Editing Catherine the Great (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeevna by L.Caravaque (1745, Gatchina museum).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Young Catherine soon after her arrival in Russia, by [[Louis Caravaque]], 1745]]
Catherine was born on 2 May 1729 in [[Szczecin|Stettin]], [[Province of Pomerania (1653–1815)|Province of Pomerania]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], as Princess Sophia Augusta Frederica (Sophie Auguste Friederike) von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg.<ref name="Bezemer">{{Cite book |first=Jan Willem |last=Bezemer |title=Een geschiedenis van Rusland. Van Rurik tot Brezjnev |location=Amsterdam |publisher=G.A. van Oorschot |page=111 |language=Dutch |isbn=9028206833 |edition=3rd |oclc=65583925}}</ref> Her mother was [[Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp]]. Her father, [[Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst]], belonged to the [[House of Ascania|ruling German family]] of [[Principality of Anhalt|Anhalt]].<ref>Ferdinand Siebigk: ''[[s:de:ADB:Christian August (Fürst von Anhalt-Zerbst)|Christian August (Fürst von Anhalt-Zerbst)]]''. In: [[Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie]] (ADB). Band 4, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, S. 157–59.</ref> He failed to become the duke of the [[Duchy of Courland and Semigallia]] and, at the time of his daughter's birth, he held the rank of a Prussian general in his capacity as governor of the city of Stettin. However, because her second cousin Peter III converted to Orthodox Christianity, her mother's brother became the heir to the Swedish throne{{sfnm|Streeter|2007|1p=3|Massie|2011|2pp=10–19}} and two of her first cousins, [[Gustav III]] and [[Charles XIII]], became [[Monarchy of Sweden|Kings of Sweden]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Cronholm, Neander N. |title=A History of Sweden from the Earliest Times to the Present Day|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924071200822|year=1902|publisher=Chicago, New York [etc.] The author}} ch 37.</ref> In accordance with the prevailing custom among the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess and from tutors. According to her memoirs, Sophie was considered a [[tomboy]] and trained herself to master a sword.

Catherine found her childhood to be uneventful; she once wrote to her correspondent [[Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm|Baron Grimm]], "I see nothing of interest in it".<ref>{{cite book|author=Sergeant, Philip W. |title=The Courtships of Catherine the Great|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|date=2004|page=5}}</ref> Although Sophie was born a princess, her family had little money; her rise to power was supported by her mother Joanna's wealthy relatives, who were both nobles and royal relations.{{sfnm|Streeter|2007|1p=3|Massie|2011|2pp=10–19}} The more than 300 sovereign entities of the Holy Roman Empire, many of them small and powerless, made for a highly competitive political system in which the various princely families competed for advantages over one another, often by way of [[political marriage]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|Rounding|2006|pp=7–8}}</ref>

For smaller German princely families, an advantageous marriage was one of the best means of advancing their interests. To improve the position of her house, Sophie was groomed throughout her childhood to become the wife of a powerful ruler. In addition to her native German, Sophie became fluent in French, the [[lingua franca]] of European elites in the 18th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Rounding|2006|p=10}}</ref> The young Sophie received the standard education for an 18th-century German princess, concentrating on etiquette, French, and [[Lutheranism#Doctrine|Lutheran theology]].{{sfn|Brechka|1969|p=40}}

In 1739, when Catherine was 10, she met the second cousin who would become her future husband and [[Peter III of Russia]]. She later wrote that she immediately found Peter detestable and that she stayed at one end of the castle and Peter at the other.{{sfn|Streeter|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MOdE2FT4Q-oC&dq=%22they+hailed+this+eleven+year+old+child%22&pg=PA4 4–6]}} She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol.