Jan Kusber Katharina II., das Russländische Imperium und die Bildung seiner Untertanen

The article makes a contribution to the neglected history of Russia as an Empire in the eighteenth century. It examines the question whether “Empire” was a frame of thought for Empress Catherine in initiating her reforms of the Russian State. The reform policy dealt with in the article is the educa-tion of her subjects. It is argued that Catherine started an imperial dialogue with different segments of the elite in order to gauge the possibilities and objections to uniting her empire through a uniform system of education. Catherine, with reference to different ethnicities, local elites and various strata of society, used a very flexible and pragmatic approach to create a balance between uniformity and centralization on the one hand, and the inclusion of local traditions and aspirations on the other. In this way she aimed to offer an education not only to the nobility but to a broader range of elite strata in the cities, provinces and especially ethnically mixed regions, to transform them from subjects into citizens, and to create “Russia as a European Power.”

Ø zurück zur homepage

Ø zurück zum Heft