet @Voltaire and philosopher Denis Diderot. Hence, not surprising during her reign her main interests were in education and culture. This suited well with her desire when she wrote in her memoir that she already made up her mind when she took the journey to Russia - "to do whatever was necessary, and to profess to believe what was required of her, to become qualified to wear the Crown."

Her publicly known 'private-life' aside , I truly admired her courage and determination as a young lady and later as Empress of Russia for more than three decades. She was thirty three when she became the Tzarina and one of the country's most influential rulers liken to Peter The Great. Like most women, she needed a man in her life. That person was her life-time favourite Prince Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tavricheski, a Russian military leader or Grand Admiral. 

With this trusted tall and broad partner in a remarkable partnersip she shared her passion in expansioning her nation and  subsequently   peacefully annexed Crimea. Potemkin always eager to prove his worth to her and once wrote: "The only way I can express my gratitude to Your Majesty is to shed my blood for Your glory ..." Indeed, most of their letters survived which according to Montefiore in 2001 revealed their "...mutually admired intelligence and power." His death with Catherine's letter in his pocket certainly distraught her and ordered all social life in St. Petersburg be put on hold!

Another aspect of Catherine The Great which inspired me was not only her challenged of the social norms of the time for the betterment of her people but also her humanity to her subjects. She's modest to her people within her households. She's a champion for education, thus the legislation of the Statute of National Education was not a surprised. When she found one of her servants was reading a book, that gave her the idea to have a palace library that soon collected 38,000 books. She wrote a manual for the education of young children and founded the famous Smolny Institute for young girls of the nobility and was later opened to petit-bourgeois. She always believed that education could change one's life and turn them away from backwardness. Today her legacy of art and culture formed the foundation of Hermitage Museum, one of the oldest museums in the world with over three million items! She knew what she wanted and what she was doing! 

Finally, five years after Portemkin's death she died at aged 67 after ruled Russia for 34 years. In sum, the name given to her as Catherine The Great truly reflected her personality and contributions.  Indeed, she had changed the landscape of Russia as well as an Empress who brought humanity and tolerance to her people and nation! 

Picture of Catherine The Great (copyright of history.com from google image)

"Fearless in war, passionate in love, ruthless with her opponents, she would transform her struggling nation into a modern empire. From her intimate memoir and her personal letters, this is the story of Catherine The Great!" The Movie during wintery season that inspires me :) Acknowledgement to YouTube by Alexandrian220.