Catherine II, the pale, cultural legacy & the failure of a cross-cultural Empire

[Russophile]

I find the decision by Catherine to create the pale of settlement a fascinating topic one rarely hears discussed. I think the West, especially at this time when we are importing people en masse from vastly different cultures, could learn from Catherine's tragic lesson in cultural relations- and what happens when people fail to assimilate into the parent culture- but instead it seems we are intent on repeating history. Catherine didn't form policy in a vacuum and was aware of the reality of dominant minorities- she herself was one after all being a Germanic person ruling over the Russian people. It is interesting how Catherine tried to get the Jewish peoples to assimilate into Russian society, like she herself had done. But that the Jewish people refused to speak the Russian language or convert to Russian Orthodoxy. Creating  the pale of settlement  was the only ethical choice Catherine had if she wanted to secure her position on power in the face of a large minority who refused to assimilate and abide by her laws, and her divine authority to rule. There was no incentive for Catherine in her position as absolute monarch to be tolerant of people who would not recognize the Christian god that gave her the legitimacy to rule. Catherine knew legitimizing Jewish separateness would be tantamount to allowing the enemy to invade, as it would jeopardize her power and her society's social cohesiveness in a nation that was already overly diverse. Catherine lifted restrictions on Jews who converted to Orthodoxy, so any blanket statements that imply her decision was based on ethnic hatred don't hold up to scrutiny.

In her letters Catherine mentioned how the enlightenment sounded good on paper, but was wholly impractical in a society as ethnically diverse as Russia. Catherine saw it as her duty to make all these different people 'wear the same clothes'. It seems she realized the importance of assimilation into Russian culture as a pre-requisite for the Empire's future survival. You can read about her ideas regarding these things in this article: A Forgotten Love Triangle: Voltaire, Diderot, and Catherine the Great - Cultural Weekly

I think Russian history is one big critique on the failure of multiculturalism, and what happens when you expand a society to incorporate vastly different peoples who are unwilling to assimilate, such as the Jewish peoples from the Levant and the Islamic peoples from Asia. We see Catherine's idealistic and naive attempts to bridge the cultural differences of contrasting people's by trying to use intellectual ideas and nationalistic propaganda based around a strong leader to mold everyone into Russian citizens failed. Biological reality dictates you can't stop genetically related peoples from wanting to self identify with their own culture and group. The Russian Empire became too large and thus diverse and succumbed to a minority who failed to assimilate, organized Jewry, in my opinion showing diversity is a weakness. As we see with its successor the USSR breaking away along ethnic lines to form the Russian Federation, multiculturalism failed, twice. I daresay the fact the monarchy was ethnically German was also a contributing factor in the alienation of ordinary Russians towards it and lead to its demise. It is doubtful that other nations will stop being willfully ignorant of Russia long enough to learn from her history.

No matter your personal opinions of Catherine, you have to admit she left ethnic Europeans with an incredible cultural legacy. It defies logic that these items left to us by Catherine survived WWII and the collapse of two Russian civilizations, yet their magnificence hasn't stopped them from somehow remaining unknown outside of Russia. They truly are real treasures and a high point in European culture, and allow us a tangible glimpse into Catherine's world, and a direct connection to Catherine herself.

Great Imperial Crown commissioned by Catherine II, 1762. The Great Imperial crown was worn by all the Russian rulers at their coronation ceremonies, starting from Catherine II onwards.


Great Imperial Crown, reverse.


Imperial regalia commissioned under Catherine II. The small imperial crown to the left was made in 1856 (but was based on designs from 1797) for Empresses consort.



Vigilius Eriksen, Portrait of Catherine II in front of a mirror, c. 1763, Oil on canvas. State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Note the sceptre and globe. These were redesigned into their current form at a later date by Catherine II.  Notice the miniature crown worn by Catherine II in this painting. If you look at photographs taken of the crown jewels after they were rediscovered, you can see there are two small crowns. I think one of them is the miniature crown of Catherine II seen in this painting. I am unsure where it ended up-it seems to have disappeared from the modern collection.