Russian Empire · 1762-1796

Catherine the Great

A German princess seizes the Russian throne from her husband and rules for 34 years. Students follow Catherine from St Petersburg to the Black Sea, read about her letters with French thinkers, and face the Pugachev rebellion that showed the anger of Russia's serfs.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1762 to AD 1783
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

A German princess seizes the Russian throne from her husband and rules for 34 years. Students follow Catherine from St Petersburg to the Black Sea, read about her letters with French thinkers, and face the Pugachev rebellion that showed the anger of Russia's serfs.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain how Catherine came to power in 1762.
  • Locate the lands Russia gained around the Black Sea during her reign.
  • Weigh Catherine's Enlightenment ideas against the reality of serfdom in Russia.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1762

From Stettin to St Petersburg

Open the map in 1762 and find Stettin on the Baltic, where Catherine was born, and St Petersburg, where she ruled. How far apart are they?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1783

To the Black Sea

Compare the lands north of the Black Sea in 1715 and in 1783. Find the Crimean peninsula. Who rules it in 1783?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1783

A road to China

Turn on Trade Routes in 1783 and find the Kyakhta Tea Road. Why did an empire that reached from Poland to the Pacific care about trade with China?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Catherine was not Russian and had no claim to the throne by birth. How could she hold power for 34 years?
  2. She wrote to Voltaire and invited Diderot to St Petersburg. Why would an empress want famous French thinkers as friends?
  3. Her Instruction of 1767 criticised cruelty and torture, yet serfdom grew under her rule. How can we explain this?
  4. Pugachev claimed to be the dead tsar Peter III. Why might peasants follow such a claim?
  5. Russia annexed Crimea in 1783. How might the Crimean Tatars living there have experienced the change?
4

Game round

10 min

Play a round of Rule History as Catherine the Great. Make her choices about nobles, serfs and war. Afterwards, discuss: which of your decisions helped ordinary Russians, and which helped only the nobles?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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