Catherine the Great

The article considers the first initiatives of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great in question of Censorship. The article gives an account of the state controlling of book printing, book delivery and book banning in the second half of 18th century. The great interest is the analysis of the public opinion in question of Catherine’s censorship reforms.

The article is devoted to the role of the imperial court in the «personnel reserve» formation for high governmental and military posts during the reign period of Catherine the Great. Comparative study of courtier’s and Page Corps graduates career development was held for this research by the means of two specially created prosopographical databases. The obtained results give us an opportunity to evaluate the impact of a court rank granting on the nobles career development and on receiving an appointment to the important governmental and military posts.