YesFrederick of Anhalt-Zebst (1729 – 1796), better known as Catherine II of Russia or Catherine the Greatshe married Grand Duke Peter, of the House of Holstein-Gottorp, heir to the Duchy of Holstein and Empress Elizabeth I of Russia.

After accepting the Orthodox religion, Sofia adopted the name Catherinehe strove to become Russified as soon as possible and began to love the Russian people intensely and sincerely. On the other hand, her husband did not miss an opportunity to show his disgust at the fact that he was not German in addition to suffering from a volatile, irritable, cruel character and with symptoms of intellectual and emotional retardation. After Elizabeth I’s death, the Grand Duke was proclaimed Tsar Peter III but, clumsily, he delayed his coronation. What he explained was that he planned to replace his wife with his girlfriend.

Peter III ruled for 186 days before Catherine staged a coup with the blessing of the Army, nobility, clergy and the Russian people. Tsar Peter’s awkwardness had alienated him from the loyalty and affection of the entire Russian people. It was a clean and bloodless coup. Unfortunately, the former tsar was an element of instability, so the family of Catherine’s lover – Grigori Orlov –, because of his excessive loyalty which was not approved by the future tsarina, killed Tsar Peter III. This fact would stigmatize Catherine for much of her reign.

In early 1768 a smallpox epidemic hit Russia. The empress, who had knowledge of the variolation technique (an early form of vaccine, consisting of making an incision and inoculating the wound with smallpox germs) agreed, along with Baron Cherkashov, president of the Russian Institute of Hygiene, started an inoculation campaign across Russia. With great care the doctor was brought from London Thomas Dimsdale, a known spreader of smallpox variolation in England. Aware of Catherine II’s intentions, Frederick II of Prussia warned her in a letter about the risk of exposure to the scalpel (scalpel) and the reaction of an ignorant and superstitious society towards bloody innovations brought by people outside the orthodox religion.

Catherine II realized the reason in the advice of the Prussian king and acted in a way that surprised everyone. Before ordering the vaccination campaign to begin, he asked to be the first to be inoculated. Big scandal in court! Everyone screamed at the sky. They begged. They cry. They tried to reason with His Majesty the Emperor. There is no point. In front of the entire court, Catherine stretched out her arm and allowed the British doctor to cut her skin and insert a sample of the virus into her body.

Everyone prays for the health of Catalina who risked her health for the health of her people.

Count Orlov, the empress’s lover, rolled up his arm, He demands that he be injected with the virus so that he can share the fate of his empress. For nine days – the time considered necessary to verify the effects of the inoculation – the Russian court and people, as the news had spread throughout the empire with incredible speed, anxiously awaited news from the palace. Everyone prayed for the health of their “little mother”, Catalina, who risked her health for the health of her people.

Catherine II passed the nine-day period without any problems. Soon the entire court volunteered to take Dr. Dimsdale. After that, a general inoculation campaign was organized – the first of its kind – hoping to eradicate it from Russia. The townspeople, although reluctant, could not resist. Wasn’t the empress herself the first to do this, because she was worried about the health of her people? And sometimes reluctantly, they roll up their sleeves and show their arms to be inoculated.

After Catherine’s success in her campaign against smallpox She was no longer seen as a usurper who killed her own husband, the true tsar. Thus began the path that led him to become known in history as La Grande.